9 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 15, 2000 SNAPCASE 'DESIGNS' WELL-MIXED RECORD Detroit's Rolando hits masterpiece with 'Mix' Snapcase is more than a hard- core band. They are part of a movement and music is the means of conveying their message of individuality and self-realization. The liner notes read, "The design is yours, created solely by you. Fall into yourself to shield your imagination from popular influ- ence; only you fully understand it." And with that, the raw power and ferocity of "Designs for Automotion" begins and does not let up until the final notes, a mere half hour later. Snapcase formed in 1992 and through consistent touring earned a loyal fan base which allowed their 1997 Victory Records album, "Progression Through Unlearning" to sell more than 80,000 copies without the help of a major label, radio play, or main- stream promo- tion The band Grade: B. joined the Warped Tour in Snapcase 1997 and 1998 Designs for as well as play- Automotion ing with the Victory Records Deftones on Reviewed by their 1998 tour. Daily Arts Writer With this expo- Andy Klein sure to a broader audi- ence and the success of their pre- vious release, the anticipation of fans surrounding the release of "Designs" has been growing steadily since the release was announced and has earned the album a spot as one of the Alternative Press' top 25 most anticipated releases of 2000. "company advancement." It ends with the tormented yell of "This is not my life; it's just my job" as the music reaches a fevered speed, with drummer Tim Redmond mov- ing twice as fast. The problem that many like- minded bands run into when writ- ing preachy and moralistic lyrics is the tendency to come off sounding like a self-help book, which does not resonate well with the accom- panying heavy music. On "Designs," Snapcase avoids this trap by not claiming any knowledge to specific answers. Rather, they provide problems and questions that force their audience to think - an approach consistent with their insistence on the indi- vidual. While the music flows together consistently from track to track with Snapcase's characteristic energy and emotion, there are few moments on the album that are highly distinguishable from others in melody. This problem may be due to the frequently used chuga chuga rhythm that is great for emotional purposes and works wonders in the live set- ting, however becomes somewhat repetitive over the course of an entire album. Yet, this is not to detract from the album's success as there are songs such as "Ambition Now" and "Energy Dome" that combine both musical differentiation and lyrical prowess. With this said, on "Designs for Automotion," Snapcase have upped the ante on lyrical intelli- gence, while at the same time trans- lating the energy of a hardcore show onto a studio album. Staying true to their underground aesthetic, Detroit's Underground Resistance camp has followed up the massive global success of Rolando's record, "Jaguar," with a self-released, selectively distributed full-length mix album. Also known as The Aztec Mystic, Rolando picks 23 different UR- related records from his crate for the album, mixing recognized classics such as The Martian's "Firekeeper" with pre- viously unreleased UR tracks such as his own "Z Track." Dropping a new track every few minutes, Rolando gives listeners a flawless taste of UR's style of Detroit techno - at times unearthly and at other times raw. Along with UR's previously released and equally hard-to- Grade: A- find compilation, DJ Rolando "Interstellar Te AFugitives," this is The Aztec Mystic Mix a perfect introduc- Underground Resistance tion to the fantas- Reviewed by tiC outer space Daily Arts Writer motifs of Detroit's Jason Birchmeier purest form of techno. The album opens beautifully with Rolando's masterpiece, "Jaguar," which undoubtedly ranks with Rhvthim is Rhvthim's "Strings of Life" and Model 500's "Ocean to Ocean" as a timeless Detroit techno classic. Unfortunately, he only plays the first five minutes of the track before mixing in another track, making you long for more of the serene synthesizer melodies and spiral- ing basslines that make the track so The album opens with a poorly recorded drumbeat that leads smoothly into the now well- recorded and surprisingly melodi- ous "Target." The melody soon breaks down in the chorus as strong but coher- ent, not growling, vocals push above the drums and bass. Then the chorus crashes in with pound- ing guitar finding precise unity with the rhythm section, all sup- porting singer Daryl Taberski screams of, "The target; there's no escape. The song serves as the abstract starting line for the more precise lyrics of the album's following tracks about the preset, almost mechanical, manner in which humans often function. All this perpetuates the band's message of unlearning society's conventions and finding solace and happiness in the individuality that makes us human. "Bleeding Orange" asks the question that every future employ- ee hopes he will not have to ask, "Why do I work here?" The song is sung from the perspective of a low-level employee skeptical of all that his job offers, "a ten cent raise," "the star employee" and magical. From there, Rolando focuses primarily on the raw percussive force of various UR tracks, occasionally light- ening up the mix with the 'cosmic strings of The Martian every few tracks. When Rolando makes brave transi- tions from the electronic sci-fi sym- phonics of The Martian's "Ultraviolet Images" to the raw sweaty funkJ.of UR's "Soulpower," the tempo changes drastically. This occurs most dramati- cally when Rolando drops UR's "Metamorphasis" - a strange track filled with robotic space probe sounds from beyond our planet -- for over three minutes before mixing into the fiery climatic finale of Mad Mike's "Illuminator" and The Suburban Knight's "Midnight Sunshine." Once the aural spell of the Aztec Mystic has come to a close, one feels as though he or she has been on a secret journey through the cos- mic fantasies of Detroit's most tmyth- ical clan of hidden techno aposles. Bacon Brothers taste so bland Larrieux' s solo debut displays 'Possibilities' n~ #. Another rousing game of 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' has begun, but this time with a new twist as the relationships to Kevin are no longer simply acting ties, they can now be musical connections. "Okay," you say, "trace Kevin and Tom Waits." Well, that one is simple because on the Bacon Brothers' new album, "Getting There," pair covers Waits' "New Jersey Girl.