Artist: Jonsi

Title: Go

Grade: C+

Hooray! The Sigur Rós frontman – famed for singing in the made-up ‘Hopelandish’ language – introduces some English lyrics to the songs of earlier albums. We can finally understand what they’re singing about –though this does detract from the warmth of singing in a different language and having to guess meaning by tone and mode alone.

Altogether Go is a very musically loose album, with drums rumbling and leaping through light-playing flutes, warming strings and a vocal line with collapsing harmonies. It is hardly a coincidence that Sigur Rós consider themselves to be of the pop genre. Applauds must also go to composer Nico Muhly for his well-placed and delicate arrangements throughout some of the instrumentally-heavy pieces.

In a nutshell: Fun, playful, innocent and vibrant. Not as sad as others – more of a mixed bag really.

Colin Sweetman

~

Artist: Various Artists

Title: Kick-Ass OST

Rating: A

Randomness can often be the greatest forte of film and music, and the two combined on this occasion make for a visceral treat. Highlights include the ever-electrifying Prodigy’s rendering of ‘Omen’ and ‘Stand Up’, not to mention ‘Banana Splits’ by The Dickies, which frames the entrance of Hit Girl in suitably anarchic fashion.

Taylor Momsen (of Gossip Girl fame) surprises everyone by having a halfway decent band and sultry voice to match with ‘Make Me Wanna Die’, a track much better than its angsty title suggests. Most intriguing is the appearance of Quentin Tarantino-esque vocal stylings from the film on the tracks, but the film almost exceeded him in self-congratulatory coolness, so this works quite brilliantly.

In A Nutshell: A gloriously deranged accompaniment to a gloriously deranged film.

Grace Duffy

~

Title: Ten

Artist: Gabriella Cilmi

Grade: C-

Cilmi is back with her sophomore album – taking on a new synth direction this time around. Although vocally strong, musically it sounds like Cilmi’s jumping on the electro bandwagon. The result, inevitably, is disjointed.

‘On a Mission’ tries too hard to pack an opening punch by drawing on far too many 80s influences simultaneously, missing the mark and ending up being more kitsch than cool. The album picks up halfway, but efforts like ‘Robots’ and ‘Boys’ start strongly, then peter out into formulaic blandness.

The album finally gets interesting with the laidback finale ‘Superman’, only for the album to end with a bonus rehash of her 2009 hit ‘Sweet About Me’ – which tellingly sounds fresher than most of the new content.

In a nutshell: Bland, with some showers of borderline cheesiness.

Lynda O’Keeffe

~

Artist: Pete Lawrie

Album: How Could I Complain

Grade: C

The album offers some nice tunes to tide the listener over – but besides that there’s not much to this CD. The solid rhythmic beats and throaty western lyrics of the opening track are reminiscent of of Josh Ritter, while the repetition in both lyrics and tempo leaves you tiring of the title track far too soon.

‘Panic’, with its mash up of electric and percussion, is the best and most original track and offers a nice tune to bop your head to, very well complimented by the smoky rasp in Lawrie’s voice (though it sometimes sounds like he’s straining to be Tom Waits).

Lawrie’s lack of originality makes this little more than something nice to listen to. You won’t find yourself singing the lyrics or having the violin move you, which is a shame because the album shows a lot of potential that it never delivers upon.

In a nutshell: Excellent elevator music – which, sadly, means a failure.

Ronan Breathneach

In an aeon when blogging sites are ten-a-penny and everyone’s grandmother has an oh-so-cool and relevantly hip online log to document their streams of holier-than-thou awesomeness, Tumblr offers something different – perhaps best illustrated by my inability to describe exactly what it is whenever someone asks. Tumblr is a blogging site of sorts, but more than anything, I would make a case for it as a fantastic site for nerds (film nerds specifically, but nerds of any shape or form). There are sites and pages for just about every actor, film, TV show or band you can think of, littered full of bright sparkling photos and subtitled stills. The majority of these begin with the words “fuck yeah”, a prime example of the sort of self-congratulatory air one associates with bloggers, but making locating them infinitely easier. The site allows you to sift through the various posts and reblog them to your page, either as is or embellished with your own two cents.

