The Last Gray Wolf – Kentucky Telephone
I’d like to think that when things get really bad, I’ll be able to have a sense of humour about it all. Someone will ask how I’m doing, and I’d just shrug, smile, and in this way let them know that it’s not all so bad. It’s fantastic to maintain these kinds of hopes, but chances are slim.
If things like pop songs do anything, it is remind us to keep our composure. Someone lived through those events and made it out alive intact to put into words that can be chanted over a beat. That’s something, ain’t it? That’s the kind of thing that The Last Gray Wolf might do.
But the fact is that even getting to live through a horrible, colossal event and making it out alright is a luxury. Most people’s hell happens slowly and daily. You don’t know when it starts and when it stops. You get no chances at refection or redemption.
The Last Gray Wolf’s “Kentucky Telephone” is the kind of slow, folkie indie-rock that seems fit to accompany the worst day of your life, provided you somehow managed to chuckle through it all. We all wish we possessed that composure. Maybe it sounds this way because, in reality, the song is about slowly losing touch with one’s roots, a process that is much slower and more treacherous. But like Marc Boland, The Last Gray Wolf makes all troubles and disconnect sound like a gas. It’ll all be alright. Things will pick up, and so will the person on the other line.
Your Local Blue Smith – Serpent Canyon
If I wanted a dose of reality, I’d just shuffle into the supermarket, sit in the frozen aisle and talk to strangers about the local elections and the rising price of peas. I’m sure that this kind of attitude would make me plenty of friends, each ready to discuss how badly things have gotten.
But what would you be left with besides the pleasant company? What sounds would be left lingering around your brain for the rest of the day? Certainly not anything as lush or mysterious-sounding as Your Local Blue Smith’s music.
Nah, give me impossible dreams and make them within reach! Give me something to chase, even if it isn’t anything that I’ll ever be able to catch! We demand fantasy, magic and illusions, and demand you make them accessible, now!
If you’re not in the mood for dreaming, life’s really been playing a trick on you, my friend. Take a healthy dose of Your Local Blue Smith’s “Serpent Canyon.” Travelling from far-off places from the comfort of your couch is what the band offers, and the music’s strong enough to keep you entertained and looking for ages. This is psychedelic-rock for the rare variety that doesn’t require a vocalist to tell you the facts or spell out the riddle. And that’s better than a trip to the supermarket any day,
