2009 for gaming is a bit of a mystery so far.
Will we find out about Team ICO’s next project? We’re promised to NOT get ready for Final Fantasy XIII this year. Nintendo is even more quiet than usual which makes me both excited and nervous for their E3 presentation.
So while I catch up on all the 360 games I wasn’t able to play since I just bought the console recently, I’m going to instead rant briefly about music.
Specifically I’m going to rant about music that is so close to being fantastic but makes minor, but crucial, errors.
In fact, today I’m going to be even more specific and rant about two songs that fade out.
Fading out is possibly the most lazy technique used in modern music save for changing keys to make the last chorus “more interesting”.
I can’t possibly imagine a scenario in which fading out actually benefits a song. I just can’t picture a band really sitting down and deciding “well yes, the way to end this song in the best way possible is to fade out”.
No.
It’s lazy.
It makes me so pissed off, in fact, that some songs that would otherwise be among my favourites have become a source of severe bitterness. Here are the two examples:
1. So Long Mrs. Smith – Matthew Good Band (Raygun)
This is a hidden gem on Matt Good’s most available EP. It’s simple and powerful; really the stuff that defines the guy. It’s not very long, but that’s okay, it’s far more frustrating that the song goes into a beautiful acoustic solo and then decides to fade out
…right in the middle of it
…while the solo is still going strong.
Matt’s usually so good with never, ever fading out, that this just confuses me. Perhaps because it was on an EP, he didn’t think the song was actually as good as it is? Either way: no excuse.
2. Perfect Symmetry - Keane (Perfect Symmetry)
So you kids are more likely able to relate to this song just they’re just not popular in Canada. Keane’s newest album has some hits and some misses, but the biggest mix of both is the title track. It’s a powerful, sprawling epic that I may have labelled their best song in their three album career; except they decided that they wrote enough different parts of the song, and so they just fade it out at the end.
IT MAKES NO SENSE.
This song has been called Keane’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which isn’t exactly true in its own right, but it would be a lot more understandable if Keane had thought of a way to tie up their song in the same thoughtful and emotional weighted way that Queen did. But Queen didn’t fade out Bohemian Rhapsody.
Imagine?
“Just wanna get out, just wanna get right out of here”, and then the song slowly fades out during the instrumental that follows. It didn’t happen because Queen wouldn’t make such a musically retarded decision for such an important song.
What a bloody waste, Keane.
So that’s my rant.
What do you think? Do you not mind when a song fades out? Do you know/like/hate any of Keane, Matthew Good, or Queen?
That’s what the comments are for.
Ethan’s Link of the Week (Music): Listen to Lorene
