Mud Whale – Nutrient Burn
I’ve barely made the grade when it comes to Biology. I can’t claim to be any sort of expert on the subject. What I have learned though, is that our bodies and minds work best when they’ve received just a bit less than their full capacity. In other words, like Keith Richards would say, you gotta starve a bit to get anywhere.
This notion, in much of the Western world, is lost on most people. Many of the great tragedies of our time, in those countries which, after all, represent a minority of the world’s population, are the result of overindulgence, overexposure, overstimulation. After all, people living in a surrounded fortress rarely die of starvation, heartaches, or suicide.
Mud Whale’s melodic alternative-rock of Nutrient Burn fixes on the idea quite well. We are the result of what we consume, and when we have too much, we end up spoiling ourselves. Beyond the theme, the tune is dominated by a great knowledge of dynamics, like a long-lost 90s alt-rock single.
Zach Amory – Teenage Dirtbag
You hit the ball out of the park with your first single, the world waits in waiting for your next step, and, then, as fate would have it, you have a fight with your record label who decide to bury you for years.
That’s that simplified version of Wheatus’ story, a very good band, best remembered for one of the best singles in recent decades. The catchy, funny, clever, and dramatic Teenage Dirtbag. Predictably, it’s a track that has survived its late 90s soundtrack counterpart to teenage summer blockbusters. It’s emo Cheap Trick.
Zach Amory’s version is notable because it breeds new life into a modern classic, with the help of some nifty production tricks, and also because it takes a special kind of spiritual alignment to deliver this curative garage rock in quite the right way. Amory swings for it wildly and nails it.
