Marnie Stern "Transformer"

[kmrinreno]

I love this video. This is great. She is so far out there she's gone...whoooosh

[surroundlounge]

Great song, a friend of mine is a big fan of Marnie's and he burnt me a CD with a song on it, but won't tell me who it is....

Anyone who can help with ID I would greatly appreciate.

watch?v=cCdHj9xvLCo

[mikeypoo911]

This sounds eerily like Number of the Beast

[rexnickles2]

This song is fucking corny and terrible. And I expect everyone to disagree with me. Have fun with your bad music

[stevej223]

@rexnickles2 i agree.

[13967237]

@rexnickles2 I agree, this is naff as hell. Why is it tagged as Math Rock? Sounds like a cheesy cover of Thunderstruck (a song already associated with metal nerds, the uncoolest of the uncool).

[therunningmanlives]

her and geddy lee need to have a love child...under the blood moon!

[mettlesoul]

Another 3 finger guitar picker but this one screeches like a cat. Sorry, I was hoping for something good when I heard about her. Love guitar players and had read how Stern was ignored because she was female. Hell, she's ignored because she's not bad , just not that good. Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani, Johnson, Petrucci... those are the greats!

[gtbouch]

In 1950 high school seniors were asked if they were potentially VIP's and 12% said yes, in 2008 the same survey got an 80% yes. The country is full of delusional young people. Like poor Marnie

[karerer]

@gtbouch I was a VIP at the club last night

[jeng3000]

Some people get into music from a technical standpoint. They will hate this song because they will claim that it's "not that difficult". They'll forget that it's a song. They'll think that music is about proving how good you are at playing notes. They'll forget that it's really about making a SONG that people like to listen to. The 38 year old guy who plays the Warwick bass in the Rush cover band will probably hate this because he doesn't care about songs to begin with. He just cares about notes

[MatingasMex]

@jeng3000 bleh. as simple as marnie stern tapping is (and with horrible technique) zach hill brings this up a huge notch. which should make it complicated and technical enough to not complain. if someone is complaining. its a chick. and its a catchy song with tons of tapping that sound great. you do something better.

[babybrutal123]

Tera Melos Needs a new touring partner. Though her music isn't awful, she just rides very simple two hand tapping throughout her songs. At least she's the gateway for people who haven't yet heard of Tera Melos to experience a different experimental take on music.

[mopedsuicide]

I actually kind of like this tune...it works.  Yet, if she was fugly. I guarantee she'd be ignored and ridiculed.

[shonuffLA]

@mopedsuicide thats kind of a theme in life

[gtbouch]

Music gets worse as the audience gets constantly more ignorant! This is crap, not just sonically,y but she can't play.  That two finger hammer-on shit is like saying you can play piano because you run your thumb back and forth over the keys. A cat can do it. Please try and learn something before you ruin the human race. . .

[fudgeydelight]

@gtbouch go die

[jeng3000]

@gtbouch So a song sucks because it's easy to play?

[jeng3000]

Apparently 20 people here would rather listen to boring vagina music like Ani DeFranco.

[spartan2600]

@jeng3000 Am I not allowed to simultaneously like DeFranco and Stern?

[GetInTheHyperSphere]

She's hot.

[jjdecani]

Ooh. Elementary tapping. How startlingly original.

The worst thing about getting old is seeing for yourself how nothing is new. Nothing. The same shit just cycles around every generation-and-a-half or so. Take me now, Jesus.

[TremulantMannequin]

@jjdecani cool story bro

[LouReedsBooks]

@jjdecani I agree...but only with the last sentence.

You should be taken now.

[jeng3000]

@jjdecani So is music just about technique? I hope not. I'm a guitarist for 24 years and I realized years ago that I actually don't give a crap about how a guitarist plays guitar, I care about how good a song is. And this song kicks ass.

[spartan2600]

@jjdecani The worst thing about being young is seeing all you old cranks bitch and moan. I hope I don't end up being the same kind of sorry person.

[AlabamaManWhore]

Can we at least agree that this chick is fucking fine?

[zoyclem]

Interesting song.

[listentohella]

...fill this part in

[jimmybryght]

She sucks live.

[YTNames]

@jimmybryght That's often the case with indie acts. The musical intuition may be there, but they're still accustomed to the street and bar atmosphere. And of course, they don't have the entourage that major label artists enjoy, so it's really like a vice versa. (Although some indie acts actually sound decent performing.)

[YeahMakeSense]

is thinking... Paki shit hole

[cackermuffin]

girl/guitar worship. twin-necked sg. nice visuals. dry ice. YES!!!

