Morrissey’s spirit is still alive and well. As distracting as he’s been
in the recent past, fighting with his record label, getting felt up by airport
security, and writing stuff
like this in a book that I’ll probably never read, he remains, in my mind,
one of the best songwriters of his generation (along with, of course, his
Smiths bandmates). It is an undeniable fact. So when I hear that he’s teamed up
with Rio-era Duran Duran for a
six-song tape for Night People, you can bet your very last farthing that I’m
thrilled beyond thrilled.
“Say what?!” you incredulously gasp, and I don’t blame you – the news
is false, a fakery perpetuated by me and me only. Everything I say in the first
paragraph above is intended to build a comparison to Principality, a four-piece
post punk/new wave throwback from Minneapolis. Their Glass CS release on Night People (that part was real) sounds like a
wonderful mashup of these two great artists, and is a way-too-short burst of
tuneful energy. In fact, lead track “Young Boys” sounds like a lost anthem to
the mid-1980s, and maybe it was in an alternate universe where the mid-1980s
hit right around 2016, the year MTV reached its broadcast rating pinnacle. Just
remember, 2022 is the year punk breaks!
But back here, in our own universe, Duran Duran is old, Morrissey is
weird and old, and I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. Principality is young
and cool, and instead of holding my breath for any good new music out of
anybody thirty (or so) years my senior, I’m going to hang my hat on this
generation instead. Because no matter whether you’re from this universe or the
next one over, you’re still human, and you still have a need in your life for
music that motivates you enough to dance your frustrations away. At least I
think you’re human. Actually, you could have evolved in any number of ways. You
and Principality could be single-celled organisms with musical chops for all I
know.
--Ryan Masteller