When I think of the visuals that came to me while listening to Punk Goes The Velvet, I think of the black and white newsreels of screaming teenagers in full Beatlemania hysteria. The faces of music lovers thrilled like it was the second coming….while Punk Goes The Velvet is not in black and white, it’s definitely a colorful ride and deserves a bit of frenzy. Jupiter In Velvet, the man behind this new five track EP assembles a string of hits based in punk, pop rock and lots of reverb. Punk Goes The Velvet had me reeling.
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Hailing from London (though originally American born), Jupiter grips the listener with his Iggy Pop and David Bowie vocal combo. In some songs he also mumbles his words, curing his tongue a-la- Gene Vincent. In other words, his voice is made to be a front man. The guy can really play the guitar, too. Boisterous and drawing influence from several genres (including a sliver of rockabilly), the first track is “And So The Earth Stood Still”. Lyrically and structure wise, Jupiter hangs his hat on more punk-laden writing style. The words come fast and slick, hushed over his lush guitar and bass rhythms. The drums – in all cases – wreak a delicious havoc.
In “Not Again” Jupiter’s guitar sounds like a racing track. The guitar bed zooms. C’mon get outta my face…oh, no, oh, no, not again…I forgave you a thousand times, he crushes. He switches his vocals to sounding like he’s using a megaphone; that filter makes it a bit hard to discern what he’s saying. The song is still ferocious. Bouncing to “Please Don’t Ever Let Me Go”, Jupiter used a more fluid guitar sound. It’s a western, steel guitar motif with blends of punk. That twangy, piercing guitar riff opens the track and bleeds through at its center, before Jupiter really rips it open. He’s got a superb synthesizer (or keyboard) scheme happening, smoothing out the motion right after the hum-along chorus. So used and abused, he croons. By this point in the EP, you get a sense that Jupiter might as well be from another planet, his artistry is so surreal and out-of-this-world cool. Still, he’s in the solar system when it comes to creating songs that make you want to shake along and groove to. He has a wildly vintage sheen to his music, but his stratosphere is the now.
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“Dimestore Suave” has moments of feeling kerfuffle and long winds of feeling wrapped up in a beautiful disaster. The song’s meaning had me confused, but the lines his eyes popping out like he’s the devil’s son, looks like he lives in a cage and never has no fun, took a few directions with me. I think the different characters Jupiter writes about are the different nefarious ones he comes across when he’s at a corner store. One never knows who you will run into.
The last song, “Get Out” once again has his vocals under the guitar, like fog. The guitar is just bursting at the seams, and chimes into a bluesy mix, wrought with punk. A slight twang tweaks the melody, the guitar is once again star. Live it loud….the theme of this entire EP.
Troy Johnston