Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 12, 1990 Bullies don't wanna be no squareheads OK, we survived 1989 but, big surprise, it has brought us another year with nothing to do. Nothing except recalling how much easier it was to have fun every day when Mom picked up the utility bills. That and sitting around listening to less apathetic and more talented college-town subterraneans like the God Bullies. Formed in the terminally bored Kalamazoo/Western Michigan U. underground, the God Bullies persevered through the slightly funny deals offered non-cover band musical artistes like playing unused parts of sports bars on weeknights or going into a town hoping to make enough money to buy gas and cigarettes. The band's recording output appears on Minnesota's Amphetamine Reptile Records, including some now long-gone singles and 1989's mamawombwomb. Said record supplies the perfect ennui soundtrack for these grey daze, keeping the synapses plenty busy trying to decide if their audio cut-up sources are better than everyone else's while "The Beat of the Jungle" that Art Linkletter was so scared of bores away at us underneath incessant distorto chords, all before lead singer Mike Hard starts reinforcing our paranoid view of the world. The key to the God Bullies' rise above the hordes of their fellow leathered Stooge fanatics may be Live on tage!, where Mike Hard attempts to out-Ig all comers, with the probable exception of current Washtenaw ounty Jail resident GG Allin. Ann Arborites somehow made those incredible grunge-godhead Stooges records so long ago, and their disciples will be making pilgrimages here for some time. Lucky us. -Brian Jarvinen Ministry The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste Sire/Warner Brothers Records How should Ministry be classi- fied now? While almost all classifi- cations are inherently limiting and over-simplified, it's still very diffi- cult to come up with even a short phrase that adequately describes The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste. What does one call a band with a frontman who "changed" his name from Alain to Alien and lists him- self as a guitarist when it's pretty obvious he's lying? (These guys have to be using samplers. Not even Metallica plays this fast.) How about "cyber-techno-thrash-indus- trial-speed-synth metal?" Well, maybe not. I suppose that "techno- metal" captures the essence of the new Ministry. The band has taken the most abrasive elements of both genres and produced a seemingly contradictory offspring, a total cross-clash of cultures soldered to- gether by a mad scientist. Not a lot is different from the last record, The Land of Rape and honey, except that Alien and the boys have gone completely over the top with the metal guitars and have buried any evidence that they're us- ing a drum machine deep down in the mix. Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan (probably another front for Al) return to produce and many of the same backup musicians are also here. Hell, even the cover is done by the same people that did the last record. A noticeable difference is that the lyrics are distorted and buried so much that they're almost unintelli- gible. This may be by design; it looks like Al has run out of ideas. The lyrics on this are a far cry from older songs like "All Day" and have even deteriorated from "Stigmata" ("The only weapon I know is the rAi ~ look in your eyes"). Instead we have inane lines like, "I only kill to know I'm alive." Oh really, Al? On "Test," the Grand Wizard helps out the situation with his diatribes against nearly everything ("Don't sell out/ or get the hell out/ of this business") but he doesn't quite save the day. The music is another matter. It doesn't make a difference if the play- ing is real or not. This stuff rocks harder than just about anything around. The songs cruise along at breakneck speed, with only a few ex- ceptions. The first song, "Thieves," is a worthy sucessor to "Stigmata," and features the fastest fretwork in a long time. The band hasn't aban- doned its electronic stuff, however. The sampling is superb and adds frosting to what otherwise might have been a monotonous cake. The band has achieved a success- ful integration of metal and techno here; the mix is a Frankenstein monster of sorts, but it kicks some major ass. If the lyrics are over- looked, The Mind could qualify as both one of the best metal records and one of the best techno records of the year. -Mike Molitor UZEB Noisy Nights Nova Fusion: A combination of the emotion of rock and the expressive freedom of jazz. On the rock side are groups like Steely Dan; on the x pop/jazz side, Kenny G; and on the jazz side, groups like Spyro Gyra. Hits: Although there are the No. 1 kind, a hit in music can also de- scribe the simultaneous notes or 1 rhythms played, either at certain points in the music or for longer sustained runs. All of this leads you to the music of UZEB, a French Canadian fusion trio extraordinaire. Although they've been together for over ten years, recorded seven albums, won count- less (well, almost) prizes (including- Canada's equivalent to the Grammy and numerous prizes at European jazz festivals), UZEB has remained unknown in the U.S. No more! Last, spring, Nova records in California picked up their latest venture, Noisy Nights, for distribution in the U.S. Hopefully, UZEB will soon be heard from more and more this side of the border. One journalist quite adequately described the music as being "tighter* than a gnat's ass." Alain Carron, UZEB's bassist, commented, "I don't know if I'd tell you we're the tightest band around, but it's defi-1 nitely something that we strive for in the music. All I know is that' when I play, I'm so into it. We're now playing in a trio format (with Michel Cusson as guitarist, Paul Brochu on drums) which gives us, more space to develop the ideas we. - want to develop.",A If you're into high tech music,' UZEB is a band that isn't afraid to use technology. All members of the band at one point or another use their instruments to drive synthesiz-, ers. "The base of our trio is still gui- tar, bass and drums. We use the synths to add colors," said Carron. Two of the tracks on Noisy Nights, feature sequencers; in order to play them live, the drummer plays to 1 click track. If you ever thought prac- licing to a metronome was hard, try, it while you're performing. "You could give a Steinway or a Bosendor., fer to someone who didn't know how to play, and it would sound bad, The same is true with sequencers,', Carron explained. If ever there wasa band that found the right combina- tion between live playing and cre- ative sequencing, it would be UZEB,, If you're still of the kind that be-# lieves computers and music don't, mix, let me offer up some tidbits., UZEB could (and sometimes does), play all of their music acoustically-, Both Cusson and Carron are Berklee College of Music alumni, an4. Brochu has been a professor at the' Quebec Conservatory of Music. Car-, ron practiced six to eight hours a day for five years to develop his chops.- He's got it all, from fretless piccolo bass playing to thunderous thumb- slapping, the kind that makes you' want to quit playing bass altogether. Musicianship is something that ex- tends equally to all members of the group. -Jean-Michel Creviere. ni..u l ~ ..- i [ t °n1' 1 n1 r1_ ri " -"-m - - - - M~oW - - . ANN ARBOR'S PIME 1 ROPE RT I ES The Abby -The Algonuquin -The Dean-74(e7--i T 1h lr)ion -The Lodge - 4ff P .o 51"5 E. Lawrence -"326 E. Macd i son -1" O OO -(u 520 Packard Arbor Forest- Oak Terrace -517 Catherine- - ara .r /ow'74o*-415 Hoover- 511 loover - 114 Kingsly - 727 S. Forest Now leasing for Fall 1990 - Call 761-8000 Prime Student Housing, Inc. 610 Church Street I. m TH:ATERS 1 & 2 -5TH AVE. 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