Thursday, July 20, 2006
or
Rock Rhymes With
In case you didn't know, gentle readers, I'm a biiiiiig fan of Placebo. You know. Brit post-punk, electronic influences, the world's most nasal lead singer EVER. That Placebo.
Much to my dismay, I am a maxed credit card away from becoming a stinking, rotten fangirl. Shoot me. I have all the albums, and I'm working on the singles. The Soulmates Never Die live DVD is sitting in my living room. Hell, I even thought about buying Velvet Goldmine, that pathetic waste of production budget, just because the Placebo lads make a cameo. It's sad. But I cannot deny my heart, especially when it comes to matters of the whining, faggy, mascara-wearing Brian Molko. Faggy in a good way.
I'd love to do unholy things to his pelvis. I guess the closest I'll ever come is the look-alike boytoy I dumped a few months ago:
Brian, left; Kay, right. Just don't say the wrong name in bed!
Top 5 Reasons why I like 'em:
5. MOLKO!
4. Their lyrics make heavy use of strict rhyme schemes, without sounding incipid and singsong. Example - "I'm unclean, a libertine/And every time you vent your spleen/I seem to lose the power of speech/You're slipping slowly from my reach/You grow me like an evergreen/You've never seen the love in me at all."
3. They're bipolar - agitated and ironic one song, self-pitying and malcontent the next. Fits my disposition just fine. Satisfaction? Who needs it?!
2. That voice! No one sounds like Brian Molko! Even if you like nasal tenors (as I do) he's an acquired taste. Distinctive is the word I'm looking for.
1. They've been together for 10 years. That's a lot of material! And they've progressed beautifully over the course of their 5 albums. Personally, I think Sleeping With Ghosts, their fourth venture, is their best work. It's truly artful and melodic. The lyrics are potent, the balance between electronic and punk styles, perfected. Meds is hit or miss. Too many forays into gritty electronic wastelands a la Garbage. Black Market Music and Without You I'm Nothing are emotional and seething, with great variation between tracks. Their self-titled first album is somewhat underdeveloped, but worth a listen for an understanding of Placebo's roots. Although it is, comparatively, an amateurish effort, one can't help but be dazzled by their immediate talent.
In other news, I'm currently holding an earring for ransom. It once belonged to Lars, lead singer of The Undoing Of David Wright. They're pretty weird, if I may say so, and well worth a listen. Sorta Neo-newave/experimental/screamo stuff. Very atonal.
I'ma gonna wear it to their show in Denton in September. Cause I'm cool like that.