[reedposey]

UME twenty times better

[AflojeLengua]

I love to ride my bike to this song. Actually, to the whole album.

[pigasus]

@AflojeLengua ME TOO!

[eatlizband]

Great!!!

[Lunarsight]

This grows on you slowly, but it's really quite catchy.

If a musician creates a song that gets stuck in my head for a long period of time, then they must be doing something right.

[matto902]

i'm in love

[ModeONvalencia]

Battles are the perfect example of math rock, also Slint or Tortoise. Am I wrong?

[conjeri]

Battles is a great example. hella, don caballero, etc.

[HaroldFeldberg]

Foals too, they're one of my fave math rock bands

[matto902]

tool is a great example of math rock

[Underhill182]

Not at all. Music with tricky time signatures and numerical patterns isn't always math rock.

[conjeri]

marnie stern is great. she makes some interesting music and has some serious skills on guitar. seems to have a really cute personality from all her interviews too. swwoooooooooooon

[killingspree]

she makes want to kill myself, what awful crap. if you want to listen to good rock listen to dream theater

[ElectricCrown666]

If by "good rock", you mean "pretentious, drawn out wankery that adds nothing new to music", than yes.

[killingspree]

Millions of Dream Theater and other progressive fans would disagree. I doubt Marnie Stern or any other these shitty "indie" bands have nearly as many fans or dedicated fan base

[matto902]

hahahah well said brother

[Lewelltam]

This is absolutely not math-rock, an appropriately tedious term for a staid style of bullshit. Marnie simply works on whatever track she thinks is starting to sound interesting and drops a track whenever she gets bored. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least it's usually interesting.

[bobgure]

What the fuck?!

This is great.

[escaflowne3]

it's called math rock bro, she didn't invent it

[ifoundsage]

That's not Math Rock. Math Rock is ultra-technical, heavy and has exotic time signatures. Check out Dream Theater, Lamb of God and Protest the Hero for examples.

[conjeri]

none of those bands are math rock

[xrickyisdead15x]

@ifoundsage your a tard

thats metal dude math ''ROCK''

not prog metal

[ifoundsage]

@xrickyisdead15x

1) Ricky is not dead 2) "you're" not "your" 3) U-R-N-R-TARD

[xrickyisdead15x]

@ifoundsage

realy though dude im not arguing with you over internet grammar but math rock is a kind of indie rock not metal

its just appreciated by some nice metalheads with an affinity for jazz

[barbaryghost]

Man oh man! What she can do with a guitar is incredibly brilliant... it's as if she is taking the guitar wanking of hair bands and re-establishing it as punk rock. Just AMAZING!!!

[etlune]

Love you Zac!

[hoorayforBG]

She can shred like nobody's business.

[razrX]

indeed!!! but somehow i loved it!!!!

[chrisryan1088]

i <3 marnie stern i want to make sweet love to her

[midouespeon]

Marnie is awesome.

[Elmoresnooze]

This song is awesome. A friend of mine interviewed Marnie and said she was a very nice, cool person.

[virginierivaud]

Haa elle est génial ! <3

[calebaaa]

hab ich vorgestern auf arte gesehen... find ich genial die gute frau

[herrschel]

dito, hab ich gestern bei tracks auf arte gesehen....die hat was.

[PookiesFR]

Toi aussi :D

Es ist lustig, dass Fransözen und Deutschen können die selbst TV

[XgrimaceX]

same as KdoSpezKr

awesome

[panicotion]

cool

[KdoSpezKr]

I saw her in German culture TV (which normally sucks as hell) but she plays damn good!

[schundone]

jop me too :D

she is awesome

[Muserocks17]

coooooooool stuff marnie!

[Jack655321]

it's like an accessable version of lightning bolt

me likey

[nipplash]

That's an oxymoron

[cdav4czar]

Great voice...similar to Gwen Stefani's. Marnie's got better lyrics and music behind her, though.

[stgm]

I agree, its like Gwen Stefani picked up a guitar when she went solo instead of hanging around with Japanese pop stars.

[chechezluvsgd]

Is she alluding to Ziggy Stardust at 0:32 ?

[Misli10]

Looks like it.

[indy4ever]

anyone can tap with only two fingers, that isn't particularly special. on the other hand, no-one seems to be able to make tapping sound good in a real song, except her.

[1indienation]

OMFG I LOVE HER!

[Emberland]

Hey, that's pretty cool.

