Music Bloggery

★★★★

On 1 May 2012, Canadian indie band Metric released their new single 'Youth Without Youth' from their upcoming fifth studio album, 'Synthetica', officially releasing on June 12. According to Metric's frontwoman Emily Haines, Synthetica is about "forcing yourself to confront what you see in the mirror when you finally stand still long enough to catch a reflection. Synthetica is about being able to identify the original in a long line of reproductions. It's about what is real vs what is artificial."

'Youth Without Youth' is the story of a repressed child, and as the verses progress, so do the child's life. We follow the child through the teens and then being a young adult. I find the lyrics are compelling as they combine the idea of child games with destructive weapons. Lyrics like 'Hangman we played rubber soul with a razor blade' and 'We played double dutch with a hand grenade'. I find these two contrasting pairs work really well together. However, I find that the imagery would work better talking about perhaps a war-ridden country - how the youth are made to turn to war and violence at a young age, but that's just me. ;)

In terms of sound, the song differs from the style of the band's previous album, 'Fantasies', in which they received positive reviews from many different critics. 'Fantasies' is more of an acoustic sounding, slightly toned down album. However, the electronic, synthesized sounds of this album seem consistent to the title and theme 'Synthetica' while also being pretty damn catchy!

Check out the official lyric video and tell us what you think!

★★★

'Electra Heart' is the new 2012 release from Welsh singer-songwriter Marina and the Diamonds and by the mouth of Marina herself, Electra Heart is her response to rejection in love. Creating four 'archetypes', or characters (the Primadonna, Teen Idle and Homewrecker, to name a few), the whole thing is quite poorly constructed. She creates these characters but fails to actually achieve a effective end point. Most of the songs on the album contradict theirselves quite a few times - isn't an album meant to have a main, constant theme? For example, you've got songs such as 'Teen Idle', contemplating Marina's own youth (as stated in a previous interview) and then songs like 'Homewrecker', one of Diamandis' characters. For me, it just seems odd to be talking about little snippets of your life when you're meant to be creating a story, building characters if you will. Either write songs about your life or create a whole concept album. It's just inconsistent if you do both.

Also, I found that Diamandis has almost changed her morals completely. Her debut album, 'The Family Jewels' was about judging popular culture as well as promoting feminism (for example, on 'Girls', in which the lyrics are 'Not gonna bend over and courtesy for you.') and now she's talking about being a 'bottle blonde'. She's using the fact that she's aiming to portray the 70's type American dream as an excuse to completely change your image and sound. Honestly, I don't believe she's doing this conceptual album as a way to judge the types of love and personalities, she's just using this as an excuse to (as much as I hate using this term), 'sell out'.

I genuinely believe that the fame has caused Diamandis to change. When she released 'The Family Jewels', she looked like an ordinary, albeit beautiful person with an extraordinary voice, now she looks like she's walked straight out of a grandiose fashion show. You can't pretend music is not about the image as much as the sound, but her image almost overpowers her sound. She looked much more beautiful and natural in 'The Family Jewels' era. You can't be judging others when you look exactly like them.

Diamandis has stated that she wasn't happy creating music all by her stony lonesome, so she hired some top producers (who have worked with the likes of Katy Perry and Rihanna) to work on Electra Heart, which explains why her music sounds so 'poppy'. On her debut album, you would find that she had more simple, piano-driven melodies supported by her strong vocals. However, on Electra Heart, it seems like the music is doing all the work for her - which is why her vocals don't sound as quirky and strong as previously and the heavy beats and electronic sounds do most of the work. It seems to me these producers have perverted the sound of Marina.

However, Diamandis really comes into her own on the calmer, more acoustic sounding songs of the album. Songs such as 'Starring Role', 'The State of Dreaming', 'Hypocrates' and 'Buy The Stars' (Deluxe edition) offer a much slower-paced, simpler side to the album. If you get a chance to listen to her acoustic versions of tracks from the album on Youtube, you'll see it's stripped free of any heavy electronic beats. When listening to it, I found it's more like her than the actual album. I sure hope she releases an acoustic album, because it's definitely better than the original. You can compare the acoustic and original versions of her first single 'Primadonna' below.

Thematically, Diamandis' theme is definitely not original. There have been hundreds of artists singing about love, and Diamandis doesn't offer something new to the table. She even borrows The Beatles' 'Lonely Hearts Club' idea. I just wish she would have thought of a theme much more original and outlandish, like before.

