12 hours of music

“Barracuda” is blasting in the other room….and I am here, on my bed, because my brother kicked me off Guitar Hero III. He just got it for Thanksgiving (this from the boy who says he “doesn’t like music”), and I have a feeling I’ll have a few different songs stuck in my head this week (“SCHOOOOOOOOL’S OUT! FOR! EVAAAAR!”).

Anyway, on the insanely long drive home from Virginia (went to see family for the Great Holiday of the Turkey), I spent my time exclusively reading, fidgeting, bothering the people in front of me and listening to music. So I can feel a bit better about indulging in that much music time, here are a series of brief reviews/thoughts:

Origin of Symmetry by Muse (album) - an absolute explosion of sound. Beautiful noises bouncing around a room, until they hit a burst of sputtering, fiery guitars and the whole thing blows up between your eyes. It’s fascinating, and frankly, kind-of impossible to describe. Preposterously grandiose, self-assuredly strange and thoroughly enjoyable. Personal Favorites: “Micro Cuts” and “Feeling Good”

Songs That Also Held My Ear Somewhere in New Jersey-Connecticut-Pittsburgh:

“Oh What A World” by Rufus Wainwright - I want to drive through Times Square blasting this on speakers strapped to the top of my car, and watch the businessmen drop their suitcases and start dancing a chorus line on the sidewalk.

“Break Anotha” by Blake Lewis – Think Robin Thicke meets Justin Timberlake, then pile about 36 different meoldies on top of it. You’ve got one confusing, hyperactive, yet entertaining American Idol effort.

“City of Delusion” by Muse – This is as absolutely over-the-top as Muse gets. With strings, a wailing trumpet solo, multiple climaxes and fat, bubbling bass….I adore it, but still can’t help feeling a bit silly listening to it.

“Time is Running Out” by Muse – It’s paranoid, it’s raw and melodic, it’s shockingly sexy…I am beginning to fall in love with these people.

“First of the Gang to Die” by Morrissey – Morrissey doing what Morrissey does best. Taking a sensitive, awkward subject by the hand and crooning with it through cheerful, bouncy riffs that are so trying to be Johnny Marr. Best line: “You have never been in love/Until you’ve seen the dawn rise/Behind the home for the blind”

“Roadhouse Blues” by The Doors – Probably one of the greatest beats in rock, and certainly the best to drive to. Gave me a bit of sustenance towards the end of the trip.

The Next Great American Band?

Well, Simon Fuller has added another American-Idol-esque show to his repertoire – it’s called The Next Great American Band, and the idea is to find the next great American band.

Yeah. Right.

This week, they took on the Rolling Stones catalouge. (no, no one did “Paint it Black”, or “Sympathy for the Devil” and certainly no “Satisfaction”) Now, I personally am not a fan of the Stones. I understand their significance in rock music and all that, yet I have always found them fairly boring and un-original. For this reason, I doubt I will ever be taken seriously in the business of music. That’s why I’m here, online.

But I digress.

The show is not so much a rip-off of American Idol, so much as a blatant replica. The judges are a nice guy, a middle-aged woman with too many bangles and Botox, and a British guy. The host is thin, bright and looks like he stepped out from between the pages of G.Q. As for the bands, the ones that were memorable enough for me to recall were:

Tres Bien!: about 5 mop-headed rockers, very traditional look, singer likes to dance around and make a but of a fool of himself. They did “Get Off of My Cloud”, with added riffage.

Light of Doom: this is a band whose members range from about ages 10-15. But don’t let that throw you off. They have a very devoted fanbase of teenage girls, and clearly have spent hours practicing…with hair-straighteners. They did “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, and it could’ve just as easily been about 6 other Stones songs.

