I was reading an article the other day on the various commercial tie-ins surrounding the latest Star Trek film. Most were what you would expect - toys, fast food meals, etc. But this one made me giggle — Star Trek fragrances.

The three fragrances are manufactured by a little-known company called GenkiWear. You can choose from:

    RED SHIRT Cologne — Because Tomorrow May Never Come
    TIBERIUS Cologne for Men — Boldy Go
    Pon Farr Perfume for Women — Leave Logic Behind

The product pages contain further details on each fragrance. For example, Red Shirt Cologne:

The product might stink but at least it looks like the copywriters had fun.

When they announced the arrival of a sleeper train at platform 6 at Victoria station, this wasn't what I was expecting.

Finally, my fortnight of "fun" has come to an end. Work has been mad for the past couple of weeks. Boss figured it would be a great idea to launch a new company while half of the people who would normally be involved in the process were on vacation, so what would have been a busy time anyway was turned into something quite insane when I had to juggle other people's jobs as well. Anyway, it's all over now (the holidaying people came back on Monday), so hopefully I'll have more time to do the things I want to again. Starting with this blog. I keep saying I want to write a few more "meaty" posts, so this month I'm going to make the time to get at least a couple out.

I spent most of the weekend sleeping, catching up the many hours in bed I missed out on when the office briefly took over my life. I ended up sleeping yesterday evening too, although I wasn't planning to - I was actually intending to post this then, but my body overruled me. I'm feeling quite a bit better now, although still very sleepy. ^^; I did re-listen to a CD I bought some weeks ago though, which brings me to the main subject of today's blog post.

I don't really follow popular music in this country, partly because some of the music is auditorily annoying or offensive and partly because the whole "scene" is wrapped up in the trashy celebrity culture that I despise. So I mostly try to ignore it. For this reason, I tend to miss out on a few things that I might otherwise have found interesting.

Virtual band Gorillaz was one of these things I missed out on the first time around. I remember seeing the music video for 19-2000 some time ago, presumably when it was first released, and I had heard a couple of other tracks (most likely on the radio in a car or at work) without really making the connection between them and the group. I was also vaguely aware of the concept of the band and its animated characters, but knew little else about them. All that changed a few weeks ago when I stumbled across the Gorillaz article on Wikipedia (I can't remember how I got there now). One thing led to another and before long I was exploring music videos on YouTube - and on the whole liking what I was hearing.

I approve of experimentation in music and film, even if I don't always enjoy the results. To me, Gorillaz seems like a fantastic concept in experimental music - a band fronted by a fixed group of animated characters for fans to focus on, a couple of individuals (Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett) who hold the whole thing together and provide the drive, and a great, big, open space where various artists, each with different talents, can collaborate to make something that normally they might be afraid to. A melting pot of ideas and genres. Like scientific experimentation, some things work and some things don't - that's the whole purpose. But there's always the chance you might discover something wonderful.

Anyway, after sampling some of the tracks on YouTube for a while, I decided to give one of their albums a try. Someone pointed out to me that one of the advantages of following popular music a couple of years behind everyone else (when it's not so popular) is that album prices are very reasonable. For under £5, Demon Days, the latest album, seemed very reasonably priced indeed. I've had it for a couple of weeks now, long enough to give it a few play-throughs, so I thought I'd offer a brief, track-by-track review. The album is quite mixed - some songs I like, some I don't - but on the whole I enjoyed it.

 
1 — Intro
It's... an intro. Not much else to say about it really. It's a little dingy.

2 — Last Living Souls
An interesting choice of track to begin the album with. It takes a little while to get going and for the first minute or so doesn't give the listener much reason to hope things will pick up. But they do and the track has quite a melodious middle section. Still, possibly not to everyone's taste.

3 — Kids with Guns
Demon Days was written and released at a time when much of the Western world was caught up in conflicts in the Middle East. Albarn's anti-war sentiments are quite well known and there is a theme running through many of the songs on this album. It's more noticeable in some songs than it is in others and this would definitely be a fine example of the former. It's the kind of song I normally wouldn't pay attention to, but it is admittedly well done. I found myself liking it more the more I listened to it.

4 — O Green World
Not too sure about this one. Again, it's a track I wouldn't normally like, but unlike the previous one it didn't really grow on me with repeat listens. Oh well, few albums are perfect.

5 — Dirty Harry
Hmm. This one is quite simple - a vocal solo joined by a children's choir over a short, repeating melody and beat, becoming a rap in the second half. There's actually not much to it at all, but it seems to work quite well. Probably not my favourite, but I found it quite listenable.

6 — Feel Good Inc.
One of the better-known tracks on this album, due to its success as a single. Explaining the details of the song and the accompanying music video is probably a task best left to the Wikipedia article. It has quite a polished feel when compared to some of the earlier tracks. It has a little of everything - song, a solid beat, rapping, acoustic instrumentals - and blends it all together very well. I'm not overly keen on rap, so I took some pleasure in the rappers, who I am reliably informed are a group called De La Soul, being cast as the "bad guys". :) I quite liked this one. It works especially well with the music video.

7 — El Mañana
A follow up (at least in spirit and according to the music video) to Feel Good Inc. This is definitely one of my favourite tracks on the album. The singing is quite dark and sombre, and blends well with the beat, acoustic guitar and simple strings. The first 15 seconds are quite odd as they remind me of KRPG music... although I don't know why - maybe the combination of the instruments used and the melody. This track, like the one before it, was also treated to a full-length music video which goes reasonably well with the song.

8 — Every Planet We Reach Is Dead
And now we reach the section of the album I've taken to calling "the other tracks", which extends from here until White Light. It's probably a rather unfair classification, but sandwiched as they are between El Mañana and DARE, these tracks originally struck me as rather underwhelming in comparison. To be honest, this particular track has since grown on me a lot. It's quite slow and simple, but manages to be relaxing and pleasant to listen to. Maybe I'll shift the boundary of "the other tracks" to begin with the next one.

9 — November Has Come
This one is rather rap-heavy, so I can't help but approach it with a little suspicion. The chorus doesn't quite make up for the lacklustre verses.

10 — All Alone
"Experimental" is probably the best description for this one. Another very rap-heavy track, although with an lighter vocal part coming in half-way through. Interesting but I couldn't say it was one of my favourites.

11 — White Light
At just over two minutes, the nicest thing I can say about this one is that it's short. Another experiment that, to my ears, didn't really work. Although, yet again, there was a short but interesting instrumental section in the middle. There seems to be a trend in some of these songs of combining musical elements I like with those I don't, resulting in a song I have to think twice about. Which is nice - I quite like to be challenged by what I see, hear or read. But this song is perhaps a little too "challenging" for my tastes.

12 — DARE
The other big single on this album. I would have considered this to be one of the more "pop-like" tracks on the album, although Wikipedia tells me that it is in fact "hip house"... no, I don't know what that is either. It's a pleasant, easy-listening sound though and I quite like it.

13 — Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head
Story time! Dennis Hopper provides the voice for the narrative to this "song". Hard to rate this one musically. :)

14 — Don't Get Lost In Heaven
This is less of a stand-alone track and more of a bridge between Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head and Demon Days. It has a very similar feel to the track that follows while the lyrics are influenced by the one that preceeds it.

15 — Demon Days
The title track is quite different from the others on this album. As well as utilising "traditional" song elements - a strong bassy beat and interesting vocal work - it also makes heavy use of strings and a gospel choir, creating a rather unique sound. It's quite rich and full; a nice way to finish the album.

 
As I mentioned at the start, I'm quite happy with the album overall. I'll have to see if I can get hold of their first album next to see how it compares.