In this way, Tumblr allows you to mix blogging with social networking, something which feeds into its unique and infectious appeal. Reblogging is not mandatory however – for the more casual observer, you can “like” the posts instead, basically saving the URL for future perusal at your leisure.

Tumblr  is also, happily enough for coding amateurs, very co-operatively laid out. All the necessary tools are laid out on your “dashboard” as soon as you log in, together with a list of the most recent blog posts from those you “follow.” Bear in mind, this list can get stunningly comprehensive the more addicted you get (cough), and you’ll never read through it all, especially given Tumblr updates in real time. One can choose from text, photo, audio, and video options in posting, as well as quoting and links – handy for the aforementioned fan blogs – making it fantastically easy to whittle your life away posting every vaguely interesting creation that pops into your head or stumbles across your screen. Tumblr is laid out in a colourful and pretty format, with the token options for designing your own layout a la MySpace (RIP).

So what’s best to check out on this utopia of blogging sites? Movies in Frames (http://short.ie/uo111) is a personal favourite, posting three-still montages from various films, occasionally subtitled to capture a certain moment. For the artier types, Quote Book (http://short.ie/uo112) and Ache (http://short.ie/uo113) post simply, beautifully, and frequently. Fuck Yeah, Slightly Amusing (http://short.ie/uo114) guarantees at least a wry chuckle, and Fuck Yeah Skinny Bitch (http://short.ie/uo115) is – though controversially titled – helpful with the daily wardrobe dilemma.

All in all, a world of win. Expect to be swallowed whole.

Share your links with webwatch@universityobserver.ie

GD: My proposition is to show you that the modern collusion of contemporary and classical is nothing to be sneered at. In fact, where done correctly, it can be magical. Ergo, I should warn you that while my dear superior has decided to refer to my examples under the blanket term of heavy metal, if I even refer to one so-called heavy metal band I’ll be doing well. This shall be a discussion of the much-maligned symphonic metal – which does not include Evanescence, dear.

While I acknowledge that some may find the union of searing guitars, an amp, and an orchestra (digital or otherwise) unusual, bizarre, or downright ridiculous, it’s an absurdly underrated genre. What you’re talking about people, essentially, is the combination of film music – beautiful, soaring, orchestral extravaganzas – with the passion and conviction of guitars. It’s awesome. I just don’t see what the problem is.

Now this debate is labouring under a fundamental flaw – that is, the disdain my superior harbours for symphonic metal is not matched by a disdain for classical music. By definition, I love classical music. It laid the foundations for everything that has come since and remains unmatched in scope, idealism, or innovation. I’m extremely partial to a bit of the old Ludwig van, Mozart, and especially Wagner (oh I do love Wagner)… but I also like my classical music embellished.

CS: Bar the fact that I heavily edited the above soliloquy (I do outrank Grace), I have kept to her main points. Firstly, let it be known that the collusion of heavy metal to its musical artistic counterpart is an agreement brought forward only by the former.

Had Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Vivaldi, Verdi, Bach and others been alive to witness the atrocity that is befouling their music, I think they would have self-consciously written terribly so such an amalgamation of “music” could never have been borne. Upon hearing Evanescence (not before mistaking it for a screaming whale), I scramble to turn or hit whatever bastard has scuffled to offend my ears.

Heavy Metal and all its counterparts are largely based on repetition of every known quantity. I know this because I used to be fan and a player, until I said in bold lettering: “To hell with this shit”, and turned instead to a more appropriate, refined type of music that has at least a pinch of thought placed into it.

Guitars strum the same power chords with the ambition of creating distortion (in other words, not music). Same goes for the drums and singing. To make music, one needs the ability to put math and sound together. To make metal, all you need is a wanker’s wrist and some noisy equipment.

GD: I scorn the notion that a wanker’s wrist is sufficient to create symphonic metal. Shows how little you get up to with your hands.

CS: I was making the point that skill level in heavy metal is based on how fast you can stroke a guitar or how fast you can repetitively strike some drums.

GD: This reminds me of the whole maths bias in school – where you’re simply not a genius until you’re good at maths, no matter how good you are at everything else. So you’re evidently not a good musician unless you can make sweet love to a piano.

