http://www.yam-mag.com/features/music- features/the-exogenesis-of- the-matrix-according- to-muse/ May 25, 2013

The Exogenesis of the Matrix According to Muse//

Adrienne Lew

posted Tuesday, November 1st, 2011by Adrienne Lew | Comments (2)

So, what ’s next for Muse af ter the band snatched the Best Rock Album t it le at the 2010 GrammyAwards?

That ’s probably what all Muse fans — die-hard fans from the pre-Showbiz era and newcomersfrom the Twilight craze alike — are dying to know.

Some say The Resistance is a huge disappointment because it marks the band’s deliberategesture to go mainstream with all the pop-rock and electronic/dance elements infused throughout;others maintain that the Exogenesis Symphony t rilogy therein is a major accomplishment for thisprototypical prog rock band.

I am no prophet myself — nor do I have a crystal ball that could forecast the future. That doesn’tmean the band has not dropped us a hint as to what their upcoming album might sound like. Infact , based on their t rack record, a lot could be seen from their previous albums’ themes and themore recent B-side tracks.

What about a lit t le predict ion?

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http://www.yam-mag.com/reviews/music- reviews/muse- the-2nd- law/ May 25, 2013

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Adrienne Lew

Muse – The 2nd Law//

posted Friday, September 28th, 2012by Adrienne Lew | Comments (1)

Release Date: October 1, 2012Label: Warner Bros. Music

Tracklist:

1. Supremacy

2. Madness [MV]

3. Panic Stat ion

4. Prelude

5. Survival [MV]

6. Follow Me

7. Animals

8. Explorers

9. Big Freeze

10. Save Me

11. Liquid State

12. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable [MV]

13. The 2nd Law: Isolated System [MV]

Ever imagined what a soundtrack album to George Orwell’s Animal Farm X 1984 might soundlike? No? Fortunately, we have Muse — and their most controversial album thus far, The 2nd Law.

The Resistance turned out to be fut ile, and now the “universe” (in a metaphorical sense) hasfallen into the hands of a totalitarian power (which could also be interpreted metaphorically). Assuch, the t rio has reached “the point of no return” — the only hope of Survival is to get up and f ightback…

The Resistance is fut ile… The 2nd Law rules!

This statement could take many direct ions, depending on how much you like the album. It worksfor me, though. I especially love that instead of t rying to outsmart everyone, Muse has surprised usall by adopt ing a “Surrendered — now what?” theme.

This also clears the clouds as to why Survival would sound so “overcooked,” more like a theme for

The Hunger Games rather than the London Olympics. I actually have a change of heart af terlistening to the whole album [1]. Survival, when put into context as part of The 2nd Law is NOTreally overcooked. How unfortunate it was taken out of context as the Olympics theme. Whoevermade that decision: Shame on you. You have misled everyone into not giving it the just ice itdeserved.

Now, the music.

As Dom (drums) put it in an interview with NME Magazine [1], the opening track Supremacy istotally taken from a James Bond movie. Sounding a bit like Dead Star [1] at f irst with the heavyguitar rif fs and drum beats, it bears resemblance to the band’s prototypical “alternative,” prog rocksound in the early days. If you’re a die-hard fan from their Origin of Symmetry era, you wouldlikely love this t rack. I also suspect that it actually cont inues where The Exogenesis Symphonyf rom The Resistance lef t of f , given the use of strings and the orchestral t ransit ions therein.

Ma-Ma-Ma… Madness — what an ingenuous track. While some may object to this because itreminds them of Depeche Mode and Queen, you can’t possibly disagree that “ma ma ma…” is nowstuck in your head to haunt you for some while. And it has more use than that. From a musictheory perspect ive, it establishes the pulse for the ent ire song — not to ment ion how clever Mattis in stretching the “ma ma ma” throughout — closing with “ma ma ma… Madness.” This posits thewhole song as one big state of madness, beginning with memories that “I” (Matt) can’t get “out ofmy mind.”

Follow Me is a piece of candy for those who love their Black Holes and Revelat ions. It resemblesthe icy-cold Endlessly with its electronic beats on the synthesizer. As it develops, the songevolves into a more mainstream (though st ill electronic) sound like that of Pet Shop Boys.While Explorers has the innocent feel of Soldiers’ Poem, which is amplif ied by the crystal-soundingbeats of the vibraphones and piano. This almost fairytale-like tune plays the role of neutralizingthe mount ing intensity that has been built up to this point . And this explains why it is placed inbetween the f irst and second halves of the album.

Panic Station sent me… to a state of panic. Upon the f irst few bars, I was struck by how similar it isto the Bee Gee‘s Staying Alive. Not a… big problem — unt il Matt ’s vocals join in. While he deservessome credit for t rying out a personal new style with the explicit “F words” here and there,something is just not quite right with his tone. He got the rhythm, the notes, but unfortunately notthe feel nor the spirit of this funky rock t rack.

With Save Me and Liquid State, we get to hear, for the f irst t ime, Chris (bass) doing the vocals forhis own songs. Not bad for a “first-timer” — just that his voice pales in comparison with Matt ’sfamously sexy and charismat ic vocals.

The 2nd Law: Unsustainable. This “baby” is a hybrid: the f irst half is a lit t le disastrous, soundingcliche and dated like a soundtrack for a B-list Hollywood thriller… from the 1990s. But then thelat ter half sounds awesome with Matt ’s signature “experimental” guitar rif fs. They also serve tocreate the kind of deadly but irresist ible gravity as that in Supermassive Black Hole [1].

Overall, this album sounds a lot more daring and experimental than The Resistance – a pleasantsurprise indeed. It is not another Black Holes and Revelat ions, but then… I wouldn’t want to seeMuse gett ing complacent with a wildly successful album from some six years ago either.

