Coldplay

I've been a fan of Coldplay for a long time now, but their newest stuff is definitely their best in my mind. Viva La Vida, Violet Hill and Clocks (to name but a few) are all great songs. They've got a very unique sound, which is both intriguing and relaxing at the same time. Their songs can also help you to discover a lot about yourself.

The Script

The Script are relatively new to the world stage. They began touring around America about 10 years ago, but only really hit it off when they returned to Europe about 12 months ago. Originally hailing from Dublin, Ireland, they have had 2 Number 1 hits with Together We Cry and The Man Who Can't Be Moved. Their music is a cross between indie and rock, and is very easy listening and grows on you immediately.

One Republic

One Republic are best known for their song Apologise, with Timbaland. They also have a major hit with Stop And Stare. Both songs seem to deal some sort of loss in the past, but make extremely easy listening. This is a great band that will probably become even bigger in the future.

None of this Miami -based artists work is for the faint hearted but this album takes things to another level. The splish splash of someones waste hitting the side of a toilet bowl is of course going to be a little disconcerting but before you turn your nose up in utter disgust, I do suggest you push on and listen some more.

The thing with Otto is, he takes something as crude as bodily waste, registers it as nothing more than sound and cleverly turns it into, dare I say….Music?

Granted the tunes can be a little over processed, having been churned through DSP software more times than my own stomach has churned while listening to Pukology, the tracks are interesting.

The signature distortion of Cuban and Hip Hop beats, coupled with vocal and instrumental samples produce sporadic waves of electronic rhythm and sound.

This album was born from some interesting inspiration. Fans were asked to submit the nastiest sounds possible and from that request, so this album was born.

As per usual, Schirach has produced something that will offend the neighbours. However, for someone who is known as a master mixer, this album fails to highlight that particular talent. Some of it appears to be too fragmented for my liking. The stopping and starting means you can sometimes be fed a series of sounds, one after another with no relation to the next. Its bittiness is too predictable for a producer of Schirach' standards. Things would be more interesting if he moulded things together a bit more and made a constant, flowing sound out of all the titbits. Now that would be some serious mixing!

As far as genre is concerned, Mr Otto Von sees himself welded into the IDM field. As far as this album goes though, I'm not so sure.

The folk music of a culture is music that is passed down from one generation to the next, often without writing it down. It includes many different kinds of music: lullabies and children's singing games, tunes that everyone enjoys singing together or dancing to, songs for celebrations, ceremonies, and holidays. Folk music can gradually change as it gets passed along. Usually nobody remembers who originally wrote it, or who changed it, and there may be more than one version of it around. Since ancient times, folk music has been the music of ordinary people, not the ruling class or professional musicians. In every culture, children learned and remembered the music that everyone enjoyed the most, and the music that was important to their traditions and ceremonies.

Baroque Music

Extravagant, ornamented, fancy, irregular... These are all adjectives that describe the music of the Baroque period- a period in which the art and architecture in the world was also very ornate and fancy.  The Baroque Era brought monumental changes to instrumental music. During this time, instrumental music became just as important as vocal music both in quality and quantity, as many new developments occurred in the instrumental world.
Keyboard music for the harpsichord was also a focus of compositions- there were many composers of the time that were amazing keyboardists. Bach was an example of a master composer of the Baroque who wrote very fancy-sounding keyboard music.

Classical Music

Music of the Classical period was also very structured and emotions were controlled.  It was tuneful and simple. 

The Classical period wanted balance and contrast.   This was achieved using form.  Music was not to be too loud or too soft, too fast or too slow.  Nothing was done in the extreme.  Control was more important than strong emotions.   

The sonata and the symphony were the popular musical forms during this time.
Famous composers during this time included Mozart and Beethoven.  The classical period ended when Beethoven died in 1827.  

