Corkus

Apparently I'm one of the very few people who successfully got a GA ticket for the LA show. Mandatory will call this time is gonna be annoying, though.

Yeah, it sounds nice, but mainly because AF's B-side material sounds better than most bands' actual album output. It can make Album 4's deluxe edition re-release or something, haha.

SXSW is in Austin. But it's a semi-exclusive event. Plus, passes that get you into the good stuff are like $700. Whereas it'll be like $65 in a Dallas or Houston arena. And I tell you that you've gone to the dark side. :laugh3:

They announced 9 dates yesterday and 9 more today. More are coming. Looks like they can head to Texas in March (SXSW perhaps? Obviously Dallas/Houston would get shows too.)

Expanded NA itinerary: January 21 | San Diego, California | Valley View Casino Center January 23 | Los Angeles, California | Staples Center January 28 | Oakland, California | Oracle Arena February 3 | Edmonton, Alberta | Rexall Place February 4 | Calgary, Alberta | Scotiabank Saddledome February 6 | Vancouver, British Columbia | Rogers Arena February 22 | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | BankAtlantic Center February 23 | Tampa, Florida | Tampa Bay Times Forum February 25 | Orlando, Florida | Amway Center February 28 | Cleveland, Ohio | Quicken Loans Arena March 2 | Detroit, Michigan | Joe Louis Arena March 4 | Chicago, Illinois | United Center March 7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Target Center March 8 | St. Louis, Missouri | Chaifetz Arena March 10 | Tulsa, Oklahoma | BOK Center April 9 | Toronto, Ontario | Air Canada Centre April 12 | Boston, Massachusetts | TD Garden April 15 | New York, New York | Madison Square Garden April 19 | E. Rutherford, New Jersey | IZOD Center April 23 | Montreal, Quebec | Bell Centre April 26 | Quebec City, Quebec | Colisée Pepsi I'll probably hit up those first two CA shows (even though Valley View is a horrible place run by horrible staff), plus the inevitable 2nd LA date. Hoping the weekday booking doesn't screw me over.

Mylo Xyloto vs. Opening the OK Computer CD These are two very similar songs in that neither is really a song at all. The former is a pointless act of Eno instrumentals, while the latter is a pointless act of attempting to break the seal off the case, then getting pissed off because there's some sticky residue stuck to the case that you still can't wipe off with water and a towel. MX is the winner here, because you avoid the risk of water damage to your purchase. Hurts Like Heaven vs. Airbag Again, very similar songs, because HLH talks about heaven, while Thom Yorke repeats the words "I am born again" in Airbag, which is the key to heaven in many religions. I have to give the advantage to Airbag, because Thom says he's "back to save the universe", presumably to battle the dark lord Chris Martin who insists on using his "heart as a weapon" to destroy galaxies. Paradise vs. Paranoid Android Para-para-paradise. Para-para-paranoid android. They're basically the same song for that reason, but the former rolls off the tongue way easier. Paradise wins by default for that reason, even though Paranoid Android is technically a 390218190348675980327485320 times better song. Charlie Brown vs. Subterranean Homesick Alien Thom Yorke says he's "finally lost it completely", but Chris Martin beat him to the punch by writing Paradise one song beforehand, proving that he "lost it" way before. Plus, rave kids love Charlie Brown. Do you see any kids raving to SHA? No, you see them smoking weed. And as everyone knows, smoking weed is way more fun when you're raving. Us Against the World vs. Exit Music (For a Film) Both bands' epic struggles as Coldplay is fighting "the world" a la Scott Pilgrim, while Radiohead is facing some mysterious being whose name is never stated who they hope chokes. I sympathize much more with Radiohead here, as a mysterious force could be anything. It could be God, it could be the Matrix, it could be Thom Yorke's grandma's terrible cooking, ANYTHING. Whereas you already know what "the world" is. M.M.I.X. vs. bathroom break They're both bathroom breaks. M.M.I.X. probably isn't long enough for a bathroom break, but you're really not missing anything by taking a dump during MX's next song either. Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall vs. Let Down ETIAW is a huge let down, while Let Down is actually named Let Down. Taking that into consideration, I honestly can't tell these songs apart. Let's call it a draw. Major Minus vs. Karma Police I don't know who the hell Major Minus is or how he got promoted to the position of "major", but I bet he's at war with the karma police, who apparently want to arrest Major Minus because he talks in maths and buzzes like a fridge. Quite frankly, this what Major Minus gets when he messes with them. UFO vs. Fitter Happier Apologies to Chris Martin, but even with his sweet, gentle voice in a more acoustic track, he just can't compare to the unbelievable vocal range of Microsoft Sam. Princess of China vs. Electioneering Everyone and their mother knows about Chris Martin's huge scandalous affair with Rihanna by this point, but I have a feeling there's more trouble than meets the eye here, and that Rihanna may also be cheating with Thom Yorke, especially when Thom sings "somewhere we will meet", as if to say they have to find a secret place to get it on where no tabloids will find them. As the song implies, Rihanna is extremely Chinese, and I just don't think Asians are Thom's type. Gotta give the prize to PoC here. Up in Flames vs. Climbing Up the Walls Unlike the previous songs which were all extremely similar, these two songs couldn't be more different. CUTW talks about how "it's always best when the candle's out", implying fire disappearing, whereas Up in Flames constantly talks about stuff being up in flames. These two songs just aren't comparable and are likewise a smudge on two otherwise completely identical albums. A Hopeful Transmission vs. No Surprises The similarities return here, as AHT has absolutely no surprises in it, while No Surprises talks about no surprises. I don't know which of these two songs came out first, but I sense a major lawsuit happening here. Don't Let It Break Your Heart vs. Lucky Radiohead's brilliant Britney Spears cover here easily triumphs over Coldplay's middling Coldplay cover. Up With the Birds vs. The Tourist The Tourist says something "barks" in the beginning, implying a dog, because dogs bark. Up With the Birds flat-out tells you it's talking about birds. If you put a dog and a bird in a cage together, the bird would be eaten within seconds. Coldplay is clearly the one eaten here. I dunno, I can't decide which of these two albums is better. They're just so, so similar.

