Niki N. Phaser

As I wrote in my review of Muse’s latest album, The Resistance, Undisclosed Desires is definitely single material and it would have been pathologically proggy of them not to use it as such. It’s a one of a kind track on this album, being the most mainstream on it, but we woun’t hold that against the boys, considering that they have ‘earned’ the right to be a bit poppy, once in a while. In fact, if you think about their catalogue, a track like this must be what they consider ‘experimental’. The total absence of a guitar and/or piano riff shows that they are more than a rock band, whether it is alternative, progressive, symphony or whatever else kind of rock there is.

It will be released on November 16 and it will be joined by two remixes, one by tour buddies The Big Pink and another (a really cool club cut) by The Thin White Duke (aka Stuart Price).  The video is, indeed, a bit strange and not necessarily in the good sense of the word. We have to admit, though, that it is quite a challenge to imagine a visual translation for this song. Still, the female dancer is really out of place there and she really seems to be moving to another beat. Maybe it’s a metaphor about how the song is out of place on The Resistance… 

See it on the MUSE’s MySpace

Grunge survivors Pearl Jam have offered a gift to fans through their MySpace page. The song is called The Fixer and it’s the first single from their upcoming album, Backspacer, which is due for release this September. It will be a breath of fresh material amongst the string of reissues they are planning. Even before the premiere, it was known that The Fixer is going to be used for a Target commercial, directed by Cameron Crowe. He’s a good friend of the band and has worked with them before, on his 1992 grunge-era comedy Singles. He is also at the helm of some sort of documentary on the band, a 20 year anniversary retrospective. This new single might baffle some of Pearl Jam’s fans, as it has very little guitar heaviness on it or, in fact, none at all. It was the band’s intention to get more poppy on this one, but the results sound a bit like Counting Crows back in the 90′s. However, after their previous album, Pearl Jam, being so punchy, a change was rather expected.