Lemonade Stand – Nosebleed
There’s a certain undercurrent of danger and despair that delineates most college-rock from the other styles that fall under the “alternative rock” umbrella. And, if you were in college at the age where you’re just entering adulthood, it’s understandable there would be plenty of things to worry about.
I don’t know if Montreal-based songwriter Michael Borsellino was actually a college student at the time of writing this, but he seems to check all the boxes. He is right where he should be, yet he feels lost. He writes of disappointment but does it in a gentle, almost funny way. And, he makes rock n’ roll, but not the kind that can soundtrack a session of beer pong.
Lemonade Stand’s Nosebleed is a clever, cynical nighttime confession. It’s the lament of a man who’s lived a long time to be young and who has had enough. The slacker indie-rock of the track is designed very well and announces Borsellino as a songwriter worth keeping tabs on.
The Wldlfe – Anxious
The rock music industry has come up with a few really cool standards and formulas. No wonder they’ve been so keen to repeat them again and again. I don’t see a problem in being aware of the ingredients that create a good single. After all, the drama has practically had the same formula for thousands of years.
I think that the trouble starts when rock starts being pitched almost exclusively to older generations, who are given pale replicas of the stuff they grew up on. It frankly boring, the one true sin of rock music.
I don’t think rock necessarily has to be good or bad, smart or dumb. It has to be exciting, though. It’s got to make spending three minutes on a single worthwhile. I think that The Wldlfe manages to do this with Anxious, a reinvention of the alternative-rock single by means of pop hooks, charisma, and old-fashion enthusiasm.
indie-rock
