Category Archives: General

NEWS: Palms Announce Release Date For Debut

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Calling all Deftones and Isis fans: Palms, made up by Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and ex-Isis members Jeff Caxide, Aaron Harris and Bryant Clifford Meyer, have finally announced a release date for their debut album!

The album is set to be unleashed on the world on 25th June, 2013. And if that’s not enough, the debut will be released via Mike Patton’s own Ipecac Recordings, which can only mean good things.

Aaron Harris explains the formation of the band:

“Clifford, Jeff and I started Palms a little over a year ago out of a desire to continue making music together after Isis ended. Chino joined shortly after and our sound took shape from there. We’ve worked really hard on this first release and are excited for people to hear it. It’s nice to be back behind the drum kit, and with this lineup.”

While a lot of us Deftones fans are still yearning for new Team Sleep material, or maybe a full-length Crosses album, this seems to be Moreno’s current focus. This time, if judging by the undeniably large Isis influence that will entail from this line-up, we may well hear Moreno experiment with the post-metal/sludge genres, which will be interesting to say the least. Or, the guys may well just catch us all by surprise by creating something completely unexpected.

Are you excited for this release? What are your predictions for the outcome of this meeting of minds? Let us know!

NEWS: Nine Inch Nails Return!

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You read it right! Trent Reznor announced yesterday that his legendary industrial-rock brainchild Nine Inch Nails would be reforming to tour again, starting this summer.

Trent Reznor decided to give the band a break in 2009 and proceeded through the following years by concentrating on How To Destroy Angels (with his wife Mariqueen Maandig) and producing award-winning soundtracks with Atticus Ross for The Social Network and the US/UK version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as well as announcing a collaboration with Dr. Dre’s company Beats to work on a new music-streaming platform.

However, it’s 2013 and Nine Inch Nails are BACK. To confirm this, Reznor has even announced who will be within the band’s ranks:

“The band is reinventing itself from scratch and will be comprised of Eric Avery, Adrian Belew, Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Ilan Rubin, and me. The first shows will begin this summer, followed by a full-on arena tour of the US this fall, and lots of other dates worldwide to follow through 2014.”

Unfortunately, while it seems that guitarist Robin Finck, a favourite among many fans, won’t be appearing on this stretch of NIN’s history, it’s good to see that keybaordist Alessandro Cortini and drummer Ilan Rubin are returning to the fold again.

So does this mean a possible new album in the near future? Will it be another “Ghosts I-IV” project, or a more rock-orientated” The Slip”? Who knows, but this return to touring alone raises our spirits!

The 1st Music Video: Commission to Completion

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What’s up friends. Thanks for giving me a few minutes of your time yet again. Today I want to talk about music videos. Aside from an album, they’re probably the most anticipated part of being in a band. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the harder things to pull off well. However, if you and your band are willing to work your ass off, you can create a nice product that doesn’t cost too much. Let’s start by talking about what you need to make one.

You’ve got a band, so we’ll skip that. Next you’ll need someone who can shoot (maybe more than one), someone to direct, someone to light the shoot and someone to edit. That’s the bare essentials. That list can be way bigger but if you’ve got at least that, you can pull this off. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find someone who can do all 4 of those, but you need someone who can do all 4 of those well. Lighting makes the difference between a good idea and a good idea that looks great, and in my opinion, there is no person more important than the editor. A good editor can work wonders on even the poorest film.

If you don’t know any of these people there are several ways to find them. First, look at other bands in your area who have music videos and ask them who shot theirs. If there are none (or they all look like crap) try posting an add in a classified. You’d be surprised how many young filmmakers will be interested in working cheap to build their portfolio. Lastly, find your local film school and reach out to the students there. You may find people there who are just learning but they will have access to all the equipment they need and will need to film projects for their class and future.

