Spacette – City Of Gold
Spacette is what would have happened if David Bowie had blown all his money after his Berlin-trilogy and had approached the 80s with a new-found obsession for Don Henley records. The soulful, detached spirit is still there, but the music has more in common with the long, twisted highways of America than to the cold railroad tracks of Europe.
A confident, monotone baritone narrates stories about the City of Gold as if he’s been isolated to this place for much of his life. Musically, the tune shifts from stylish, atmospheric synths to crowd-pleasing, Mark Knopfler sounding guitar solos. The funky bassline holds everything together.
Spacette is an interesting project. Rarely have I heard a group making elevator music sound cutting-edge and leaving me wanting to relisten to their tunes as soon as they’ve ended.
Säm Wilder & Livy Lee – Bring It Home
Full disclosure here. We tend to overlook commercial, positive pop songs on our blog. That’s mostly because, well, we’re … Alt77, and as the name implies, we tend to focus our energies on promoting alternative music.
Having said that, no serious rock musician that I’ve met doesn’t enjoy some well-written summer soundtracks, some ABBA, and, even some pop-music provided that the production is enough to warrant their attention.
This one does. The production of Säm Wilder & Livy Lee’s has so much ear candy layered over it, that it could give your ears diabetes. “Bring It Home” is that positive song that I was talking about. It’s the big, open tune to which the football team can enter the field. Good vocal flow, warlike drum samples, and dramatic violin-like synths are all nice tricks that make this tune more memorable than the vast majority of guitar-wielding, serious-minded, rock n’ rollers.
