Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Broken Social Scene and Jam Philosophy

Broken Social Scene provides hope and validity for the musical model that Megachild adopted. The band is composed of a rotating/shifting/fluid cast of men and women, often beardy scruffians of varying ages, and often teetering on the razor's edge of becoming overcrowded with sound.

Their songs seem to emerge from jams, which can tend to be... well... jammy. Often deliberately sticking with a riff for much, if not the entirety, of a song. They uncover the emotive core of their music readily, and to me evoke the robust realization of that nameless song you've been humming or singing inside for days and days.

I'm sure that the describes the creative process for a lot of bands, but it definitely seems to be one of the approachs of Megachild. Everyone has stored up their musical energy for a week or more and is ready to release. The best nights come when everyone has a musical idea to bring to the table and when everyone else clicks in to round out the sound.

Despite their tendency to jams, Broken Social Scene can deliver some tight sounds with pop hooks. Watch the embedded stuff below and follow links to get a sense of what their moods produce on a given evening.

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