Des Does it Again.
Sitting here just a few hours before Des Rocs’ first full length album drops and I can’t be more excited than I am right now. Thinking about when I first heard him at the gym bopping to now. I am pumped for all that can be to come with this drop of A Real Good Person In A Real Bad Place. Counting the hours until these bops get to grace my ears. If the singles are any indicator of what’s to come, tonight will be, in a word, FILTHY.
THE TIME HAS COME! We are back and I have listened to the album as a whole about 25 times so far, with many more spins to come. Let me just say that this album more than lived up to the hype. We start the album off with Tick, one of the few we’d seen in livestream performances through quarantine. An angsty anthem that describes the feelings of so many of us running around in his giant rat maze. The intro of a grungy, distorted guitar is everything I could have hoped to have this open with. This then works into Why Why Why, which I think may be my personal favorite on the album at the moment. This puts me right back in the crowd head banging together. If it’s possible that a song could capture what you feel at a Des Rocs show, this song is it. Without a doubt. The heavy bass drops and passion of the belting and almost operatic backing make for one hell of a masterpiece for your ears. We are brought into a transition, which then picks right up into Imaginary Friends, which is crisp with a driving drum beat, almost feels like 80’s rock meets todays bass lines. The bass on this album is everything my bass loving heart could ever want. It’s heavy, dirty, grungy, all while being so brilliant lyrically and light. We are then worked right into the pit of MMC, a call out to everything that is fake in this world. As we’ve all seen over the last year things are changing, and people are being called out. If there is one thing I am sure about with Des Rocs, is that he’s always going to make his art his way. This is his ode to the blood sweat and tears that he’s put into all his work. We then are introduced into the spooky vibe of Ruby with the Sharpest Lies. This is a song with an impeccably beautiful bassline, and some wickedly distorted guitar, reminiscent of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge vibes. Feels like a modern masterpiece from back in the day. This song is filled with little ear nuggets, highly recommend this one with some kickass headphones. The build in Don’t Hurt Me, gets me good. How many of us have every felt unworthy of love, or second guessed it. This has a classically almost Beach Boys-esque feel, while maintaining a darker tone. This is the driving the dark road looking out into the distance and thinking song of this album. While you’re on that drive you’re probably thinking the lyrics of the next song, Hanging by a Thread. Having someone that brings us up out of the darkness and helps us to see ourselves like they do, even if just for a moment. Someone that might not know how bad things are but constantly is there to support you. Born to Lose, feels like you’re lost in a momentary dream, and brings us right into The Devil Inside. The Devil Inside puts me right into that beautiful Sam Rockwell dance scene in Charlie’s Angels (IYKYK). This is a classic Des crooning as his does song, with a little synth on top. A beautiful bop, that Sam Rockwell would 10/10 dance to if we made a new Charlie’s Angels. Which then brings us to the last song on the album, Rabbit Hole. What a fitting name, I feel like since I found Des Rocs 3 years ago, I have fallen and won’t ever leave. This song is honestly heartbreaking in the best way. Once the guitar solo comes in with it’s distortion and 80’s rock opera emotion in the it hits you right in your soul. All of the uncertainty ahead, worries, fears and all that has changed but you just have to go deeper to find what’s ahead. Isn’t that how it always works? You can’t know what’s ahead if you don’t go.
This album is honestly not at all what I expected, but is everything I think I didn’t know I needed. I would like I have in other Des related posts highly recommend giving this a listen. If you can, I would also say GO TO A SHOW. I will be in LA and in Austin to see him and what a treat I know it will be. I can’t wait!
