MUSIC CITY MAYHEM!!! Day 1: The Future vs Jessica Frech

Today kicks off March Madness for music fans in Nashville with the beginning of Lightning 100's Music City Mayhem. For those unfamiliar, Music City Mayhem is a sort of musical Mortal Kombat/single elimination tournament in which two local bands/artists go head to head each day. The final four square off in a live show on April 13th, and the winner gets a butt-load of awesome stuff that I'm really jealous of (studio time, air-time, performance slots, etc.). Since my dial remains tuned to Lightning 100 for roughly 99.9% of the time I spend in my car, I feel obligated to engage in some way beyond just voting. So, starting today I'm going to doing a short write up on the artists squaring off in each round and giving you my pick, in the hopes of fostering my delusion that I maintain some control over the results of the contest.  Enjoy!

The Contestants

 

In the left corner, we have The Future: alt-rockers who (if their video selection is to believed) refuse to sacrifice their facial hair and comfortable pants for a cushy job. The Future are pretty firmly planted alt-rock territory, and occupy it very well. With a frantic energy that matches contemporary alt-rockers The Fratellis, these guys blister through their  catchy high-octance selection "Baby You're Golden." The song contains the lyric, "both of us talk with the same inflection," which instantly got me thinking about how The Future's lead singer and Brandon Flowers share a similar vocal inflection. For some reason, I also can't help but think that the "Baby You're Golden" could almost be a Yellowcard song when the chorus hits. It's easy to miss the mark with the sort of high energy rock that these guys aim for, but they hit the target very squarely.

And in the right corner, we have female alt-pop songstress Jessica Frech. With a tripped out video for her song "Reality" that reminds me of Blind Melon's "No Rain" (minus the kid in the bee suit and plus two kids in alien suits), Jessica definitely wins in the video category. The song itself is very good and features some solid Ingrid Michaelson-esque production, but the real spotlight is on her voice, which at times during the track could be pretty easily mistaken for Regina Spektor...only I actually like it a little better. Her voice has the tiniest bit of cigarettes-and-Tanqueray bite at points, and it makes the otherwise bubblegum song much more interesting. Her only real downfall is that the chorus of "Reality" begins to seem a little predictable and worn by the third time around.

The Verdict

 

This wasn't too hard a choice to make. Jessica Frech does what she does very well, but I'm a sucker for alt-rock. The Future are raucous and exciting, and I think Nashville needs more of that (these folks agree). "Baby You're Golden" was stuck in my head after just one listen, and therefore passes my personal litmus test for "music to keep an eye on." Head on over to Music City Mayhem's page and vote for The Future.