[barbedheart]

no! i happened to mark that as spam, didn't look twice. sorry as fuck. it IS the shit though, you need your ears broken not to like it.

[TionTheOne]

This is the shit. How can anyone with ears not think this sounds good?

[jeveuxfuchsia]

ask my mom

[iamhalfmastrightnow]

Most awesomeness female guitarist i have seen. i dont think ive seen anyone better actually! anyone have any recommendations?

[sleater84]

if ur looking for good female guitarists, try kaki king. very differernt style of music, but freaking awesome. watch 'playing with pink noise"

[DeskLazer]

kaki is amazing. her ex-gf, kelli rudick, is also awesome.

[AndyCaryMusic]

i think im in love

[ffets]

this song is really incredible!!

[CLAUSNIKE]

she

[Strafka]

Wow, this is cool!

Go Marnie!

[LongLiveOx]

People get way too hung up on labels. How about you take each song, each album, each artist, on a case-by-case basis, instead of instantly dismissing a whole genre? I like metal, I like hip-hop, I like indie, and yes, GASP, I do actually like some corporate rock. If it sounds good to my ears, I'll listen to it. Music snobbery, in any form, is incredibly obnoxious, and you see it both with fans who like commercially popular music, and with fans who are into indie rock.  Have an open mind.

[xXgonewithoutmusicXx]

see, i like you

the weird thing is, is that they're both right about certain points, but you basically closed the discussion with the one, main truth that i completely agree on. and that was cool. and it was very entertaining to read :)

[LongLiveOx]

Why thank you! Marnie rocks!

[Sjekster]

@LongLiveOx Agreed, but there's nothing wrong with saying you're just not into a certain genre. That doesn't keep me from trying to listen to stuff, but generally I don't like certain genres. There's too much music out there for one lifetime, so I try not to waste much time exploring genres I generally dislike. If an artist from said genre does cross my path, and I like it, great, but I won't actively search for it. Too much other stuff to focus on ;). More a case of prioritizing than snobbery.

[soulishmusic]

@LongLiveOx LONG LIVE LongLiveOx! :-)

[mettlesoul]

@LongLiveOx Sorry I like it all too, but not his 3 finger screeching

[usingpond]

Yes. Independent labels are awful for music, huge labels are the true saviors and pioneers of music today. Nice post, dude.

[maigaard7]

No no no, indie as in: the genre.

Independent music can be good, but indie-pop-rock sucks and is a waste of everybody's time.

[Zynismus]

listen to the album.. this so isn't indie pop rock anyways :/

[DouchebagFrog]

IMO, there's no such thing as an indie-pop genre, it's like people saying pop-punk. What most people classify today as indie I think is a joke.

The indie scene of the 80s and 90s were amazing and saved music from the corporate cock rock stars like guns n' roses and the hair metal bands that only sang about getting laid.

Indie music is about evolving the art of rock, if you don't like it, you can go back and listen to the same old verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus bullshit.

[maigaard7]

Jesus christ. Do you seriously believe that todays Indierock-scene is saving anything? Todays Indierock is more corporate cock-rock than most of any other genre!

"Alternative" music doesn't exist anymore. There is so much of it that noone stands out anymore.

[DouchebagFrog]

You're completely missing my point. Bands like the Arctic Monkeys (quotes from you) are not indie rock, at least in my opinion, they are just generic pop rock. I've grown incredibly discontent with what's called indie rock now. Bands like the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth HAVE completely saved music, those bands are what I always think of when I hear indie rock. Today's underground indie rock scene I also think is saving music, more so from the likes of emo bands. indie-pop is an oxymoron

[maigaard7]

Oh, but I am referring to the 'modern' term "Indie Rock". What the people call "Indie rock" that is. I live in Denmark and everyone in Denmark would label Arctic Monkeys or Snow Patrol "Indie Rock", because the vast majority of Denmark doesn't know what "Indie" means.

I'm not really into Indie Rock (the 'true' term) but more Indie Metal. Danish Underground Metal that is.

So, yeah, i know what 'real' Indie is, but i was using the popular term.

[jakkelyd]

Lol you really are a douchebag frog.

[DouchebagFrog]

Although, I wouldn't expect someone who likes Slipknot, a band that only became famous because of their image, not their music, to understand what "good music" is.

OOOOOOh scary masks!. Also funny you listed the Ting Tings as a band you like, who literally epitomize the so called "indie-pop-rock" genre for which you have so much distaste.

[maigaard7]

Ting Tings are fun to listen to. Extremely mainstream, yeah, but fun. And i don't listen to them much.

