The Song Remains the Same-ish: The Black Keys vs. Metric

[This is a "series" that lets me point out when two songs sound really similar or something about one song reminds me strongly of another one, or something like that. Its frequency obviously depends on me finding these similarities, so who knows when it will happen again.]

Artist:	The Black Keys	/	Metric
Song:	"Nova Baby"	/	"Gimme Sympathy"
Album:	El Camino	/	Fantasies
Label:	Nonesuch	/	Last Gang
Released:	12.06.2011	/	04.07.2009

This connection between melodies really jumped out at me on first listen, which made it all the more compelling. Sometimes these relationships worm their way into my ears over time, but this one was immediate. On subsequent listens, I can see how I am mistaken because, of course, these aren't the same song, nor do I think that The Black Keys are scamming Metric riffs for their own benefit. However, I stand by the fact that the choruses have very similar melodies. Metric's line "Gimme sympathy" strongly matches The Black Keys' line "All your enemies" at the beginning of their respective choruses. Then, while Metric's tune goes down/up/down/up in melodic pitch, The Black Keys just go up and up, but somehow match pitch again around the 5th lyrical line. It's interesting to play those two choruses back to back and compare. In any event, enjoy the two songs! Fantasies has seen recurrent plays on my iPod since it's been releases, and El Camino is fun, although not my fave Black Keys record. (The Big Come Up EP, anyone?)

Metric / "Gimme Sympathy" / Fantasies / [Last Gang, 2009] / dir. Frank Borin

GIMME SYMPATHY
AFTER ALL OF THIS IS GONE
WHO WOULD YOU RATHER BE
THE BEATLES OR THE ROLLING STONES
OH SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE GONNA MAKE MISTAKES, YOU'RE YOUNG
COME ON BABY PLAY ME SOMETHING LIKE HERE COMES THE SUN

The Black Keys / "Nova Baby" / El Camino / [Nonesuch, 2011]

Jam of the day: "The Stand"

Artist: Mother Mother
Album: Eureka
Song: "The Stand"
Released: March 15, 2011
Label: Last Gang

I read about music a lot. I don't really know, but I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that a lot of great novelists don't really read a lot of contemporary fiction, or that great directors don't watch many films, and so on. But as a music blogger myself, I find myself constantly reading other music criticism: reviews, recommendations, interviews with bands, and so on. Logistically, there's a lot of music out there to be discovered and reading lots of other blogs helps me find new artists I like and see what others are listening to. Artistically, though, I generally like to know what others are up to, how they structure their websites, how they write, how they share with their readers, and so on. But that's beside the point. All I'm really saying is that I'm glad I listened to We Listen For You and gave Mother Mother a chance.

I'm a little surprised that I like this song (and their latest album, Eureka) but I don't care to assess that. I like it, that's that. This song has an amazing buoyant energy to it; "catchy" doesn't even begin to describe the way the back-and-forth vocals, between a female duo and the lead male, create a delectable tension that the instrumentation, with synths and guitars and drums and bass, simultaneously cuts through and intensifies. That ice cube clink in the beginning is a nice, humorous touch, too. I've had the phrase "It's like paradise / Spread out with a butter knife" running through my head for days on end, and particularly the way that the ladies here shout it out in a crazy harmony that sounds just right in this context. The video itself is interesting, coming across ostensibly as the female singers interviewing the male singer, with some swirling footage of the band playing during the choruses, plus some crazy animation in the backgrounds that makes you think the singer is being portrayed as, well . . . crazy. Maybe he is, but I'm totally with him on the "women on bikes" thing. And the "all of the people and all of their peers", but that's something else. The jury is still out on whether "everyone's fucked and they don't even know".

Check out the video below, and check out the links below that to find out more about the band.


Mother Mother on the web:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Wikipedia
Myspace
Insound
Last.fm
eMusic