CS: What does that even mean? I’m applying stylistic elements of composition to music and you’re comparing geeks in math class. Stay on topic!

GD: Get down off your classical-ist pedestal. A lot of heavy music still involves, as you term it, ‘stylistic’ elements of composition. You can’t write a ten-minute metal song accompanied by a full orchestral suite without having some degree of expertise on the classics.

CS: And I’m sure that these heavy metal bands compose it themselves? As if! They probably hire some goof like me to do it. That or they just compose the most harmonically simple tunes known to man.

GD: Clearly you have never familiarised yourself with Nightwish. Or Epica. Epica are a better example, actually. If someone is ghost-writing their orchestral parts they’re certainly not being credited. I suppose that is the advantage of having a classically trained pianist as part of the band. It is possible to write both!

CS: Ah! You’ve named two bands who have actively stolen off classical composers. They’re not credited because the statute of limitations has run out on them, so technically they are in the public domain. Plus, they’re shite.

GD: Define ‘stolen’. And if you’re going to bring legalese into this, then use better arguments than that ‘they’re shite’.

CS: Most would agree I think. And that’s that, argument won.

GD: Majority rules eh? Then actual musical sales will hold that Jedward owns both of us.

CS: While I agree with that statement, think about this: no one will know who Jedward are in twenty years, whereas Bach and Vivaldi are still actively spoken of. Their music will be played many more times than those two.

GD: Hmm… technically you can’t use age as a justifying argument when our two genres are separated by about two hundred years. That’s giving you a ludicrous advantage.

CS: Well I should just stop arguing then, I think!

GD: Haha. You lose.

Rain Machine is the brainchild of TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, a band justly feted as one of the most influential and important of recent years on either side of the Atlantic. Yet, according to the man himself, the idea predates his work with this band, and is that little bit dearer to him because of it.

“About 2003, when I moved to New York, I had all these plans and ideas. I always had the idea in my head; I just didn’t develop it until I had the opportunity.”

This opportunity came to him when, in September 2009, TVOTR went on a hiatus after six years together. Kip decided to take his own ideas on the road, creating music similar to his previous band, though imbuing it with enough funk, rock, indie – and most importantly, soul – to make it his own. Malone’s voice veers from potent and passionate to haunting on album standout ‘Smiling Back Faces’, a song he says he is asked about quite frequently. Focusing in on the killing of African-American drug dealer Sean Bell in New York City in 2006, the song’s turbulent subject matter sets it apart from others on the album.

Asked as to whether addressing such political issues is important to him, Malone is sceptical in reply. “I think political is the wrong word. These issues aren’t the only type of political; that’s just what I chose to write about. I feel like other videos that may, for instance, have scantily-clad dancers, that’s a form of political too. That’s what it is in music. It’s all political.”

As part of TV on the Radio, Malone has had the opportunity to work with such revered names as David Bowie and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, experiences that no doubt helped to shape (at least in some small way) his music. However, Malone notes that it is not just such esteemed figures who inspire him.

“There are many things I’ve picked up along the way. Those are the ones that are mentioned most often cos people know them, but there are so many other people who mightn’t be known whose paths I’ve crossed, and from whom I’ve also taken something.”

As for the crowd reaction to his solo material, Malone says it has been “very positive,” and that tours in the US towards the end of last year yielded much fruitful feedback. He says, “I don’t really read reviews ‘cos I think all that is poison. I prefer to see how the crowd responds to it and the tours we’ve done have been really good.”

As is understandable – and with his next tour taking in Dublin in two weeks, the Irish crowds will undoubtedly be lining up to show their appreciation.

First things first: you are not an emo. You are a ‘scene child’ (or across the Atlantic, scene kid). Emo is a byword for a genre that doesn’t exist. Don’t wander into the Central Bank namedropping the e-word. Funnily enough, posers have a keen sense of smell when it comes to other posers.

The music is the key part. You must leave all idle preconceptions aside. My Chemical Romance are not cool. Scenesters value street cred, and liking My Chem doesn’t get you street cred with anyone (except me). Your band tees shall be isolated to actual scene bands, as in slightly plasticine, all-American ‘you would’ types with tattoos in PC places and completely vacuous guitar versions of High School Musical songs. With this in mind, All Time Low, Paramore, and Hawthorne Heights are acceptable. The more neon the embossed, indecipherable shapes on the t-shirt, the better.

