Musical genres were great. You could, with the use of a single word, describe the particular bracket a band fell in to. Jazz, blues, soul, rock 'n' roll, classical, swing. Then people had to come along and mess with the formulas didn't they? Suddenly rock 'n' roll wasn't good enough. No, we needed rock, metal, psych-rock, punk-rock, garage-rock, glam-rock, blues-rock, indie-rock etc etc... then things got even more stupid. Genres merged, journos everywhere wanted to be the first to crown a new scene with a name or invent a genre (I still haven't found out what the hell trousergaze is) and you could just about call any kind of music whatever the flip you wanted and no one cared. People didn't stick to the rules any more. And isn't that just brilliant?! Barriers are there to be broken, and these barriers have been twisted, smashed, contorted, crushed together and set fire to. The world of music is a richer place for it.
Of course the problem with all this is how do you go about explaining a song in words? That rant was a prelude to my struggle to describe this new single from Liverpool artist Dan Croll. It's not unlike anything you will have heard, it's reasonably conventional, yet you can't pin it down. It's indie/pop/rock/trip-hop/synth-pop/krautrock/electro and, I dunno, maybe even trousergaze. Whatever, it's the end product of decades worth of musical evolution leading right up to the present day and includes elements from loads of eras. But bugger it, we'll use abstract terms like alternative or alt-pop and they'll work as well as anything. Not everything needs a label, but for your information, 'From Nowhere' is a very pleasant track that should appeal to many people, it won't change the world or ignite a new scene but it will sound good coming out of your speakers. So just press play and call it what the heck you like.
Dan Croll's website
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