nylon phoenix – Magenta
The original punk-rockers are the only musicians who ever truly looked cool, and it was, largely, because of how messed up and monstrous they all turned out in photographs. They look like people who wouldn’t be invited to their dad’s birthday party even if they asked.
Everyone else? Well, all the rest of the musicians wear leather jackets, dark sunglasses and chew gum when they’re talking to people. They own subscriptions to fashion mags and hope that their haircuts will get imitated by barbers in Paris.
Consequently, most of rock n’ roll, just like most of the world in fact, is concerned with looking cool and with getting disciples to do things that they don’t really want to do. It’s a predatory situation, and nylon phoenix are raging about it over pop-punk sung by Julian Casablancas-like sounds.
“Magenta” is a song that uses irony to bludgeon and humiliate. It’s a song about the dictatorship of cool people and the poor kids who end up trying to follow in their footsteps. It’s indie-rock about true love swallowed up by false expectations. nylon phoenix is DIY, rocking, and, well, right.
Perímetro – Pasado
The human race can’t decide on much. In fact, we tend to fight over just about anything, whether it makes a difference in the world or not. However, the vast majority of us will agree that people across the world tend to have the same basic emotions in common. They feel joy and fear, elation and regret. And, for the most part, they have the same methods of obtaining or avoiding those feelings.
Now, that’s actually a pretty novel idea in the history of the world. For the longest time, people from any geographic location, when asked if neighbours were the same as them, would confidently answer: “No!” I say this because it helps to explain why music acts as a universal language in the first place and how we can use this.
If you’re mostly used to your rock n’ roll being sung in English, you may feel intimidated by Perímetro’s “Pasado.” Yes, after all, this is a Spanish band. And while Spanish-sung pop is having a commercially remarkable moment right now, not everyone is convinced.
But, listen closely. Can’t you really feel the emotion and tension captured in the singer’s voice and can’t you somehow find yourself relating to it? Doesn’t the mix of punk and classic rock feel friendly and self-assured? It sure does. Perímetro is a band that’s good enough to erase those barriers.
