Critical perspectives songs:
Muse:
Muse are a band that I really enjoy, almost all of their songs appeal to me as they are full of lots of energy and complicated bass riffs that get you hooked onto the songs and make you want keep listening to see if it gets better, after that you are then slapped with an equally complex guitar riff that blows your socks off. They have released numerous albums that all are made using different sounds ranging from classical to techno and no song is like the last.
I will be comparing two different songs from different albums based on the feedback they both got upon release, the two are ‘Hysteria’ on the album ’Absolution’ and the other is called ‘The Second Law Unsustainable’ on the album ‘The 2nd Law.’ They are both a different style of song with one being written as a rock and the other a classical, Matt Bellamy (the lead singer) was trained classically as a musician which is why his writing technique is so unique when it comes to combining different genres.
Hysteria –
This song is a good example of the complicated bass riffs i mentioned in the first paragraph as they show the talent of the bassist Chris Wolstenholme for being able to play the riff and also of Matt Bellamy for writing it to become such an iconic riff. The guitar mimics the bass in a lesser fashion as it plays in the chorus, solo and bridge using a similar pattern on the bridge as the bass does but plays the chords in the chorus and in the solo mimics the vocals and chords. The reason I like this song so much is down to how nice it sounds with all the instruments together, the effects used such as the heavy fuzz on the bass to create an intense sound and the solo of the guitar and how it mimics the open chord patterns of the chorus using the notes above the twelfth fret.
YouTube. (2018). Muse – Hysteria [Official Music Video]. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dm_5qWWDV8 [Accessed 17 Nov. 2018].
The Second Law: Unsustainable –
With Matt’s classical training it is clear that he was attempting to try and implement that more into his music but the problem with it is that it just doesn’t work at all, it doesn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the album. I reckon that the reason the album itself and not just the song flopped a bit is because they had such a strong trilogy of albums which were ‘Origin of Symmetry,’ ‘Absolution’ and ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ in the genre of alternative pop/rock and then they throw ‘The 2nd Law’ in which is a dance oriental album that doesn’t sound much like what they used to be. In this song and album altogether it is clear that they have tried to perform a new genre of music to try and reach a wider audience and in this album and particularly this song, it really does not work. The reason I don’t like this song isn’t because of the genre they go to as in another album called ‘Resistance’ Matt Bellamy makes use of the classical training he has to create the 3 movements of ‘Exogenesis’ and also makes ‘United States of Eurasia [+ Collateral Damage]’ which are all absolutely phenomenal songs, my reason for disliking it is because it’s more suited for a movie and sounds like it could be the opening theme for a marvel movie up to where they decide to become the next Skrillex and go full dubstep as to completely ignore the rest of the album.
YouTube. (2018). The 2nd Law: Unsustainable. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-bkTG30Ns [Accessed 17 Nov. 2018].
Critical Perspectives Journalism:
For this section I have compared two articles about Muse from different publishers about the same album, for the guardian one though there wasn’t a whole review on its own so I had to use a snippet from it to compare the two from.
The Guardian:
“Next up are one-star wonders Muse, whose Origin of Symmetry Betty Clarke tentatively dismissed as a “difficult second album”, until she could hold back no longer and accused it of being “unbelievably overblown, self-important and horrible” and calling the unimpeachable artist integrity of lead singer Matt Bellamy nothing more than “a grandiosity that even Rick Wakeman would balk at”.”
The problem I have noticed with this article is that it questions the artists integrity rather than write about why the album was bad in their opinion but it doesn’t, this could be because of the writing style of The Guardian or the audience it receives which makes the writer think that they would never give their music a chance so they just put a poor review on the album.
NME:
Right off the bat you can tell that this is more focused on the musical technicality and originality of the album due to NME being a music based company and this is why the album is given a 9/10 rating which is the complete opposite of what The Guardian did, personally I would trust the NME article more purely because of the company that’s writing about it is music based but even still it could be the writers themselves that like or dislike it.
Artists and Repertoire:
This is about the A&R promoters that scout out people to offer them an opportunity for a possible record deal so they can further their career in music if the scouters believe that the band or musician in question has potential and fits with some rules that they might make or follow, here are some examples.
Ties to common trends:
Typically it is better for a musician / band to start off with playing songs that are in a common trend for example pop music as it is very popular and is most likely to make the most money, it also appeals to a wide audience which would make it more popular.
Talent:
Obviously they’re going to be looking for talented musicians otherwise their search is going to be for nothing and they will return empty handed, they will also need to be original in the music they created.
A good example of music that has been considered original is Muse’s first album ‘Showbiz’ which is still considered to be one of their best pieces of work even though it’s the first, the album was produced by A&E Records Limited in 1999 and 2003, the record label also produced the albums ‘Origin of Symmetry,’ ‘Absolution’ and ‘Black Holes and Revelations.’
Gabriel's Music 