Magazine: Matt interview in Soundi, Finnish rock magazine

[Louhi]

Sorry for a double post but I googled some old Muse reviews from Soundi. Here's the review for OOS, most people don't understand the language (luckily), but you can see it got only one star. The last sentence translates "Sometimes you don't want to give a grade at all."

http://soundi.fi/arvostelut?nid=4698

BHAR got five stars though. They also gave Nickelback album five stars once:

http://www.soundi.fi/arvostelut?nid=8542

These are just couple of examples why I don't trust Soundi anymore. There are plenty of others.

[Gohenko]

Originally Posted by Louhi

Well, for example I got the feeling the interviewer contacted the professor so that he could say Matt misunderstood the second law of thermodynamics. But I don't know, maybe it's just me and I'm reading too much into it. I've been reading Soundi for years and have a love/hate relationship with it. It's probably the best music magazine in Finland but it's still really bad at times.

I dunno, maybe he just wanted to hear a professional opinion on the whole thermodynamic thing. But yeah, Soundi being the best music magazine in Finland really tells something about our music journalism Although I do think that Soundi is better than, for example, NME.

Originally Posted by Louhi

Sorry for a double post but I googled some old Muse reviews from Soundi. Here's the review for OOS, most people don't understand the language (luckily), but you can see it got only one star. The last sentence translates "Sometimes you don't want to give a grade at all."

http://soundi.fi/arvostelut?nid=4698

BHAR got five stars though. They also gave Nickelback album five stars once:

http://www.soundi.fi/arvostelut?nid=8542

These are just couple of examples why I don't trust Soundi anymore. There are plenty of others.

That OoS review is really funny I remember laughing at that so much when I first read it almost a year ago. But of course music reviews are always just someone's opinion, which is exactly why I usually can't bother with them.

Oh btw, if someone wants a translation of that OoS review, here it is:

ShowShow this spoiler

All translation mistakes are my fault, sorry if some parts don't make sense.

"Oh goddammit Radiohead! What have you done! Because of you all immature kids think they can do something original. It would have been interesting to be a fly in that room where Origin of Symmetry got it's start. Having a "king idea" of an album that has song names like Space Dementia, Hypermusic, Microcuts and Citizen Erased when you're wasted on drugs, doesn't give you a right to go to a studio to carry out your ideas.
Muse's singer Matthew Bellamy screams like a man who's cuticles are being ripped out and there's hard to say anything musically positive about Origin Of Symmetry anyway. Between the songs band put all kinds of random sounds, because Muse's boys think they make the album sound like "a futuristic whole". I hope my future is not as hypocritical, artsy and pretentious as this album.
Of the album's works of art New Born is okay, but the song after that, Bliss, is a shocking song that marries Grandaddy to lighter than light riffing that is missing all spirit, life and passion. Who would have thought that the single choice Plug In Baby would be the best part of the album, even if those bass sounds could very well have been left out. And the same disgusting fart sound is there throughout the whole album. Hypermusic could rock, if it wasn't that bloody buzz ruining the whole song. Citizen Erased takes about 7 minutes and 20 seconds, has two unnecessary intermissions and of course continues seamlessly into Micro Cuts, where you can notice something weird during the chorus. Matthew Bellamy is screaming so high that he is sounding like the Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen. How could this band be one of these "greatest hopes for British rock" during their debut album Showbiz?
Megalomania is the name of the last page and even though I would want so much to make some corny jokes about it, I won't. I'll just say that the song is trying to sound big, but the background fanfar that's meant to be bombastic sounds more like a soundtrack to Linnanmäki's (a Finnish amusement park) ghost ride.
Sometimes you wouldn't want to give a grade at all."

*
1/5

[foldingstars]

It was pretty obvious that the interviewer didn't like Matt. It felt pretty nasty how his personal opinion of Matt made the interview kind of prejudiced. It's pretty normal that personal opinions come across in reviews but in an interview, the a interviewer could at least try to write an article without making (trying to make) someone look bad. I just don't like that type of journalism at all

[sade]

Originally Posted by Louhi

I read the article today and thought it had kind of strange undertone. It felt like the interviewer was originally hoping to be able to write something nasty about Matt, but couldn't find anything (if you don't count in mentioning the speech impediment).

Finnish music journalism

He did mention the mousy apprearence

Hmm, I think Soundi interviews are usually just fine.It comes from the mostly same journalists writing for the mag for years/decades, although that has also made the magazine kind of geared towards classic rock/heavy/not really into current indie etc. I didn't detect an undertone, the only weird bit was when Matt said, after seeing the journalist's phone on the table "But I can take a photo with you, ha!", after talking about not liking taking photos, and the journalist had written No thanks on the article. I THINK he meant it in the sense that the chat is just fine, like Matt said,but it also could be construed as "I don't want to have my picture taken with this guy".

