Donzii – Rightway Highway
Genre: Post-Punk, Gothic / Dark Wave, Indie Rock
People talk about pop music’s love of escapism as if it’s something wrong. Well, if nobody required an escape from the regular world, there would be much less music being played. And, since the demand would decrease so would the number of people looking to create music.
The ultimate fantasy of rock is to recreate yourself as something that you and others may admire. From Ziggy Stardust to the pop stars of 2022, it’s the kind of promise that music makes. If done right, and with confidence, all of us could become someone else, in a more exciting place.
Donzii’s Rightway Highway is a post-punk sound of escape. It’s a strange, interesting mix too. Donzii create a kind Springsteen meets Siouxsie Sioux on their single. Is it a song that makes false promises? Even if they did, these kinds of things can be forgiven when the right intentions are in place.
Scooped Up! – Best Days
Genre: Punk, Pop Punk
Similar artists: Blink 182, mxpx, Sum 41, New Found Glory, Green Day
Great rockstars make for great cartoon characters. And, vice versa. The sooner they accept it, the sooner they can go on with their careers. After all, the most recognizable figures in rock are the ones that can be recognized merely from their silhouette, their pose, their trademark gestures. Cartoon characters.
But, the journey of rock has often embraced darkness as a substitute for charm. Many of the most clever people that stepped in front of a microphone chose this as a shortcut. It’s too bad that they didn’t fully read the room. Much of the world is looking for some kind of hope, for some sort of escapism from its songs.
Scooped Up! embrace their inner cartoon character on the single Best Days. This is not music to mope around to or to assist you in changing your life. Its music promises eternal summers spent listening to anthemic pop-punk tunes. Scooped Up! know who they are and embrace it. Even more importantly, they know who their audience is.