Romantic Music
Romanticism aspires to transcend immediate times or occasions, to reach back into the past and forward into the future. As against the classic ideals of order, equilibrium, control, and perfection within acknowledged limits, Romanticism cherishes freedom, movement, passion, and endless pursuit of the unattainable.  It is this aspect which, perhaps, gives music of the Romantic Era its sense of longing, and heightened emotions.  This impatience of limits leads to a breaking down of distinctions.  The personality of the artists tends to become merged with the work of art; classical clarity is replaced by a certain intentional obscurity, definite statement by suggestion, allusion, or symbol. "Its incomparable power of suggestion which works on the mind directly, without the mediation of words, made it the dominant art, the one most representative of the 19th century".
 In the Romantic era, music acquired poetic or philosophical meaning. Antiquity, folklore, history and exotic cultures were examined as possible sources of inspiration.

Twentieth Century Music
With the coming of the 20th century, another evolution in the musical world emerged. While some of the early 20th century music can be seen as extensions of the late Romantic style, much of the music in this period can be seen as a rebellion. Composers did not look to build on what was standard but again created music freely and used sounds that went against the current grain. Twentieth century music can be described as being more refined, vague in form, delicate, and having a mysterious atmosphere.

Modern/ Pop Music
In the late 1950's that the idea of using tape to create a stand alone artistic work became more and more prevalent. However, it was with the studio recordings of the Beatles where the full use of multi-track recording and layering became common to popular music. The creation of this recording process transformed pop music.
The term pop music can refer to a specific kind of popular music.  Popular music is also a general term for any type of music that is or has been a top seller. This includes most types of rock music and many kinds of jazz.

This month we take a much deserved look at a band who are no strangers to the mid-west rock scene.

Modern Day Zero began when Rich Criebaum and Brian Pearia of Ten Stories Tall started searching for a new lead singer. Scott Gertken was hired to fill the void and they became known as Mesh. Soon after, Scott Davis joined the band and they went to Memphis, Tennessee to record their first EP.  The band was on the verge of being signed by Capitol Records when incoming president Andy Slater took over the reigns and dropped several bands, including Mesh from their new priorities. At this point, the band decided to self- release new material.

It was soon realized that a name change was in order as the name Mesh was being used by a British pop-synth band. The newly named Mesh-STL (STL for St. Louis) went on to film a video for their new single, 'Maybe Tomorrow' which rose to the Top 20 of both the Modern Rock and Active Rock format charts in 2001. The next year, 'Down' was recorded and eventually made it's way to onto the soundtracks for EA Sports NHL 2004 and NASCAR Thunder 2004 video games.

The bands major label signing woes continued and they changed the name once again in 2004 to Modern Day Zero,  meaning starting all over again. "Every day begins anew and you start from zero," according to guitarist Rock Davis. The latest lineup includes Scott Gertken, (vocals) Rock Davis, (guitar) Zack Broderick, (guitar) Rich Criebaum, (bass guitar) and Blake Nelson (drums) The new single, 'Sick Inside', from the self released EP  'Coming Up For Air' spent eight weeks as a top requested song at several radio stations nationwide.

Modern Day Zero has toured with the likes of Sammy Hagar, Green Day, Hoobastank, Velvet Revolver, Guns & Roses, Tantric, Puddle Of Mudd and many other big name rock bands all over the country.

2006 and 2007 saw the band being named as the Airwalk Unsigned Hero, (in '06) and a new song and accompanying video, ('Spit You Out') for the December 4, 2007 release of 'Werewolf: The Devils Hound', a new horror thriller by Lionsgate Films.

heir sound is best described as infectious, crunchy riff laden rock and roll mixed with haunting, melancholy ballads which should find appeal with the emo set. Recommended songs to legally download include 'Sick Inside', 'Down', 'Believe Me', 'Maybe Tomorrow' and 'Spit You Out'.

Alas, as of this review, Modern Day Zero has decided to go their separate ways in what has been described as a "much needed break". Scott is busy with his newly formed TVR Management which played a key role in the signing of Shannon Nicole to Universal/Republic. He also heads up Trailer Studios/Bullet339 Records.

Rock Davis backs up Shannon Nicole and plays in an original band, 'Andtheyrise'. He can also be seen jamming with St. Louis based 'Sucker Fish', 'Rich Mahogany', and 'Hollywood 5'.

