Leon Bridges and Shopping

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I went to go see the legendary garage rock band The Sonics a few days ago. I mean this is Austin, so naturally you’d expect a ton of young rich white kids who try their absolute hardest to look poor to gobble up all of the tickets but The Sonics are old, so there was also the chance that I’d see my uncle there rocking his best James Brown outfit while sitting creepily in the corner and sipping on Crown Royal.

I’m just glad that there weren’t a ton of young frat boys there in togas chanting loudly for Louie Louie and attempting to play beer pong on the speakers. What I did see was a nice mixture of hipsters and old white dudes who had their Hawaiian shirts tucked in way too tightly in their super starched Dockers. I thought the point of buying Dockers was that you never had to iron them? Oh well, I can’t give them too hard of a time as I totally see myself wearing the same outfit 30 years from now when Muse comes to play a reunion show at Emo’s during SXSW.

The point of all of this is, reacquainting myself with The Sonics has made me a little bit nostalgic for an era that even my mom was a little kid in. The music and the times were simpler then but that’s not always a good thing; see rising star Leon Bridges. First off let me say that I dig his style, as far as clothing and his hair goes, but musically he adds absolutely nothing to the 50’s and 60’s Rnb genre that he is clearly um…borrowing from. He has a great voice and the music is flawless in its imitation of that era, which is great if all you want is to be reminded of that time and actually have new songs to sing along to. But this is 2015, we want to hear songs that are relevant today. I need to hear songs about getting your girl on the side pregnant and having to tell your main girlfriend about it (Usher) or hear songs about how you beat the rap for peeing on a girl in a video (R. Kelly). I don’t ever see there being a public movement to make Coming Home the next National Anthem. Don’t get me wrong, I like Bridges but I’d never pay money to see him live; at best he’d get some play during a dinner party where I was trying to get some hipster girl to sleep with me afterwards but that’s about it. Actually, no I’d still throw on some 2 Live Crew for that, gotta keep it 100. I rate Leon Bridges as kind of WEAK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrKkqE9p1o

Next up is Shopping, a fun British post punk band who has simple chords and melodies. They won’t take the world by storm but if you want to hang out with cute girls who wear sleeveless jean jackets and drink PBR because they actually think it tastes good then you should check these guys out. Their best songs are You’re a Sort and In Other Words. As of right now I’d rate them as kind of FRESH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAwUnniv7eI&list=PLMiySkMov7nh0K5aIv1Zfh3EBx3YRSsx9&index=3