Musical Wanderings

I discover new music in much the same way as everyone else. Either I am introduced to something new or cool by friends eager to share it with me via an IM transfer (yeah, Bobby, I’m talking to you) or I find it on some radio station which makes me sit in the truck until the song has finished.

This latter instance was the case, both yesterday, and today. Coming back from the store, I chanced upon an alternative station playing “Knights of Cydonia” by a band I had never heard of called Muse. If you haven’t already seen the video for the song, click the title of it now in order to fully appreciate just how over the top it really is.





I played it for my wife and we both commented on how much of a conglomeration it sounded of Queen, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. Basically, the only description I could come up with the power trio from England who produced this bastardization of 70’s opera-rock was that they were sci-fi geeks in high school whose parents had enough money to not only get them music lessons, but also sustain them long enough to make multiple albums until something finally stuck to the mass consciousness of modern youth.

Which isn’t to say I necessarily hate the song or the band. I merely find their rehashing of older and better-done themes to be as tiresome as so much other recycled crap which passes for music these days. The song is well-performed, with a lot of soaring vocals and nifty guitar solos. However, it is not something I can listen to for more than a couple of times before growing tired of it and switching to something else. The rest of the album fares no better, in my experience.

However, the video got me interested in the “spaghetti western” genre they spoofed so well in the video. Going on a bit of a wikiwander, I soon encountered what is considered a classic example of the era called “Preparati la bara!” (1968). The score was done by a man named Gianfranco Reverberi, who even has his own MySpace account now due to a song from that movie which was sampled in a more recent hit.

For those who have not yet heard it, here is Reverberi’s "Nel Cimitero Di Tucson":




The kids out there will immediately recognize the tune and bassline, which brings me to the fantastic modern example of this song.

Gnarls Barkley, a group comprised of Dj Danger Mouse and rapper Cee-Lo, produced an addictive hit topping the charts called “Crazy”. Sometimes recycling music from the past can produce something every bit as good with a little something extra.