27 posts
I really love this record.
Now, I'm already a big fan of their over-the-top dramatic sound, and the fact that they managed to take it even further on this record just blew me away.
I love it when bands aren't afraid to be cheeky and bombastic while sounding very serious (which is probably why I like Queen), and Muse does this ALL OVER this record.
My favorite tracks are "United States of Eurasia" (Queen to the hilt), "Unnatural Selection" (alternates between stately moodiness and just slamming rock), and "I Belong To You" (which is just ridiculous in that it is completely genre-bending within the same song and features - get this - a bass clarinet solo). The three part "Symphony" called "Exogenesis" is fantastic, and I have to say, I don't skip a single track when listening to the record, which is rare these days for me.
They are great musicians (particularly the bass playing of Chris Wolstenholme - he should be a "bass hero" if there's such a thing), interesting composers, and Matthew Bellamy's voice, while obviously influenced by Thom Yorke on some level, is powerful and emotional, and the album really plays, to me, like a film. It's a grand design, and completely over the top and dramatic, but extremely well-conceived and well-executed.
Muse has had trouble really breaking big in the USA, even though they are huge pretty much everywhere else, and I find that both annoying and sad. But the same thing happened to Queen, really...and Muse definitely owes a debt to Queen for the bombast and for their lack of fear when it comes to using whatever musical feel suits them at any given time.
I highly recommend the album, and I sincerely hope that if you give it a listen, you guys enjoy it as much as I have.
I will warn you, it is pretty ridiculous at times...but since many of you guys are into highly technical progressive rock, I think you can handle it.
Thanks for reading. :)
Tripper
The first time I heard Muse, I thought the lead singer was channeling Freddy Mercury. Haven't heard this disc, but will have to check it out.
I love this group. My first experience with them was at a concert. I had no idea. Live they will totally fuck you up. They are ridiculous.
To me.....they channel a lot of the Beatles. To a degree if the Beatles were a more modern group it would sound like Muse.
Definately hear Queen ideas.....but to me Muse it more refined.
They really are an incredible live band...I think if they are able to do a big tour in the US and all the Muse fans drag their friends they'll acquire a much bigger following in this country. I hope some people were moved when they opened for U2 at all those stadiums. What an excellent choice of an opener for a stadium tour, though, by U2 - pick a stadium band that's sold out the new Wembley multiple times. Definitely forces U2 to keep on their game and will hopefully get the crowd all wired for U2's show.
Tripper
Interesting how you see it.
Beatles, Queen etc.
As to me they are simply RadioHead mkII
good band - i like them
but
The new Wembley would be an interesting place to see a stadium band.
I went to see a football match there back in March, we were right up top and near the back.
a 6 or 7 stories up job
Thing that struck me was how steeply terraced it was - and considering you are at 50m above the pitch - it is like vertigo levels of steepness.
but has that closed space feeling
And the audio quality was really good - by far the best of any stadium/arena I have been in.
So Muse would be a good band to see there
the old Wembley - forget it.
fingers — Oct 23, 2009Interesting how you see it.
Beatles, Queen etc.
As to me they are simply RadioHead mkII
good band - i like them
but
The only thing Radiohead about them is that Matt Bellamy, as a singer, kind of sounds like Thom Yorke.
Their recent music is nothing like Radiohead's at all. Not even close. Their earlier stuff was closer. Well, closer to Radiohead's earlier stuff. But vocally, I can see your point 100%, although Bellamy's style is more operatic. Musically, though? No way in hell.
Just disagreeing...
As a side note, I haven't heard a piece of Radiohead music I've enjoyed since OK Computer.
So maybe Muse is what I wish Radiohead would have become instead of what they actually became (because I really can't stand them these days).
Tripper
I thought Muse's Absolution was great... basically heavy Radiohead. Everything I've heard since has not really impressed me.
Interesting take on Radiohead. I think Radiohead they just keep getting better. Only Hail to the Thief disappointed me... Kid A and In Rainbows, I thought, were masterpieces.
