Following the release of Hàn Gắn's politically charged and punk-infused single 'New Terms', we wanted to find out what tracks inspire this one of a kind duo. We asked them to share some of the tracks they love and explain why. If you're a fan of the tracks below, you're bound to resonate with Hàn Gắn's latest offering which you can also check out below!
The Clash – The Magnificent Seven
English punk meets old school hip-hop. You might think it couldn’t work, or that it wouldn’t hold up, but it does. This is in no small part due to the band’s firsthand experience with the revolutionary aspects of graffiti and hip-hop culture during their New York City recording sessions for Sandinista! in 1980. Released six months before Blondie’s “Rapture,” The Magnificent Seven was on regular rotation on hip hop radio in the U.S. While some white American punks rejected the fusion of hip-hop and punk, The Clash responded by rebuking these fans and signing up graffiti artist Futura and Grandmaster Flash as openers. (Brian)
Genesis - Home by the Sea/Second Home By the Sea
Most early Genesis albums lent themselves to performance pieces with literary and fantasy themes. With Peter Gabriel’s departure, the three-piece band headed by Phil Collins found commercial success with a more straightforward sound that didn’t sacrifice musicianship. The third single of their eponymous 1983 album, “Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea,” has all the vocal hooks that made Collins’ sound so distinctive in his solo career. The walking bass line thumps through the entire track. We were heavily influenced by the drum machine interlude in Second Home by the Sea in our last full-length release, Tragically Optimistic. (Matt)
Jimi Hendrix – Bold as Love
Jimi Hendrix was a virtuosic guitar player whose sonic innovations spurred whole new musical styles for decades after his death, and his associations with 1960s counterculture and psychedelia are well known. These associations are centered on when Hendrix lived, and they can obscure that Hendrix wrote deeply spiritual songs outside of his time and place. Hendrix is looking for unity with his higher self in Bold as Love. (Brian)
Nine Inch Nails - Somewhat Damaged
Save watching the video for “Closer” or seeing Trent Reznor covered in mud on stage at Woodstock, I missed out on almost everything Nine Inch Nails released in the 1990s. I took a much deeper dive into the band well past the millennium. Although their earlier work is my favorite, “Somewhat Damaged” from The Fragile is my favorite track . Everything about this song is aggressive, from the percussive sampling to the machine-gun syncopations of the guitar that repeatedly plays four notes. Trent’s intense vocals capture the listener’s attention so much that it’s hard to notice the subject changes in time signatures that occur over the course of the song. (Matt)
Patti Smith – Gloria
Sung with fearlessness and conviction, there may be no more powerful opening lyric to a song than, “Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine.” Gloria is the first song on Smith’s groundbreaking 1975 album Horses, predating the male punk acts that would follow and borrow from her. Smith’s original lyrical additions to the tune of Them’s 1964 song are a rejection of the shame and guilt the powers that be place on us for our lived human experiences. (Brian)
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