Friday, February 16, 2007

263 - january music, part 3

This will end January music.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen

I have to admit, that I was interested in this project because it is as some people call - a supergroup - with members from different bands that I like (Blur, Gorillaz, the Verve, the Clash.) I do like this album and I have come to the conlusion that I like it for its great atmosphere and rich texture. It has great noise between the musical notes. It's that noise, or atmosphere, on the whole of the album that takes me on an interesting musical journey. In movie terms, this album sounds to me like a dream (or nightmare) of a futuristic, western showdown at a carnival late at night played out in slow-motion.

Listen at their myspace.



The Brothers Martin

Another supergroup - no one has called them that - but to many of their loyal fans this is great pairing. Two of my favorite brothers and bands (Ronnie=Joy Electric, Jason=Starflyer 59) joined forces to write songs that they love to write. It is an electronic rock album, as you would expect, much in the vein of New Order, yet sound distinctly like Ronnie and Jason. They both share music writing duties and switch off on the vocals. This album is like a singles album, because every song could be a hit. (in a perfect world, because not many people will hear this album.) Oh well. I love it.

Listen at their Myspace.

11 comments:

Achtung BB said...

Not to sound like a downer, but I wasn't as impressed with "The Good, The Bad, and the Queen". I liked Damon's other project "the Gorillaz" better. It's a great combination of brit and urban sound. I love the Brother's Martin however. It's hard to go wrong with the two brothers together.

f o r r e s t said...

the good bad queen is an album you have to immerse yourself into. It doesn't have any quick hits on it and it wasn't meant to, as opposed to the Gorillaz. From that standpoint, the songwriting is not the greatest, but it is strong in the area of the music and creating a mood with the music.

So I take it you don't like futuristic, western showdowns at carnival music?

f o r r e s t said...

brian,
did you listen to el perro del mar. I think you'd like her. Her songwriting reminds me of early starflyer w/o the noise mixed with a little Smiths. That's probably not right. Maybe I should say for fans of Starflyer, Smiths, 60's girl groups.

roamingwriter said...

You and BB are amazing with the albums all the time. I can't keep up on the budget end or on the time to look and or listen end. Who am I kidding? I can't keep up on the blogs and that's free!

shakedust said...

Based on the soundbytes here I have to agree with BB. The Brothers Martin is at least the most entertaining of the two.

f o r r e s t said...

Well, it is a good thing that we don't judge an album by soundbytes because some albums are meant to be taken in as a whole.

But I realize that my musical taste are quirky/weird enough compared to 90% of the world that this is an album that I can really connect with, that others just don't get.

But the Brothers Martin is easy... Great songs for sure, good beats. They are all big pop hits. I will probably be listening to this more, but the Good Bad Queen will satisfy the right mood.

Achtung BB said...

I did listen to a little of el perro and it does sound promising. The Good, the Bad, and The Queen does have some good stuff. I'd say about half the album is really good. It's just my expectations were high coming from a supergroup made up of Blur, the Verve, the Clash, and a reknown African drummer.

Achtung BB said...

By the way I read an article in Rolling Stone that said Bono is ready to take the music to the "next level" on the new album. Brian Eno has also been working with Coldplay and Travis on their next albums. Good stuff to come!

f o r r e s t said...

Definitely, good stuff to come. I wonder what the next level will be? Eno and coldplay will be great together and after Travis' last album they need Eno's help.

Good,Bad,Queen wasn't the sound I was expecting, but the drumming is great, and the clash bass player is doing his signature dub/reggae style of playing. Don't forget Danger Mouse who produced this album and the Gorillaz offers many of the textures and atmosphere that is similar to those Gorillaz albums. I don't know what the Verve guy really offers with his guitars.

YES, I promise El Perro Del Mar is fantastic and I am jelaous. I see that she is playing in Portland.

Doc said...

I will be looking for the Brothers Martin album.

dwhitey said...

the brothers did it again in my opinion. good tunes. they are my "friend" on my space so i heard the tunes before they came out, but i am digging the album. mr. brought it over at the balm party. speaking of, do you know who Life is Art is? we are going to be posting more soon, and we want to add more links. what do you want me to add for you? d