I have had this conversation a lot with people, where they say "why couldn't they just make OK Computer again?" I know how that works. Then the next album is like OK computer, but not quite as good... and you don't feel the same about it... and the band just slips away. And by the time they try to reinvent themselves, no one cares anymore. The fact that they DID make Kid A after OK Computer is what blows my mind. And, it's a great album. Radiohead is the band that actually went out and reinvented their sound, over and over, and made albums each time that are amazing. I personally love everything they've done since The Bends except for Hail to the Thief, which was a bit of a miss...
Well, to be perfectly honest, there aren't many pieces of Radiohead music BEFORE OK Computer I particularly cared for, either, but at least there were some. I always liked his voice, but never cared for the songs, by and large.
That people think Radiohead is such genius confounds me, because their music doesn't really speak to me at all.
Time to go challenge my opinion and have a big giant Radiohead listening session...see if I change my mind. :)
Tripper
If you need me to donate some songs to you, drop a line. The Bends is also a masterpiece.
Of course, there are always people who just don't dig a band. You just might not like them. I know a lot of people who don't like Pink Floyd, and though it confounds me, my favorite music maxim is you can't make people like music.
Okay, so I gave Amnesiac, Kid A, OK Computer, and In Rainbows all a listen, and I figured out the things I like and don't like about this later-period Radiohead that so many seem to love:
Like:
Their sonic experimentation, the production (I love Nigel Godrich - he did great work on Jason Falkner's album "Can You Still Feel", too), Thom's voice (most of the time), Jonny's weird guitar bits. They are clever.
Don't like:
Their sonic experimentation. Too often it just sounds like a droney, noisy mess to me - especially on Kid A and Amnesiac. Just not my cup of tea, and yes, I realize I put that in both. I admire them for going there, I just didn't love where they took it.
Overall, 80% of it bored me. 10% was interesting. 10% I thought was pretty cool. There are moments I really loved, most of them when they sounded a little more straight-ahead and poppy. I don't like the techno approach they take to arrangement sometimes...keep one rhythmic idea going and then add layers - that just gets on my nerves after a while in pretty much every genre of music except funk.
I have enough respect for you to have spent the time (I'll admit it wasn't always super-attentive listening - I was usually on the web), and I will say I have more respect for them than I did - they haven't completely sucked since The Bends...but I doubt I'll ever listen to those records again. Just not much for me on there.
I'm just a little more boring and traditionalist than Radiohead. I'm not "alternative" enough. Which is probably why I like Muse. ;)
Tripper
Ok, fair enough. Now I'm going to go listen to Muse on imeem and see what I think.
I'll preface this with a warning... I wrote this all as I listened and it wasn't a happy time for me.
...live reactions to Muse: The Resistance...
Uprising... Hmmm... cheezy bass synth and layers right out of the 80's. Hand claps. Programmed tom fills. The chorus sounds just like a chorus from any tune on Absolution. I would not say this is a step forward... that album grabbed me... this sounds derivative (one thing you cannot say about Radiohead)...
Resistance... you know, Muse sounds a lot like the Killers. Pretty heavy on the 80's style synths once again. Not sure about that pre-chorus, almost like a musical a la Grease with the "it could be wrong" refrain. Typical big chorus. In fact, speaking of the killers, I paused the song to think about it, and the chorus of this one is really similar to the chorus of "Jealousy".
Undisclosed desires... again with the cheesy synths. Often when I listen to a band I will think about "would I like this if I did not know it was 'x'". I think this song has promise. It's interesting, and dark, and somewhat weird. But it doesn't go far enough. A band like Trans Am pulls songs like this off in their sleep, because this is how they think music should be. I'm not sure this band really wants to make music like this or if they are looking towards a trend.
