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By Diana Ciuca
Grrrl Rock arose along with the third wave of feminism in the early 1990s. The female band members who contributed to this movement called themselves “Riot Grrrls.” Whereas today we see the word “Grrrl” most likely representing a snarl or something your little sister would write all over her homework thinking that she’s cool (along with words like “peaceee” and “yayyy”), the term spoke volumes to the proud chicks who brought back female-fronted bands (like the fantastic Jefferson Aeroplane fronted by the beautiful Grace Slick in the ’60s). This week’s video reviews take this feminist pride to another level. Some bring it up, and others (one, in particular) crushes it down.
Girl In A Coma
“El Monte” Video
Trio B.C.
In a bucolic landscape, a couple of party-ers are chilling on top of a roof. In the background, you hear a acoustic guitar lightly strummed. With a begging like that, you don’t know what to expect. Contrary to their usual punk style, Girl in a Coma’s “El Monte” takes a detour and softens it up. The video is beautifully composed of simple scenes by director/writer Jim Mendiola, who directed most of their videos. In their other videos, like “Static Mind,” the trio in Girls in a Coma tend to share the limelight. However, Nina, the lead singer controls the limelight in her riveting love-hate themed video. The video, throughout, is dreamlike and beautiful, except for the sad ending (but that’s what makes it punk rock, after all). All of these elements are enhanced by the slow motion parts (like running through the birds), unusual angles, and fade-ins. The song distinctly evokes sincere passion, which isn’t as evident in the video. Nina’s voice sounds as light yet emotionally-saturated as Regina Spector’s and St. Vincent’s. The lyrics, however, seem a bit creepy with the repetitive, “I want to marry you,” which arises my memory of the Sex and the City episode where Charlotte practically proposes to her date. This phrase, instead of appearing as devotion, only seems hopeless and creepy.
AUDIO: 10/10
VIDEO: 9/10
BAND: 8/10 (Sure, they have cool haircuts, but they’ve got a decently long way until their fan base expands)
Sick of Sarah
“Bittersweet” Video
Sick of Sarah
Yet another female band, Sick of Sarah, exhibits their durability to harsh weather and even harsher love. Almost like female Bob Dylan, the lead singer’s raspy voice sings of “bitterweet” love while the video imitates her feelings. The video begins with a building up of instruments and a tree. Throughout the video, we follow the intricate plot of the tree which finally blooms yet withers instantaneously. The video is an amalgam of quick shots, funky colors, and action scenes of the band members playing. Moreover, the snow wreaks havoc as the song grows in intensity. Director Sane Nelson composed the video in such a way that everything which occurs has an intricate relation to the song lyrics; and it also beautifully displays the band playing in a radical environment. However, when she starts stripping, she’s not “Matt and Kim,” when they preformed the same task in winter, too. The muted climax ans intense weather definitely make this a worthwhile video and great song.
AUDIO: 8/10
VIDEO: 9/10
BAND: 9/10 (They gave great unity and a bunch of websites to learn more about them from)
Mams Taylor
“Girl Gotta Girlfriend” (Clean Version) Video
Persona Non Grata
Perhaps the most steryotipical, dreamlike, and NON-feminist out of all the videos, “Girl Gotta Girlfriend” is a tragic example of the new genre of Runk (rap + punk). Lil Wayne an Snoop Dogg (both featured in this video) tend to lack manners and etiquette when it comes to exposing women in the music videos, but they have built up to that by first creating their “hardcore rapper” look. Mams Taylor has not yet achieved such a remarkable feat. Quite the contrary, he insists that he is a ladies’ man before he has established himself as a true hustler (a guy that “gets money” and women, too). In this video, incorrectly marked the “Clean Version,” women cannot seem to take their hands off of the British Rapper, Taylor. His girl, most likely his “main b*tch,” apparently also has a girlfriend. That’s just trashy. To add insult to injury, I’m sure that Mams Taylor probably wears more mascara than any of his girl’s girlfriends. Nevertheless, this concept of girls with girlfriends isn’t even original! T-Pain and Ray Lavender have both written songs about the subject, and the term “girl gotta girlfriend” has been used several times in rap/hip-hop before. With a video that could only happen in his dreams, I do not expect any beautifully mastered segments or unique techniques. It features the usual close-ups of girls dancing and quick screen shots along with a bright background light and tons of bling and big sunglasses. The song, with a repetitive beat and synthesizer, falls under the trite and commercial hip-hop song which sometimes tend to have major success, and it might do so-although it lacks the beauty and grace of other “female-centered” music videos.
AUDIO: 4/10
VIDEO: 4/10
SINGER: 6/10 (Surprisingly, he’s collaborated with a lot of big names and could be on the rise -or fall- of a new wave of music)
Jessie James
(Self Titled: Jessie James)
Island Def Jam Records
I will only say this one time, and one time only: I am not a country music fan. Granted I have my ‘Guilty Pleasure’ songs, like Honky Tonk Badonkadonk by Trace Adkins, Who’s Your Daddy by Toby Keith, Taylor Swift, and that ever popular Cotton Eyed Joe song (I have yet to learn the dance), but I would much rather keep them off my iPod and on a hard copy disk that I can enjoy in solitude.
