You want to know who I really am?
Yeah, so do I.
-Saves the Day
Welcome back to the X-Factor. I was going to call this the X-Factor remix and just repeat last weeks column with me yelling HOLLA, I GOT YO REMIX, SUCKA or 411 IN THE HOUSE MUTHAFUCKAS! YO YO! I GOTS MONEY I GOT DIAMONDS! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! But, I decided that'd be pretty dumb. Instead, here's what's on tap...
1. Opening Track
2. Michelle Branch - The Future of Rock?
3. The Song Remains...Brand New's "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad"
4. Encore: Something about silverchair
OPENING TRACK
I know I had promised something on Van Hagar, but after reading that Sammy has an album coming out soon, I decided to hold off for a few weeks. There will be a "Tale of Three Singers" relatively soon though. As for my buddy Iago Ali and his Pop Culture Locket...yeah, I read what he said. It's okay though. He owed me one from time we were at Score and I told her the dancers that he was a inspiration behind Hank Azaria's character in "The Birdcage."
MICHELLE BRANCH - THE FUTURE OF ROCK?
If there's one thing I appreciate more than the members of the female persuasion, it's those members who can play guitar. I find nothing sexier than a girl strumming along on a six string. She could be singing a love song, she could be singing a protest song...hell, she could sing about a ham sandwich she had for lunch last week for all I care. As long as she's singing to me, I'm a happy Freakboy. So as you can imagine, I find myself tuning into this new crop of young vixens who have been strumming my pain with their fingers.
Only here's the rub. There seems to be a rule that if you're twenty-one or under and female, you're pop music. And if you're not pop music to begin with, the labels and producers will make you pop. Originally I had thought that it was because the pop stars were lacking talent in anything other than drinking Pepsi and selling hair coloring. But lately, there are a number of artists out who can write and sing and play, but yet their songs are still being overproduced into a product rather than a song.
To be fair, in most cases it's the artists first album. You do what you have to do to get your foot in the door sometimes, and then little by little you develop into your own style. Unfortunately, record company today's don't want to see you develop past a first album when they can get someone younger and cheaper by the time you're ready to hit the studio.
At that point it's up to the artist to make in on her own, and if there's anyone out there who can turn it around, I think (and hope) it's Michelle Branch. Why her? Four reasons:
1. She's got the right influences - Most popstars usually rattle off the exact same influences, and it's usually just the popstars the came before them over the past five years. Michelle on the other hand lists acts like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Guns n' Roses as her influences. As she gets more creative freedom on her albums, it's only a matter of time before those influences come out.
2. She's got the right company - You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. Branch start off touring with other young rockers The Calling and Lifehouse, moved onto more established acts like the Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind, and is now opening up for the quitacential active female rocker, Sheryl Crow. The best way to distance yourself from the pop stigma is to associate yourself with as many artists from the rock genre as you can.
If those artists aren't enough, she was hand picked by Carlos Santana to sing "The Game of Love," which is the lead track off of his follow-up to the uber-successful "Supernatural" from a few years back. If you can't trust Carlos Santana, whom can you trust?
3. She's got moxie - How many eighteen year olds would sign to Madonna's Maverick Records, and tell everyone in interviews that she's not a big fan of her music?
4. She's got talent - She's got sole writing credits for two of the three singles released off of her album, "The Spirit Room." The true litmus test for me is whether or not the artists can strip it all down and still carry an audience with just a microphone and an acoustic guitar. I've seen it. She can.
Of course, all this depends on the success of the Santana single and her next album or two. But out of everyone else who's currently the darling of the MTV TRL scene, I think Michelle Branch is the one who's got what it takes.
THE SONG REMAINS...JUDE LAW AND A SEMESTER ABROAD
Generally speaking, I'm getting tired of Emo. There are a few good bands that I enjoy. Saves the Day is one, who I'll speak on more next week. I also like Dashboard Confessional, but every time I listen to the album it just makes me wish I knew how to play guitar when my girlfriend dumped me, but I could have made a killing as an Emo Rocker. Then there's a band like Brand New. I haven't gotten a chance to hear the whole album yet, but they've already got two things going for them...
1. "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" has got to be one of the coolest titles for a song that I've heard in a while.
2. Long Island represent! They're local boys. Anyone who, to quote the vernacular of the streets, "is puttin' it down for Strong Island, yo" is automatically a-ok in my book.
The song itself is your basic break-up song. Girlfriend goes to England and gets her freak on. Boyfriend gets really drunk and wishes she'd die in a plane wreck. It was the opening verse about the drinking that I found particularly inventive:
"Whatever poisons in this bottle / will leave me broken, sore and stiff / But it's the genie at the bottom who I'm sucking at / he owes me one last wish"
Their album is called "Favorite Weapon" and you can find out more about the band at www.brandnewrock.com
ENCORE - SOMETHING ABOUT SILVERCHAIR
I was watching MTV news and they had something about the band silverchair, and how their new album "Diorama" has pretty much fallen off the charts, mainly due to lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Daniel Johns having a nasty case of arthritis. It's a shame, because the album is hands down album of the year thus far (I'll have a review next week), but who cares if you can't tour? I mean, you could always get a stand in guitar player while you sing, ala Metallica's James Hetfield after he walked into an explosion, but if Johns is too ill to tour, why not just make videos? The songs on the album are operatic enough where they tell their own story, and the band doesn't even have to be in them. Write a short story based on one of the songs and get someone to direct it. Problem solved.
NEXT WEEK
Next week I'll recommend a few artists who you might not know, but who I think you all should. And let's face it, me being on Da' Net means that I do know more than the average bear:)
However, feedback is a neato thing. Who do you, my nearest and dearest, have to recommend to me? The e-mail address is coming up right about...
