Porch Coffin – Oblivion
Similar artists: Fiddlehead, Drug Church, Superheaven, Balance And Composure, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Punk, Alternative Rock
The lion tamer doesn’t actually taunt the beast he is working with, and rockstars rarely take on their audiences unless they happen to be John Lydon of Sex Pistols. Similar fear and superstition govern the lives of regular folks. Various gestures and actions are said to call upon evil things to happen, and so, they are avoided.
Rock music, however, is almost expected to fully use the luxury it’s been given of approaching dangerous subjects. Rockstars are not expected to stick their head into the mouth of a lion. But, they are expected to look on into the abyss, from time to time, and to laugh at the danger. They must. None of us will.
Porch Coffin’s “Oblivion” is an emotionally charged alt-rocker filled with anger and a dose of self-loathing. But the musicians aren’t taking all of life’s pains and troubles lying down either. They are kicking against the pricks, powered by a sound reminiscent of 2000s-era emo pop-punk, and they don’t care what happens to them in the process. Now, for most folks, that’s more impressive than seeing a lion tamer.
Oceans In Silhouette – Shouting From The Ocean (feat. Miguel Owls)
Similar artists: Bad Omens, Dayseeker, Bring Me The Horizon, Caskets, Rain City Drive
Genre: Post-Hardcore
People respond to other people acting very sad or very happy, and they’ve trained themselves not to respond to much else. Almost all of us are like this. It’s taken us a long time to create our personalities. And they aren’t that hard to read for someone who knows what they are looking for.
This is the way that advertising remains so efficient. This is the way that politicians manage to get themselves into office (that and bribes).
It’s not all bad. Reacting to someone feeling joyous or miserable is a natural emotion. Some might even say that the quality of our lives will be determined by how much we let ourselves feel these emotions and how well we learn to deal with them.
Oceans In Silhouette’s “Shouting From The Ocean” is a melodramatic modern-rock sound. It’s designed to sound, from a distance, like a cry. It has the same theatricality of 70s prog and a sound that is rooted firmly in DAW-powered studio rock. It’s well crafted, well pitched to a generation that should understand this well, and based on the kinds of human emotions that anyone should easily understand.