Music: A to Z 07.24.09: D is For...

Posted by Chris Crowing on 07.24.2009

...the Darkness, David Bowie & Deftones. Also including the joys of Spotify, and the pain of not getting to a festival this year.



Starting to pick up some steam with this A to Z gimmick - this week we'll cover one of the shortest lived, yet most iconic acts of this decade, one of the most innovative and long lived acts in modern times and one of my favourites bands in the world.



Spotify

OK, so I might be behind the curve here, but Spotify is easily the best music related thing I have discovered this year.

For the uninitiated, Spotify is like a cross between Napster, iTunes and Last.fm. When you register and download the player, it allows you to listen to any music in their copious catalogue, for FREE. You can also setup permanent playlists, like you would on your PC media player of choice, and listen to a 'radio' selection of random tracks which you can define by genre (metal, alternative, hip hop etc.) and time period (50s, 70s, 90s etc.)

The downside is that every 20 minutes or so, your listening experience will be broken up by advertisements and some important acts (thus far, I'm missing Metallica, Tool and AC/DC) are not included in their library for obvious commercial reasons - we all know how Metallica feel about the concept of free music online!

However, I am VERY much in love with this and it has exponentially expanded the amount of music I have available at my fingertips when I'm on my PC, which is a always a very good thing

I've spent the past few days building up playlists, from the Alternative one full of things like old school Therapy?, A Perfect Circle, more recent Papa Roach and all things in between, the Metal one built of Mastodon, Machine Head, Carcass, Meshuggah, Mnemic and Pantera to the Electronic one, bursting with Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation and Faithless I'm almost overcome with the sheer, unadulterated joys of choice, nostalgia and discovery.

IMHO this is the solution to the thorny issue between free music distribution and online pirating. Sure, I can't download these songs (unless I buy them) but when the library is available at my fingertips, why would I want to gum up my hard drive with songs I can listen to anyway?

For a music fan, it is almost a dream come true - free, instant access to all the music I could ever hope to listen to.

Of course, it's not perfect as the adverts are annoying (you can buy a premium membership for £9.99 a month which gets rid of the adverts, but I can live with it), you can't transfer your playlists to your MP3 player for mobile use and the choice of available tracks isn't all encompassing - but there is FAR more on here than I had on my hard drive or on CD - and if I have to switch over to my media player to listen to Metallica or Tool, it's a small inconvenience for such a wide range of new and old thrills.

Like I said, I may be a little behind the curve in discovering this, but it's really made my weekend and I've listened to more stuff that I used to have and lost, or never got around to buying in the last few days than I have in some years.

So, a pretty damned expansive library of music, from all genres which is free at the point of use, more customizable and personable than radio and it actually runs faster and smoother than my usual media player.

What a slice of awesome genius.

To acknowledge my new Spotify love, I'll leave a link posted to my weekly top playlist every week from now on, for those who are using this awesome service to catch a glimpse into my world...

Enjoy!

Chris Crowing's Current Spotify Playlist

The 'Couldn't Afford to Go to a Festival' Blues

With the last major UK festivals (Sonisphere and Reading) coming up soon, it's looking pretty certain that I am not going to acquire the money for tickets, or the leave from work to attend any. That sucks.

As an avid music fan, and the great believer in the awesomeness of the live experience and that little X factor you get at a festival where you might stumble into a tent and discover your new favourite band, I'm pretty bummed that my finances and scheduling appear to have let me down this year.

The real cherry would have been to go to Sonisphere - my third Metallica show in a year, added to my first glimpse of Alice in Chains, and Linkin Park as well as being privy to Nine Inch Nails' last ever UK gig (apparently) and the ongoing return of Limp Bizkit as well as a stunning undercard of acts is just too tempting - but it's not to be.

My plans are afoot to manage at least two festivals next year, most likely Download or Reading and either a cross-Europe trip to Lowlands, or a less ambitious trip to Connect or Wickerman - I've already started saving, scouting out the best choice of tents and am planning in taking my girlfriend camping before the weather breaks to start preparing her for the full festival experience, which she has never before done. That should be fun!

