Seal Party – Turpentine
Genre: Funk, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Seal Party produce a soulful, funky, humorous number with the single Turpentine.
Music fans tend to love the progressive tendencies of their favorite artists and hate the ones displayed by other people’s favorites. The optimal level of sophistication is judged differently from one person to another.
Generally speaking, dedicated music fans embrace a mix of naivety and sophistication when it comes to choosing their favorites. The beauty, as well as the difficulty, is that there’ll never exist a way to have two different people agree on the same list of musical nominees. Some hate Motorhead but love the Ramones. Some dislike Pink Floyd but swear that Steely Dan is the greatest thing to happen to modern music.
Seal Party’s brand of soulful, funky prog-rock might be a bit of a tall ask for some rock fans. For others, Turpentine might serve as a new year anthem, a song about change and avoiding the mistakes of old. Casual and dedicated listeners won’t find it hard to admire the rich vocal tonality available here, which should allow Seal Party a shot at convincing all types of audiences.
The Carbons – Sheepskin
Genre: Stoner Rock, Post-grunge
Similar artists: Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Pearl Jam, Queens of The Stone Age
The Carbons give themselves permission to sound reckless and carefree on the single Sheepskin.
In many ways, the history of rock music’s rise to popularity is a story of fast-growing and quickly-shrinking fearlessness. At one time, it was merely a genre played by lads in shiny suits singing about wanting to take girls out dancing. Most of the energy of these groups was spent building up an amicable image for their band members.
Soon enough, rock bands were growing their hair, missing precious hours of sleep, and experimenting with various forms of mind enhancers. Not only that but they were bragging about it on their records.
Modern times have seen a slow retreat back into familiar, friendly ways. This has helped rock bands enter new markets, albeit at the expense of the music’s potency.
The Carbons may not be shock artists, but they sound like a real rock band on the single Sheepskin. They sound like people who’ve spent the night out in the cold, who comes from nothing, who aren’t afraid of losing anything. It’s something that comes through the fat bass lines, the distorted vocals, and the old-school swagger with which they approach their performance. The Carbons sound like a band that doesn’t believe in phoning it in.
