What's On

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Poor Build Quality (Old)

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Jaguar XF ($51,000)
Jaguar has replaced the aging S-type with the new XF. The XF displays sleek new styling and a more advanced technology that has never been offered in previous Jaguars. Although its styling is pretty, reliability is not up to par. In fact, Jaguars consistently score low in initial quality surveys. Unless you have deep pockets. You're better off buying from BMW or Mercedes-Benz.

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Land Rover Range Rover Sport ($59,000)
Land Rovers are known for their ability to provide luxury both on road and off. Although the average buyer won't take these machines off-road. Many of these vehicles will spend most of their lives in the repair shop. That is if you find that one Land Rover that actually is reliable. Just like Jaguar, Land Rovers suffer from poor reliability ratings. To sum it up, you buy a Land Rover as a status symbol.

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Volkswagen Beetle ($17,000)
The Volkswagen Beetle is known for its cute iconic design. With a 2.5liter five-cylinder rated at 150hp and a six-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy is so-so, but interior quality is typical Volkswagen. When you buy a New Beetle, make sure that you get rid of it after the warranty is over. Many owners have complained of electrical problems and even major mechanical problems well after the warranty is over. Even though its cute, the build quality is terrifying.


Automatic BMWs
BMWs are dream cars for many. Most people lease them and trade them in for newer models. Once traded in, people flock to buy them used. This is where all the problems begin. Even if certified pre-owned, these automatics should be avoided at all costs. Most customers complain that the transmission hesitates or won't go in reverse at all. German cars aren't cheap to fix. BMW tends to be a little pricier to fix than the average German vehicle.

Devon M 

Monday, August 28, 2017

Backmasked Messages (part one)


The Beatles "Rain"
Message: "...the sun shines. Raaain. When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads"
Comments: Gibberish occurs during the fade out (accompanying muisc is not reversed), actually sections of the vocal melody. This was one of the earliest instances of backmasking. The deliberate reversal was repeatedly acknowledged by John Lennon and others.

Beck "Loser"
Message: "Soy un perdedor. I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me" (entire chorus reversed)
Comments: After the last time Beck says "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me," and before the vocal "I'm a driver, I'm a winner."

Message: "You must wait for the rest of the non-believers/ If you disagree, you will sleep/ You must wait for the rest of the non-believers"
Comments: At 3 minutes and 17 seconds into the song, you can hear faint vocals that sound like gibberish. Reversed you can hear the lyrics.

Devon M

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Psychedelic Rock

Downtown Seattle from Queen Anne Hill, with the Space Needle on the left and Mount Rainier on the right

"Are You Experienced" The question "Are you experienced" was commonly interpreted as Hendrix asking if you have experienced drugs. He said that this song was not necessarily about drugs, but about being at peace with yourself. Guitar, bass and drums were all played backward as part of the effects. The part at the beginning may have been ahead of its time, as it sounded a lot like the record scratching Hip-Hop DJs began using years later.

"2000 light years from home" Space exploration was big at the time, and was probably an influence on this. Pink Floyd was making music with a similar sound. The psychedelic sound reflected the times. It was the summer of love (1967). Mick Jagger got the idea for this while in jail on drug charges.

Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote this about Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange, New Jersey, where they lived at the time. The Monkees fourth single, it is an ode to the simple life in happy suburbia. While studio musicians were brought in to play on many songs for The Monkees, the band did play on this one - for the most part. Peter Tork played piano and Mike Nesmith played the famous opening guitar riff. Chip Douglas, a former member of The Turtles who produced the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd album, played bass and came up with the guitar part, which was based on The Beatles "I Want to Tell You." He taught it to Nesmith, who overdubbed it twice. You can see him play the line during a close-up for the "video.

Friday, August 25, 2017

Devon Test Drives A Volkswagen GTI (Used)


Volkswagen GTI ($26,500*)

Likes: Rapid shifting DSG gearbox, interior materials typical VW high quality, turbo four-cylinder provides good fuel economy and excellent performance.

Dislikes: Competitors offer more horsepower for the same price, can get expensive with options, styling a little bit bland.

Overall: Volkswagen has a hot-hatch that's worthy of the title.