Zack plays in a Chicago, Illinois based original band, 'Royal'.

Rich also backs Shannon Nicole while maintaining his lead engineer/producer role at Trailer Studios/Bullet 339 Records.

Blake, like Rich and Rock, backs Shannon Nicole and plays with 'Andtheyrise' as well as St. Louis based 'Live Nudes'.

  It is fervently hoped by mid-western music lovers that Modern Day Zero re-forms and begins touring again soon.

www.moderndayzero.com    http://www.myspace.com/moderndayzero

Is this a fair statement? Well, that is what I want to talk about in this article. I will only voice out my opinion so please do not get offended. I am just an amateur and young writer after all.

I decided comparing music before to the music of today. I spent one whole day listening to songs from the 60's to the music today. I came across so many bands and artists, all sounding different from each other but still the same. All the music from a certain decade seemed to sound similar to each other, but not to the ones from the following decades.

The songs of before seem to be straight to the point while the songs of today seem to be vague and intricate. Songs of today are basically a "fill in the blanks" type of song. We are often left to interpret the song on our own.

What's music without a melody? I noticed that more instruments were used to make a song. They used organs, tambourines, flutes, maracas, French horns and so own. Today, however, music seems to be restricted to the guitars and drums.

The most important thing I noticed was that a lot of songs of before now have remakes. Songs from the 60's have been sung over and over again until this date.

All of this leads me to say that, the music before seems to be more creative and colorful than that of today's. I'm not saying that the music of today is worthless or boring; I'm just saying that I feel that they do have a point. Why would artists of today create remakes of songs before if those songs aren't good?

Most importantly, the music of today was only made possible because of the music before because music evolves.

This is definitely the age of the wannabees.. We've certainly come a long way from Opportunity Knocks, but at least we only had to endure it once a week. Since then, an endless stream of artists have fought their way into the limelight on shows such as New Faces, Stars In Their Eyes and even Junior Showtime in their attempts to climb the ladder of fame to stardom. Now we are bombarded with Pop Idol, where millions of hopeful young wannabees grace our screens all evening for weeks on end, and that's only the start of it. Not content with winning and recording a CD, they open supermarkets, appear on chat shows, make guest appearances, pose for calendars, become models, switch on Christmas Tree lights, are constantly in the press, turn up in bookshops to sign their autobiographies, (so what if they're only 19), and you find yourself lilting along to that melody you have come to hate, piped through the PA system of every business establishment in the known world with monotonous regularity. There's no getting away from them. The news is, there's nothing terribly new about this. Wannabees have been around for a very long time. The difference today is that the doors of opportunity have opened wider than ever before, with lucrative gains to be made by all parties concerned and not just the Pop Idol. Even those who are already celebrities in their own right want to be pop stars, and we've had them all. Singing detectives Denis Waterman and David Soul, soap stars the list is infinite, page three girl Samantha Fox, footballers Waddle and Hoddle not to mention whole teams. From drama Robson and Jerome, Snooker players with Chas and Dave and much as we'd like to, who could forget Alex Higgins and Oliver Reed's rendition of Wild Thing, need I go on? So why does everyone want to be a pop star?

From I hit Secondary School almost every guy I have ever known has been in a band of some shape, form, or description, or at least played a guitar. I say guys because in those days it was mostly a guy thing. Suzi Quatro was an exception, not the norm. In the more progressive and liberal minded 21st century, the female population has moved into the wannabe field with a vengeance and quite right too. They had their forerunners in the eighties, when girlie bands like The Bangles and The Belle Stars came on the scene, but someone before them had the same idea. Even at a tender age, I was a pretty liberal thinking, progressive kind of person, (I love that word progressive, and it covers a multitude of sins). Going back to my school days, two friends and myself decided it was high time that we girls moved into the then male dominated wannabee field and in the privacy of my friend's front room, we were The 3 Degrees. We rehearsed for hours with full vocals, actions, the lot and with high hopes, progressed to writing and recording on my friends tape deck, our own song entitled, 'I wanna pick your nose'. When her sister introduced her battery operated keyboard, we decided the time had come to further our aspirations of stardom. It was time to form a band. We went as far as considering buying guitars, drums and keyboards on HP, but our fall from the ladder of fame to stardom was imminent due to the one small flaw in our plan. None of us could actually play anything. We couldn't really sing either, or dance and let's face it; "I wanna pick your nose" was never going to be a hit. Personally I think we were just too far ahead of our time.