The Clark Brothers: three perfectly innocent-looking 21-year-olds who did a tense, dramatic “Gimme Shelter”. It built from thin, wavering chords to a screaming crescendo. The whole time the audience was clapping uncertainly, trying to find a beat when they should’ve just been listening. (personal favorite, or rather, one I could stand with the least difficulty)

Dot Dot Dot: seemed by far the most fun band (the bassist is a 40-year-old in fishnets). It’s about 6 lovable goths whose lead singer sneaks into Davey Havok’s room at night and steals his eyeshadow.

They did something like “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. The preformance was engaging, if a little hyperactive, but the vocals were trying to be something they were clearly, not.

I hear next week is Rod Stewart week.

Whoop dee doo. 

on Danish elf rock

Allo. Salut. The sounds that captured my ear today are the sweet ethereal strains of Mew. It is beautiful, blissful, fantasy-inducing and with lyrics just strange enough to hold your interest. A light, elfin voice floats over the tangle of instruments, fading in and out of notes smoothly just before the song collapses into a sweeping final note and fades off (almost apologetically) into silence. It really is extraordinary.

“Comforting Sounds” sounds like the end of the world

“Her Voice is Beyond Her Years” sounds like a moment of peace one might find in the back of a disco

“Symmetry” sounds like winter, in an endless field, under an endless white sky, and the world seems to have absolutely nothing in it except for a little girl singing in the snow.

comforting sounds

I’m sorry, this is just too much fun to leave alone for the night.

I just had an odd thought: I want to make the world a CD. I want to make a CD, and sneak across the globe Santa Claus-style, slipping a copy underneath everyone’s door. And this is what I would put on it:

1) The Crystal Ship – George Winston

2) Sing – The Dresden Dolls

3) Oh What a World – Rufus Wainwright

4) Sons & Daughters – The Decemberists

5) Starlight – Muse

6) Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together – Morrissey

7) Comforting Sounds – Mew

Yes, The River Knows – The Doors

9) Scythe Song – Dougie Maclean

That is all. Retire now to your tents and to your dreams. Tomorrow we enter a brave New World, armed with a drumstick in each hand. Merry Thanksgiving and Happy Sunny Wednesday, 10:10 pm.

Ringleader of the Tormentors

Hello, O great void of internet dwellers! I have decided to begin a blog – about music and my opinions on it. Today, my attention was focused mostly on Morrissey (as you may come to realize, I have a slight obsession with the man. And by slight, I mean massive). His new album is called “Ringleader of the Tormentors”, and I have had it in my possession for about a mere two weeks now. The things I have gathered so far are these:

1) he is having a LOT of fun with elaborate instrumentation -children’s choirs, piano, strings, gongs, sound effects, the like…

2) the lyrics are as biting, bizarre, honest and vivid as usual, but seem to have taken a slight poetic downfall from previous works. But what the lack in poetically, they make up for with their truly wonderful storytelling (“The Father Who Must Be Killed”).

3) he has, indeed, seemed to have had some sort of sexual awakening (“Dear God, Please Help Me”). He handles it delicately and desperately, but it is still undeniable. Morrissey, poster boy of celibacy, is no longer a stranger to love.

Most Smithsy Song: “The Youngest Was the Most Loved” (*croons* There is NOO suuuuuch…thing in liiife as NORMalllllll…young love! young a-looove! Young a-looove oh loooove…)

Most Non-sensical Lyrics: “On the Streets I Ran” (I love the mood created, but when you take apart the lines, you start to lose all sense of understanding)

Most Orchestrated: “Life is a Pigsty” (the title sounds like chiche-d Morrissey misery, but it’s a really fabulous song)

Song to Shock the Fans: “In the Future When All’s Well”. While retaining a distinct undertone of sarcasm, you cannot deny this song’s optimism.

So once you’re prepared for the sexual, the happy and the hopelessly depressing aspects of this album, I recommend anyone who has loved Morrissey in the past to try him again (I’ve heard this is his last time around touring). Anything that he has lost over the years, he has gained back with a venegence. And as he says in Life is a Pigsty – “I am the same….underneath…but this you, you surely knew”