Thursday, August 24, 2017

Belle Plaine

Main Street
'Belle Plaine' is a street located in Schiller Park, IL. The reason to the song is simple. I wanted to write the most violent song. With much emphasis on 'blood', 'death' and even an Atheistic point of view thrown in. The whole song is written in a basic form. Man gets shot and is left to die on the street of 'Belle Plaine'. These are his final hours as he ponders what he had done to see his ultimate death. There is no known reason to why Jack shot the main character. Nor is there any real known facts suggesting if anyone seen this fight. Or if anyone called the police. All we know is the character is dying and there's no one insight. The rest of the story is sort of left up to you to decide. The cliff hanger is 'bury me'. The whole reasoning behind this is simple. You bury the dead. But it could also mean 'bury me metaphorically'. One may say its about 'gun violence'. Or it could be the main character is improving his life and is trying to bury the old life that once tormented him. There is no real definite meaning behind the song. It was written as it is. So enjoy, I posted the lyrics below: (Song written by Devon M for Pathological hate)

 
Jack pulled out a gun on me, and he seems very mad, why must I be the one, to feel a bullet in my lungs

Jack just shot me, Jack is the reason I bleed, I'm dying - soon I'll be here with death

It won't matter if I believe, I'll just lay here and bleed, soon I'll be dead before dawn, laying here before Belle Plaine

Jack just shot me (shot him down) Jack is the reason I bleed (shot him down) I'm dying - soon I'll be here with death, Jack just shot me, Jack shot me down to the ground, Jack shot me, Jack just shot me

Jack shot me down to the ground, Jack shot me

Make me bleed, watch me bleed, make me bleed, watch me bleed, make me bleed, watch me bleed, bury me

Song Facts

Sacramento Regional Transit

Deftones 'Knife Party'

This is about going to a shooting gallery - a place where people go to inject themselves with drugs. In the first line they say "My knife is sharp and chrome." A chrome knife is another name for a syringe used for injecting drugs into your bloodstream. "Come see inside my bones" is probably talking about injecting himself. "I can float here forever" is describing getting high. The other lines in the song all work with the same theme as well. The album title is a reference to high grade cocaine.

UnderOath 'Writing On The Wall'

This song is about a family that is broken apart (step dad, dad, mom, son and step sister). The step dad is abusive and the real dad tries to stop him from abusing the daughter. The step dad and dad get in a fight and the step dad ends up killing the dad.

Rise Agaisnt 'Ready to Fall'

This song deals with pollution and its effects on the environment. The video shows how animals suffer from the actions of man. Rise Against is active with PETA, and are all vegans.

Story of the Year 'Swallow the Knife'

This song about cutting yourself and how much it bleeds. They said that it's mostly about someone who is depressed and feels like that person wants to killed himself or how much it bleeds.

Nirvana 'Pennyroyal Tea'

This song is about making a tough decision, the difficult choices around it, and the guilt following it. The reference to laxatives and cherry-flavored antacids implies the song is about heroin addiction. Many junkies have laxatives around to combat the chronic constipation that opiates bring. The lyrics could be Kurt thinking he's a lazy, weak figurehead who is depressed and sad and wants a new life. Some lyric analysis:"I'm on my time with everyone" - He was usually late for interviews."I have very bad posture" - Childhood Scoliosis made him appear hunched over."Sit and drink pennyroyal tea" - This could be a drug he took to calm his stomach pains, but it is also a play on words with penny royalty, meaning a cheap figure head."Distill the life that's inside of me" - He wants to cleanse his life and start fresh. The line, "I'm on warm milk and laxatives." could be about Cobain's dependence on DXM, scientifically known as dextromethorphan, which is available in most drug stores. As a result of consuming so much DXM (in the form of Robotussin), he developed stomach pains. One of the long term affects from this is the deterioration of the kidney and liver. The pain that you get from this physically addicting drug is unimaginable. It drove him to do heroine, which didn't last long so he used other remedies to cure his stomach pain.

Thursday 'Autumn Leaves Revisited'

This song is about a young boy or girl who loses their father in the war. The line, "Did you hear the trumpets play the day your father died?" suggests a military funeral; "Did the drums in the street make the people dance, or fall to their knees as the sound" compares it to a leaf falling from a tree in the summer (tree = family tree). The child wishes it could be summer forever: "there must be somewhere... and the leaves don't abandon their trees to the light where the skies are clear and the summer never ends" because if summer didn't end no one would fall from life as leaves. However, the father will still be there when the child dies, the message being, don't fear death.

Bad Religion 'American Jesus'

This was written in response to US President George H. W. Bush's comment that the US would win the Gulf War (the first one) because God is on their side. It's pretty much a satirical view on the general American thought that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world because it is "One nation under God."

John Lennon 'I Found Out'

In this angry and bitter song Lennon attacks a number of falsehoods such as the idolatry of the Beatles and how he is the focus for many of those involved in the peace movement. This song includes the line: "The freaks on the phone won't leave me alone, so don't give me that brother, brother." Lennon explained the lyric to the January edition of Rolling Stone. He said: "I'm sick of all these aggressive hippies or whatever they are, the "Now Generation," being very up-tight with me. Either on the street or anywhere, or on the phone, demanding my attention, as if I owed them something." Ringo Starr played drums on this track. After the break-up of the Beatles, Lennon continued to have a good relationship with Ringo. He explained why to Rolling Stone: "In spite of all the things, the Beatles could really play music together when they weren't uptight, and if I get a thing going, Ringo knows where to go, just like that, and he does well. We've played together so long, that it fits. That's the only thing I sometimes miss is just being able to sort of blink or make a certain noise and I know they'll all know where we are going on an ad lib thing. But I don't miss it that much."

