Red Hot Chili Peppers- I'm With You

So from reading other music blogs I've realized that I kinda write about mainstream music... Well. Yeah, I'm sorry, I do and well I guess there has to one or two of us sickening degenerates. And with that in mind today I talk about one of the biggest bands of all time... Again.


So... The album cover is cool... I like the whole thing with the fly and the pill. And then in the inside cover the fly is sitting on all these other pills and then on like the last page the fly is dead... So yeah, that's cool... Flies. They're cool.


Oh! And they got a new guitarist! In erm... (Wiki says) 2009 they're old guitarist, John Frusciante left the band! How about that! So... Yeah, they got this new guy, Josh Klinghoffer. He isn't bad.


So... The album art is good and erm, they got a new guitarist! Ooh! And ahh, flea dyed his hair green and Anthony Kiedis grew a mustache that kinda makes him look like a mix between Freddy Mercury and some guy from a porno movie. Speaking of Freddy, it was his birthday recently, this week or last week I think.


So yeah, Plug in your head, see ya next time, I'm now gonna wallow in the remnants of the RHCP's career...








...






Fine, I'll talk about the freaking album!


Ok so before I start, I never had high hopes for this album. I always thought it was gonna be bad and well, it was. But lets not look only at the bad! Flea's hair is green! And well I guess some songs are pretty cool.


So it starts off with, Track 1, Monarchy of Roses. It kinda sounds like some crappy garage band that's only in it for  the "Bitches" and the partying. The kinda band that only does Sum 41 and Blink-182 covers. And then the vocals come in and it sounds like the lead singer of The Mars Volta came to play! But then BAM! The Chorus comes in and it's all ORGANISED and OVER PRODUCED! YAY! And of course in usual RHCP fashion the lyrics make no sense but... Lyrics- Good! This song honestly sounds like they're trying to go back to how they sounded before Stadium Arcadium. But eh.


Ok now I feel kinda hypocritical cuz Track 2, Factory of Faith isn't just ok. It's actually fuckin' awesome! I love the bass and the lyrics are really cool. I love his voice and the vocal melody is pretty badass. But then that generic piece of shit that they call a chorus comes in and I automatically think, Hey! I've heard this before! IN THE LAST FUCKING SONG! Now they aren't exactly the same, but for both songs it kinda seems like they put in a chorus because they thought that it's too unconventional to not have a chorus. But still, that bass is really cool! 
My Girl Friend bought the album and played it to me and my friend who's a bassist, (You know who you are!) and the next day he goes to learn how to play it and he's like, damn... This is hard. And it may not sound it but if you listen carefully, every barre is different. But I don't like the guitar AT ALL! It sounds like they recorded one guitar part and used Ctrl+C Ctrl+V throughout the entire song where they felt a guitar part should be seriously! Every part is identical.


On to Track 3, Brendan's Death Song, Eh.


Ok then there's like 4 songs until you get the next note worthy song. Track 7, The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie. This was the first single off the album and I instantly thought Ooh! I like this! Then of course the dreaded Chorus. God, just... Just stop it guys. And I know that all they're lyrics make no sense and that's excusable. But really! 


"Tic toc I want to 
Rock you like the 80's
Cock Blockin' isn't Allowed."


And then it goes on with some other crappy lyrics I can't bare to convey to you due to respect in you, me and the music industry. He then starts doing that thing he did in Around the World where he starts replacing all words with random syllables. It kinda worked in Around the World, but not in this song. So Lyrics- Bad


Finally I think that Track 12, Even You Brutus? is interesting. Not great, but interesting. It bugs me that he says, 
"God is Good and Fate is Great." Not because I am anti-religion, Not at all, in fact earlier this year I was filling in as a guitarist at a church. But I don't like it when bands flaunt their religious views in their music. I feel like it alienates a large portion of their listeners who don't have the same view points as them. That's why I try to avoid listening to Religious bands, (With exception of Die Straatligkinders (An Afrikaans Punk Metal Band) and Daemon Hunter, because they either scream so I can't understand them or it's in a different language so I can't understand them.)
The thing I find interesting about this Track is that they kinda do this Hip-Hop thing and He, well, Raps? It was weird when I first heard it because it was different, but it wasn't necessarily bad.


