Wave System – Dedicated To the One I Love
Genre: Slowcore, Pop Rock, Dream Pop
With Dedicated To the One I Love, Wave System have created the kind of song that plays over flashbacks and scenes where the time machine has just been used.
Did the singers and songwriters of the 1950s know they were pioneering a type of art that people would still show great interest in so many years later? Did some of them know that they were helping create classic songs that future generations would enjoy?
Probably not. Most likely, these musicians, like the ones trying to work today, were just helping that their paycheck would arrive in time for Christmas, that they’d be able to make payments on the house, and that they’d be able to continue using their gift.
Wave System’s Dedicated To the One I Love sounds like a tune written for a song about the 1950s, but created with modern technology. The singing flows seamlessly over beautiful arpeggios and all lead to a giant crescendo of layered, heavenly vocals. Great tricks never get old. They just get enhanced by technology.
Sophie Powers – Greed
Genre: Pop Punk, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Sophie Powers makes provocative pop music meant to get noticed. She succeeds in doing that with Greed.
Maybe ol’ Gene Simmons is right about a few things after all. KISS became unlikely superstars on the back of a well-structured strategy. Their plan was as tightly rehearsed as military deployment in foreign lands. There was little left to chance, and, eventually, it paid off.
Asked about various other pop-rock groups who failed to achieve the same level of success, Simmons criticized their desire to encourage subtlety over bombast. That doesn’t sound like something that encourages artistic development, but it’s true. Do people really prefer seeing a great jazz guitar player dressed in an old cardigan, or one lights a guitar on fire and puts it out using their eyelids?
Sophie Powers is ready to take all the risks in an effort to get noticed. As a consequence, Greed exudes confidence, cheekiness, and even an attempt at social commentary. The point is why not try having it all instead of a little bit. The soul can wait, the belly won’t
