Captain America, The Winter Soldier review: All American Average

The multi-billion dollar cinematic universe Marvel Comics had been fashioning since the nineties has seen its fair share of hits and misses. From the brilliance of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers and the superb original Iron Man to the ill-fated Daredevil and Electra, the legendary company has witnessed dozens of its characters rise into superhero Valhalla or tumble into irrelevance. Captain America lies somewhere between the two, which is perhaps still more disappointing than the character being a complete failure on the big screen. While mildly entertaining, what the brothers Russo have created in this sequel is a distinctly uninspired and almost lazy attempt to reignite the career of a character who, in any case, was hardly one of the Marvel elite.

Assuming that everyone has already seen The First Avenger, the film bounds straight back into the chaos-ridden life of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Still having trouble readjusting to modern life having been frozen in ice for sixty years, he’s living in Washington DC and working for the ever-shady espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.   But when S.H.I.E.L.D is compromised, the all America super-soldier unites with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to expose a deadly conspiracy. The plot is handled in classic Marvel style, blazing through the actual story to leave more screen time to throw the special effects budget at in a series of the usual ludicrously explosive battles. The regular use of these sequences allows for a breakneck, sugar-rush pace which prevents you from asking “just what on earth is going on”, until the film has finished and you’ve got time to think about it. Of course, when really considered the whole picture becomes largely nonsensical, so it’s certainly an impressive achievement of pacing that this rarely becomes apparent during the movie. It’s hardly an authentic filmmaking technique, but it does at least make the scenarios plausible. After all, who’s going to buy into a Marvel film with a plot that actually makes sense?

So far, so average Marvel, but what really prevents The Winter Soldier from being one of the studio’s finer efforts is its character development: there simply isn’t any. Zero effort, cringeworthy or not, is made to flesh out any of the lead characters, creating a substantial disconnection between film and audience. When that’s coupled with a remarkably average script and cast performances which rarely rise above adequate, you’re left with a popcorn-munching indifference towards the fate of the film’s heroes and villains, rendering all efforts at tension and cliffhangers redundant. Speaking of villains raises another huge issue: the movie lacks any particularly compelling or charismatic antagonists. The Winter Soldier advertised so proudly by the tagline is given a shockingly tiny screen time and next to no lines, but that’s not even the principle problem with the figure. Aside from a momentary connection with The First Avenger, the character is brutally undeveloped, to the point that he appears more of a hired gun than the true focus of the movie.  It’s particularly disappointing for Marvel, who’ve always featured the most flamboyant and exciting villains in comics, to create such a dull and misplaced one here.

In fact, apart from being for the most part inferior, the only thing that distances The Winter Soldier from its counterparts is in its vain effort to produce a topical and intelligent subplot. Its themes of governmental spying and lack of privacy could not be more relevant with the US government’s embarrassment at the hands of Edward Snowden still at the forefront of international concerns, but this effort at politically infusing the film with a message about how much control governments should have over the lives of citizens is never fully explored, and it’s constantly reversed by the rest of the movie’s thorough lack of intelligence.

For a studio which has produced some truly standout efforts on their quest in create a big screen world as rich and interdependent as the comics, The Winter Soldier is an impressively average movie. With meagre lead performances, an exceptionally dismal storyline and fewer than average links to the other Marvel movies, this unremarkable picture is destined to reside in supermarket offers sections rather than the annals of superhero-lore.

4/10

Fargo (TV series) review: A remarkable reincarnation

Tuning into Channel 4 on Sunday evening, you might have been inclined to believe that a re-run of the 1996 classic Fargo was being shown rather than a new, high budget drama of the same name. "This is a true story", boomed the opening title card, just as it did nigh on 20 years ago in the Coen Brother's masterpiece, and indeed, Steve Buscemi, who played shifty kidnapper Carl in the film, could easily have been driving that car which crawled down a snow-drenched highway in the programme's opening shot. And while it's clear throughout this seventy minute pilot episode that homage has been paid to the movie at almost every opportunity, Fargo is by no means a copy. In fact, it's a witty, dark and intelligent piece of television which fits in perfectly with the superb first wave of post-Breaking Bad US dramas.