I humbly accepted the fact that my personal ambitions would never be realised, gave up on the idea of forming a band and took on the more passive role of spectating. At that time, Country and Western had taken the pubs and clubs of inner city Belfast by storm. 'Groups' as they were then referred to, were a dime a dozen. Irrespective of which drinking establishment you frequented or what group was playing, the same tunes were trotted out to a delighted audience because they knew the melody, all the words and could sing along. I learned from a colleague whose fiancée played in a group, this wasn't because the musicians enjoyed playing them rather than threat of death if they didn't. Bear in mind that in those days the National Sport was kneecapping, particularly in some of the less reputable venues. Country and Western songs all had similar theme. 'Daddy was a drinker and Mamma worked her fingers to the bone for her six children. She died when we were little and my eldest sister was left to raise her younger brothers and sisters alone when Daddy drowned in the crick and the dog got run over by a truck'. My husband and myself often reminisce about "Old Tag" and the irony of the six times married Tammy Wynette singing 'Stand by Your Man'. Many of the songs had a spiritual theme which gave rise to Hymns such as "The Old Rugged Cross" and 'How Great Thou Art' being flogged to death by the local wannabe, who was usually drunk after two pints and insisted on singing. In order for peace to reign supreme they were humoured for one or two numbers, and then bodily escorted from the stage by the local thug in the guise of bouncer. The advantage of being a spectator is you can criticize everyone else who wants to prove they can't sing or play without the disadvantage of having to do it yourself, and being a music critic is easy. Someone who plays in a band pointed this out to me, as I had never been on stage or played a "gig", I had no room to talk about anyone else. My reply was that I may not be able to play or sing, but at least I knew that, and being a critic never did Simon Cowell any harm. I never made his millions but that doesn't mean he's better at, he was just discovered first.

Another forerunner to the Wannabe era was Karaoke. A friend was explaining to me what Karaoke was when it first came on the scene, and told me that anyone who was vaguely tuneful sounded good over a Karaoke machine, but that was in the early days. That theory has now been tested and found to be inaccurate. There are some people that even the most up to date, high tech Karaoke machine can't do anything for. The problem is that they're the only ones who don't know. Well, what does it matter? It makes people feel good to have a little spot of stardom and most people are too drunk to care whether they or anyone else is any good. As long as everyone has a good time and it's a bit of harmless fun and not taken too seriously.

Unfortunately there are some who do. This was never more apparent when I visited friends in Hong Kong. The Chinese take their Karaoke very seriously, along with gambling and line dancing. My friends told us of a real bargain three day trip on a cruise ship around the South China Sea. Among the many forms of entertainment on board was line dancing classes. We chose not to avail ourselves of them and after one day on board found we didn't need to. Every nook and cranny on the ship was filled with groups of ardent line dancers practising their steps and counting in Cantonese. After three days of this, I could count to three in Cantonese in my sleep. I only ever learned one other phrase in Cantonese during the duration of my stay. I can't spell it but it translates into English as "Please stand clear of the doors". I picked this up travelling so often by tube. There was one form of entertainment offered on board the cruiser that I felt I had to see. A Chinese Elvis impersonator. He emerged in his white suite, all four foot two of him, and bald with glasses, but he could sing. With several equally talented Pilipino girls as backing, his portrayal of "Can"t Help Falling in Love' was second only to the King himself. He may not have had the looks but he did have the talent.

