
Newborn – There Goes The Samurai
Genre: Alternative Rock
You’ve been hearing a lot about “toxic masculinity.” And, maybe you should have. But has it really helped the world in any significant way? Other than a few Hollywood scumbags going to jail, things are the same. The industrial military complex is still shipping out guns to places it can’t properly spell. And regular people barely find the strength to get up in the morning.
It’s, perhaps, best we don’t fully ignore the thousands of years of evolution and what this fiery, fighting spirit has done for us. To start with, it’s built a world. Sure, it can threaten to destroy it as well. Still, nobody promised anything but toil, back-breaking work and constant challenges. With this in mind, the ones looking to thrive, naturally, have to fight a warrior spirit. Rock music is one of the few places where this can exercised, and professional sports is another.
Newborn’s “There Goes The Samurai” is a post-grunge number dedicated to fighting. But before you tell them to knock it off and take a class on sensitivity, you should know that this is not a song for meatheads. It’s a tune for people looking to find discipline, grow their physical and mental strength, and watch UFC fights while having a few cold beers. None of those things are wrong in themselves, and neither is finding personal strength in order to encourage peace.
Dylan Fellows – The End of Everything
Similar artists: Visc., Vampire Weekend, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal, Foo Fighters
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
You’ll hear screaming and things hitting be tossed against a wall whenever something of great importance is about to end. That’s how most people, sane otherwise, greet life’s most terrible challenges. This is the way that people end a relationship, end their tenure with a company, or simply take on the news that they’ll have to deal with the government. The end isn’t just scary. It’s colossally aggravating.
Dylan Fellows writes music about those kinds of moments but makes sure to erase all of the yelling, screaming, and moaning about bad luck. To be fair, this is exactly how people imagine they dealt with their challenges after they’ve occurred. Everyone likes to imagine that they possess grace and courage. Nobody likes to be shown a video of themselves trying to force a tray of food through a wall.
Dylan Fellows’ “The End of Everything” sounds like old-time wisdom attached to modern indie-rock music. There’s an ease to everyone going on here, from the playing to the lyrics. It’s almost like seeing a movie of yourself going through life and then, stress-free, soundtracking it. Besides all of this, you can just hum along to the track as if it were an old Vampire Weekend single. How can you get mad at the world, then?