Jessie James is country music singer that I would keep on repeat in a CD player, in my room, while in solitude (to save my reputation, of course). She’s got some power country-twanged vocals that remind me of my younger days where I’d jam out with my mom to her Shania Twain CD while we cruised in our ol’ 1992 Pontiac Grand Am. Kickin’ it old school. I do recall seeing James’ music video for her single Wanted on MTV awhile ago, and if I took the time to wait to see who the singer was, and then remember her, she must be something to look out for. So if you like Shania Twain, Gretchen Wilson, and wear Guy Harvey shirts a lot, go pick up Jessie James’ self-titled album now!!
Morningwood
(Diamonds & Studs)
Capitol Records
Everyone has heard the song Nth Degree, right? Well, if you haven’t, then you are seriously living under an anti-pop culture rock. The “Morningwood” concept was sparked by a conversation between the duo Chantal Claret and Pedro Yanowitz at a cocktail party in the Dakota Building on Central Park West, and came up with the name the next morning. After their self-titled album, which dropped in 2006, gave them the cred they needed to continue making sweet music, even after their first album was quite a flop. Diamonds and Studs has more of a rock vibe compared to the ’06 album, and really emphasizes the talent these two have. They create great music together. If you have a chance, take a listen to some of the songs off this album (you can also hear some of their songs in the Sex in the City Movie and the single is the theme song for Daisy of Love!), and then check them out on tour with Jet and Papa Roach this November.
Foreign Cinema
(Non-Synchronous Sounds)
Parallax Sounds
I’m currently struck by sounds that should be in some crazy, dark, overly-artistic intellectual Sundance Film or, at least, in the crazy Donnie Darko sequal S. Darko. Foreign Cinema is comprised of Dave Han, the San Fran singer/guitarist of the band Astral, and contributed bass parts by Natty D, who resides in Goiania, Brazil. Foreign Cinema describes their genre as, “shoegaze, triphop, and dub… balances light and dark, with ethereal warmth and interjected groove to create a romantically dark world…”
Well… interesting description.
Honestly, I don’t know what the genre “shoegaze” is, nor do I know of “triphop” or “dub.” I don’t know how I can even express my opinion on this. Basically, if you watch a lot of weird indie films, or have seen either Donnie Darko or S. Darko, then you’ll understand what I mean by weird. Artistically weird. I can’t say that I like it at all since it confuses, so I’m going to leave with this: If you know those odd genres, like crazy indie films, and like Depeche Mode (They have a cover of one of their songs on this EP) then go ahead and take a whack at it. But if you start seeing giant bunnies that make you do really crazy stuff, like flood your school, than don’t say I didn’t warn you. (If you get the reference, kudos)
by Melanie Bae
The emotional roller coaster of life is difficult enough for an average human being, but when put in the spot light after releasing a single, “Decode,” for the Twilight movie, Paramore was not adjusting well to the growing fame and outlandish rumors. Opening up about all your personal problems is not easy, especially when it’s to millions of fans all over the world. If Paramore did not make a big enough statement to catch your attention with their debut album All We Know Is Falling or their sophomore album Riot, then brace yourself for some deep, heartfelt, and personal lyrics on the bands third album Brand New Eyes. This newest album will answer all questions about the rumors the band avoided last year. Did front woman Hayley Willaims and lead guitarist Josh Farro have a relationship? Was the band on the verge of breaking up? The answer is “yes” to all the above. Paramore, however, learned that it was time to give up the facade, and talk out their problems because as they say in their song “Looking Up,” “I’d never trade it in, cuz I’ve always wanted this!”
The album right off the bat sets off with an antagonized vibe, and it is clear that Hayley Williams felt left out. She was not appeased living her dream alone, without some of the band members who worked just as hard to go platinum and play in sold out arenas. “Ignorance,” the bands first single, really shines a light on the division of the band with such pain staking lines as, “The friends who stuck together, We wrote our names in blood, But I guess you can’t accept that the change is good.” These are the lyrics the band mates had such a tough time writing on paper. In an MTV interview Hayley states, “I kind of brought in some ridiculous lyrics in for the guys to hear for the first time ever, you know after like a whole year of me being quiet about everything that I was feeling, and none of us ever stopping to hear each other out.”
When heading into the studio to record with Rob Cavallo, Paramore had only five songs to show him. However, the confidence the well known producer had in the band, allowed for Paramore to continue to write and finish up the painful but well needed recording process.
When it came time to actually tracking the instrumentals and vocals, the band did not have many takes on any of their songs. They wanted the CD to be unrefined. “Misguided Ghosts” and “Only Exception” are the two acoustic ballads that exemplify the raw sound at its best. There is one song, “All I Wanted,” that must have taken more then one take! If it is possible to have a new never before reached note named after you, then Miss. Williams has done it. In the last chorus the instrumental just stops, and it leaves Hayley singing acapella “ALL I WANTED WAS YOU,” and it will leave you dazed (in a good way.) Brand New Eyes has plenty of angry songs, but towards the end of recording you can truly tell that Paramore was done with belting out personal anger problems. They began to write songs that traced back to the peak of their success. “No one is as lucky as us,” is chanted in the chorus of “Where The Lines Overlap,” and that lyric right there shows how this band is grateful for this experience.
With a swamped schedule ahead of them and a continuous spot light, Paramore knew they were going to have to stay positive. The band’s song “Looking Up” is by far the most assuring song on Brand New Eyes, letting Paramore fans know, they are here to stay. Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, Josh Farro, Jeremy Davis, and newest member Taylor York learned it was time to look forward to the future, and the whole recording and writing process made them stronger as a band and as friends. Brand New Eyes receives a well deserved 5/5 stars.