Altering only the year of events from the film's lonely Minnesota setting, Fargo's narrative is, in style, much the same as the original. Martin Freeman plays insurance salesman Lester Nygaard, a character almost comically alike to William H Macy's Larry all the way down to a perfectly nailed accent. Despite the similarities, Freeman's casting is a stroke of genius; the timid and tentative persona we saw so many times in the early days of Sherlock making for a sublime character development as Nygaard is pushed to the edge of sanity by a life of being bullied and undermined. His performance is complimented by that of Billy Bob Thornton, who plays the second lead role of sadistic killer Lorne Malvo. Although comparable to Peter Stormare's cold psychotic Gaear in the Coen's movie, Malvo becomes a far more interesting character even by the end of this episode, evolving into a far darker personality than a mere hired gun cliché. He perhaps represents a merging together of the two kidnappers portrayed in the film; Buscemi's articulate nature combined with Stormare's cold blooded brutality combining to form a more complete figure than ether. As for the side of the law, there's no replacing Frances McDormand's Oscar winning portraying of small town and heavily pregnant cop Marge, but Allison Tolman makes an admirable job of stepping into her shoes as the near-identical Molly. Despite the obvious and inevitable links between the characterisation of film and programme, it's likely that with another nine episodes and with such strong writing most of the cast will become individuals in their own right, as Freeman and Thornton already have.

As the original was, the episode is brilliantly scripted, paying exquisite attention to creating believable dialogue between the characters while also keeping the pace flowing and entertaining, and of course it's not without the usual twists and turns along the way. Indeed, even if you're familiar with the style employed here, these moments of sudden madness remain shocking, an effect only partially augmented by their frankly alarming level of gratuitous gore. The direction is perhaps a little more focussed on the programme's brutal violence than the more subtle Coens were, you'll notice the camera lingering a little too long over its casualties, which creates the unfortunate impression of mere pulp fiction. Fans of the film will be happy to note the lack of repetition of the movie, but in addition to the underlying recurring style in setting, characters and music, there are a number of "easter eggs" for Coen connoisseurs. While these hints are typically subtle and neatly implemented, there's one clumsy scene which so blatantly mirrors the famous moment where Buscemi and  Stormare are pulled over by a police officer on an endless snowy road as to be unfortunately predictable in its take on "what would have happened if the officer had just walked away". Still, it does at least serve to highlight the differences between Thornton's Malvo and the movie's incompetent criminal duo.

Fargo is a stellar effort, updating the Coen's brilliant picture to the present day with a new storyline and great performances while paying it's respects to the stark genius of the original. It may be a little clumsy and overeager to profess its adulation of the film, but when a programme is this clever and entertaining that's more than easy to overlook.

8/10

The top ten Arctic Monkeys songs

So after compiling a list of the 25 best Muse songs, I fancied a go at another favourite band, Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys. I managed to trim this down to ten without too much difficulty although I was forces to miss a few classics out, so without further ado, the top ten Arctic Monkeys songs.


10. R U Mine (AM, 2013)
Combining the ferocity of debut album cuts like The View From The Afternoon and I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor with the style and swagger of more developed tracks including Do I Wanna Know produced one of AM's true highlights and a riff that finally sold the band to every heavy metal magazine in the world.


9. Fluorescent Adolescent (Favourite Worst Nightmare, 2007)

A rare moment of genius in the rather samey Favourite Worst Nightmare, Fluorescent Adolescent bounces along with an infectious melody and Morrisey-esque lyrical delivery. Indeed, the song often sounds like a homage to The Smiths, with its sugar sweet tune played alongside detailed observationalist lyrics such as "flicking through a little book of sex tips, remember when the boys were all electric".

8. Secret Door (Humbug, 2009)

A song in many ways synonymous with the more mature style which stemmed from a collaboration with Queens of the Stone Age man Josh Homme on third album Humbug, Secret Door showcases the Monkeys stripped of the heavy rock riffs, yet developing a more complex, layered style supported by another infectious tune.

