Home to Waco, that is. I realized over the last couple of weeks that I’ve been using “home” to mean whichever place (my parents’ house in St. Louis or my apartment in Waco) I’m not at. Which gets confusing. My apologies for that. In any case, I’m safely back in Texas, uneventful drive, except for the almost constant annoying rain. And the real frogdrowning rain for a few minutes in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has some weird weather, y’all.

But I just looked up what time my class is that starts tomorrow, and it’s from 11:20am to 12:50pm. The heck? Are they serving lunch in this class? That’s the weirdest-timed class I’ve ever seen. And I thought the normal-semester grad class time of 3:30-6:30 was sort of odd. They must have a some sort of sadist writing schedules. Ah well. The good side of that is that I thought it was at 9- or 10-something, and this means I get to sleep later.

In other news, I saw Waitress last night, as my last official activity in St. Louis, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Quite a feat for my most-highly-anticipated indie film of the summer, right? It was warm, and witty, and perhaps a little cliched in one instance which I won’t tell you about, because it would spoil the denoument if I did, but the whole thing was so sweet-hearted that I couldn’t hardly fault it. I’ll write more when I get around to doing May’s recap (still working on April’s…I watched A LOT of movies in April), but I wanted to encourage anyone who likes sweet-tempered indie romances to see it while it’s in theatres. It does have an arguably problematic outlook on adultery for a while, but I think it ended it up okay…good for discussion, at the very least. In related news, the aspiring filmmakers on On the Lot ought to look to Waitress and films like it as examples–tonight’s set of short films (the ones I saw…I got home about halfway through) largely did themselves in through trying to be too clever. Just be real, folks. Be real. (How’s that for a cliche?)

Oh, and also, no Music Monday this week. I was going to do it tonight, but I’m just too tired. I also know I missed Trailer Thursday last week or two, but there’s not much coming out…Shrek 3 and Pirates 3, and you pretty much know whether or not you want to see those without even seeing a trailer. It’s a paradoxical fact that the more free time I have, the less I blog.

So, American Idol is over (congratulations, Jordin!!), and so are almost all the other shows for the 2006-2007 season. (I have a season finale recap post ready to go up as soon as House airs…oh, and as soon as I actually watch the Lost finale.) What are we going to do over the summer? Well, now that I’ve been converted into a mindless sheep reality TV viewer, I’ll tell you what I’m going to be watching.

So You Think You Can Dance started up on Thursday to fill the performance show gap left by American Idol. I enjoyed this show last summer at least as much as I enjoyed American Idol, even if my level of obsession didn’t quite reach as high. This will be SYTYCD‘s third season, and after the first audition show, there are already two or three people to watch. Of course, I neglected to take notes so I can’t tell you who they are. Ah well. (And this is a good time to state that I will not be live-blogging SYTYCD like I did AI. I enjoyed doing that, but it ended up taking over the blog a lot more than I intended it to.) Anyway, getting to see all the different types of dancers take on different types of dance from ballroom to contemporary to hip-hop is incredibly fun, and I can’t wait for the competition to start. Although the auditions are also fun and tend to be not quite so mean-spirited as Idol‘s can be. So, yeah. Y’all should watch So You Think You Can Dance on Fox, Wednesdays at 7pm (results show Thursday at 8pm).

On the Lot is a new show seeking to find undiscovered filmmakers. It’s produced by big names Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg, and the two episodes that have aired so far are very encouraging. They chose some fifty filmmakers via a tape submission process last year, and right now judges Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in Star Wars, also a fiction writer), Garry Marshall (writer-director of Pretty Woman and others), and Brett Ratner (director of X-Men and others) are narrowing the contestants down to eighteen, who will then make short films every week and be voted on or off the show by the American public. The first round of eliminations was the ability to pitch a film based around a given set-up, while the second one put the filmmakers in groups of three to make a 2 1/2 minute short in 24 hours. Impressively for Fox, they’ve put all the short films up at The Lot.com. (In fact, I just noticed they’ve also put up full episodes. Niiiice.) I haven’t watched all the films yet, but the three or four they showed during the episode were quite impressive. I’m really looking forward to see what these filmmakers do throughout the rest of the series, because it seems like a very talented group of people. This one is on Fox on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm.

