ARTS
'The Michigan Daily
Tuesday, December 3, 1991
Page 5
.qW,
(Votes From
Orcderq~rondc
How low
*can you go??
My newest fetish is LFO's
Frequencies, an inconsistent but
gutsy album of dance music that
jams hard. This product of techno
and house fusion - with rap
dynamics - immerses me in waves
of direct, mesmerizing sound and
enraptures me with its synthetic
attack that is full of passion.
The two musicians comprising
the act, who only give their names as
Bell and Varley, have created a
sound that defies categorization,
even in its narrowness. Using the
sensuous physicality of house, along
with the density of rap, this
dynamic duo could very well point
out the future for popular music in
general.
Their medium is implemented
*with bass -- both our greatest
musical advancement of the past
five years and the most pervasive
line of cultural demarcation we
have at our disposal today. The
vibrations of the bass will either
soothe you or make you livid,
depending on your general mood and
your personal attitude toward this
largely inner-city phenomenon.
LFO fittingly stands for Low
Frequency Orchestra, as the music is
so loaded with bass that both A
Tribe Called Quest producer Skeff
Anselm and Terminator X should
lend it an ear.
The act's monster bass will
vibrate your ear drums as easily and
thoroughly as it does your bedroom
walls, and your neighbor's walls,
and every tenuous division of space
throughout the building you share.
The low end in music is enhanced
through the woofers on your
speakers, although LFO will
compensate for them if they aren't
particularly formidable. Monstrous
low end that, given the right
woofers, will ensure your speedy
eviction from that tight-assed
apartment building or residence hall
even as you're partying the night
away. I personally find it so much
easier to gig when the floor shakes,
seemingly of its own volition.
Frequencies' low and high ends
are mixed so broadly that the music
becomes three-dimensional at its
best. Like the roaring of Jimi
Hendrix's guitar solos and like Ice
Cube's indefatigable rap delivery
when he starts "flowin' like
Niagara Falls," this music is in-
your-face, passionate and solid.
Although many critics might
think of electronic music and
passionless music as one in the same,
these tracks will disintegrate that
premise. The bass in the second
track, "LFO," drops so hard that
my speakers buzz, while the
similarly dense "We Are Back"
features spoken words and keyboard
sounds that are wonderfully alien in
their distortion.
I appreciate the musicians' not
attempting to mask the inhumanity
Qttheir product, and even playing on
this quality for the best possible
result.
The single most interesting
aspect of LFO is the painstaking
balance they give their music for
appreciation by human beings. It
says, if we can no longer make our
music emotionally evocative to the
listeners, then we will use physical
presence - and even violence - to
compensate for that small loss.
Save the LP!
DAILY ARTS 0
Paretsky creates
feminist mysteries
by Alissa Citron
V.I. Warshawski is not your average gun-wielding private eye. She is a
multi-dimensional character, a female detective who is an intelligent and
assertive problem solver. At the same time, she is a sensitive, honest and at-
tractive woman. In a recent interview from her Chicago home, War-
shawski's creator, author Sara Paretsky, described her character as "a
woman who is an effective person who also has a sex life, as most people
do, yet it has nothing to do with her moral character or her ability to be an
effective problem solver."
Paretsky has written six novels centered around V. I. Warshawski's
exploits: Indemnity, Deadlock, Killing Orders, Bitter Medicine, Bloodshot
and Burn Marks.
These atypical mysteries emerged from Paretsky's disgust with the
portrayal and treatment of women in American mystery novels. Paretsky
said that in American crime fiction, there has been and still lingers "an at-
titude that women are less than human, that their sexuality controls them
in ways that makes it impossible for them to be fully realized human be-
ings. It is a curious attitude, when it is the uncontrolled male sexuality
that in reality creates so many social problems."
She went on to say that women's uncontrolled sexuality is used as a
scapegoat for male deviance. This process of victim blaming, she indicated,
is repeated on all levels of fiction, including those of Norman Mailer and
Saul Bellow.
Paretsky agreed that her books may be important vehicles in the fem-
inist movement. She said that she views feminism as a way to "give women
a sense of their own voices and enable them to speak."
Paretsky is also interested in forcing open the door for other women
writers. She is a part of an organization called Sisters in Crime, which was
formed in 1986 to address issues such as women's underrepresentation in
reviews and literary awards, which are essential to a writer's perseverance
and publishing success. Paretsky cited the example of Nadine Gordimor,
who was the first woman in 25 years to win the Nobel Prize for literature.
When the organization began, a book by a man had a seven times greater
chance of being reviewed than a book by a woman did. Sisters in Crime
attempted to show the publishers that there was an "audience for seeing
women in non-traditional roles, although this doesn't seem very
See V.I., Page 7
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Black Robe reminisces about our founding fathers. "OK, so that was all of Rhode
Island for a packet of snuff and these pretty beads. You sure drive a hard bargain, He Who Foolishly Trusts
The White Oppressor."
