#MusicMonday Review - April 2024

[osornios]

#MusicMonday is the hashtag I've been using for quite a while to share music recommendations from up-and-coming artists. Always fresh, and always different, trying to look for trends before they become one. You can check March's review for more music.

What does getting lost in the desert, walking through the Campus, a story about nature, love, and just feeling good, have in common? All are the themes of this month's selection. Give it a listen, and dive in, with a word from the artists themselves.
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TV Cult – Empty Quarter

Stranded in the empty quarter
Run out of food and water
Stranded out here alone
But in a mirage I see home

We begin this month in Cologne, Germany for an 80s infused Post-Punk track about not being able to find something to hold on when you need it the most:

"Empty Quarter is about getting lost out in the desert. It's a bit about getting lost in terms of location but also in time.

It's kind of like getting lost from one's inner child (Stranded out by the park, Stranded out after dark). The childhood theme also comes from the title Empty Quarter which is a massive desert in middle east and not far from where I lived as a kid."

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Sun God – Campus

walkin through the campus feeling dumb
chewin on bubble gum
listenin to songs about the dangers of love
and no i've never felt it before
no i've never felt it before

From Philadelphia, PA, an Indie Rock track perfect for the summer, whistling tunes while skipping stones down at the lake, with no worries at all:

"I think the song is a reflection on being young and wasting time. It’s kind of a sunny weather song, and it’s pretty simple so we wanted to add a bunch of different sounds (layers of warbly guitar, synth, toy keyboards, etc) to make it feel a bit nostalgic."

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West Coast Caravan – Them Wicked Ways

Oh baby don't be harsh

From Antwerp, Belgium, let's listen to an Indie Rock song with a story to tell, up for the listener's interpretation:

"All the songs are quite autobiographical or inspired by something I saw someone experience that moved me.

Them Wicked Ways is actually based on a series of events that I and some friends experienced or are still experiencing in this 'wicked' world. We're trying to find a way to act good, which isn't always possible in everyone's eyes.

It was also the first song that wasn't structured like a 'little story'. Normally, the songs I write and we play have a beginning and an ending. Them Wicked Ways is the first one where I just wrote snippets of text that came to my mind and tried to glue them together so it would make sense to the listener, but open to his/her own interpretation."

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Andy Smythe – Leaves to Burn

No gospel to learn

No faith to confirm

No need to discern

The reason to yearn

Lovers we're torn

By the rose and thorn

Damnation to deeds

That make these hearts bleed

Look to the river

Is its soul with her

It winds like a ghost

Her spirit evoked

From London, England, a cool retro sounding Brit Pop about the dark depths of life, nature, and love. The tides of reason, distorted by the seasons:

"The track was inspired by my partner commenting that a neighbor who loves their gardening had 'no more leaves to burn'.

I then reimagined my childhood where I spent a lot of time working on farms and thinking back to some of the older men I worked with, who had spent their whole lives working the land. What would such a life be like, you are following a cycle of the seasons, planting in the spring and harvesting in the summer. What if they experienced loss in their lives, would the routine of laboring through the seasons compensate for it?

I'm also influenced a bit by writers such as Laurie Lee, Walt Whitman and Springsteen's writing style on Nebraska, I wanted to paint a panorama of love and loss, the earth and the sky, and reflect on how as modern people we view our connection with nature."

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Sugar World – For a Moment

i heard your voice
through the speakers
tried to call
couldn't reach ya
i waited up
in the bleachers
feeling dumb
over eager

later on
i was tired
took a walk
through the fire
caught a wave
in the ocean
 

Our last stop is Los Angeles, CA for some sugar coated Indie Pop about feeling good for a moment, doing the most trivial things, with the ones you care about:

"It was a combination of being inspired to write a surf rock song, and the lyrics came to be about change, and how situations in life are fleeting.

It's not necessarily about a specific time or person in our own lives, but it was inspired by the feeling of growing up and realizing that things are always changing and will keep changing.

In some ways it's a song about loss, and was inspired subconsciously by loss that we experienced in our own lives."

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Listen to them and much more on the complete Playlist

spotify:playlist:2IYRLjcwf2X9vC0QrI0b0P

See you next month!