Hell’s Kitchen…yeah, Becky has gotten me to promise to watch this, in exchange for her watching SYTYCD. ;) I’ve seen a few episodes before, but never gotten into it. Maybe this will be the year? It starts on June 4th, Mondays at 8pm, also on Fox.

Project Runway…whenever it starts. I think several people who read my blog already watch this, but I found myself inexplicably fascinated by the show. I’m not a fashion-type person, so I never thought I would like a reality show about competing wannabe fashion designers, but I happened to catch an episode when I was flipping channels one day last year, and was completely hooked. Addictive, these things are. (But don’t get me started on the use of the word “auf,” which makes no sense on a number of levels.)

So that’s my summer. Like I said, I’m not going to blog these while watching every week like I did American Idol, but I’ll probably throw some comments out there every now and then.

All of the major television networks are now putting most of their television series online, streaming new episodes starting the day after they first air. ABC was one of the first to do this, and their streaming technology remains one of the better out there–they recently started full-screen streaming, which runs with surprisingly few hiccups. NBC, Fox, and The CW followed suit (though NBC and Fox annoyingly refuse to stream some of their most popular shows, such as The Office, House, and American Idol). CBS’s equivalent streaming service has not been doing as well as most of the others–I honestly haven’t used theirs either, because I watch very few CBS shows; speculation is that CBS’s lineup typically appeals to an older demographic than the other networks, which is true, and thus to people who are less likely to watch TV online. So what has CBS decided to do? Something drastic and very cool.

Read/Write Web reports that CBS is expanding their audience network through partnerships with many, many web companies, from stalwart media giants like AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, and CNET to Web 2.0 startups like Joost, Bebo, Brightcove, Veoh, Goowy Media, MeeVee, Meebo, Ning, and many others. The idea is that instead of making viewers seek out content on the CBS site, the way the other networks do, they’ll distribute it out on all sorts of media platforms, allow embedding in blogs and webpages, and focus on getting their media seen by as many people as possible rather than trying to control where and how viewers see it. This is a radical shift in media company mentality, and I’m sure the other networks will be watching closely to see how it works out. I hope they will be.

“We now want to empower our audience to be creative and deepen their experience with our content by allowing them to share and embed CBS-provided clips to their blogs, wikis, widgets, community sites and whatever else gets thrown our way,” said CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith. “We can’t expect consumers to come to us [...] It’s arrogant for any media company to assume that.”

Fox is working on a YouTube beater for their media and …Viacom’s? I think? I need to look that up. NBC’s. But in any case, that’s supposed to have embeddable media, too, but it’s still a centralized location for finding the media, as opposed to CBS’s decentralized vision. Relooking at the Fox/NBC deal, I see they’re going decentralized too, but focusing on the big media outlets. CBS’s big move is to include the smaller Web 2.0 startups, i.e., the places web-savvy people actually go to watch videos. The media landscape is interesting right now…frustrating, but interesting. I’m fascinated to see what’s going to come out of all this.

What in the hell is Randy wearing? Actually, what is Paula wearing? This is weird, Simon is the most presentable of the three of them. Whoa, Ryan, the bitch comment was a bit out of line. Did both Jordin and Blake audition in Seattle? Huh, that’s a little odd. Jordin’s success has been a long time coming? Wha…? She’s seventeen. As if they don’t remind us of that every week. In other words, it’s been less time coming than for pretty much anyone else on the show ever. If she wins, she’ll be the youngest winner by at least two or three years. Ryan needs to brush up on his logic. Or his math. Or something.

Aw, Blake’s a gentleman. Most singers would choose to go first, but he really let Jordin pick. Also a good thing: They’re only singing one song they’ve done before. Last year, having them sing two songs they’d done before was a little boring.

Blake Lewis
You Give Love a Bad Name

I am so glad he picked this. Absolutely the best number he’s done all year, and when we get right down to it, it’s going to be his beat-boxing and distinctive arranging that sets him apart and gives him a shot. Okay, though, running around the stage to interact with the audience might be a good idea IF you can keep singing and not lose the vocal. That, unfortunately, he did not do. Still, other than those few seconds, very strong.

