Moroni's Review of "Rock of Ages"

It was Father's Day, and, after a kind of hard week, I was ready for some lighter fare.  So when the girls told me that they would take me to a movie, I picked "Rock of Ages".

I didn't regret it.

The movie is cheesy.  But it is funny - sometimes unintentionally so.  All in all, it is great fun.

It seems that "Glee" has changed the landscape of our entertainment culture, making a musical like "Rock of Ages" possible.  All of the songs are big-hair anthems that I grew up with in the 1980s, and I couldn't help but finding myself singing along.

Who cares about the story when you have got great music like this?  Based on a Broadway play, the story tells the story of two young aspiring musicians - Drew Boley (played by Diego Boneta) and Sherrie Christian (played by the annoying Julianne Hough) - who move to Los Angeles in a 1980s that barely resembles the '80s I knew and grew up in.  They both meet at a rock club on the Sunset Strip called the Bourbon Club, owned by two rockers played by Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin (both of whom stole the show).

The story is centered around the final show of Arsenal, an imaginary rock band headed by Tom Cruise as the Axl Rose-esque Stacee Jaxx.  Cruise's performance is beautifully incoherent.  (All my wife Temple could notice was Jaxx's abs.  LOL)  There is a fiendish plot by Jaxx's sleazy manager (in a brilliant performance by Paul Giamatti) to take all of the proceeds for himself, and the mayor's wife (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) who believes that rock and roll is Satan's music and is bound and determined to clean up the Strip and close down the club.

Every other tune is a rock classic from the '80s, and the characters break into song every couple of minutes. However, to me, having grown up in the '80s, it seemed a bit incongruous.  When did headbangers ever belt out "We Built This City" with passion?  The rockers I knew would have puked at the thought.  And the story takes place in 1987.  Which rocker was into Foreigner by then?

There were a couple of cool things.  I fought back waves of nostalgia when one of the scenes took place in Tower Records, one of my inner sanctums as a youth.  Rather than paying attention to the movie, I looked at the vinyl collection in the background.  Some set designer placed such gems as Christian Death and Killing Joke in the background.

The other fun part of the movie were the mash-ups.  Rarely was an '80s anthem sung by itself.  It was brilliantly combined with another classic.  "Juke Box Hero" with "I Love Rock 'N' Roll".  "We Built This City" with "We're Not Gonna Take It".

And the best part of the whole movie - a duet between Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin singing "Can't Fight This Feeling".

This is a movie that laughs at itself.  Hence, it is fun.  My wives and I loved it.  A few days later, my wife Temple bought the soundtrack.

Moroni's Review of Silversun Pickup's "Neck of the Woods"

I am always on  the quest for the album that grabs me.  Yes, most of the time I buy an album, I will really like three songs off of it, but not the rest.  If the it is really good, I might like five songs off of an album. But the experience of liking every single song off of an album is a rare thing for me.  So rare, that it is like a religious experience for me.  What I do is listen to such an album over and over again, until it finally starts to wear off of me.  But while it is in my mind - and on my phone - it is a faithful relationship from which I do not stray.

Every time I buy an album, I am hoping for this experience.  But it rarely occurs.  The albums that are like this are precious jewels that come along every so often.  Pixies' "Doolittle", Heather Nova's "Oyster", Coldplay's "X&Y", Muse's "Absolution", Modest Mouse's "Good News For People Who Love Bad News", Blue October's "Foiled", My Chemical Romance's "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge", and Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album.  These are a few of those special albums for me.  Every now and then, a band will do it a second time for me - like Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" and Avenged Sevenfold's "Nightmare".  But that doesn't happen so often.  I always hope a band will capture the muse again for their next attempt, but they seldom do.

At the end of 2009, I was remodeling a hotel in Columbia, South Carolina.  I woke up at 3AM with insomnia and turned on the TV.  At this ungodly hour, MTV will actually play musical videos.  There was a band from L.A. that I had never heard of - Silversun Pickups.  The video was for their song "Lazy Eye".  It was noisy like a Sonic Youth song, but it was catchy like the Pixies.  I liked it instantly and downloaded the one song the next morning.

