B-Side Guys

*Check out these artists and every other artist we’ve featured on the blog this month on our Spotify playlist for this month.*

This is a new edition of The Flock. People who love indie rock (in many forms) are going to find so much good content in this post. What is The Flock, you ask? The Flock is an idea that we had to help fans of a specific genre find multiple bands they love in one post. It helps us provide value to you, the reader, by putting more of what you want in one place. It also helps the artists. Fans of their music come to the page and become fans of other similar artists, growing their fan base more efficiently. It also helps artists connect with other artists who have a similar feel, so they can help each other out, work together, play shows, etc. Our goal here is to help promote artists that we believe in and want to see succeed. The Flock is a great way to help with that, and we’ve seen some really cool things happen because of it. Let’s get into this edition of The Flock.

Johan Danno – “Rescue Me”

“RESCUE ME started as two words in my heart as I went into the studio. Lost between what I was thinking and feeling, I wrote and recorded it in the studio as a way to save me from myself.” – Johan Danno

I just wanted to start the discussion with that quote, because it gets really interesting when analyzing the lyrics. The song starts with some really bold lines:

“Momma said take your time
when falling in love,
in your heart is how you’ll know when they’re the one but,
can’t see things clearly when the light go out,
just a fool for love when we start fooling around,”

I don’t know if you guys empathize with that, but I definitely do. The idea of “the one” gets really muddled once you actually start dating, and finding passion with people. It gets really easy to conflate love with lust, and truth with willful blindness. This fits in perfectly into those two words that Johan Danno speaks about in that first quote:

“Rescue me, rescue me,
cause this love is an addiction sticking to me
rescue me, rescue me,
cause we get what we want but not what we need”

Those two words, “rescue me” seems to be to be both a reaching out and in hope about a potential “the one” that could come along, and also a realization that when that is the attitude going into a relationship, you are liable to look for love in all the wrong places, and allow your addiction to love to keep you from finding someone who actually would be good for you. I could go on an on about the lyrics of this song, because they are so good and relatable, but another awesome thing that stands out to me in this song is the interesting styling. It has this really cool percussion throughout, which turns the vocals into a really unique cadence, somewhere between singing and speaking/pleading. Overall, this is an amazing song, and I can’t wait to see what other words pop into Johan’s head.

 

Punch Drunk Tagalongs – “Hazy”

This song really reminds me a good bit of one of my favorite artists, Hop Along. I think it’s the slightly emo/experimental sounding instrumentals, with the beautiful vocals that fluctuate from conventional to emotive. It’s funny because the lyrics somewhat match up with the previous song (non-intentional on my part).

“Call me if you please
I promise I won’t be a tease
I want to see your face
I’ll even try to go your pace
I can be this weeks craze
Minus the crazy, minus the lazy, but I might be
Hazy, I might be hazy ”

So again we seem to be talking about a potential love, and the hazards involved. The speaker seems to want to be with this person, but is still a little unsure of their intentions so they fluctuate between saying how much they want to see them, but also tempering their expectations. This matches up somewhat with what the band said the song was about:

“This song details the end of winter and the beginning of spring, which just so happened to be timed out perfectly with the ending of an unhealthy marriage and the unexpected beginning of a another relationship. Although the new relationship was not just something I was going to haphazardly jump into. Due to the circumstances, my view on men was quite hazy at this point, but as spring began and warmed up the air so did my heart to the idea of just maybe letting someone else in. So yeah I jumped back in.. although apathetically at points. “Call me if you please”.. Like yo we can hang if it works out, but no pressure because I don’t need no man”

As someone who’s been in basically the exact same position, this new understanding of what the song is about has taken it from a great song, to one of my favorite songs of the moment. Go check out Punch Drunk Tagalong’s album, “Hazy” on whatever music service you use.

Tinnedfruit – “Steal It”

Let’s get a little psychedelic/grungy on this one. I particularly love how the vocals kick in at the refrain when he belts:

“I only want to steal it
I’m never gonna need it”

I’m not entirely sure what this song is about. There are a lot of stream of consciousness thoughts regarding love, and family, and mental health, but the refrain doesn’t give us much evidence for what’s going on. That doesn’t really bother me because I love ambiguity, and also because I think the vocals are a secondary aspect of this song. The primary focus for me is the excellent guitar work that seams together several solos and riffs that seem to be like they shouldn’t fit together, and yet it’s perfect. It reminds me a lot of seeing the Oh Sees at Boston Calling earlier this summer without much pre-knowledge about them, and just being blown away at how much energy and technicality they were able to fit into songs that were the run time of punk songs. Tinnedfruit fits perfectly into whatever that genre might be called, and I am definitely going to be trying to get to one of their live shows.

Them Vibes – “Who Do You Love”

 

This song fits so well into classic rock that it reminded me of a riff that basically drove me crazy trying to figure out what it was. I know it was a song on the first Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but I can’t remember and it’s basically driving me insane. So there’s that. On a serious note, this is something that I didn’t know I needed in my life. The closest I ever hear to something like this are washed up cover bands at open mic night (no offense to them, they are better musicians than me). So hearing a modern band making original music that sounds exactly like it could fit into the 60s or 70s gets me so excited. It gives me “Them (good) Vibes”. *I know that was really cheesy*

It also has a memorable hook with the repetition of “who do you love?” Even though I love super complex, non linear music a lot of the time, it certainly is a nice surprise to have something that’s easy to listen to and memorable. Also, whoever did the production on this song deserves a lot of credit. I’m not sure if they actually used analog production equipment or not, but it certainly sounds like it. So regardless, kudos.

 

-Caleb