Niki N. Phaser

                 Scottish grunge revelation, Biffy Clyro, are about to release a new single from last year’s successful Only Revolutions . After the well-received singles That Golden Rule, The Captain and Many of Horror, it’s time for Bubbles (no connection to The Powerpuff Girls, I was told) to persuade another wave of listeners to check out this band. With some ‘backing’ guitars by Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and a feelgood-in-a-small-town Thin Lizzy vibe, we are sure that Bubbles will do its duty. With honors (or horrors ?).

                 If indeed, you jump on board of the Biffy craze, you’ll get plenty of chances to see them rock out their heavy complex arrangements at this summer’s festivals. And from what I gathered, they do it quite nicely. But first, get a taste:

Chase and Pop BUBBLES here

                I’ll get in the holiday season and give a thought to something Christians all over the world commemorate in the holy month of April: the death of Kurt Cobain and the ever-growing resurrection of Nirvana. It’s difficult to find even a non-single of theirs that is not known by almost everybody, especially off of Nevermind.

               On a Plain is the song that always comes to mind when I hear that Kurt Cobain considered The Beatles a major influence. There is a lot of melodicity in Nirvana’s work and by burying it in punk whirpools, they achieved the sound that bears their name. That’s what this song is all about, sonically speaking. Lyrically, I don’t think we should look too much into it, because the subject is pretty clear: “It is now time to make it unclear, To write off lines that don’t make sense”, to which we can add “And one more special message to go, And then I’m done, and I can go home”. The thing we should remember about Nirvana is not how great (continue reading…)

              Mazzy Star’s best known song, Fade Into You, is not a very complicated track, it hardly ever crosses the acoustic border. Hope Sandoval’s vocals are also pretty steady all over. The structure is simple, the production minimal. Yet maybe it’s just these things that make Fade Into You the perfect soundtrack for that moment we all take once in a while, those few minutes when we just stop. It provides the distance we all need sometimes when looking at our lives. It might be mistaken for a love ballad, but Fade Into You just seems more like an ode to closeness. Lyrics like “I look to you and I see nothing, I look to you to see the truth” are as truthful and cynical as any relationship, no matter what are the circumstances. The demystifying of love is exactly what gives it strength and before happiness there is the warmth of a comforted heart. But then again, I’m really just guessing here, hear for yourself:

FADE INTO HERE