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MESSAGES -
THE MAXX FACTOR (RELEASED TO EARTH 31/05/13)
THE JUNE BLOG
BAND OF THE SEASON (AND POSSIBLY THE YEAR)
OF VERONA -
After this band added me on Twitter I took a look at their website. Surprisingly I was blown away by the music of this band after playing the cd
version in my car for the last month. I wanted to try to do justice to such a great album.
Of Verona are a trio based in California (like quite a visitors to this site) though Mandi Perkins is from Canada.
Firstly, they are marketed in some quarters as being like "Florence and the Machine". I don't think the comparison works for me.
I find Mandi has a warmer voice which communicates with me much better! Also Mandi is (currently at least) less witchy and to me the lyrics, whilst
dark are far more down to earth and in fact more wide ranging.
Opening track "Castles" is a great song, possibly it was too long to get airplay but it only makes sense in its full version.The lyrics intrigue me, comments about
being "naked on the floor again" ( again? how often does that happen?) and a broken bed with cobwebs. A rock orientated song with a killer chorus, but the production compresses the percussion, which makes an original sound with less percussive crunch than a traditional rock song.
"Match" makes me think of early Portishead, round about the time of"Dummy" but it is a faster piece. It doesn't need the video to be sexy. It really has
an atmosphere of (dark) passion to it. Also OV have this habit of leaving chord development hanging sometimes, this means to a muso like me, I have to work out
what the chords are, without roots in the upper harmony. I love this aspect of OV, where some harmonic structures are less clear, it makes a more forbidding
or darker atmosphere to songs. Its a feature of OV's more experimental side and it it rarely heard in modern music.
"The Enemy" is a favourite of many OV fans and I can see why. It uses that chord sequence beloved of many songwriters these says ( see my May Blog for more information)
It has its roots in songs like "How can I get you alone" I think. Its a more traditional ballad, though even then Mandi has such beautiful melodies on this, you forget anything
that might have been similar before.
"Dark in my Imagination" starts as a rock song but could even have industrial influences and elements. It really is a powerful track. Part of the OV themse on the album
seem to be sadness, anger, love, passion and intensity which this track certainly has. I wonder if you could meet these guys and just discuss the weather?
I have always felt the best music comes from real experiences, and genuine feelings, and I have no doubt Mandi has felt these lyrics.
"Take Me" is a faster tempo and has a heavy rock song feel and is a favourite of mine. "Centipede" has a more experimental feel leading to the title track, the "
"The White Apple" itself seems like a mini prog rock masterpiece, making me think of Porcupine Tree a very long lasting band who updated Floyds musical genre to great success
and appreciation. I could see OV trying something similar. An experimental track, with unusual structure but a brilliant combination of moods. I love this track.
About this time I was thinking, do OV have any more upbeat songs and thankfully "Unique in its Madness" comes a long. So this is indie pop really, but
the lyrics ( here and elsewhere on the album) have so much more to them than normal pop music.
"Paint the Pictures" I found made me rather teary ( even electronic musicians can cry!) its just very beautiful, slow moody music, its not often you hear an
amplified bass guitar doing a solo -
is an example of how music can truly create moods. That OV manage this with the debut self produced album is truly remarkable.
So as the album concludes with "Raining","We are not alone here" and "They will fall like Roses" I pick up a few comparisons with a band called "Icehouse"
which i loved for many years ( try and pick up "Code Blue" a truly under rate album) but have to say the music keeps its exceptional quality throughout. Yes on
occasions, I would like Mandi's voice less produced, so that she is in the room with you ( current production almost insists vocals are compressed, digitised, echoed
or whatever) and I would like the drums more pronounced sometimes. However these are tiny, tiny gripes on what is an album that inspired me to write
this review, and to say, everybody, GIVE THIS BRILLIANT BAND A LISTEN. Lovers of good music will not be disappointed. 9 out of 10
PS -
So whenever some music captures my imagination I will let you know about it but this is my recommendation for this month!
See video link below.
Website here
http://ofverona.com/Music.html
THE MAY 2013 BLOG
Why Does Most Modern Pop Music
Sound the Same?
