Miike Snow Gets Affably Oddball For "Genghis Khan"

When you think Swedish music your thoughts may run to a few different places. Let's not leave out Europe, whose anthem "The Final Countdown" falls into either love it or hate it. In this era it hasn't aged well but nothing wrong with guilty pleasure, right? Of course ABBA, master of the well written pop nugget can't be forgotten. This foursome owned the 1970s. Conversely you can dismiss "Barbie Girl" from Aqua. I get why people want to throw this '90s act under a bus. Then you have The Cardigans whose "Lovefool" was inescapable in 1996. What all this chat leads up to is we have another entry in the Swedish corniness circus. Enter Miike Snow, an indie pop act doing historical namedropping with "Genghis Khan". The history lesson receives an infectious chorus backup that is going to drive you nuts with how catchy it really is. The video is bound to leave you with one of the widest smiles you'll ever know in your lifetime. Andrew Wyatt doesn't rank GQ mention but for sure he makes the video pop, particularly with his spot on hilarious dance routines. It's nice when some outfit in the music stratosphere shakes things up so you're not fed a steady diet of interchangeable hit flavors of the month. The synthesizers give "Genghis Khan" its cold heart and sinister vibe. Synths have this history of getting the prickly heats going on the back of your neck. It definitely doesn't hurt that the song's staying power comes from a wicked drum through line that makes you follow the psychotic backdrop to see what lines are going to be colored in next. The piano chords stand at attention at D and then leap up a few notches which I like because that demonstrates Miike Snow uses all of the canvas they paint on, not just one fraction. Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, better known as Bloodshy & Avant know exactly where to load up on dark foreboding synths. That's why it's useful to have Andrew in the background tamping up the humor quotient. Too silly for its own good perhaps but what other factor might there be to make you want to pinch its little cheeks and utter "Isn't it cute." Yin and yang meet squarely in the middle. You'd be wise not to tune out after the opening stanza because you'd make the mistake you've entered brass knuckles territory when in fact some jocularity can be found. I'm not sure what this video's theme is based on but I sense a James Bond villain attitude underlying the humor. Tops on my list of instrumental aesthetic is a well placed synthesizer. Miike Snow proves it masters the most jovial of high notes but is sure to shuffle in the foreboding deeper registers in the way a diver bounces on the edge of his board before taking the plunge. Miike Snow has been around since 2007 and that cohesive juice serves them well. Genghis Khan would be proud. The song bearing his name possesses plenty of muscle.

The Nineties:A Look Back From The Rearview

Hello Buzz buddies. Here's another spontaneous post sans musical clip. This should please y'all's need for nostalgia if the '90s are your thing. I'd like to focus on songs that, at least in my humble opinion, made the decade great. Any Jane Child fans out there. To jar your memory Jane Child was the Canadian with the tri-level hairdo whose one mega hit was "Don't Wanna Fall In Love". At the start you knew it meant business. Such masterful production values. It sounded like a ready made hit. However it was "Welcome To The Real World" that grabbed my attention. The tune was grubby, grimy, and a little on the spooky side. If the apocalypse had a soundtrack, "Welcome To The Real World" would be on it. By contrast, lurching to the opposite end of the decade, "Hit Me Baby One More Time", had massive hit written all over it. And so Brit's coming out party began. Ice Cube scored early with "Today Was a Good Day" but i gravitated towards "Wicked". That's because his raw fury was on full display. It's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which put Nirvana on the musical map but "Heart Shaped Box" held compelling intrigue. Of course the decade wouldn't have been complete without Hanson's "MMMBop". In '97 you couldn't go three yards in either direction without hearing it. Catchy but I get why others find it excruciatingly annoying. Such is what hits radio does. Commerce often trumps art. I never failed to succumb to the charms of New Orleans stalwarts Better Than Ezra. "In The Blood" served its case well with a eye-catching video and bass heavy sound. Women were empowered by Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know". I thought "Wow, she's angry. Better duck guys." It was so refreshing to hear unabashed venom. The more you were drawn into her acidic tirades, the more you found yourself inescapably drawn to them. Prince acquitted himself well with "Letitgo" Everything you admire about his artistry was on full display. Sassy like the man himself. For cuteness you couldn't top "The Distance" from Cake, one good reason to revel in your San Francisco residency. Nice this band can be loose jointed about its importance as a cultural entity. They don't come any weepier than Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart. Superb four-hanky effort and that's saying something coming from someone who doesn't tear up at much of anything all that easily. So...there's a snapshot of quality music from the decade in which that other Clinton tooted a horn. Thanks for taking my hand and strolling down memory lane. I'll jet back to the present for future posts.

