In keeping with yesterday’s theme of wanting to break shit — but imbued with a whole new spirit of positivity — today’s Blogarhythms is dedicated to playful anarchy and schoolyard revolution. I’ve been down with anti-establishment sloganeering since I was a little tyke shouting “hey, teachers… leave them kids alone” at passers-by as my Mom wheeled me around the local grocery store in a shopping cart. This fervor would reach an apex when I joined a sea of raucous protesters in yelling a cleverly reworded version of DMX’s “Ruff Ryder’s Anthem” (a song I wouldn’t otherwise sing along to) at Philadelphia Police officials.
To this very day I still enjoy a good kiddie-style chant-along though. Particularly one that takes “The Man” to task, promotes delinquency, calls for some sort of social unrest or instills a sense of Lord of the Flies-esque tribalism. Bands like Architecture in Helsinki and The Go! Team exemplify this sort of youthful anti-authoritarian spirit with their precocious sing-along choruses. It could be argued that M.I.A.’s entire style is built largely around such a format. French Electro duo Justice’s recent mega-hit “D.A.N.C.E.” relied on a children’s chorus to deliver it’s uniqely hedonistic but socially-aware message of dancefloor-bred freedom and brotherhood. And who could ever forget Trick Daddy’s “I’m a Thug?”
Certainly not I. And while anecdotes are fine and good, this post just wouldn’t be complete without a couple of new tunes that fit in with the theme, now would it? Of course not! Which is why I I’d like to introduce you to a pair of duos, Thedø and Snake & Jet’s Amazing Bullit Band, who (oddly enough) hail from the neighboring Nordic nations of Finland and Denmark. Both bands caught my attention with their own version of the sort of shout-along anthems this post is all about, although neither sticks particularly close to that formula for the remainder of their respective albums.
Thedø’s Olivia B.Merilahti and Dan Levy come out swinging with the appropriately-titled “Playground Hustle,” a rambunctious schoolyard chant featuring alternating choruses of girls and boys who angrily warn adults against laying grown-up gender politics on them delivered over a fife-and-drum drum-corps beat laden with Eastern percussion. The rest of their debut disc A Mouthful comes off more like a strange brew of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Chrissie Hynde and Fleetwood Mac, with a smattering of No Doubt and Debbie Harry thrown in for good measure.
Thedø “Playground Hustle”
The enigmatically monikered Snake & Jet don’t have as grand a purpose on the manic “Doom City,” an organ-driven call for flight from a less than hospitable locale delivered over a crush of kick drums, snare rolls, cow-bell and retro guitar soloing. They stay in much the same sonic territory — paying tribute to the organ-Pop, Garage-Rock, Blues-Rock & fuzzy San-Fran Psyche of the 1960’s while updating those sounds with synthesizers and other modern accoutrements throughout their X-Ray Spirit LP — but only lapse into shout-along rowdiness once or twice more.
Snake and Jet “Doom City”
Now, feel free to get yourself in trouble at some point today by yelling at an authority figure.
- El Keter
