Strange Creature – Withdrawals
Similar artists: Bad Suns, Head Automatica, Foo Fighters
Genre: 90s Rock, Alternative Rock
You have to feel sorry for the people who labour over studying music theory while desiring to play rock music. It’s even sadder than witnessing musicians waste their lives away playing jazz or classical music. Sure, their heads get filled up with all sorts of notions that must appear to them to be some kind of alchemic formula. But, boy, do they look stupid doing it.
Don’t worry, though; most of these people are aware of this. If they could be playing in the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they would do it in a heartbeat. Still, they’re as far removed from that as most 8th-grade Geography teachers or accountants. Playing music is not just a battle for knowledge but one for the soul. The world’s got plenty of people learning formulas, and the people in it don’t care much about them and won’t start anytime soon.
Strange Creature’s “Withdrawals” is a natural, earnest attempt at sounding and looking cool. It’s music meant to be played for people who are unashamedly half-drunk. But, it does not ignore the importance of musicianship, of adding hooks to songs, of getting people to hum along. The folks that make up Strange Creature could’ve been doing anything with their lives, but they chose to try to be cool instead. And that’s a mighty nice thing. There will be fewer talented people picking up the slack and learning them scales.
Red Kate – Escape Room
Similar artists: Naked Raygun, X, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Imperial Wax
Genre: Punk, Alternative Rock
The layman’s stereotypical view of semi-modern rock music is that it’s a style born out of and expressing anger. The layman might also say this about rap and a host of other artistic styles. But while that representation is not entirely false, a quick look at the charts that house these types of genres will reveal that, really, there’s not a lot of angry music being made. Red Kate are of the mind to try and change this.
And changing matters might not be so bad, all things considered. Where does the anger of the musical artists used to come from? The majority of them, those preoccupied with their fellow man, were upset with the way the world was being run and the direction in which things were being taken. With so many terrible things going on in the world and, for once, good reason to point fingers at those who may be at fault, some anger may be justified.
Red Kate’s “Escape Room” has a frisky modern rock sound that doesn’t mind quoting some early punk-rock influences. On paper, this might well be a song about regional interests. But, really, it speaks to the way in which the masses are manipulated in fear and given a narrow number of options that they must debate seemingly forever. That’s enough to make you angry. This Red Kate number has put that feeling to music.
