Decades between genres is no match for music theory.

As a means of adding to my writing repertoire, I plan on utilizing this blog to collect thoughts, and practice my skills as a literary, social, cinematic, and music critic. I will however try to keep my nose out of political or religious criticism as much as I can, leave the politics to the politicians I say. I am tired of detached political rants from left-wing college and high school students, just as much as I am tired of close-minded conservatives ranting on about how disastrous Barack Obama will be for the U.S.

In this entry, I will be discussing incidental, accidental, or intentional similarity. I had an internship with Warner Music Group back in 2006, and to say the least, I wasted it. However, I ended up keeping a lot of good back catalog from some great artists like Tegan and Sara, Rilo Kiley, and Joy Division. The first time I heard Joy Division, I had all three remastered collector's edition releases via Warner for "Unknown Pleasures", "Closer", and "Still". In my opinion, "Unknown Pleasures" is an incredible album that was ahead of it's time even the the synth-riddled, new wave/post-punk 1980s. This album sounds like something that bands today are trying to achieve in some sense. Ian Curtis is a landmark for many of today's favorite vocalists, most notably: Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge, Paul Banks of Interpol, and Brandon Flowers of the Killers. I would say however that Ian Curtis' vocals, and dark and odd lyrics still resonate with the most urgency.

Now fast-forward to the post-punk revival years or the 21st Century, lying outside of this "genreism" lies one my greatest influences, a band called Brand New, from Long Island. I have been mulling it over, just today actually, and have finally come to the conclusion that "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" has out seeded "Deja Entendu" as my favorite Brand New album. I hold "Deja" dear however, for more nostalgic reasons, and though it is a great album, damn near perfect if not 100%, "The Devil and God..." does something for me on a sonic level. It's ambivalent nature, and conflict grabs at me on a more mature plane and allows me to think more rather than the straight-forwardness, and lyrics that act on emotion rather than logic of "Deja".

NOW getting to the point of this whole entry. I was listening to Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" the other day, a song quite possibly about change in relationships, and I couldn't help thinking of two songs by Brand New, "Degausser", and "Limousine (MS Rebridge)". I then went back and listened to all three songs and found remarkable similarities. Undeniably similar, almost to the point that one might question if Brand New was that heavily influenced by Joy Division. I have read many articles and interviews by Jesse Lacey of Brand New and I haven't heard him mention his undying love for Joy Division (not like his undying love for Moz or the Smiths that has left it's mark all over "Your Favorite Weapon", "Deja Entendu", and "Fight Off Your Demons demos") I have listed all three songs below so you can see for yourself.

From the outset, "New Dawn Fades" and "Degausser" share similar tones even with entirely different lyrical content. The ambience is a little darker in Joy Division, which is to be expected, however, they both share a similar grave tone with the reverb used in these recordings. The main rhythm of "Degausser" from the beginning to each verse is similar with the main differences being that Joy Division's riff is played with a bass and Brand News begins with a guitar that crescendos into a more technical bassline. Also, Joy Division fills in at different portions on different notes all while keeping the same rhythm as BN. The tempos are quite similar as well, with a more full drum landscape appearing in "Degausser", versus the more bare yet giant snares and lo-fi hi-hats found in "New Dawn Fades". The portion of "NDF", following its droney opening from 34: to 1 minute in, works in relation to "Degausser" as seen from 1:48 to 2:15. This portion of "Degausser" has the same self-imposing rhythm of "NFD", only this time BN uses bass as the driving force, while JD uses a guitar. "NFD"'s section also sounds similar to Jesse's vocal melody on the verses. Leading off of that note listen to the way Jesse enters in with this first verse in comparison to how Ian comes in, they both share an importance that seems to stop the song in its tracks. A final, and very vague relation is the lead guitar work. JD's is definitely placed as something to add to the tone of the narrator, while BN uses it in a more traditional sense, literally as a lead, leads tend to be just as catchy as a great chorus or hook in a well-written song. Now these lead riffs are by no means similar other than the fact that they appear to be working on the same scale, but they just may be interchangeable to each respective song. Decide for yourself.

Now the other similarity between "NDF" and BN is found in an entirely different BN song off of the same album, and it's called, "Limousine". If you listen to Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" at 1 minute, up until Ian Curtis begins singing, and compare it to "Limousine" all the way towards the end from the epic blow out at 6:03 to 6:15, you will hear a resemblance in the guitar riffs.

Now I am merely making an observation in this comparison, I do not think it was intentional for Brand New, and who knows if they've even heard "New Dawn Fades", let alone, Joy Division. I used this as a point that music theory is a powerful and endless tool, a palette that I now realize, an artist will never ever run out of. Music is timeless and will always transform, mutate, progress, reinvent itself, and be abundant for us to make wonderful soundtracks to time. :] Happy times are here again.

Below is another example that is not as striking as JD vs BN, but exists nonetheless.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs released the "Is Is EP" in 2007, although this was material recorded between "Fever to Tell" and "Show Your Bones", which means they're from way back in 2004. The song "10 X 10" shares nearly an identical guitar riff with "What's it Feel Like to Be a Ghost?" by Taking Back Sunday. And I am not talking about when Nick Zinner is pleasing us with his tremolo guitar picking on the 12th, 13th and so on frets of his guitar, I'm talking about the rhythm guitar riff. Both bands from New York, different sounds, I'm sure they've heard of each other, but I'm thinking this was accidental as well.

-adm