Cody Frost – DWYSSWM
Genre: Pop, Pop Punk, Electro Pop
Pop is a dirty word, make no mistake about it. But, it wasn’t always like this. Before record labels figured out how to milk the latest trends and singer-dancers brief careers for profit, pop and alternative music coexisted.
Cast your glance back to the days before MTV, and every other media company made in its image. Pop records were reviewed in the pages of magazines well-known for their support of punk and alternative music. Pop became a dirty word once it was no longer inventive, once it became provocative merely to make a quick buck.
Cody Frost’s DWYSSWM is pop music worth your attention. It’s commercial music that giddily integrates alternative elements. It’s pop-pop-punk. There’s star material here with the kind of singer that could perform at a punk joint, or a dance club without anyone batting an eyelid.
Saloon Dion – Hey Hey
Genre: Pop Punk, Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Similar artists: Parquet Courts, Gang Of Four, Beastie Boys, Devo, Happy Mondays
Punk music remains celebrated all over the world because of the freedom that it allowed young artists. Was it all good? Not really! But, were all welcome to try their hands at playing? Sure thing!
This couldn’t really be said of rock’s previous era. Overweight keyboardists would be forced to play as sidemen rather than band members with equal rights. Not possessing the right haircut would get you being a roadie for the band rather playing with it.
Saloon Dion is a band still reveling in the lack of expectations. Hey Hey is poetry set to angular, post-punk music. It John Cooper Clarke after a few too many lagers and after having witnessed his favorite football team squander three points. Saloon Dion are great at battering rock music and reassembling it to fit the poetry of their lyrics.