I feel like this whole album is like a step backwards to what they used to have and what they used to be. Like they felt that Stadium Arcadium was a mistake and that it shouldn't be repeated. But Track 12 is certainly a step forward. I've always loved it when bands try to combine genres because it shows that they aren't close minded. For instance I loved the Track KoRn did with Skrillex! That fusion between Metal and Dubstep was genius! And The RHCP have always had this combination of Rock and Funk, but a band shouldn't get comfortable with their music, it must always challenge them and I think that this song must have been quite tricky to wrap their brains around cuz they aren't Hip Hop at all!


So yes, there are, as someone said to me (You know who you are!) a few gems in this album and the other songs are kinda just there. They aren't really something special. But it's not that they are bad songs, it's just that a band of this calibre is almost expected to create master pieces. So I am not in any way saying don't listen to this album, Hell! Even buy it if you like! Just it isn't their best. But then again, at least it isn't as bad as One Hot Minute. That album isn't even just boring, it's actually bad! I find it hard to listen to. But that's all I will say on that.


I hate to say this and it may upset many people, but I feel that perhaps RHCP should have broken up after Stadium. Because all to often, bands try to keep going on and they just tarnish their reputation and keep making bad albums. ACDC for instance, does anyone REALLY like Black Ice? It has a few good songs but it just isn't great. Bands should start following the example of The White Stripes. I was sad when they broke up because they were and still are one of my all time favourite bands, but I feel they ended on a high note and if they carried on, they would have made disappointing records.


So Yeah. Here's a Link to The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie on YouTube. Unfortunately, it isn't up on Grooveshark yet.


So tell me what you think of I'm With You. You can leave a comment, you can e-mail me at Xtianzzyzx@gmail.com you can Tweet me on @Xtianzzyzx You can ALSO leave a comment on the Plug in Your Head, Facebook page.


Please +1 my blog, and follow it. And if you think it's worth a mention, tell your friends. And don't forget that you can recommend me new music as well! I'll be sure to review it!


I'll be back next week with another Recommendation, so until then, Turn Up the Volume and Plug in Your Head!

Xtian Zzyzx

Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures

So today I started reading the Biography of Led Zeppelin, When Giants Walked the Earth, I've only gotten as far as the part on the formation of the band but it's really interesting! Led Zeppelin were supposed to be a super group! Page wanted Keith Moon and John Entwhistle from The Who, Jeff Beck (Former Yardbirds member and Guitar God!) and Steve Marriott from The Small Faces. And at one point, I think Stevie Winwood from... Traffic? (Feel free to correct me.)

This would have been a CRAZY line up. But of course he ended up finding Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. This line up however is what we know today as Led Zeppelin, so in a way I'm kinda happy his original line up didn't work out. (But if you wanna check out a song done by most of this line up, Check Beck's Bolero by Jeff Beck.) Now the reason I'm bringing this up is because years later in 2009 the Bassist from Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones some major muso's tried the same thing. AND SUCCEEDED! Their success was called, Them Crooked Vultures.

Them Crooked Vultures is made up of John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) on bass. Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) on Drums and John Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss) on Guitar and Lead Vocals.
I am SO happy this band was formed! Because the last major super group was Creme and (kinda) The Yardbirds, (And who remembers them?... Except my dad.)

I think this band is brilliant. They take a little from all their bands and give it a new fresh twist. I like this... Alot. Now when I first heard this album I wasn't crazy about it, but I guess at the time I was like 13 and didn't really know Nirvana or Led Zeppelin, (I Still Don't know Queens of the Stone Age. I'm getting on it! I have a music back log.) But now I realize how brilliant this band is.

Now the first song, No one loves me, and neither do I, starts out with a 4 Bar drum line. And I love this cuz it kinda gives it this off time-ish feel, even though it isn't really. Then the guitar comes in and I find the guitar in this band really unique in a way. It just feels different to alot of samey 3-chord-pop-punk-lots-of-distortion Bullshit you find now-a-days. I just wish more bands would do this. But to be honest I can't really say why I find this guitar different? I guess it has been done before but it's quite refreshing to hear it again I guess.