Gaslight Anthem 'The '59 Sound'

The line "I hope we don't hear Marley's Chains we forged in life" is a reference to the ghost of Jacob Marley from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This is one of many quotes and references from novels, films and songs on The '59 Sound. Singer guitarist Brian Fallon explained to Jam! Music: "I look at our music as a soundtrack and I look at the lyrics like a movie script. And I try and write them so that people are watching the images go by in their head as they're hearing the lyrics. And when I reference another song it's because it's playing during a scene in that movie. At least, that's how I see it in my head."

Taking Back Sunday 'You Know How I do'

This is a song about a guy and his girlfriend who both lead a life of partying, drinking and drugs. The guy says he's had enough of it, but his girlfriend hasn't so it's either give it up or he's going to dump her. The song title came from the movie Made starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Faverau. Vaughn's character, Ricky Slade, says, "You know how I do" throughout the film.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Muse 2nd Law Album Review

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Muse 2nd Law Album Review

Great album but the dub-step sort of spoils the momentum.


Muse Resistance album released in 2009 was a great album. Reviews of the album were mixed as most thought Muse was trying to sound like Queen in a few tracks, but they were able to blend their sound into each track well. Making Resistance a fine album in its own respects, but the transition from Resistance to 2nd Law has a lot of precautionary actions to be taken into consideration before reading on. One: This is still Muse, Bellamy still sounds like himself and the Muse-like sound is still infused in each track. High energy with strong vocals and fascinating lyrics, however all the good feels like it will shortly come to an end on a few tracks. This is where two will come into play. Dub-step with plenty of wobble and enough of it to make die-hard Muse fans want to barf. But before you go and think that this is another one of those songs that sounds the same like the rest. You just have to remember that Muse did incorporate electronic sounds into their music way before Resistance. Just think, super massive Black Hole, Bellamy wanted to create a funky danceable song that was different from anything Muse had ever done.


There are really better ways of creating danceable songs without going the lame route of dub-step. Which all sounds the same and can be heard in so many pops songs on the radio. Before we sound like we are bashing Muse, let’s get more into the new album. The first single released from the album was Survival. This song was used as the official song of the 2012 Olympics in London. Survival starts off as an innocent song that gradually builds up as the song goes on. It’s a typical Muse song that gets really loud and full of energy in a very short amount of time. The song gets pretentious very quickly and the lyrics get very stellar and dry quickly. It’s a great song with strong vocals and instruments used to give it such strong energy, but at times it feels rather sloppy and over the top. Madness is an okay song and was intended to appeal more to the fan base who loves the wobble – wobble from the dub-step. Bellamy grabs much inspiration from Queen I just want to break free and George Michael’s Faith including samples of I want your sex. Another song that grabbed mixed reviews, most of them were positive in favor of this track. It’s a catchy pop track and displays a new direction that the band is trying to head into.


Follow Me is another fine example of how Muse can take a song and push it over the top. Bellamy vocals sound so crisp and strong, the lyrics are good and the energy is high. It feels like it’s going to lead up to a fantastic array of guitars and drum solos. Instead the vocals are quickly greeted with once again wobble – wobble from the dub-step. It sounds as if the song is trying to be edgy and ended up failing completely on all aspects. But then again, the song isn’t completely bad if this is your first time listening to the band. However for hardcore fans, this will either disappoint or you’ll learn to love it like their previous albums. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the rest of the album is actually not that bad. Panic Station takes inspiration from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. The song itself is not that bad, it’s quite catchy and Bellamy vocals are decent. Big Freeze and Animals are also very good songs as well. After that, the rest of the album just goes from okay it’s starting to sound good to what the fuck Muse? It seems as if Muse isn’t really playing their instruments in the tracks. This once again pulls inspiration from Resistance the last three tracks were just completely random from the rest of the album. It wasn’t bad because the music was raw and full of energy. But this however just makes you wonder what was really going on when they were recording these songs.


2nd Law really does open new doors for the band. They are entering new sounds, and are really trying to make a statement for themselves. Many fans will miss their more guitar heavy songs such as Plug in Baby, Sober and Uno which was a symphony of guitars. Those were the great songs of the past and the new Muse dipping into new charts that were never before thought to happen. It’s not bad but it just doesn’t quite fit the image that you’d expect from Muse. It’s a great album, but it was gradual let down by the lame dub-step and pretentious Survival song. The rest is a great collage of songs and really is a good listen if you try to ignore the early days of Muse Career. Try to see them as growing with them time’s kind of album and you’ll see why Muse is still a great band despite the few somewhat stellar songs. ****

Devon M