Vance Joy - Riptide (updated-Monday April 6th)

I HATE

Ugh, ugghhhhhh. Well today's post is about a "brand new" song introduced by "The Blend". They say he's an Australian "singer/songwriter" apparently singing about a girl and a motel. This is "Riptide" by Vance Joy, which sounds more like a new kind of candy bar (Almond Joy, anyone?). I was sure hoping that this incredibly bland and irritating song would go away. As I've mentioned in previous posts, "The Blend" will add a new song, and then probably use their survey to determine if they should keep it or not. So far, I've heard "Riptide" multiple times, so I think it may have surprisingly made the cut. *barf*. Now, I gotta hear this asshole's (harsh! he's probably a really nice guy!) psuedo-indie rawk wailings everyday. I swear, there's so many of these adult pop guys trying to sound like maybe The Decemberists (not really into them much either) or to a lesser extent (because they're just not all that great to begin with) The Shins. I have a preliminary image of Joy in poofy hair and suspenders, looking like a Dexy's Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen" reject. Of course, nothing again the 'Runners, whom are supposedly a good band, although I have not researched them further than their "meh" hit song. haha.

Dexy's Midnight Runners

Let the crap-fest commence: 

There's an interesting VHS appearance by a fake film called "Velocite" in the music video. They even packaged it as a Vestron film, how funny! Apparently there's not a whole lot of debate on whether its a real film or not (I think it's fake), but I found this entertaining Google+ conversation about it. I'm guessing the age group who would listen to this song would probably be too young to even know what a VHS tape is. The music video is extremely literal to the song, but in this case, the video is way more interesting than the song itself. I would suggest just watching it on mute. haha. VHS has had a slight resurgence in the past few years. Most recently, French blogger, Julien Knez wrote a fake article about VHS tapes, with new films and Tv Shows repackaged as such. This is such a fun project. It's interesting to see the ridiculous artistry that goes into a movie poster or VHS cover. The reinterpretations of the original poster art are always interesting to see.

Vance Joy (aka James Keogh) is a 27 year old and is from Melbourne, Australia. He toured with Taylor Swift in the USA, so I'm sure that laid a hand in his growing popularity. Do yourself a favor, and just listen to the following surperior Australian artists below:

UPDATE (Monday April 6th):

I would like to say after reviewing this song again (and while at work too), this definitely a much lesser evil than the many many other songs I hear at work. My apologies to Mr. Joy. I think the first few times I heard that (I guess) vibrato type of vocal style, I was immediately annoyed. This is a case of where (as said above), the music video can really transform a song. I see it as much darker and weirder than I when I originally heard it. I also think it's pretty extraordinary that this is his first album and he's already world famous, and not from Los Angeles or New York City (or the USA for that matter, so good for him! 

I'll get to work on my next entry after typing this of something worthy of picking apart its excruciating existence. I mean, it is Senior Discount Day at my store, so I'm sure the frustrations will be plentiful! Arrghhh.