Track 2, Mind Eraser, No Chaser, has an awesome intro with that guitar I love again, then the vocals come in and I love this guy's voice! It's really different, but familiar? It's good! I also love the lyrics, I appreciate good lyrics, but I think I'm gonna stop mentioning the lyrics in my reviews cuz I can never really say much about them. Lyrics are a very tricky subject to talk about cuz often lyrics won't make any sense to anyone but the lyricist. I know that if anyone listened to my lyrics they probably would think I was on drugs, but they make sense to me. So I think from now on I'll say something more basic to talk about lyrics, in an almost neanderthalic tone for all you under-developed Trolls to comprehend. From now on I'll say. Lyric Good Or Lyric Bad. Or in  some cases Lyric Shitty!

Now Track 4, Dead End Friends, is FREAKING AWESOME! It appears on the Sound Track for the game Skate 3 and when playing it I put this song on repeat... Untill I'm sick of it. Once again I LOVE the guitar. There's something very classic rock about it with a fresh twist on it and in the solo he keeps hitting dead notes which is kinda hard to notice but it gives it this raw vibe. It also reminds me of guitar hero when the game tells me I fucked up and I'm an idiot.

Track 5, Elephants, does something really unique. It has the intro and then it goes double time when the drums come in and that's impressive cuz that must have been really hard to co-ordinate! I know keeping just one tempo is difficult when in a band, but then again they do have a world class rhythm section.
And then after the sped up part they then slow it down to the same tempo as before with perfect timing, without skipping a beat. All I gotta say to you guys is... Nice!

This album is full of gems. It really is. If I were to give it a genre I'd say, Experimental-mental-rock! (You guys can use that.) This band is kinda just one big rhythm section. The lead guitar isn't that spectacular and I don't fucking care! It's good! Lead is over-rated any way! (I'm just saying that cuz I can't play lead... Sigh.) I definitely recommend this band and I hope we get more from them in the future.

Here's a link to Them Crooked Vultures- Them Crooked Vultures on Grooveshark. The songs are in a weird order, but they're all there.

So tell me guys, What do you think of the new Plug in Your Head look? And tell me what you think of Them Crooked Vultures. You can leave a comment "In the Comment section below" (lol) or you can e-mail me at xtianzzyzx@gmail.com You can also comment and follow me on twitter @XtianZzyzx. It's all in the side bar. You can also +1 this post if you like it. (You can also +1 it if you don't.) And tell your friends.

Finally, you can recommend music at the same addresses or ask me to review an album! I'm up any challenge you can throw at me.

I'll be back next week with another Recommendation, so until then, Turn Up the Volume and Plug in Your Head!

Xtian Zzyzx


P.S. Sorry if you were hoping for the new RHCP album, but I haven't heard it yet. It only came out yesterday so I couldn't buy it.

Worth The Work

So after 5 Hours I'm done :) Now I think I need sleep. Plug in Your Head is officially up on every search engin ever... And of course it is now up on Twitter, Facebook and stumbleapon.

I hope you all like the new features and the new look. And I'll be back on Wednesday for another Review. If You would like me to review an album, please leave a comment, Send me an email at c.stroud19@gmail.com or Tweet me @XtianZzyzx

Plug In Your Head

Xtian Zzyzx

Following for Charity

So I've been working all night on this Blog. Trying to make it more user friendly and more accessible or whatever. I've gone through CODING! (I'm not joking) and all I ask in return is for you to just follow my blog. Ive gotten to the point where I'm tempted to make a "HOW TO FOLLOW MY BLOG" Step by Step instructional video... Please make an effort to Click the Join This Site button and follow my Blog. and to all of you who do follow my blog. Thank you and please tell your friends!

New Stuff

Plug In Your Head will be (and has been) going through some changes. Look, Ease etc. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment or email me at c.stroud19@gmail.com

Xtian On Music

Hey look everyone! Oh wow! Plug in Your Head looks different now! Isn't that a shock? I bet it'll change your whole perspective on life!

...Not Really.

Ok well with a new look, I'm gonna try something different today. Today I'll just talk music, not just one band but music in general.
This Idea came to me while I was in the car going home. I realised that I had a huge stockpile of albums I wanted to review but I just didn't really wanna talk about them. To be perfectly honest I'm going through some weird stage in my music tastes and I've been trying out new genres and I've found some pretty incredible stuff.

