Truth be told, I’m a bit shocked that the music press is rather indifferent to New York glam rockers Morningwood. I know they’re not the best band New York’s given the world, but their blend of punchy guitars, perky beats and that force of nature named Chantal Claret at the microphone strike some primal chord in me. Maybe it’s a reminder what what rock bands used to sound like, before they worried about whether they were cool enough, or if they were attracting the “right” fans. What a joke, really. Do you think Cheap Trick ever gave a fuck who was listening to their records, as long as people were buying them? Hell, no.
That’s why people refer to the music business these days as junior high school with money. Sadly, the same peer pressure rules apply to the people who write about bands. They want to be seen as cool, too (probably more so than the musicians they write about), so once a band has the perception of not being hip, the writers tend to fall in line. Case in point: a very well-known blogger told me at Lollapalooza in 2007 that they were surprised at how much they liked Silverchair’s performance, yet they the band down in their column. Oh, the price some pay for hipster credibility.
But not me. I gave that ghost up years ago, and I can’t tell you how much easier things are since I did. Of course, this might make bands reluctant to receive my stamp of approval, since it comes with a giant asterisk – Shit! He’s uncool! Wait, unless it’s cool to not care about being cool. Damn, this is hard – but I’m not high enough on the food chain yet for that to matter. Anyway…
Personally, I’ll take a band like Morningwood and a song like “Best of Me” over the more popular Paramore any day of the week. It’s brief (just a hair over three minutes), it’s catchy, it’s confident without bragging, and best of all, it’s all major keys, so there’s no unnecessary melodrama. It reminds me of Pat Benatar in her ass-kicking days (i.e. before she started her family). And you can have it for free. Dig in. And as an appetizer, here’s the video, which contains a nice callback to the band’s hilarious clip for “Sugarbaby,” which is one of my singles of the year.
The problem with a band reaching the upper reaches of the rock star food chain is that inferior bands begin to imitate them. And the band that has inspired the largest number of shitty copycats of late, sadly, is one of this writer’s favorites.
Yep, Muse.
The thing about Muse is that their approach is a lot simpler than it appears. The song, by and large, comes first, whereas the band’s copycats see the flashy solos, the lightning-fast drum fills, and the busy bass lines and instantly forget about writing and concentrate on playing. Big, big mistake. Without a tune, that stuff is just masturbation.
Which brings us to Gazpacho, which seems an odd name for a group of Norwegians, but then again we suppose that everything is served cold there. (This moment of cultural insensitivity brought to you by Jack Daniel’s.) This is the first Muse-y band we’ve heard since “Knights of Cydonia” that seems to understand the order of things. They can play, and they make sure that you know they can play, but it’s not their endgame. And, in the case of “Winter Is Never,” the haunting ballad that closes their new album Tick Tock, the song comes first, second and third. David Gray is probably gnashing his teeth over this one, as this could pass for a White Ladder outtake, with a few Buckley-isms from lead singer Jan Henrik Ohme in the second chorus. Gorgeous stuff, and best of all, it’s free! The download link is below.
In the meantime, those who felt a tad disappointed by Muse’s new album The Resistance would be wise to check out Tick Tock. It won’t make anyone burn their copies of Black Holes and Revelations, but for a mere $6.23 to download, it’s a steal. Dig in.
Somewhere in California, Beck is throwing stuff across the room, pissed that he didn’t come up with this first.
The project of French expatriate Hervé “RV” Salters, General Elektriks is minimalist blue-eyed funk filtered through a microphone and a bevy of vintage synthesizers. RV seems particularly fond of the Clavinet (think “Superstition,” “Trampled Underfoot”), which makes sense considering it’s arguably the funkiest instrument ever created. Adding the horns for the last verse is a nice touch, too.
Wow, look at that shirt and tie combo. All right, so the guy might be color blind. But when it comes to music, color blindness is never a bad thing. It-it’s time to get, it-it’s time to get funky, kids.
For Alex Dezen, who for all intents and purposes, IS The Damnwells, to release an entire album for free download on the Paste Magazine website was a stroke of genius. It’s not like the guy isn’t already revered in sub-radar pop/rock circles, but now he’s given those in said circles every reason to preach the gospel of the Damnwells to anyone who will, you know, damn well listen, and for them to spread the word with no repercussions of piracy. But by no means is One Last Century devalued, nor is it a bunch of crappy B-side recordings that Dezen dug up from his basement. It’s more of the same brilliant melodic, heartfelt and smartly arranged songs we’ve come to expect, a continuation of sorts from 2006’s Air Stereo. He only wanted to release this one for free a) because he wants more people to discover the band, b) because today’s economy makes free stuff attractive, and c) because he can. On One Last Century, you’ve got the gamut that runs from sugary pop (“Bastard of Midnight” or “55 Pictures”) to beautiful acoustic (“Soundtrack” or “Say”) to riveting mid-tempo (“Like It Is” or “WWXII”). Go ahead, try and find something you don’t like here – you won’t find a better value anywhere. (LABEL: Paste Magazine)