Originally Posted by Vixna

Thanks for the translation. Btw in the part where they talked about the laptop in gigs did Matt say anything about new live gear like when he said Chris played the kitara?

No, he didn't talk about (their own) live gear at all.

Originally Posted by Gohenko

That OoS review is really funny I remember laughing at that so much when I first read it almost a year ago. But of course music reviews are always just someone's opinion, which is exactly why I usually can't bother with them.

I remember reading it when it came out (used to subscribe to the mag when I was a youngling) and laughing at it. It also made me not check out Muse for a couple of extra years (didn't until 2003/2004).

[Dillyracer]

That review is one of the most retarded things I've ever read.

[CarrieB]

I just wondered. Is there a full translation of this interview anywhere? The conversation on the tone or full content of the interview can only be between Finnish speakers atm.

I hope that Matt wasn't painted in an unfair way. It's too easy for journos of written interviews to influence the feelings and opinions of people.

[sade]

Originally Posted by Dillyracer

That review is one of the most retarded things I've ever read.

Obviously I don't agree with the review, except for this bit: "Hypermusic could rock, if it wasn't that bloody buzz ruining the whole song." Still 100% true to this day.

It's just funnily written,but I guess it's more about the exact word choices etc which are kind of impossible to translate to another language to get the nuances right.

Originally Posted by CarrieB

I just wondered. Is there a full translation of this interview anywhere? The conversation on the tone or full content of the interview can only be between Finnish speakers atm.

I hope that Matt wasn't painted in an unfair way. It's too easy for journos of written interviews to influence the feelings and opinions of people.

I didn't translate it all because honestly, the rest is pretty much exactly what we've already heard Matt say a hundred times before about economy&environment, dubstep with real instruments.

I would estimate that the interview was probably done by someone who isn't a Muse fan per se, but he did say Matt is nice&talkative, congratulated him on his son etc. I don't think Matt got unfairly treated.

[CarrieB]

Originally Posted by sade

Obviously I don't agree with the review, except for this bit: "Hypermusic could rock, if it wasn't that bloody buzz ruining the whole song." Still 100% true to this day.

It's just funnily written,but I guess it's more about the exact word choices etc which are kind of impossible to translate to another language to get the nuances right.



I didn't translate it all because honestly, the rest is pretty much exactly what we've already heard Matt say a hundred times before about economy&environment, dubstep with real instruments.

I would estimate that the interview was probably done by someone who isn't a Muse fan per se, but he did say Matt is nice&talkative, congratulated him on his son etc. I don't think Matt got unfairly treated.

Okay. Though there does seem to be disagreement on that, though I suppose, even if translated, it would probably be difficult to judge the tone or intention of the interviewer as that can be lost in translation in any case.

[bumpypotato]

Originally Posted by Magnolia86

thanks.explorers is gonna be amazing!

Yep

I think I can see where the Blackout comparison came from.

[bumpypotato]

Originally Posted by Travis III

It's seeming like the album will be exploring a fairly diverse emotional range, with the second half (Explorers, Liquid State, possibly Isolated System) being darker than the earlier songs (Madness, Panic Station, Survival). Like a slow descent into unsustainability, maybe.

Hopefully it will be a bit more emotionally sophisticated than just flitting between space age wangst and Swiss dairy farm -tier cheese.

Yeah, that makes me think that at least in terms of theme the album is structured well.

[foldingstars]

I think that the interviewer pushed his personal impression of Matt a bit too far with the article. I read some of his other interviews/reviews and in every one of them you can read between the lines what he truly thinks of the artist. It's just his way of writing, I guess. But I still don't think the way he wrote the interview was professional. Sure, with reviews it's all about personal opinions but with interviews, not so much.

[Kati]

I bought the magazine and had to read it again to see whether I would notice a personal bias of the interviewer on Matt. I still can't see it. Maybe I have read too many much bitchier articles in English (tbh I haven't read too much stuff about Muse in Finnish, I'm used to the English style). The interviewer repeats a few cliches of Matt, the speech impediment and mousy external habitus, but it seems he was won over by his happiness. Most of the text was translation on what Matt said anyway.

Hmm, I was stupidly, patriotically proud that the journalist asked a professor about the physics I thought he knew he doesn't understand and took the trouble to ask a professor. For me it was sweeter than to say that it's loosely based on physics, and give no further attention.

And btw, what Matt talked about energy issues etc made perfect sense. He knows the stuff as well as any civilised non-professional should. I guess funny quotes come from journalists trying to shorten what he says (well I haven't read all interviews yet).

If I have too much time at some point I'll try to translate the article in full, but better not hold breath waiting.

[Edeslash]

Aww man, I really need to buy this magazine since it has Rival Sons and Bloc Party too.