Paul & Pets – Mama, I Don’t Wanna Be A Businessman
Similar artists: The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Death Cab for Cutie, The Smashing Pumpkins
Genre: Shoegaze, Indie Pop, Dream Pop
It’s been many years since John Lennon bravely sang: “I don’t wanna be a soldier.” Well, soldiers are still killing people, or getting butchered in order to line someone else’s profits. But losing one’s identity can hurt nearly as much. Paul & Pets’ innocent-sounding “Mama, I Don’t Wanna Be A Businessman” echoes that.
In fact, the message is anthemic to a large portion of the population dreaming of becoming a professional artist. Why are so many folks drawn to this profession? Few of them do it out of a desire to earn riches and fame. That would be naive. No, most of them simply do not want the world to intrude on their dreams. It’s what happens to most people.
Paul & Pets’s “Mama, I Don’t Wanna Be A Businessman” is a dreamy-sounding recording that seems almost like it is sung from the perspective of a child wishing to stay Peter Pan forever. The fact that the song was written and recorded in the bloodspot capitalism of Austria only helps drill the idea home. Paul & Pets’ song is built on top of a lush orchestration and vocals that have to be telling the truth.
Taleen Kali – Vague Flesh
Similar artists: L.A. WITCH, Lush, Pale Saints, Tamaryn, No Joy
Genre: Gothic / Dark Wave, Shoegaze, Dream Pop
It’s easy to look into a fire or out at the sky and see what you want to see. Starring out in nature is a veritable Rorschach test. But escaping this is not hopeless. In fact, it may just be that we’d all be better off with occasionally seeing things that our minds have trouble dealing with.
Taleen Kali’s mysterious sound is an invitation to bring on board new dreams, the kind that our brains will initially have trouble dealing with. It also does not hurt that these types of visions can be retrieved from the comfort of our own homes. Until such things could be recorded, packaged and delivered through the internet’s pipeline, people needed to subject themselves to all sorts of mad risks in order to glance at what might be hidden away in the subconscious.
Taleen Kali’s “Vague Flesh” is a witchy sound, a kind of ritualistic modern shoegaze song. It works by approaching you from every direction and cornering you. It’s meant to grab your attention fully. But it doesn’t make suggestions as to what you should observe, and you ought to take away from this. Taleen Kali’s dark shoegaze sound is meant to turn you inside out a little, something that might benefit you immensely in the long run.