Jordin Sparks
Fighter

Ooh, hard song. I haven’t actually heard Christina sing it, but someone on Australian Idol tried it last year and crashed and burned. Jordin is doing twelve times better than she did. Yeah, that was actually very good on a song that has really tricky rhythm, a lot of words, etc. Good on you, Jordin. Stellar? Come on, Simon, call her “stellar.” Let’s revive the word. Or not. :p

Round One – Actually, Randy’s right. Performance to Blake, vocals to Jordin. However, I think I’ll give the overall edge to Jordin because Blake couldn’t keep the microphone close enough to his mouth to be heard, and that was amateurish.

Blake
She Will Be Loved

This is the one Maroon 5 song I like. But it’s not working for him nearly as well as “This Love” did. Yeah, I’m afraid this round is going to Jordin. I disagree with the judges, I thought a bunch of that was flat, and the high notes didn’t work out quite as well as I’d hoped. Okay, I agree with Simon. That didn’t bowl me over in any way shape or form.

Jordin
Broken Wing

Definitely a strong choice, since she did “I Who Have Nothing” last week, and this is probably her second best from the season. This or “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Very nice. Randy, we know she is seventeen. Please. Stop. Telling. Us. That. High praise from the judges, and she totally deserves it. She was comfortable in the whole wide range of that song, and she sounded great.

Round Two – Jordin all the way. Sorry, Blake.

And now they have to sing the songwriting competition winner. I didn’t go listen to them all, but I heard that most of them weren’t that great. Did any of y’all vote for a song? (note: I have always said “y’all,” since I think English needs a second-person plural and y’all sounds much better than youse; it has nothing to do with my moving to Texas. Just for the record.) The songwriters are from Seattle, too? WUWT? It’s a Northwest Seaboard conspiracy!!

Blake
This is My Now

Eh. It was a’ight. Both the song and the performance. He did what he could with it, I think, but that wasn’t too much. The harmonies sounded off, and yeah, not his style at all. Heh, he hated the song. You can tell.

Jordin
This is My Now

And we have to hear it again. Woot. /sarcasm. Although it’s more suited to Jordin than Blake. Still. Why do they insist on having these faux-inspirational songs for the singles? Very strong vocal…right up to the end when I think she started crying or something? But yeah. She’s it.

Round Three – Again, to Jordin. That makes a hat trick for Jordin for me, though the first round was a bit of a tie. So there you have it. They’ve done all they can.

DAUGHTRY!! Emosewa! Okay, see, now Kat has to be there tomorrow night. Please? Pretty please?

In honor of the American Idol finale this week, I’m ceding this week’s Music Monday to American Idol fever. My favorite winners, finalists, and a few of this year’s best tracks. (Sound clips from the show taken from Rickey.org)

Previous Idols

Kelly Clarkson

I wrote Kelly Clarkson off for years because she came from Idol. Those were the same years, incidentally, that I was scoffing at Idol itself. But now I love her, and she remains the best Idol as well as the first (I just saw Season One on American Idol Rewind, and the only other contestant that season who even remotely competed evenly with Kelly was Tamyra Gray–Tamyra’s about to start starring on Broadway in RENT as Mimi, by the way–I bet she’ll be great in that role). On the other hand, Kelly’s immediate release after Idol (“Thankful”) was not terribly impressive from what I’ve heard of it, so skip straight to her second release “Breakaway” (I tried to pick songs that haven’t been overplayed on the radio–but since I don’t listen to the radio, I might be grossly mistaken). Hopefully her upcoming release this summer will be similarly enjoyable.

[audio:Kelly Clarkson - Gone.mp3]
Kelly Clarkson – Gone (right-click-save to download)
[audio:Kelly Clarkson - Where is Your Heart.mp3]
Kelly Clarkson – Where is Your Heart (right-click-save to download)

(buy "Breakaway" from Amazon)
(pre-order "My December" from Amazon)

Katharine McPhee

What, did I skip a few years? My bad. I started watching in Season 5, and don’t care enough for what I’ve heard of Clay, Ruben, and Fantasia to bother going back and get their albums. I do like Carrie Underwood, but not being a country fan, I also haven’t been proactive about getting any of her music. So there you have it. On to Season 5. Kat’s self-titled debut album is a bit overly pop/R&B for my tastes, but it’s actually growing on me. Which is a little disturbing when I think about it (do I like everything if I only listen to it enough?). But anyway, one review I read of the the album is that her voice sounds great, and it’s just too bad that the material often dips into the banal–especially the lyrics. I would totally agree with that assessment. If you like Kat’s voice and want to hear more, you won’t hate the album, but you might be disappointed that she didn’t hold out for better material. Here are a couple of tracks. “Dangerous” is a laid-back club number, while “Ordinary World” shows off her vocal ability better than most of the other tracks.

