*repeat repeat – Dearly Departed
One of the greatest qualities that hippies and rockers can possess is the ability to leave in the present. To put it in a different way, it helps your career and your drive, if you completely ignore the consequences of your actions. Even today, we enthusiastically celebrate the actions of rock stars who died prematurely, primarily, because they chose to ignore possible outcomes.
The greatest, most engulfing kinds of psychedelic-rock bands are those that sound as if they seem convinced that they are floating around in space, living on a foreign planet, or about to start a brand new religion. To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, it might not be good to praise danger and madness, but it has certainly worked out for some.
*repeat repeat’s Dearly Departed sounds like the work of a group personally interested in these kinds of topics. On the one hand, the band resembles a psych-rock group of hippies. On the other hand, the tune tells the story of a washed-up lounge singer reflecting on his reckless existence. Musically this is fuzzed-out, glittery rock that resembles a soundtrack to a movie about breaking banks and never expected to get caught.
Rolland Square – Four Missed Calls
Do you believe in magic? A lot of adults think it’s nonsense. Most kids swallow it up like giant cups of ice cream. Some devote their entire existence to learning the magic tool that will help them navigate through life.
And, well, when it comes to pop music, the magic can’t be denied. It only takes a few chord progressions, some words and melodies thrown on top of it. When the ritual works properly, as is rarely the case, what you’re left with is something incredible that seems to travel the world, gain accomplices and adepts, and make the magicians really rich, famous or both.
Rolland Square’s Four Missed Calls sounds like the kind of tune forged in this kind of wild magic of power-pop. No matter how many times you may have seen the rabbit pulled out of that hat, you are likely to be surprised by the great balance of melodies and rocking guitars. This is what rock can still do and it’s best left unexplained.