FAVORITES IN MUSIC
IN
The album Gros Mammouth Album Turbo
appears to me to be inspired from the work of the previously-mentionned
American bands, but also by the Cowboys Fringants of the early days
(funny and aimless songs of the first albums 12 Grandes Chansons and Sur mon Canapé...).
They have the same way to build up a funny story that seems to have
been written in the middle of a party while everybody was drunk, but
still conscient enough to hold a pencil and write their stupidities!
Without being absolutely genious, it is high entertainment and a very
well-invested fifteen bucks! And for those who would be disappointed of
the new single Saskatchewan
and who would tend to believe that the albums is already a bit blown
out after only 2 good singles, think again! It's only a question of
marketing, nothing more! A young band can rarely allow itself not to
release a ballad after 2 rock singles, otherwise risking to get
labelled early in their career and that people think that the band has
only one precise style of which it just can't deviate. A few popular
bands tried the experience, Disturbed for example. Result: Disturbed is
still able to sell records, but it is definitely and likely forever
labelled to a single precise style. After only one record, the singer
David Draiman was declaring that it would be using his voice at wider
levels on the 2nd record, and everybody was holding off a laugh! That's
for Disturbed, and that's the kind of situation that the Trois Accords
will likely avoid by placing a ballad at the right time.| Hawaiienne | Les Trois Accords |
| Despite
the risk of looking unintelligent, this has clearly been my favorite
song of the year, over! I don't know if it would have had the same
effect with serious lyrics, but whatever! The return after the "[...]
mais en partie d'où tu viens" part really is hitting hard! |
|
| Slither |
Velvet Revolver |
| Maybe
a bit disappointed of this slowdown at choruses, but it's the kind of
detail that never prevented a band like Pearl Jam to produce excellent
rock pieces. Slither is an example of raw power! It is of a great relief for the true amateur of true rock! |
|
| Personal Jesus |
Marilyn Manson |
| Please
understand that I do not judge on merit but only on the result! I
understand that this song is mostly good because the original from
Depeche Mode was, but still I find that the cover is better than the
original. It's like this track was a perfect fit for Manson; it
probably was one of the best covers he could have deceided to do. The
voice and the musical-style touch of Marilyn Manson put this old song
up to date for the years 2000. |
|
| Megalomaniac |
Incubus |
| A
bit aggressive, but so great! Does not lose any effiency with time;
even nearly one year later, it is still the same pleasure when this
song starts at the radio. |
|
| Ride | The Vines |
| Simple,
I'd even say very simple, but I'm not sure to have understood why, it
is really catchy! Maybe because of the "clap-clap"'s that are making
the rythm of the verses? Anyway, I remember that this simple song gave
me a lot of fun, as much in my car as at home. |
|
| Mein Teil | Rammstein |
| A
was slightly disappointed at first, a bit because of the lack of
originality but mostly because of another factor that I could not
identify. I think I found it: it's the singer's voice in the verses,
which is very different of what we found on the previous records. Less
deep & low, less guttural, less bass,
etc. Finally, after listening to it a few times, I've been forced to
realize that it's some good old Rammstein of which I have no reason to
be disappointed, it is even excellent! Interesting intro and finale,
soft but in the logic of things. |
|
| Loin d'ici | Les Trois Accords |
| The song that really made me realize the link between Les
Trois Accords and Weezer! Also the one that made me buy the CD, because I seldom purchase a CD for only one song. |
|
| We're all to Blame | Sum 41 |
| A
band at its apogee. No doubt that it is the best one from the band,
even despite persistence a little impression of imitation of Metallica,
although much less irritating than in Still Waiting.
An impeccable development, a beauty from one end to the other up to the
wonderful finale. Good lyrics that mean something. It's a little
masterpiece, so much that I'm almost ashamed that it is not my #1 of
the year! I think it has been disasvantaged by the fact of coming a
little late in the year and, most of all, of not having been played in
very heavy rotation at the radio and at MusiquePlus. Quite possibly the
most underrated rock song of 2004. |
|
| Enjoy the Silence (Remix) | Depeche Mode, remix by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park |
| I
loved Mike Shinoda's remix of this old Depeche Mode classic! It is not
a major makeover, but it makes the song much more rousing and gives it
a much more current sonority. When we look at it, it's the meeting of
masters of the sound of the '80s with a master of the sound of the
years 2000 (like Linkin Park or not, nobody can deny that Mike Shinoda
is among the people who most created the sound of the years 2000 up to
now). |
|
| Silver & Cold * | AFI |
| Liked less than Girls not Grey, but still liked it much. Another song fun to sing. |
|
| Lying from you | Linkin Park |
| Instant
coup de foudre! My favorite of the band this year. A little mysterious,
particular ambiance that makes the color of this song. |
|
| Amerika | Rammstein |
| I'm
still questionning myself on whether it was relevant to make a that
anti-Americans song (and at the same time locking themselves from the
largest market in the world!), but still it is yet another good song
for the German band, pretty different from what they're usually doing.