7. When The Sun Goes Down (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, 2006)

Among the darkest and most reality-checking singles ever to hit the UK number one spot, When The Sun Goes Down recants a dismal tale of prostitution on the streets of Sheffield told with a sly but poignant lyrical touch by Alex Turner. It's among the most intelligent tracks on the debut album, but it's still complimented by the usual suspects of a selection of brilliantly distorted riffs and an immortal shouted chorus.

6. Love Is A Laserquest (Suck It And See, 2011)

While Turner's lyrics are often dismissed as, well, a little naff, on Suck It And See the band hit almost poetic lyrical highs. Love Is A Laserquest is perhaps the album's highest point, as Turner sings a a tragic ballad of a character unable to move on from a lost love, similar in many ways to the brilliant Cornerstone. The drums and electric guitars are almost an annoyance here, as Turner's solo acoustic version does his words far more justice.

5. Mardy Bum (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, 2006)

Inspiration for the Monkeys first album was taken almost totally from personal experience, which is surely why Mardy Bum's ode to domestic arguments was so identifiable for so many people. Its summery, instantly catchy tune compliments the conflicting lyrics in a style akin to The Smiths, although the sublime guitar solo is distinctly un-Johnny Marr-ish.

4. Do I Wanna Know (AM, 2013)

A perfect fusion of riffs and melodies, Do I Wanna Know is the undisputed highlight of recent album AM no matter how much you believe that "the one everyone knows is never the best." A single jarring tune evolves into a layered, textured musical landscape in one of the band's most finey crafted pieces to date.

3. 505 (Favourite Worst Nightmare, 2007)
He may have touched on it on Mardy Bum, but 505 was Turner's first full blown love song, and it's unconventional to say the least. From twisted macabre lyrics like "I'd probably still adore you with your hands around my neck" to the way the song explodes from sensual organ chords into a hail of heavy metal in its final moments, this is hardly a classic love ballad, but it's remains a shining example of a track remaing poignant and subtle without becoming a mockery of itself.


2. Cornerstone (Humbug, 2009)
Humbug's finest moment appears in the form of Cornerstone, a tragic, sensual song revolving around the life of a man unable to move on from the supposed death of the of the one he loves. Through the shifting use of the refrain "can I call you her name", Turner paints a shocking picture as his character fails to grasp the opportunity to love again and descends into an apparent madness, and it's perfected by acoustic backing, comimg-and-going melodies and a dreamy, shifting guitar solo.


1. A Certain Romance (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, 2006)
One of the greatest guitar songs every written, A Certain Romance brings together all the elements of the greatest of Monkeys songs to create the best of them all. From slashed power chords to a tentative melody and stunning attacked guitar solo, the track merges almost every technique and inspiration that band have used to date; a feat even more impressive when it's considered that the song appears on their debut album. And with superb lyrics dissecting the rivalries between cliques, groups and genres, A Certain Romance really is a certain kind of genius.


I am truly, truly sorry that there was no space for Only Ones Who Know, Suck It And See, The View From The Afternoon, Crying Lightning and a few others, but on the whole I'm fairly pleased with the list. As ever, comment whatever feelings you have as you see fit.

The Fault In Our Stars review: Believe the hype

Disappointment is an unfortunate by-product of anticipation. Over the years, countless books and movies have failed to live up to their lofty aspirations and perished, forgotten, in musty second hand booksellers  or charity shop DVD sections. And after the remarkable successes of author John Green's short teenage novels and with a film deal in the works even before the book's publication, anticipation could not have been higher for The Fault In Our Stars. But is the book powerful enough to survive the hailstorm of hype which sent it straight to the top of The New York Times bestseller list, or is it just another predictable lesson in how best to patronise young people?

Glancing at a plot synopsis, you'd be inclined to suggest the later option. Green employs the tried and tested formula for teen drama of combining Romeo and Juliet with a serious and current issue, be that teenage pregnancy, racial prejudice or eighteen-year-old vampires with supple skin and impressively toned muscles. The Fault In Our Stars breaks no moulds by using cancer as its villain; it's social impacts having being explored across numerous novels in the medium; albeit usually without narrating from the perspective of a cancer patient. Sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster is that patient, a girl apparently on the mend after surviving a seemingly deadly tumour. After reluctantly agreeing to join a support group, Hazel meets the charismatic and inevitably attractive Augustus Waters, who's now cancer free after having his leg amputated, and the pair begin a relationship which comes to dominate the book's plot. Again, the plot appears formulaic and almost dull, you might even see the only mildly interesting thing John Green has to offer as a character who unfortunately shares his first name with the morbidly obese and chocolate infused child in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And of course, these immediate pre-perceptions collapse into nothingness the very moment you open the book.

