Kyle T Hurley – The Rats Will Find
Genre: Alternative rock, Americana
It takes a wonderful amount of confidence or of self-delusion for an individual to decide that they will entertain people, potentially thousands of them. But that’s exactly what your favourite rock stars use each night that they get on stage. Nobody got successful by accident. Forget what any of the history books tell you about punk rock or grunge.
That kind of confidence is generally not natural, and when it is, it can be pretty damn annoying. It puts people off knowing that someone is willing to try so hard to make themselves liked. This all means that, like an actor memorising lines, the rock star’s courage can be learned, practised and improved.
Kyle T Hurley is very confident you’ll like “The Rats Will Find” or that, at least, you won’t easily forget him. His theory is sound. The music feels like a hybrid of post-punk and Southern rock boogie. The video has Hurley haunting dirty London streets like a goth Mick Jagger trying out for a part in a remake of The Crow. Yeah, it’s all very entertaining, it has a hook, and Hurley wills this into existence.
NONĒ Sunshine – Disco Mani
Genre: Alternative Rock
Music fans will wear their favourite genre as proof of their adherence to something greater. It’s their flag, their crest, and their ticket to a world that not everyone can visit. But almost all devoted music fans approach songs in the same way that a chain smoker reaches for a cigarette.
The truth is that 3-minute singles are supposed to scratch an itch. NONĒ Sunshine understand this and create alternative-rock that is both muscular and loaded with the kind of ingredients that guarantee it has a chance of becoming a modern, viral hit.
“Disco Mani” lives up to its name and is built on the kind of groove favoured by 1970s dancefloor experts. But it also contains the kind of sinister, nervous energy that is part of the true disco experience. Is this a respectable alt-rock tune? Yes, it certainly has all the right elements. Besides this, it’s a catchy single, the kind of thing best played when only a few minutes can be spared. It’s the proverbial cig before the dreaded office meeting.
