Ryan Lee Crosby – Down So Long
Genre: Blues, Garage Rock, Psychedelic / Freak Folk
Similar artists: R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, The Black Keys, North Mississippi Allstars
If you’re a betting person, you’re unlikely to want to put money on pop music in its current guise lasting the long haul. Historically this has never happened. Indeed, even music created four or five decades ago, largely accepted as one of the greatest human achievements, is seen as an old hat and shoved into the retro pile.
When all is done and dusted when AI has crawled through every imaginable iteration of pop-rock playlists, what are we going to be left with? Probably with the blues, both metaphorically and musically.
If there is one genre that seems to avoid style the harshness of style changes, it’s the blues. Perhaps, it is because, fundamentally this is less a style of music as a form of therapy that, usually, involves a guitar. Ryan Lee Crosby is that kind of old-ways doctor. Down So Long hints at the work of R.L. Burnside or Junior Kimbrough blues-guitar pioneers whose work continues to be discovered by new generations. There’s truth and wisdom that Crosby hears in that guitar-playing of his, and his vocals have no way but to react accordingly.
The High 70s – Accidents Never Happen
Genre: Indie Rock
Pop music is seen by many as a disposable form of entertainment. After all, these are tunes meant to reflect the times. Consequently, their expiration date is almost as quick as that of a fast-food burger. The only way that most groups operating within these parameters manage to survive is through nostalgia.
Now, there are exceptions, and perhaps no greater one than Blondie. Make no mistake about it. They may have got their start within the CBCG school of early punk-rock. But, Blondie was a pop group through and through. Perhaps, other than The Cars, the very best of its kind. And, what’s worse, perhaps, one of the last of its kind.
The High 70s is a group formed as a celebration of those days when bands like Blondie enjoyed their greatest success. It feels only natural then that they would choose to cover Accidents Never Happen. The group brings its particular brand of brave garage-synth to the proceedings, injecting this with life and providing a reminder of what we should be demanding from ur pop artists today.
