Sometimes we hear commonalities in music that reach beyond simple genre labels, beyond the Rock / Pop aisle at our local record store. Over the years I’ve categorized songs like Make Up Your Mind into a genre crafted in my own head, and that genre is “Mission Music.” The image I get in my head when I hear “Mission Music” is someone running forward, paving new trajectories, dodging every roadblock that comes their way. With its galloping rhythms, unblinking guitar / bass riffs and evolving instrumental structure, Brooklyn group Here We Go Magic provide a great selection for a goal-achieving soundtrack. It contains conviction with no coffee cup in sight, motivated by pure passion.
Even though we might have a clear goal in sight, sometimes we can get sidetracked by a hitchhiking celebrity. Earlier this year, Here We Go Magic and John Waters‘ paths miraculously crossed, when the band discovered the venerable and thinly-moustachioed director while driving on I-70 in Ohio. Are you serious? I am always looking for John Waters on the side of the road, thinking that one day I’ll see him gardening, or eating at a taco truck, but they just happen on him by chance? Jealous. My hope is that they played Make Up Your Mind for him as an example of their work, and they all danced and laughed, but that probably didn’t happen. (We’ll hopefully know exactly what happened in his upcoming hitchhiking recount, Carsick).
One thing I particularly like about this song is its timeliness during election season. Now, I’m not wont to get all political on a music blog site, but Make Up Your Mind makes me want to rock my vote, harder than MTV ever did.
Take a break from reading your voter guide and make a decision to give this song a listen. Your vote counts.
