
Sir Kingfish – Plan Man
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock
The rockers that actually manage to earn themselves a respectable career way past the usual shelf life of most of their peers are the ones that see the world in a bizarre, different way from most others.
Sure, these are the people that you might worry about if you were to encounter them in regular society. However, they are the ones around which small cults are built. Syd Barrett, Daniel Johnston, Brian Wilson, or David Byrne all had a unique way of viewing the world.
It was a very matter-of-fact way of seeing things. Like Sir Kingfish’s Plan Man sounds like someone flatly describing events as if they were explaining the rules to a board game. The early 1970s rock band on the road sound of the record is also remarkable. This may all be an elaborate joke of some sort, but unless Sir Kingfish let us in on it, we’ll forever have to go on and assume that this is the truth.
Trophy Wife – Involved
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Rock
This may end up sounding like a cliche, but finding places in media where authentic voices of young folks are represented is rare. Even more so when it’s the voice of a young woman. For the most part, media that gets pushed to the wider audience trades on old stereotypes that have been used to enough success over the years.
The young folks are either very cool, very brave, or very much have life figured out. This is all well and good, but for anyone hoping to relate to these, life will end up presenting many more challenges soon enough, and what they’ve witnessed is unlikely to offer them the tools to deal with those.
Trophy Wife’s Involved is that rare, authentic voice. There are few traces of cynicism as she sings about the difficulties of forming true and meaningful bonds. The indie-pop arrangement as well as the Boston singer’s vocals are smooth and filled with longing. This is good music for one of the most special times in your life, a time you are going to, most likely, spend in a state of confusion.