Somewhere in that space between Madonna and Marilyn Manson lives Lady Gaga. I don’t know as though she has the longevity of either, but who knows… she has only just begun it would appear. Her name is all over the place these days and is thus hard to ignore without some investigation by a musical slut such as myself. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the first song I heard months ago, “LoveGame”, but I am giving her another try. I am far more impressed this time around. I’m not even sure if the song is as good without the extreme visuals of the video. There is something very “The Dope Show” meets “Vogue” about the video for this song, and as it was with those videos, I cannot seem to take my eyes away. Approve or disapprove, original or not, good or bad there is something entertaining and bizarre, appealing and repulsive about Lady Gaga. Advert your eyes if you must, but don’t feel bad if you push replay button. I did.
While searching for songs that fall into my “Zombie Rock” genre, I came across Midnight Juggernauts. I’m not sure they quite fit that genre. Close but no cigar. The voice distortion and repetition are there but the dissonance is not quite there. The desire to eat brains is not quite there either. However I could see them totally rocking a dance floor. They do seem heavily influenced by Daft Punk too if I had to guess, and I do love Daft Punk. Go Australia for the rocking electropop scene!
Some dissonance and distorted lyrics… and a beat to boot. This song is totally what I am calling “Zombie Rock”. It has a certain ghostly quality at times too, so I think it fits in well with my Halloween lineup. Good for that kind of mindlessness we will all require as good zombie citizens. Please pass the brains now!
Oh also, Vitalic’s album “Flashmob” is not released until November 3rd so put some brains on ice and save them for the release date.
I was in the midst of a techno & trance binge when Sasha’s “Airdrawndagger” came out and it hit the spot. It set the bar so high for me, it effectively ended my binge. The entire album is worth a listen as though it were one continuous song, because there are no breaks between songs (as is frequently the case with a trance album). Of all the tracks on the album, I always think of this one as my favorite. The resonating ethereal beats and pings have a mesmerizing quality, and the song has an intricacy often lacking in trance.
Or perhaps the hypnosis has finally worked and I am now telling you, “buy now, pay later” … *grunt* … “listen to trance, forget what I said about zombie rock” … *grunt* *take one step* *drool* … *grunt grunt* … *eat brains* … *grunt*
This song is like noise rock meets video game music (and there is nothing wrong with either noise rock or video game music). I don’t know if I love this song or not, and yet I can’t help but push the “play” button over and over. The video is the same way. Just cannot stop watching.
I need to shake it off. The zombie rock is flowing through my blood. I FEEL IT! At least I’ll have something to listen to when the zombies do take over, right?
PS: I don’t think there is actually a “zombie rock” genre out there, but there should be. I think it has to have an element of dissonance and also lyrics or vocals that are distorted and maybe a little ethereal in nature. So for all you crazy kids looking for Halloween appropriate tunes, check it out!
I just got Imogen Heap’s latest album, “Ellipse”, so I cannot speak to it yet, but I was thinking how awesome her song “Hide and Seek” from her previous album “Speak for Yourself” is. There are no instruments. It is just her voice digitally distorted. You would think it would be boring or flat. But the distortion is such that each note is like a chord.
The tone and pauses are perfect for the lyrics too. “Crop circles in the carpet.” I love that lyric because I’ve been there and done just that with my toe. Anyone who has been through a heavy break up in their life will relate to this song.
I have “Starry Eyed Surprise” on my iPod for when I go for a run and it never fails to boost my run. Whoa to the song that follows it. I like the dreamy synths in the background trough out it too.
This song is not a good representation of the whole of Paul Oakenfold’s work. He is not usually so “pop” influenced, but it is fun and light with a good beat. He is usually more techno and trance centric. Oakenfold is the DJ in the video, by the way.
I totally love Zero 7, so it is no surprise to me that I like contributor Sia Furler’s music. I can’t decide if I really like this song on its own or if the video completes it. The video is twisted yet light and fun, like an evil bunny. And who doesn’t like evil bunnies? What do you think?
I like this song, but don’t be fooled by this Russian duet. They are not actually a lesbian couple in real life as portrayed in the video and in general. In truth they were cherry picked via auditions by the producers that created the group (who they later split from) and who apparently liked a good scandal. It is fabricated, but not without art or value. They actually left their producers in the name of focusing on making music, not scandals.
I never knew about the odd acronym of a name until I read this…
“…the producers decided on the name Тату (Tatu). It is a shortened version from the Russian ‘Eta devochka lyubit’ tu devochku’, meaning ‘This girl loves that girl’. For the release of their first English-language album, they decided to go by t.A.T.u., using uppercased letters and periods to differentiate between an already existing Australian band also named ‘Tatu.’”
Although lesbianism may be more accepted where I come from in the USA, there is still the common notion that homosexuals are just crazy people, hence the lines:
Mother looking at me
Tell me what do you see?
Yes, I’ve lost my mind
Fortunately music and movies, like this group, are helping to break those misconceptions.
Woof! I had to cheat a bit with my past two weeks of songs (including this one). I was going on vacation with my family and then G’s family for two weeks of assorted family vacations. Internet access was not a sure thing either. So I set up all the posts one Sunday afternoon and scheduled them ahead of time. It took way longer than I thought, and the afternoon is over! I know you probably don’t care, but I’m ready to do something else today.
I actually worked for music once. I did some web development for a guy who was into writing critiques for Indie music. A writer by trade, I’m sure he’d laugh at this blog. Whatever. I am not here to bore you with 10 paragraphs for each and every song or to rip apart artists who are just starting out, or that I do not like. I want to share the song with you, give you my 2 cents, and then move on! No critique other than “Hey man, this is good stuff! I think you should hear it!”
Anyway, working for CDs was hardly worth it in retrospect. He clearly gave me a bunch of albums that were “thumbs down” material. I eventually had to tell him I was not interested in working with him because he was: A. only interested in unknown and obscure Indie music (it was his niche) and B. never ever going to be able to compensate me for the serious amounts of time I had put in. I know we need guys like him to filter out what is good and what is not, but we clearly had some artistic differences. When I “quit”, I ended up with a fistful of CDs that I did not care for at all. Baïkonour was the one exception though and I always thought this song stuck out.
Listen on Blip.fm!