One last bitch.

It really annoys me that Scotland has no real rock festival - our national showpiece event is T in the Park, who despite having Nine Inch Nails this time, Rage Against the Machine last year and other heavier acts over the years, remains a predominantly mainstream-indie festival, designed to headlined forever by the likes of the Killers and Blur. What is worse, this year the bill featured throwaway dross like Lady GaGa and Lily Allen in prominent slots - what the frak?

Our other top festival - the wrongly titled Rockness - focuses mostly on dance music, with the occasional 'rock' act thrown in as a token gesture (this year it was the awesome Biffy Clyro)

However, down south you have the heavyweights where the big rock and metal acts come out to play, at Downalod (Donington), Sonisphere (Knebworth) and Reading, as well as more edgy events on a slightly smaller scale such as Hammerfest (in WALES of all places), Bloodstock and Hard Rock Hell.

There have been half-hearted attempts to add rock bills to Scotland, with varying incarnations of Rock on the Green appearing as a third wheel to the Carling sponsored Reading & Leeds axis for a few years as well as the abortive Download Scotland in 2003.

That show lives in my memory as the first time I saw Metallica, but the venue was pretty empty (and was apparently even more so for the next day, headlined by Lostprophets.) I think this has been used as an example of why the big promoters don't bring their show to Scotland.

The problem is, your committed rock fans are used to going down to middle England for their festival jollies, and almost every time a bill has been put on in Scotland, it is a pale imitation of the one down south.

In 2003, Download (Donington) had a full two day plus camping setup over Saturday and Sunday, and multiple stages of rock and metal acts. The Download Scotland bill was two days with no camping option on a THURSDAY and FRIDAY, with only one stage. Clearly, those who had the money and wanted to go to the rock show, will go to the full show AT THE WEEKEND, so they wouldn't have to take time off work, as opposed to the half-assed show they would have to skip work to attend. The organization and promotion of that show still amazes me.

I do feel Scotland could support a decent sized, rock-orientated festival, somewhere in the central belt (Loch Lomond would suit, and has been used for festival sized events before) but the promoters are too lazy and jaded to try it.

Oops, I went on a bit of a tangential rant there didn't I? I do not apologise.

Anyways, onward and downward into the meat of this week's column...



* Please note, all 'Best...' designations are merely this writers opinion, and stand as a recommendation for new fans, rather than an attempt to make a definitive statement. I'll likely change my mind by next week anyway.

the Darkness

What: Retro rocker guilty pleasures, turned obnoxious in-joke.
From: Lowestoft, England
In the Beginning: Catapulted to fame when debut album Permission to Land receives massive media coverage in 2003.
Best Album*: Permission to Land
Best Song*: "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands Off My Woman", "Black Shuck"
Recently...: Following the less than stellar performance of One Way Ticket To Hell And Back the band split, with Justin Hawkins attempting a solo career and forming a new band Hot Leg (who are rubbish) while the rest of the band regrouped and started again as Stone Gods (who are pretty good.)

Yes, I am including this band for amusement, kicks and general devilment. However astonishingly uncool it is to admit a liking for the Darkness, I maintain an affection for the album that catapulted them to stardom.

From the first time I saw the video to "Growing On Me", I found this band to be more fun than setting fire to Emo-kids ridiculous hair. A great many people decry this band for their excesses of cheese, but I am a big believer that playing up to some of rock's more ridiculous tropes and standards is fun, and nothing less than an earnest homage to the legends of the past.



Playing on the over-the-top rock imagery of the sixties and seventies is absolutely fine in my book, and the final scene, hopping down the stairs in front of a big stack of Marshall's is every bedroom guitarists' wet dream.

Of course, once "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" and "Love Is More Than A Feeling" became massively overplayed, the joke started to wear a little thin. That said, I still love both of those songs for the solid, retro guitar riffs and the utterly self conscious guitar hero moments.

