Marcus Piña – Great Divide
If it is true that music is able to transmit what words fail to, then in these trying times, we need it more than ever to offer solace and some semblance of guidance. With the problems of the world many, and hard to define, it only seems fitting that guitar music would reflect these dilemmas in the same powerful, but hard to describe manner.
Marcus Piña’s Great Divide is an indie-rock number created on Southern-rock grounds. The divide that Mr Piña is talking about is one that is not easy to pinpoint, but one that we must feel every day from our general disconnect from nature to our almost full separation from one another.
A veteran touring musician (Marcus Piña played with Roky Erickson among others), the songwriter is not stuck in his ways and happy to make the best of modern technology having recorded his debut on a computer, a choice that many have found fully satisfying recently.
The ominous bass line, the driving beat, and the dreamy vocals make us anxious to learn more of what the musician has kept for his own music after all these years of serving with some of the greats.
NO MONEY KIDS – CROSSROAD
The story of rock n’ roll is a complex one. On the one hand, it includes evil, money-hungry managers, crooked radio DJs, and an industry ever-obsessed with cutting down the costs at the expense of the music.
That story is also made up of mysterious, mean-sounding guitar and drum noises. For those that have had the luck to hear these in their purest states, a fresh dose, delivered with the same level of intensity and intent can feel as gripping as the words of a long lost gospel.
French duo, No Money Kids, revamp the blues for Crossroad. They do so in a persuasive manner that brings to mind not only the great blues artists of old but also the modern disciples, like the Black Keys, that have taken garage-boogie up to the big stages of the world. Rock doesn’t die, nor does it change much. It just needs someone to tell the story in an honest way.