Kalistani Major History

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Kalistani Bands take back Charts
"Szarybeat" takes a turn for the weird as Acid Rock makes a comeback in Kalistan
Kaliburg, Ananto
June 14, 4422


For the first time in nearly half a decade, Kalistani Bands dominate the Top 10 in Kalistan as Kaliburg's Aerocraft claims Number 1

Since Beatmania swept Kalistan in 4418, Kalistani pop charts have been dominated by Valruzian acts.  No more, according to one of Kalistan's most influential pop counters, The Melodymaker Top 100, which rates pop and rock acts by sales and requests.  Since the beginning of June, Kalistani acts held 9 of the top 10 spots on the survey, and none was more popular than Kaliburg drugists Aerocraft.  Mixing the Szarybeat sound and LSD seems a strange combination, and that is exactly what Aerocraft was after, says Lead singer Joan LeGree.

"Well, I was 20 when the Beat Brothers came.  Me and [guitarist] Mike Doering sat around and thought, 'nah, this is too plain.  This music is for teenaged girls.'  Yeah, I was one of them, but I was already tuned in and we started the band.  We stuck together during our National Service, and put our first record out last year.  And now all this."

McGree was apparently heavily dosed when we spoke, and the above was the most coherent set of sentences she was able to put together.  Most of the time, she spoke about strange works of fiction, or caramel, or the Ocean, or just what it was like to "walk backwards for a whole day."  It was unclear if she ever had.

Aerocraft draws on an artform that is more than a thousand years old, which predates the rise of electronic music.  Psychedelic Rock Music, or Acid Rock, has had something of a revival in Kalistan over the last few years.  "Szarybeat" knockoffs from Kalistan, experienced with drugs, soon began writing pop music about drugs.  This was helped along by the "Szarybeat" sound's dominance at last years Ganjam during both the International Showcase and the Last Night, while more explicitly drug-influenced RF continued to dominate L Night.  The influence of drugs on pop rock came front and center late last year when singer Marcus "Exclamation Point Astrology" Coulter died of a drug overdose after a show in Sulari.  But the death of Exclamation Point has not put a damper on the drugists' invasion into the Szarybeat genre.


VEMI-K artists, Vrassa City's own Mirage earned the award for "Best New Band" at last years Kalistani Record Awards

Vrassa City acid rockers Mirage, who recently landed a recording deal with VEMI-K, have meanwhile launched a new phase of the Szarybeat sound.  Their recent effort, "Que Pasa Gloria," which is their first record on a major label, keeps much of the Szarybeat sound, and mixes it with the revitalized Acid sound, and puts that aesthetic to good solid Alternative Rock.  Singer Jonas Tenriffe is also known for being an incredibly humble man:  Of the record, he said "Que Pasa...  is as good as anything the Beat Brothers have done.  We're bigger than the Beat Brothers, dja no whata mean."  His thick Vrassan accent allows him to sing naturally in a dialect that sounds quite close to the accent produced by the Szarybeat bands from Valruzia, and his brother, guitarist Micky Tenriffe's clear skill on the electric guitar, further lends his band credibility in the both the pop rock and Alternative Rock scenes.  The band earned Kalistan's coveted "Best New Band" from the KRI last fall.

All told, Acid rock and drug-related alternative rock music has led Kalistani acts to reclaim the charts, as music tastes in Kalistan return to a more local flavor.  To keep up, Valruzia's music sound must progress beyond pop and into a more mature sound hinted at by the Beat Brothers' last few singles.