[audio:Katharine McPhee - Dangerous.mp3]
Katharine McPhee – Dangerous (right-click-save…you get the idea)
[audio:Katharine McPhee - Ordinary World.mp3]
Katharine McPhee – Ordinary World

(buy "Katharine McPhee" from Amazon)

Daughtry

I have Daughtry’s album, but I’ve only heard it a time or two, not enough to pick out songs I like. In fact, most of the songs seem to run together as annoyingly similar. Just to have something of his, though, here’s “Home,” which is currently being used as the journey recap music for voted-off Idol contestants.

[audio:Daughtry - Home.mp3]
Daughtry – Home

(buy "Daughtry" from Amazon)

Elliott Yamin

I was also disappointed in Elliott’s album. (I guess I should stop hoping for good Idol debut albums, eh? Especially since not even Kelly’s first one was good…fingers crossed for sophomore efforts?) But his voice is still incredible, even if I think they hired chimps to write a few of the lyrics.

[audio:Elliott Yamin - Find a Way.mp3]
Elliott Yamin – Find a Way
[audio:Elliott Yamin - A Song for You.mp3]
Elliott Yamin – A Song for You

(buy "Elliott Yamin" from Amazon)

Taylor is conspicuously absent for the simple reason that I don’t like him. Deal.

Best of This Year

Why should Jordin Sparks win this year? Because of these songs, among others:

[audio:Jordin Sparks - To Love Somebody.mp3]
Jordin Sparks – To Love Somebody
[audio:Jordin Sparks - Youll Never Walk Alone.mp3]
Jordin Sparks – You’ll Never Walk Alone
[audio:Jordin Sparks - I Who Have Nothing.mp3]
Jordin Sparks – I Who Have Nothing

Why do I want Blake Lewis‘s CD? Because of these performances, among several others:

[audio:Blake Lewis - Mack the Knife.mp3]
Blake Lewis – Mack the Knife
[audio:Blake Lewis - When I Get You Alone.mp3]
Blake Lewis – When I Get You Alone
[audio:Blake Lewis - You Give Love a Bad Name.mp3]
and especially Blake Lewis – You Give Love a Bad Name

Why was I surprised when Melinda Doolittle got voted off, even though I was rooting for a Jordin-Blake finale? Because she’s amazing:

[audio:Melinda Doolittle - Im a Woman.mp3]
Melinda Doolittle – I’m a Woman
[audio:Melinda Doolittle - My Funny Valentine.mp3]
Melinda Doolittle – My Funny Valentine
[audio:Melinda Doolittle - I Believe in You and Me.mp3]
Melinda Doolittle – I Believe in You and Me

Why did I feel bad when I started hoping LaKisha Jones would get voted off? Because I felt a bit shallow choosing personality rather than talent, which she clearly has:

[audio:LaKisha Jones - And I Am Telling You Im Not Going.mp3]
LaKisha Jones – And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going
[audio:LaKisha Jones - Midnight Train to Georgia.mp3]
LaKisha Jones – Midnight Train to Georgia
[audio:LaKisha Jones - This Aint a Love Song.mp3]
LaKisha Jones – This Ain’t a Love Song

Why did I want Chris Richardson to stay around as long as rationally possible? Well, partially because I was crushing on him. But also because I enjoyed his versions of these, among others:

[audio:Chris Richardson - Dont Get Around Much Anymore.mp3]
Chris Richardson – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
[audio:Chris Richardson - Dont Let the Sun Catch You Crying.mp3]
Chris Richardson – Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
[audio:Chris Richardson - Wanted Dead or Alive.mp3]
Chris Richardson – Wanted Dead or Alive

Why did I vote for Haley Scarnato even though I knew she couldn’t (and shouldn’t) win? Because I downright love her tone quality, even if I’m in a minority. And I think her voice is better suited to the recording studio than the live stage, and that hurt her.