Us Against the World (not a problem haha)

I forget where I've posted things and where I haven't bahahaha. Though I didn't decide until yesterday that The 2nd Law is my least favorite Muse effort.

*is tempted to create OK Computer vs. Mylo Xyloto thread just for shits and giggles*

Damn, Violet, you should've just posted "my opinion is everything that isn't Michael's". :P Kidding, good write-up. I forgot to post here that "Isolated System" feels the middle of an epic track that's sorely lacking a Part 3. Anyway, I've decided I'm ranking this below The Resistance. Higher highs but lower lows. The Resistance had about 2 tracks I loved, 2 tracks I hated, and lots of middle-of-the-road material otherwise. Whereas here, it's a lot of love and a lot of hatred with very little to compensate in the middle. (though the fact that it actually has songs I enjoy means this has no business being compared to MX. Not unless it was 12 tracks in the style of "Madness" would it be that awful.) Abso > OoS > BH&R > Showbiz > Resistance > 2nd Law

Yeah. Yeah it is. The reasonable folks of WoM already pointed out the silliness of this topic for me, but just so I can get a classic MX dig in here as always, The 2nd Law wins by default for actually having more than one good song.

I'm much harder on the Queen knock-offs (Survival, Madness, parts of Explorers) than the U2 ones, though, because Muse already Queen'd a whole album up when they wrote The Resistance. Queen is great and all, but their influence in Muse has overstayed its welcome. But of course, stuff like "Animals" that's actually MUSE is most preferred. I might be less forgiving to U2 influences if we have a similar trend on Album 7. (nah, fuck it, Album 7 will probably be an electro country album at this rate)

Okay, here we go, track-by-track as promised:

For now, I'm just gonna say I'm shocked by the negativity on "Big Freeze". It's the proper U2 tribute that "Madness" tried and failed horribly to be. Most unfairly hated thing since "Soldier's Poem". There are 8 or 9 worse songs on the album. The Muse fandom seems to have more U2 haters than any other fandom on the planet, though. Which confuses the hell out of me. I fucking love U2. Doubt I would've gotten into Muse without them.

"Supremacy" and "Animals" are better than anything on The Resistance. Easily. And yet UD and GL were the only two tracks on The Resistance that I outright hated, while I still hate all 3 pre-album tracks here ("Survival" being the biggest shitpile of them all), and "Explorers" is a monotonous drag that goes on 3 minutes too long. Same with "Save Me", as even though Chris's voice is different and all, his voice isn't necessarily that great. (his Dave Grohl impression in "Liquid State" is much better, though) And "Isolated System" sounds pretty but it's incredibly underwhelming as a closer. Everything else is at least decent. I swear I'll get a full review up after work today, haha.

The Resistance is their weakest album but the ONE thing it did better than any other album is cohesive structure. It flowed seamlessly from song to song, and Exogenesis felt like a carefully composed whole, while the two "2nd Law" tracks at the end here are really jarring. I mean, Absolution is probably in my top 5 albums of all time, but if I had to pick out one flaw, it's that the pacing is inconsistent as hell.

It's not worse than The Resistance. But it's not better either. More standout tracks but also more outright terrible tracks. Structurally awkward. I'll have a full write-up tomorrow.

The 2nd Law can still be stronger than The Resistance for me. Yes, there are 3 tracks I outright dislike or hate already and we haven't heard all the songs yet, nor have we heard studio versions of most of them. But The Resistance also had 2 songs I hated (UD, GL), and 3 songs I thought were merely passable (Resistance, USOE, IBTY), plus it had less songs. So if The 2nd Law ends up having more home-run tracks like Supremacy, I could rank it above The Resistance.

Ping always looked like Twitter that was only for musicians and was the exact same posts that those same musicians already posted on their Twitter. Which is why people just stuck with Twitter.

FULL videos of Follow Me, Panic Station, and Save Me Just need a full video of Animals now. 4 songs to hear still, but I'm pretty confident in saying the 3 songs they released pre-album were the 3 bad songs on the album. Jackasses. :laugh3:

Sweet balls, Supremacy

Ping still existing is news to me.

That's the biggest buzzkill of an encore ever.

Excellent job, Natt. ;)

I'm gonna be bluntly honest and say these guys are one of the most obnoxious new bands all year.