Sunset & Plankton – Smoked Eyes
New blood is vital for every music genre’s survival. Art movements are just like vampires. They must constantly be stimulated by youthful bodies willing to give themselves. In this case, it is a cause for which hopeful artists need to sacrifice themselves.
Still, some musical genres operate by stricter rules than others. Even country music has opted to ignore the norms that once governed it and try to appeal to wider pop audiences.
Meanwhile, goth rock, and its not-too-distant cousin, post-punk, were established through a distinct set of parameters. Newcomers must learn, treasure, and protect them. But don’t be fooled by this cold reception. Goth and post-punk need new recruits right now!
Of the new recruits to the Goth Army, Sunset & Plankton are among the most promising, as judged by early single “Smoked Eyes.” The band understands the importance of the mood, of the icy production, and of the use of monotone, low-register vocals that seem to bounce right off of the bass guitars’ strings. There aren’t many knocking on the door of goth these days, but the ones that do show up know what they can do to help.
King Whisker – Utopia
Similar artists: IDLES, Viagra Boys, Squid, The Cool Greenhouse
Genre: Punk, Post-Punk
Good news always travels faster than bad news. Yet, most songwriters insist on writing Summery songs of hope, and the bands that they write for insist on presenting themselves as cool kids who’ve never once heard the news bulletins in their lives. If they only stopped and smelled the garbage! If they only woke up to taste the coffee and remarked that it was as bitter as hell.
Post-punk has been making an unlikely comeback and pulling up passengers at every station that it stops in. Why not? It is, essentially, the sound of disgruntled city dwellers and plotting to abduct their bosses.
But what else? Plenty of angry musical styles, like heavy metal, feel cartoonish in their rage. It all needs to be funny. It needs to be sung by people who see the humor in disaster and played by musicians who don’t care about musical genre distinctions.
If humor, anger and a good sense of what sounds you can dance to are the standards by which modern post-punk should be judged, King Whisker get it right on every count on “Utopia.” Yes, it’s all terrible. The more you think about it, the more you’re bound to go crazy. And it’s the people who constantly think this way that King Whisker are looking to reach out to here.
