Scattrbrain – Switch (Live)
Everyone in the music business wishes they were somebody else. That’s especially true for the people who managed to be really successful at it. Those are the folks who have to churn out the hits every single day of their lives. They’re the folks who dream, routinely, of having a different life. And, for the most part, they’re the folks who release solo records while making as little noise about it as possible.
It’s not easy getting typecast, even when that means never having to worry about the bills. It’s not easy being typecast in a regular life where such rewards seem unreasonable either. Scattrbrain know a little about this.
But in a modern world where it seems like one formula will govern the rest of your life forever, doesn’t it feel fun to confuse the algorithms? Isn’t real creativity the kind of thing that can’t be boiled down to 0s and 1s?
There’s something charming about Scattrbrain’s “Switch,” the idea and the act of being somebody else. This isn’t exactly rap-rock. It’s a rapper trying to sing with noisy rock and putting their heart into it. Even more charming is the live version of Imperfect. Its edges are intact and sharp. A song about wanting to be someone else ends up making this band sound like no other.
I Ascend – LIAR
I don’t wish to suggest that older audiences were clueless. After all, they turned Elvis, Led Zeppelin and Sex Pistols into internationally acknowledged artists. But maybe they were pampered by circumstance, by having so few, but nearly all great choices.
In many ways, modern audiences are much smarter. They know exactly what a band’s going to play before they play it. How? Well, they’ve heard everything. They don’t even need to be people “in the know.” Regular audience members should know most of the tricks that a band throws at them. I ASCEND understand and adapt.
Because the only thing left to do in this era is to create expectations, play with the audience’s desires and, ultimately, fulfil them. That means making a lot of choices. It means constantly reaffirming who you are.
I ASCEND’s “Liar” is a song that plays with modern bluesy alt-rock dynamics, with the soft to loud sound of bands like Royal Blood, and the power of silence in a rock song. The band also opts for a hyper-modern, ultra-produced sound. How does that happen? Through choices and knowing what audiences want. I ASCEND want to become masters of this.