Red Sun Rising Nails Some Raw Emotions

Red Sun Rising has a thing for the newly dead. How can I claim that? Check out the lyrics to the deceptively named "Emotionless" and all will become clear. Nice bonus that the beginning of the song isn't remotely the sum total. I'm saying that, unlike certain movie trailers, the song's ethos isn't given away totally by what you hear in the first minute. And what unique guitar playing by Ryan Williams at the bridge. Guitar assumes center stage in most rock ensembles. Ryan gives us material to feast on that refuses to make macho posturing its bread and butter. Mike Protich sears a hole in your guts with his haunting style. Are you really sure you want this man hovering in the shadows? The first two lines alone would be enough to send a sensitive 12 year-old to a therapist until he's 80. "With lips closed and eyes sealed you're sculpture with a pulse." Charming sentiment indeed. He moves right along to "I wanna capture your essence and keep it here forever little one." Major league palpitations connected to that suggestion. He claims to feel good about his victim not telling anyone. As for the chorus well...possibly you'd want to sleep with the lights on. "You'll just lie motionless, emotionless. You're beautiful asleep." The musicianship busts out all over. The guitar work penetrates deep down into your marrow. Pat Gerasia drums with a echo of authority. Ricky Miller belts out the discordant delight on bass. "Emotionless" already has the nightmare fodder market cornered. And what's the cherry on this sick sundae? The line "Cause you're falling apart at your seams. Time to hand me the barf bag cause that's high on the TMI scale. Red Sun Rising does know how to capture a boy's attention. This bunch goes from scaled back to powerful dagger to the heart in the same breath. You think Dave McGarry's rhythm guitar is going to steal the show but then "Emotionless" bears its cannibal fangs. The guitar grows raw and unnervingly vicious. At last an octane level to go with the dirge like subject matter. I was actually fooled into thinking the opening salvo was the chord sequence I was going to be listening to throughout. Turns out Red Sun Rising had other ideas, meaty pleasurable ideas. Would you expect anything less from an album titled "Polyester Zeal"? I think not. "Emotionless" gleefully goes for the jugular in a manner few recent songs could match. Can Mike still live with himself having been associated with this Tales From The Crypt shiver inducer? Methinks so. After it sinks its tentacles into your craw you'll have no chance of getting them out again. Everything bites down hard, and that makes for a compelling listen over and over again. The fusing of theme and amplification means this train wreck is a disaster you'll want to relive repeatedly because you can't believe what you're witnessing. In short "Emotionless" hammers away at the vulnerable emotions until they're bloody stumps. This is worth the sweat and concentration required to swallow it whole.

Red Rocker Redux? Ridiculous...

This week I've begun work in an online History of Rock class based in Fullerton College, California. For that reason my blog postings may be a shade abbreviated but hopefully still packing some food for thought. For instance Sammy Hagar's brain was picked regarding what he'd do if given the opportunity to rejoin Van Halen. Van Halen has to be the longest running music soap opera this side of Aerosmith. The band, as the book Everybody Wants Some chronicled, has had a troubled, tempestuous history. I was stunned when Sammy Hagar was summarily dismissed because he and band had a lucrative partnership which lasted 11 years. I was thrilled to see David Lee Roth and his ego leave back in 1985 because while his performing chops are unquestioned, so was his arrogance. In comes Sammy, and the raft of chart hits continued. MTV was the unwitting host for a trumped up original Van Halen lineup reunion that nobody with three functioning brain cells would mistake for genuine reconciliation. Extreme's Gary Cherone stepped in. Talented singer, wrong place, even worse time. The one Cherone era VH album failed to go platinum, sank like a stone after its deceptively high debut on the Billboard album chart. In the 2010s Van Halen emerged with Eddie, Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass, Alex, and...surprise...David Lee Roth back in. After the numerous heated exchanges surrounding Dave's ego, his return feels like hooking back up with the ex-girlfriend even though her sight makes your teeth stand on end. Working with thw man was never Eddie's problem...living with his behavior was. So back to Sammy Hagar. Should he rejoin if the circumstance was right. Van Halen has become Three Mile Island fallout shelter over the years right down to Dave and Sammy actually going on tour together. Sammy doesn't need Van Halen. He has his Cabo San Lucas tequila dealings as well as his Chickenfoot side project. If Eddie needs some warped sense of stability having Dave back then that's between Eddie, Dave, and the therapist Eddie ought to have on speed dial. Sammy, don't go there unless you want to risk being thrown under the bus again.

