Taylor Crawford – Hontou (Really?)
Globalisation can be a pretty wonderful thing. Just don’t tell them convinced that it’s always been their fate to receive free squats, or the hipsters determined to convince you that the cultural integrity of cheap, foreign countries has always been of grave concern to them. This is exactly what the people who chopped off Marie Antoinette’s head for being a Habsburg would’ve said.
Nah, things can be pretty good, especially when you’re picking and choosing at will. This requires, of course, a bit of talent and a willingness to deprogram yourself. But, you, too, can do it. Once you do, you can enjoy Colombian funk-rock and Argentine wine, together with German-styled pastry and French cheeses. Keep them boats sailing!
Taylor Crawford is globalisation-rock. But you shouldn’t fear it. They don’t want to brainwash you into rewriting the history of Pearl Harbor. They’d rather convince you to watch flashy, seizure-inducing anime. Their humorous, angry-sounding “Hontou (Really?)” is written as a potential soundtrack to a potential Japanese production. Thankfully for them, Taylor Crawford’s musicians are also a pretty brainy duo, as evidenced by their strong playing. If this doesn’t work out, there’s always playing classic rock to rely on.
Tucana – Old Blood
There’s not nearly enough rock music about recovery and redemption. Most of those songs have been written and forgotten. Most of the bands that still bother writing new songs like to go on about what a success they’ve been, what car they have, and what supermodel girlfriend they’ve landed. And those are the vaguely interesting songs. Most of the others are about nothing.
There are plenty of young, fragile teenagers who grew up on romantic ideals. Most of them are boys. Some of them grow out of it. Some even develop their skills and end up fine. But, some of them end up being the Lee Harvey Oswalds, Gavrilo Princip and Adolfs of their time. If only anyone, except for radicals with a self-serving interest, had asked how they were doing or why they were reading such cheesy novels.
There’s something that sounds deadly serious here. Tucana’s “Old Blood” is the music of people who one day want to get over their issues but who can’t ignore their depth. This conflict makes for some extremely dynamic music but also, you’d suppose, some sleepless nights and dark pages diary pages. Making angry rock music may just be the best use of that energy. It’s putting something into the world that actually helps others.
