The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 10, 1995 - 9 RECORDS ntinued from page 5 Night"), US3 ("Flip Fantasia") and Hi-Five ("What Your Love Means to Me"). Aaron Neville sings "I'll Love You Anyway" with his characteristi- cally beautiful voice that permeates the song with its vocal charge. Perhaps music like that on this soundtrack is what tugs people's sub- conscious to put up with an hour of * show. Hell, if I start-hearing more music like that on this CD, I too may become the next person drooling over the tube while Kelly continues to be passed around like a sex doll and Dylan returns to his alcoholic ways. (Ho, hum.) - Eugene Bowen Butterglory umble rge Records Butterglory, a duo from Califor- nia, write great, catchy pop tunes, low on distortion and high, on melody. The songs are short, simple, and bouncy. To add to their charm, they even have one male singer and one female singer, who rotate singing on the 15 songs on their first full-length album,;"Crumble." *Their sound is hardly original; an easy comparison would be to Pave- ment, the reigning kings of indie hipness, as they share similar o-fi tendencies, guitar stylings, and the singing delivery is remarkably simi- lar to that of Steve Malkmus. Their songs are more basic and poppy than Pavement, and have less dissonance and changes. The lyrics are cryptic a hard to understand with titles like e skills of the Star Pilot" and "Waiting on the Guns" but it doesn't make much of a difference. "Crumble" won't be breaking down any new musical barriers, but their songs are happy and catchy enough to make you wonder why their is so much frenzy for over-hyped bands like Veruca Salt. - Ariel Gandsman Orchestra National de Lille, dir. Jean-Claude Casadesus Debussy: La Mer, Nocturnes, La Damoiselle elue Harmonia Mundi It's probably safe to say that w en it comes to French music, none more apt interpreters than the French themselves. This collection of Debussy orchestral works capa- bly illustrates that fact, as Jean- Claude Casadesus and the Orchestre National de Lille capture what are quintessential French qualities of elegance, clarity and refinement. Casadesus studied at the Paris Conservatoire in the '60s, and later 411 Pierre Boulez, before becom- ing the permanent conductor of the Paris Opera and Opera-Comique in 1969. He founded the Orchestre National de Lille in 1976, and since then has made about twenty record- ings with the group. Not exactly a household name, but one shouldn't be put off by the fact that they aren't the French equivalent to the New Y*rk Philharmonic. The ensemble captures all of the shimmer and spontaneous details of "La Mer" with subtlety and refine- ment. "Nocturnes" are equally at- tractive, although tempos tend to run a bit fast, diminishing the music's poetic qualities somewhat. "La Damoiselle elue" is a sort-of miniature oratorio that Debussy composed early in his career for *rano, mezzo-soprano, female chorus, and orchestra. The Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquement captures the radiant harmonies that Debussy was just beginning to explore in SO YOU'VE ALWAYS ANTED THE FAME, .H E FORTUNE, THE RESPECT... NOW'S YOUR CHANCE !! POSITIONS ON ALL ARTS STAFFS - MUSIC, THEATER, FINE ARTS, BOOKS A Llr % l RA A nf 1893, and would soon come to help define his musical persona. The sound quality on this disc is excellent, as is normally the case with Harmonia Mundi recordings, and highly informative liner notes are included, making for an overall good buy. - Brian Wise Bone (Thugs-n- Harmony) Creepin on ah Come Up Ruthless Records Eazy-E ain't the most popular rap- per nowadays. And so, like any per- son would do in his situation, E turned to producing. The four members of Bone are perhaps the most well-known people under Eazy-E's tutelage. After dropping their hit single "Thuggish Ruggish Bone," the group became the talk of rap town. Consid- ering the cuts in Bone's debut release, the hype ain't fake; it's all for real. Although "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" is arguably the best song on the CD, other songs also attest to this group's interesting rap style - hardcore rap with a twist. "No Sur- render," "Foe Tha Love of $" and the title track, make Bone's love of slow, bass-filled tracks apparent. Many may have a problem shell- ing out too much loot for this CD; usually, eight cuts implies a little bit of skimpiness. But, not in this case. "Creepin on ah Come Up" isdabomb, and I'm talking nukes. - Eugene Bowen Kerbdog Kerbdog Mercury Along the same lines of Helmet and Metallica comes the Welsh quar- tet Kerbdog with their self-titled debut. The group definitely sounds like they've been around fora while, though - all of the songs are very well developed and rhythmically tight, even through some crazy syn- copation and time signature changes. Lead singer/guitarist Cormac Battle's growling, angry words sound very James Hetfield-esque, but the similarity is not all that ob- vious. Maybe it is the fact that the lyr- ics are rather unintelligible, or it could be that Battle isn't saying anything of grave importance, but the fact is that Kerbdog comes off as a hard-rocking outfit; they aren't the least bit concerned with preach- ing at the listener or conveying a "message." And with each of the songs at four minutes or less, this is an album that leaves no space for anything other than loud music. If this is your bag, you might want to check them out. -David Cook Godflesh Merciless Columbia Listening to Godflesh's latest re- lease, "Merciless", is about as much fun as cutting off your own fingers with abutter knife. The disk is incred- ibly hard to listen to in one sitting - and there are only four songs on it! The band (actually just two guys who like to play around in the studio) spends most of its time trying to prove how heavy they are, and just ends up putting the listener to sleep by pro- ducing the same song four times over. Each of the songs on "Merciless," with the possible exception of the last track, "Flowers" have the same slug- gish tempo (we're talking slower than the Melvins), the same grindcore gui- tar sound and the same super-dis- torted vocals (surely meant to depict life in the lowest plains of Hell or something). When the vocals actu- ally are audible, they usually just con- sistof the normal psychopathic drivel. For example, on the second track, "Blind", someone (the band is so dark and scary that they don't bother to list the names of band members) sings: "My eyes are blind / Hopeless dead mind / My eyes are blind / Can't feel no more." Occasionally, we are treated to some ultra-cliched, industrial sounding sample, but otherwise it's just power chord after power chord. Basically, Godflesh manages to create a pretty cool sound, and then takes it absolutely nowhere. - Mark Carlson See RECORDS, Page 10 r~ E / Laughtrack Present: Stand-Up, SKITS & Improv CoMeCdy of... _ Selected, Thursday, January 12' 10:00 PM in the U-Club $5.00 (Entree Plus accepted) If you need sign language, interpreter or assisted listening device, please call 763-1107 one week prior to event. ; La Y014can. Finally. The REALITY® Female Condom is here. And now, for the first time, you have protection of your own. REALITY Female Condoms were designed to help protect you and your partner against sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS. They also help prevent unwanted pregnancies. When used correctly every time in 6-month clinical trials, REALITY' had a 2.6 % pregnancy rate. 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