For those of you unfamiliar with The Go! Team I suggest you go and immediately get their first two albums Proof of Youth and Thunder, Lightning, Strike.
Go ahead...I'll wait
Got it yet?
Good.
The Go! Team are a British six-piece band who are in the business of making music that is fun. If someone were to ask me what genre they were, that's what I would say...fun. One listen and you'll know what I mean. If I had to describe their sound, I'd say imagine a garage band with loads of distorted guitar. Now imagine that band is comprised entirely of cheerleaders.
Get those nasty images out of your head. What do you think this is, American Beauty?
With their sing-song chants and boot stomping beats, The Go! Team are a great band to play when you want to rile someone up for a cause.Sadly, they've been missing for a few years...until now. They have released a preview of their new album, Rolling Blackouts, at Spinner's website which you can view here. The opening track T.O.R.N.A.D.O is awesome, and I can't wait for the album's stateside release on February 1st.
I'd like to introduce a new section of the blog called The Cheesefactor. It's when a song goes above and beyond the level of being ridiculously cheesy and someone just has to bring it to justice. Is it the over the top video? The laughable lyrics? Many factors are involved in creating The Cheesefactor, none of which include dairy, and sometimes the cheese can flow from unexpected areas.
Like Katy Perry.
I'm not going to lie. As a red-blooded American male, I can't help but find myself magnetized towards the current Mrs. Russell Brand. Her affinity to amplify her, ahem, assets and the way she almost never fails to look like a pinup model certify her as one of the most attractive women in pop.
The third release from Teenage Dream, Firework is an uplifting song...at least if your the kind of person who's uplifted by Creed. Our first warning sign that something is off is the opening line:
"Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?"
Wait...what? As far as a metaphor for feeling down and out, I believe someone could think of about of a million other better examples. Although, maybe I'm wrong and I can't come up with good metaphors...that makes me feel like a can of corn...
Speaking of corn, you'd think it was a 4th of July barbecue because there are lots of fireworks...shooting from Katy's chest.
Are you tasting the cheese yet? It get's worse.
Since the song is completely unique and original in that it's about being yourself and loving you for who you are, there's plenty of good after-school-special material in this video. As Katy sings and spews her pyrotechnic mammaries across the city, lots of young people gain the courage to do what they never believed they could do before. Things like taking their shirts of and jumping into a swimming pool, and my favorite, dazzling a gang of muggers with magic tricks. You don't see David Blaine getting hit up for his wallet now do you? That reminds me of someone...
But the video's director didn't stop there. They had to go all out and pull the trump card of emotional pandering. Yes, there is a sick child. Through hearing Katy's hypnotic singing, and witnessing a woman giving birth to a wad of fireworks (I kid you not) the sick child discovers that through the power of self awareness, he/she too can cure their disease...except not really. The child does however learn that it can go outside and dance in a circle with other people who are on fire. Why is no one alarmed by this? But I digress, I think it's time you see this bubbling fondue pot of cheese for yourself. Enjoy the Roman Candle bazongas, and the rather Glee-like moments.
There's no doubt about it that Arcade Fire's album The Suburbs is one of the best albums of the year. As I was listening to it, it seemed like track after track could be released as a successful single. Sprawl II which the band performed on SNL last week with it's shimmering, Blondie-esque feel and the hard driving Month of May are all great tracks, but album opener The Suburbs is the latest to get a music video. The band have teamed up with Spike Jonze, famous for directing Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, and the underrated Where the Wild Things Are, and the resulting video is a very realistic look at being a wistful teenager living in the suburbs...except the suburbs contain a dystopian oppressive military force. If you look closely, you can see Arcade Fire's lead singing husband and wife Win Butler and Regine Chassagne in a slight cameo.
Way back in 1982, Disney released a little science fiction film named Tron. The movie was a technological marvel back then, as it was one of the first films to utilize computer generated graphics. The movie became a cult hit, and inspired the likes of Pixar pioneer John Lassiter, who saw the film as the first big peek at the power that computer generated images can have in crafting film narratives. The film also inspired Guy-Manuel Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, two aspiring French musicians who we know better today as the roboticized duo of Daft Punk.
Fast forward 25 years, and Tron is back. Jeff Bridges has also returned both in his human and digitally younger form. More importantly Daft Punk has scored the film's soundtrack which includes more traditional pieces with a full orchestra, but also several tracks which are their more standard electronic fare. Below is the first clip of their song Derezzed from Tron: Legacy which releases December 7th via Disney. You can also find an interview with the band talking about creating the score here.
If you're reading this, then I hope you are recovering from the nausea induced by the blatant cliche I used in the post title. I promise that it's not a total sign of things to come, but I won't lie and say that I'm not going to avoid corny puns 100% of the time...they do have their place you know.
But let's get down to business-
I want to thank you first and foremost for taking the time to read this blog. If it shapes up like I hope, Then it will become a place where you can learn about some new music that you haven't heard before, hear some new opinions on old music, maybe come across a movie review or two, or even just some ramblings about the current state of popular culture. Whatever you end up getting out of it, my hope is that you will find it a comfortable place to voice your own opinion about the stuff on this blog. My way of seeing things is exactly that, only MY way of seeing things. If you don't like the failing grade I gave to Taylor Swift's new album, call me out on it. I also generally don't care much for The Beatles, and I usually get around the same reaction when I tell people that.
But that's cool, because now more than ever, we can voice our opinions 24/7 from anywhere. Whether it be talking about your cat's rash on Facebook, or creating important coversations via Twitter, people can blab on about useless stuff all day. You don't even need your computer to use the web anymore...if you like the post I made about the soul crushing, festering stink-hole of boredom that was Superman Returns then you can comment back to me using your touchy iThingy devices in the pungent bathroom of a BP gas station somewhere. *NOTE: PLEASE WASH HANDS BEFORE READING THIS BLOG*
So, wherever you may be reading this blog just remember to have fun, keep an open mind, and watch out for that first step...it's a doozy.