Before I become too critical, let me say that I pride myself on having the most varied taste in music known to man and being one of those people who can move with the times, not a musical dinosaur. There are plenty of songs about now that I like and my CD collection incorporates a fair number of today's artists, much to my husband's despair. But I do have limits. I was invited along with a few other people who were mostly in their teens to a night club, by a guy I used to work with to hear a "band". As a friend of his played in it and it was their first "gig", he wanted to generate support. When I arrived, the deafening sound, which could only be described as noise, greeted me. Through the maze of bodies I caught a glimpse of a hand, which I assumed, belonged to him, beckoning to me and I made my way towards it. Two rucks and a scrum later, I had not only made it to his side but had availed myself of a drink and was feeling quite proud of my achievements. He bent down and screamed in my ear, "listen to the drummer, he"s brilliant'. I could hear a vague beat through the symphony of electrical jargon, but on squinting through the haze of green smoke I could see neither drum kit nor drummer. I yelled back in his ear "where is the drummer?" 'Over there' he shouted, and pointed. When I looked back, not only did the drummer still elude me but so did the whole band. Risking becoming hoarse, I enquired as to their whereabouts and the reply was they were on their break. A day or two later, a guy who had been with us asked what I thought of the band. Not wanting to appear an old fogy, I diplomatically said it wasn't really my taste. I felt infinitely better when he said he thought they were crap. So I happily confided to him that I never actually saw the band or the brilliant drummer all evening, but I did hear them. Maybe my schoolgirl aspirations weren't that crazy after all. We may not have been able to play or sing, but if you don't even have to turn up who's to know?

In trying to keep abreast of the modern music scene I regularly listen to the radio and occasionally watch Top of the Pops. A song I had heard a few days previously that I had sworn was some kind of a joke, was there on Top of the Pops, being performed as the real McCoy. The lead singer was giving it all he'd got and the audience swayed in enthusiastic appreciation to 'Place your hands on my hole'. I didn't know which the greater source of merriment was. The fact that this song was supposed to be taken seriously or the look on my husbands face when he heard it. He just loves his music and a serious rendition of 'Place your hands on my hole' was too much for him. It was a full five minutes before he could eventually utter the words "Is that what they call music?" The tune wasn't actually that bad, but I wondered why place your hands on my hole? The second line was "run your fingers through my soul", so maybe they thought that was a really good line and the only word they could think of to rhyme with soul was hole? But why place your hands? Oh well, I'll leave that to the imagination.

Another common denominator of different musical eras is controversy, with each generation trying to be more outrageous than the last. Elvis was banned from being filmed from the waist down and Mozart was considered controversial for his day. A trend which has developed, in an attempt to find fame and fortune is to have your song banned. Sorry, nothing new in that either, the Sex Pistols did it in the Seventies with God Save the Queen and coupled with outrageous behaviour, gained popularity. I believe we all have a duty to protect society particularly the young and vulnerable, but is provoking outrage and calls for songs to be publicly banned because of the lyrics not exactly what these particular performers want? Personally, I echo the sentiments of one producer who said he didn't know whether they should be banned because of the lyrics or banned because they're crap. I would be concerned if my children in years to come thought it was music, but the proof of the pie is in the eating. Shock tactics work. It sold records in the past and continues to do so today. How many young people would buy these albums were they not banned and publicized by condemnation? Who was it who said "bad publicity is better than no publicity?"

It's not just in the pop scene that we find controversial lyrics. I've never frequented the football terraces myself, but I did have the pleasure of sharing a train carriage with three football supporting skinheads, one of whom closely resembled Plug of the Bash Street Kids. Between intermittent slugs of Buckfast, they trotted out a variety of songs with an almost identical melody, containing such poetic lyrics as, "he"s black, he's white, he's just a ball of shite, suck him off.' As the tuneful strains filled my ears, I found myself able to join in the last line of every song. Na na na na,na na na,na na. Easy to remember if nothing else. As they fell out the door of the carriage, having finally figured out how to open it, I found myself wondering about the implications for society if these people are as they deem, the master race.