United States of Eurasia... I agree it *seriously* apes Queen. The problem here is one of taste. Queen does the same thing with just voice and piano. Muse layers it with really over-the top strings and drenches the whole thing in reverb. It's so fucking melodramatic, it just can't be for real. It's just too much. Then the lead guitar lick comes in on the hit exactly like Queen would do it... too much. Then the string synth part comes in playing an exotic melody... it's almost good, and it's almost like listening to Guns 'n' Roses, circa "Use Your Illusion". This song illustrates another problem... this band hardly sounds like a band. There is none of that rocking, "we play together" feeling. It just sounds like a studio production. Drummer sounds like he is on his own script. Everything is over-ornamented. Classical piano interludes flit between harmony punches.
Good bands sound like good bands. This sounds like a bunch of disparate elements.
Right now, I am listening to something that should be set to solo dance, with low-mixed heavy breathing over it. It's beyond silly.
Guiding light... Drums sound like they came from the Nine Inch Nails sample library. Does this band still have a drummer? Singer and song remind me of Simple Minds. Way more earnest though. Is there anything fun about music for this guy anymore? Great, tasty, queen-like solo, and that's about it.
--looking ahead at the track listing, I see a tune in three parts coming up, and something with a French subtitle. I am beginning to dread the next 30 minutes.--
Unnatural Selection... The intro scared me, I thought it was more of this melodramatic drivel... but no, they play guitars and drums on this song. Ironically, this sounds like modern Radiohead. Okay, there's some actual guitar chugs on the chorus. Nice! I could listen to this song more than once. Refrain: "I want the truth"--repeated. The truth? You are pretty much unlistenable.
MK Ultra... a secret government project to test drugs on unsuspecting citizens? Muse should include some blotter paper with this, would probably make it better. "Invisible to all/the mind becomes a wall/of history deleted with one stroke." Huh? This chorus screams to me "out of ideas". I like the guitar tones, but the riffs are bleh, the drummer is actually playing a 16th-note funk beat over the outro? Wtf. MK Ultra Bad.
I Belong to You (+Mon Cur S'ouvre à Ta Voix)I don't think I'm going to write about this one. Suffice it to say that Queen was often great, and sometimes Queen was very, very bad.
Lyric: she attacks me like a Leo, my heart is split like Rio. No, seriously.
Now he's singing in French.
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)... My fears above were realized.
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 (Cross Pollination)... I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through this album.
Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption)... okay, why would there be any redemption in an exogenetic system? That's a moral consideration, not a biologic one. Anyway, that aside, the opening of this is quite beautiful. More tinkly romantic piano... but well done. Then they throw on huge layers of strings, and the guy starts singing about more of his issues with forgiveness and failure and etc... and the drummer sounds like he's in a different studio, and I just wish I was listening to a Ramones album or something. The end of the piece sounds like a soundtrack tune. I like the piano but the strings are very overprocessed and reverby and spacious. These guys don't have a thing on the album that sounds close or underproduced, unless you count the totally in-your-face vocals.
Overall, I'm guessing this doesn't sound like a very positive review. ;0
On the other hand, I'm now listening to Black Holes and Revelations from their site, and it's pretty damn good.
Tripper - have you ever listened to The Killers? I think they will be right up your alley. Not as over the top as Muse, and I think they write catchier music, but there are enough similar elements that I think you will dig it. The latest album, Day & Age, is actually really damn good--less poppy than their old stuff, but not "experimental"--just interesting.
I find uprising an annoying toon.
Sounds like a bad Doctor Who cover.
Muse is a band that is sooo trying to be profound and meaningful "artists"
takes on the big important ishoos in a lumpen way that will be a forgotten embarrassing memory within 10 years.
A serious case of Bono syndrome - rampant egotism.
Radiohead - I think they increasingly suffer from the inflated ego disease as well.
They did this crap song using the words of a centurion guy who died recently - the last of the WW1 in the UK - who had some views on war worth remembrance.
I have no problem with them doing it - just do a worthwhile job on it - show effort - and they didn't - sounded like some jam they did - like that will do as we are infallible artists.
But Muse they are the messiah :)
I listen to Muse's Black Holes and Revelations and Absolution alot - really like those, but haven't kept up with the band over the last couple years.
Radiohead, mainly OK Computer and The Bends.