[audio:Haley Scarnato - Its All Coming Back to Me Now.mp3]
Haley Scarnato – It’s All Coming Back to Me Now
[audio:Haley Scarnato - Aint Misbehavin.mp3]
Haley Scarnato – Ain’t Misbehavin’
[audio:Haley Scarnato - True Colors.mp3]
Haley Scarnato – True Colors

Just to prove I’m truly obsessed, I do have audio rips of pretty much all of the performances from both Seasons 5 and 6, if there are any y’all are interested in that I didn’t post here. American Idol.com has studio-recorded versions for sale, which I hear are often worthwhile getting, too, if you’re even more obsessed than me.

I’m super tired for some reason tonight, so this’ll be brief.

From the going home clips: Jordin is adorable. Get used to fame, sweetheart. Blake is such a dork. I love it. Melinda’s cute. I love her, too.

ELLIOTT!!! Damn, he looks different. So we’ve had Carrie, Fantasia, Elliott and even Kelly perform on the show this year, and Taylor’s going to perform in the finale I know. Kat? Please? Just for me? Hey, they’re actually going to the judges after a guest performance? That’s awesome. Of course they’re complimentary. :p

Yeah, I still don’t like Maroon 5. Blake’s better than their lead singer.

And results after the jump.

Click here to read on!

And we have a perfect final three. I’d be happy if any of them won, though I’m still pulling for Jordin. Much better than last year, when I loved Kat, liked Elliot, and hated Taylor. Yeah, that didn’t work out. Ooh, three songs a piece. Last year the producer-guy did a horrible job picking songs. But the judges did a good job, so we’ll see how they do.

Jordin Sparks
song: Wishing on a Star by Rose Royce

Don’t know that I know this song, but Jordin seemed happy about it. She certainly seems comfortable with it. A good vocal performance, but not hugely exciting to me. Still, nicely done. Heh…she looked happy when she heard what she was singing even though she’d never heard of it? Interesting.

Blake Lewis
song: Roxanne by The Police

Ooh, this song was in Moulin Rogue. Yeah, that’s the only version I’ve heard. I’m not sure if I liked Blake’s vocal or not. It was a little shouty in the upper ranges. But yeah, the performance wasn’t bad. Simon’s right, though. Good but not great.

Melinda Doolittle
song: I Believe in You and Me by Whitney Houston

Did Melinda just call Randy Jackson “Randy Johnson”? I think she did… He can’t even avoid name-dropping IN MEMOS. But this is an awesome performance. Melinda just pulled into the lead for the night. Perfection. She is far too good to be here, I’m sorry.

Jordin Sparks

Favorite song: Mmmbop by Hanson. O-kay. I liked that performance, though. It was fun. I’m all about the fun, you know? Hee. She seems extraordinarily comfortable for being the semi-finals. I like that. Is Simon on something tonight? He’s been drinking out of Paula’s cup, hasn’t he?

Blake Lewis
song: This Love by Maroon 5

Nice choice for Blake, I think. Very contemporary. Not a song I particularly like, though. Let’s see if Randy rips on him for beatboxing. He could beatbox all the time for all I care. It’s hot, dude. Yeah, that was definitely his style.

Melinda Doolittle
song: Nutbush City Limits by Ike and Tina Turner?

Okay, not a fan of the song. At all. The lyrics don’t make sense, and the instrumentation is really annoying. She sang it well, as always, but I think I gotta make this round a tie between Jordin and Blake. Maybe a slight edge to Blake.

Jordin Sparks
song: I Who Have Nothing

This was an awesome performance the first time she did it. The first moment I thought she could really win. Hopefully it puts her in the finale! Oh, yes. I’m getting goosebumps at that high note. That’s a good sign. Bring it home, sweetheart. We’ll see how the others do, but that was great. Shut up Simon. Don’t listen to him, Jordin.

Blake Lewis
song: When I Get You Alone

Another great song choice for Blake. When he’s not constrained by stupid disco themes, he knows exactly how to pick songs for himself. Again, totally, totally hot! Ooh, now we have a tie for this round, too.

Melinda Doolittle
song: I’m a Woman

I was hoping she’d do one of the standards! A little Peggy Lee is never out of line. That’s all I’m saying. Although I think her first performance of it was a little better, though of course, this was also very good. I gotta go again with a tie between Jordin and Blake.