Last week I briefly mentioned my new best friend Grooveshark.com and I've been using it to find new stuff! Once I made an account I noticed the Stations tab on the left, I realised that this was a tool that let you choose a genre and it would make you a playlist or a "Radio Station." This got even cooler 'cause when you don't like a song you click "Nah, Skip it" and it will remember that you don't like that song so it will never play it again. And when you do like a song you can click "More of this!" and it will add it to your genre exclusive "Station" more often! I love this site because it really gives unrecognised artists a chance to get noticed.

Anyway, I was in an experimental mood and I decided, while I play World of Warcraft (Don't Judge) I'd listen to the Dubstep "Station." Oh my God, I was just stunned by the complexity and intelligence that goes behind that genre. In South Africa people are huge about House, now I was never entirely sure what House classified as but now I've got it. House is the little brother of Dubstep who eats lead based paint while exploring the contents of his own shit, while Big Brother Dubstep sits on the couch wearing sunglasses in doors, a leather jacket and a smirk that says, "Fuck Yeah, I'm Cool!" However Big brother Dubstep is always high, but we can forgive him.

Now without going too in depth, because I don't want to do a full review, I also found something that surprised me! Good Rap! Now I know y'all is sayin, "Dis sum bullshit! Rap Be Tight!" Or however you inbreed trolls talk. But to be honest I had never found any good rap until I found Immortal Technique! This guy (Or multiple guys (No Homo)) rap about things that matter and not just, How many bitches dey got up in deir crib! T(he)y talk about things like gang violence and politics and... Vegetarians? Either way I find Immortal Technique a breath of fresh air to the Hip Hop world.

I also found out from a friend about another rapper, Sage Francis who is also quite amazing. The thing I really loved about him is the fact that he uses a real band! And my friend (You know who you are) replied with, You can't use a computer to make art. Well said man, but of course there's Big Brother Dubstep to be excluded from that generalisation of course.

Finally I would like to give a mention to one of my icons, the god-father of South African Rock music, Ard Matthews. No he didn't die! But many are saying that his career did.

Ard Matthews, the lead singer, guitarist and front man for SA Rock Trio Just Jinjer appeared on live TV last night to sing the South African National Anthem after the 2011 Rugby World Cup side was chosen. But... Ard forgot the words. And excuse me for my nosey-ness but I'm pretty sure, "Nanana... South Africa!" is not the lyric.
As many of you should know, the South African National Anthem is sung in 11 different languages, (Don't ask me to name them all because I haven't got a clue how to spell them.) and this is a good excuse as to why he didn't remember the words. But I don't blame him, it was live TV and he wasn't drunk so he got stage fright. But he apologized profusely so I accept his apology and I hope that he recovers from this.

Ard Matthews is a really nice guy, in 2010 I took a 10 hour Bus Drive to Knysna to go and see them play and He found out (It's a long story about how he found out and it involves alot of name dropping and many of you wouldn't believe me.) and so Ard came out to meet me and thank me for coming to the show. He signed an autograph and then proceeded to throw up behind a trailer, (What a Rock Star!) Anyway I hope that no-one hates him and hopefully soon I will get around to reviewing one of Just Jinjer's albums.

Anyway that's it for Xtian On Music, maybe I'll do another one of these soon. Please follow my blog. Also could you +1 this post. I'd love to hear what you think of my blog and of the new theme so please leave a comment or E-mail me at c.stroud19@gmail.com

And so I'll give you guys another recommendation next week, so until then, Turn Up the Volume and Plug in Your Head.

Xtian Zzyzx

The Network- Money Money 2020

Hello and welcome to an issue of Plug in Your Head I've been putting off for a while now. You see, I always think, "Ok! Next week I'll do The Network!" But I always forget and do something else. So now it is time.
This is one of the coolest albums ever, EVER! Definitely original and it was a great direction for Green Da... I mean The Network, (Who are not Green Day) to explore. Even if it only lasted 1 album.

