Thursday, August 28, 2008

"Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon

August 8th, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHhhcKxflMY

I don't really know what's going on here. I think it's an "exorcism" plot. Caleb's exorcising his demons; or something. There's lots of symbolism--the Rooster (ie. Caleb's alter ego), it looks like they are flipping through the Bible, Baptism, Nathan without his shirt on, etc. Well, I have no idea. I liked my sister's idea where all four band members just milked the whole male model thing and made a music video in the tradition of a risque Calvin Klein advertisement. If you're gonna mail it in, might as well make it count, right? That said, I see nothing redeeming about the new Kings of Leon stuff. I'm sorry, but I'm not into U2, and it sounds like U2. Or some other kind of stadium rock. I always liked them because they had a garage, country, punk sound, which didn't sound like anything else, or if it did, it was a good thing.

***
July 30th, 2009

Fast forward to now. The "Sex on Fire" video still confuses the hell out of me, but I can see that "Only by the Night" is a solid effort. I think what threw me off about both of the latest two Kings of Leon releases was how much their sound has changed, compared to the first two albums. I complained that they've shifted to a more arena rock, less country-punk sound. That may still be true, but when I listen to "Only by the Night," I no longer fixate on how much it sounds like U2 (maybe that was just paranoia all along). Instead, I hear something more accessible, easier to listen to, more melodic, and just bigger sounding in general. There are a lot of "soaring vocals" on "Only by the Night," but not enough to rival U2's "El-Eeeeh-Vayyy-shyyunnnn" thank God.

PS. Patrick McDonald says that "Sex on Fire" is tongue in cheek. Is it?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2008275346_kings17.html

Thursday, August 7, 2008

"Seattle has no cult-chah"

That is one of my all time favorite quotes, courtesy of a British Airways Flight Attendant.

And, this is part of the reason I hate all British people.
Why do they think they know everything?
Why do they always have superiority complexes?
Why are they so annoying?

I concede that, if in fact this guy was from London, I kind of understand how Seattle could seem to have comparatively less 'cultchah' than London because London is a pretty big deal. But what annoyed me was, a) the way he said it like he really knew and (I have a problem with people who are overly self-assured), b) that he followed up the comment by mentioning that he would rather fly to San Francisco or LA if he is going all the way over to the West Coast of America, as in, 'might as well go somewhere exciting'...and I guess more intriguingly cultural. Somewhere like Los Angeles.