If you’re fortunate enough to have multiple options (who will work for the money you have) you can ask them to write treatments. You and your band will then be able to choose which story line you like best and of course work with that director to modify the idea if needed. It’s important to research the directors past work though. Many times directors will write a treatment for a video they’d like to make, but that doesn’t mean they can make it. If you have your own idea, or only one director to work with, you can develop the treatment together. It’s important to note that a music video is a work of art created with another artist so make sure that the directors ideas are part of the end product. If they are not excited about it, you won’t get the best product possible.

One important note about treatments. It is extremely important to make sure that any actors you want to hire for the video can actually act. Bad acting in a narrative scene will ruin an entire video. This also means that if none of the members of your band are also actors, then none of you should be acting in the video. You don’t have to make a movie. A well shot band performance makes a great video as well and in general, you’d rather have the end product look great than try to do too much and have it all look cheap. A good director will have ideas that can add to it as well. Ethereal film work can be done anywhere so it doesn’t have to cost much and it can add a lot to the finished product.

Once you have your treatment picked you and your band will likely need to do quite a bit of work helping find a location and of course getting gear to it. Be sure to be early and ready to work hard. The filming process will take longer than you expect and when you’re exchanging money for sweat, there is no such thing as being a rockstar. Get ready to work.

Of course, none of this matters if you don’t perform well, and this is going to be unlike any performance you’ve ever done. To begin with, you’re going to be acting like you’re playing while also trying to listen to a recording of your music being played back from the other side of a room. I can’t stress enough the importance of a playback system loud enough for all to hear. If you don’t have professional dead cymbals, you can double stack your cymbals which will deaden them considerably. You will probably still need to hide a monitor somewhere close to the drummer either way though. If you’re the singer, get ready for a hard day. Your mouth needs to match the lyrics perfectly and I’m betting you don’t sing along to your own album often. You don’t have to fake it if you’re not comfortable either. You can sing at full volume just be prepared that it’s going to make it that much harder for you to her playback.

The most important thing to tell your band is that every member needs to perform like the camera is on them 100% of the time. Chances are even if they’re not directly on camera, they’re in the background and if they’re just standing there, they’re ruining the shot. Bring it like it’s your last performance ever, and yes, you’ll need to film the whole song a bunch of times. It’s not unusual to do as many as 20 full passes plus closeups of individual members.

If you do all of that and have a good editor, you’ll be happy with the final product. One last piece of advice, if you have to make a choice between spending money on a location or props and spending money on a good camera and lights – choose the camera and lights. Best of luck and post your videos here! I’d love to see them!

Here is the music video for the song ‘… And Hell Followed With Him’. This is the 1st music video created for Jason’s band IKILLYA.

Album Review: Soundgarden ‘King Animal’

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king-animal

Soundgarden – King Animal
Genre: Rock
Label: Republic Records

Soundgarden, perhaps known as “that band that did Black Hole Sun”, left a big mark in rock music worldwide in the 90s in the rise and peak of grunge fascination. Although the band did get caught up in the whole Seattle grunge scene, along with the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Screaming Trees, etc., Soundgarden had a big southern rock and metallic influence with their dirty approach to rock music.

Despite starting in 1984, it was only in 1991 that they experienced international success with undeniably great “Badmotorfinger”, and furthered that success with the fan favourite album “Superunknown” in 1994. Both albums launched the band to the front of music magazines around the globe, and gave the world rock anthems like Jesus Christ Pose, Rusty Cage, Spoonman and Fell On Black Days. However, the follow-up album, “Down On The Upside”, didn’t quite live up to the standards of the previous two albums, although achieving Platinum sales in the US, Canada and Australia. Tension in the band and clashes for future motives and directions of the music then culminated in their break-up in 1997.

This led to a series of new projects for each member; the most popular being vocalist Chris Cornell with Audioslave and his solo career. Guitarist Kim Thayil went an underground route, working with the likes of punk legend Jello Biafra, Dave Grohl’s collaborative project Probot and even featured on the Sunn O))) and Boris album “Altar”. Bassist Ben Shepard worked with another grunge idol Mark Lanegan and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, while drummer Matt Cameron momentarily joined The Smashing Pumpkins and eventually joining Pearl Jam full time.

