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Jack Penate - 'Spit At Stars'

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Fraser McAlpine | 11:14 UK time, Friday, 13 April 2007

Jack PenateI don't know if any of you have reached this conclusion on your own, and if you have, please don't roll your eyes and go "well, DUH!" too much... But there's a fundamental law we should all be aware of. It's about reading about music, listening to it and enjoying it, and it is this: NEVER trust music journalists.

Now, before you rush to the comments box to say "hey, how can you, a music journalist, say that? Why should we trust you? Especially now you've said that, eh?", I should add that I'm not talking about whether you can lend us money or tell us secrets or stuff like that. As a rule we're no better or worse than anyone else in these areas.

No the main thing you need to be watchful for is when journos try and sell you a new song by LYING about which other acts it sounds a bit like. They do this for a lot of reasons, to try and make you curious enough to go MySpace/YouTube trawling for the song in question, to make the artist seem to be part of a glorious lineage which stretches back many years...but mainly they do it to circumnavigate the 'taste' tripwires they imagine exist in your brain, which keep new music from taking root in case it sounds like someone you actively dislike.

So, in Music Journalism World, Oasis sound like the Beatles (they don't, not really), Joss Stone has a great soul voice (FOR A DORSET TEENAGER, that's the bit everyone forgets to add), and the Twang are...some over-earnest drivel about the true spirit of rock 'n' roll (*bangs face on desk until desk bleeds*).

And Jack Penate - a man who writes uplifting, joyous, catchy, chorus-heavy pop songs just like McFly do, and the Feeling do, and Mika does - is somehow the voice and talent of soul legend Sam Cooke, reborn in the jittery frame of a bouncy indie kid.

WHAT. CACK.

The ONLY reason this comparison is made is because the word 'pop' is like kryptonite to The Serious Music Fan. The Serious Music Fan does not trust happy music, and therefore it has to be disguised as Classic Soul Music, which isn't 'shallow', and is therefore OK.

Jack Penate is a man who knows that the key to pop music is that it is upbeat, and it makes you feel good. Not the kind of good you get from having a really good cry, or smashing up your bedroom, or meeting a bunch of mates on a park bench and comparing dark thoughts (all of which are amply represented within the indie, rock and rap worlds), but the kind of good you get when you're biffing down the street on a sunny morning and you've got brand new clothes on and they ALL suit you.

The Serious Music Fan should be aware that a lot of people actually enjoy feeling like this. And they don't need to apologise for it.

Then again, I could be just saying that to MESS WITH YOUR MINDS...

Four starsDownload: Out now
CD Released:
April 16th

(Fraser McAlpine)

Comments

  1. At 01:39 PM on 13 Apr 2007, Sarah and Monica wrote:

    Who takes the longes 2 get ready before a concert?!

  2. At 01:47 PM on 13 Apr 2007, Monica Duncan + Sarah Chalmers wrote:

    Do each of you dudes have your own flats or does anybody share?!?

  3. At 01:48 PM on 13 Apr 2007, Sarah C + Monica D wrote:

    At the end of the Edinburgh concert Danny waved 2 my mum , do you go for the more mature woman?!

  4. At 07:36 PM on 14 Apr 2007, wrote:

    Mika was one of the predicted big hitters for 2007, but I think this guy has shot up from nowhere. Certainly going to be a good year for him methinks. Quite surprised it's taken so long for this song to be released. Type his name into a legal download site like Napster, and you get no result. Eagerly awaiting downloading this on Monday!

  5. At 12:23 PM on 16 Apr 2007, David wrote:

    A terrible song by a terrible artist. He's lucky he's in the 'London scene' otherwise he'd be just another generic myspace artist.

    Friends in the right places and all that...

  6. At 05:40 PM on 16 Apr 2007, Roz wrote:

    why is everyone so nasty about Joss Stone at the moment?!!

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