Todo Bien Todo Mal – GRÍTAME
Similar artists: Number Girl, MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS, Muro María, Foo Fighters, Jeff Rosenstock
Genre: Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Latin Rock
Singer-songwriters who get up on a stool and entertain an audience with stories while strumming an acoustic guitar are really something. They can do many things! But they cannot play rock n’ roll. Sure, they can attempt it, and people with enough talent are surely capable of playing the right notes or singing them in the right key. The excitement, however…
Rock music, in all its forms is all about movement. It’s a soundtrack to running away. No wonder why each new generation finds this sound exciting and able to speak to them directly. This is music for anyone who has needed to get away because they needed to ditch their troubles or, simply because they were bored with the life that they were living.
Todo Bien Todo Mal’s “GRÍTAME” is an attempt at penning and recording a song of escape, a teenage getaway story. But intentions are not enough to do this. The Spanish group take the reins and lead the tune toward its conclusion using an exciting groove, radio friendly pop-rock hooks and contrasting, emotional vocals. It’s a story as old as time, yet still as exciting.
Planet of Ghosts – Swarming Forms
You can learn wonderful secrets about life, or nothing at all from visiting a history museum. Most of your success at absorbing knowledge depends on you, and just how willing you are with playing along. Sure, for some, ancient statutes are just pieces of marble placed in their way. For others, they’re proof that everything meaningful has happened before.
Listening to to 1960s rock n’ roll could have the same effect, I’m telling you. Yes, if you simply focus on the first impression that the sound coming out of the speaker provides, you’ll decide that this is passe and unworthy of your time. But, if you listen to closely, if you dedicate your time and attention, you might end up surprised that all musicians aren’t just trying to replicate 1960s pop records.
Planet of Ghosts have fallen so hard in love with 1960s pop that they are using those sounds for “Swarming Forms” as if nothing in the interim decades has changed at all. There’s an element of gentle psychedelia to this; the vocals, with their call and response, are pleasant, and the recording is even nicely rough around the edges. But it’s not a tribute. It’s proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same.