Another trend in recent years are Tribute Bands, where you don't have to think of anything original at all, you just have to be very good at being someone else. I could make an infinite list of past heroes who someone today is making lots of money out of impersonating. Thinking back to our portrayal of the Three Degrees, were we the first Tribute Band? There are also those who cling to stardom like grim death by continually revamping their line up. I went to see a performance by The Drifters in Tenerife. As the line up included only one of the original members, was what I really saw a performance by The Drifter and friends? Or The Drifter and the New Drifters? Accusations could be made under the trade descriptions act, which is exactly what some bands have exploited when they break up, form new bands and take each other to court over who gets which name. Similar claims have been made over stolen melodies, and legal battles over royalties and copyright have been sparked by the popular musical trend of re-releasing re-mixed versions of a previously recorded song. Does this all mean that the music of the past really is superior, or have musicians just run out of ideas?

One difference I have noticed about bands today is the number of people who sing. In my teenage years, bands generally had one lead singer. Now everyone in the band is a lead singer. I counted something like 15 people in a band I saw on TV, all of which were singers. I suppose it saves on buying instruments and none of your friends are excluded. Those who can't sing can always mime, which is often considered an asset as opposed to a musical failing. Having watched the auditions for Pop Idol it's not altogether a bad idea in some cases.

Has this answered any of the questions I asked at the beginning of this rendition? Our likes and dislikes are influenced by the world we live in. There are those in society who try to incorporate what could be described as a sinister aspect into music and use shock value as a means to make money as opposed to relying on talent. Many with outstanding talent have just never got the breaks and some who could be described as lacking in talent have, but that's not unique to any one era. Sounds have changed in music, but it's very rarely anyone comes up with a totally new idea. Those who do are referred to as geniuses. What's new today is more often than not, drawn from something that has gone before. Many would say that real music is music which has stood the test of time. Music is not about being right and wrong, and how can we say that one form of music is better than another? By what yardstick could we gauge it other than the human ear, and how reliable a criterion is that for measuring the quality of sound? So if it sounds good, feels good and has no adverse effects, enjoy your music whatever it happens to be. And my message to today's generation, is enjoy being young; you'll never have a chance to do it again.

Nevertheless, all three of the composers mentioned wrote music that didn’t fit the designs, because composers never fit comfortably into their own ‘period.’

Composers before this time can loosely be called ‘Baroque’ composers. The greatest of these is J S Bach, although in his own day he wasn’t nearly as widely acknowledged as a genius as he is now. His own sons wrote ‘baroque’ music, but also crossed over into the classical period.

After Beethoven, we have a period through the 19th century which, again roughly, is called the Romantic period. Beethoven himself, in his last works, was writing music that could fit into this category, although we regard him primarily as a classical composer.

The Romantic period covers a wide range of composers: Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn, to name just a few. But there were composers writing Romantic music – of sorts – right into the 20th century, even though it’s primarily a 19th century classification.

And then there was so-called ‘modern’ music, which is a misnomer if ever there was one, since all music is modern to the people who hear it around the time it was composed. Modern music encompasses practically anything and everything: from the atonal music of Schoenberg to the very accessible music of Benjamin Britten, from Stravinsky’s wide-ranging styles to Boulez’s almost incomprehensible jottings.

If ever an age proved that it’s almost impossible to classify music, it was the 20th century, in which we’ve gone back and forth between music that people hardly listen to because of its difficulty to music that everyone wants to hear again and again.

And who knows what we can call the current period? Hardly ‘postmodern.’

The definition of ‘serious’ music is a difficulty. To call it all ‘classical’ music is plainly wrong. Many radio stations and concert halls now define it broadly as ‘fine’ music, but this isn’t very helpful as a definition.

Equally ‘serious’ music makes it sound as though you wouldn’t want to listen to it when you were feeling happy, or when you wanted to be uplifted. Yet enormous amounts of so-called ‘serious’ music is very uplifting.

And if we call it ‘serious’ does that make all other kinds of music ‘unserious?’ Of course not.

Our problem is that we haven’t really found the right word, a word that’s broad enough and yet gives real definition. Maybe there needs to be a world-wide contest. Or maybe we need to stop trying and just enjoy it all!