O. Wake – Riper Than Ripe
Genre: Indietronica, Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Similar artists: LCD Soundsytem, U.S. Girls, Grizzly Bear, Squid, DIIV
Welcome to the age of uncertainty! It is an age, as predicted, where rockstars find themselves with little left to do. The rockstar as the noble savage might just be an idea of the past. The musician with a seemingly infallible road map to their future creations seems to be an anomaly.
It’s a time when nobody knows what to think. The figureheads of this era reflect this. Their identities are unclear and change from one season to another. It only makes sense. Once, the public looked at people on a stage to draw from their confidence. Today they want to hear sounds that reflect their views.
O. Wake’s clever Riper Than Ripe might just be an anthem for a new era. It’s a song about taking pride in being your therapist’s favorite patient. Similarly, musically it’s a song that shifts allegiances between pop, indie-rock, and electronica elements at a whim’s notice. It’s a very cleverly produced song. And, the author’s internal monologue is great to hear. O. Wake makes neurotic, danceable music to accompany our modern gallows humor.
Slow Turn – Jiya
Genre: Pop Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Arctic Monkeys, The Neighborhood, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cage The Elephant, Beck
Writing pop songs must have a lot of the same allure as gambling for high stakes. No matter how hard you sink, there’s always hope of redemption. Just one hand could turn a gambler’s fortune around. Just one great hook could do the same for the pop songwriter.
Just like wagering great sums of money, songwriting also leaves a lot of people broken. For some, the inspiration never comes. Many drift ever more into an ocean of uncertainty or despair. Putting together a few chords and a great rhyme appears to be a simple task from the outside. Most never manage to do it properly.
When listening to Slow Turn’s Jiya it almost sounds as if you’re witnessing the songwriter unearth the song’s great chorus in real-time. This is crime drama material. It’s a tune composed in the same way that a murder investigator might piece clues together. It’s indie-rock with fistfights and broken noses.
