
Karate, Guns & Tanning – White Nights
Genre: Post-Punk
Karate, Guns & Tanning describe their own music as ferocious. That word conjures visions of hungry animals feeding on weaker creatures down in the jungle. In today’s musical climate, this may just well be the right description..
If you’re going to get weird with your music and still hope to attract fans your best bet is to have a nice moustache like Frank Zappa, or a great back catalogue to fall back on, like John Lennon and, certainly, unlike Mr Zappa.
Otherwise, just like a photographer taking pictures of beautiful people, or a news writer trying to dig up a political scandal in a bid to raise their reputation, your best bet is to cling to the things that people tend to enjoy. Great sounding, mysterious lyrics, and otherworldly flair to the music. These are things that never go out of style.
Karate, Guns & Tanning know this well and are ready to set up their arsenal with precisely these weapons for their single White Nights. Karate, Guns & Tanning are a riot grrrl band with a love for engulfing, expensive production. Karate, Guns & Tanning sounds like licking 9-volt batteries for fun.
Rabbit – Too Long
Genre: Folk, Country, Americana
Rabbit writes classic country songs that feel like they’ve arrived directly from the day of pop music’s birth. Too Long is one of those.
Look, Courtney Love and people like her will tell you that the greatest sin when being involved with rock n’ roll is to fake it. That sounds well and good! But, it’s not true. The very format of popular music allows artists to fake it for a very long time.
There’s no need to complain. Some of the best bands used fakery to manoeuvre their way into a career for several early albums. Not being able to write songs? Cover some, or rip them off! Not able to play? Learn a few power chords and jump around! Not able to sing? Better have a really good haircut, kid!
Rabbit, on the other hand, has no need for being disingenuous. The songwriter and poet believe in pop music’s original values that included great, dense songwriting as its essence. Too Long is a lament of today’s state of affairs. But, it’s a highly charming one that disarms listeners with a great vocal hook. Rabbit makes the kind of songs that others will need to rip off in order to have a career.