Cobra Starship ~ Nightshades

So, it’s no secret that Cobra and I have had a falling out and they have pretty much become the reason I hate everything all the time (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here or here and then come back).

Against my better judgement I bought the new album as a “Congrats for getting bitches out of your life” present. Little did I know it was going to be more of a punishment than a reward.

None of the album really feels like Cobra Starship. It feels like the pop music machine got a hold of them and rang all of the talent and cheekiness that was Cobra Starship into a bucket and tossed it out the window like yesterday’s bath water. It has been replaced by awful, over produced melodies and lyrics to match.

At least two songs are very clear rip offs of songs that have already hit it big. I won’t go into the details about “You Make Me Feel…” because I already have gone through it once and just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.

What I can talk about is “#1nite.” I dare you to listen to it and not have a familiar taste in your mouth. I will give you the answer. The song is a mash between Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” and Chris Brown’s “Forever.” On top of making me scratch my head for ten minutes trying to figure out what this sounded like the lyrics are awful. “I got one hand up, the other on you.” Come on, you can do better than that.

By far the worst song of the whole damn mess is “Disaster Boy.” This is the sad, sorry excuse for a chorus:

Yeah every girl has given up
But I’m the one who’ll stand by you
Can’t you feel my heartbeat
Listen up
Disaster boy I’m dialling you
Don’t you pin your heart on my sleeve
Don’t you pin your heart on my sleeve

It is only made worse by the fact that Vicky-T can’t sing. I don’t mean to be harsh, she kicks ass in almost every other way but she just shouldn’t sing lead. To really feel how bad this song is, just go listen to it, I guarantee you won’t make it through the whole thing (If you do, let me know, and I will personally send you a hand drawn picture of what ever you want).

The only redeeming song, mind you it doesn’t make up for the rest of the crap, is “Fool Like Me.” It has a fifties feel and some really great lyrics, “I’m sorry that I hit your dog with my bike, but he still got three legs, he gonna be just fine.” It is the only song that keeps up with their witty, cheeky reputation.

Once I waded through all the crap there is a glimmer of hope for Cobra still. Gabe’s voice is getting better all the time. It is crystal clear and he hits the notes perfectly. They need to go back to locking themselves in cabins on the mountains, and not let Kara DioGuardi get a hold of them again.

Something Fishy May Be Lurking In the Land of Cobra Starship

So as you can see, the most recent post (aside from this one) is about my loves Cobra Starship and their two new songs.

Because I am out of college for the summer and I have nothing better to do, I searched Cobra Starship in the tags on WordPress to see what other people were saying. I found something interesting, which lead me to something more shocking and mildly upsetting.

I am still not sure what to make of this so if anyone reads this and would like to talk it out with me comment on this and we can have chats.

One of the posts I happened upon had the title, “Did Cobra Starship Rip Off A Calvin Harris Track?” So I read it. In short (or long, however this comes out), Calvin Harris is claiming that the beat used most notably on the hook to “You Make Me Feel…” is actually a modified version of a beat he created for his song “I’m Not Alone.” Shortly after Cobra’s lyric video for “You Make Me Feel…” hit the airwaves, Harris tweeted, “And another one…” with a link to the video. This is not the first time Harris has claimed someone stole his beats. A few months ago Harris accused Chris Brown of using beats from the same song in his track “Yeah 3x.” (After listening to 2.5 seconds of this song, the beats do sound similar).

Shortly after the first tweet including the link to Corbra’s video, Harris tweeted again, saying, “I sort of wish i had just made a load of beats that sounded like I’m Not Alone myself, i’d be living in a gold plated castle right now.” He later followed these up with a tweet saying, “Please know i’m never 100% serious about this stuff…! It’s funny to me. I love music! I’m VERY happy so many people like that track!”

After reading the article, I immediately went to YouTube to listen to “I’m Not Alone.” Through the first 40 seconds I wasn’t sure how this song could ever sound like anything in “You Make Me Feel…”, but once the beat picked up it was obvious that there are some similarities. But, in the end I was willing to deal with that. Harris didn’t seem that upset, he was taking it in stride so why shouldn’t I do the same.

At this point I was ready to bury the hatchet and move on. I was interested in seeing what kind of music Harris makes so I looked at a few more videos. He does some really cool things. In one video he shows how to use a contraption he made, called the Humanthesizer. It’s really interesting. I suggest looking it up not only to witness what I am about to tell you, but to see this awesome creation in use. Near the end of the video there is a cut to a screen advertising more videos about the machine. The digital clock face font used on the titles of the videos is the same digital clock face font used in most of the lyric video for “You Make Me Feel…” I wikipediaed a song by Harris called “Acceptable In The 80s“, from 2007, same font used on the cover for that single. Cobra used the digital clock face font on the cover for this single, too.

This is where I am a little… upset…maybe that’s the word. I really don’t know.  I am a die hard Cobra fan. I have been for a really, really long time. I talk about them constantly, I have met them and they are pretty much the inspiration behind why I write about music at all. So seeing them do this is kind of a slap in the face. I would like to say it’s all just a coincidence, but I don’t think so.