Many years later, this leads us to now. In 2010, the guys decided to put past disputes aside and have reunited to give us their sixth album, finally releasing a new album “King Animal” in 2012. As expected, pressure is always on for a band that has built its own legacy and popularity worldwide, left and to return well over a decade with new material… and Soundgarden has done well.

The first track and single, Been Away Too Long, a title well chosen, starts the album in fourth gear and borrows a huge influence from Led Zeppelin with its guitar-driven sound and Chris Cornell’s signature raspy, old-school rock voice has aged a little, sounding a little coarser, but this only adds to the atmosphere. None-State Actor starts with a skipping and sliding bass, sounding a lot like something you might expect from a psychedelic stoner band, and is a lot more prominent in the overall mix than the guitar. There’s also the use of an organ keys and the good ol’ cowbell, furthering the old rock’n’roll vibes.

By Crooked Steps returns to a heavier sound that Soundgarden were known for before and features perhaps the most memorable riff; highlighting Thayil’s pretty intricate guitar within overlapping layers. It’s the nearest to their old song that you get on the album, and it’s great! On the other hand, the following track A Thousand Days Before is cleaner, and again its the skipping guitar lines that steal the show; however the rest of it can be a little forgettable.

Unfortunately this is the case for a few songs on the album, either due to forgettable lyrics/vocals and predictable song structures – something that Soundgarden had previously been known for being experimental in. Blood On The Valley turns out to be the prime example of this; just being a tad monotonous with its slow jam approach, and while it is relaxing it is ultimately skippable too. However, sixth track Bones Of Birds turns it around completely, despite being another slow song. The slightly distorted, lethargic guitars along with Cornell’s vocals creates a nice mellow yet thoughtful atmosphere that really grabs your attention without trying.

Taree continues the ballad section of the album, but dips back to the same dryness of  Blood On The Valley, which is disappointing considering the heavy feel of Bones Of Birds. Thankfully, Attrition picks up the pace of the album again with a seductive ZZ Top-like groove, Cornell’s vocals floating soothingly over the top of the driving instrumental. Black Saturday sees the band mostly acoustic, and it hooks you in with opening’s bongos and lines “Promise something / Kill me right away if I start to get slow / Don’t remember / How to separate the worm from the apple / Don’t wait ’til tomorrow”. Although the subject matter sounds dark, the delivery of it feels nothing but enlightening; easily making up for the previous dud tracks.

Then Halfway There is probably the most up-beat sounding song on the album, especially with lines like “Sometimes when you’re shooting an arrow it can fly across the sky so proud”. The guitar tone that appeared on their hit Black Hole Sun also emerges on this track, which works well with the reminiscent feel of the track. Tenth track Worse Dreams opens with low guitar sweeps as a lead drones on top; soon drums and the bass comes in with Cornell coming in last, slowly swelling into big rockin’ chorus. The track just has a real playful feel to it.

Eyelid’s Mouth starts off mellow with guitar effects and a jamming drum, before the the guitar settles into a lead groove backed by the bass, with backing vocals supporting Cornell on “Who let the water run down / Who let the river run dry” – making the track brooding yet enjoyable. The final track, Rowing, stands out in comparison with the rest of the album and an odd choice for a closer: the drums have an electronic yet live feel to them, with a low, fast-rolling bass (in very short bursts) but the vocal melody resonates the blues – it’s almost as if the band are prisoners working on building a railway in the warm sun. The track then fades out the same as it started, leaving you unsure of what you’ve just heard.

