Richard Tripps – Kiss the Ring
Similar artists: Doug Tuttle, White Fence, Cate Le Bon, Parquet Courts, Cass McCombs
Genre: Surf Rock, Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock
Maybe it’s true that all the great rock songs have already been written. Hell, it’s likely that they got written in the first few years of rock’s existence. Perhaps what all of us musicians have been doing since then is to add some exotic elements and muddy that great, original formula. But, there’s no reason why the really great rock n’ roll maneuvers can’t be rewritten and recycled.
Richard Tripps makes 50s-sounding rock with a modern urgency. It all works to sound very eerie. In fact, those chord progressions and melodies that got used up in the 1950s don’t sound exotic today just because over 70 years have passed since then. They sound odd, because the world, and consequently its music, simply does not sound as peaceful and hopeful anymore.
Richard Tripps’ “Kiss the Ring” masters a number of things needed to create a great single, which it is. Tripps does excellently in contrasting sweetness with anger. The lyrics flow smoothly and end up getting stuck like knives thrown against a wall. And, besides everything, “Kiss the Ring” is immensely memorable and worth replaying. Yeah, it sounds like a 50s tune made to soundtrack events happening today. But, them folks who invented rock n’ roll also wrote its best songs.
Vero Strange – That’s Just Speed
Similar artists: Babe Rainbow, Jim James, David Bowie, Paul McCartney
Genre: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Indie Pop
Much in the same way that we believe that are all victims of the stars and can’t do anything about it, we’re all likely a product of our IQ. If you are inclined to believe such measurements of human intelligence, you may also believe that the value of this changes very little throughout life. Depending on whether you’re sitting on the lit or dark side of the road, this may be troubling or exciting.
Things work in very much a similar way when it comes to pop music. There are some folks, like Dan Fisher, the man responsible for Vero Strange who can’t help but write great pop music. They could do it in their sleep while banging on a coffee table. At the same time, there are others who spend years of their life and fortunes trying to study music’s components as thoroughly as possible. Dream Theater can do a lot of amazing things, but arguably it hasn’t come up with great a pop song yet.
Vero Strange’s “That’s Just Speed” is something of a magic musical magic trick – a trippy indie song featuring David Bowie-like vocals, and a pristine pop sensibility. It’s a song that works with a tilted groove that threatens to collapse at any moment and lyrics that swing from one place to another like apes having fun in the midday Sun. The fact that it’s so lo-fi doesn’t much hurt the song either. But hearing this you’re inclined to believe that the world would be a better place if someone opted to gift Vero Strange the costly production values that the project’s music deserves.
