Robocobra Quartet – Heaven
Genre: Post Rock, Math Rock
Similar artists: black midi, Squid, Black country New road
Modern protest songs, as long as those as still legal, have no choice but to be funny. The protest tunes of the past were dead serious. And, look where that got us? Posting inspirational quotes on social media as a way to find relief.
Trusting the protest singers of old, the ones that are still around doesn’t seem to help either. Well-intended, but naive, there’s no way you’ll want to plaster posters of their quotes on your walls anytime soon. There’s another illusion shattered. The world seems to be heading towards disaster and it’s all rather funny instead.
Robocobra Quartet’s Heaven is a taste of humorous experimental rock music written about the benefits of capitalism. It’s the story we need to keep on believing, and laughing about it might just help us to do this. Behind the dense, jazz-drenched approach, and behind the comedy of the lyrics, Robocobra Quartet can depend on excellent musicians that encourage us to laugh at our misery for as long as we are able to do so.
Rip Room – Complication
Genre: Post-Punk, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Blonde Redhead, Fugazi, Unwound, Gang of Four, Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr
There are many who are happy about the role that punk-rock seems to have earned in modern mainstream culture. There are others, especially those of a certain age, that are distrustful of this success claiming that it goes against the original credo of the artistic movement.
Still, there are others like myself that are just astounded by the influence of punk. While most of us might have got used to the sound and aesthetics, the original group of musicians that stoked the fires of punk were, really, weirdo, avant-garde artists. Their inventiveness was matched only by their lack of appreciation for complicated musicianship.
Rip Room’s Complication finds the group showing their allegiance to the zany, artsy, confrontational side of punk, the one that is harder to feature in mainstream media. The music is snappy, direct, and played without unneeded thrills. Rip Room is classic punk-rockers, angry about the world and more than willing to see it in a different light than almost anyone else.
