Champagne Symphony

There are only three things a great artist needs to do: Have great songs. Sing effortlessly in tune. Sing with complete abandon and faith in the music. Lady Gaga's got the last two points taken care of, but, in her drive to do something incredible, crazy, and meaningful, she forgot about the first and most important point.  She forgot to write good songs. The Fame/The Fame Monster were spotty but they had their fair share of great songs (Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi, Bad Romance) and quite a few decent ones.  Born This Way, on the other hand has only one truly great song, The Edge of Glory, and two other passable ones, You and I and Born This Way.  The rest of the album is interesting but utterly forgettable.  She also didn't help her cause by giving the one great song a terrible music video.  Adele, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and even J-Lo released better albums this year, and, when you're trying to be the biggest pop star in the world, fifth best amon...

Switchfoot - Vice Verses : I like the album title.  Too bad the music couldn't be as interesting.  It's all just extremely straightforward and easy-to-digest rock.  Pleasant enough, but entirely forgettable.  Dark Horse is rather enjoyable though.  Certainly below the level of Dare You to Move and Meant to Live, but better than anything else they've done.  Points: 1 Blink-182 - Neighborhoods : Just reread the Switchfoot review, replacing Dark Horse with After Midnight , and Dare You to Move and Meant to Live with All the Small Things, Adam's Song, and I Miss You.  Hell, I'll even do it for you: I like the album title.  Too bad the music couldn't be as interesting.  It's all just extremely straightforward and easy-to-digest rock.  Pleasant enough, but entirely forgettable.  After Midnight is rather enjoyable though.  Certainly below the level of All the Small Things, Adam's Song, and I Miss You, but better than ...

In the U.S., Oasis is a one hit wonder, known only for the song Wonderwall.  This is a huge shame, since Oasis is undoubtedly the best band of their era.  Most critics would disagree, citing Nirvana, which was monumentally influential, or Pavement, which was consistently brilliant in every facet (except singing in tune), as better options. Certainly, it's easy to write off Oasis.  There's a litany of issues with the band's music: Noel wrote terrible lyrics, Liam doesn't have a traditionally good voice, and the other band members were mediocre at best.  All of that doesn't matter.  A great artists needs to do three things and three things only: Write great tunes. Sing them effortlessly. Believe 100% in the music. Oasis in the mid-90's had all of the above in spades.  Noel, without any assistance, wrote the best set of tunes this side of the Beatles, and Liam sang those tunes with a power and verve that made him one of the best rock vocalist of his ge...

Since everyone likes lists, here's another list.  My 10 favorite albums of the aughts.  By far my favorite decade in music and the one I know the most about; it was rather heart wrenching trying to narrow the list down to 10.  More than enough has already been said in the music press about all these albums, so I'll just give a explanation of why I like each and note my favorite tracks. The National - Boxer : My favorite album of all time.  The general topic of the album, the fear and general discomfort of transitioning and settling into adulthood, really connects with me at the moment.  It feels tense, while Alligator feels drunk and High Violet feels depressed.  This tension gives the songs a direction and a purpose absent on the other albums.  It also doesn't hurt that it has the best songs of the three.  Hell, there's not a single bad track (one of less than a dozen albums that I can say that about).  Also, Bryan Devondorf is sim...

This coming Wednesday, Simon Cowell's replacement for American Idol, The X Factor, will debut here in the states. So, here's my favorite moments from the UK X-Factor, in the hopes that the US version will have moments just as good. Cher Lloyd - Turn My Swag On : A cheeky British teenager (16 at the time) covers the Keri Hilson cover of a Soulja Boy song.  On paper, it should've been a complete joke, but, somehow, Cher made it work.  She totally had the attitude, the look, and the voice to pull it off, and it didn't hurt that the song was actually awesome. Hands down the best and the most unique audition I've ever seen on any of these reality singing shows.   Jamie Archer - Sex on Fire : The song was a huge hit in the UK and an even bigger hit in Australia.  How it never became a hit in the US is beyond me.  Anyways, Jamie Archer has a perfect voice for the song and he just fucking sells it.  I can't help but smile watching this, and, judging by the vide...

