Squinny – Between Dimensions
Similar artists: Fuzz, Dungen, Wand, King Crimson, St. Vincent
Genre: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Bands like athletes can, at best, do one thing well. The ones that accept this drop their weight behind that thing and allow it to define their career. Why stop to be bitter about all of the things you cannot do? There are literally billions of people who don’t even have that one talent that they can mine for success, fame and free dinners in their home town.
Sports teams are, however, built on the scouting of specialists. Managers pick players that excel at one thing and pair them with others that excel in different ways. Can’t rock bands be built this way? Technically, yes. But this hasn’t worked out for many groups. Sure, The Who or Led Zeppelin were perfectly balanced groups that had both the brains and the brawn. But, even attempting this is a risk that most musicians aren’t willing to take as they battle for a shot at being able to pay their rent through playing music.
Squinny’s “Between Dimensions” is a mix of intelligence and power. But it’s not exactly your typical progressive-metal either. First of all, there’s a subtlety to the playing that you don’t quite get on Dream Theater records. Secondly, the singing is brittle and innocecent, something you would expect on a lo-fi indie-rock record. Lastly, it’s not a copy of anything else, but rather an exploration. And, it’s this third element that makes watching Squinny find their way the most interesting.
Little Miss Echo – Worst Things First
Similar artists: Broadcast, Lilys, Stereolab, Yo La Tengo
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock
People now routinely have conversations with their preferred AI chatbot. While sad, you can blame that on loneliness. But a desire to extract the secrets from the bionic mind of the computer may have something to do with it as well. It won’t be long until modern musicians start debating chord patterns and grooves with the computer, learning to show their displeasure in a language that it may understand.
But the computer doesn’t know why you’d want to dance in the first place. It sounds silly unless you’re doing it for fitness purposes. The computer can’t understand the pleasure of getting lost within a jungle of notes and chords that come together seamlessly and create something resembling magic. Hel, the computer is designed not to believe in things like that.
Little Miss Echo’s “Worst Things First” is a distillation of some of the best things about jam-rock music and a rejection of the counterproductive ones. It’s guitar and, especially, drums-based music meant to make you dance in your seat while driving down the highway. It sounds as if it’s designed to be played while travelling to Western Europe’s cloudly climes. And, certainly, it is designed to wrap you up in a groove that you won’t easily be able to just shake off. No computer will ever be able to do that, not for a long time.