Bring Me The Horizon Sounds a Bit Unhappy

Give Bring Me The Horizon a five foot perimeter berth. The Brits may be singing "Happy Song" but they're anything but gleeful. Lucky for us they have their agitation meter cranked up to eleven. More unrest equals more metallic mind blowing. Nobody dialed it in here. You could quibble that the chord arrangements aren't that dynamic but if you step away from that and focus your cosmic energy on the explosiveness the band brings to an unapologetic head I promise you won't be left disappointed. Lead vocalist Oliver Sykes slides into disturbed psyche ward patient turf and isn't too unhappy to join the party. Drummer Matt Nicholls hammers away behind drums like somoeone slapped his girlfriend and brutalized his dog. Lee Malia comes with guns blazing in his unrelenting guitar salvo. Strip that from the song's toolkit and you'd lack the full spectrum of amazing "Happy Song" makes overtures to give you. Bassist Matt Kean doesn't sit small in the saddle either. He sprays his bullets everywhere, leaving no survivors in his wake. Oliver reminds us what a depraved universe we occupy. So much depression, so little time for medication in the name of relief. If only we'd sing a happy song a little bit louder then maybe we'd be happy. I'm sensing he makes this suggestion in jest. Too much overtly suggestive anger behind the fangs. This great big void threatens to consume us. Not exactly schmaltzy greeting card thinking, huh? Where "Happy People" succeeds is in using the accelerator gear to help us forget what a bleak track this is. The "S.P.I.R.I.T." chorus isn't there as a stress reduction. Rather I think it's there to poke fun at the mirth people want versus the reality they're getting. This band boards the loathing locomotive and chugs on down to a certain sort of oblivion sensitive souls couldn't absorb in one sip. With each new step on the path Oliver digs his discontent in even deeper. Giving it all you've got doesn't register so much as a blip on the cosmic radar screen. Added grist for Oliver's rage. This song wears the schizophrenia well. Jagged outside and chewy inside. Bring Me The Horizon gets bonus points for keeping in mind that no one person rules the roost. Each player gets to work his forte to the hilt. What's our benefit? Rock served rough and ready. Oliver's a diabolical force but his mates aren't far from ambling by his side stride for stride. Oliver leans into his agonies full on at about the juncture where he cranks out "But if I sing along a little fucking louder to a happy song." The disenfranchisement seeps through his pores like a cancer that refuses to stop spreading. Matt's bass can't stop the bleeding, the very reason why this collision needs to be appreciated from a close range. Lee adds kindling to the burn. Still no let up. Artistically "Happy Song" doesn't stray far from the angry man formula. That's not objectionable. Vented frustration has its place. If that skill gets honed steadily over time you can say you authored a fantastic bit of rock poetry. "Happy Song" exposes some angry men with a combustible spirit. Catch the contradictory cacophony on the forthcoming "That's The Spirit" album.

