The Lonesomes – Locket
Who would’ve thought it would be possible? It’s a new golden time for post-punk, a genre that had mostly been kept alive over the years by overzealous music critics and record collectors.
But it all makes sense. Post-punk, at least the version that is so popular nowadays, is the music of urban dissatisfaction. Nearly all songs in the repertoire feature one type of vocal, that of a cranky, youngish man who has had it with the world and is going to the pub.
The vast majority of these groups are from England. If you’ve ever been to England and enjoyed the weather, food or the tube, the dissatisfaction will make perfect sense to you. In fact, it’s the overseas bands that interpret this sound in the most interesting way.
The Lonesomes are from Australia. Complaining about the King of the Tube being too crowded wouldn’t make much sense. Matters of the heart, however, affect those in any part of the world and of all social standings. “Locket” is a tune about proclaiming your love, only to be laughed at on your face. It makes the singer mad and the rest of the band anxious to prop up his words of woe with dark, cavernous sound. It’s post-punk from Australia about never finding someone to care for you, and it’s very good, thank you very much!
All The Nines – Evil Dead
You can’t read what’s inside a pop star’s brain as they’re giving interviews, and that’s an advantage that all of them learn to use. It’s only when you read the interviews or the articles that feature all of the lawsuit accusations that you manage to put two and two together and figure out why so many famous pop songs are so mysterious. Would you really want to know the truth?
But what if you could? Would the pop stars get thrown in jail faster than they could finish their interview, or would people love them even more? Realistically, the widespread appeal of the singers would normalize some of their behaviour and their crimes. Realistically, we would finally get to understand the meaning of all the hit parade songs.
All The Nines’ “Evil Dead” is brilliantly funny and deeply unsettling, kind of like sitting through an audiobook reading of a rockstar that was famous in the 1970s. Over a post-punk instrumental, All The Nines’ singer confesses to everything apart from not throwing the garbage and knowing where the bodies are kept. If celebrity interviews were honest, they’d be something like this and be soundtracked by All The Nines.
