
Cosmic Crooner – Popsicle Place
My theory is that every rock singer wants to become a crooner. They just keep it a secret until it finally overwhelms them, and the instinct to wail melodies and charm an audience takes over. They spend all their money on clothes, start smoking Gitanes cigarettes, and plaster their bedroom walls with posters of Ava Gardner.
I don’t think it happens just as soon as they start singing. No! Most singers are genuinely angry rockers before they start encountering an audience every night. Jim Morrisson really wanted to be Frank Sinatra. David Bowie fancied himself as something of a Jacques Brel. And, Brian Ferry looked and sounded like a lounge singer fronting a band made up of aliens. Let’s not forget Alex Turner, who has been making crooner records for a while.
Cosmic Crooner wears his heart on the sleeves of his very expensive coat. Popsicle Place in sound, as well as visual presentation, could be presented to audiences as an Arctic Monkeys side-project and few would contradict them. Classy, funny, and resembling a European romantic comedy from the 1970s, this is something to take your mind off your day-to-day business.
Zuffalo – Can You Run Out?
Rock music is a long-term relationship between the audience and the musicians. There’s always some give and take, as each party tries to maintain the level of expectation as much and as long as possible.
Rock singles are a run of speed dating. The musicians need to deliver a great opening line. Dialogue must be kept meaningful but short. It’s important for the band to make itself as desirable in as little time as possible. Bonus points if you get a chorus stuck into the brain of the audience members.
Zuffalo is one of the few that would deal well with speed dating. Their single Can You Run Out? It’s funk-rock not for the sake of dancing the night away but for expelling some nervous energy. It hits quickly, efficiently, then moves along, leaving the listener disappointed for having to dig through dozens of less successfully manufactured tunes.