A couple of months later, I heard that they were up for Best New Artist at the Grammy's (which they didn't get).  I decided to do some further investigating.  I downloaded their album "Swoon".  The first song was a catchy rock jangle, and it was okay.  But then the song fades out into a swirling texture of sound as the "The Royal We" started.  "What's this?" I thought with alarm.  By the time the song ended, I was hooked.  The song moved me.  Every single song was like that.  And the whole album rotated for months in my car's CD player.

Instantly, Silversun Pickups was inducted to the handful of bands that I call my favorite.

Last year, I heard that they were working on their third album.  "Can they do it again?" I wondered.  I was doubtful, because that kind of creativity rarely stays with artists.  At the end of 2011, they released a three-song EP called "Seasick".  It was a hint of the album - very good.  I listened to those three songs over and over (until the wives got sick of hearing them.)

A couple of days ago, I was speaking to a friend and told her that I had to wait until my next payday to download Silversun Pickup's new album "Neck of the Woods".  She surprised me by buying me a download.  (Thanks, Becca!!)  So this morning, I downloaded it.  I struggled with it for a while, because I needed a program that could unzip it.  I finally found one, and I got my first listen.

So how is it?  Let me put it this way - the day is not even over, and I have listened to this album four times already.  This album is one of those rarities that I spoke of.  There is not a single bad song on it.  From the opening shimmer of sound on "Skin Graph" to flowery "Bloody Mary" to the electronic pulse of "The Pit", there is not a boring moment on this album.  My personal favorites are "Make Believe" and "Gun-Shy Sunshine".

This album is swirly and hard and haunting all at once.  There is a gritty, somber mood that permeates this whole album, and it definitely smells of teen angst.  Brian Aubert's singing style is an acquired taste.  At first, I didn't like it.  But it grew on me.  And all  the music is in good form - driving basslines and percussion, and the keyboards add great texture to the music.  Yes, they take their cue cards from My Bloody Valentine and Elliott Smith.  But this album assures them a place in the hall of "my favorite bands".  I would recognize this album to everyone.  Well, not everyone.  Not my mother.  Not my father-in-law.  But anyone who likes original rock and roll.

Moroni's Review of Neon Trees' "Picture Show"

What do you say about a band from the town where I was born - Provo, Utah?  And what do you say about a band that is all Mormon, like me?

Well, first of all, Utah has always had an unhealthy obsession with the '80s.  At first, it was because lack of things like internet as well as the isolation of its majestic mountains keeping the latest trends and fashions from entering Utah's fat valleys.  It always seemed to me that Utah was always behind the times by about three years.  Even though I was born in Utah, I was mostly raised in Arizona - which, someone pointed out to me, is not exactly a cultural mecca.  But we do somewhat bask in the distant lights of L.A.

In 1990, when I moved back to Salt Lake City to go to college, '80s fixtures like Depeche Mode and the Cure were all the rage, even though I had already outgrown that years ago.  In a way, the '80s never went out of style in Utah.

Of course, Utah is not so provincial anymore.  Not only has it enjoyed one of the largest economic booms in the last ten years, along with a growing computer industry, but it has produced some pretty cool bands - like the Used and Neon Trees.

Yes, Neon Trees is a very cool band.  They were discovered in 2008 by the Killers (and Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers is also a Mormon).  That said, this is a band that I have wanted to get into  - but just can't.  I have to admit - in 2010, when I started hearing the hype about this band, I downloaded their first album "Habits" (along with its overplayed hit "Animal") as soon as it came out, but it was an entire year before I listened to the whole album.  I just could not get into it.  It wasn't bad.  It just didn't grab me.

And I feel the same way about their sophmore effort, "Picture Show".  (I just love saying the word "sophmore".)  It is catchy.  It is all glittery.  But it lacks substance.

