Music Friday III: Black Market Music

Today, by request of my darling Kath, I am reviewing BLACK MARKET MUSIC by Placebo. So, shall we get started?

Ooh, a nice little guitar riff to get us going... Aaaaand drums. So far I'm liking this. Stripped down retro feel. And... um, a synth? Maybe? I can't tell. Yeah, this is my first time listening to TASTE IN MEN and already my mind is getting fucked up. Brian Molko's voice is freaky, as haunting as ever. The song is dark, as with most Placebo, begging someone to coming back to him. "I'm killing time on Valentine's", croons Molko. Don't worry sir, I'm sure you'll get plenty of offers. It's a nice opening, fairly low-key but building nicely. And a burst of static to end...

DAYS BEFORE YOU CAME has a similar inital vibe, broody and grungey and rather desolate. I mean, any song with "freezing cold and empty" as the second line is probably not going to be cheerful. For some reason it reminds me of The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, despite being far more stripped down.

SPECIAL K starts with a soft (acoustic?) guitar, and then breaks into a still rather subtle guitar/drum combo. Mm, it's still slightly depressed, but in a different way. The breakdown, which has a major harmony in it (I think... music technical stuff isn't a strong point of mine) helps to move the song along and the quiet "ba-da dum-da-dum"s in the background actually enhance the mood instead of seeming like a cheap marketing gimmick.

I hear drums. And somethign almost nu-metally. This is SPITE AND MALICE, with vocals quiet enough for me almost not to hear them. Yes, I was right - some rapping has slipped into the middle of this song. It now seems like a slightly dispirited Rage Against The Machine. The swearing seems out of place, but otherwise the song provides a more energetic contrast to the previous album tracks.

On PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE we are back to a mellow song, with a spoken-word echoing beginning to build mood. On this song, Molko proves he can put aside the whiney tone of voice and actually pull out some really pleasant sounding vocals - Oh, no, just at the end of words, it sneaks back in. What a shame. At 5.23, it is quite a long track a little repetitive but it does develop in a nice, laid-back-slightly-depressed way (if such a way can be called nice) and seems dreamily wistfull.

BLACK-EYED certainly trumps the Peas of a similar name. With some slightly creepy techno creeping into the background and Molko proclaiming to be the "product of a broke home" it is, like all Placebo, not an easy listen , but it does seem more optimstic than other songs - or is that just my twisted mind?

And now... is that a piano? It reminds me of another song, which I can't place. "It sounds pretentious, but it's true" claims Molko. Mm, that could be said of a lot of Placebo's music. BLUE AMERICAN - ah, the odd references to "Mom" and "Uncle Tom" make sense now. Not the strongest song on the album, but an interesting continuation of the same mental health theme explored in a different way.

SLAVE TO THE WAGE starts in a squeal of distorted guitars. Calling Margaret Thatcher a bitch was quite an amusing turn in the song, and yet the message - that work and life in general is a race of rats to die - resonates rather well and provides a nice refreshing change from the generally introverted musical theme.

Now this doesn't sound like Placebo at all, actually. COMMERCIAL FOR LEVI seems like a continuation of the previous song, in a way. It is, so far, the most cheerful song on the album. "Please don't die". Yeah, I like that. It's a good idea, and also merrily tells us to stop doing drugs. Thanks for the advice, Brian - but you could've taken it yourself. Where did the title of 2006 album Meds come from again?

Now, the biologist in me is pondering whether HAEMOGLOBIN really is the key to a healthy heartbeat, but the clasutrophobic atmosphere of the song works will with the idea of being cut open and examined by strange doctors. It's a somewhat uncomfortable listen, but well worth it.

I can't help but wonder where Mr Molko gets his ideas for titles from. NARCOLEPTIC? Is this a song about narcolepsy? Why have you gone back to mentioning words and books like in BLUE AMERICAN? And now we're being warned of ending up as a wreck... the song develops nicely with a storyline behind it, though the ending seems to be repeated a few too many times for my liking. Yes, we get the idea about never making up, and you don't have to send us to sleep.

PEEPING TOM is a melancholy ending, with reverberating synths and lyrics that seem reminiscent of hearing voices. It's a subtle end to what has been a generally understated, grimy yet somehow magic album.

Reading this review you might think I'm being critical of Placebo. Well... I am. But that's because those are just the things I could find to say. Just saying that every single song is a disorientatingly simple journey into your own head would be the easy way out; dull to write and dull to read. Picking apart flaws is just another way for you to appreciate the dark beauty and majesty of an album which is 11 years old, and yet continues to be relevant and haunting. 8/10