Scott Lavene – Lord of Citrus
There ain’t much hiding from the world nowadays. Running away with the circus or even choosing monkhood in some remote mountain area doesn’t quite guarantee the same level of anonymity for those from whom the steady job and house with the white fence don’t hold much appeal.
For the ones unable to square up to society’s expectations and who don’t fuss much about sharing their private lives with the world, there’s still rock n’ roll, although that doesn’t pay or provide the perks it once did.
The rockstar status may be more restricted than ever before, but there’s a silver lining. This failed system does, occasionally, produce character-songwriters like Scott Lavene, part poet, part professional screw-up.
Lord of Citrus is as funny, melodic, and charming as anything he has produced so far. Ropes of lyrics get thrown around with ease and humor, as Lavene resembles the living embodiment of a great British sitcom character coming around to make a comeback as a singer. It’s one of the best things we’ve heard all year.
The This – Queen Majesty
People tend to blame indie-rock hipsters for a lot of things as if all the ills of the modern world can be traced back to an exaggeratedly well-groomed person with obscure passions, and a penchant for self-praise and overuse of irony.
Now, a lot of horrors can be linked to the rise of the modern hipster. But, let’s also thank them. One of the things for which we should be grateful is the current mashup of styles and genres on festival stages, in playlists, and in the styles of many of the most important modern bands. For better or worse, the hipsters killed the music genres, before finishing off the old music industry system.
If things had gone any other way, we might never have had The This’ Queen Majesty. Punchy, melodic, and charming, this sounds like a house party where gallons of caffeine has been the preferred beverage. The song is, in fact, a cover of The Impressions’ Ministrel an the Queen, a soulful 1963 classic featuring Otis Redding. The This erase any trace of the original and, in doing so, restitch it back together in a completely new form.
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