Real Ones – Stop The War
Similar artists: David Byrne, Wilco
Genre: Indie Folk, Folk, Americana
Artists, especially those operating in the pop music sphere, can often overrate their ability to change the world. They can also get a little too clever for their own good. Write a successful pop hit, and you might think you should follow it up with a book of abstract poetry, fauvist painting, or social media posts about spirituality.
None of those things are bad in and of themselves. But do they really help anyone? Do they go to the heart of the problem and challenge it with a solution? Perhaps this is what we ought to demand from our pop stars. In an era in which, sadly, war has returned as the most important problem with which the world is dealing, we ought to expect more from our artists.
Real Ones’ “Stop the War” is one of the few modern songs to be this direct and this brave about its anti-violence message. Make no mistake about it. Writing these kinds of songs in this time and place requires guts. Anti-war protesters have had it tough over the last few years. War is big business, and good-natured protesters are fewer than they once were. With all this in mind, Real Ones deserve praise. And what we all deserve is to stop every war!
Hannes Aitman – Dying For A Name
Similar artists: Johnny Cash, The Highwaymen, Charley Crockett
Genre: Americana
They say that the greatest stories of heroes and villains have been told for thousands of years and that they’ll continue to be told as long as humanity exists. It seems that we are just as addicted to becoming the heroes and villains of our stories as to hearing about our deeds. We are simply programmed by the stars to follow these paths.
Of all the music genres that have garnered the interest of the general public, none has proven more capable of delivering these kinds of tales than country music. It’s a place where shattered dreams and hopes of glory find themselves intertwined. It’s a genre in which complex characters occupy a central place.
Hannes Aitman’s “Dying For A Name” is the musical equivalent of using modern tools to design and construct a classic car. Everything on this is meant to resemble the great country singers of old, and the soulful writing brings to mind Bruce Springsteen’s songs of working-class dreams. But it’s a modern construction and a carefully crafted one at that. Does it matter? These dreams have always been here and likely always will be.
