jakson – there’s no such thing as paranoia
Rock music is missing great hype men unless you count grizzled rock stars encouraging that their audience takes tequila shots en masse. Most rock stars now have the charisma potential of insurance agents. Listen to any interview with the big stars of the moment, and it will feel like attending a poorly scripted multi-level marketing.
There are still hype men in other genres, hip hop most notably, and many of them are doing just fine. In fact, the need for a charismatic figure in music is so dire that, occasionally, pop stars will pay such personalities just to come and shout over the carefully crafted radio hymns.
jakson, a mysterious man who misspells his name and who does not resemble anyone you’d want to meet on a dark street corner, is a great hype man. His songs aren’t exactly written. They are spewed out with vitriol and with the commitment of a newbie actor getting a monologue ready for class. there’s no such thing as paranoia sounds like Mark E. Smith having a giggle, and we like it.
Wild Combo – Big In Brussels
There used to be a time that, if you happened to be a fan of Lou Reed’s work, you’d be ready to wrestle to the ground anyone who dared call Metal Machine Music non-music. Sure, the man who made it never heard it himself. Why would he? He knows what good music is. He wrote the Velvet Underground first album.
With the advent of the internet, however, non-music is a far broader niche to cover. The magic of modern technological advancements allows us to communicate ideas with just about anyone, anywhere. Some of us use this tool to listen to the weirdest sounds ever recorded and passed off as avant-garden sonic experiments.
The fight for a place among the music weirdos is more hotly contested than ever before. Wild Comb gets one of my votes, though. Big in Brussels sounds like someone recording a krautrock song, placing the speakers playing the song in the driveway, and then running over them repeatedly. It’s the best I can explain his work, but I’ve no way to explain my genuine appreciation for this piece of music. And, as we well know, when music does not fit into the popular spectrum, surely it is “art”.