Green's writing has a certain drug-like quality: he knows exactly how to draw a reader in. This is partially due to the superb pacing and focus of the plot, which features literally zero throwaway scenes as each page outdoes the last in developing the novel's characters and relationships. Then there's his sly confidence in writing from the perspective of others; every line of dialogue and moment of thought is believable to the letter. Mostly however, Green's addictive style stems from his grasp of the importance of character. Hazel and Augustus are two of the most memorable figures in recent literature, Augustus in particular is a strikingly charismatic individual. Rather than filling the book with endless unnecessary minor characters, Green chooses to include only a handful of people, which allows him to create deeper and more believable relationships between them in addition to morphing their personas as he chooses. While Hazel and Augustus's relationship is the main focus of the story, the friendship they share with fellow support group attendee Isaac creates a number of situations both cautiously funny and downright shocking, which lead to him being almost as fully fleshed out as the others by the conclusion. It's the relationship that Hazel shares with her mother however which is the second key theme, as the fear and difficulty of raising a child affected by a life threatening disease receives exceptionally rare attention. The plot itself is almost secondary to characterization, and Green deliberately increases the predictability of events in an effort to show that characters can still be well-crafted and intelligent within the confines of a simple storyline.

One of the wonderful things about Green's novel is that it is only a teenage story in that its central characters are teenagers; the author carries such respect for the intelligence of the intellectually maligned demographic that The Fault In Our Stars reads like it was written for adults and deals with deliberately emotionally intense themes. Despite its dark subject matter, Green's strength is in drawing almost every emotion possible from the reader in a short space of time. There's tragedy of course, and the feelings of loss, desperation and anger that stem from it, but in places the story takes truly beautiful turns, dealing explicitly with love, hope and simple, impossible happiness. It's even funny at times. In a market crowded with one dimensional stories, burying so much emotion within the pages of a book aimed at teenagers is a startling and welcome achievement.

With intense themes and genuinely unforgettable characters, The Fault In Our Stars is a rare example of anticipation being justified and even exceeded. Forget teen book of the year, this is one of the most intelligent and emotionally powerful novels we've seen past the turn of the millennium.

10/10

Shapes of Screams review: Genius in absurdity

It's hard to put your finger on exactly why Lostalone aren't regular stadium fillers by this point, the release date of their third album, Shapes of Screams. They've had the songs since their debut record, as anyone who's heard Blood Is Sharp or Love Will Eat Your Alive will testify, and there's an almost Muse-esque quality about their live performances, full of flair and showmanship. They've got an impressive list of famous fans too, having been hand picked to support bands as huge as Paramore, 30 Seconds To Mars and My Chemical Romance on sold out arena tours. Even if the Derbyshire trio never achieve the mainstream success they so blatantly deserve, they can at least be proud of Shapes of Screams, their most ambitious record to date and undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year so far.

It's clear from the very first song on Shapes of Screams that the band has undergone an impressive musical evolution since the release of their 2012 second album I'm a UFO in this City, a record which, while full of polished, finely crafted rock songs, was by no means a genre game changer. Shapes of Screams is something else however, it writes a new chapter in the rock n' roll rulebook by combining the absurd pomp of the finest 80's glam rock with more violent, hardcore elements to create something which has genuinely never been tried before. This is no more apparent than on Crusaders, the first track, which merges the distorted riffs of previous Lostalone songs such as Did You Get What You Prayed For with a synth-infused chorus complete with marching drums and pop-punk bass lines. And that's not to mention the wobbling vocal effects, lullaby inspired ending and a section which seems to musically reference as many legendary guitarists as the band could come up with, from BB King to Brian May. What's quite extraordinary is that this colossal level of experimentation isn't limited to just one song, it's consistent of the whole record. Take the synthpop melody of Mental Health, or the off beat funk metal of Apathy, or the Christian choir employed to such great effect on Requiem, this album simply has it all. Influence from May's band Queen is still more apparent here than on their previous efforts, from falsetto guitar solos to harmonised choruses which even Freddie Mercury would have been proud of, but there are elements of Muse, My Chemical Romance and just about every 80's stadium rock band ever to have existed on display too.

