The Shattered Mind Machine – Clean Teeth
People are still shocked by anger, and acts influenced by it nearly always get a response. That’s, perhaps, why so many talk show hosts fake anger on television every night. They know it will get a rise out of the audiences at home.
And although so much has been written about the reasons why punk rock came to be, look no further than boredom. It was boredom with music, rock stars, political figures and the news. But it was boredom with all the things supposed to make you excited as well.
You have to trust the artists who tell you that not much is helping them be inspired. You need to trust them when they tell you that their songs are inspired by the feeling that they get every time they have to talk to a dull, uninspired individual about the weather.
The Shattered Mind Machine isn’t aligned with punk rock by virtue of the band’s distorted power chords, only. “Clean Teeth” sounds like the declaration of a person who has had just about as much as they can take of optimising their existence and not getting any thrills back. It’s an anthem about how unimpressive the modern Western world really is.
Jim Lomonaco – Shadow People
It’s true that there are many people who find themselves when they develop a niche interest and enter a community dedicated to it. Most of the punk rock bands were formed this way, yeah. But so did dangerous political organisations and nerdy Dungeons & Dragons sessions.
It’s not always all it’s cracked up to be. And many of the folks who consider submitting their application take a look around and run the other way. Even the niche clubs where people wear shades in the dark and outfits seemingly belonging to a family of Transylvanian tax collectors have rules and regulations.
The coolest scenes have rules, regulations and a hierarchy just like any other place. The coolest people are the ones who don’t belong to them. They just float on by for the tunes and the snacks once in a while.
Jim Lomonaco’s “Shadow People” is a well-written tune driven by a powerful voice and musically inspired by classic punk rock. Lomonaco sings, ironically, one would presume, about unbearably cool people of the night and the need to imitate them. But Lomonaco has his own thing going with his Spingsteenesque one-man-punk-rock-band gig. He’s cooler than the folks smoking cigarettes in the dark alleyway.
