Recommended Artist: Hammock

People say something good happened with Rock ‘n’ Roll. I bet someone reading this has got some ‘cool’ print of a ‘cool’ photo of ‘cool’ Elvis looking particularly ‘cool’. People praise Rock ‘n’ Roll for the same reasons the Blues released a generation from slavery – it released a generation from thick lapelled suits into 501s. It was all about release – Freedom, man! (Fucking hippies.) The thing is, Rock ‘n’ Roll completely enslaved the song writer.

Now any bloke armed with a G chord and a C chord thinks he can write a chorus, a few verses and, if he’s feeling adventurous, a bridge and he’s got a song worth playing at some acoustic night at Jesus. Its always verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. Every fucking time!!? Why does there even have to be a chorus?! I guess this a question the genre of ‘Post-Rock’ tries to address. I guess ‘Post-Rock’ breaks the constraints that Rock music attempted to break – and failed. Still, Rock ‘n’ Roll isn’t all bad.

Artist’s names changed from ‘Charlie and his Orchestra’ (look them up) and ‘Count Basie’ to ‘The Coasters’ and ‘Bill Haley and His Comets’! I mean, Fuck thats cool! You go from images of big-bands in pastel coloured polyester suits to images of things going really really fast in space or in California. And no more pastel colours! No, no, no! We’re talking Fiesta Red, Olympic White and Ocean Turquoise. Things even started to come in ‘Sunburst’?! All these words.. full of power, full of pace, full of stuff old people couldn’t cope with. Its no wonder everyone started to smoke pot in the 60s – they all needed to calm the fuck down!

Its impossible not to calm down when you listen to Hammock. Which is a good thing for all you neurotic types who did all your weekly essays. Just think about the name – Hammock. Remember all the times you’ve been in a hammock. That time on your gap year in Thailand – the one where you couldn’t remember how you got there, you didn’t know the three people lying next to you, you certainly didn’t know what chemical was coursing round your body, and you definitely didn’t know why the fuck it made the stars dart about in time with the Faithless track blaring in the background. Remember that other time? The mid-summer party you really weren’t going to go to, but you were so glad you did? Remember how every scene just blended into one? The glance over to see the parents dancing to some Cole Porter song; the realization of just how beautiful the person next to you really was and how glad you were to feel the hammock pushing you closer to them; the fact that you could see the lights of towns in the distance –

you can still remember some pedant saying ‘thats over 26miles away’; the smell of gin on her breath, of firewood and chlorine, of dust. They’re all thoughts you can wrap yourself up in for hours. Little comfort thoughts.

I don’t really need to talk about this band – they just are what they say they are. Hammock.

You really should get one.

LISTEN TO ON MYSPACE: CityInTheDustOnMyWindow

BUY: Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow

OTHERS YOU MIGHT LIKE: Kyte, Three Month Sunset, Mum. Oh, and Sigur Ros.