I really would like to know what anyone else thinks about this situation so maybe I can come to terms with what is happening to my favorite band. Maybe it can still be worked out.

Cobra Starship~ “Don’t Blame the World, It’s the DJ’s Fault” & “You Make Me Feel…”

New Cobra Starship is out.  Well at least two songs are out now. “Don’t  Blame the World, It’s the DJ’s  Fault” was leaked a couple weeks ago and “You Make Me Feel…” was released as the first single from their new album.

I have high expectations of Cobra because every album they have released has been a new take on their sound. Their debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, was powered by the popularity of “Bring It” but was able to stand on its own. Their next release, Viva la Cobra!, was an upgrade in sound and lyrics. The songs are fun, dancy and everything Cobra Stands for. Hot Mess, their most recent release was everything I had hoped for and more. They took a more serious route but still kept the sound that made them.

When “Don’t Blame the World..” was leaked Cobra took it in stride and released the song via their record label’s Youtube. The video was accompanied by a challenge, watch the video and come up with what you think the title of the new album is. Whoever got it first would  receive  a call from them or something  like that. Although the context is over, go watch the video here and see if you can come up with it. (The answer will be later in this post).

The song is catchy and fun but not really anything new.  The song writing in “Don’t Blame the World…” is simple and repetitive. The song would  have more power if there were more lyrics and it felt like they put thought into writing  the song. It is a good listen if your in the mood for a beat.

Snippets of “You Make Me Feel…” circulated the web Sunday. Most were only 30 seconds and weren’t really meaty parts of the song. The song was officially released today on all major digital download sites and I snatched it up right away. It’s not what I expected from them but as the weeks have gone on it has burrowed a special place in my heart and I could even be caught dancing on my bed to it. Here is a link to the lyric video released by their record label, Fueled By Ramen.

I’m not sure what else to say. I hope the album, titled Nightshades, comes out and has better quality song writing on it than the samples we have been given. I am still hold out hope and even if it’s a bust, I will still count them as my first true musical love.

New Panic! at the Disco

I love Panic! at the Disco an enormous amount and haven’t  been this excited for a new album since Cobra Starship released Hot Mess (for those of you keeping track, it’s been about a year and a half).

First, just hearing there’s a new P!ATD album coming out is enough to get me screaming inside. Secondly, Panic’s record label, Fueled By Ramen, posted a lyric video for the new song “The Ballad of Mona Lisa.”

The song is reminiscent of the days of their debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Although you can hear the difference, it is very clear Ryan Ross is gone and he took The Beatles influence with him, which many fans of AFYCSO will be happy to hear. The lyrics are surprisingly well crafted considering most of Panic’s songs were penned by Ross. The song includes sharp lines like, “A lonely speaker in a conversation, her words are swimming through his ears again” and “If she had the proper words to say, she would tell him. But she’d have nothing left to sell him.”

Along with the lyric video that has been posted, Fueled By Ramen has posted a 30 second trailer for the music video. It doesn’t feature any words just the instrumentals and the whole thing is punctuated by a few seconds of a black-eyed Brendon Urie. His face is creepy and I like it.

Since day one I have been all over this song. The music and the lyrics are exactly what I wanted from them. Each previous album holds a special place in my heart.  AFYCSO is the album that originally made me fall in love with P!ATD. And, when Pretty. Odd. came out, I welcomed the new sound as a point of maturing.

This release marks the first fans have heard from P!ATD since they released “New Perspective”, a single for the movie Jennifer’s Body, in 2009. I think fans that were hurt by the change seen in Pretty. Odd. will be happy to know that is seems like Panic! didn’t skip a beat between AFYCSO and their next album, Vices and Virtues.

Which leads me to some more news. A fellow Panic! enthusiast who goes by the Youtube name PrettyMuchIt, got the opportunity to go to the Panic! show in New York a few days ago. He was kind enough to post two videos on his blog of them performing new songs.

One is a full version of “Nearly Witches” which was originally released as a demo on a Clinton Sparks produced mixtape called “CitizensFOB Mixtape: Welcome to the New Administration.”  Credit was given to a band, no one had heard of, by the name of The Paul Revere Jumpsuit Apparatus. Everyone new it was at least Brendon Urie’s voice. It’s kind of hard to cover up something that gorgeous. From what I can understand of the lyrics, not many have been kept the same from the demo. The song is still wonderful lyrically and musically.

The second song is a brand new one called “Let’s Kill Tonight.” The song is full of energy and watching them perform again is really something. Brendon and Spencer look really happy to be back doing what they love and doing it they way they want to again.

They are both videos from a live show, so it is really hard to make out any words exactly, but I assure you I will be updating with more reviews and more news when I get it.

Their new album releases March 29. It is available for preorder on iTunes and  in several bundles from the band’s website. However the ‘fantastical’ bundle sold out in less than 15 minutes and cost $99.