The Problem With Kids Today – Leather Jacket Blues
Genre: Punk, Garage Rock
Rock music nowadays suffers from quite a few problems. One of the more important ones, of course, is over-calification. Should someone who can truly play their instrument with great proficiency really play pop or rock music? Don’t they accept folks like that in jazz combos, orchestras or the circus? Luckily, The Problem With Kids Today don’t want any part of that, and the world may be better off for it.
Before you quote Rolling Stone’s famous, but not esteemed, list of greatest solos and guitarist, let’s try and remember how many great records were made through great enthusiasm and ineptitude. Most of them! The Beatles, Ramones or Oasis couldn’t play. All of the 80s soft-rock bands could and most true blue fans of music couldn’t wait to get rid of them. With that being said, you can always catch a show for Foreigner, featuring no original members, somewhere in your vicinity and your grandchildren will be spoiled to receive the same.
The Problem With Kids Today’s “Leather Jacket Blues” is a brilliant tune, a punk cliche turned into DYI cartoonish inspiration. It’s funny, it’s short and although there isn’t much of a tune to it, you’ll most likely want to play it again or try to get the band members’ phone numbers and befriend them. Hell, reading this review must’ve taken you longer than actually playing the song. This is always a good sign. The Problem With Kids Today prove you don’t have much other than will get you going in the music world.
Spiral Frank – No Man’s Sky
Similar artists: Them Crooked Vultures, Mark Lanegan, Russian Circles, Zeal & Ardor
Genre: Stoner Rock
Who are the great prophets of the modern age, and what kind of messages do they bring with them? If you were to go by the school books on which we were all brought up, the candidates would include folks who talked about love and understanding. But that’s hardly true. The prophets who really get through to the masses are the ones who talk about their righteous anger.
The grunge poets of the 1990s continue to loom large over any kind of music being made nowadays using guitars, loud drums and distorted vocals. Kurt Cobain or Mak Lanegan were Arthur Schopenhauer and Emil Cioran of their days, philosophers of hopelessness blessed with the right words, the right voices and perfect haircuts.
Spiral Frank’s “No Man’s Sky” is a perfectly alluring piece of modern grunge, and other than the fact that the singing recalls Mark Lanegan’s tortured baritone, there’s no gimmick here. Instead, it’s a tune built on the hopes that strong riffs, a good recording and some truthful emotion may be enough to draw a crowd and keep them interested.