Overall, this seems like the lighter direction that Cornell had been fighting for towards their break-up all those years ago, because this album in comparison to the likes of “Badmotorfinger” and “Superunknown” is a big shift to a more mainstream sound; but it isn’t the bad thing. Yes, Soundgarden seem to have lost the grit and edge that made their music so impossible to turn down on “King Animal”, but they’ve proven that they can master the the more softer aesthetics of rock music just as well. Perhaps this is just a sign of the band warming up and cracking their knuckles for the future.

As I said, some tracks do come across as a bit linear and boring, but overall the album is pretty good as a whole. The experimental side is lacking, and again, it isn’t as heavy as some of their earlier material, but it’s a promising return for Soundgarden and certain tracks more than make up for the forgettable. For 13 years of being apart, this is a pretty solid release.

6.5/10
Favourite tracks: Black Saturday, By Crooked Steps, Bones Of Birds.

Review by Rich Reviewz

Grammy Nominations – The Expected and the Unexpected

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The nominations for the 2013 Grammy Awards are officially in, and although most of the names on the various lists were already seen as shoe-ins, there were a few surprises here and there.  Taylor Swift and LL Cool J delivered the news via a series of awkwardly staged dialogues, but in the end we got the information we needed… though some of it was better news than others.

Perhaps no one was surprised that Justin Bieber didn’t get any nominations – no one but his manager, that is.  Scooter Braun took to Twitter after the ceremony was over, saying that he felt his client deserved to be recognized, and that he thought the Grammy board “blew it on this one.”

Nicki Minaj was likely also shocked that her album didn’t get any Grammy love this year.  It was a huge commercial success and full of catchy singles, but for some reason it just didn’t grab the attention of the voting committee.

Some, though, have commented that the exclusion of the darlings of cheap radio pop indicates that the music industry is finally waking up and seeing where the real talent is.  The nominee lists in many of the categories were rock– and alternative-heavy, with a strong leaning toward the folk and Americana side of the spectrum.  Gotye, Ed Sheeran, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Jack White all got nominations, and even Bjork managed to pick up a nod in the Alternative Music category.

Others, however, raked in nomination after nomination.  Six seemed to be the number of the night, with Frank Ocean, Fun. Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and Kanye West all pulling in six nominations each.  Fun. seemed particularly surprised by their success, even though they were told ahead of time that they were strong favorites to get nominated in several categories.  They weren’t sure whether to believe the hype, so they stopped listening to any rumors about the Grammys weeks ago, and described their reaction to the news as “emotional.”

Of course those who were surprised by the nominations should know by now that this is only the beginning – the 2013 Grammy Awards will air on February 10, and there are sure to be some upsets and triumphs on the night.

Are Gig & Concert Ticket Prices Becoming Too High?

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Tickets for the Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary concert at the O2 Arena last night (25th November 2012) were going for £1000+ for the best seats in the house and no less than £100 for anyone else.That’s huge money, but putting it into perspective, The Rolling Stones are a huge band that people are seriously excited to see.

Mick Jager had this to say at the show last night:

“It’s amazing that we’re still doing this, and it’s amazing that you’re still buying our records and coming to our shows,” Jagger said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

He also joked about the controversial price of the concert’s tickets:

“How are you doing up in the cheap seats?” he asked fans in the upper rows. “Except they’re not cheap seats, that’s the problem.”

Well here is something pretty cool! We can show you a big selection of some more reasonably priced gig tickets for the greatest acts of all time that we had the fortune of seeing back in their heyday. Check out Black Sabbath for £0.75, Rolling Stones £3, Pink Floyd £1.40.

View a Slide Show HERE: Concert Tickets – The Rolling Stones

I suppose one thing you need to remember is that in 1974 I was quite well paid on £18 a week! Are ticket prices too high now? Leave a comment with your thoughts and tell us about the prices that you have to pay to see your favourite bands & artists.

Get Your Christmas Shopping Wrapped Up Now!

