Caught In The Whirlwind
Archive for August 24, 2006
Black Holes and Revelations
02096 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Muse - Black Holes and Revalations
I just picked up Muse’s new album (well not really new at this point exactly) the other day and got a chance to listen to it a few times.
If you’re not familiar with Muse or how they sound, you’re probably going to want to click the image there over to the Amazon page and check out some samples, because I really can’t describe them. Not that I’m good at describing music anyway, but this is one of those times where that’s epically true. The word “Different” come to mind, really. Like Radiohead crossed with some Queen thrown in. Which is a really bad comparison, but it’s all I got. Listen for yourself!
Anyway, I got turned onto the band by the members of the mikeportnoy.com forums, with Absolution, so I’m not an old school fan by any means. This also usually isn’t the kind of stuff I generally listen to (things with a cleaner production, for example)
One of the main things that the band seemed to want to do with this album is to branch out and experiment with some different sounds. Heavier rock, lighter balads, a little electronica thrown in there with “Supermassive Black Hole”, etc.The last one is the only track where the influence is very obvious and somewhat overbearing. If you only hear “Supermassive Black Hole” before purchasing, know that the rest of the CD is more in the Muse style.
My initial impressions of this CD are very positive. I like all the different angles they take on their base sound and don’t seem afraid to branch out a bit into other genres. My only complaint, if you can call it that is that the vocals on a lot of the tracks seem to kinda run together. Matthew Bellamy‘s a very technical singer with a lot of inflection and pitch changes (and all that good stuff) in his vocals, but it seems he can get in a rut at times which makes the vocal lines on every song sound pretty similar. It’s just a minor criticism though and doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the album. Overall, I like it more than Absolution.
Favorite tracks include “Starlight” which is a more straight ahead pop type song and “Assassin” which is probably the heaviest song on the CD. “Knights of Cydonia” also rocks. Hard.
QotD: I’m Such A Nerd Because…
0What’s the nerdiest thing about you?
Ok, first of all…I’m a geek. Not a nerd. There’s a slight difference. Geeks are nerds with social skills and no pocket protectors. You can probably pick a nerd out of a crowd, but a geek is a little harder to spot. I get a little touchy about the difference 
Home Penguins
Anyway, to answer the question, I’m really not sure. I do computer programming in my spare time for fun. That’s probably it right there. I enjoy figuring out how to solve a problem and seeing what I make actually work. That’s my only real useful like hobby I guess. The rest involves just playing video games and other time wasting things. I’m one of those people who learns a new programming language just for the heck of it.I also have a stuffed penguin collection. Tux the Linux penguin features promiently in there, but I do have another penguin that I picked up at the zoo (The friends I was with gave me some very odd looks after that one). That might be runner up on the geek-o-meter.
Work Penguin
There’s nothing wrong with collecting stuffed penguins! Don’t look at me like that! I also have one of the Serta Counting Sheep that I got from my parents for Christmas a couple years ago after saying “I want a sheep!” a couple times when the commercial was on.
I also have a couple of the Neopet (quit looking at me like that again!) dragon type things from when McDonalds was doing their Neopet happy meal toy thing. My sister worked there at the time, so she was able to swipe a couple for me
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