Best Performances – Jordin’s last one, Blake’s last two, Melinda’s first one.
Who’s in the finale? – I have no idea, and I don’t even care that much. I’d like to see Blake in the final just because he brings a very different vibe than Melinda and Jordin, and that makes for better television. But both Jordin and Melinda also deserve to be there. Melinda’s been the most consistent, but I still hold that she’s already too professional for the show. What do y’all think?

*note for those using feedreaders – this post contains streaming audio files; they should show up as download links in your feedreader, which means you will see two download links since the actual post also includes download links. If you would like to stream the songs to see if you want to download them, please click through. Thanks!

I think what I’m going to do for the time being on Music Monday is share a couple of songs that I’ve picked up during from mp3blogs (I use them for discovering stuff I haven’t heard, so this would be just sharing my favorites of what I’ve discovered–these are often new songs off new or upcoming releases, but they could also be older; I’m relatively new to the indie music scene, so I freely admit to not always knowing the difference or caring, as long as I like the music), and then pick a theme for the other couple of bands I highlight.

MP3 Blog Finds

So, here’s a song I picked up from you ain’t no picasso this week.

The Acid House Kings are a Swedish band, and based on my limited knowledge of Swedish indie pop (which is based on, um, this song and The Cardigans), I really like Swedish bands. :) This goes on my mix of songs that just make me happy. you ain’t no picasso posted this older song because of the release of this collection from Swedish label Labrador Records, which also has several other Acid House Kings songs. Ooh, also the loveninjas, who I like. Hmm. Now I really want this.

[audio:Acid House Kings - This Heart is a Stone.mp3]
Acid House Kings – This Heart is a Stone (right-click-save to download)

And to transition into the rock theme, here’s a Sloan track I snagged from Fluxblog; the catchy bass line caught me immediately. Oh, but don’t listen to it while driving–it uses siren sounds.

[audio:Sloan - Money City Maniacs.mp3]
Sloan – Money City Maniacs (right-click-save to download)

Theme: Brit Rock

Last week I did all indie pop-type songs, so this week I’m going to do rock, specifically Brit Rock. This could fit any number of bands, up to and including mainstream artists like Coldplay or U2, not to mention my beloved Snow Patrol. I’ve shared a lot of Snow Patrol already, though. I was going to throw in a couple of tracks off their newest album Eyes Open but I don’t have .mp3 copies of it (only iTunes protected ones), and I left my CD of it in Waco. So, later. In lieu of Snow Patrol, here are two other British rock bands I like a lot.

Kaiser Chiefs

The Kaiser Chiefs are a lot of fun, even if their name is a little redundant. ;) They have a sort of funky instrumentation thing going on, and some really inventive lyrics. “Ruby” is the first track on their new CD Yours Truly, Angry Mob, which came out a month or so ago. It’s irresistibly catchy, and I was singing along with the chorus the very first time I listened to it. And “Saturday Night” is off their earlier CD Employment, which I had on repeat for weeks after I bought it. All the songs on it are good, but “Saturday Night” has some of my favorite nonsensical lyrics, like “pneumothorax is a word that is long / Man, just trying to put the punk back into punctured lung,” which just cracks me up every time I hear it.

[audio:Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby.mp3]
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby (right-click-save to download)

[audio:Kaiser Chiefs - Saturday Night.mp3]
Kaiser Chiefs – Saturday Night (right-click-save to download)

buy "Yours Truly, Angry Mob" from Amazon
buy "Employment" from Amazon

Muse

I think of Muse as operatic rock–by that I don’t mean that the lead singer sounds like an opera singer, but that the group’s sound is really lush, dramatic, and soaring. Their newest release Black Holes and Revelations came out last year, but these two tracks are from their earlier album Absolution. The two reasons for that are a) I’ve listened to Absolution a lot more, and b) I don’t have .mp3s of Black Holes. Both are good, though. “Stockholm Syndrome” was one of the first Muse songs I heard, and it was in the context of an Alias-themed fan soundtrack. It actually works better if you think of it in a spy situation, I think. But that could just be me. Anyway, it really shows off their very dense instrumentation mixed with the soaring vocals of lead vocalist Matthew Bellamy. “Endlessly” is a much more subdued, at times almost subliminal love song.

[audio:Muse - Stockholm Syndrome.mp3]
Muse – Stockholm Syndrome (right-click-save to download)

[audio:Muse - Endlessly.mp3]
Muse – Endlessly (right-click-save to download)

buy "Absolution" from Amazon