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Who’s already started the stressful task of Christmas shopping or who’s leaving it until late December to hit the shops in the cold and rain? Why not remove the stress and do it all from the comfort of your home online at www.eyesoremerch.com

Hundreds of Band T-Shirts, Movie T-Shirts, TV Show T-Shirts, Video Game T-Shirts + hoodies, hats, bags and accessories galore. Head over to our store. You are sure to find something for all the family!

Time to Hit the Road: Undertaking the 1st international tour

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The 2nd in a series of posts from our friend Jason Lekberg; frontman of metal band IKILLYA and VP of Digital Marketing and Strategy for the Eleven Seven Music group, where he tells us his experience of taking his band from New York to the United Kingdom.

Touring is probably the most complex part of being a musician. It’s simultaneously the most fun, most expensive, most effective and most difficult part of growing as a band. I think I can speak for all of you that the thought of your job being cruising from place to place with your friends to play music is one of the main reasons we started playing in the first place. It’s a blast and the feeling of working for yourself is really irreplaceable. You know your songs and how to execute them so you don’t wake up in the morning stressed about getting your job done or having to put up with some asshole boss who makes everyone else’s life hell because they hate their own. You get to play for people who (hopefully) dig your music and are looking forward to seeing you. You sell music and merch and begin to build a base of people who enjoy and maybe are even moved by your music. It’s the next step in your career and as a musician in heavy music, it’s the only real way to make yourself known. You can put out music and you might get some accolades for it, but if you have any hope of becoming more than a weekend warrior local band, you have to tour.

That’s all the good stuff. The bad is that it costs far more than you’ll ever make starting out and you’ve got to do all the work of booking the gigs and finding food and lodging on your own. For many people the intersection of “old enough to make money to support your band” and “too much responsibility to quit your job and hit the road” comes very early. When you’re young you’ve got no real money to support a tour and by the time you do, how you make that money doesn’t allow you to take time to go on tour. It’s a tough place to be and many bands never make it past the discussion stage at that age. I’ve been in bands on both sides of the coin and have learned a few things that may hopefully help you when it comes time to make that choice yourself.

It goes without saying that your band has to love to play more than they love money to survive but you still have to figure out how to eat. I’m sure most of you are already playing cities in your local area that you can get to by car or train on the weekends so we’ll jump right to touring somewhere you need time off to get to. When IKILLYA decided to go to the UK (we’re from NYC) to tour last year I booked the whole thing on my own. It’s just like booking your own city, kind of.

Once you’ve decided to tour, the first thing you need to figure out is how you’re going to get there and how you’re going to get around while you are there. Figure out flight costs, van costs, gear rental, gas, hotels/lodging and food in advance and then add 30% (cause there are going to be expenses you don’t expect) and if you can’t afford all of that, stop now. If you’re reading this you’re likely a band looking at one of their first tours so there probably won’t be a lot of money to be made from the door or merch. My advice would be to expect that you are going to make no money at all and if you do, view it as a bonus. If you’re going to another country, research the Musicians Visa process and prepare to file. Most countries won’t let you even file until you have a tour routing, but you’ll need to know that countries laws and be as prepared as possible so you can file quickly once you’re done. I think the show “locked up abroad” should convince you it’s not worth the risk of sneaking in. Once you’ve got all that done, you can start booking.

I started by using Facebook, Google, and ReverbNation to find other bands similar to my own in the UK and then looked at where they were playing. ReverbNation has an amazing tool called Gig Finder that lets you put in a location and shows you venues played by other RN members in that area. I began building an excel document of each venue, it’s address and booking contact information, and the same for any promoters I saw putting on heavy music shows there. I also began reaching out to bands to see if any of them would be interested in either helping us set up a show or introducing us to their local promoter or club. Most bands were not helpful, but a few were and we got some great shows from them. I was also fortunate enough to receive an old promoter and club contact list from a friend in the industry. It needed to be gone through as many of the clubs and promoters listed were no longer operational but after combining that list with mine I had a great starting point. I’ll be honest, we’re talking about a week+ of late nights putting this together.