My whole '80's diatribe is about this - just about every song by Neon Trees has an undeniable '80s vibe.  Neon Trees does not only have an influence, sometimes it is just a plain rip-off.  "Moving in the Dark" could be Tears For Fears.  (And is it me, or does the opening verse sound just like Gaga's "Born This Way"?)  "Mad Love" is a really, really, really, really (to quote the song) great song, but it sounds JUST LIKE older New Order.  And "Trust" sounds frighteningly similar to "Everything Counts" by Depeche Mode.

There are some excellent gems on this album - "Teenage Sounds" rocks with a new wave splendor.  "Lessons In Love" and "Close to You" have hooks galore.  My favorite songs are "Hooray For Hollywood" and "I Am the D.J."

The main single is "Everbody Talks", which - not only sounds exactly like "Animal" - but it is so overplayed that I can't stand hearing it anymore.  One funny thing about this song - my three year-old Avery laughs really hard every time he hears the guy clear his throat at the beginning of the song.  It doesn't matter how many time he hears it, he laughs.

So this is an okay album.  It is catchy - even though Neon Trees sounds just like Anberlin, a band I really respect.  But it is unlikely this album will undergo heavy rotation in my car, on my phone - anywhere.

STAND BY TOMORROW FOR MY REVIEW OF THE NEW ALBUM BY SILVERSUN PICKUPS, WHICH I AM DOWNLOADING AT 12:01AM TOMORROW - SOOOO EXCITED!!!

Dubstep Summer

For the past four years, I have worked every summer with my brother-in-law, who is an airbrush artist.  He airbrushes t-shirts and is an amazing artist.  We travel all over the western states from fair to fair, camp in tents and live this wonderful bohemian life all summer.  His art usually appeals to the urban, hip hop crowd, and so most of our business takes place at night, the same crowd that comes for the carnival.

We learned early on that music was an essential part of our booth.  When we played music, we noticed that we attracted more people to the booth.  We bought a cheap little boom box, and since I am the music lover, I provided the tunes.  But I played music according to my tastes.  I learned really quick that this wasn't going to work.  One day, my selection of Serge Gainsbourg was snickered at by a teen girl.  I was going to have to cater to the masses.

The second year out, we started experimenting.  We discovered that some types of music attracted people, and some types of music drove people away.  Heavy metal, punk and alternative music repelled people.  Country music was neutral.  It didn't repel, but it really didn't draw people either.  Hip hop attracted people.  Techno attracted people.  And oddly enough, the Ramones drew people.

One of the problems is that - if your music is limited - you get sick of your music really fast.  You  have to listen to it all day, every day for weeks.  So I am always trying to improve my playlist.

Last spring (April, 2011), I was downloading music to prepare for the upcoming fair circuit.  Most of it was hip hop.  I use whatever means available to scour for music.  Browsing, but mostly taking suggestions from Facebook friends.

One of my friends (Martha from Chicago) posted a link.  It was to an artist called Skrillex, and her commentary was "Dubstep f****d my mind."  The track was named "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites".  I had never heard of dubstep, but I listened to the song.  My mind was totally blown.  This was electronic music for deejays.  It was so random, and there were so many changes in the song that one could barely keep up with it.  I was hooked.  I downloaded the song (along with a Skrillex remix of a Black Eyed Peas song) and added it to my playlist.

I am no stranger to electronic music.  While I was an exchange student in Belgium in 1988, I was introduced to the rave scene - before it was called rave.  Acid House.  New Beat.  Techno.  I brought this music back with me, and by 1989, all of the underground clubs were pumping this music.  I was totally into it.  We were clubbing four nights a week - all so that we could listen to the music.  I even wore the smiley face buttons.  I was a regular denizen at all of the raves in Phoenix.

I do believe that it was DeLaSoul that once said (rapped), "Everyone wants to be a deejay."  I was no exception.  I had no equipment, but I dubbed some very good mix tapes.  I had a huge vinyl collection.  I even deejayed a couple of parties.  My dream was to open a club.  I even had my eye on an old warehouse that would make a great club.  In 1990, I moved to Utah and auditioned as a deejay at Club DV8.  House music had not quite made it to Utah.  I didn't get the gig.

