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PUSSY RIOT

by Casey Moffitt
photo by Sacha Lecca

“The members of Pussy Riot walk into a bar. Each orders a White Russian. The bartender turns around and hands them a photo of Donald Trump.” Oof! This goofy little joke may sound harmless, but Pussy Riot has made a career out of poking the bear of authoritarianism, most specifically at Vladimir Putin of the band’s native Russia. The rotating cast of characters takes the biggest opportunities it can find to embarrass the Russian leader, whether during the Winter Olympics in Sochi or the World Cup Final match in Moscow, rallying against the oppression of women, the LGBT community and authoritarianism in general. Meanwhile, Pussy Riot’s music has taken a drastic turn recently. Instead of throwing fits in a punk tantrum, Pussy Riot has opted for more pop-oriented songs sung in English. Still biting and brutally satirical, songs like “Make America Great Again” and “Bad Girls” are also surprisingly catchy. 

BECK

by Casey Moffitt
photo by Peter Hapak

There is nothing about Beck that fits the blueprint of a modern-day pop star. Gangly and pasty with the vocal range of about half an octave, Beck had a high mountain to climb. But scale that peak he has, and he’s stayed perched on the summit for more than 20 years. He’s done it by writing quirky songs and finding sticky rhythms that grab your attention and don’t let go. They’re not aggressive. They’re not even danceable in many cases. Beck’s talent lies in taking these patterns, adding a ton of bells and whistles, and layering on top just enough melody to create songs that come together in his own peculiar way. The recipe is a disaster on paper, but Beck somehow finds a way to make it work and create something that is all his own. His music doesn’t fit a tried and true blueprint. And that’s the reason why it works so well.

INTERPOL

by Adam Hacker
photo by Jamie-James Medina

A totem of New York’s early ‘00s post-punk revival, Interpol has inspired legions of imitators with their brooding, indiscernible lyrics and slithering guitar attack. Paul Banks’s baritone paved the way for bands like The National to show the world how sad one man could be. In the beginning, Interpol stood out from their peers like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes in their formality. Karen O and Julian Casablancas wore biker jackets and threw beer cans, but Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler, and Sam Fogarino dressed to the nines and in their early concerts, moved almost cautiously on stage. Interpol’s songs sound like they could have been recorded in an empty concert hall, but the music is so intimate that anything else would have seemed way too much. It’s a shame that Carlos D left the band, but the remaining trio seem to be doing just fine for themselves.

BLONDIE

by Jake McKenzie
photo by Alexander Thompson

A former Playboy bunny named Debbie Harry was waiting tables and playing folk rock when she fell in love with Stilettoes guitarist Chris Stein. Soon after, Harry ditched her former folk faction to play punk rock — a genre she would later come to personify — with her new friends The Stilettoes. A change in musical direction led four former Stilettoes to form their own band and ultimately pioneer the emerging new wave movement of the ‘70s. Though they played two shows under the name Angel and the Snake, the final band name came from a cat-calling truck driver who would unknowingly capture the spirit of the band, their sound, and aesthetic when he referred to Debbie Harry as “Blondie.” Songs like “X-Offender” made Blondie a full-fledged success in Australia and the U.K., but they were regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until 1978’s Parallel Lines rocketed them into superstardom while helping to inject new wave into the mainstream bloodstream.

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