Once I had my list, I began personally emailing each contact with a short letter I put together that gave an overview of my band, our achievements (specifically those that would show we had the possibility to attract fans in the UK) and links to our music, video, EPK, how much $ we were looking for and what dates we were looking at. I thanked them all for their time in advance and worked hard to be very honest about the level my band was at. At this early stage you are building relationships and the last thing you want to do is have a promoter/club book you on false pretenses and then be pissed after your show. The industry is very small and if you want to come back (which you need to and should be planning to if you’re going this far) you’ll need friends and professionals who speak highly of you. If they’re not interested in taking a chance on you, you don’t want them to anyway so don’t get upset when you don’t hear back.

I haven’t counted exactly but I estimate I got responses to about 5% of the emails I sent. Some of the responses were people being kind enough to let me know that they were not interested, some were people kind enough to give the contact of those who could help me and a very few were actually interested in booking us. I logged the dates when I emailed each contact in my excel sheet and also their responses. I then took the new contacts sent to me and emailed each of them as well. As I began confirming dates I built a google map marking the locations of potential and confirmed shows so that I could schedule the dates in the best way possible. I’ll be honest though, the end result did have us doing a bit more traveling than I would have liked, but at least we had shows.

Once I had the semblance of a tour together I sent one more email to those on the list who never responded letting them know which dates were still open and asking if they could help fill those. This actually got some responses as I’m sure many people read the first note and thought “these guys are never going to get themselves over here so I’m not going to waste my time”. As soon as it was apparent we were coming either way I’m sure they saw less risk. Eventually I had a whole routing together, but I’ll be honest – it took nearly 4 months. By the time I was done I had been passed on to someone else so many times that my excel was almost 3 times as long as when I started, and we had to move the whole tour 2 months to make it work.

Once your dates are solid you can submit for your Visa, buy your flights, rent your van and gear and start promoting. If you don’t already have them, make up posters and ship them to each venue at least 3 weeks before each show. I also bought super targeted facebook ads through ReverbNation for each show. They cost $25 each and just ran to the people in each specific town targeted to those who like the magazines we had gotten features in. Of course you’re going to promote it on your sites and if you have a publicist have them release a press release and begin reaching out to local press in each city for interviews and show reviews. If you don’t have a publicist, hit up google and make yourself a new excel. Put together a list of the local press and reach out to set up coverage.

Simple right? Now all you have to do is get your ass there and play the shows. haha. I have a few last tips for you though. Before you leave, make a tour book that lists each show, it’s address, the address of where you’re staying, the location of hospitals close to both, the promoter/venues phone number name and any other info you may need about it. You have no idea how good your cell service will be and who knows if your laptop battery will survive so print that stuff out and give everyone in the band a copy. If you have confirmed press, put that in there for each day too along with what time you need to leave each city and arrive at each venue. Next, remember that most countries will charge you tax for bringing merch to sell into the country. You can either find a local merch distributor to print stuff for you in that country or pack it in your suitcase. If you’re the size of my band you likely won’t have enough merch to arouse suspicion or really be worth taxing so I think this is an acceptable risk.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, be a professional to the clubs, promoters and other venues. Show up when they ask, thank them for their time and effort and roll with the fucking punches. There are going to be lots of them. If the venue doesn’t have a good PA, make the best of it. If they don’t want to let you soundcheck, deal with it. If the other bands play too long, roll with it and cut your set a song or two short. You want to leave there with everyone wanting you to come back as soon as possible. Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with any promoters that try and screw you out of money they promised, but if they do, remember that you don’t want to go to jail in a country you’re not a citizen of. If you properly budgeted as I described above then you don’t need the money anyway so go about your business and when you get home, make sure everyone knows never to deal with them again. We were very fortunate to not have any of those issues and in general found everyone we dealt with to be pleasant and willing to go out of their way to help us. I expect you’ll find the same 99% of the time.

