SOAK
What was I doing when I was 18? Certainly not churning out sublime, sanctuary-from-the-everyday-grind offering songs of heartfelt introspection and considered observation, wise beyond my years, and melodious beyond my newness to the game. No, I definitely wasn’t, and I definitely hadn’t been doing it for a number of years by that point; a number of years not much less than my first picking up a guitar. Bridie Monds-Watson has and is though.
Following on from a number of EPs and singles as SOAK, this year has seen Monds-Watson release her debut album, collating her youthful and musical experiences so far in a comfortably confident collection of soothing and soulful dream-folk ditties. At just 18, Monds-Watson is already evidently talented, and by the time she’s the ripe old age of 25 as I am, she will undoubtedly be several years into a fruitful career.
Scotty ATL
You know how George Foreman was so proud of his lean, mean, fat reducing, grilling machine that he put his name on it? Well, Scotty ATL is so proud of his home city, Atlanta, that he put it on his name. As a rapper, who wouldn’t be, with its so very rich, diverse, and well-documentedly prolific production of world class hip hop artists. Unless he’s just proud of being a member of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, but I don’t think it’s that.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you why you should listen to Scotty ATL, though, or his significantly sized back catalogue of mixtapes. No, instead I’m going to let Killer Mike do that, in the same way he told me, albeit through reading an interview with him;
‘I think he’s going to usher in an Atlanta renaissance sound. His music sounds like Atlanta progressed. It’s some real player shit. It sounds like early Outkast.’
Matthew and Me
As ever, I’m writing this entire feature, from start to finish, in one sitting – I’m not entirely sure why I do that – and I’ve hit a lull, but I couldn’t have timed it better, arriving as it has with Matthew and Me as my soundtrack. I’m kind of cold, lost in the innumerable thoughts I constantly have running around my head – particularly resonant at the moment are ones relating to the future and my ambitions – and looking out those rain covered windows again. Matthew and Me are made to soundtrack this.
You can hear the breadth of soundscape that, cited influences, Sigur Ros and Mogwai offer in their music in that of Matthew and Me. However, with Matthew and Me, it’s applied to a more intimate indie sound and more traditional song structuring, but that’s not to say they aren’t prone to exploring what’s beyond both of those at the expansive horizons of their influences. There’s a kinship here with The Antlers too, as they melodically toe the line of an almost comforting melancholia.
Demob Happy
As if to forcibly elevate me from my slump, like a stranger spying you sulking in the corner of a club alone and coming over to take you by the hand and lead you into the midst of the horde gathered on the dancefloor once more and show you the best time, Demob Happy arrive.
Not only have they done that, with their smoky grooves, strutting riffs, slinky melodies, and Era Vulgaris, uh, era Queens of the Stone Age robot rock, but they’ve taught me that ‘demob-happy’ is an actual term and not just the name of a rap group that could’ve been. It means ‘feeling elated because one is about to leave a stressful or responsible job or situation’, which is pretty apt the band; on the basis of my unknowing intro, and the fact they are the sound of shrugging the shit off and letting loose.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