By the way, Converse are so last century – the thinking man’s scenester values Vans these days. Vans sponsor the Warped Tour. Like, duh.

It goes without saying that eyeliner is your friend. Write random lyrics from your favourite songs along your arms and on your face with a Sharpie marker for added definition. Your hair should be cut into the most bizarre asymmetrical beehive you can fashion this side of the 80s. Black hair is always appropriate, though neon has flourished amongst the chillenz of late. Bright pink has been slightly overdone, though blue and purple represent equally fun-loving options.

In terms of clothing, there are two main options. Highly sexualised types – usually the ones with pink hair – will add a bow, tutu, and fishnet tights to their band tee. The gruffer types – usually the ones with black hair – will rock the ever popular jeans and hoodie look.

Now, your social networking. You must have a Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr, Facebook, and Bebo. Never mind if you only use one. All are pivotal. You need to make as many friends as possible – oh yes, by the way, solitude is not fashionable. When was the last time you saw a scenester with fewer than twelve people around them? Exactly. You will also need to learn to fangirl. Get ridiculously overexcited whenever a band posts a new picture of themselves being “candid” and “ironic”, dub them the greatest musical mind who ever walked the earth and bring them banners when they play shows here. Queue from dawn and scream frequently, before embracing the power of the crowd surge once you get inside. Fainting is for losers. Last one standing gets the setlist, after all.

90210, the bastardised offspring of popular nineties drama Beverley Hills 90210, is an oddity of a show if ever there was one. Lingering between drama and comedy, it half-expects you to take its vapid, nonsensical characters and their melodramatic dilemmas seriously, while half-wallowing in its own cheesy implausibility. 90210 likes to think it’s more relevant than it is, foisting half-drawn sketches of what are (presumably very real) LA stereotypes upon us, as played exceptionally – Home & Away-esque – badly by a cast cultivated almost entirely from Canada. But let’s not hold that against it – Canada is infinitely preferable to the States – and despite all these shortcomings the show somehow manages to be awesome.

It’s fond of half-addressing issues that might genuinely affect people in high school – sexting, dobbing in your friends, being wrongfully accused of shagging your friend’s boyfriend when her sister was the true culprit – not to mention the slightly more controversial issue of being the adopted black son of a very white Midwestern family. However, it graciously does all this in a very ‘this is sort of, kind of, important, but here are some naked people instead’ manner. Characters come and go freely – a Narc cop appeared in two or three episodes of Season One, left a totally unresolved storyline, and has literally never been seen since – and the regulars undergo such heroically hilarious endeavours each week, it’s hard not to keep watching.

In one recent episode, Adrianna (that same girl who, in season one, found out she was five months pregnant while somehow still rocking a size zero) broke up with her boyfriend Navid and started a “relationship” with Teddy, only to realise her mistake, dump Teddy, and return to Navid, only for him not to want her, because she [shock!] kissed Teddy while she was still going out with him. Phew! Still with me?

Let’s not forget Silver, the would-be heroine of the piece who underwent a mental breakdown and became bipolar in the space of half an hour last season, but seems strangely rational in her behaviour this season. Or as rational as you can be when you’re from Los Angeles.

So who’s the real draw, then? Naomi is the queen of this other realm: a terrifically astute, glamorous, Machiavellian maneater who towers above all with her hoity attitude and statuesque frame. Oh, and she’s gorgeous, a real feast for the eyes of both sexes. I shall mourn the demise of her relationship with the [similarly ludicrously hot] Liam until the end of my days. Silly though it may be, that pair made me feel until Naomi’s evil sister tore them apart… and Liam has very nice abs.

90210 airs on E4 every Tuesday at 9pm.

Keyzer Soze – The Usual Suspects

Stunningly enough, everyone who sees this film reacts in the same way as Soze’s identity is revealed – and if they don’t, there’s something wrong with them, obviously. Hmm. Movie cop is thinking. Things start to come together. Something starts to click in your mind too. Then wait for it… Oh. Holy. Jesus. *jaw drop* Best twist ever.