Is it wrong that I want a giant purple towel monster for my bathroom? I definitely want that big room full of Marshalls!

C'mon, if you were in a band and you could have a video where you could battle an interstellar squid, and then another where you get to do the guitar god thing, playing a (clearly not plugged in) guitar solo against a stunning tropical backdrop - YOU WOULD!



However, the singles, while more polished are not the best songs to be found on Permission to Land, with the far more honest-to-the-seventies numbers like the direct, "Black Shuck", the hilarious "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" and the fun wail of "Love On The Rocks" having a far heartier appeal.



However, the industry went overboard with their success, and creating Brit awards for them, and making them apparently the biggest band in the country for a brief period was too much, and the band simply couldn't keep up.

Their Christmas single was humorous, but more than a little over-cooked, and the follow up album One Way Ticket To Hell And Back was a grave disappointment, with the semi-innocent childish humor and honest rock chops of the first record, giving way to facile in-jokes and ridiculously overblown arrangements, solos and far less hooky songs. The in-fighting began when original bass player Frankie was replaced by Dan's guitar tech Richie, and it was a sign that the writing was on the wall...

The band imploded, with coke-raddled egomaniac Justin Hawkins attempting ever more strident solo efforts, and eventually settling on fronting his own new act - the neon colored Hot Leg, who seem to pay homage to the worst excesses of eighties rock, as opposed to the glories of the seventies. There is NO excuse for that much hairspray. His brother Dan (always the REAL guitar hero, IMHO) rallied the band and spent some time putting together a good new band from the ruins of the old in Stone Gods with Richie movie from bass to frontman and a new bass player coming in.



I think the moral here is that it's a lot of fun to play retro, tongue in cheek rock, but if you allow the joke to become too knowing, to become too pervasive, then it gets old pretty quickly. That won't stop me enjoying the good times...

David Bowie

What: Multi instrumental, electronic pop and rock chameleon of legend.
From: London, England
In the Beginning: First record David Bowie released in 1967, success comes with the release of the "Space Oddity" in 1969.
Best Album*: From a choice of 23 studio albums over 36 years, I'll VERY tentatively pick Hunky Dory and Let's Dance
Best Song*: Again, the selection is almost too vast. I'll go for "Space Oddity," "Heroes," "China Girl," "Ashes to Ashes" and "Let's Dance"
Recently...: Last studio record Reality was released in 2003, with Bowie spending the time since on acting work, special vocal appearances (notably on Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits tribute Anywhere I Lay My Head, receiving awards and self compiling a compilation album iSelect.

What can I add to the millions of words which have been talked about the Great Chameleon? David Bowie is a legend in music, having shifted his style and image to suit the zeitgeist of the times for so long now, his undoubted class and ability almost goes without saying.

One thing that makes Bowie different is that he is usually a step ahead of fashion, as opposed to one of those mercenary types who adapt their look and music to stay relevant once the prevailing trends have developed. It's oh-so easy to watch the way the wind blows, and tie your flag to a prevailing scene, but it is obvious and shows artists up for the soulless pop-tarts that they are. Bowie, on the other hand has almost always strode off on his own, only for fashion to follow obediently in his wake. That takes skill, balls and luck.



A blow by blow account of Bowie's career would take far more room than I'm willing to use here, and can only be fully appreciated in a rather thick book, complete with audio samples, photographs and a great many eyewitness interviews.

I'll break his career down into some brutal periods, to show the awesome variety of his back catalog and attempt to appreciate his impressive longevity.



Possibly best know for his short lived, yet iconic incarnations as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, Bowie's early seventies work varied from the synth drowned sweeping electronica like "Life on Mars" to more standard guitar fare like "Rebel, Rebel"





It should also be remembered that around this time, Bowie produced the legendary Transformer by Lou Reed and the Stooges' Raw Power, which gives him some series immortal kudos as a producer as well as performer in his own right.



