Review: Placebo’s Meds

Well, this has been sitting in my head for awhile. While I was in Rome, I had the pleasure of being reconnected with one of my absolute favourite bands from high school, Placebo. They were extraordinarily popular on MuchMusic (in its purely Canadian form, before it became Fuse, spun off the network and went back to its roots.) With painfully androgynous lead singer, Brian Molko, brooding style and necrophilic aesthetic Placebo is a dirty treat. Their newest album, Meds is as avant garde as I remember their sound being all the way back in 9th grade…and I love it.

Opening with the title track, we are quickly seared and shaken right into “Infrared,” my second favourite song on the disc. It’s edgy and rockin’…but not in a cliched kinda way. Nothing too complex, just enjoyable and tinged with a bit of anger. The best song, though is certainly “Follow the Cops Back Home.” It has a depth and beauty that I wasn’t expecting on my first listen…and is positioned as a respite in between the fire of the opening songs and the rest of the tracklist. All in all, a great, great album, I’d say. One you should check out.

The breakdown:

• Sounds like: Orgy, The Cure, Bright Eyes’ Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
• Favourite track: “Follow the Cops Back Home”
• Worst track: “Space Monkey”
• Overrated: Not really played here in the States yet, so this hasn’t happened
• Best surprise: “One of a Kind”

New Favourite Band…

I may not have found them until late in the game, but I do so love Panic! At the Disco. This is my favourite song on their album, “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Off Her Clothes”:

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I call this one “a life in the shadows”…

i figured out the key to short-term success
just tell everyone that you’re clinically depressed.
make a list of all the people that you’ve wronged.
don’t ever call them back, but use them in a song
and if you’re lucky enough to have a parent pass away,
pretend it broke your heart, but never go to their grave.

and it goes 1, 2, 3, easy as 1, 2, 3.
it goes 1, 2, 3, let’s all exploit our misery.

i figured out a way to twist reality,
just take a ton of drugs and never go to sleep.
re-rent the saddest movie that you’ve ever seen.
fill your room with TV sets and put it on repeat.
push all your friends away with the cool things that you said.
if you need company, you got the voices in your head.

and it goes 1, 2, 3, easy as 1, 2, 3.
it goes 1, 2, 3, let’s all exploit our misery.

so stay down on yourself
and if you feel a glimpse of hope,
you gotta choke it out before it grows.
you’re the only one that really counts.
stuck dollar bills inside your ears
and let the rest of them work it out.

and it goes 1, 2, 3, easy as 1, 2, 3.
it goes 1, 2, 3, let’s all exploit our misery.

right now

“Missed Medicine” by Her Space Holiday

I call this one “still life in college town”…

This place is a prison
and these people aren’t your friends
Inhaling thrills through twenty dollar bills
and the tumblers are drained and then flooded
again and again.

There’s guards at the onramps
Armed to the teeth
And you may case the grounds
from the Cascades to Puget Sound
but you are not permitted to leave.

I know there’s a big world out there
like the one that I saw on the screen
in my living room late last night
it was almost too bright to see.

and I know that it’s not a party
if it happens every night
pretending there’s glamour and candelabras
when you’re drinking by candelight.

And what does it take
to get a drink in this place?
what does it take?
how long must I wait?

“This Place is a Prison” by The Postal Service

mutual smeared_mascara makeouts

The mix CD of your non-electric sheep dreams is ready for consumption! Dusty & I have tried to include as many of our favourite tracks as logical (there were tears over the removal of “West End Girls” – mainly mine) and also some great new material.

The tracklist: “Come Into My World (Fischerspooner Mix)” – Kylie Minogue “Your Joy is My Low” – I Am X “Erection” – The Faint “Tear You Apart” – She Wants Revenge “John the Revelator” – Depeche Mode “Sexy Results” – Death from Above 1979 “Dramatica” – Orgy “Love Song” – Snake River Conspiracy “Louis XIV” – Louis XIV “Worked Up So Sexual – The Faint “Somebody Told Me (Insider Remix)” – The Killers “The Metro” – Berlin “Strict Machine” – Goldfrapp “Only” – Nine Inch Nails

What’s that I hear? Word from Dusty is that you can download this very lovely mix for your own listening pleasure right here (~77MB, mixed mp3 and m4a)! link expired.

And, because I love you all, the album art is also provided. You know – to complete the sexy.