Rooftrampler92

Totality, you idiot! You see that technique messes with your brain and you think only about that. I mean totality, both in terms of technique and expressiveness, two things that Mascis has always nailed perfectly.

fiquata, YOU talk about technical issues (the phrasing, that's technical), I talk about the way of playing the guitar in its entirety. You understand well that Molko is that, just as Mascis truly was in essence. I don't want to get caught up in all these provocative comments that add nothing, because my opinion remains the same. You even play with jokes of a certain lowness (the teenage pedal, come on). Then "fuitenne, fuitenne," what the hell do you want?

I play the guitar (classical), I know very well who J Mascis is and how he plays, and your prejudices don't affect me one bit. The phrasing has nothing to do with it. J Mascis doesn’t play well just because he does the phrases (is that really it? thankfully he doesn’t limit himself to that), he plays well because he communicates, because he’s expressive, he’s haunting, he’s melancholic, he’s angry when he wants to be, he’s teenage. That way, that attitude of playing the guitar is everywhere, it was in contemporaries like Sonic Youth, it was in the Pixies, it was in Nirvana, it was in the Smashing Pumpkins, and it is in Placebo, damn it. Enough with these prejudices; in fact, now I’ll make some of my own. Want to know what my prejudice is? That if Placebo had made independent music and had a grittier sound, you would have worshipped them for life.

Look, I'll tell you, there have been so many people who have annoyed the hell out of me for this, but coincidentally it has happened to me so many times inside debaser that I've gotten really fed up. Honestly, I find myself every single day repeating the same things.

But it's not bullshit; it just takes a bit of an ear to hear names like The Cure (second period), Dinosaur Jr., and consequently something from Nirvana, and also some Smashing Pumpkins inside Placebo. If I play it for my grandma, she gets it too.

here it is, never mind. Oh, you’re not the first one to tell me this, I’m really fed up with being in forums always dealing with the same pretentious twenty-somethings with mental complexes who always have to argue back. I'm 16 (thankfully, I’ll be 20 soon and I can name Dinosaur Jr. song by song) and I’ve seen plenty of people like you. I understand those who come and say it to my face but without making comments like true know-it-alls (and they have all my respect). With you, I don’t have any respect whatsoever, and in fact, go fuck yourself. In the meantime, I’m downloading a bunch of stuff, listening to Sonic Youth while having my milk and cookies, and if I have time, I play a bit of marbles.

Christ, I said it to emphasize the similarity between Molko's guitar and Mascis's, but I guess you'll just keep arguing anyway. But it’s also evident, I mean, J Mascis has influenced practically the entire way of playing guitar in alternative rock.

ashanti: "Black Market Music" in my opinion is just the crap of Placebo, with a few salvageable tracks and nothing more.

@porqata: shut the drain and go listen to the first two, J Mascis could sue Molko. @kimir: the typo is on the Black Market Music link, anyway I understand which Placebo you’re referring to and that also explains why you don’t like the latest one much.

I disagree with almost everything, and that's not all; the review is very inaccurate. You've shot some major nonsense. Let's leave aside "reef" (which, by the way, means rock or something like that); you can say anything but that Placebo has a unique sound, because their uniqueness lies in Molko's unmistakable voice, while the music is very derivative (for examples that come to mind right away, take a band like Dinosaur Jr., or the lighter stuff from Nirvana, a bit of Sonic Youth, clean it up and package it with a glam attitude, and you’ve got it). In the end, you say, "this album could easily be confused for a work of any Alternative band (Camel, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys: big names, but they have nothing to do with Placebo)." Frankly, I don't understand the usefulness of this statement, especially since you also say that they have nothing to do with each other. Moreover, I honestly don't know what you see in "Battle for the Sun" that remotely recalls Franz Ferdinand. You also got the links for the two albums wrong when you compared this one to the first and Black Market Music (and not Marlett). If you consider "The Bitter End" a track that moves you on the first listen, I can only tell you to listen to a lot more beyond Placebo, because "The Bitter End" is a piece of plastic that represents the worst of Placebo (anyone with a good ear can immediately tell they are listening to a surrogate of pop rock without emotion). Placebo has really made better songs (to mention one, which I think is their expressive peak, the title track "Without You I'm Nothing") and they have truly reached dramatic heights in which I often recognized myself. "Meds" is not a quest: "Meds" is Placebo's music with a slightly more modern appeal, with the addition of electronics, which in my opinion, contrary to what you say, is not at all a relevant aspect in Placebo before "Meds"; in fact, it's quite present. "Meds" is strong with some tracks that show originality by introducing new elements ("Infra Red" is an example). I don't believe at all that "Meds" is a quest; it simply brings new aspects to Placebo's music.