Lyrically, Diamandis could have done much better. The lyrics on 'The Family Jewels' were much more memorable and effective. Yet, on Electra Heart, her lyrics seem to cater more to popular music. She sings 'when you're around me, I'm radioactive.'. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a billion other pop songs out there. It seems like Diamandis is catering to the pop genre and completely abandoning the quirky, indie style that she had introduced us with. Why introduce it to us if you're going to completely take it away from us? Fans expected an album much like the debut, yet they were shocked to find it's nothing of the sort.

Overall, because all of the reasons given, I am awarding Diamandis 3/5 musicos! It really disheartens me to offer her only 3 out of 5 as I am a big fan, but part of the reason I am offering her this score is because of the fact she completely changed and not in a good way. I want the old Marina. Comment your thoughts below!

Music Bloggery Recommends: 'Lies', 'Homewrecker', 'The State of Dreaming', 'Hypocrates', 'Lonely Hearts Club' (Deluxe edition only), 'Buy The Stars' (Deluxe edition only)

★★★

Wow, it's been a long time since I reviewed an album! Sorry about that, been a busy, busy, busy student! Curse you, revision! Anyhow, I manage to find at least a little bit of time for my blog, and this week, I am reviewing the 2011 EP from folk rock artist 'Jim from the Moon'. Having learnt guitar from the age of 11 and forming various bands including 'Antennae', the new EP 'I Am Going to Steal You' is a pleasant acoustic EP from this Irish inspired singer. When I initially listened to this EP, I found it was a simple mash-up between edgy vocals and peacefully pleasurable melodies. The vocals vaguely range from the style of 'Panic! At The Disco' frontman Brendan Urie to Pär Wiksten of 'The Wannadies' (Known for their most popular song 'You and Me', 'It's always you and me, always, and forever').

There's no doubt that this EP is good, however, there were some kinks that I found when listening it a few times. I found that the music was well refined, yet it sounded quite generic. The album offers nothing new or exciting to music. If you think about it, there are a billion other acoustic artists struggling to make it. You need to offer something unique and outstanding to make you stand out from the crowd - what makes your sound different?

There were good riffs, but the hooks failed to be memorable. Perhaps if the hooks were repeated more then it would stay more in the listener's mind and become more catchy. This could be achieved by just making the songs a lot longer. However, I did like how not all of the songs sound completely the same which is a problem for many a musician. For example, the track 'Thanksgiving Day' offers fast-paced melodies and vocals which makes for an interesting song. Yet, I find that the songs lack potential. They need that kick to make them something extraordinary. I would like to see a harmonious beginning with a almost demonic-like ending to a song for once - like the styles of Damien Rice (Irish-born folk rock singer). It seems like 'Jim from the Moon' tries to be an artist similar to Rice but perhaps is struggling to do so. Have a listen to the tracks from the different artists and check out the similarities below. I would definitely suggest experimenting with different themes and sounds to get a broader feel for different genres of music.

Another thing, I found the lyrics fell weak at times. You get poetic lyrics like 'My days are filled, busy finding God or busy rotting away', but the consistency is ruined when you contrast them with such blunt words like 'But I still said some dumb shit to you': It just ruins the poetic flow and seems out of place.

I did find that some songs were similar to other artists, but then again I always do! The last track on the EP entitled Esqueleton, I found that the intro was ridiculously similar to Coldplay's Sparks from their debut album, Parachutes. Check out another resemblance below!

Overall, I would give this EP a 3/5 stars! I believe that with those problems sorted, Jim from the Moon would be a great musician with a lot more success coming his way! It is a good EP, but I believe this EP has the potential to become something much bigger.

Have a listen to Jim from the Moon's music here, and then check out the similarities to the other songs below.

Mark Foster (Foster The People), A-Trak (DJ) and Kimbra (known for her recent feature on Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know') created a rad collaboration in aid of Converse (Everyone's got to advertise!). 'Warrior', the title of the track, features the techno sounds, synonymous of Foster's style, and Kimbra's strong vocals. All in all, a very interesting mix!
Check out the official video below and tell us your thoughts!
A free mp3 of the song can be found here: http://www.fosterthepeople.com/us/news/warrior

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Metric - Youth Without Youth - Single Review!

Marina and the Diamonds - Electra Heart - Album Review!

Jim From The Moon - I Am Going to Steal You - EP Review!

Warrior Official Video - Mark Foster, A-Trak, and Kimbra

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