|
| REVIEWS |
The
Soundtrack of Our Lives
Behind the Music
(Republic
/ Universal)
Sweden. Population estimated at roughly eight million plus;
home to unpronounceable cities and the land of a thousand Svens.
While it’s climactic state means it is not a prime destination
of touristic pleasure, those “wacky Swedes” seem
to have no problem sharing their wealth of musical girth with
the rest of the world. While I may never say “hey, I wonder
what country is producing the finest bands? I know! It must
be Sweden!” it appears they have no problem saying to
everyone else, “Hey, we’re Sweden! Hear our renditions
of your musical culture!”
For every The International Noise Conspiracy they’ve given
us, they’ve thrown in countless Millencolins. And while
I am still trying to understand what I ever did to deserve The
Hives, the music that emanates from this fine land is often
left to question. Is this their earnest interpretation of different
musical cultures or a seemingly transient fad that often encapsulates
musical rage outside of North America and the United Kingdom?
Besides, is it such a bad thing when impressionable minds of
countries embark on their quest to immerse themselves in pop
culture?
Sure, I get a kick out of Japanese cowboys and Russian Elvises
but that’s being entirely too specific. Sweden’s
The Soundtrack of Our Lives demonstrates their love of North
American rock music and British pop in their all-purpose sounding
Behind the Music that endlessly pays homage to a broad
range of musical artists. From Pink Floyd to Pavement to more
recent alternative sounding acts, Behind the Music
is an explorative trek that unfortunately fails to echo any
sort of excitement before disappearing all together. This is
The Soundtrack of Our Lives on their tour of rock history and
they unfortunately stop by at some noted artists’ backyards
at all the wrong times.
In paying tribute to some 70’s folk, they open this disc
with “Infra Riot” – a hippy sounding, guitar
flailing entendre that evokes talk of self rebellion and dissatisfaction
with the status quo. While musically it is sound; stable snare
hits and floor tom pounding, snake-like guitars and wavering
vocals; it suffers from some truly woeful lyrical expression.
See example: “It’s time to take control again and
be the only one / Cause I just wanna play with myself”.
It is really difficult to be rebellious when people laugh at
you. They continue with a flaccid attempt in spirituality: “So
welcome to the other side / Don’t be afraid to crucify
/ It’s not too late to free your mind / Reaching for somebody
in the image world.” Alright then, strike one up for concise
thinking.
It firmly backs this reviewer’s personal belief (and I’ve
said this countless of times before) that: “THOU SHALT
NOT ROCK IN FOREIGN WHEN THY HAVE NOT ROCKED IN NATIVE TONGUE”.
This occurrence is, unfortunately, nothing new and The Soundtrack
of Our Lives (or “TSOOL” as they are often referred
to) suffer greatly because of it.
While they toil in such tribulations, they manage to climb to
respectable heights with the track “Sister Surround”.
Its combination of strong back bone drumming/bass fiddling and
resonate guitar strumming leaves them somewhere in the realm
of classic rock – a cross breeding of sorts between The
Who (think of a less vibrant Roger Daltrey with a Swedish accent)
and Led Zeppelin.
“In Someone Else’s Mind” is a more ethereal
outage. The vocals are distinctly deeper while it’s quiet
string plucking is slightly more psychedelic than anything else
on this release. Its tranquil instrumentation (percussions are
absent) contrast its vocals surprisingly well. It is a short,
but sweet camaraderie between the two.
But wait! The praise (yes, there is some, look closer) that
so beguiled them in the last few paragraphs can be swiftly erased
by their attempted stab at early nineties alternative flair
in “Mind the Gap”. In fact, this Soul Asylum/Lemonheads
worship is so noticeably feeble that even Dave Pirner would
say “I hope I didn’t sound like that”. Their
imprecision is completed when they seem undecided on whether
to knock on Radiohead’s door or Coldplay’s on “Broken
Imaginary Time” – a strictly dark, looming number
that the aforementioned artists’ would have difficulty
even placing as a b-side.
Enough is enough folks – the list can go on but these
ears have heard enough. On their quest to sound like everyone
in rock history, The Soundtrack of Our Lives has unfortunately
gone down a deep dark alley. Hopefully an alley filled with
big shadowy characters that will promptly beat the living daylights
out of them. I beg the regal people of Sweden to take this back,
I am sorry for ever making fun of all the Svens, I am even sorry
for making fun of The Hives – just please tell the guys
in TSOOL that doing one thing and doing it well is far better
than doing a lot of different things poorly.
Reviewed by
Billy Maulana
June 13th, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