After all that, it’s all about the music. If people dig it, next time you’ll be able to ask for more money and eventually, you might not be losing money on the tour and that’s really all we can ask for isn’t it?

METAL

Jason Lekberg
www.IKILLYA.com
http://www.facebook.com/IKILLYAofficial

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Disney Acquires Lucasfilm; Fans Are Concerned

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The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin… and Star Wars? It may seem like a game of “which of these things is not like the others,” but now that The Walt Disney Company is acquiring Lucasfilm, this means that all of George Lucas’ creations, including Star Wars, will become a part of Disney’s big family.

In addition to acquiring the rights to the entire Lucasfilm catalogue, Disney will also gain the rights to use any of the technologies that Lucasfilm has used to create sound and visual effects, as well as the merchandise that comes along with the films. Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm’s co-chairman, will take over as president of the company and executive producer of any new Star Wars episodes. George Lucas himself will stay on as a consultant.

The announcement of the $4 billion deal has sparked both interest and controversy, mostly from fans who are concerned that the merger could lead to a watering-down of both brands. With a new Star Wars film in the works, there’s also a lot of speculation as to the details of the production, and who might be brought in to direct the film.

There has been some talk of relative newcomer indie director Colin Trevorrow, who directed Safety Not Guaranteed, coming forward to take on the next few Star Wars episodes. Although it may seem like an odd choice, Lucas met with Trevorrow earlier in the year and discussed possible projects, though it is not known for certain if Star Wars in particular was on the table. Some bigger name directors have also been mentioned, including Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, and David Fincher.

As for George Lucas, he assures fans of Star Wars that he has left the franchise in good hands with the Disney takeover, and that it was always his plan to pass the company on while he could still control the direction of its evolution. Lucas didn’t just want to leave it for others to decide in the future, so the Disney deal allows him to have the greatest amount of say in the future of Lucasfilm and its creative endeavours.

Episode 7 of Star Wars is not slated for release until 2015, which gives Disney plenty of time to get organized and work out how they’re going to go about the production.

Written by — Brynn Alexander lives and breathes all things music. When she’s not ditching work to catch her favorite artists, she’s writing about entertainment for up-to-date-events.com and others.

Album Review: Muse ‘The 2nd Law’

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Muse – The 2nd Law
Genre: Rock/Experimental
Label: Helium 3

Muse, if really in need of an introduction these days, are the experimental and flamboyant rock trio from the seaside town Teignmouth in Devon. Headed by guitarist, pianist, vocalist and general mad musician Matt Bellamy, bassist and backing vocalist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dom Howard. Throughout their time together, they’ve undoubtedly changed since their beginnings as an intricate progressive rock band to an eccentric pop-rock sensation, and “The 2nd Law” is their sixth studio album, which sees them taking their extravagant style to a whole new level.

Basically, if you haven’t heard of Muse via radio, TV or through a friend in general, then you’ve probably been hiding under Ayers Rock for the past 18 years. While Matt Bellamy is perhaps known as one of the most frantic and unpredictable frontmen and songwriters in rock over recent years, to say that he pushes the limits of being outright bizarre on this album just be a bit of an understatement. Even though the previous two albums, The “Resistance” (2009) and “Black Holes And Revelations” (2006), have been undeniably ambitious, this release outright takes the cake.

The evidence hits you as soon as Supremacy starts, the track features very dramatic and sleazy guitars backed by orchestral symphonies which just screams and begs to be used for a James Bond film’s opening theme. It’s just completely indulgent in its grandiose pompousness and lack of subtlety disregards any chance of taking the song deeply or seriously. Then the single Madness follows, with low throbbing electronics to support the teasing vocal delivery, especially with the “muh-muh-muh-mah-mah-mah”, like a slow song played in a sexually intense nightclub.