More than simply its massive experimentation and phenomenal ambition, the true success of Shapes of Screams is that by combining such a huge range of ideas and influences, Lostalone have managed to record an album which actually works. It would have been all too easy for the record to have become as bloated and unlistenable as so many early experimental albums, but this is never the case on Shapes of Screams. The rooting of the album in the brilliant but beaten-track songs of I'm a UFO in this City allows for the experimentation to take place without preventing the tracks from being cohesive rock songs; there are no twenty five minute epics without melody or structure and the album remains a highly ambitious piece of work without becoming a caricature or travesty.

Shapes of Screams could be the most ambitious album of the year so far, but the real beauty of the record is that it surpasses success in every one of its lofty aspirations. It's catchy, memorable and striking original, enough to give you goosepimples and force you stop whatever you're doing to give it your full attention, a rare achievement given the huge supply of generic popular music around. A true cynic might call its unapologetically epic style ridiculous, but perhaps its ridiculousness is what makes it special. Either way, I could find no way of faulting Shapes of Screams, Lostalone have set the standard for 2014, and it's going to take something quite spectacular to top it.

10/10  

Salem's Lot review: Flawed ambition with added vampires

After the unprecedented success of his terrifying and tightly-woven first novel Carrie, you'd have forgiven the young writer Stephen King for knocking out a carbon copy for his next effort. But King shocked every critic with Salem's Lot, a far longer and more complex work, albeit equally thematically black hearted and full of gore. It was a stunningly ambitious book for such an inexperienced author, and while Salem's Lot isn't always successful it remains a tense and enjoyable read almost forty years on.

Ben Mears, a moderately successful writer, returns to his childhood home of the small Maine town Salem's Lot to begin a new novel. Of course, this calm and tranquil setting is far to good to be true, as Ben realises that the town is gradually being infiltrated by vampires.
While Carrie was remarkably and arrestingly original for a debut novel, Salem's Lot treads very familiar ground indeed. Clear influence is taken from stories such as the classic Dracula, with even direct references being regularly made. It's key themes too have been well explored in the past, with its principle vision of life in an American small town having inspired countless authors before King. It even makes no attempt to distort the classic cliché of the vampires themselves; King's bloodsuckers are as ancient as Dracula or Count Oarlock; susceptible to the usual suspects of crosses, holy water and a good stake through the heart.

So what makes Salem's Lot special, more than just another Nosferatu rehash or Dracula copycat? Primarily, it's the characters. King wields an impressive grasp over a cast of dozens, and while the sheer number of people is at times to vast to keep up with, the development of the principle characters is strong enough to forgive the inevitable cut-out minors. King gives up seemingly endless pages to creating connections between the reader and characters through developing an understanding of their psychologies and histories, leading to some of the most memorable figures of King's career, particularly the tragic and unstable Mears. However, as the author's first attempt at a long novel the character development becomes too prominent, making the book extremely slow and almost tedious during the early stages. It's inconsistently paced too, with relatively little rising action before an explosive crescendo of violence in the final hundred pages or so. While King's descriptions of small town life; the playground fight; the never-ending gossip and prejudice; are superb and undoubtedly drawn from personal experience, the story simply lacks enough real action to sustain interest until the end.

It's not quite as well written as Carrie, largely due to the increased number of characters to cope with and the unfortunate pacing (particularly noticeable because of how excellent Carrie's was), but King's style is still very much intact. Particularly towards the ending, there's sublime use of tension to keep you literally on the edge of your seat and moments of shocking, almost perverse violence. It's certainly no story for the faint of heart; skulls are cracked and hearts ruptured with a reckless abandon, but this does help to make up for the book's more monotonous sections.

It's unfortunate that such clear ambition is let down by issues which could have been easily averted with a good editor, but Salem's Lot is still brilliantly scary and generally entertaining. It's by no means a game changer, but its strong characters and brutal ultra-violence are a benchmark in the crowded vampire subgenre.

