Wikipedia reveals that I actually know this guy, as Jónsi is the singer/guitarist of arguably the greatest Icelandic post-rock group ever, Sigur Rós. I once bought a Sigur Rós album titled ( ) on the strength of Radiohead being big fans. This was in 2002, and I think I listened to it twice. They sang in a made-up language as apparently the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings into the lyrics, and it even comes with a blank booklet so you can write these lyrics down. I didn’t write anything, but I feel like finding my copy and scrawling “STOP BEING SO PRETENTIOUS YOU TWATS” on each page. Oh wait, I just realised, maybe the album was called ( ) because you could also name it whatever you want!!! GENIUS!
I was expecting this song to be kind of like how I remember the songs on ( ) – sort of pleasant enough songs that float around and don’t really go anywhere, sometimes starting very minimalistic before crescendoing to a noisy conclusion like, well, every single post-rock song ever written. Go Do is not really like that at all though, being a quirky little pop song, filled with flutes and a kind of catchy dance beat.
I guess it’s a “nice” track. It doesn’t really move me one way or the other, or have me wondering if maybe I failed to see the genius in ( ) the first time around and should give it another shot. But hey, no cookie monster vocals!
Parkway Drive are an Aussie group out of Byron Bay. Wikipedia says they are of the “metalcore” genre, which I’m guessing means they are going be loud. Loud to the core. Am I going to get my first taste of cookie monster vocals at #97? The answer is a resounding YES!
I don’t really know how to review a song like this. I was actually tempted to review this track before listening to it and then see how close I got. Basically, it’s sludgy, double-kick bass drumming, metal guitar riffing, with a dude screeching over the top of it. I actually don’t mind bands like Opeth who mix things up a bit with both clean vocals and by altering the tempo and even pulling out acoustic guitars. Sleepwalker on the other hand is a 4 minute long relentless assault on the ears, although the guitars do get clean and slower riffs towards the end of the track.
In concluding, yeah, this track sounds like metalcore.
The Foals are an English group who I have naturally never heard of. Wikipedia describes them as “indie rock, dance-punk, alternative dance, math rock (early)”, so that’s two new genres I’ve learnt today!
First thing I notice is that, as far as singles go, this is a long track at 6:35. Who do these guys think they are, Tool???
Well, not really. They actually seem to think, based off this one track at least, that they are Coldplay, although with weaker vocals. A faint crescendo takes the quiet intro to a less quiet section, which sort of floats along until the 4 minute mark, where it then crescendos it’s way up again to a louder segment with guitars, but the whole thing is not terribly interesting. Basically, the Foals stretch a minute and a half of ideas out to six and a half minutes of music.
It’s not terrible, it’s not great, it’s just there.
At #99 we have our first Aussie group, Dead Letter Circus. Let me say right now that I give no bonus points to groups for being Aussie. I think it’s great that Triple J supports Aussie music as much as they do, it’s just that I don’t really care where a group comes from. Good music is good music, whether it comes from Australia or Iran. So while without Triple J I’m sure there would be lots of worthwhile Aussie acts that never would’ve made it, Triple J is also responsible for forcing me to sit through unearthed winners ‘the Bumblebeez’ as they inexplicably opened for Radiohead at the Sydney Entertainment Centre a few years ago. That blood will never wash from their hands.
OK, but back to Dead Letter Circus. I have never heard of this Brisbane outfit, although apparently they opened for Muse at their latest Brisbane shows, so they MUST be good, right??
Well, these guys are no Bumblebeez. The opening guitar riff is very Muse-esque, however once the song kicks into gear the best comparison I could make would be De-Loused in the Comatorium-era Mars Volta. In fact, if you told me that the original title of this track was Big Fans of the Mars Volta Track Inertiatic ESP before they trimmed it down to just Big, I’d believe you. Basically, this sounds like Mars Volta at their more structured moments, the vocals and guitar in particular.
That’s not really such a bad thing – I mean, I’d rather that than a Nickelback tribute group – but they certainly don’t gain any points for originality. Overall though, I’d be interested to hear more from these guys, which is pretty good for a group rated this low on the top 100.
First up – or last up, depending on how you look at it – we have one of the few bands on this list that I’m very familiar with. I’ve been a Muse fan ever since I bought their Origin of Symmetry album back in 2001. Why did I pick that particular album up? Well, it wasn’t to do with Triple J or any other radio station, but there was an article in, IIRC, NME or Mojo or one of the other big British music mags about “modern prog rock” or some other nonsense like that, where the flamboyant former keyboardist from 70s prog rock group Yes reviewed some of the more “out there” alternative groups from 2001, like Elbow, Air, Radiohead, and of course Muse. Being the prog rock geek that I was back then, I rushed out and bought these albums, and the four groups I just mentioned are still among the few groups who will have me rushing out to buy their latest releases even now. Coincidence? I think not. Despite my denials, the prog geek still lurks inside me.
This particular track I’m not familiar with, being that it doesn’t appear on any of their albums. Instead, it’s taken from the Twilight soundtrack, and my desire to buy that soundtrack matches my (lack of) desire to see that movie. Having said that, I’m sure they played this track when I saw them live last year.
To me, this song is about as generically Muse as you can get. It’s got all of that bombastic arena-style rock that they’ve become known for over the last couple of albums, complete with synth runs, crashing drums, piano coda, guitar solo, etc. Unfortunately it’s so generic as to be almost sterile, and there’s very little substance to all that bombast, with even the guitar solo being about the wimpiest thing I’ve ever heard from Matthew Bellamy, and the dude likes to sing in falsetto for crying out loud!
So yeah, not one of Muse’s best, but probably a fine choice for the Twilight franchise, and I’m sure it will prove more tolerable to my ears than many of the tracks ranked higher.
I was about 18 years old when I really started getting into music in a big way, blowing nearly all of my meagre weekly pay on every CD I could get my grubby paws on. 70s, 90s, weird and commercial, the music world seemed like a never-repeating sushi train of aural delights, just waiting for me to sample. I vowed to never be one of those folks who, like 99.97% of our parents, hit their 40s listening only to the music they grew up with.
Well, it happened far sooner than that. Maybe it was the fact that suddenly 99.9% of the music made after the year 2000 sucked. Maybe it was the fact that after moving out of home my disposable income dropped to the point where I just didn’t buy new music. My money is on the former.
Anyway, the point is that, at 29 years of age, I am everything I swore I’d never be. The fact was really driven home when I looked through the 2010 Triple J Hottest 100. Some names were familiar and I knew some songs, but by-and-large this list was foreign to me.
Is it really because I’m old and out of touch with the music of today’s youth? Or am I right in not seeking out new music because it sucks? Only one way to find out.
Join me as a I journey, track by track, through 2010’s greatest songs, as voted for by Australia.*
*or, more accurately, the Triple J listening portion of Australia.