Apparent ly, this is what ’s going on in Matt ’s mind as well.

Preview on Xiami | Like it? Buy the album on Amazon

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http://www.yam-mag.com/features/music- features/muses-survival- for- the-olympics-a-gold-deserving- theme-song/ May 25, 2013

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Adrienne Lew

Muse’s Survival for the Olympics: A Gold-Deserving Theme Song …?//

posted Friday, June 29th, 2012by Adrienne Lew | Comments (8)

With the London Olympics 2012 just round the corner, Survival, a t rack f rom the Brit prog rockband Muse’s upcoming album The 2nd Law, has been selected as the of f icial theme song for theGames.

According to Matt Bellamy, guitarist , vocalist , and front man of the band, the song was writ tenwith the Olympic athletes’ total convict ion and determinat ion to win in mind.

A “prophecy” fulf illed on my part .

Not at all thrilling, though — on a personal level, at least .

First , the lyrics.

As far as I understand, the whole spirit behind the Olympic Games is supposed to be highly noble: itis not so much about the individual athlete’s desire to compete and be the ult imate champion as itis to (hopefully) cult ivate a sense of sportsmanship both in the athletes themselves and in thosewho witness their moments of glory — not to say to promote world peace and harmony within thecontext of physical sports.

Apparent ly, Muse has inf ilt rated the theme song with their own idea of the importance of personalfame and success (as in Muscle Museum, [1] for example), hoping to make it work both ways.

Unfortunately, with lyrics as such (see below), I am not too opt imist ic about it . Af ter all, howbelit t ling is it to assume that athletes of this caliber would compete for the sake of vengeance (beit within themselves or against one another) at the level of the Olympic Games?

Yes, I am prepared To stay alive I won’t forgiveVengeance is mineAnd I won’t give inBecause I choose to thriveYeah, we’re gonna win

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http://www.yam-mag.com/blog/the-great- love-of-all-brit- rock/ May 25, 2013

ht p:/ wp. ypay:m- gp:- c:o bbl :e wry:v - f i kk

Adrienne Lew

posted Thursday, February 14th, 2013by Adrienne Lew | Comments (0)

Huh?!

Isn’t ht p:/ wp. ypay:m- gp:- c:obb (Whitney Houston) not only NOT exact ly Brit ish, but (worse?), NOTeven ROCK by any possible standards?

No, it ’s not.

But my focus here is actually how the subject matter of w- l . eyrv:b- gp (Valent ine’s Day is just aroundthe corner, af ter all) has been handled lyrically by two “great” (in terms of f - f i b. wryk at least , if notmusicality) Brit bands from the ’90s:

M :2 p5yw- , :0y. w:1 - bbrar- , :3m- gp:Aa:d- wpgpwn:3LsMsn:Tu:F 5ap

h4 rbr| t y. Vampire romance. Robert Patt inson.

Wildly successful as the movie/saga series may be, they are NOT the reasons I have in mind thatqualify Mpi yw- e: y. w:2 - bbrar- e for the grand t it le as one of the greatest Brit rock ballads. Rather, thereare other grandeurs that do the trick:

:o C - 5, y:. , ( :) pHyt :- c:?m- gp! :r, :yt p:muwrf a

While this song can’t possibly beat obb:5 - i :Mpp, :0a:m- gp:1The Beat les) in terms of the number oft imes that the word “b- gp” shows up in the lyrics (32 for obb:5 - i :Mpp, :0a:m- gp, 6 for:Mpi yw- e: y. w2 - bbrar- e), it arguably appears to do so through a variety of literary devices used.

Had Matt Bellamy not gone down the rocker route, he might as well t ry his luck at the theater andbecome a playwright (let ’s meet the next … William Shakespeare?!). Seriously though, who elsewould use such big words/expressions as , - vywrepa, , raarf . yp, - e:. :l raar- e3:ae- Acb. dpa:re:. e- vp. e … to describe the everlast ing nature of love in a rock ballad? And yet within the contextcharted out by the analogy of “epi yw- e:ay. w:v- bbrar- e” (which actually makes a subt le reference backto the concept of eb. f i :I - bpa:. , ( :v pgpb. yr- , a (2006)), all these fancy words/expressions nowseem just if iable.

So:Mpi yw- e: y. w:2 - bbrar- e champions our grand t it le by the quant ity and quality of “b- gp” therein.What about the one by Oasis?

L :’ - , ( pw4 . bb:3MWWNn:Tu:O. ara

Something is not quite right .

How come a rock “n. bb. , ” in which the word “b- gp” doesn’t appear even once could be crowned as adeserving candidate?

But then this is exact ly my point — a love ballad without the word “b- gp” in it whatsoever.

Instead, we have the subt ly romant ic L - e, pwA. bb in its place.

i f pwa- erv. L - e, pwA. bbs:2 t . l f . Tep: i f pwe- g. .

Oasis sure has a vibe for words that sound great but are obscure meaning-wise.

uFv. i ap:maybeI l gybgonna be

naybI ’ ybnaonb osy bu y

The keyword here is , pcrerypbk maybe… Reason? Remember whose album has exact ly ) pcr, rypbuF . uTp as the t it le?

And l . knp, according to my trusted male f riends, means ukpa4 in most men’s vocabulary.

For a “nrT:ae- n” (what Liam Gallagher is notorious for) and a “w- vdFe:w- bb:ai f pway. w” to sing whoknows how many t imes

“I said maybef I l gybgonna beb I bay b’ I nbl nb of r’ brnb l nbr bhgynnf b og’ b l gybo I l nbrnnaybI ’ ybnaonb osy bu yb

that ra a huge deal — the deal being:

“You’re the deal in my life.”

May the force of love from Brit rock music be with you.

Part of the YAM Magazine Time Machine Blogathon: Back to the 90′s.