The Time Has Come to Rock & Roll by Wyldlife (Atlanta, Georgia)
When I took over Let’s Get Physical last December, my intention was never for it to become a venue for my (perhaps not so) sly castigations of the CDs, vinyls, and tapes that are mailed to Dingus HQ and to my Queens apartment. So when I get a CD like Wyldlife’s The Time Has Come to Rock & Roll I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do. First of all, I hated this album. But I could also see that someone might really love this album (which probably makes me hate it even more because everyone should hate the things I do; everyone!). That’s because there really isn’t anything wrong with it: I just find it intrinsically unappealing.
I wasn’t going to write anything at all about The Time Has Come to Rock & Roll because doing so seemed mean spirited, and also because letting my own personal tastes taint my writing to such a venomous extent seems like bad music journalism. The last thing I want is for the readers of Dingus on Music to think I am a bad music journalist. But then I realized that the song I was listening to is called ‘Cowboys and Slutz‘ and that I have a moral obligation to write about Wyldlife. On the surface, Wyldlife kind of sounds like a (admittedly catchy) pseudo-emo, power pop act from the early 2000s, but there’s something even more sinister at play. A beer chugging machismo lurking unpleasantly behind the veil of angsty emo innocence.
Let me apply some counterfactuals: ‘Out on the Run‘ sounds like if Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins were to join forces with Fox and Friends-era Hank Williams, Jr. ‘Sonofabitch‘ is a version of The Strokes that forms in a Milwaukee high school in 2004. ‘Trash‘ is what Big Star would probably sound like if they still made music (thank God for reckless driving?). And if you were about 20 drinks in, ‘The First Time’s the Worst‘ could totally pass for Icona Pop covering Glassjaw (haha jk wtf is Icona Pop???).
Let me make some hyperbolic statements about The Time Has Come to Rock & Roll: This album is people who call themselves libertarians. This album is someone telling me that they don’t “get” Animal Collective. This album is someone saying that The Dark Knight is the best movie ever made. This album is someone asking you if you have Asperger’s. This album is taking out an acoustic guitar at a party and playing Oasis. This album is Oasis. This album is correcting your pronunciation of “Nietzsche.” This album is bad(?).
Honestly I’m not so sure, because I can think of at least ten people I’ve met in the last year who I’m sure would absolutely love The Time Has Come to Rock & Roll. Are my opinions any more valid than theirs?
Nope.
Besides, ‘Trash’ is pretty good.
Okay fine, these songs are sort of catchy.
Fuck you, Wyldlife.
get physical if…
-you have to
-you have ever voted for Ron Paul
-you are the person who adds music to reality shows on MTV
just download if…
-you have to
I’m going to call this…
wildlife
@hemlockshaw
