Garbage - Not Your Kind of People [Review]

It's a beautiful gift when amazing music comes along that makes you feel so good inside that you just want to walk down the street with your iPod and scream the lyrics out loud to no one in particular, just because you can, and Garbage's latest record, Not Your Kind of People, is such music, a memorable album that I think (or at at least hope) fans will always regard as special. The title pretty much signifies the theme of the album in five simple words - not your kind of people, as the album deals a great deal with feeling like an outcast, like you don't belong anywhere. It's a feeling with which is difficult to deal but is also a feeling for which music has a curing flair. It's the band's first record in seven years, and although I haven't been a Garbage fan that long, I can only imagine that this must have been worth the wait because this is a great album. The beautiful Shirley Manson has pipes, and she knows how to move listeners with her domineering, powerful voice, a voice that rocks harder than most female musicians of which I am aware. The album opens with "Automatic Systematic Habit" which is just killer, if that's a good description to use. As soon as the track starts with its funky electric guitar melody, you just know that this is going to be something special, and I mean the album in general, not just the song. The song is an epic industrial rock piece with a head-bobbing chorus that features Shirley's conviction that "I won't be your dirty little secret." "Big Bad World" sounds like the acoustic version of Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell" when it first begins, but it's, of course, nothing at all like that. It's a very mellow rock song about how the world always seems to shine when you're in love. I love the line: "You're a satellite around my heart."


"Blood for Poppies" was released as the first U.S. single from the album, and I adore this song. When I first heard it, I was immediately interested and said to myself, this is going to be an interesting album. "Blood for Poppies" is a fast-paced, groovy track, and Shirley's words are so cleverly mashed together during the verses that it's almost like she's rapping, and I actually had to look up the lyrics to determine what she is saying during certain parts. Much as I had suspected, Shirley said that the song is about feeling like you're living in a crazy world, a world in which you have to struggle to stay sane. I'm thinking that "Control" will probably be a future single, and it's really interesting, its sound once it gets "loud" reminding me of the Old West, for one reason or another. I can almost hear the song being on a modern Western soundtrack. I love the line: "It's always darkest right before the dawn." Even though that is an adage that is almost a cliché, it works for Garbage for some reason. "Not Your Kind of People" may be my favorite song from the album, a painfully wistful and brooding song about being different, about being outcasts, and making that declaration to "normal" people. As much as I love "Beloved Freak" being the (standard) album's closer, I almost think that this would have worked better; it's such a beautiful song that, to me, rings finality via its tone. "Felt" is very reminiscent of 90s Smashing Pumpkins; it sounds, in fact, almost exactly like something that they would have done. It's a strange track, with loud guitar that overpowers Shirley's whispery vocals. "I Hate Love" is probably the album's most "electronic" piece, with some parts almost sounding like something that Madonna would have had on her American Life album. It's a great, angry tune about having had your heart broken by someone whom you thought was never going to betray you.

"Sugar" is one of the weaker tracks. It's kind of bland in comparison to most of the remainder of the album's colorful nature, beginning with Shirley's soft vocals overlaying a very soft guitar, and while you keep expecting the song to pick up in excitement, it never really does. "Battle in Me" was released as the first single over in the U.K., and this is a great song. It's one of the "poppier" tracks of the album, kind of sounding like something that Shiny Toy Guns might do; it also registers, to me, some possible Joan Jett influence. "Man on a Wire" immediately demands our attention with its heavy guitar riffs, and it's one that you can tell was fun for the band to record. "Beloved Freak" is absolutely gorgeous. When I first heard it, I was trying to endure the most difficult era of my life, and it made me cry. It is such an utterly beautiful song that assures listeners that no matter how difficult things get, you're not alone in the world, no matter how much it may feel like it, because you're a beautiful human being. It's the kind of song that really should be used to support an anti-bullying campaign. That's where the standard edition closes, but the deluxe edition moves into "The One" which is a fun, upbeat "electronic rock" song that is about being angry and frustrated because the one whom you love seems to keep playing games with you instead of just embracing your love. "What Girls Are Made Of" is probably the strangest song on the album, a "country electronic rock" (yeah, like I said, it's strange) song that is deeply reminiscent of Blondie. "Bright Tonight" is another song in which Shirley sort of whispers the vocals, and it's a very soft, downtempo track about that one special person functioning as your night's stars; it's a really pretty song. The deluxe closes with "Show Me" which is another one that makes use of a country twang, and it also sounds like it belongs in a Western. It picks up a bit, but it's another weaker one for me; it's not a great way to say goodbye to the album, in my opinion.

I am a huge fan of Evanescence, and I know that Amy Lee has said on more than one occasion that she really likes Garbage and that they were an inspiration for her, and I follow both Amy (@AmyLeeEV) and Garbage (@garbage) on Twitter, which is how I discovered that they met in person and are friends, which really excited me. Additionally, I am a fan of the Marina and the Diamonds, and likewise, Marina has met the band, and they are now friends, too. I really hope for some future collaborations; that would be awesome. "Blood for Poppies" was recently featured (in the faint background, mind you) in a True Blood episode, which is pretty awesome, as I am a fan of that TV series. Not Your Kind of People, to me, carries of message of hope, hope to keep us alive during troubling, challenging times, and that's primarily what keeps it afloat for me, because not only is most of the music really memorable because of its sound, its melodies, thematically, it is a very strong album, as well. Although I don't feel that Garbage always does a fantastic job putting out exciting album covers (VERSION 2.0 is one of the blandest album covers that I've ever seen, and I mean no disrespect to the band when I say that; it's just an opinion), their music is definitely exciting, and I sincerely hope that it's not another seven years that they put a new album out, and I also hope that their next release will be as good as this one. Garbage is known for their catchy, deep and meaningful songs ("Bleed Like Me" and "Androgyny" both come immediately to mind), and it's so good to know that they don't seem to have any plans of disappearing any time soon. Vocally, Shirley delivers, and the band is nothing short of a memorable band that I'm sure has made a great impact on many people's lives.