The James Rocket – Winter Flowers
Stubbornness is a wonderful thing to have if you’re an artist or dictator, and a very difficult characteristic to defend in any other circumstance. Being stubborn about recording an entire album using feedback a la Lou Reed gets books written about you.
Also, if you’re stubborn enough to want to avoid certainty platforms like Spotify, you get people calling you a hero, as they do with Neil Young. And, of course, if you’re stubborn to chase one particular garage-rock sound without compromise, as The James Rocket does, you may well become a legend in the eyes of some.
And while the people who can put up with all of this deserve to be nominated for sainthood, the fact is that there aren’t many artists out there still willing to cause others a headache. It’s an era of sameness where tall poppies get chopped off and tossed into the pile faster than you can whistle a funerary march.
That’s why The James Rocket may just belong to the category of mavericks that you’re seeking. “Winter Flowers” is a tune whose sound brings to mind the warm, unpolished rock music of the 1970s, sans the five-note worth of five-minute guitar solos. It’s a song about determination, sticking to your guns, and all the things that salesmen, preachers, and politicians hate you for.
Full Flower Moon Band – Smoking Feat. Drunk Mums
There are certain groups of people that, I suppose, you feel grateful that are around, but also can’t help but feel that they’ve been taken for chumps. I always feel that way when I consider people who’ve voluntarily joined the army, as I do about those who have opted to pay money and join a fancy music school.
The best that the first category has to look forward to is a life where their limbs don’t get blown off. The second biggest achievement will be learning to play Persian scales at 200 BMP while being blindfolded. It’s all very impressive, of course, but you’re glad that you’re not the idiot having to do these things.
I fear that we sometimes forget how simple rock n’ roll can be, how few things you have to learn once you’ve mastered the basics and the fact that Lou Reed once recorded an album made up entirely of feedback. That’s why I like Full Flower Moon Band. They understand the beauty of minimalism.
Full Flower Moon Band’s “Smoking,” a song featuring Drum Mums, could very well be a tribute or part two of the Australian national anthem, “Smoko” by The Chats. But this doesn’t make it any less attractive. As it turns out, apart from swerving off the roads to avoid kangaroos or using their bullets to shoot venomous snakes, the Aussies have other thrills to keep them occupied. Full Flower Moon Band makes a great, simple noise, about great, nasty things.
