Battle of the Bands 07.22.09: Jet vs Kasabian
Posted by Adam Battagello on 07.22.2009
In the first week of the newly revised format we take a look at two modern bands looking to make it big in the business of rock, Jet and Kasabian.
Greetings all and welcome to the first edition of the article formerly known as Something Old, Something New. We've undergone some basic name changes, morphing into ‘Battle of the Bands' and widened the scope of coverable groups and musical artists, so hopefully these modifications will help to foster greater columns for the future. A guy can dream…
Here's a basic instruction using images, which will hopefully help to distinguish the new format from the old:
Old article
New article
It may be an overstatement, but I'm willing to live with it
Enough of that, It's time for the face off
This week:
Jet- She's a Genius vs. Kasabian- Where Did All the Love Go?
This week I chose to look at two rock bands that are both moving into the third album phase of their young careers. At this point, it would be hard to deny that Jet have been the more successful of the two groups, having sold close to 4 million albums worldwide, whereas Kasabian have seen only mild success overseas, remaining most recognizable in their homeland of the United Kingdom. But I've been doing this article long enough now to know that past success will have little bearing on which current single is superior, so let's get to analyzing.
Jet- She's A Genius
Ahh Jet, beloved by my circle of friends, begrudgingly accepted for some time by me. While I was a fan of Jet's remarkable first album ‘Get Born' and the massive single ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl' when it was released back in 2003, it seemed to suffer through the curse that afflicts much modern rock, namely, it was beat like a dead horse by the radio. You've got to admire the Australian Music business, the second any of our great nation's bands get a whiff of success in the United States we tout them non-stop as the next big thing. The group eventually won multiple Australian Music Industry Awards before setting off into the sunset like all conquering heroes to record album number two.
And what happened? Well, 2006's ‘Shine On' happened. Personally, I was indifferent to the record; I viewed it as a creative misstep by the group and, rather than being something new or refreshing, it was essentially a variation on the same old theme. American reviewers Pitchfork Media blasted the album, posting, if memory and the hallowed halls of Wikipedia serve correctly, simply a video of an ape drinking its own urine as the review. You stay classy now.
But all that's in the past, and I'm hoping, for the sake of their musical integrity, that the group's new album Shaka Rock will help put them back on track. The lead single ‘She's a Genius' is certainly a step in the right direction.
First things first, I've come to realize that this is a band you will enjoy a whole lot more if you don't expect to much to begin with. I made the mistake of assuming the Jet's second album was going to push their boundaries musically and when it didn't, it ruined it for me.
The track itself echoes The Knack's ‘My Sharona' with the lyrical focus centering on the idea of a wild person of the female persuasion. The music itself is classic Jet simplicity and while some people may knock this, I now have the power of hindsight to say so what? The group is clearly all about having a good time, why would you want to spoil that with needless musical complexities.
If the rest of Shaka Rock, due out in August, follows this same ‘good time boys' formula that Jet seem to be cultivating, I have no doubt that we are going to see an album that, while not musically masterful, will no doubt get you up and ready to party.
Moving on!
Kasabian- Where Did All the Love Go?
For quite a while now I've been of the belief that the UK is one of the world's premier breeding grounds when it comes to rock music. You have the obvious legacy with groups like The Beatles, the Stones and the birth of Punk music, and the general population seem much more accommodating towards accepting rock music when compared to the modern pop scene of the United States, which is clearly Hip Hop oriented.
That being said, despite my being a fan of many of the groups that seem to be pumped out of that corner of the world, Kasabian are a band of which I had never taken much notice. Sure, I've heard them mentioned in various music publications, but they always seemed to slip through the cracks as it were.
If ‘Where did All the Love go?' is any indication of Kasabian's larger body of work, then I will certainly be keeping a greater eye out for them in future. The track is driven largely by a powerful bass line and some sections, particularly the break around the two and a half minute mark take inspiration from traditional Indian sounds. If I were basing this face off purely on musical diversity, Kasabian would win hands down, however other factors come into play.
At first the lyrics to the track seem rather disjointed and nonsensical, if you want to see what I mean, just take a look at the opening verse: "Never took a punch in the ribcage sonny
Never met a soul who had no shrine
Keep this all in your mind
And get it inside my window"
After listening to the track several times over I found that the positive effect of having such indecipherable lyrics is that you never really get bored of them, rather there are so many interpretations that you're really encouraged to push on. Plus, call me a wannabe hippy, but any lyrics that seem to conjure images of a strange dreamlike sequence will always be popular with yours truly.
There can only be one!
And this week, I'm going to have to go with Jet. The thing that really split the two bands for me was the vocals of the lead singers. Nic Cester, the lead singer of Jet has always had a rough and raw sort of scream that is pretty much the epitome of what the band is all about. Compared to this, the droning vocals displayed in 'Where Did All the Love go?' by Kasabian lead singer Tom Meighan don't really seem to match up.
And so we've reached the end of this week's Battle of the Bands. I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past but I'm going to reinforce it once again, while I may have given the upper hand to Jet this week, you'd really be doing yourself a disservice musically if you didn't go and check out both of these groups. Trust me, it's worth your time.
