Cosmic – Cosmic Lover
Similar artists: Queen
Genre: Classic Rock, 80s Rock, Pop Rock
I’ve never been able to work out the appeal of tribute bands. Of course, like everyone else, I’ve tried to bribe my excitement with vast quantities of alcohol. But even that hasn’t worked.
Why would people like to watch folks dress up as famous bands and play their songs? I mean, sure, the musicians must be having fun. It’s a helluva exercise, plus they’re usually getting paid for it.
But if they’ve acquired all of this knowledge, why not use it for their own work? After all, all of the bands contained tributes and were wonderfully proficient musicians. Learning to play like them sounds like having received the best possible education.
Cosmic’s Cosmic Lover is one of the few bands willing to showcase their influences and dares audiences to accompany them on a new journey too. It’s not an easy thing to attempt, of course.
I’m happy to report that their love of the early Queen is transformed into something as precious, over-the-top, and carefully arranged as the original. Best of all, if this is a tribute, it’s a respectful one, a reimagining of what the British quartet might have created further down the line had they stuck with their prog-rock roots.
Tongues of Fire – Silence
Similar artists: Black Midi, Nirvana, Black Country New Road, METZ, Shame, IDLES
Genre: Post-Punk, Grunge, Gothic / Dark Wave
For music whose rules are so simple, there’s a shortage of great rock bands. Can’t every musician play rock if they really desire to? Of course. You could probably teach a chimp to play Smoke on the water. But that’s not the point.
Good and bad rock songs can, normally, be easily identified. You hear it in the first few bars of a tune. You noticed conviction or the lack of it. Once you’ve made up your mind, you’re unlikely to change it.
It’s the reason, perhaps, why modern bands usually come pre-packaged with a real sob story. Everyone’s an orphan, and every guitarist was forced by poverty to steal their first instrument.
Real energy, of course, has no way of being manufactured. It’s what makes Tongues of Fire’s tense, anxious Silence so appealing. It’s simple, blunt rock n’ roll about feeling like the walls are about to close up on you any second now. It sounds like the music produced by someone kicking back against those walls.
