Bad Penny – Glitter Guitar
Genre: Punk, Grunge, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Best Coast, Fidlar, Bleached, Colleen Green, Soccer Mommy
Bad Penny let loose with the garage-rock number Glitter Guitar.
Garage-rock with its loud guitars, its pummeling drums, and heaps of energy are a lot like the culture inside a small European village. No matter how much time passes, its values never really change. History has no alternative than to dance around it and leave it out of its plans.
This is a comforting idea. The world is changing at a tremendous pace. Many people feel left behind. Many ideas are left behind along with the people that support them. There are few things that make a dent through mainstream culture, that remain unchanged and potent.
Loud garage-rock songs are one of them. When executed properly, they are simple sandwich recipes that one can’t improve upon. Holland’s Bad Penny do it just right on Glitter Guitar. It’s a song that feels ready to burst at the seams with nervous, bottled-up energy. Once let loose, the cork comes flying, hits the chandeliers, and renders it to pieces. It’s what we like to hear and Bad Penny know it.
Not Really – Mechanical Wilderness
Genre: Post-Punk, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Nirvana, Husker Du, the Replacements, Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Lemonheads, Joy Division
Not Really shouts at the inevitable dehumanization of the world with the single Mechanical Wilderness.
Protest songs most times are about the inevitability of coming face to face with evil things. The writer, regularly, doesn’t pretend to offer solutions. Protest songs merely state that the writer and performers have a right to be angry. And, expressing this anger is healthy for both the artist and their audience. Most of the time, at least.
Bravery and stupidity are closely interlinked, of course. One man’s silly conspiracy theory is another man’s call to arms. How can you tell a healthy protest song from a malevolent one? You can’t really. Plenty of hippies are ready to beat up their grannies for a buck. Most of the time, though, the intention of the writer, be that good or bad, can be felt in the way that their thoughts are expressed.
We trust that Not Really’s Mechanical Wilderness is well-intended. We also trust that there’s not much that the Canadian songwriter might be able to do by themselves. Witing about the incoming danger in a palatable, striking alt-rock style serves in itself a higher purpose.