7/10

The 25 best Muse songs

With my favourite band Muse hitting their 20th anniversary (you what?) this year, what a pleasant idea I thought it would be to cherry pick my ten favourite songs by the Devonshire trio to post on this blog. After some minutes of crying and ripping out my hair (for the most part metaphorically speaking), that list grew to fifteen, twenty and eventually twenty five classic tracks. It's not perfect, and it's inevitably missing a few from limited space, but here you go: for me the twenty five greatest Muse songs of all time.

25. Dead Star
A rare example of Muse at full on metal mode, Dead Star's driving riff and polished chorus make for one of the band's heaviest and most unhinged songs.
Find it: Dead Star Single (2002)

24. Map of Your Head
Similar in many ways to the brilliant Unintended,  Matt Bellamy takes the style of The Smiths in the song's dark lyrics sung over an infectious, sugar sweet acoustic melody.
Find it: Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002)


23.  Supremacy
The Bond theme that never was, Supremacy's explosive, pompous stomp and ludicrously high vocals are doubtless the highlight of The 2nd Law.
Find it: The 2nd Law (2012)

22. Time is Running Out
Perhaps the finest pop nugget from an impressive arsenal of classics, Time is Running Out's polished, progressive chorus helped push the band into mega-stardom on their third album proper Absolution.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

21. Falling Down
Before their lyrical themes turned interstellar, Muse wrote this wonderful anthem for the disaffected youth in which Bellamy paints a bizarre picture of destroying the small town the group grew up in.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

20. Sing For Absolution
And on the album where the lyrics did hit the stars, this floating, piano led classic stands out as the band's greatest ballad. "Sing for absolution, I will be singing".
Find it: Absolution (2004)

19.  Sunburn
"Come waste your millions here" begins the first song on debut album Showbiz, a track which hinted of the band's prog influences in its recurring piano ostinato moving dreamily into a heavier guitar based chorus and solo.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

18. Invincible
Another superb, progressive ballad, Invincible is a hidden gem as one of the more understated tracks on the epic Black Holes and Revelations.
Find it: Black Holes and Revelations (2006)

17. Blackout
Much has been made of the similarities between Muse and Radiohead over the years, and while Blackout could have been a standout on any post-OK Computer record, it comes with a stunning identity of its own as an early example of the orchestral influences which would eventually bring the band to write the phenomenal Exogenesis Symphony.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

16. Muscle Museum
Of all the songs Muse have cut from their live setlists over their career, Muscle Museum could well be the most unfortunate loss; it's a stellar track perhaps overshadowed by its legendary "guitar solo" which is actually sung.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

15. Resistance

The almost-title track on the band's fifth album, Resistance evolves from a Pet Shop Boys influenced synthpop opening to its stunning chorus "love is our resistance" in one of their best tracks of recent years.
Find it: The Resistance (2009)

14. Unintended
The stunningly rare occasions of genuine love songs in Muse's career rarely mark the band's finest hours, but this simple acoustic anthem from their first album remains a fan favourite to this day and is a shining example of a band retaining their power while stripped of distortion and hundred-watt amps.
Find it: Showbiz (1999)

13. Hysteria
Aside from Plug In Baby, Hysteria is perhaps the song most synonymous with Muse's sound. As the lead single on classic third album Absolution, Hysteria sees the band managing brilliantly to write a guitar song for bass, resulting in an iconic riff and the ever catchy chorus of "I want it all, give me your heart and your soul".
Find it: Absolution (2004)

12. Bliss
Cited by Matt Bellamy as his favourite of the band's songs, Bliss's soft keyboard arpeggios smash into a headbanging guitar riff in a track summed up perfectly by the NME as "perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else's happiness into your own brain".
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

11. Thoughts of a Dying Atheist
A brilliantly meditative piece dissecting the confusion and fear of death inevitably present due to a lack of faith in an afterlife, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist is an example of superb observational lyricism supported by a great guitar melody and possibly the best solo in Bellamy's huge arsenal.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

perhaps the catchiest song ever written about wanting to electronically download someone else’s happiness into your own brain.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/the-big-picture/20-best-muse-songs-as-voted-by-you#hI7ax6HkmJdLZoYu.99

