There's More Than One Way To Rule

There are just so many ways to rule.

And I don't mean "rule" as in "leader of people, Queen Helen Mirren." I mean "rule" as in "that rules!" (I've been on an 80s slang kick this week.)

For instance, you can rule in the manner of Patrick Wolf, creating music that makes you sound like the male Fiona Apple. You know, all smoky vocals and unexpected drum beats and sultry piano playing.

Oh, okay... that's not all there is to Patrick Wolf. On a song like "Get Lost," his voice just begs to be part of 80s new wave. I can't make a one-to-one comparison, but he sounds like he'd be right at home with Robert Smith and Morrissey and that guy from Human League. One of the best things about his music, really, is that it's recognizable as pop and instantly accessible, but it doesn't sound like anything else around right now. It's like... I had this friend Steven Kidd in high school. He resembled his sister and his brother, yet his brother and sister? Looked nothing alike.

So Patrick Wolf's music is like Steven's appearance. It's pieces of The Cure and Fiona Apple and even Garbage, but it isn't exactly like any of them (and they aren't exactly like each other.)

Does that make sense? It's after midnight. Close enough.

Back to my original point... another way to rule is the Miranda Lambert way. It's not for nothing that Slant Magazine called her "a country music legend in the making." Just half a listen to her current single "Famous in a Small Town" indicates how sophisticated she is. "Everybody dies famous in a small town," the lyric goes. Good point. Everybody being up in your business all the time may be annoying, but it also means you'll be remembered.

I'm just discovering her catchy, rebellious, emotionally open songs, but I wanted to pass along the news immediately. As the title of this post suggests, she... um... rules. (And having a voice that recalls Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks is always fine by me.)

If you like country music, Lambert may be just the thing you need.