
Frog Eyes – When You Turn on the Light
Genre: Slowcore, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Destroyer, Dirty Projectors, The New Pornographers, Deerhoof, Dan Deacon, Chad VanGalen
They say that a songwriter must go through a few hundred bad tunes before they can get rid of those. Supposedly, everything that follows after those hundreds are ideas of which they can be genuinely proud.
Listening to new bands write songs can’t help but convince you that there’s something to it. There’s no formula for writing a good song. However, if there’s one method that veteran writers seem to use to great effect most of the time it is this: write about what makes you uncomfortable!
From Eyes have been doing just that for a long time. The Canadian quartet are masters of assembling music that sounds like the intro to an inevitable drama. When You Turn on the Light is no exception. It’s an inspired tune that arrives with an equally pleasing video in which a lamp replaces Led Zeppelin‘s Object.
Spiral Drive – Lines For Lives
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Tame Impala, QOTSA, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Mother’s Cake
Rock critics have a very hard time approving of the ambition of some of the artists that they need to write about. For many, art at its purest involves the artist shunning fame, fortune, and offering to leave a modest life on top of a mountain.
Enough of these silly fantasies! Just like athletes preparing their whole lives for a fleeting chance at an Olympic medal, some of music’s finest endure years of hardship with the hope that they’ll register a hit. Is this all worth it for merely 4-5 minutes of recognition? It is certainly the thing that keeps rock fans coming back for more.
With that in mind, there’s no honest way of Spiral Drive’s Lines For Lives. There’s a reason why Tampe Impala and The Arctic Monkeys became immensely successful in the middle part of the last decade. Spiral Drive have found the reason and made their own. Many others have tried. For those looking for a potential, modern rock radio hit, this one should be satisfactory.