Sylvia Rose Novak – Stress Fracture
Genre: Indie Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Sharon Van Etten, Superchunk, Jimmy Eat World, Waxahatchee, Camp Cope, Kississippi
Becoming an artist focused on making pop music didn’t merely appear to be a good career choice for young people. Realistically, for most of them, at any time since the 1950s, success was never something that could be predicted.
What most people that bought into the dream of becoming a musical artist was self-discovery. Unlike most other jobs, the task of a musician was to grasp dreams from thin air and interpret them for people. In order to do that, the artist needed to expose themselves to different experiences, purify their spirit, act bravely and let others know of their deepest fears and desires.
It is precisely because of this that the early history of rock music is littered with tragedies. These kinds of tasks have a strong effect on the human psyche. How could they not?
But, through it, all the audiences were guaranteed to be made part of the journey. The artist would reveal to them all of the wisdom that they’d managed to gather. And, in exchange, the audience merely needed to visit the artist through their records, and their shows.
This kind of deal struck between audience and musician rarely exists anymore. However, there are some that want to rekindle that flame. Sylvia Rose Novak’s Stress Fracture is a journey song, a tale of self-imposed woes meant to reveal what is truthful and separate it from the false. Is the songwriter afraid that this might be too much for the listeners? Judging by the sound of the record, Novak expects the same kind of fearlessness and commitment that they pour into the music. And, they’ll expect nothing less. If joining in on an artist’s part to self-realization is your thing, Sylvia Rose Novak may fit in with your tastes in just the right way.
Superhead – Everclear
Similar artists: PUP, Dinosaur Jr., Charly Bliss, The Breeders, The Muffs, Plumtree
Genre: Pop Punk, Emo
It’s no surprise that pop-punk is, once again, the youth soundtrack in many countries across the world. Those goofy 90s and 2000s bands with the ugly clothes, the videos about hanging out in malls, and the songs chock full of pretty melodies one out. It’s enough to make John Lydon weep, but it does make perfect sense.
While those groups may have been goofy, their success is built on strong foundations. For one thing, this is music that even at its bleakest is hopeful, colorful, poppy. You won’t get that from hardcore, or metal. Secondly, its lyrical content is unashamedly tied to teenage experiences. This is, after all, the period felt most intensely by most people. Thirdly, everyone loves a great sugar rush of a single whether they like to admit it or not. Straight-up pop music tries to deliver the same but knocks all of the edges of the teenage experience.
Superhead’s Everclear is music created to have to pogo all alone in your bedroom. It’s designed to hit you outside the head with its great hook. And, while not exactly music by Mallrats, Superhead’s love of pop tunes and loud guitars are clear. Maybe they’re getting in on the act. But, the truth is that the pop-punk market is unlikely to ever disappear completely. Engaging in fun may not seem cool enough to most bands, but the pop-punk crews don’t care.
