Steve_K

I can understand what Lily's saying, but rather than highlight what the issue is with file-sharing, she's highlighting what's wrong in the record industry. She says that the record labels are slashing the A&R budgets rather than their own salaries, surely then Lily should be having a massive go at the record labels themselves? To be honest, if file-sharing is done properly, then it can still lead to good income for bands through other means but rather than explore those other means the record labels have stuck their head in the sand and refuse to see any other method of sales.

Until record labels change their ways (and this goes for ticket sales as well, seeing as we're not pulling any punches) the bands need to start looking at different ways of getting themselves out there. The industry holds too much power over those that create the music, I mean once a band finishes recording it's effectively signing the rights to that music over to labels.

The bands need to look at themselves and look at how they can take back the power in the industry. It's the labels that are the problem, not the bands, or the fans.

I'm afraid he's absolutely right. It should sound like the dirtiest, heaviest trck on the album, much like Stockholm Syndrome was on Absolution. But the drums sound tinny and lifeless, the bass sounds far too clean, and the guitar only gets really meaty at the outro of the track. I'm not saying Muse need effects, but...what the hell, Unnatural Selection sounds light and fluffy!

When I say it doesn't flow, I mean musically. There are too many different musical stylings here for any flow to be possible. One of my favourite analogies of this album is about being at a restaurant. I'd order a tuna steak, on a bed of salsa, with rocket and new potatoes, and perhaps a nice glass of wine. All those things complement each other in the course of the meal. But I wouldn't go to a restaurant and order a pizza with ice-cream, tomato ketchup, chocolate brownies and chips on top. With coffee to wash it down. All of those things are ok on their own, but they're not meant to be together. That's how I feel about this album. It's a pizza with chocolate ice cream on top.

When you talk about the atmosphere of conspiracies, that's a linking theme, not something that makes the album flow.

To be fair, I think you've just proved his point. What is it about Muse fans that puts them so on the defensive when someone doesn't think the sun shines out of Bellamy's rear end?

Muse need to get back to what they're good at which is purely metal riffs and the odd piano track. All this other stuff they're trying to do is rubbish and does not suit them in the slightest. This album is boring, it's bland, and it's aimed at America. That's why it's shit.

There is no flow to it whatsoever. Just listen at the worst possible track combination on this album of MK Ultra, followed by I Belong To You, then Exogenesis. Completely mismatched, and ruins the flow of this album. Muse do not suit the stylings of Undisclosed Desires, or I Belong To You. Those two moments disrupt a reasonable album and turn it into something that is unlistenable as a whole. It doesn't help that the production is far too brash on some songs, whilst being flat and limp on others. Bands that don't have any proper production training should not self-produce. Listen to Elbow's Seldom Seen Kid. That is a perfect example of how good a self-produced album can be, but Guy Garvey has had years of training and practice to get that good.

http://getmilesaway.livejournal.com

My review.

Basically it's too many ideas in one record and feels bloated and lifeless because of it.

...in more detail than here...

http://getmilesaway.livejournal.com

This album just doesn't...feel like an album, more a collection (or mish-mash) of songs. There's far too many ideas which means the really good ones get drowned in the mediocre ones. Bellamy's lyrics are poor, once again, and because the band self-produced this album it's heavy-handed in some places and short in others eg. Unnatural Selection sounds nowhere near the rock behemoth it should be, and in Exogenesis I the violins feel too high in the mix as it builds to the crescendo.

There are massive Pink Floyd moments on this record, including the middle section of Unnatural Selection, and oddly those are the bits of this record where Muse sound best, and have a swagger to their rhythms. Otherwise it feels forced. 5/10 from me.

Did Douglas Adams invent Muse? He most certainly did, they're called Disaster Area. Only thing left for Muse to do at gigs now is send a small ship into the heart of the sun to create a special light show. Is that a reason for me to win? Probably not, but it's a damned good comparison to make.

Muse in a nutshell, with heavy riffs and bonkers moments. This is how they will be remembered as a band.

I've just heard that the gig has been cancelled because the Astoria is closing early, is this true?

Oh man I wish I could make this, I know it's only going to be for a song or two but to be able to see Draper performing again would make my life. I'm too impatient to wait for his solo material, and a Mansun reunion looks further away than ever before so I'm gutted to mis this!

this year's awards has been the lack of truly excellent music. It almost seems as if the judges have picked nominations based on what they've read in the NME which shouldn't really surprise me. What happened to the old days of a record winning purely for musical brilliance, because I don't see it in the Klaxons' album, nor in many of the other ones. Maybe Winehouse deserved to win it, but not by a clear margin.

This is definitely a mediocre song, not really going anywhere or saying anything we didn't already know. The Angry Mob most likely a bunch of middle-aged Daily Mail readers who will get outraged at the smallest thing and only because their beloved paper tells them to.

On a slightly different note, is it getting on anyone else's nerves that we have to put up with all these "social commentary" bands, like the Kaisers, Hard-Fi and Arctic Monkeys? Music really has taken a step back to the depressing days of the Smiths, and it's all the worse for it. Thank god for bands like Arcade Fire who aren't afraid to push the boundaries of their songwriting and dare to do something different.