10. Ruled by Secrecy
Muse are at their best when flirting with brilliant prog insanity, and Ruled by Secrecy is doubtless one of the greatest examples of this rule. The song somehow finds a way for its simple drum beat and bass line to become an explosive wall of grand-piano dominated sound before fading into the sound of a beating heart in a short few minutes of music. Described by Bellamy as being about "this man who's come back from work and he's just shot everyone and killed everyone, and he's come back to his wife with a load of blood all over his hands going 'I've just blown it ... I lost it ... I lost the plot", it's clear that despite it's rich and textured music the song remains one of the band's darkest moments.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

9. New Born
As the opener to second album Origin of Symmetry, it seemed clear from the first few seconds of tinkley grand piano that the band had simply produced a carbon copy of debut album Showbiz. But moments later, New Born introduces a new era in a hail of distorted riffology and that screamed chorus "destroy the spineless."
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

8. Falling Away With You
The softest, most tentative song on this list, Falling Away With You is the band's most intimate moment, with Matt Bellamy whispering his vocals over a snail's pace acoustic movement. It's completed by some of their finest lyrics too, "staying awake to chase a dream, tasting the air you're breathing in" and "all of the love we left behind, watching the flashbacks intertwine, memories I will never find" being particularly thoughtful highlights. One of just three tracks Muse have never played live, we can only hope for a concert debut in the near future.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

7. Exogenesis: Symphony
Exogenesis is Muse at their preposterous, absurd best; a twelve minute piece divided into three movements played by a 40-piece orchestra telling the story of humanity leaving earth to populate another planet. It's easy to dismiss as ludicrously bloated just by its name, but its excessive nature actually presents the band's most meticulous and complex composition influenced by artists as widespread as Chopin, Rachmaninov and Pink Floyd. A true spine tingle.
Find it: The Resistance (2009)

6. Butterflies and Hurricanes
The centrepiece of the classic Absolution, Butterflies and Hurricanes rifles through sections as varied as a massive rock chorus and a romantic piano interlude in a song often cited as among the band's greatest works. Butterflies and Hurricanes is in some ways a spiritual successor to the greater still Citizen Erased; phenomenally beautiful and complex in its musical movements and yet still catchy and exciting.
Find it: Absolution (2004)

5. Space Dementia
We enter the top five with a song of suitably epic proportions; with a title referring to a mental condition caused by long spells spent in outer space, Space Dementia never aimed to be anything less than gigantic. With hammered piano the band would later adapt for Ruled by Secrecy and twisting, distorted guitar melodies, Space Dementia is one of the finest examples of modern prog and is a true experience to hear for the first time.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

4. Knights of Cydonia
A song as complex and instrumental as Space Dementia or Butterflies and Hurricanes, Knights of Cydonia was a change in direction for Muse's epics in that's it's composed almost entirely around distorted guitar riffs. Taking elements from Queen's I Want To Break Free, early use of synthesisers and even the Doctor Who theme tune, Knights... has become one of the band's signature songs; the brilliant acapella call of "no one's gonna take me alive, the time has come to make things right, you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive" seemingly designed for stadiums while the headbanging riff that follows it is perhaps the group's most memorable.
Find it: Black Holes and Revelations (2006)

3. Plug in Baby
Our big three begins with one of THE greatest riffs of all time; Plug in Baby's shrieking guitar opening is surely the most iconic musical moment in Muse history. It's not a one trick pony either, it's a brilliantly tight and well crafted rock song, which is even more impressive when you consider that it was apparently recorded while the whole band were on hallucinogenic mushrooms. The band's most successful song when it was released as the lead single for Origin of Symmetry, the track has remained a true fan favourite and has been played at almost every Muse concert since.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

