ARTS
The Michigan Daily
Friday, March 13, 1987
Page 7
Hide your children;
the
By Mike Rubin
ke
,; Tomorrow night, the 14th of
March, marks the Ann Arbor debut
of Evanston, IL's fearsome
threesome (plus automaton), Big
Black. The show at East Quad's
Halfway Inn will be the band's first
Michigan appearance since a July
4th weekend shebang-bang-bang at
Detroit's Graystone that made Miss
J.iberty's New York Harbor
fireworks look like just so many
Elvis impersonators with sparklers.
Although the band may leave the
:-pyrotechnics at home for fear of
lasting the tiny Halfway out of
Washtenaw County airspace, their
Pi performance still promises to be as
I explosive as ever.
Big Black recently bolted to
Midwestern megasaur Touch and
-Go Records (having previously
recorded for the Ruthless, Fever,
ind Homestead labels). The band is
currently riding the crest of
newfound popularity (due to college
hradio airplay and critical acclaim
from the likes of aging Village
Voice record guru Robert
'Christgau, who recently paid the
band one of his highest
.compliments by calling them "the
young farts of pigfuckerdom") and
even newer financial, stability (due
to a successful European tour).
-Vith two 45's, three EP's, and an
album (last year's agitation opus
Atomizer ) under their latex rubber
F-guitar-strap-belts, plus two records
on the way this month, the group
has come a long way from their
,meager beginnings as an
extracurricular individual project by
former Northwestern University
student Steve Albini.
As Big Black's popularity has
\ :blossomed, so has the notoriety
surrounding singer and guitarist
Albini's unique world view: a
philosophy combining equal parts
Nihilism with existentialism, a
couple sprinkles of off-color
humor, a teaspoon of out-and-out
nastiness, with a dash of the
Weekly World News thrown in for
,good measure, creating a sizzling
stew of sordid solliloquoy and
brutal, crater-faced realism. Song
.topics have run the guttural gamut
from dogs that bite blacks, to
slaughterhouses, to setting fires as
a way to pass the time, to mobster
revenge, to child molestation (the
all-too-true story of Jordan,
Minnesota, the land that humanity
forgot). What else could you expect
from a guy whose answering
machine says "I don't really care
who it is that's calling right now,
"ut whoever it is, if you don't have
something real important to say,
just hang up. Okay? I'm tired of
;having to listen to a bunch of jerks
askin' me for favors on the phone
machine every night. Screw ya."?
:With an attitude like theirs, these
guys should be standing mute in
: front of spontaneous bop pro -
:Zecutors, instead of bellowing
blasphemy in front of adoring
a '
- --
rosene,
audiences. h
It has to be their instrumental n
approach that packs the houses and c
then blows them up. Musically,
Big Black are the bump that S
separates things from the night. I
Guitars crackle like the electric
radio you accidentally brought into f
the bathtub with you, spewing s
lethal doses of high-voltage t
feedback in all directions like the r
vomit from Linda Blair's rotating r
emerald head. Purring like the
proverbial cat in the microwave, the £
twin sonic scissor attack of Albii
and former Naked Raygun fret t
maniac Santiago Durango clips, t
zips, and rips through the neo-hip- t
hop rhythm bed provided by ex- I
Detroiter Dave Riley and the band's
true starring attraction, Roland the r
drum machine. Offensive to punk j
purists and flesh and blood 4
afficianados everywhere, the drum t
machine guarantees the band a
steady and dependable beat for the c
umans to manipulate their
mayhem around, as well as a bigger
ut of the paycheck.
Opening up for the Chicago
ensations are local non-slouches
Laughing Hyenas, four deranged and
dynamically dissonant escapees
rom Dante's Funhouse. Led by
singer/he-banshee John Brannon,
he band creates the most
hythmically terrifying post-Ridilin
muck this side of the River Styx.
With their bound-to-be-burnin'
debut LP expected soon on
Washington, D.C.'s Adult Con -
emporary Records, you better catch
hese guys (and gal) soon, before
hey relocate to someplace like
Dexter.
Doors open at 9 p.m., with the
Hyeans to hit the stage howling at
O p.m. Admission is $S at the
door. The Halfway Inn is located at
he Church Street entrance to East
Quad. No bottles or alcohol
allowed. Be there or be boring.
too
Big Black's Steve Albini takes Roland's share of the paycheck.
/2 G
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Arts
&
Programming
This Week at the Michigan Union...
March 19
Arts at Midday:
Pianist Christopher Keen from
Sydney, Australia plays Haydn's A
Minor Sonata and Debussy's
"Children's Suite."
12:15 p.m., Pendleton Room
FREE
WI
1/
jt }
-I
4 "x6" & 3"x5"
Same Price!
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Michigan Union . 994-0433
76-BURIME R EREfs
For the 1987-1988 academic year
76-GUIDE is an anonymous peer phone counseling service
sponsored by Counseling Services. Applicants need to be carolledl
students who are good at working with people. No previous
counseling experience is necessary. GUIDE vorkers are paid and
vork approximately 14 hours per week. Applications are
available at Counseling Services. 3180 Michigan Union. beginning
Monday. Feb9. Deadline for applications is Friday. March 6.
For further information call 76-GUIDE or 764-9312.
"U-M is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer'"
hen you need to talk, we're here to listen."