
Pink Leather Jackets – Rock N’ Roll Is Dead
Similar artists: Pup, Fidlar, Dirty Nil, Rancid, Nirvana, The Offspring
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Grunge, Alternative Rock
How can you not get nostalgic about good ol’ rock n’ roll once in a while? Why there used to be a time when a great rockin’ number could just about change your life. People would swear by its power. Rock bands would be followed around the land like modern-day faith healers.
Frankly, for those used to that kind of standard, little of what masquerades for rock music nowadays will do. Yes, yes, record labels know that these people are out there. Graciously, once in a while, they offer them bands meant to impersonate their favorites. But is it all the same when you close your eyes?
The spirit has been saved up by a few fanatics. Their goal is to get the world back to a place where unbeknownst to it at the time, it had reached a genuine state of grace. These devotees, in turn, get treated by the rest of the world like weirdos. If only they could understand…
Pink Leather Jackets’ Rock N’ Roll Is Dead dares to wrap its powerful, hooky song around lyrics that spell out what we’ve all been afraid to admit to ourselves. The greatest kind of popular music was murdered, and we sat around watching it happen. For a while, we can take hope from believing things will go back to the way they were. Still, when we realize that’s all just a pipe dream, we should be just as angry as Pink Leather Jackets are here.
Bordeaux – Pánico
Genre: Pop Rock, Latin Rock, Indie Pop
By the late 1970s, Anglo-American magazines, radio, and television stations were shameless in proclaiming that the only music that mattered was being manufactured somewhere on the shores where these entertainment conglomerates held offices.
This was hardly the truth. Anglo-American pop-rock may have indeed been the principal force in global pop culture. But all across the world, excited, creative men and women were putting their own interpretations of this type of music.
Recently, a song dubbed “the most mysterious song on the internet” has the cyber-space enthralled. Why would people suddenly be so impressed with pop-rock made in either Greece or Eastern Germany? Because the internet finally gives a glimpse into great sounds being made away from the promotional Anglo-American behemoths.
Bolivia’s Bordeaux are mess of nervous energy and a great guide into the history of South American Latin Rock. Their single Pánico spends its time between energy-filled garage-rock guitar parts, dreamy vocals, and even modern indie-pop hooks. It’s enough to make one get truly excited about the rock music of the world. It’s enough to make one get on their laptop and start digging.