From Ashes to New Puts Us Through An Unsatisfying Wringer

I like the rock/rap fusion...so long as Linkin Park carries the torch forward. Pennsylvania act From Ashes to New borrows liberally from the Linkin Park playbook. It's not encouraging that I can't exactly hear Matt Brandyberry's rapping clearly throughout "Through It All". Not only that, Matt leaps from rap to supercharged vocals at the chorus in this manner that jolts my eyes out of their sockets, and not in an amusing way. I would have preferred it had they toned down the melodrama a hair. As a marketing strategy the video does a fine job of projecting the overwrought boy/girl conflict. Not that I don't have anything nice to say about From Ashes To New. Tim D'onofrio puts himself in an unconscious zone to do his drumming and, the results are flat out staggering. He remembered to have fun and thoughtfully took us along for the ride. He's the only band member lifting himself up above average. Matt bounces too much psychologically. Branden "Boo" Kreider has no profound effect whatsoever, an afterthought if you will. You can't coast on what Linkin Park's done so much better than you. To make matters worse, From Ashes To New doesn't have a Chester Bennington wannabe to justify its existence with. Chris Musser isn't going to blow his nu metal peers off stage. He can sing but he can't electrify. Have you check the lyric sheet? That's where the drama gets poured out thicker than BBQ sauce on brisket. So let's see what tortured soul man musings he's sharing with us. First off you don't have a heart if you're not a little saddened by the first four lines. "There's not a day that passes by. The pain has not amassed inside. It's breaking me down to the ground. It's like I crashed and died." In other words it'll send your heart to the moon on gossamer wings...not! Moving right along we get a retread helping of the man tortured by the past that won't let him go free theme. For a follow up Matt acknowledges the woman who essentially helped make him the man he is today. She gave him a chance to change. She changed him forever. You can't hear the inner yawn but it's up in my head as plain as day. I'd say we've been victimized by a strong case of nu metal style over substance. The group as a unit uses blown up hyperactive licks to cover up the fact that they aren't saying anything too terribly profound. Matt's to be commended for giving props to the woman who rocked his perspective but, hasn't that also been a sentiment echoed by swarms of other artists? Matt's not putting a new spin on the topic and his band have only been around for a few years, not long enough to make their interpretation worth the price of admission. Matt rages on about how what his lover said stays in his head. Here's where the rap gets really dopey. "An unrelenting discontent, it torments me to no extent, entrenches me just like cement. Ladies and germs, cement actually has a featured role on somebody's lyric sheet. This also doubles as the most novel thing about "Through It All". Lyrically we've been through these themes before. "Through It All" delivers nothing of lasting consequence. Even as a nu metal unabashed romp, I'm left with an empty sensation in all the areas capable of conveying a response.

Elle King Proves Her Influence In The Pop Arena

If you liked Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's" you're in for a treat. She knows how to lay it on over a sumptuous '80s styled hard rock power ballad arrangement. "Under The Influence" has this ability to work its way into your bloodstream, one deliberate vocal vamp at a time. You'll recall "Ex's & Oh's" had bounce, overstimulated kitty cat bounce. Here Elle wants you to taste the agony she's going through. If Daddy Rob Schneider isn't jazzed by her versatility of tone I don't know what else she has to do to prove she's got slow roasted pipes that ignite embers in all the right places. As you might expect, the theme on display is one's behavior under the influence, only here we're talking about a man's love being the spell caster. It's to Elle's credit that she is willing to take the consequence, breathe her last breath under the influence of the man's kiss. Oh how the temptation burns, creeps up on her, haunts her days and robs her of precious sleep. Here's an addiction she doesn't want to be talked down off of. I tend to get excited by the way the instruments leave an uneasy feeling in the pit of the stomach. The poison seeps in, grabs vital real estate, and refuses to let go. What's more I empathize with the hangover caused by rough lovemaking. Elle's been haunted by ghosts of amor past and come out the other side a better woman for it. For "Under The Influence" I don't sense remorse for the love games she and her beloved have been playing. She's just sorry kismet caught up to her. Elle has a great ingenue spirit. She's sprightly as can be and, as a consequence, that lends itself well to the mojo that's crucial to her performance. You get swept up by the bass guitar background. It's libido igniter. The drummer hammers home aftermath in all its wretched glory. I'm also taken with how the chords about thirty seconds in intensify and build up to a blissfully hard charging crescendo. You can make out Elle writhing in consternation with her own rotten luck, a luck of her own making. The second stanza brings that fantastic bass into clearer perspective. Couple that with another shot of drumming and the vodka chasers fill in what basic imagination can not. Elle' current album is, conveniently enough called "Love Stuff". Whether haunted by it or under its influence, Elle's reach extends to places that make most of us extremely uncomfortable. Her voice has fingernails that scratch your back and dig in for maximum sadistic pleasure. This beat aims to soak up the sordidness, wallow around in the dirty dealings. As epicenters go Elle kicks up a mighty wind that demands you pay attention. Would I say "Under The Influence" goes great with mixed nuts and a few cold ones? You could do worse. At this early stage in her career Elle wears the temptress hat in malevolent glee. "Under The Influence" isn't overproduced at all. Au contraire. It has just the right seasoning to uncork a fiery straight to table mouth watering revelation.