Finding new bands you enjoy can be a tricky business. A bit like making new friends as you get older really. And I’m not talking about bands you just like in passing because they have a nice ‘vibe’ or because the lead singer reminds you of a long lost ex you still haven’t forgotten – prob an asshole, just move on dammit.
Those are easy to find. You just have to keep listening – and training your streaming algorithm like a mindless pug til it finally understands what you want from it.
I’m talking about a rarer type. Bands that get you excited when you hear the first notes of a song coming up on shuffle mode. The ones that get you off your couch and go to the record store to try to find their shit. Hell, even make you consider (and fail for it everytime) driving a few hours or catching a flight to see them live.
We all have one, and for your sake I hope you have at least a few. I tend to collect them – some have emotional support animals, I have my musical support system.
I was lucky enough to find one of those not so long ago actually. Pug did its job and played me Can’t Be Still by Illuminati Hotties out of nowhere. I liked it enough to press the little tilt thingie and that was pretty much it, moving on to the next song and refocusing on pretending to work hard enough for my boss to stop giving me the side eye of unemployment. But the next day, it showed up again – I like a song with a will to be heard – and before I knew it, I was smiling and bopping along with no cares in the world. Oh. OH. Okay I need to check more of that, because if there’s a pretty good sign you found one of those bands is how easily they can snatch the wheel away from you and you’re more than fine with it. Only took a few listens through the discography to hand IH my car keys and even permission to toy with the sacred radio.
Long story short, I’m still able to find new bands – yay me. And as it always seems to happen in my reality – it’s odd not gonna lie – that all happened only a couple of days before Illuminati Hotties announced a new album : Power.
Enough rambling and fast forwarding to today. Power is out – pun unintended but I think my subconscious was too tempted.
6 o’clock, head buried in my coffee cup and I’ve got a big day ahead in my own little musical bubble. Three artists I love releasing an album today. Eeny meenie miney nope. It’s too early for that shit and I’m not taking chances, Power goes first – I know my morning vibes and Sarah Tudzin is the least likely to crash my car while I’m still half dozing off. Spoiler alert, the sun is soon setting over here and I still haven’t listened to the other two.
Can’t be still starts playing and the instant smile on my face tells me I made the right call. I bask in that bubbly pop vibe recalling the sweetness of those first memories hearing it – yeah it was 2 months ago but I like being dramatic. I love that it’s the opener because it’s such a perfect mood setter – for your day too, you should try it instead of smashing your alarm clock like a caveman.
We go on and I Would Like, Still Love you drums help the caffeine kickstart my system – oh we’re gonna have a good day you and me little album. By the end of Throw (Life Raft), I’m settling in the comfort of my little joy bubble.
Feet up on the dashboard, I relax and let Illuminati Hotties drive me around into the morning light because there’s no more doubts Sarah knows what she’s doing and it feels like I might have found yet another safe place to spend my day in.
Rot makes me look up for a minute, like a weird noise in the engine. Nah probably nothing. That guitar though. Hmm.
I realize pretty quickly it will be one of those albums I’ll never be able to choose a favorite song from. It’s just bangers after bangers guys. It’s sweet with no sugarcoating. It’s loud but not boisterous. It is just real and true. It’s about the little things you can only relate to and those songs almost feel like an open door or an invitation to hear what you want in it and make them yours.
By the time Didn’t starts playing, it hit me – could I be smiling more seriously? Song after song, I just kept on smiling to the point it moved me honestly. There is so much joy shared here.
But it’s not simply the bubbly joy transpiring from those pristinely crafted melodies, there’s something right there under the surface. Themes you can relate to, words that somehow echo your inner dialogue, those truths to stare down at and feelings to face – but always in good company. Emotions are somehow building up for sure.
Sarah describes Illuminati Hotties as tenderpunk, and I love that Joey Ramone quote that goes
‘For me, punk is about real feelings. It’s not about, ‘Yeah, I am a punk and I’m angry.’ That’s a lot of crap. It’s about loving the things that really matter: passion, heart and soul. ‘
You can definitely hear and more importantly feel that legacy on this album, in all tenderness indeed, but more than that, kindness actually. Real feelings. That’s the thing. The more you listen, the more you hear, the more you get.
Here’s that damn noise in the engine again. Emotions spurred once more in a single strum of that guitar on You are not who you were. I love when the music alone conveys its intent and I have this wild theory that sound waves and brain waves align or some shit because I have no other way to explain how that could work. And it does work I can assure you. I experience it on a regular basis given that English is not my first language (nor my second, and yes that’s why your eyes are bleeding right now), I can’t always catch every lyric on first listen and yet I’m never too far off from the truth.
Rambling, again. Sorry about that.
Back on track and If IH is still at the wheel, we’re definitely taking those curves a bit more aggressively during What’s the fuzz and YSL. You can feel the build up leading up to Power. A progression that (should) moves you and make you appreciate even more the eerie release provided by that song.
And so it ends. Key off the contact, car stopped on the side of the road, my stare lost in the distance coming to the realization that the journey was much more intense than I first thought. Everything changes got me way more emotional than I’m ready to admit.
After that first listen, I felt compelled to hear it all over again and everything sounded just a little bit different – or a little bit clearer. Like pieces of a puzzle that you couldn’t quite connect before seeing the big picture. And the more I listened, the less those emotions were hiding right below the surface but finally sitting proudly on top of everything else, making all the sense at once. Songs with a will to be heard. Ha.
Maybe it’s just that me no english, or maybe it was more than that. I truly think it was more than that.
Music that makes you backtrack. Music that stirs something inside. Music that takes you places. Music that feels relatable. That’s pretty much the mark of any great music for me – and that’s definitely how Power feels like. Not a good album but a great album.
And if I had to sum it all up, for the joy and everything in between, for lack of better words, I’d say that it’s an album that sparkles in the dark – in so many ways. Maybe that doesn’t make any sense but you’ll have to hear it for yourself to get it.
Song after song I couldn’t help but feel that I’d probably go back to it often, definitely a comfort album in the making. Not in the way you think of those though. Less of a comfort hug and more of a falling flat on your ass moment and a reaching hand helping you up while laughter rings in the air with a whispered promise: ‘Let’s fucking go, come on.’
Yeah it hurts some, but you still have that smile on your face. Everything stings a little less when you share it with good company. And that’s the kind of connection you sometimes can find in music. Thank fuck for my musical support system.
I said earlier it’s not easy to find new friends as you get older, well, I wasn’t expecting to find a friend in an album.
So thank you, IH. I’m so glad pug did its job.