And yeah maybe Slipknot became famous because of their masks, i don't know, and i guarantee that YOU don't know. I like their music, not their image.

You wouldn't stop to think that their masks doesn't affect what people think about their music? A band like Arctic Monkeys could wear masks and their music would still be shit.

[DouchebagFrog]

The reason why I don't respect metal is because it's 90% image, and it's very pretentious and boring. Playing up and down pentatonic scales in 64th notes isn't art, it's hackneyed and banal. Jimi Hendrix isn't considered a great guitarist because of technical ability, because let's face it, his songs are pretty easy to play. It's because of his innovation and his presence over the guitar what made people say "wow." True indie rock artists are the same.

[maigaard7]

That's a matter of likes and dislikes. I like metal and I think it sounds great no matter the innovativity.

Besides: you can't just claim that all metal artists aren't innovative. If I were a better discusser(?) I would like to discuss it, but I'm not so I won't.

[chrish88]

that depends on what you've been listening to and what your preconception of metal is. I 100% agree with what you said about playing with speed and no soul, but listen to a band like Opeth or Dillinger Escape Plan or Mastodon and tell me that they are banal. There are bound to be talentless imitators in every musical style, even indie rock. How many bands are Pavement clones?

[jakkelyd]

"The reason why I don't respect metal is because it's 90% image, and it's very pretentious and boring."

Self-pwnage ITT.

[DaIronMic]

Oh Really. Well you obvioulsy don't know what the fuck your talking about. Yeah alot of metal bands are all about image and those bands fucking suck. A lot of so called "indie bands" are all about image too. And I like how you act like you know anything about guitar. Bands like Death, Opeth, and Arsis are extremely innovative, and no they don't fuckin just play up and down on the penantonic scale.

[domotherapy]

This is badass.

[vaspers]

congratulations. today this video was selected by the NYC Punk Rock Evolution Foundation.

[picnicpicnic]

marnie stern saved my life.

[DankeRainer]

she sounds like a slightly-more polished, female Jay Reatard. I like it!

[JuliaBridholm]

yeah

i mean... girls are NOT able to do anything near what boys can do. everybody knows that.

[doodoohead37]

uh doiiii! that's why he said it!

[EVNYC]

song is too short. love the finger tapping.

[xAIDSwolfx]

man the beggining of this song reminds me of something from the band lightning bolt! awesomeeee

[gregcarson]

fucking hawtness.. awesome track/video

[TheZombieG]

I CAME BUCKETS

[lukeashmoore]

shame

[Frisbieinstein]

Golly.

[pwincessMB]

my name is marnie :o its not a common name lol

[leemackey]

Now I know how teenage girls feel when they go to see, like, the Jonas Brothers. I am totally in love. I saw her live and she shreds!

[TheBombi]

Wicked, my lead guitarists a girl and she's awsome, they're taking over!!!! AND IT SOUNDS FUCKING SWEET!!!!

[LunaSombre]

I'm officially amazed

[houstonveer]

Marnie Stern is the Christ. Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

[playingwithfirehurts]

more like WORLD!

[Brainlove]

I meant "FUCKING YES" in general to the amazing Ms Stern and this song, not about comparisons to Hilary Duff btw.

[Brainlove]

Fucking YES.

[bigstereo]

She's an amazing guitarist.

It's too bad she isn't part of a band where she could leave the singing/yelling to someone else.

Is it just me or does her voice sound like a combo of Peaches and Hillary Duff?

[Hydrophish]

Uh...what?

[Bunshri]

"The future is yourself, fill this part in"

Such great advice!

[lespaulnasty31]

i thought it was that too, but i'm really sure it's "the future is yours, so fill this part in." listen closely

[tomalsorans]

planet earth's greatest living human, clearly

[ElimRem]

The future is yours so fill this part in.

[Samhickey]

"Grabbing victory out of the jaws of defeat. /Is there no way out of the mind? /There are things to find, /Chaos is a friend of mine." From 'Ruler.' So. Good.

[waitressboy]

This girl is so crazy.

I love her music.

[ssoloway]

rip that shit!

[droobleball]

FUCK YES!!!

[tiadoran]

I get tingles listening to this.

[metalinjection]

THE FUTURE IS YOURSELF! FILL THIS PART IN!!! Can't stop listening to this...

[interpolluter29]

That's some fine guitar shredding, and how she used it just makes it more stunning.

[itsjustrust]

She is so amazing.

[toddcolby]

Hell yes.

[xTheOxx]

Holy shit!

[rbates791]

So good!!!