The Lacking Permanence

Electronic drums, layers and filigrees of keyboards, and falsetto choruses make for some glossy synthesizer soul music that wouldn’t be out of place on a late Eighties dance floor.

It’s indie pop, but it’s also heavily inflected with soul, country, R&B, western swing, and a bad attitude.

The baker took one last look at the cake, sitting on its gold-rimmed stand on the veranda, the carefully cultivated gardens surrounding the Palacio Rioja visible in the background. If it weren’t for the two backpack stealthcopters leaning against the railing, it would be Instagrammable, hashtag noneofyourbusiness. The architect finished the final touches, and gave a silent nod. In a smooth motion, the two of them had their packs on and had plummeted over the edge, carefully angling away to not disturb the icing.

A collaboration of bad attitudes. The Melvins are the more disciplined of the two here but everyone’s affinity for big surly rock is running at 150%

This is salty, and tangy, and spicy, and sweet, like the musical equivalent of a Mexican tamarind candy. It sounds so Sixties and Seventies that it must be from Today.

Spiky little numbers filled with quicksilver guitar lines, the occasional horn section, punky drums and bass, and sing-song female vocals that sound like someone making fun of their bullies.

This is heavy pounding music that is pounding and heavy, also distorted, and pounding and heavy. Somewhat repetitive, but some of us like it like that, and pounding, and heavy.

Incredibly smart power pop overflowing with fat analog synth lines and enough earworms and hooks to launch a sonic fishing expedition.

A soft Texas breeze ruffled the grass along the banks of Belton Lake. Why not Lake Belton? wondered the hydrologist. Behind the trees, the aviator finished securing the paragliders. They had arrived with two, but would be leaving with three, which added a true twist to the logistics. Across the water, the sounds of Jamaican country music could clearly be heard coming from a raucous campsite. They were about 300 feet away, and had not been part of the plan. But if there were to be witnesses, then let them be the inebriated type.

The chauffeur peered at the rear-view mirror. The scattered reflection from the rain-slicked A7 revealed only headlights, no politely alarming Luxembourg police flashers. The Corniche bulleted down the roadway, the flutter of its diplomatic flags the only sign that it wasn’t standing dead still. Some miles away, in Ettelbruck, the authorities were coming to the conclusion that the altercation at Chez Fred had been a distraction. In the back seat, the jeweler closed the briefcase, satisfied with its contents.