Treehouse – Clique
Similar artists: NOFX, Frenzal Rhomb, The Hives
Genre: Skate Punk, Punk, Alternative Rock
D’you know what frustration leads to if left undealt with? Skin rashes, bowel irritation, and endless sessions of screaming at your football team through the television. That’s a hazard to anyone and a terrible thing to deal with for everybody else.
But simply letting out frustration isn’t very clever either. That leads to getting beaten up, thrown in jail, and having your mug plastered all over the “not welcome here” lists in the nice burger joints across town. It seems like a scenario in which you, as an honest person, simply cannot win.
Maybe that’s why punk rock was invented. Sure, Joe Strummer wasn’t actually gonna join the Central American guerillas and fight the good fight. He wasn’t insane. But he could certainly write a song about his frustrations and get audiences to share it with their nervous energy.
What would Treehouse be doing if they weren’t alchemically modifying their anger into songs like “Clique?” Cutting off the heads of parking meters and rotting in jail, most likely. Instead, they just get to shake the tree of frustration, see what falls off, and use it in their plan to use punk rock to save others who are similarly challenged by their temper.
Divorce Culture – FM
Similar artists: Turnstile, Title Fight, Basement, Movements
Genre: Punk, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock
The few people who exhibit extraordinary emotional intelligence from a young age generally have better things to do than play in a punk-rock band, no? The days of having The Clash play at Dodgers Stadium are over.
Those folks to whom empathy and self-regulation of emotions come easily tend to become teachers and social workers. And, if they are less noble of spirit, they use those traits and turn them into gold by becoming lawyers and politicians.
And while that may bring about some good in the world, it certainly affects our chances of getting to hear earnest, grown-up rock in the future. Most pop songs lie to our faces. Few songs, nowadays, are made by people who actually sound like they had choices and picked being a musician over everything else.
Divorce Culture’s “FM” is an emotional, poetic punk-rock song. It sounds like someone who has just gone through an incredibly traumatic event, one that may change the course of their life, but who gets out a notepad and calmly writes down an essay about what it all means. It’s quite a special way to write a song, and, besides, it’s mighty catchy to boot.
