A Weekend at Ramona’s – Indie Movie
Genre: Indie Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Arguably the most influential guitar bands of the past 15 years have been the likes of the Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, The Vaccines. They played quirky, clever, youthful garage rock. Then, out of necessity, or because of a strong ear for what the public really wanted, most of these rockers turned their attention to creating arena-filling atmospheric pop.
The bands that had started as a way to honour these artists were left having to pick sides. Most of them ditched the t-shirts and jeans in favour of smart jackets and clean shirts. Most of them ditched the power chords and choppy rhythms for hip-hop production values and melancholy-drenched synth sounds.
A Weekend at Ramona’s sound like they want to be on the right side of history. Their single Indie Movie is powered by the simple, but effective power-chords that made groups like The Arctic Monkeys the critics’ darlings to begin with. This is a song about young love, loss, and the cut-rate strategies for solace.
Vangelism – Eighteen
Genre: Punk, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock
Getting off on misery as a young kid sure has its appeal. Besides, it is a taste to which so many forms of entertainment cater. There’s the depressing music, the disaster movies, books by existentialists, paranoids, and junkies. Frankly, I hated everyone who had any drive for achievements when I was a teen.
Those are special moments though, times when life plays out like a badly cast drama. The problem is that most people overcome those days, and forget about them. Take a glance through your notepads or journals and you may well be embarrassed. Look through the old photos and wonder what you were thinking about that hair.
Documentation is needed and this is just what Vangelism‘s Eighteen provides. There are two parts to this tune, both equally enjoyable. The first is a discourse a la Chumbawamba over a tense bass line. The second is the kind of chorus that bands might spend years polishing in the hopes of radio airplay. Being eighteen sucks and is not like anything else either. Vangelism managed the difficult task of capturing that.
