Kotorino
Better Than This
Even with the internet and Facebook, it’s so hard to keep up with all the latest Brooklyn-based hashtags. Kotorino is my introduction to “Chamber Pop” and “Parlor Rock”. That’s the latest flavor of indie pop that’s coming out the music industry press machine. I admit I love this record, it’s smooth and calm, sonically interesting, and it stands out from the sea of other interchangeable modern clean cut singers.
Take “East River Ferry Waltz”, it’s a dreamy romantic ballad about taking a walk in the evening with your girlfriend. The neighborhood has gentrified, the weather has cleared up and you can skateboard to your job as website designer. They sing “Step- 2-3- turn, step-2-3- turn, step-2-3- turn, “ and your dancing like your great grand parents did a hundred years ago, complete with a discrete tuba punctuating the rhythm. There’s some auto-suggestion working here but I can smell the old folks scent, the lavender powder and dusty shelf full of Precious Moments and Hummels, this is less rock and roll than really well done middle-class folk songs. My God – I’ve become my parents!