So 21 years later, I discover dubstep, and it has all of the electronic magic that acid house once had.  I found myself in a pickup truck, hauling airbrush equipment, on my way up north to start our fair circuit.  I put a CD in for my brother-in-law to show him my playlist.  He listened to Skrillex for the first time, and he - like me - was totally blown away.

Our first gig was a summer festival in Utah.  I only had two Skrillex songs in my repertoire, but I had a tremendous response from them.  Tremendous!  "Is that dubstep?!"  "Is that Skrillex?!"  The sounds drew crowds to our booth like none other.  I went home that night and downloaded the whole Skrillex catalog.  Plus, people would come up to me randomly and make suggestions of other dubstep artists - deadmau5, Nero, Bassnectar, Datsik, Mt. Eden Dubstep, Notixx, etc.  I was downloading music every night, updating my playlist.

By the end of June, we had the best booth in any show we went to - bright lights, a colorful display, my brother-in-law's mad airbrush skills, and the "sickest" music blaring out into the night.  Nobody else had a booth like ours.  We got praise every night - not just on the art, but on the music selection.  My brother-in-law was introducing me as his deejay.

What we didn't know was that we had timed this just right - the beginning of summer of 2011 was the beginning of the dubstep explosion in the United States.  And I was fulfilling my dream of being a deejay - at 41 years-old.  I was making sounds that were drawing in and amazing people.  It wasn't uncommon to have people start dancing in front of our booth.

At first, I was just using my phone connected to a speaker.  By July, in Wyoming, I was deejaying live from my laptop.

By the end of the summer, the dubstep craze was dying down.  And this is how you could tell - at the beginning of the summer, in June, the people that were coming to us and talking about our music were all college students.  By the end of the summer, by September, it was little kids who were asking, "Is this dubstep?"

But we caught it when it was just starting out, and that was exciting.  I don't think I will be going on the fair circuit this summer due to health issues.  (I wish I was.  I love the mad bohemian lifestyle.)  But I am certain that many booths will be blaring dubstep in the summer of 2012.  But we were the first.  We were innovators.  And  yes, I am saying that with a little pride.

So people asked me, "What did you do this summer?"

And I responded, "I deejayed hot music for thousands of people every day all summer.  What did you do?"

Moroni's Review of Sleigh Bell's "Reign of Terror"

I have a theory - nostalgia comes in waves about every twenty years to the point that it influences pop culture.  For instance, in the '70s, we had "Happy Days", remembering the '60s.  In the '80s, we had "The Wonder Years", looking back to the '60s.  In  the '90s, we had "That 70s Show", etc.

We love decade before the last one.  Conversely, we loathe the previous decade.  Growing up in the '80s, I hated that I used to wear bell bottoms in the '70s, but people started wearing them again in the late '90s.  (Not me.)

This nostalgia results in bands that sound like flashbacks to that time period.

As a teen in the late '80s, I started to take an interest in music from the '60s.  Not only was I wearing tie-dyes, but the music of the decade before I was born started to interest me.  Moreover, the bands of my teen years sounded like throwbacks to the '60s.  I'm not talking the Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson crap that was prevalent on the radio back then - I'm talking about the underground music scene.

R.E.M. sounded like the Byrds.  The Smiths definitely took their cue from those early days.  The Jesus & Mary Chain, the Stone Roses, the Primitives - most of these bands of the '80s were heavily influenced and used the distorted guitars and vocals usually associated with the psychedelic rock of the '60s like the Shangri-Las or the Mamas and the Papas.

Of course, they made the sound their own - with a modern twist, and by the '90s, it was a sub-genre of its own.  Bands like My Bloody Valentine and Lush had the swirling guitars of '60s rock (and an influence provided by Cocteau Twins, my favorite band, as well.)  The critics labeled this sub-genre "shoegazing", because the musicians usually played subdued and moody sets typified by the artists gazing down at their shoes while they played, their hair hanging in their faces.