Third track Panic Station becomes another track that’s just  a cup of cold water to the face, by being a funk track. Yes, Muse, playing the funk. The song, with its slap-bass and just the overall sound of the instrumentation and vocal style is like what the drunken first-draft of Stevie Wonder’s classic Superstition might have been. Even the delivery of the word ‘imagination’ is almost the same as in Superstition.

Then there’s Prelude + Survival, and in all honestly, it’s hard to really describe an orchestral intro by now because Muse use them so often now and there just aren’t enough different words to use. However, after the prelude, we get the single used for as the official 2012 Olympics song and as that title might suggest, the track is as radio friendly and cheesy as you might expect, with almost cringeworthy lyrics, like “Race, it’s a race / And I’m gonna win / Yes, I’m gonna win / And I will light the fuse / I’ll never lose”.

Afterwards is the sixth track, Follow Me, which changes the pace and is almost like something you might have expected on their “Black Holes & Revelations” release, with Matt’s lonesome vocals eventually joined by growing electronics and pounding drums, but then as it reaches the chorus, Nero’s dubstep production kicks in. The track as a whole concentrates on the electronic influence and is basically the Take A Bow of the album.

Then the following track Animals turn to a more laid-back and mostly acoustic side, a nice break from the flurry of different directions the band puts you through with the previous tracks. The bouncy keys in the track particularly sound reminiscent of The Stranglers’ hit Golden Brown. Plus the lyrics, despite being cringeworthy again at times, features some ballsy statements, like “Kill yourself / Come on and do us all a favour”.

Next is Explorers, which opens up with these tinkly keys and just unfolds into a very Queen-ish sound, being (again) very radio friendly, yet at times almost reminiscing of Radiohead’s No Surprises during the “We don’t belong here, it was a mistake imprisoning our souls / Can you free me and free me from this world”. But then Big Freeze seems to resonates U2′s famous stadium-rock sound, the vocal delivery being very similar to Bono’s, so you pretty much get the idea of what it sounds like.

Save Me is the first of two songs that features Chris taking up the vocal duties, which is really striking to hear his voice leading. While the track is very nice and soft, and probably the first to really feel to have any real emotion behind it, there’s still that unfortunate level of cheese when the it builds, but there are some nice gentle guitar melodies. On Liquid State, there’s a change in tempo, the track having a sense of urgency throughout with bouncing keys and a growling bassline, making Chris take a different approach to vocals, becoming coarser and stronger. Yet, it’s easy to mistake it as a Pendulum b-side, just without the electronic parts.

The last two tracks come as a pair, similar to the last three tracks of “The Resistance”. However, this time there’s not a purely classical link between these two songs. The first, The 2nd Law: Unsustainable, starts with this very dramatic orchestral build with opera vocals on top, eventually a news bulletin is ‘played’ alongside them. Then the dubstep part kicks in. While it’s impressive that Muse can pull the style off with conventional instruments, it’s just not all that interesting or different from what a lot of dubstep artists are doing. Lastly, The 2nd Law: Isolated System begins with quiet keys, then a low muffled dance beat joins in and again has the news bulletin coming in, building the suspense slightly better than the previous track, generating a morose atmosphere. The orchestral involvement here is a lot more striking too, perhaps proving that less is more.

In conclusion, this album is just bizarre. The influences are so sparse, frantic and non-linear that this really doesn’t feel like a Muse album in a true sense; but more like a tribute and celebration of their influences. Despite this, personally, being far from an emotionally engaging album, it seems that Muse just aren’t taking it seriously anymore, and perhaps we shouldn’t either and that music can just be for fun.

That said, to say this album has some life-changing value would be complete exaggeration, and seems like a compilation of tracks that Muse have thrown together to keep fans satisfied with new releases. It’s not a crime, but it seems like Muse are playing around at the moment and your enjoyment of this album probably depends on whether that’s what you want or not.

5/10
Favourite tracks: Panic Station, Madness, Animals.

Review by Rich Reviewz