Vandoliers – Together We Will Sink or Swim
Similar artists: Lucero, The Devil Makes Three, Flogging Molly, American Aquarium
Genre: Punk, Folk rock, Americana
The folks who move from villages to the city are forced to make many adjustments. It’s not just the hustle-bustle of the streets, the neighbours blasting loud music, or getting food from gigantic supermarkets. In order for these people to flourish, get jobs, and get the money to afford their city lifestyle, they have to learn to act and talk the same way as the people who’ve been in the city far longer.
And, so, they cut their hair, powder their noses, and learn what kind of pair of trousers goes with what kind of pair of shoes. They also change the way that they talk. Their accent gets erased first, and they learn to blush every time that somebody recognises where they might be from. Sadly, they also lose what made them wild. That has often happened to great music as well.
Vandoliers’s “Together We Will Sink or Swim” sounds like great, natural village music. It sounds like a party had on mud roads with people dancing in their Sunday clothes. It sounds like a celebration of life. And, because of the fact that it possess these qualities, it can also be turned into a punk song, into the kind of tune that people can mosh pit to or have tattooed on their arms.
The Gluts – Cade Giù
Similar artists: Hüsker Dü, Fugazi, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Telescopes, Wire
Genre: Punk, Psychedelic Rock
For the respectable citizens who keep society working as it should, life is a long journey of trying to get accepted into clubs in which richer, even more respectable people are members. It’s a mad dash for them toward the top, with a sports car and a nice apartment as the ultimate prize for their struggles.
There are some who wise up early to the fact that they’ll never get accepted in that club. Not with any kind of money. Not with any kind of connection. They’re on their own, and the game is rigged to never let them win. Perfect! They can just set up clubs for themselves and they’ll keep their doors open for similar outcasts.
The Gluts’ “Cade Giù” goes for a riotous punk-rock sound from the word “go.” This is not necessarily music meant to attract fans but rather to keep straight and non-believers away. It’s confrontational, aggressive, and unwilling to be anything but pissed off about the state of the world. It’s not ready to negotiate. And, because of all of this, punk-rock fans may find hope in the sound of The Gluts. As the band’s motto goes: “Excess, surplus, overkill, overload!”
