
Jordan Carr – Just South of Heaven
We’ve had the opportunity to review Jordan Carr nearly a year ago. Oh, how time has ground to a halt for many folks across the world. Time does funny things to everyone, musicians especially. You think you’ll be spinning your favourite, righteous punk records forever when… boom! You start listening to 70s soft-pop disguised as indie.
You have to fight for your right to party, but you also need to fight for your right to rock out. The brain and your limbs have the habit of forgetting. They work their way into their most comfortable position. From your favourite music to your favourite food and to your exercise routine, your mind is crying out for comfort. You must resist it!
This is what Jordan Carr, a man who has lived a rough interesting life by the sounds of his records, is doing on Just South of Heaven. The song sees him break out his inner-Springsteen, backed by punk-rock energy. It’s the writing of a man that has been taught enough by trying times not to let his guard down or take anything for granted. An anthemic street-rocker for those dreaming of crowded shows and open borders.
Picnic Lightning – Pre-Pangea
Good rock music, much like any good story, needs conflict. Push the melodrama out of the music, and you get easy-listen pop. Make the conflict too visible, and you and up with biker-looking dudes playing metal tunes about wanting to invade foreign planets.
Issues of a spiritual nature are rarely given much nowadays attention in the world of pop music. Perhaps, it is because for such a long time, music that even hinted towards issues of faith was given an easy route towards a segment of the public that desired these kinds of tunes and nothing else. As a consequence, all most other types of music fans and journalists have begun doubting the honesty of these sorts of efforts.
It’s a shame really because there is great drama to the music of artists that struggle with issues of faith. Picnic Lightning’s single, Pre-Pangea, uses the symbol of the world breaking apart at the seams, but judging by the vocals, it’s really the singer’s personal life that is coming undone. Pre-Pangea is something of a prayer on fire, and there’s little hint of whether the person singing is a holy man, or someone dangling off the edge.