Muse sounds like they mix their albums with Reason... heh.
charger — Oct 29, 2009Tripper - have you ever listened to The Killers? I think they will be right up your alley. Not as over the top as Muse, and I think they write catchier music, but there are enough similar elements that I think you will dig it. The latest album, Day & Age, is actually really damn good--less poppy than their old stuff, but not "experimental"--just interesting.
I've listened to The Killers. I've even covered (as the singer/bassist in one of my old Jacksonville bands) "Mr. Brightside". I thought "Hot Fuzz" was decent, but not good enough to buy it or listen very deeply to the newer records (I liked a few tracks I heard on the radio, and scanned the records quickly on the net). Brandon Flowers doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor, either personally or with his music. It's kind of annoying actually, and I think that's what keeps me from really connecting with a lot of his music (the non-singles that I have heard). He's a bit of a self-important own-fart-huffer. From what I can tell, Muse does have a sense of humor about their music, and based on your review, it reads to me like you took them a little too seriously (even with your caveat that you were having a bad day). That's okay, though. I've always liked "cheesy" synths. And I love what they've done on "The Resistance". That said, I can hear your point in your criticisms. I just don't take the music the way you take it. It speaks to me differently.
I will say that both "Absolution" and "Black Holes and Revelations" rock much harder than this current one, for sure.
One thing I noticed in my extended Radiohead listening that frustrated me was that I just wanted the music to GO SOMEWHERE. I felt like it took too long for them to either get to the point or get to the next bit.
I just have a short attention span, and I think that comes from my being raised on oldies and being a fan of punk. Those bastards got to the point. Even Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" considered, knew how to change it up and get to the point - no matter if they were writing something eight minutes long or a simple rocking pop song like "Keep Yourself Alive".
Muse annoys me when they stretch things out a little too much. On this album, "Resistance" and "Guiding Light" both do that, to my ear.
But I think I'm just one of those people who, if I like some band or artist, I end up appreciating and enjoying pretty much everything they've done.
Evidence?
I own every Rush record, and have listened to them all for extended periods of time - I like just about everything they've done, even the stuff that kind of sucks (Read: Dog Years, I Think I'm Going Bald, half of Vapor Trails). It's like I like it just because it's them.
My reality: I'm not "cool" in any way. Maybe that's why I don't get the bands all the cool music-critic people like...I mean, seriously, I am not a fan of almost every well-reviewed band in existence, from Talking Heads to Radiohead to R.E.M. to MGMT to The Arcade Fire. I think Patti Smith sucks ass. I think Lucinda Williams is boring.
About the only band I like a lot that critics seem to like is Wilco, and I like all the stuff critics crap on (any time Wilco gets poppier, especially like the first three records). I heard stuff from Death Cab For Cutie that I liked, but they also have a tendency to drag shit out.
Oh, and I like U2 and Living Colour, as well. They usually get good reviews (though I think if Living Colour were a bunch of white guys, critics would crap on them as much as any other rock band).
But that's pretty much it.
Tripper
fingers — Oct 29, 2009I find uprising an annoying toon.
Sounds like a bad Doctor Who cover.
It definitely has that vibe. And the first part of that synth melody makes me giggle because it is the same minor chord voicing as "White Wedding" (albeit an E instead of B minor).
I still like it, though.
Tripper
When I said I was having qa bad day, it was tongue-in-cheek... listening to the album was what was making me feel that way.
I hear your points but I think you are off the mark, I think Muse is incredibly self-important and I think they are taking it way too seriously. I don't hear humor in any of it, and that's usually not hard to pick up. I really do like a lot of music, but I just found this to be not something I could listen to repeatedly. As for music "going somewhere" I listen to a lot of music that is about the feeling or the space, and doesn't really go anywhere. I have a feeling you'd hate a lot of the bands I really love, like Russian Circles, Caspian, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Tortoise, Pelican, This Will Destroy You, Trans Am, etc.
charger — Nov 01, 2009When I said I was having qa bad day, it was tongue-in-cheek... listening to the album was what was making me feel that way.