Much more rock and much less of the particular Rammstein style. |
|
| Getting Away with Murder | Papa Roach |
| What
a change for Papa Roach! A drastic change in sound, which is getting
closer to Korn's without falling in copy. An evolving band. |
|
| Duality | Slipknot |
| Obviously,
a so heavy song with lyrics of that kind may look like a vulgar mass of
noise at first time, but it definitely worth being listened to again
and again, and on a good stereo!
Slipknot is really reaching the top with this song. It is one of the
best (notice that I did not say necessarly THE best one!) metal tracks
in modern era. Something to satisfy the intelligent amateur of metal
(despite the lyrics a bit too "destroy"!). |
|
| La Manifestation | Les Cowboys Fringants |
| Don't
be surprised of the relatively low position; it's mainly because my
"trip" of this song was much more concentrated on the years 2002 (year
of release on disc) and 2003 than on 2004 (year of release at the
radio)! It's some Cowboys the way I like them! |
|
| Some Postman | The Presidents of the United States of America |
| A pretty funny, light and cool return. However, it lost a bit of its interest after listening to it a few times. |
|
| Followed the Waves | Auf der Maur |
| Excellent
solo debut for the ex-Hole and Smashing Pumpkins. Very surprising. A
BIG sound, for which she was helped by good collaborators such as Josh
Homme
(Queens of the Stone Age) and James Iha (The Smashing Pumpkins). |
|
| What you are | Audioslave |
| The
album's official single that went the least noticed, but it's normal
for a 5th single of a same record! Personally, it's my 2nd or 3rd
favorite of these 5 radio singles. |
|
| Parce qu'on vient de loin | Corneille |
| I
remember very well the first time I heard it. It was at the pop radio,
from which it is pretty rare that I catch songs for my annual personal
top. I wondered so much who was singing that! I thought it was a new
artist. Hell no, it was
Corneille, but in a superbe song of accoustic guitar with interesting
lyrics! What a wonderful surprise! My opinion on the singer drastically
raised all of a sudden. And finally it became one of the biggest hits
of the year in Québec (not a hazard). |
|
| Just Like You | Three Days Grace |
| Simple,
but well-powered by the voice of singer Adam Gontier, that I'm learning
to appreciate more and more. I pump up the volume every time! Still not
as good as last year's first single I Hate Everything About you, though. |
|
| Cold | Crossfade |
| I
liked this song right the first time I heard it in the beginning of the
summer on the radio of Québec. Then, it unexplainably took much
time to make its debut at WBTZ and MusiquePlus, so much that it's been
a nice surprise when it came in! My best rock love song of the year. |
|
| Figured you out | Nickelback |
| Mostly
for the bass-driven part before the last verse. The sound quality is so
round, so modern, so perfect. I often dramatically increased the volume
of the radio just for this part alone! |
|
| I Believe in a Thing Called Love * | The Darkness |
| In a more parodic style, but it was very entertaining! |
|
| American Idiot | Green Day |
| Just like the band: simplicity and efficiency. |
|
| Breaking the Habit | Linkin Park |
| Broken | Seether & Amy Lee |
| Duo
of a "grungy" singer that I like and the best rock female singer of the
moment. Predictable and even a bit mawkish, but the nice guitar and
very nice duo of singers are still making a very good song of it in the
end. |
|
| Time is Running out | Muse |
| A British sound that can vaguely recall Radiohead, with an interesting use of the electronic aspect. |
|
| Born too Slow | The Crystal Method |
| Somebody Told me | The Killers |
| Slow Hands | Interpol |
| Parle-moi de toi | Kaïn |
| Boulevard of Broken Dreams | Green Day |
| One of the most different, atypical songs in Green Day's career. |
|
| Talk Shows on Mute | Incubus |
| Echo | Trapt |
| All Downhill from here | New Found Glory |
| More
punk and ordinary than the songs normally found on my personal charts,
but the melody is catchy and it worths this fairly high rank. |
|
| One Thing | Finger Eleven |
| Wake up (make a move) | Lostprophets |
| Last Train Home | Lostprophets |
| I Miss You | Blink 182 |
| Superb... until Tom's voice comes in! Please, don't let him sing!! Mark does the job very well! |
|
| The Outsider | A Perfect Circle |
| No Phone | Cake |
| Underwear goes inside the pants | Lazyboy |
| Really just for the lyrics, because for the music, there's almost none! |
|
| What's your number? | Cypress Hill |
| Imagine | A Perfect Circle |
| Cover of John Lennon's classic, a cover that is very dark but different and (I think) relevant. |
|
| Ohne Dich | Rammstein |
| La Reine | Les Cowboys Fringants |
| Pieces | Sum 41 |
| Right Right Now Now | Beastie Boys |
| Definitely the most musical of the 3 songs that the Beastie Boys released this year. By far the best, according to me. |
|
| Take it Away | The Used |
| Some Kind of Monster | Metallica |
| Clearly
under the average of the legendary metal band's radio singles, but it's
still Metallica, it cannot be completely uninteresting! |
|