2. Citizen Erased
The Muse-Radiohead comparisons are at their strongest by far on this legendary Origin of Symmetry cut, because Citizen Erased is, without a doubt, Muse's Paranoid Android. And while the similarities between the two are there to be seen; multiple movements, contrasting sections of phenomenal volume and slow, chordal progressions, Citizen Erased is very much a song of its own. Opening with an explosion of funk metal, the piece builds into a colossal synth-chorus followed by electric arpeggios, a pounding guitar solo and a tantalizing acoustic chord progression. Fitting so many musical elements into 7 minutes is no mean feat, but the real success of Citizen Erased is in managing to turn so many distinct sections into one complete, perfect piece. It's at the very least a true equal to Radiohead's classic OK Computer opus.
Find it: Origin of Symmetry (2001)

1. Stockholm Syndrome
With an opening riff that sounds like a terrifying cross-breed between The Prodigy and System of a Down, Stockholm Syndrome is a heavy metal explosion which instantly sets itself far apart from most of the band's songs. As its tectonic riff reaches its climax, there's a sudden transition into one of the band's most striking choruses, as the violent guitar is overshadowed by a soft, beautiful keyboard melody before the band rev the engines and kick into the riff once again. Stockholm Syndrome is a shot of pure adrenaline, a burst of energy which remains fixed in the memory long after it's five minutes of total power come to an end. And it's completed by the most monstrous and original breakdown of the group's career to close a song which can, truly, be called Muse's best. And of course, when you play the chorus backwards you'll hear Matt singing "please save the night wind and high above, I lost to love". It wouldn't be Muse without the occasional hidden message, would it?
Find it: Absolution (2004)

I put some time and thought into this, but I'm sure you all completely disagree. Shocked by the lack of Supermassive Black Hole, Uprising or Neutron Star Collision (just kidding)? Insulted by Plug in Baby not being top? Leave a comment here.

Humbug review: Subtle improvements

Clearly tired of the Sheffield-infused rock of their first two records, in 2009 the Arctic Monkeys decamped to Los Angeles and recruited Queens of the Stone Age legend Josh Homme as producer to record their third album, Humbug. An obvious departure from their earlier work, the record was met with mixed acclaim on its release, but five years on Humbug can be regarded as one of the band's finest moments; musically richer and lyrically more intelligent than either of their previous efforts.

For Humbug, the Monkeys ditched the infectious choruses and pop-esque hooks which dominated both Whatever People Say... and Favourite Worst Nightmare; There's no shout of "well I bet that you look good on the dancefloor", no "see you later innovator" or "Dorothy was right though", in fact the only thing that comes close is the melancholy wail of "your past times consisted of the strange, twisted and deranged" on lead single Crying Lightning. Similarly, the music is less catchy, often rapidly changing time signature to produce an almost disconcerting sound-certainly not hits built for the arena tours which came with the band's newfound fame. It's not necessarily a bad thing however, as despite being less catchy many of Humbug's tracks are simply better than those which preceded them. Equipped with a more impressive range of musical techniques and influences brought on by both Homme's wide experience and the Monkey's past songwriting efforts, songs like Secret Door merge Homme's slower, more considered style with the Monkey's traditionally louder and more violent elements to become more expressive and intelligent than their individual parts. It's not without its occasional dud, but by and large this coming together of two very different musical parties is exceptionally effective. It's not a total departure either; the distorted riffs are still very much alive, and the organ used on Pretty Visitors is an almost direct homage to the Favourite Worst Nightmare classic 505.

And with this new musical breadth and depth, it's unsurprising that frontman Alex Turner's lyrics were forced to adapt too. Abandoning the homespun observation of Whatever People Say and the more generic wordplay of Favourite Worst Nightmare resulted in some of the band's most poetic efforts to date, from Secret Door's "fools on parade cavort and carry on for waiting eyes" to Pretty Visitor's John Cooper Clarke inspired "what came first, the chicken or this dickhead"? The finest moment comes in the form of Cornerstone however, a haunting ballad dark in its story of tragically lost love and a victim totally unable to move on. Despite the more advanced musicianship and lyricism, its fair to say that there are less classic songs on Humbug than either of the previous albums, the tracks simply compliment each other to create an album that feels complete; Secret Door, Dance Little Liar and Cornerstone are possible to only songs which can be considered on par with the Monkey's finest.

Although its short on truly brilliant songs, Humbug's ten tracks fit together beautifully to create a record that is a subtle advancement on both the band's previous albums, it's a powerful but underappreciated third effort.

8/10