Widespread Haze – Know No
People go to fancy schools or acquire the companionship of mentors in a bid to learn to play certain music genres the right way. While studying, what they fear most is someone with experience telling them that, actually, despite all the effort, they’re not doing it right.
That’s an awfully sad thing because wonderful music is created, typically, when musicians do things the wrong way and do it on purpose. But try convincing the students! Not everyone’s the same way as Widespread Haze.
Most of the musicians are the same old-school followers of the Orthodox Church. They believe that any mistake will immediately be seen from high above and judged negatively. They believe that there’s a punishment just set up to be delivered to anyone who strays.
Thankfully, Widespread Haze are braver than most bands. “Know No” takes the blues and gives it a skank reggae groove that makes it resemble 90s acoustic-punk group Mano Negra. It all makes it sound like something that nobody is allowed to do, and that makes it all sound very thrilling. The verse part, in particular, should make you want to rise from your seat and should catch your attention regardless of what company you decide to stick this in. Kids, don’t do things the right way ever!
Jay the Owl – Wrong Way To Pray
A compass will always look to find true north. People will always wait for daybreak before heading on their way. Children will always cry for help from their parents. And in the world of Western music, everything will always return to the blues.
We’ve been told a lot recently how everything is, really, at the heart of it, one giant math equation. We now know that the apps that take up so much of our time only see us as demographics and stats that they must use to sell more of their advertising space to.
But if these kinds of rules govern everything, then popular Western music, something that has accompanied nearly every person over the last decades, must, eventually, come back to where it started – the blues.
Jay the Owl’s music is designed to remind us that if there’s one style of music that will never disappear completely, it is the blues. Cleverly, “Wrong Way To Pray” works to find the sweet spot between a modern, slick production and musical lines that seem to be guided by some ancient spirit. As long as there’s one single reason to shed a tear, we will have the blues with us.
