Absolution by Muse: yer thoughts?

Radiohead comparisons were lazy ca. 2000 and they're just way off the mark now, and Alex is OTM as to why.

i'd much rather listen to Muse than Good Charlotte (or Busted etc.)- i know the lyrics are samey and irritating but i quite like the energy and musicianship in some of their work.

I was hoping for something with monkeys and pabulum in it.

Excuse my initial post, it was a bit rash. I am just genuinely curious as to what people enjoy when they listen to Muse, but that was probably not the best way to put it.

This coming from a fellow "Wardance" enthusiast is most troubling

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1384

I'm not 'making a comparison'. I heard Muse on the radio without them being announced and I literally thought it was Radiohead and actually I have a soft spot for ver Head. 'Lazy' is biting another band's sound. Muse wouldn't have got a deal if they didn't sound like Radiohead. JT pisses on them from Mars.

I doubt i'll see a funnier post today.

Muse? Spews, more like. One-trick fools.

Yeah, but you're a big Hole fan, aren't you? Thus, THE HELL do you know?

I like "origin of symmetry" b/c it sounds like radiohead, except if instead of trying to sound like autechre or boards of canada, they tried to sound like dj tiesto. It's fucking great. I haVEn't heard the new one yet, but I'll probablky get a copy soon-ish.

The bass is all snarly weird mean, the drummer's snappy, things are tartly OTT and his voice is way more Queen than vile Yorke.

And, best of all, perhaps, the words amount to almost nothing! I like it.

Well, after my girlfriend Keri found an adorable post-Fassbinder sailer suit skirt for 20 bucks on sale at Mexx's on 14th and we decided not to get a small dog as they seem to have devolved from living species to Japanese tourist bag accesories, we dropped by Virgin, where the listening station convinced my girlfriend that the new Blond Redhead wasn't all that, while I listened to "Time is Running Out" and wellnigh hooted in delight, and I'm not even the hooting kind.

Back in Williamsberg, the part where there are few asshole hipsters but many a Hassid, I played the song again and Keri screamed for me to please turn that fucking thing down, your chicken is ready (you can quote me on that.)

Then she showed me the new Indian curtain fabric we were going to use tomorrow in our quest for domestic style, and--we're on the third playing of "Time" at this juncture--she admits to it being quite the perfect song although, for a spell there, she thought the singer might make her rip her ears out, and I said, "Exactly! And this next guitar part is just as good!"

on the other hand i kinda dig how (extremely broad genralization alert) all brits seem to regard muse as a form of cruel and unusual punishment, either because they 1)sound like radiohead or 2)have lame fans. and don't get me started about jet...

how very quaint.

His vocals are overblown in the worst way possible, he seems to start from the point where Thom Yorke stops (where he stops is about right too).

The songs/lyrics themselves are appalingly trite, obvious and 100% earnest (just watch that video for 'Time Is Running Out' and try not to wince). I've missed the 'humour' perhaps I have, but even the lamest moments of Frank Black lyrically have 100% more entertainment about them.

I preffered them when they were totally aping Radiohead (Showbiz) to be honest.

One of the few bands I really struggle with Re: finding anything at all I can appreciate in their 'art'. Beyond filling-a-gap-in-the-market ... they have loud guitars ... ???

Muse have plenty of fans in England, sorry, I'd still like to apologize on behalf of the nation though. I seriously doubt Muse will ever have any kind of influence on any other bands in any significant way though so you're probably safe from Nu-Brit-Prog-Metal-Pop for the time being.

Taking Sides: Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5 Vs. Muse's post 'Showbiz' musical direction

pah.

I presume the 'prog' label can only arise from either
1) Radiohead being labelled 'prog' at some point (ha!)
2) Use of piano
3) The odd 6min+ song

Lazy, regardless.

One of the few bands I really struggle with Re: finding anything at all I can appreciate in their 'art'. Beyond filling-a-gap-in-the-market ... they have loud guitars ... ???

Except when they don't.

The prog label is lazy I agree. I don't hear anything remotely original, challenging or even very novel in their music.

'Filtered through an indie-electronica sensibility'?

Metal for students?

Radiohead (but not since '99! I hear the cry...) but louder?

Is that better?

Probably not, I should have restrained from posting on this one.

I think I'm just going to stick to shrugging my shoulders and muttering 'awful shite' under my breath.

Heh, I have the same problem with the Strokes - can't stand them, but can't put my finger on why.

I feel I should defend Muse though - though I struggle with 'Showbiz' - even if it's on the basis that they're infinitely more interesting than the endless streams of identikit indie shite that we're told it's 'cool' to like. And they're a blinding live act as well. Perhaps it's just me.

Rachmaninov and Laibach and Queen and Wagner - the Sound Of War with a half-cocked grin?

Add everything, then more, turn it up, then more? The sheer scale of it so massively over-the-top, and that's the wit of it?

Don't they sound like the end of the world, but all funny like?

What was the name of that band in Hitchiker's Guide? A band so loud they had to play on the sun, or something?

Just when you think it can't get huger, it does - it's worth a smile.

You would eat yer words if you had caught Radiohead live recently. (Or maybe you have and you felt fire was not honored.)

Seriously, while I enjoy Radiohead's albums very much I fully understand while it is many people much prefer their live stuff because my god can they bring it -- I have bootlegs of a number of shows I've attended, good quality at that, and while they're grand they just can't capture exactly what it was like. Striking stuff.

Now, Muse may have the same ability (Tracer once said as much). But unlike Radiohead, their music has nothing about it to make me WANT to see them live. (Also, invoking the tower of shit that is Jeff Buckley next to Freddie is enough to make me say you like pabulum, Alex ;-)).

In terms of Muse, I haven't seen them live either, but quite unike yourself, their records (the few I've heard) sound like they'd be quite exciting to experience in a live capacity. Reports from those who properly honor the fire suggest that they are "properly full on" when they play live. Let's put it this way, if Radiohead and Muse were playing in different venues on the same night and I had tickets for both....well, I'd go to Muse (actually, I'd probably sell both for a ridiculously high price and go buy myself something nice)

Jeff Buckley a tower of shit? Come now, Nedward. Even if you don't like poor dead Jeff (voice of an angel, fins of an anvil), you must admit that Bellamy does sound rather Buckleyesque.

Hurrah! Variety!

you must admit that Bellamy does sound rather Buckleyesque

No wonder I don't like Muse! ;-)

Seriously, if someone put them on a double bill with the Darkness, that would be enough for me to consider being the villian in one of those 90s B action films where the evil terrorist plans to blow up the entire building.

"Regular concer goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some 37 miles from the stage, while the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet--or more frequently around a completely different planet."

sounds like muse to me.

You lose! I don't eat corn flakes anymore.

That's okay, because next time you take a shower, the hot water heater will be off.