Jack Sparrow [Johnny Depp] – Pirates of the Caribbean

Sailing into port triumphantly, dreadlocks blowing in the wind and the ship slowly sinking underneath him, Captain Jack is a legend from the first moment he appears onscreen. And he saves us from the film’s initial threat to be nothing more than a putrid love story. The epitome of cool and awesome.

Aragorn [Viggo Mortensen] – The Fellowship of the Ring

Now this is a lesson in how to make an impression. The man who would be king sparks early intrigue as he sits in a corner, shrouded in shadows, his hood partially obscuring his face, while the embers in his pipe illuminate dark, menacing eyes. Smooth and beautiful… until he takes the hood down.

Sugar Kane [Marilyn Monroe] – Some Like It Hot

A lady adept at making a fine entrance, Marilyn’s finest hour may just be this sterling monochrome gem. As would-be transvestites Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon argue on the platform, the train toots, the camera pans and a jazz wah-wah signals the entrance of bodacious sweetheart Sugar. Look how she moves! “Just like jello on springs,” quips Jack. Quite.

The Shark – Jaws

After successfully keeping his villain hidden for the entirety of the film – portentous fin aside – Spielberg unleashes the beast at the most unexpected moment, and therein lies its effectiveness. The camera angle gives it away in hindsight, but the first time you see it, the last thing you expect to jump out at Roy Schneider at that particular moment is… that.

Indiana Jones [Harrison Ford] – Raiders of the Lost Ark

This is cheating a bit, as the whip, hat, and adventuring is already in full swing by the time that boulder puts in an appearance, but it sure as hell tops things off nicely.

Marty McFly [Michael J. Fox] – Back to the Future: Part 1

Let’s turn our amps up loud and ka-blamo! The ego of every rock star – even would-be rock stars – explodes and quite literally takes out the whole room. A fine introduction to the chaotic exploits of Doc Brown and Marty, long before there’s a flux capacitor in sight.

Mutt Williams [Shia LaBoeuf] – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I specialise in liking things that everyone else hates. So in this instance, that means: train station platform. Hustle. Bustle. Waft of smoke. Vroom. Ooh.

Steff [James Spader] – Pretty In Pink

Three words: You’re a bitch. (This does not require further analysis.)

Hit Girl [Chloe Grace Moretz] – Kick-Ass

This one is tricky, as I’ve only the trailer to go on, but if that is, in fact, her entrance – an eleven year old knocking off a crowd of bad guys then declaring “Alright you c*nts, I’m ready for you” – then it promises to be totally inappropriate and will offend everyone pretty darn interesting. Children swearing heartily really doesn’t bother me – apparently I was a terrible offender by the age of two.

Marina Diamandis is a breath of fresh air, in more ways than one. Earnest, straight-talking, opinionated and honest, she is effortlessly likeable and very charming. Discussing her background, she notes that from early on, her mixed Welsh and Greek heritage inspired her to seek out something different.

“My dad listens to a lot of Greek folk and classic Greek singers that most British musicians don’t listen to – and then on the Welsh side, the way that I grew up really influenced what I aspire to be and the themes in my album.”

She also describes how the music she grew up with cultivated and shaped her musical tastes. “My mum played people like Dolly Parton and Eurythmics, and they both had really strong songwriting. I really appreciate good songwriting and incredible lyrics, so that’s what I focus on. Even though I love music now I don’t focus on it as much as the lyrics. That’s the most important thing for me: telling a story.”

It is interesting she should cite an appreciation for lyrics at this stage, as one of the most striking things about Marina’s music is her passionate and vocal lyrics. As the endearingly candid ‘I Am Not A Robot’, for instance, illustrates – “You’re vulnerable, you’re lovable, you are not a robot” – Marina is as skilled with the pen as she is with the keys. Perhaps her most refreshing song from a lyrical standpoint however, is ‘Girls’, which quips, “Girls they never hear from me / Because I fall asleep when they speak / Of all the calories they eat.”