His late seventies work was clearly colored by his experiences with these bands, and through his 'Berlin period' and incarnation as the Pale White Duke his music becoming sparser, more introverted, yet in a way more emotional and honest.



While the rest of the musical world was shocked to insensibility by punk, Bowie took the sweeping changes between the seventies and eighties in his stride, and soon took his mastery of pop electronica to new levels, setting the stage for, then completely upstaging the New Romantic bands who filled the charts with pale imitations of his style.



That's not to say that all his decisions have been good, with this drug fueled ego-mania trip one of the best examples...



Oh, did you really think I was going to ignore LABYRINTH!



It surely must be the height of any artists career to perform with the Jim Henson workshop! It must also be noted that that hairstyle is truly impressive, and doubtless a serious fire hazard.

Bowie actually has quite a long list of cinematic appearances, from recent movies such as the Prestige and Zoolander as well as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and TV appearances on shows like Extras and (of all things) Spongebob SquarePants.

While Bowie's commercial star (in terms of new releases) has faded since the eighties, he has continued to release work of great quality, and I'd recommend any fan of vocal and/or electronic music to at least check out his work over the last two decades.

What better example of this than a collaboration with another hero, Trent Reznor?



While Bowie is not a direct, beloved hero of mine, he stands in a position of utmost respect in my estimation, as a musician who has evolved through a very long career (42 years is several lifetimes in the music industry) and has managed to come out of the other side with almost every period of his career held in higher esteem than it was at the time. For example, songs like "Changes" were only minor hits at the time, but have become legendary in retrospect and some songs like "The Man Who Sold The World" achieved far greater acclaim after being paid homage by other artists (in this case, Kurt Cobain.)

Raise a glass to David, Ziggy, Aladdin, the Duke, Jareth or whichever facet of this fine performer most appeals to you, and I leave you with a thought.

Where are the replacements for his kind coming from, once he is gone?

Deftones

What: Nu-metal pioneers, turned alternative prog wayfarers
From: Sacramento, CA
In the Beginning: Carpenter, Moreno & Cunningham have been playing together since high school in 1988, debut album Adrenaline released in October 2005.
Best Album*: Adrenaline, Around the Fur or White Pony depending what mood I'm in.
Best Song*: "7 Words", "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)", or "Change (In The House of Flies)" - although these are first among a great many awesome tunes.
Recently...: Writing for Eros began in late 2007, but the album was put on hold when bass player Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car accident in November 2008. The band have recruited long time friend Sergio Vega to play bass during Chi's convalescence and have started playing shows again. In June, the band announced they will be recording a new album for release, with the almost completed Eros placed on the back burner for the time being.

At the time of my alternative conversion, the Deftones were one of the bands I took a chance on, based on little more than some positive reviews. That was a VERY good decision.

The song which captured my heart in the beginning was "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" - although I have noticed that this song bears a striking similarity to "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters. Not that that is a bad thing.



The album which spawned that song, the awesome Around the Fur remains one of my favourite albums ever - almost every song is a work of genius from the dance floor filling "My Own Summer (Shove It)" to the album tracks like "Dai the Flu", "Around the Fur" and "Rickets."

By this stage, I was hooked and sought out their previous record Adrenaline and found some more immediate songs for my labour. Tunes like "7 Words", "Nosebleed" and "Birthmark" showed both the Deftones rap rock roots and the beginnings of the progressive tendencies the band would show in future years. "7 Words" has probably the best chorus ever written - that is sheer lyrical genius of the first degree!



The Deftones' star had risen considerably given the success (as part of the wider 'nu-metal' wave) of Around the Fur and their next record White Pony was much anticipated. Lead single "Change (In the House of Flies)" received a chunky amount of airplay, even in the alternophobic UK and the (reasonably) big budget video made the band even bigger players on the MTV stage.



