Vincent Brue & the Long Branch Davidians – Tonight We Ride
Similar artists: Misfits, Dead Kennedys, The Doors
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Indie Rock, Garage Rock
The world is filled with weirdos and eccentrics. A lot of them used to think that the best way to use their oddities was by going into rock’ n’ roll. The worst kind of characters used to gravitate toward a style of music that praised crude humour, risque behaviour and dangerous antics.
While this has, for the most part, and disappointingly, changed, there are still some, like the hilariously christened Vincent Brue & the Long Branch Davidians, who believe in those values. For them, the doors to pop stardom are all sealed up. The lessons have been learned. They won’t have people like this anymore. But that’s alright. Legendary status isn’t bestowed by those who make up the pop charts.
Vincent Brue & the Long Branch Davidians’ “Tonight We Ride” is a demented, silly and possibly dangerous punk-inspired rock track. It comes equipped with horns and even a bit of a boogie groove that only helps make it more unsettling. It’s a would-be soundtrack of nights spent doing bad things and days in which consequences must be faced. Hooray for the deviants!
Cor De Lux – Syncopated
Similar artists: Wombo, Deeper, DIIV, Broken Social Scene, Sonic Youth
Genre: Post-Punk, Shoegaze, Garage Rock
Nothing used to come and go faster than musical trends. Nobody could predict them. Their impact would be severe but short-lived. They would then be replaced by something just as difficult to anticipate.
But musical trends nowadays tend to last far longer. By the time they’d ready to fade away naturally, they’re reintroduced by way of nostalgia. Blame all of this on the fact that musical artists are much more interested in copying the successful sounds made by others and, thus, invested in keeping that sound popular for as long as possible. Pop-punk or nu-metal made comebacks in 2023 because all of the musical artists were capable of making those kinds of songs.
Still, the only way to ensure some measure of immortality is to attempt to discover new, uncharted musical territories. It takes bravery, imagination and a good relationship with hopelessness to allow this to happen.
Cor De Lux’s “Syncopated” sounds like the work of DYI hypnotists willing to use themselves as test subjects. The music, which does owe some debt to post-punk and shoegaze, coordinates sound with the sole purpose of digging deep into the psyche of the artists making it and, through it, revealing their true nature. Of course, given the complexity of the human design, the results aren’t straightforward prose but impenetrable mathematical equations. Stick around long enough, and you may find yourself in this as well.