Now The Network, (Who are not Green Day) are a 6 piece band including, Fink (Who is not Billie-Joe Armstrong) Van Gough (Who is not Mike Dirnt) and The Snoo (Who is not Tre Cool). And even though the bands true identities are completely unknown, (Due to the masks they wear) we will just have to take their Bio's found on several Green Day related sites as truth. (Even though The Network aren't Green Day.) However here's some funny co-incidences! Did you know that Fink and Billie-Joe Armstrong are both Aquarius!? And that The Network is signed to Adeline Records which is weirdly owned by Billie-Joe Armstrong! But of course these are just co-incidences. (If you haven't gotten what I'm getting at yet, then I suggest you go drink the blue liquid underneath your sink to help clear your mind.... Or kill you.)

Now onto the music! Money Money 2020 (Pronounced Money Money, Two-thousand Twenty) is a brilliant little Ska pass time. It's really funny and contains more references to the sexual frustration of Robots than anything before it. With the possible exception of a couple albums released in the late 80's. It starts out with The song Joe Robot which shows how far The Network are trying to stray from the direction Green Day where going with the Lost Album, Cigarettes and Valentines... Even though they aren't Green Day... The song is about well... I'm not entirely sure really. All I know is that it keeps referring to a story, "It has a beginning. It has an End. It's a beautiful story. But it's pretend." I feel that this album is the only instance that the Key-Tar is allowed. In any other instance it should be avoided to the extent of using human shields to protect you from the 1980's projectile vomit noises it produces.

Staying on the topic of Sexually deprived Robots is Track 4, Supermodel Robots. When the singing starts I can't help but think how much Fink sounds like Billie-Joe Armstrong! Weird Co-incidence! Once again I have no idea what they are talking about in this song because the amount of references to computer parts could only be understood by perhaps an MIT graduate... Or many of my friends. (You know who you are!)

Track 5, the title track, Money Money 2020 uses one of my favourite Music clichés ever! The song starts out with the count, "EINCE, ZWEI, DRIE, VIER!" Now normally during the day I'm always listening to music on my Ipod with only one earphone in so I can still be part of a conversation. However that part didn't ever play in the earphone I would normally use so when I listened to this album for the first time on speakers I laughed uncontrollably at this intro.

Track 6, Spike is quite possibly my favourite song on this album. It largely consists of one sided phone calls made by Spike (Brandon) to drug dealers and eventually his mom and every phone call is basically Spike trying to find a way to get a fix. Then at the end of the song his Girl Friend dumps him leaving him homeless. Which always reminds me of the joke, "Q:What do you call a guitarist without a girlfriend? A:Homeless!"

Tack 8, Right Hand-A-Rama, is about a man's decision to either pay for a hooker, or a beer and a porno magazine. It's quite a happy song and I really liked it until I listened to the lyrics. Now I love it! And you will too because even if you deny it, everyone likes a good old sexual reference.

Track 12, X-Ray Hamburger is literally the weirdest song I have EVER heard. All I can pick out is that perhaps the X-Ray Hamburgers are gods or something? But then after a while it says, "X-Ray Hamburger is you." So you know what. I have no fucking idea what this song is about! Infact trying to review this album is making my head hurt. I  have no idea what the hell they were thinking or what they were on! All I know is that I want more! If anyone who has any say in the future of The Network reads this review please tell the band (Who are still not Green Day) to write a new album.

This album is so much fun to listen to and it's the answer to what Ska is missing. I only wish this band wasn't so underground 'cause I believe people need to hear this album. If it got enough popularity then perhaps it would birth a new wave of new wave! (See what I did there!?)

Seeing I can't find any music videos for this album I'm gonna use my new best friend! Here's a link to the ENTIRE album Money Money 2020 on Grooveshark.com

Please comment people! AND +1 AND Follow AND show it to your friends. Not for me, for the music (Yeah that was cheesy but maybe you guys will respond to cheese.) Anyway, comment and tell me what you think of this album and of my blog. E-Mail me at c.stroud19@gmail.com if you wanna ask me to review an album or if you wanna recommend something to me!

And so I'll give you guys another recommendation next week, so until then, Turn Up the Volume and Plug in Your Head.

Xtian Zzyzx

P.S. I'd like to give a thank you to my beautiful girlfriend Monica, It is our First Anniversary this Saturday so this Recommendation is dedicated to you. Love You.

P.P.S. Can this count as an Anniversary Present?