Cerb – Mind
Genre: Alt Pop
Similar artists: Depeche Mode, The Cure, Crystal Castles
For many people, sadly, pop music is the closest thing that they will have to the experience of meditating. It is a shame because the benefits of actual meditation are tremendous. But pop music will do. Certainly, when well designed and at the moment that the listener is in the right mood, it can spark the imagination and put the mind at ease.
The synth-driven bands of the 1980s certainly built their work on some large What ifs. This was, after all, supposed to be the music of the future. In this brave new world everyone would have flying cars, dirty sex with obedient robots, and guitars would be outlawed. Oh, what a place to live in.
The world is still dreaming of the future that 80s synth heads were imagining, as can be observed on Cerb’s Mind. Tense but danceable, the song drives you from one club in the sky to another. This is a world of future socializing done through dance moves, not words. Guitars are still outlawed. It’s worth meditating over.
Tripping Jupiter – Lipstick of the brave
Similar artists: Elton John, Tobias Jesso Jr, Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Adele, King Princess
Adult Contemporary, Classic Rock, Alt Pop
Joe Strummer was right about a lot of things. One of these was his assessment that people pay for rock stars to strut their stuff out of a desire to see people just like they behave with supreme confidence and work together within a band unit to deliver a show. In a world of almost perpetual chaos, indeed, it’s a comforting thought to know that someone who is just like you have been able to overcome their own shortcomings and shyness.
Everybody needs a hero, even though a lot of us don’t like to admit this. These figures don’t just have to possess otherworldly confidence and a larger-than-life personality. They don’t even have to play on the Good Guys’ side all of the time. It’s often not even important if they manage to do their job better than anybody else that is available. However, what they must surely do is give a message to the people in the crowd. Their art has to touch them enough that these people exclaim, “I think that I could do that!”.
Having someone show you the way and give your courage is a tremendous thing. Tripping Jupiter’s Lipstick of the brave is a tribute to Tim Curry, David Bowie, Lou Reed, and all of the rest of the glam-rockers who must have made millions of misfit kids feel like they belonged to a club. Musically, the slow-paced pop-rock number is reminiscent of Roger Waters’ solo material. The song is as impassioned as Waters’ anti-war songs, but, in this case, the real battles have already been fought and deserve their own tribute.