Ah. I'd probably cut myself if I had to listen to Kid A on any sort of regular basis, so I guess we're even.
I hear your points but I think you are off the mark, I think Muse is incredibly self-important and I think they are taking it way too seriously. I don't hear humor in any of it, and that's usually not hard to pick up.
They are not nearly as serious as their music sounds sometimes. And the inclusion of certain musical elements that pushes things over the top is where I hear the humor, because it's just ridiculous. If that's not their intention, then I'm just getting what I want to get from it (though it seems that it is, based on interviews I've seen and read - they make things as "dramatic" as they can on purpose, making themselves laugh in the process sometimes).
I really do like a lot of music, but I just found this to be not something I could listen to repeatedly. As for music "going somewhere" I listen to a lot of music that is about the feeling or the space, and doesn't really go anywhere. I have a feeling you'd hate a lot of the bands I really love, like Russian Circles, Caspian, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Tortoise, Pelican, This Will Destroy You, Trans Am, etc.
Which is probably why you dig that more ambient Radiohead stuff, and I dig the more standard Radiohead stuff.
Tripper
I've never liked having to read an interview with the band to determine what their music is about. I don't even know the names of the musicians in most of the bands I like, I just know that I love their music.
Well, for me it's about the music first.
If I love their music and don't know anything about them, I can exist in that vacuum and love music that was made by assholes, but if the music isn't completely brilliant, and they turn out to be douchey, well, then you have my issues with The Killers.
But honestly, if someone comes off as a tool, I tend to shy away from listening to their music, because I don't want to like it. And flipping that on its head, if I really like the people making the music, I consume more of it. It doesn't mean I'll love it (I adore King's X but could live without their most recent three albums), but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
I really liked Muse's music, and when I started reading about them and watching interviews and learning more about them as a band and as people, it just made me understand it better because I knew where it was coming from, and I liked it more. Believe me, there are times I need to turn it off, like any overdone confection.
The argument could be made that any piece of art should stand on its own without knowing some sort of back story, which is true, but appreciation of that art can be enhanced or diminished quite a bit by knowing more about its creation. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
The funny thing is, I didn't think I'd even try to listen to more Radiohead, but I decided to give In Rainbows another listen and just had to turn it off. I guess it's just not for me - I found it really annoying.
One likes what one likes. Such is life. :)
Tripper
Tripper — Nov 05, 2009Well, for me it's about the music first.
But honestly, if someone comes off as a tool, I tend to shy away from listening to their music, because I don't want to like it. And flipping that on its head, if I really like the people making the music, I consume more of it. It doesn't mean I'll love it (I adore King's X but could live without their most recent three albums), but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Tripper
That would mean I could never again listen to Kiss or Guns 'n' Roses... I always try to remember, art is made by artists, and artists are not usually people you would like to hang out with.
charger — Nov 05, 2009[quote author=Tripper link=1256173546/0#23 date=1257392476]Well, for me it's about the music first.
But honestly, if someone comes off as a tool, I tend to shy away from listening to their music, because I don't want to like it. And flipping that on its head, if I really like the people making the music, I consume more of it. It doesn't mean I'll love it (I adore King's X but could live without their most recent three albums), but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Tripper
That would mean I could never again listen to Kiss or Guns 'n' Roses... I always try to remember, art is made by artists, and artists are not usually people you would like to hang out with.
That's a very good point...but just shows that I was unclear in what I was trying to say.
If the music is
great, I don't care how much of a douchebag the artist is.
I was trying to say that with music that hasn't really hooked me on its own, if the artist who created it seems like an ass, I'm less likely to support them and therefore much less likely to listen to more that they've created. If I really like the people making the music, I'm more likely to give more of it a try.
A specific example: Because I saw that first Killers record as mediocre, and Brandon Flowers seems like a complete tool, I didn't give as much time to the rest of their music, because the music on its own wasn't enough. Going the other way, I hated Kurt Cobain, but so much of Nirvana's music is excellent to me that I'm still a fan.
Make sense now?
Tripper