
The Mammoths – Blank Stare
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Lo-fi Rock, Indie Rock
Most people are quite plain. It takes little to figure out what they want. It doesn’t take a long time to see where they’ve been, and where they’re going. It’s why advertising companies have no trouble selling products to most people.
This is one of the reasons why someone that exudes an air of mystery is a beloved figure. Give a regular person a riddle that they can’t solve, and they’ll thank you eternally.
The time for mystery, however, seems to have run out in most areas of life. It’s an era of speed, of information distributed lightning-fast. Rock n’ roll, on the other hand, still needs it for figuring out.
The Mammoths’ Blank Stare is the Austin band’s early stab at the dark psychedelic rock. This is music designed to accompany you while driving into the night. It’s a tune that provides little information and few answers, and listeners wouldn’t want it any other way.
THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS – All That Fall
Similar artists: These New Puritans, Wire, Liars
Genre: Post-punk
Some musicians spend their formative years learning about harmony. It takes a while to figure out chords and why certain notes go together. It takes some time before one can grasp why songs are orchestrated in the way that they are.
These musicians then spend the rest of their careers learning how to avoid harmony. It’s a pretty difficult task. Just switch to auto-pilot, and you can easily slip into playing Beatles chords. Or, worse, you could end up playing the blues.
THE PSYCHOTIC MONKS’ All That Fall is the music of discomfort. Its angular post-punk made to sound as eerie and unsettling as buildings being raised to the sky or tires screeching on the roads. It’s also a way to uncover the subconscious mind. The Monks opted to use a Bowiesque cut-up technique for this one. The monsters that revealed themselves, however, must’ve always been there.