Beresford goes easy
on the PC in Rb
Black R obe
dir. Bruce Beresford
by Aaron Hamburger
Bruce Beresford is no stranger to being shunned by the
critics. After thumbing their noses at his much-un-
derrated Crimes of the Heart and denying him a Best
Director Oscar nomination for Driving Miss Daisy, the
same critics who lauded Dances with Wolves so vocif-
erously a year ago are now trying to dismiss the direc-
tor's fascinating and exciting new movie, Black Robe.
Comparisons to Dances with Wolves abound. Both
films show the relationship between a white man and
his Native American neighbors, as the white man at-
tempts to resolve some inner crisis.
Wolves features Kevin Costner trying to "find
himself." Robe, however, focuses on the more complex
crisis of faith which its main character, Father
Laforgue (Lothaire Bluteau from Jesus of Montreal)
experiences as he treks through the harsh wilderness of
Quebec in order to find an apparently abandoned Huron
mission. Several members of the Algonquin tribe ac-
company Laforgue, a French Jesuit missionary, on his
journey.
Black Robe never attempts to cast a politically cor-
rect sheen on its subject matter - Beresford's film
portrays Native Americans in all of their glory and
brutality.
The beginning of the film contrasts the sensual and
instinctive lifestyle of the Algonquins with the strict,
cold spirituality of Laforgue. His white companion,
Daniel (Aden Young), exclaims, "They are the true
Christians," and the movie seems to head for the same_
"Indians can be nice too" territory charted by Wolves.
Robe, however, cleverly undercuts these expectations
in a scene which shows members of the Iriquois tribe
slitting the throat of a young Algonquin girl and
cutting off the finger of Father Laforgue.
When the Native Americans in Dances with Wolves
commit some act of brutality, such as the massacre at
the beginning of the film, the movie tries to duck the
issue by blaming these actions on the "bad Indians," as
opposed the the "good" ones who made friends with
Costner. When Father Laforgue tries a similar excuse
in Robe, however, his Algonquin guide Cammisha
(August Schellenberg) refuses, saying, "No, we are all
the same."
The Native Americans portrayed in the movie are
neither environmentally-aware saints or brutal sav-
ages. They are a people who closely follow their in-
stincts, as opposed to the reason of the Jesuits.
Father Laforgue realizes through his journey that
his religion is out of step and impractical in Native
American society. Still, Laforgue decides to continue
his missionary work; though his religion cannot help
his converts in the present world, it can guarantee them
a place in the next one.
Beresford handles the material masterfully. The
wild Canadian landscape achieves a rough abstract
See ROBE.Page 7
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The University of Michigan
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Straitjacket Fits
"Roller Ride" (CD single)
Arista
Straightjacket Fits sounds kind
of like a cross between Sonic Youth
and U2. However, you don't get that
sense as much from the studio track,
"Roller Ride," as you do from the
three live tracks that follow on this
four-song CD single. "Roller Ride"
itself is a great song with a fast,
rockin' tempo; polished, melodic
vocals; and a cool, intense chord
progression. The song has a lot of
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dynamics to it - there are parts
that are a little bit quieter and parts
that are a little bit heavier.
But it's the other three songs
that sound like a hybrid of Sonic
Youth and U2. Straitjacket Fits has
an admirable love of feedback and
dissonance. The band also has a knack
for putting together chords that
maybe shouldn't fit, but sound cool
anyway, as in "A.P.S." Both "Bad
Note For a Heart" and "A.P.S."
have a rather ghostly mood to them.
All these aspects could have very
well been influenced by Sonic
Youth. So where does U2 filter into
all of this? Well, the guitar sound is
kind of jangly, and the song struc-
tures seem to reflect a sort of U2-
ish formulated pop style.
The only bad song on the disc is
"Down in Splendour." Most ev-
See RECORDS, Page 7
Tue. Dec. 3
Thu. Dec. 5
Thu.-Sun.
Dec. 5-8
Gospel Chorale
Stephen Newby, director
Music of U-M composers and gospel music
composers Edwin and Walter Hawkins
School of Music Recital Hall, 8 p.m.
Northcoast Jazz Ensemble and
Creative Arts Orchestra
Ed Sarath, director
Stephen Shipps, guest violin soloist
David Baker Concerto for Violin and Jazz
Ensemble
David Liebman: Memories, Dreams and
Reflections
Rackham Lecture Hall, 8 p.m.
University Players
Peter Weiss: Marat/Sade
Tickets: $12, $9, $6 (students)
(764-0450)
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m.
Dance and Related Arts
Collaborative Project"
Tickets: $5
Dance Building Studio A, 8 p.m.
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Twas the month before Christmas
at the 'University ofMichigan.
students were eXcited about the
thought of returning home again.
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Fri. Dec. 6
Sat. Dec. 7
Sun. Dec. 8
University of Michigan
Wind Ensemble
H. Robert Reynolds, conductor
Rackham Lecture Hall, 8 p.m.
Contemporary Directions
Ensemble
H. Robert Reynolds, director
Rackham Lecture Hall, 8 p.m.
University of Michigan
Percussion Ensemble
Michael Udow, director
Stephen Shipps, guest violin soloist
f'eople were studying
as finals drew near.
(ittle to their know(edge,
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