IMHO, White Pony is a massive triumph, arguably the greatest album of the noughties, from the juddering rumble of "Feiticera" to the dying strains of "Pink Maggit" (or "this Boys Republic" on my special edition) there isn't a bad song to be found and there are also some real classics, with "Change…", "Digital Bath", "Knife Party" and "Passenger" (with the ever-awesome Maynard James Keenan) being my personal favorites.



Not to be overawed by their cocaine-fueled success (you don't think the album title was made at a random, do you?) the band pushed on, releasing a re-worked version of "Pink Maggit" as part of the Back to School (Mini Maggit) EP. Easily their most overt shot at mainstream popularity, with it's theme of high school redemption and catchy tempo, this is possibly their best known song.



Their self-titled next album was not as polished as White Pony, and varied between the soaring strains of lead single "Minerva" through the more direct and metallic approach of "Hexagram" and "Bloody Cape" as well as the less definable tunes which require a few listens to get into such as "Moana" and "When Girls Telephone Boys."



A follow up to that record took a little longer, and I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Saturday Night Wrist, and while there is some grand craft behind "Hole in the Earth", "Mein", "Kimdracula" and "Beware" it just doesn't have the charm, impact or passion of earlier work. Nevertheless, five albums in, everyone is allowed an off-day, right?

Since I first heard them the Deftones have been one of my favorite bands, partially because they are that little bit different and never really sat with the rest of the much publicized ‘nu-metal' wave – at least to me. They have always had a little more melody, a little more thought, a little more soul than their contemporaries – not to mention riffs and beats to decimate the best that many of their competitors could scrabble together. For me, the Deftones are a nu-metal band in the same way that Tool are apparently a grunge band or Muse are apparently an indie band – they are not.

Whatever the prevailing musical winds at the time such a band comes to prominence has little bearing on the work they end up producing – for me the Deftones are equal parts Rage Against the Machine and Depeche Mode (alongside a million other influences), and that's a wonderful thing. The B-Sides and Rarities album shows this, with some surprising covers cropping up, including Sade's "Ordinary Love" and the Smiths's "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want."



I remember hearing about Chi Cheng's injury with great sadness, as this band are closer to my heart than many who's shows I would similarly anticipate. I wish Chi are speedy and full recovery, but the greedy child in me can't wait for the next Deftones release, whether it is to be the long awaited Eros or another record, written and laid down in Chi's enforced absence.

---STOP PRESS---

So I've been listening to Around the Fur all weekend, for the first time in some years. It is possibly one of my favourite albums ever and I just can't gush enough about it's awesomeness. That is all...



Hmmnn, no real hate for my column last week - just as well I weighed in with the Fact OR Fiction then - you can check that out here if you aren't up to speed.

JDS09 said Don't usually read these music columns, now I know why. Seriously, GET SOME DAMN GOOD DEBATERS FOR CHRIST SAKE. These two have the brain of a damn potato.

A fact that signing Seacrest is a bad move? What two idiots are these? He's a damn good host and the entire point of the show is to find people who can make it in the music business. What the hell do you not understand about that? That's the only concept of the entire show, NOTHING needs to be changed. You clearly no nothing about the X Factor either, because changing the host over here didn't change a damn thing and wasn't done to freshen things up. Somebody shoot this idiot Hollingsworth at all, who thinks calling Simon Cowell a prick is 'cool'. What a complete and utter tool you truly are.

Now I really object to someone saying I have the brain of a potato. Have you ever heard of a pomme de terre with it's own music column? Didn't think so!

Firstly, the purpose of the X Factor/American Idol is not 'to find people who can make it in the music business' and if you think it is, you are a gullible fool. The purpose is to have a high rated show, where millions of easily amused morons spend millions of dollars on phone votes. The actual talent, longevity or worth of the winner is completely immaterial, because Simon Cowell (evil marketing genius that he is) knows that if you tell the public someone is a star, enough of them will believe you to make it true and in any case, a viable musical act like Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift or Leona Lewis is only the happy extra to the format, as it makes it's money back a million times over from the advertising money, live tour and phone votes, without going to the trouble of risking valuable A&R resources on building up an act the 'real' way.

