Some music looks to the past and is happy to merely revisit past glories, some is more concerned with looking to the future and trying to push the envelope a bit to stay ahead of whatever future fashion might be barrelling down, to catch the wave of the next new musical fad before the waters get too crowded. Daydreamer sounds like it is concerned with neither of these things…or perhaps both simultaneously. For whilst it is unashamedly rock, it sounds like little that you have heard. There may be a few issues with production, the separation of the various sounds, the clarity of some of the sonic aspects but I prefer to see it as a punk attitude, a swagger-filled sonic attack that is more interested in landing the punch than with what gloves to wear…if you know what I mean.
You could probably argue that to throw a bit more money at such a record would make it a bit more palatable, open up its gnarly charms to a wide spectrum of the music buying community, but I would argue that in doing so you would lose some of the wide-eyed innocence and “so what?” attitude that makes the music so compelling. After all would punk have been so much fun if it had been polished up and made presentable? Would hardcore have made its point if it had calmed down and refined its diction? Has rock ’n’ roll ever really been about conformity, compromise and playing to the gallery? No, and that’s the whole point. This is all about the spirit of rebellion rather than pleasing the audience. Why give them what they want when you can just as easily give them what they didn’t realise they wanted all along?
Not My Problem sums this idea up perfectly, a squalling, squealing salvo of guitars, low-end bass lines, crashing drums and a snotty, sneering, searing vocal that both understands where you are coming from and pokes fun at you at the same time. Serpentine takes things down a much more grungy pathway, Four In One is built on a trippy descending bass-line, meandering through trip-hop grooves to blues downbeats via dystopian rock and roll and the title track is a strange, otherworldly slice of psych ’n’ roll.
One of the great things about writing for a site that is open to all genres and music made on all budgets is that I get to explore music that might not make it past the intern’s in tray at many of the bigger sites. Well, it is they who are missing out. Okay, Daydreamer comes with a lot of rough edges but who wants to write about what David Grohl had for lunch when you can spend an hour or two exploring something a bit off the wall. After all the future of rock and roll is more likely to be found in the wonderful back waters of the internet than on another rock-by-numbers Foo Fighters album. So, this might not be the future….but you never know, you just never know.
