Metric is…

Emily Haines – Vocals/Keys
James Shaw – Guitar
Joules Scott Key – Drums
Josh Winstead – Bass

1. What do they sound like?

Everything you’d want to know about Metric is here. But let me describe their sound for you: They are a four-piece; drummer, bassist, guitarist and vocals/keyboards. They utilize every one of their instruments. These musicians are extremely talented. They sound like you’re in a trance/dance club, but the music is bearable instead of being annoying. But the beats, like in a club, make you move. They make your chest vibrate from the way these songs bounce. You are constantly surrounded by sound. If the guitar and bass aren’t flying away, the synth or keys are flooding you with noise; melodies on top of melodies produced just by two of the musicians, as the drums keep the beat and the bassist adds that extra thump.

But that’s not the only facet of their music. The lyrics hold their own, here. It’s clear this band believes the lyrics are as important as the music, and if a band can pull that off, they’ve conquered their issues with image. So, the lyrics are good; if there’s a great guitar or piano hook going on, you can bet there’s a good lyric to sing along with it. The band is female fronted, so some songs address issues with sexism. Other songs address restlessness with life, issues with government, and some random life stories.

2. Where should I start?

Start by picking up some songs from “Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?” Some of my favorites are “IOU”, “Combat Baby”, “On a Slow Night” and “The List”. I would suggest you get the entire album and listen to it from front-to-back, but if that’s not of interest to you, definitely pick up those songs. “Old World Underground…” is their second album, so after that, I’d pick up their third album “Live It Out” or listen to “Empty” and “Poster of a Girl” from that album. Also, if you want to hear a gem of a song from Metric before they were a full lineup and it was mostly just Shaw and vocalist Emily Haines doing everything, listen to “The Twist.” It’s one of the most enjoyable, serious and pounding songs I’ve heard.

3. Got some samples?

Here you are:

And if you MUST hear more!

There you go! Hope you enjoyed this week’s Artist of the Week! If you didn’t, let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure to yell at you for not enjoying good music! See you next week!

Source for the first Metric photo, here. Second pic’s source is here.

Maybe you shouldn’t, but I’d check them out.

These guys are good (I’ve yet to see them play live yet), but I do like their songs on their Myspace (which you can check out by going here: Here!)

And this site won’t do heartless plugging, so there’s actually substance to these guys. I really like Achilles Tendency (I think it’d be a great song to use if I ever make an 80’s pop film (and I could if I wanted to)), so check that one out and then check out Late Night, Long Day which I think is an interesting 50’s/90’s pop/rock song. Hope they make an album soon so I can give it a raving review (or completely destroy it ; ))!

Anyways, they’ve got these shows lined up in your area:

May 16th, 2008 @ the Sterling Community Center in Sterling, VA @ 8PM
May 24th, 2008 @ the Brass Monkey in Baltimore, MD @ 10PM

Oh, and they look like this:

Their music is better than their band pics, I promise. What the Hell are they doing in this picture??

Check ‘em out! See them live! Shave their armpits!