As for Kate being replaced for Dermot on the X Factor, that was done as apparently Dermot was the younger sexier choice, and given that it tends to be easily amused girls, middle aged women and gay men who pay real attention to the X Factor, I guess it makes sense. Sounds like a 'freshening up' move to me.

Lastly, it's not 'cool' to call Simon Cowell a prick, but it is TRUE. He is a complete arrogant ass, but he is also a marketing genius of great prowess - I don't have to like the guy to appreciate he is making money for very little effort because of people who are so very easily impressed by mediocre ability, showy presentation and some witless hyperbole.

Guest#8913 said Kiss is one of the most PROVEN bands in the world as far as making money... and say what you want, EVERY band is in it to make the money and live the life Gene Simmons lives.

The Kiss Army will buy the album and the reviews will stink but the true fans appreciate it and will cherish it.

Get off of Gene Simmons hate - the man made millions of dollars and has done things his own way - we call that successful, at least we did until Clinton got in the White House...

Gene Simmons is a master showman, a shred business man and a great father...

Let him live his life doing whatever he damn well pleases - he's earned that.

And to hate on him is stupid - ALL of you would change places with him in a heartbeat.

Now, I never hated on Kiss, or Gene Simmons. Neither have ever greatly interested me as musical entities, but I'd really like to see their reputedly awesome live show some day. What I said was that bands (like Kiss) who play on reasonably infantile themes should usually stop releasing albums after a given point, as it's one thing to still play the cocky, lewd rock songs you wrote before you were 35 and it's quite another to write more when you are in your fifties.

Gene (and Kiss) deserve plenty credit for their success and longevity, and long may it continue - but I maintain that a new Kiss record would provoke little more than apathy and disappointment, whereas another tour would be far more interesting.

Tying two of the questions together, you make a point of saying Gene found huge success in the music industry doing things his own way, making up for his limitations with his personality. For that reasons - he has experience, and charisma to burn, I feel he'd be a far more interesting host/judge/mentor on American Idol than Seacrest, Randy Jackson or whoever - I'm tired of these cookie-cutter bland voiced pop tarts - I want them taught how to PERFORM from the heart with a little edge to them. A mediocre singer with some charisma is a far better thing than some soulless bimbo or himbo with a perfect instrument in my eyes - Gene knows that.

Of course, that will never happen as the record company types (including Mr Cowell) far prefer easily managed, blank eyed little hit machines to interesting performers who might be ever so slightly crazy...

Lastly, Joe Jackson is the Devil said "even Joe Jackson isn't that cynical and evil"

Joe Jackson IS Cynical and Evil.

Which one else would ask for 200 000 dollars by interview to talk about the frickin death of his very OWN SON ?

Who else would be sick and nasty enough for that ?

I never said he wasn't cynical and evil - that has been pretty clear for some decades now. However, there is a big difference between having the moral blindness and lack of empathy to ruthlessly exploit your own family, even after death for business reasons and actually plotting to KILL one of them. I simply said I don't think he is THAT cynical and evil. Apart from that, Michael and Joe barely had contact, so how would Joe force Michael to take all those drugs?

Let me be clear, Joe Jackson is NOT a nice man, being one of those scary people for whom financial advantage is everything, but the stone cold murderer of his own son? I doubt it.
------ ------ ------
On that happy note, I'll draw a close to this week's column. please show your appreciation or disgust in the comments section below and come back next week for some bands beginning with E and whatever thoughts are at the forefront of my disease ridden mind.

Slainte,
Chris Crowing

Contact Chris Crowing on MySpace and Twitter.

Stay up to date with all the happenings across 411 on Twitter as a whole or for the section of your choice at 411Music, 411Wrestling, 411Movies & TV, 411Games, 411MMA, or last but not least 411Boxing