Experience Music Project - Seattle, Washington

About three weeks ago I had the chance, luck and honour to visit the Experience Music Project in Seattle, the best music museum in the world!

Music instruments tree, greeting you as you enter EMP

What made the experience even better was the fact that the current exhibition was about Nirvana and how they brought punk into the mainstream. From exclusive videos, broken instruments, clothing memorabilia, even to tour equipment such as stage-show background and amps.

Guitar and shirt worn on "smells like teen spirit" videoclip

I could definitely live in that place :)
After spending hours checking the exhibition material and memorabilia I went onto the second where you literally experience music. Several studio rooms equipped with guitars, basses, drums, keyboards and microphones. I was lucky enough to go there on a weekday and the place was not packed so I got to enjoy everything for hours...I ended up spending the whole day there!!!

Bass and guitar used @ "unplugged! album

I just wish we had something similar here in the UK. They could have one in Brum with exhibitions about Sabbath and Priest, in Manchester about Stone Roses and Oasis, In Cambridge about Pink Floyd, in London about so many other bands...come on UK, you can do it too!

Music Mecca

Just left Vancouver on the 06:40 train and heading to Seattle, a music Mecca and home to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. By the way, Vancouver is amazing (and I can’t blame them for Nickelback :P) and the whole city was in great spirits after the Canucks went through the semi finals of NHL after winning the series against Nashville Cougars – GO CANUCKS GO! Canadians are really hospitable and welcoming, produce amazing pale ale and inspire a rock attitude in everything – all Canadians look very “alternative” and I really envied that as UK people are more “current-trenders”.

I can’t wait to visit the city that gave birth to grunge rock music in the early 90s. You can’t help but thinking what would have happened if Nirvana where still around. Would the genre still be this popular? Or would it fade like everything else did? Maybe the mystery of this makes it all exciting – an unfinished story if you’d like. Sitting on the train, I chose to listen nothing else but grunge today getting to the Seattle mood in good time for our arrival there.  Top 4 of grunge songs I would recommend to anybody:

1. Blow the outside world – Soundgarden
2. Been a son – Nirvana
3. Alive – Pearl Jam
4. Plush – Stone Temple Pilots (San Diego band, a city I will visit soon, but still amazing grunge sound)

A good friend from Canada recommended something called the Experience Music Project in Seattle and I’m sure I’ll definitely check it out, and also an “obligatory” visit to the local Hard Rock cafe is a must for a music memorabilia viewing.

Seattle, here I come!

Driving playlist - input required

Next week I’ll be driving down the US west coast, all the way from Seattle, Washington – birthplace of immortal grunge bands Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana – to San Diego in California, and I need a good soundtrack...at least for the first few hours. I’ve tried to come up with songs that have to do only with driving and cars in general, and I came up with the 20 decent songs below (alphabetic order):

1.    Autobahn 66 – Primal Scream (Trippy song, perfect way to start and end  a ride)

2.    Bad habit – Offspring (Old time favourite – parental advisory: heavy swearing towards the end :P)

3.    Brand New Cadillac – The Clash (Classic UK sound – instantly recognisable)

4.    Cars – Fear Factory (I prefer the heavy cover to Gary Numan’s original due to the lack of heaviness in the playlist)

5.    Drive – Incubus (awesome quiet tune – nevertheless deserves a place here)

6.    Drive – REM (same as above)

7.    Drive my car – The Beatles (upbeat, cheerful and different than the rest – you need those too in here)

8.    Fuel – Metallica (one of the heaviest here – from my least favourite Metallica album)

9.    Gasoline – Audioslave (amazing pace – Tom Morello is a guitar god)

10.  Highway Patrolman – Johnny Cash (a MUST in every playlist – RIP Johnny)

11.  Highway Star – Deep Purple (Classic – reminds of highschool and I caught Deep Purple live two years ago at a London motorshow: they’ve still got it you know)

12.  Highway to hell – AC/DC (Probably my favourite of this list – that rhythm!)

13.  Midnight Runner – Pendulum (Very pacey even though D’n’B I quite like it)

14.  Passenger – Iggy Pop (everybody loves   Iggy, right?)

15.  Ride – The Vines (decent but mainly a filler in the playlist)

16.  Ride like the wind – Saxon (Saxon’s version here for the same reason as Cars)

17.  Riders on the storm – The Doors (chilling driving song – avoid at night: you’ll get sleepy :P)

18.  Road to nowhere – Ozzy Osbourne (love the double O man but this is here just to fill the playlist)

19.  Roadhouse Blues – The Doors (THE perfect driving song in my opinion)

20.  Route 66 – Depeche Mode (Another cover – much better than the original)

I’ve definitely forgot songs so I could really use some help here, but remember that songs must be about cars or driving. Cheers!

When language doesn't matter

I believe that good music must be accompanied by meaningful and deep lyrics (Rage Against The Machine, Tool, A Perfect Circle, etc) but what are you supposed to do when the language is foreign to you?

I’ve always loved Rammstein’s music but they sing in German – so what? Their lyrics are quite silly for  my usual standards (after shortly researching into it) but the music and the imagery Rammstein’s videos provide make up entirely for the silliness in their lyrics. Just check Ich Will (bank robbery gone bad...or not), Sonne (Snow White’s malevolent version), Du Riechst So Gut (werewolf tale), Amerika (fake moon landing...oops gave up the ending, sorry!) and Keine Lust (fatties with hot chicks rocking it hard) – you won’t give a toss about the random lyrics (although Amerika is very clever in all senses) after you experience the brilliance of the sound and vision they entail.

Recently, another band made me feel the same, this time from Japan and it’s not Dir En Grey but Maximum The Hormone. A friend of mine said that they are the Japanese version of System of a Down, and another one said they are like Korn...Guys: do you know any heavy guitarist performing in slippers?...and socks? Even during gigs? UNBELIEVABLE...I laughed until I cried watching it...Music-wise yes, they do sound quite 00’s nu-metal but they do retain their own identity. Lyric-wise...it’s all Japanese to me! But just like Rammstein, their music and videos provide all the attention and awesomeness you need to adore this band. The female drummer’s voice is quite melodic, and they produce a variety of sounds: from poppy Koi no Mega Lover, heavy What’s Up People, to anthems Zetsubou Billy and Buiikikaesu, and semi-anime masterpiece Bikini Sports Ponchin. I hope they’ll just visit the UK soon – their live clips on YouTube look really exciting!

Hail the new kings, Maximum The Hormone, baby! They’ve haunted my mp3 player for a good 3-month period now!