Listen, I'm as sick of the sameness in music as the next guy. The problem is, some bands, while sounding completely derivative, still make engaging, interesting music. It's tough to separate the two.
Take Cities, for example. I saw these guys briefly at SXSW. I was instantly drawn to them. On first listen, they reminded me a lot of Muse. Listening to their album over the weekend, I realized three things right away. A. They're not nearly as good as Muse. B. Any band that sounds like Muse right off the bat is probably going for a Radiohead anyway. C. Unless you're Muse, it's impossible to try and sound like Radiohead without coming off as a cheap imitation. But I still like them. They have a good sound. The songs are well crafted and emotionally engaging. But it's not quite good enough to escape it's influence's shadow.
Ripping off Gang of Four must be a lot easier. There are plenty of bands over the last few years that have, despite wearing their influences on their forehead, made better albums than Gang of Four while openly and admittedly ripping them off. That music is grounded in simplicity. Improving on the formula, while not necessarilly easy, is very doable. I have yet to hear anything really come close to improving on the Radiohead formula, however. Part of this is, obviously, there is a far less defined formula in place to begin with.
So Cities. I like this record. I've listened to it a number of times this weekend and it's pretty good. But it reminds me of my reaction to Wolfmother after seeing them and listening to them a few times. It's good and fun and all...refreshingly not like everything else out there...but at the end of the day, you can't get away from hearing where they are coming from, and that ends up being a distraction more than anything else. Instead of listening to what is there, you start to notice what's not. What's missing from the formula that their predecessors would have included. It's almost not fair, but completely unavoidable nonetheless.
Jesus, I'm rambling. Long story short, they're pretty good, but perhaps come off cheaper than they should mostly because they've situated themselves next to such incomparable giants. Go see for yourself tho. They'll be in town in a few weeks for the album release, and I do recommend checking them out. I'm hoping a full live set can create some separation.
whoever reviewed this.......your an idiot......and i as a listener dont see it....
Posted by: | April 03, 2006 at 07:27 PM
they have an awesome press photo!
Posted by: laura | April 04, 2006 at 04:19 AM
uh your not an idiot, I agree with:
'But it's not quite good enough to escape it's influence's shadow.'
Posted by: JD | April 05, 2006 at 10:58 PM
yeah, not an idiot one bit. in all fairness, i don't hear the muse either. but definitely not an idiot.
Posted by: | April 06, 2006 at 12:37 PM
Maybe the original piece is only so so, but if you haven't listened to the Cities remix album, Variations -- you're really missing out. Especially the Lancer remix from CacheFlow. Hunt it down, you won't be disappointed. http://www.stereogum.com/archives/003154.html
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