Is it not time to drop this 4 chord malaise -
says Maxx Silver...
It first struck me about the time of "Apologise" by One Republic and Timbaland. There is a part of the song where the vocals stop, and there is just a chord sequence. I thought it sounded beautiful at the time, its a great track. But then I noticed that in some weeks, after that point in time, that every other song in the top 40 had the same chord sequence! Several years, and hundreds of songs later I realised that familiarity breeds contempt. But why do musicians use these four chords? Is it a bad thing? If you are a songwriter -
Somewhere, in the handbook of "How to be a Pop Star" it says "write a song with this chord sequence." For those wondering what I am talking about, this is the chord sequence behind classics such as "Papparazi" and by Lady Gaga "I Love the way you Lie" by Rihanna and Eminem and thousands of lesser songs. For "Papparazi" (and sorry for being a muso here) its Aflat major E Flat Major, F Minor and D flat Major.
There is a bit of variability in the concept in that a minor chord can be swapped for one of the majors. But the main qualification is that four chords are repeated again and again across a whole song, always on the first beat of the bar. Bang bang bang bang...
"Poker Face" uses the minor frst chord option. Of course when done well by Lady Gaga it works -
"Primadonna Girl". So, as with anything musical, its how you do it that counts. For example the past few singles by Dappy all use a similar chord sequence, from "Rockstar" to the "Good Intentions". This doesn't make we want to buy the album... There seems a difference between where these chords are just programmed in, for the sake of it. There is also a habit with new artists at the moment that they do exactly this, rather than choosing anything else musically!
The point is that whilst non musicians might not pick up on this musical lazyness immediately (though many do) , they will still say, that track sounds like all other pop music. If people start thinking that popular music is boring as all songs sound the same then sales will fall -
The recent hit by Bastille shows a good attempt to liven up these same chords (D maj A flat Maj Fmin Eflat major) but to me a bit of choral chanting and excellent drumming. Much better though than Nicole Scherzingers' "Boomarang" which is a retread of "Papparazi" same chords, not as good a song. And you can use the chord sequence and change the roots of the chords, thinks
Coldplay and "Paradise" for example. Its the mand "also ran" songs that use the sequence as if it is picked from a computer
programme that I can't stand ( and it probably was picked from a drop down box,knowing how things work these days.....)
There are many other songs about at the moment with this sequence, over a quarter of the current top 40. Songs coming up songs
coming down, see entries from the Script, Imagine Dragons, Fall out Boy etc etc.
"I need your love" by Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding actually shows what you can do to vary the sequence -
So why is this chord sequence used so much? Well it provides a good basis for a wide ranging melody, the resolution from major to minor and bsck resolves musical "tension", its a feel good factor in a song, that way around. Also, nobody is going to sue you for using this chord sequence, it has no ally to a particular, original tune, only to thousands of other songs. Its easy to get a computer to do it. Also there are some all time great songs that use these chords, at the risk of undermining my own arguments, but probably more than 1 in 10 for me are also ran pop, songs that you will not remember, the in one ear, out the other brigade. For every Rihanna and Eminem "Love the way you lie" there is a legion of already forgotten pop songs.
And there is another point here, its not as if these songs use four chords and then have a rest, its something used throughout the whole song. One has to ask, are these songs created by the experience and passions of the writer, who inspired by a melody or an emotion, using these chords to express a deeply held feeling from a moment of inspiration? No, its usually plucked from a manual which says "this will probably be a hit" and it is this that treats the music buying public like fools.
This is not the first time that pop music has been taken over by pretty fixed a set of chords. In the 50's and 60's the chord sequence for Rock Around the Clock was pretty much the in thing but how often do you hear that these days on new music? In the eighties, Simple Minds were one of many bands with the long first chord two ascending shorter chords scenario, which dominated the charts in the eighties ala "Alive and Kicking". But usually such progressions did not repeat unaltered for a whole song.
So, if you are reading this and thinking of writing some songs in the near future, I'm arguing that the time is over for this idea, try anything -
copyright 2013 Maxx Silver
Maxx Silver is a singer songwriter and dance DJ who writes for the forthcoming Internet Magazine E-