Plug of the Week: Muse

I am hooked on Muse. I know they are big in Europe, which makes them radioactive in the US, but I like them. It's hard to describe them. Think of how Queen had its roots in ballads, music hall, rock, and classical and then pushed toward glam, and prog rock. Muse did sort of the same thing but starting from punk, new romantics, classical, and prog rock. And then discovered there is no top they won't go over. (I am not making any comparison of musical or performance quality.) Sort of like the Wipers and the Cure get in a spaceship together and head out for Planet Glam. In any one song, they can switch from noodly space synths to banging rock on a dime, throwing in a bit of flamenco or surf guitar or ballad just for fun. Sometimes the lead drifts over onto the bass while the lead singer/guitar are wandering completely off in outer space. They lay beautiful liquid flowing backing harmonies over and through it all. Plus, "Supermassive Black Hole" is one of the best dance songs ever recorded (IMO, of course). It sounds as weird in practice as the description, but it works.

I think that their live performances are tighter than their studio recordings (leaner arrangements). They have a good chunk of one of the concerts available for free (hard to beat that) if you'd like to sample. CLICK HERE FOR FREE STUFF. You can get one song and video clip on the front page; register to get a handful more of each. If you buy the CD of that performance, they throw in the concert DVD for free. Plus, the bass player says that they don't make much money off the records anyway, look at them as promotions for the concerts, and don't care a lick if people download them. (I mean, not that anyone would do that anyway.)

Muse
on Amazon.com