This frank attitude is important to Diamandis. “I’m sure there are many female musicians who believe in exactly the same thing and who don’t for example count calories, or act in a stereotypical way, but they never say anything. For me, that is pop culture at the moment, ‘cos for the past ten years that’s all we’ve bloody heard about and it makes me sick to see a gossip magazine saying, ‘Oh my god, she’s got a roll of fat on her stomach,’ and then another page saying ‘Oh my god, she’s dying of anorexia.’ The only reason they thrive is because the media are constantly giving us this image of what it is to be beautiful and perfect and many people don’t fit in with that. So if anything I would love to know that girls can, if not relate to me, relate to what I’m saying and believe it.”

But who’s to blame for this culture of hypocrisy? “It’s women who are doing this, women write those magazines and… OK, I’m sure I’ve done loads of bad stuff in my life but I’m like, ‘How can you live with yourself, knowing that you’re influencing loads of people?’ I really hate that part of society and I’m not gonna conform to what they expect people in the public eye to conform to so… I wonder what’ll happen in the next two years!” She laughs.

Is it difficult, otwo wonders, to be so upfront with what you think in an industry where many would attempt to package you into a socially acceptable shrinking violet?

“I see what you mean, but I haven’t experienced it yet and I think that’s because with my label, it’s a very small team and they know me very well, but… it is difficult, ‘cos you want to express yourself but you don’t want to be known as just a loudmouth.”

As a one-woman band for all intents and purposes, Marina is also firmly in control of her own creation. She used to package and sell EPs directly from her MySpace page and says, “That’s just who I am. I look at statistics every day, I look at wages, I look at everything cos it’s so important to me that I have to be involved in everything. It helps that I did that in the beginning ‘cos the record label got it much quicker and with the EPs, I just think it’s good cos people realise that I am real and didn’t just come from some major label fantasy.”

Indeed, Marina is very open with her fans, having cultivated a close relationship from the beginning. However, as the momentum around her becomes ever more hectic, she acknowledges in another characteristic display of blunt honesty that this has to suffer a little.

“I haven’t got time anymore to blog, and it’s either, ‘Do you wanna sleep for six hours or do you wanna blog for an hour, sleep for five hours, and be tired and cranky?’ I will definitely return to it when things are less hectic, but there’s also the subject of thinking blogs aren’t really permanent – they aren’t taken that seriously – and if I want my ideas to be taken seriously I should put them in a song or write about it properly. But, if they’re real fans they’ll be happy you’re having success, and that you’re not on a computer all day, you’re out fucking promoting your record and doing gigs and meeting other fans from all over the world.”

In the words of Janice Dickinson: “Prepare to be dazzled, motherfuckers!”

Marina and the Diamonds play Tripod on 27^th May. The Family Jewels is out now

“We always say, never let the truth get in the way of a good story!” laughs Cobra Starship guitarist Ryland Blackinton when quizzed as to his band’s intriguing moniker. Legend has it lead singer Gabe Saporta had a snakebite-induced epiphany in the desert, causing him to hallucinate that the titular reptile was schooling him on the dance floor. A fittingly iridescent story, it matches the band’s fun-loving fusion of rock and rhythmic dance.

This mischievous image is one cultivated by the band, especially in a scene where musicians are often too preoccupied with being taken seriously.

“Even from the very beginning we didn’t really take it too seriously, especially not ourselves. We just wanna have fun. I just think emo is the shittiest thing ever – people moping over stuff – and we wanted to break out of that world and be a bit more frivolous. We make music that you can just turn your brain off when you listen.”

Indeed, Cobra Starship’s fresh attitude is both unique and entirely welcome. The band caught the eye of Pete Wentz a few years ago, signing to his label Decaydance, and will soon release their third album Hot Mess. Amongst others, the band have worked with American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi – one of the fruits of the process being a collaboration with none other Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl fame.

“We worked with a lot of people, but Kara just happened to be the one that we connected with the best,” says Ryland. “She’s got a great attitude, she’s really talented. She was able to take what we had already and bring it to the next level. It was very different, but it was very cool. ” As for Leighton, “We were in the studio in New York, and our producers said to take a day off as they were having a session with one of the Gossip Girls. Gabe said, half-joking, ‘we’ll take tomorrow off if you promise we can do a song with her,’ but then somehow a few months later the opportunity came up!”