Coldplay just released a new song, "Paradise", from their forthcoming album, Mylo Xyloto, and it's actually really good.  Leagues better than Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.  Heck, it's better than anything off of Viva la Vida except for "Viva la Vida".  Anyways, that got me thinking about all the great pop music that the Brits have come up with over the past couple years that never made it across the pond.  So, here's a list of a few of the best ones: The Wanted - All Time Low (Genre: Pop): Boy bands and girl groups might've died in the U.S., but they're still going strong in the UK with acts like Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, JLS, and, god have mercy, Jedward.  (Seriously, if you think American music is bad, just look up Jedward.  They might be cute little kids but I want to strangle both of them at least three times over and punt them to Pluto.)  Anyways, the best song any of them has managed to put out in the past few years is The Wanted'...

This week's a pretty good one for new releases.  Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost as well as St. Vincent's Strange Mercy will be officially released.  I've listened through both of them, and I thought I'd give them both a quick review. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost: Girls is a San Francisco band, whose singer had a fucked up childhood in the Children of God cult, that makes ramshackle, charming, lo-fi, Beach Boys-sounding rock music. If you haven't heard their music, listen to Lust for Life , Laura , and/or Hellhole Ratrace off their first album (which was terribly titled as "Album").  Anyways, this album is definitely more expensive sounding than their debut, with more intricate and varied arrangements.  However, the songwriting is just not there.  I listened through the whole thing twice and found nothing to like.  Ironically, the only song that didn't make me want to vomit was the one called Vomit.  For that, I'll give this album a point...

I love reading Pitchfork.  It's the one music publication that actually gets it right nowadays.  I mean seriously Rolling Stone, how can you give Tha Carter IV, which is a complete shitshow, the same rating as Watch the Throne, which is a rather solid album with three amazing songs (Those would be Niggas in Paris, Otis, and Illest Motherfucker Alive).  Anyways, Pitchfork does this Best New Music and Best New Track thing which I rather like.  I'm not one for albums, since I believe songs are individual entities that should be judged by themselves.  They're like a collection of short stories, not chapters in a book, and should be treated as such.  So, I will simply give my pick for Best New Track: Example - Stay Awake Example is another badly named British rapper (eg. Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk, Wretch 32).  Except, unlike the others, he can sorta rap and has a great sense of melody.  The track is currently the #1 single in the UK for a good reason....

Now, for some actual music.  First, my last.fm account if you want a quick snapshot of what I like.  (Yes, I know, the name is stupid, go ahead and laugh, I don't care...)  Also, I made you bitches a list...bitches love lists... Top 10 Songs of 2011 (so far): The Weeknd - Wicked Games :   This song is perfect.  The best track off of the most interesting album to come out this year (It's also free, you should download it and give it a listen if you haven't already: Link ).  The overblown drums and grimy guitars give the song a lot of momentum and a great ambiance, but really, the song is all about Abel Tesfaye.  His voice is hauntingly perfect (or perfectly haunting, either one works) and his songwriting is on point all the way through.  I tried to pick the best part of this song, but I just can't.  It's that good. Tyler, The Creator - Yonkers : Should have won Video of the Year.  At least he won Best New Artist. Kid deserved it. H...

I spend what can only be described as an obscene amount of time listening to music.  So, to convince myself that all that time hasn't been a complete waste, I've made a blog to share some musical knowledge I've gained over the years.  Thank you for being interested/bored enough to bother reading this, and hopefully, you'll learn a bit and discover some good new music. First, a bit about the blog name so you don't think it's complete retarded.  It's just an amalgamation of two song names, "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis and "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve (both absolutely classic britpop tracks, BTW).  It doesn't really mean anything, but it rolls off the tongue well.  Also, more importantly, it conjures up the lovely image of a melodious, alcoholic explosion of musical joy, and I sorta like that. Now a bit about my general music philosophy, illustrated by one of my favorite musical quote, courtesy of Lil Wayne, off of the song...