have you ever been able to answer when someone asks you why you like a certain band or song? no? good, because i truly believe that you can´t answer this question if you´re totally hung up on music. you listen to a song and you just know… this is it. you just know.
nowadays people are so focused on appearance that the meaning of really good music seems to fade away, which makes it quite hard to actually find great music. a lot of “artists” these days are not bothered with making good and honest music. all they care about is having the perfect look and reputation. pick any country you want and check their current top 10 on itunes – what do you see? baby-boy justin bieber? britney spears and her shaved head? a rebellious rihanna? lindsay lohan who looks like something from lord of the rings? or even worse – the paint brush twins jedward ? who? exactly. it´s a phenomenon i will never understand.
it makes me rather sad that people, especially teenager, are so naive when it comes to music. lyrics seem to be the most unimportant thing to them as long as the artist looks good and the song has a more or less good beat. a friend of mine asked me once what “this thing” on my bookshelf is, and i told her it´s a signed copy the stornoway album on vinyl. her response: “who on what?” any questions? this should prove my point.
and just to be clear, the guys from goldtrip are certainly really nice to look at, but if you share the “it´s about the music”-attitude, do yourself a favour and play the videos once or twice without watching them. just try to get lost in the music. if you like what you hear, you´re more than welcome to enjoy the talented guys behind the music too.
so when goldtrip came to my attention on twitter, my musical world was saved. alex, joe and dom just released their first ep “i try” a few weeks ago and judging by this piece of awesome music, we can expect a lot from these guys. the last year has definitely shown that the best music usually comes from the uk. believe it or not but goldtrip just proved that once more. plus they´re from bristol (and not london!) which makes them even more worth checking out.
one thing i really love about goldtrip is their attitude towards their music/lyrics. there are lots of musicians and song-writer out there who insist on “their” meaning of a song. goldtrip are a nice change to that. they talked about song-writing in an interview and said the following thing about their music and the meanings of their songs:
“hopefully everyone can find their own meanings in these songs, for me that’s what song writing is about. to capture a moment in my life, and let it go for others to interpret in their own ways.” *
this is what makes me like them a lot as musicians. they don´t push you in one direction or another. they pretty much leave you alone. you´re not supposed to feel a certain way about their music, you´re free to associate whatever you want with their lyrics. and that´s what music should be all about.
of course the music usually leads the way to a songs meaning but there are songs out there which are not like that at all. a perfect example would be the title track of goldtrips first ep.
the ep kicks off with “i try”. a very catchy tune that you won´t get rid off any time soon once you´ve listened to it. lines like “i´m no broker for your money, i´m no lawyer for your sin” probably make you question every single relationship you´ve ever been in. but this song won´t let you get mad or sad, it makes you smile. dom´s vocals are full of hope and self-confidence, they are fresh and unique. it´s the perfect song to relax to when you´re out in the gorgeous weather, sitting by the main river, having a beer…
“burn to fade” is a whole different story. it takes a while to really get into this song. but the more often you listen to it, the better it gets. i guess the easier it is to like a song, the sooner you lose interest in it (that´s not always true though!) which means it´s not always a bad thing if you need some time to really enjoy a song. “burn to fade” took me little getting used to. the music is more mysterious and darker, the lyrics more poignant. put this song on repeat and you´ll learn to love it for sure.
the last song is the amazing “running out of love” – the perfect choice to end the ep with. if this song doesn´t get to you, i don´t know what will. again, it´s not a “happy song” either, but the music is so full of energy and zest for action that it makes you want to conquer the whole world. it actually makes you want to scream “you can´t keep me down” instead of just “don´t keep me down”. if you feel like throwing things from time to time, dig out this song and start screaming instead of destroying things. it´ll help.
goldtrip just showed me again that it is possible to find really good music out there, and that it is indeed hard to answer the question i asked at the beginning. this here was just my attempt at trying to get you guys hooked on their music. obviously there are probably much better descriptions of those songs somewhere on the internet but hopefully i was able to show that goldtrip really could be the next big thing.
i sure will plan my next uk trip around one of their live gigs but if you are in the uk, try to catch them at one of their upcoming live shows (check their website for dates).
make sure you check them out and stay tuned for some more live material.
joe, dom and alex will play an accoustic set for "songs from the shed" on 18th june and support bon jovi at the ashton gate stadium in bristol on 27th june (only a month away) among other future shows. let´s hope for some great music, amazing live performances and hopefully a soon to be released album!
unfortunately the “i try” ep is only available as a download. i´m no big fan of downloads because i rather have the actual item in my hands. so hopefully the album will be released on cd and vinyl too.
you can download the “i try” ep on itunes!
and now, go, listen and enjoy!
follow goldtrip here:
website - http://www.goldtrip.co.uk
twitter - http://www.twitter.com/goldtripband
facebook - http://www.facebook.com/Goldtrip
myspace - http://www.myspace.com/goldtrip
* http://www.whatstheruckus.com/2011/05/love-loss-and-indecent-exposure-a-conversation-with-goldtrip.html
(i didn´t intend to generalize anything, so this review is totally just my own opinion and i hope that no one will read too much into it but instead will explore goldtrips music on their own.)