Unpredictability being the standard in the Cobra Starship camp, the band are venturing to Indonesia and the Philippines later this year as part of a breakneck world tour, also including Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

Says Ryland, “You never really get to see the places that you’re touring, but I love to travel and I never would have been able to come to any of these places if I weren’t in the band. Being away from home can be tough but it’s the nature of the beast. Who knows what’ll come across our desk!”

Let’s just hope south east Asia is ready for this fun-loving starship to land.

30 Seconds to Mars are clearly focused, driven, and who know what’s important. Though for many they remain Jared Leto’s preferred pastime when he’s not acting, their social conscience and the accomplished manner of their latest release beg further scrutiny from detractors.

“You have to grow into that sound,” says guitarist Tomo Milosevic of the group’s latest album, This Is War. A fiery, ambitious project that expands upon the band’s established catalogue of beautifully anguished rock, it encompasses sweeping orchestrals and soaring vocals to create a piece filled with lushly augmented songs that wouldn’t find themselves out of place on a film soundtrack.

“We’ve always wanted to make a record like that,” Tomo continues. “The three of us, we grew up listening to and falling in love with music that touches on that grandiose, epic scope – stuff like Pink Floyd, U2, Nine Inch Nails. We just had to get to this point where we were able to do it and we finally felt like we did.”

The album, released in December to widespread critical acclaim, was recorded in a specially-designed studio in a house in the Hollywood Hills. The band’s producer, Flood, a seasoned craftsman who has worked with, among others, Depeche Mode and the Smashing Pumpkins, described the group as having set out to make “a classic album, going to places they’d never been before” – something Tomo feels the band achieved perfectly.

“We definitely achieved what we set out to in the sense that we transformed ourselves again and we knew we did everything we could possibly do. When you make a record, you don’t ever want to find yourself in a position where you’re wondering if you could have done more, or put more of yourself into it. We all know we can look at each other and say, this is the best we can do, this is the best 30 Seconds to Mars can do up to this point.”

As the music industry evolves, not always adapting to the new challenges facing it down in the era of internet and file sharing, Tomo notes that the band tried to find an original way of stirring interest.

“Making the release of an album exciting these days is hard. People don’t place a very high value on music anymore, so we try to think of creative ways to make people excited that the record is coming out.”

To this end, the band invited their fans to join them in ‘the Summit’, an impromptu recording session at the Avalon club in LA. It proved such a success that eight more ‘summits’ were held in countries across the globe, and the band also invited fans to submit photos of themselves as potential album covers. More than 2000 different covers were assembled from the submissions, as Tomo emphasises the importance of a “connection with the fanbase” for the group.

“We’ve always been very interested in what people think and their opinions; we wanna hear what’s going on in people’s minds when it comes to 30 Seconds to Mars. From the very beginning of this band that was established and we always continued that connection and this is just another way to do that.”

The album This Is War also continues the band’s focus upon environmental issues, something they feel particularly strongly about. The video for single A Beautiful Lie was shot within the Arctic Circle with the lyrics directing attention upon a struggle that Tomo describes as “everyone’s responsibility” to fight for. However, he rejects the notion that the band, as public figures, feels a greater onus to promote awareness.

“Not for that reason – we feel it’s our responsibility because it is everyone’s responsibility and the fact we might be in the public eye, that’s not why we do it. Touring is dirty and messy and leaves a huge footprint and Shannon [Leto, drums] brought it to us and said, ‘We should do something about this.’ He’s the person who can take credit for getting the band on that train. Once you realise what’s really going on out in the world, it’s hard not to become actively involved. We’ve all implemented it in our personal lives and we share what do with other people who are interested.”

The aforementioned single also lent its name to the website abeautifullie.org, which offers advice on how one can implement green-friendliness in their everyday lives. However, the band’s most spectacular achievement to date is arguably the video for From Yesterday, an 11-minute epic based upon The Last Emperor which was shot entirely in China. Such a feat was unheard of before the “insane mind of Jared” got to work, as Tomo describes it.

“He’s the mastermind behind those things. He’s very driven. We talked about this video when he pitched the idea, and he kept saying we should go and actually make it in China, and everyone said of course they won’t let us do it. People like to give you a lot of reasons not to do something, but Jared will often find a reason to do something and he’s often successful at it.”

Indeed, a man of many talents for a group of many faces – “half a minute to another planet,” and going places for certain.