Scott Ritcher – Stack ’em Up
Most people just care a little too much. That’s why they have nervous breakdowns when their plans for world domination and for planning a nice family Sunday dinner don’t work out the way that they intended.
And rock stars are the biggest softies there are. Don’t believe me? Why do you think they’re out there on their free days trying to lead the picket line and asking people to save the whales and the rainforests?
Maybe it’s a good time to start caring a little less. Maybe we need more of those rock songwriters who don’t care about the consequences of what they say and do. We may need someone like Scott Richter.
On “Stack ‘em Up,” Richter, songwriter with considerable experience, is withering in describing a wild part held in a Stockholm punk club on the eve of the midnight sun, or he’s just singing about how little he cares about this world and what stimulation it has to offer.
Either way, Richter sounds like a man who doesn’t even bother to tune up his singing before placing it on tape forever. And that’s exactly what we need from our rock stars.
Plastic Nancy – Jukebox Heart
Hate sells these days wonderfully. There are whole publications and news networks dedicated to it, and they’re never the ones going out of business and running out of material.
And regular people have got on the act as well. They’ve picked up the tenor and are chanting hateful refrains online and, sadly, sometimes bringing it into the street. It’s, after all, a very contagious virus.
You’ll hear a lot of it in rock n’ roll. You’ll start thinking that it’s the norm or that it helps with one thing or another. It doesn’t. Plastic Nancy may sound naive, not wanting to get involved and taking a cue from the 60’s psych-pop rulebook, but that’s one thing meant to last.
So is “Jukebox Heart,” a delightfully innocent, cosmic country-rocker where the influence of The Byrds and Love is put on display for all to see. But it’s not just optimism that helps the band. “Jukebox Heart” twists, turns and delivers some of the best melodies and arrangements you’re likely to have heard in a very long time.