When I look for new music, I will usually browse through mp3 sites.  I came across the band Sleigh Bells, but I didn't even consider listening to it because of the name.  It sounded too festive, too Christmasy.  The next day, however, my brother posted a link to one of Sleigh Bells videos on Facebook, and I was hooked.  (Plus their singer is hot.)  I downloaded their album "Reign of Terror".

When I listened to it, the first thing I did was think, "This sounds just like Lush."  The dreamy vocals and the watery guitars.  But I can look past that.  From everything that I have written above, I LIKE when artists pay homage to earlier eras.  I loved it when my favorite bands in the '80s sounded like bands from the '60s.  It allowed me to imagine that I lived in the '60s.  And I love that all of the good bands today sound like bands that I liked in the '80s.  It gives me the illusion that my tastes are still relevant.

The first track - "True Shred Guitar" - truly sucks.  The music is played over the noise of a cheering stadium with Alexis Krauss, the vocalist, shouting at the audience.  Then they launch into this faux heavy metal episode that is grating.  Not a good way to start an album.

By the second track (which is called "Born To Lose") I was hooked - the distorted guitars.  After that, there is not a bad song on the album.  My favorites are "Crush" and "End of the Line".  "Comeback Kid" is a great first single for the album.  "Leader of the Pack" almost seems like an homage to the Shangri-Las, and I say this because Krauss sings like she belongs in that group.  "Demons" is a much better attempt at heavy metal.  "Road to Hell" and "You Lost Me" are beautifully mellow and discordant.  The album closes out with the dreamy "D.O.A."

I really don't know much about Sleigh Bells as a band.  But I am grateful for the much-needed trip down memory lane.  I would definitely recommend this album.

Moroni's Review of Gotye's "Making Mirrors"

My friend Tyler sent me a link yesterday to the video for Gotye's "Someone That I Used To Know", and he gave me the idea for doing a review of the album.

For me, it is a rare thing - and a pleasant one - to find an song that gets under your skin and no amount of scratching will get it out. You have it on replay on your music player, in your car, in your head when you wake up - over and over and over until you get sick of it. It is even better - and less common - to find an album like that.

Gotye's single "Someone That I Used to Know" is such a song. Sadly, the whole album - "Making Mirrors" - is not quite as invasive.

Last month, I was browsing Amazon, and the top download was by Australian artist Gotye (aka Walter de Backer). I got curious as to why this song would be the top song, so I gave it a listen. Then I went over to YouTube and watched the video, which was a modern art masterpiece. (My family knows of this video as the one with "the guy with the big mouth".)

I loved the song immediately. It is subtle - all of the instruments played softly, accented by a xylophone (which my ten year-old daughter says sounds like a cat). When his strong voice crashes in the chorus, I was hooked. The song is offset by the wonderful voice of Kiwi artist, Kimbra. (My wife Martha loves her voice, and makes sure that she says so EVERY TIME the song plays.) The song finishes out the emotive layering of both Gotye's and Kimbra's voices.

I played this song over and over and over for about three weeks. This song and I - we had an intense love affair. The song was ubiquitous. Everyone was posting it on Facebook afterwards. I guess it has already been a #1 hit in several countries. Other artists - like Walk Off the Earth and Ingrid Michaelson - have done covers of this song. But, as my wife Temple pointed out, none of them have the emotion of the original song by Gotye.

This song was so good that I downloaded the whole album, "Making Mirrors". Sadly, the whole album is not as good as the one song. It does have it's shining moments, but none of them grab you the way the first single does.

The first time Temple listened to Gotye, she immediately compared him to Sting. (Comparisons are inevitable.) I think that his music sounds more like Tears For Fears. There are some bland '80s-style anthems found on "In Your Light" and "Save Me".

The album has a few light, dreamy pieces on the title track of "Making Mirrors", "Smoke and Mirrors", "Giving Me a Chance", and "Bronte".

It also has an annoying Motown-inspired song called "I Feel Better". (I can't stand Motown.) But this is redeemed by the rocking "Easy Way Out", the catchy "Eyes Wide Open, and the robotic reggae in "State of the Art". (This last song has AutoTune, but we will forgive Gotye, because he has already proved that he has a great singing voice.)

So the album is pretty good. But "Someone That I Used to Know" is the jewel on this album. No other song seizes you like this one. Once you listen to this song, you will know that it has "Gotye"... ahem...

A Pain in the Balls - My Love Affair With Cocteau Twins

Since my favorite band of all time is Cocteau Twins, it is only fit that I talk about them in my first post.

If you haven't heard of them, I would advise checking them out. They started out in the early '80s in Scotland as a gothic band. Then they evolved into something that could not be defined or classified. Their most distinguishing point was their vocalist - Elizabeth Fraser. She rarely sang in words, but rather non-phonetic sounds. And if she did sing actual words - good luck in trying to make sense of them. Her vocals would flit and flutter like a bird on a wing. For me, what always set Cocteau Twins apart was the guitar played by Robin Guthrie. His music would swirl and eddy like liquid, the guitar never sounding like an actual guitar.

Their music was ambient, ethereal and magical. I loved it from the first time I heard it (back in 1985). From that point on, I devoted my time and hard-earned money to collecting their back catalog.

The problem with this - Cocteau Twins were featured on the elite British record label - 4AD. And I was a teen boy growing up in the small, desert town of Casa Grande, Arizona. And this was in the days before internet. Yes, sure, their were record stores in more urban areas like Stinkweeds or Zia Records in the Phoenix area that carried alternative records. But those were an hour away, and I didn't have a driver's license.

My solution was J.P.'s. This was the only record store in Casa Grande, and J.P. soon came to know me as the kid who only ordered import records. I got to know his thick catalogs by heart, and little by little, as I saved enough money, I ordered every EP or album put out by Cocteau Twins since 1981 - on vinyl, of course.

I was very excited at the end of the summer of 1988. I had just graduated high school and spent time in Belgium as an exchange student. I had just started classes at the local community college. Cocteau Twins was coming out with a new album, and it was their first record to be marketed by a major label.

It was still going to be hard to get this in a small town, so I made sure I ordered the new album on cassette from J.P. When it arrived, he called my house, and I set out on a hot summer day to pick it up.

J.P.'s was in the mall all the way across town. It was a hot day, so I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I carried my trusty walkman with me, and walked a few miles to the record store to pick it up.

My heart was beating with anticipation as I unwrapped my new copy of Cocteau Twins' "Blue Bell Knoll". I popped it into the walkman and pressed play. The first dulcid sounds started... I walked out of the store, listening intently. I stepped out into the hot sun and stepped off of the curb onto the parking lot.

As I stepped off of the curb, my tighty-whities got caught on one of my testicles and twisted. A pain that no one should ever experience radiated through my whole nether-regions.

I stood there in public, unraveling this killer wedgie within my shorts and waited for the pain to subside. When I was okay and coherent, I resumed my walk towards home, enjoying the new Cocteau Twins album.

For some reason, I never forgot this episode. I never forgot that my first experience hearing the new Cocteau Twins album was marred by excruciating pain in my nutsack.

I was devestated when Cocteau Twins broke up in 1998.

In the year 2000, they came out with a greatest hits collection called "Stars & Topsoil". I was using CDs by then. When I bought the CD, I read the liner notes written by Alan Warner. There was a peculiar line:

"I remember I missed Blue Bell Knolls for ages. What was the pain the balls again? Oh yes, I was mucking around in Spain and none the wiser for it..."

I had chills go up and down my spine (and other places) when he talked about "Blue Bell Knolls" and "pain in the balls". Was this some sort of universal experience? Anima mundi? Did anyone else experience pain in the balls when they listened to this album? Should the album have been called "Blue Balls Knoll"?

I look forward to the day when Cocteau Twins reunites and makes another album. But rest assured - when they do, I will be wearing protection. A cup... something...