- Grade: C Will the fun ever stop? Perhaps a The Bacon question better suited to Kevin and Michael Bacon's second release on Bluxo Records is Getting There "Will the fun ever start?" In truth, Bluxo Records while the Bacons' album is not Reviewed by terribly bad, it doesn't do any- Andrew Ladd thing that well either. For the Daily Drawing from various influ- ences, "Getting There" never commits to a specific genre, often jumping from the Caribbean rhythm of Jimmy Buffett to sounds directly from the repertoire of Richard Marx. A telling charac- teristic ofthe album is its inability to produce a song that defines the album. Even the title track fails to catch the listener's ear for more than a minute as Kevin's best attempt at acting like James Taylor falls far short of believable. Lyrically, "Getting There" reassures all of the aspiring songwriters out there that there is a chance to make it in the business, even if you aren't that good. There is no doubt that Kevin's acting days helped him sign his recording contract, because it certainly wasn't on the merit of lyrics like, "And I said I don't read reviews/ Because thev just give me the blues/ When they're bad they're really rough/ When they're good they're not good enough." I am almost sure that there are songwriters in the world who can write better lyrics than those and are, sadly, making virtually no headway in the business. The most farfetched track on the album is the rock 'n' roll tune "Not Born to Beauty," which does its best to enliven a chorus whose strongest line is "Not born to beautv/ Not born to beauty/ Born to rock!" The simple truth is that the Bacon Brothers have extended their musical dream past its realistic breaking point by attempting to play a genre of music that does- n't fit them. Listening to this song inspires images of my own dad breaking out his old axe and starting up a band in a weak attempt to relive his glory days. The whole scenario is sadly comical. The CD is not without some highlights however. The opening guitar riff to "Don't Lose Me Boy" is reminis- >llection begs a cent enough of Led Zeppelin's classic "Over the Hills and Far Away" opening to sound good, without it appearing like the Bacons had explicitly tried to repli- cate it. Surprisingly, it works well and sets a perfect mood for the rest of the song, which is dedicated to Michael Bacon's son (the moral: Don't forget about your parents when you leave home). The other high point is "City of Fear," a song about Hollywood that goes to prove Kevin should stick to the stuff he knows -like acting - and keep his guitar at home where it belongs. ake out 'Session' As a part of the duo Groove Theory, Amel Larrieux (Lah-roo) made a strong impression in 1995 on the group's first and only large scale hit, "Tell Me." Her voice was smooth and had a range that could only be matched by Mariah Carey at the time. It's five vears later now and though she's without her partner Bryce Wilson, Larrieux still has her strong voice coupled with well-written lyrics on her solo debut "Infinite Possibilities.' The lead single from the album is entitled "Get Up" and serves as a call to action for those people who find Grade: B+ themselves in the Amel Larrieux same rut day after day (wake up, go Infnit to work and be Possibilities under appreciated, Epic/550 Music go to bed, repeat Reviewed by the cycle tomor- Daily Arts Writer row). Larrieux W. Jacari Melton plainly asks, "I see you're down/when you gon get up." It's a sim- ple question that's difficult to answer, yet she pushes it on her audience as a chal- lenge to break out of monotonous rou- tines, which seem to dominate every- one's life at one time or another. "INI" provides more social commen- tary, primarily dealing with definitions of beauty and religious philosophies. Larrieux asserts the position that she was not meant to subscribe to the perceived beauty norm ("...hair so blonde and eyes so very blue"), rather she says, "God made me iust fine. that's why I Sot to be." She takes much the same tone when talking about prescribing certain religious beliefs. Larrieux refuses to be judged by those who she feels don't understand her relationship with God. Given the strong statements made in Elegant ballk Since Mark Turner's last album -In This World," the tenor saxophon- ist has nabbed some prestigious notoriety and earned himself a Grade: B+ place among the group of wide- Mark Turner eyed talent that has lately been Ballad Session eushinQ from Warner Bros. the wellspring of Reviewed by Boston music Daily Music Editor schools (Turner John Uhl went to Berklee himself). Turner's latest, "Ballad Session," is a collection of standards and not- so standards that echoes the exquis- ad "Get Up" and "INI," Larrieux shows a need to have songs with less of an edge. One track in particular is "Make Me Whole." The song is a deep and very personal tribute to her husband, who co- wrote, produced and played instruimnts on the album in support of his-wife. Judging strictly from what can be detect- ed from her voice and lyrics, she holds a deep-felt connection with him., that shows throughout the album. Amel Larieux makes a point o.stand out from the rest of the musicalcowd, more specifically those in the R&B genre, and she does this quite well. Few singers in recent years have been able to (or have chosen to) record an album that genuinely expresses their totalbeing. Given the amount of work in theareas of writing, instrumentation and production that Larrieux put in, she was defiitely attempting to achieve this goal. It remains to be seen how popular this will be-with the general public, however. There aren't any "party" tracks or manyupbeattenpo beats. The lyrics are definitely theenpha- sis on each of the 10 cuts. thereforimanv listeners may be turned off. However, those who do choose to explore Larrieux's "Infinite Possibilities"" will experience an artist attempting tobraden people's perspectives not only on "black music" but life and themselves. ite work of John Coltrane's 1962 recording "Ballads" in more than just its name. They both hold the same desire, to interpret other's material (only some of which would usually be categorized as ballads) with both traditional and more experimental methods and include basically the same arrangement of "All or Nothing at All." Turner's tone and knack for delicately winding himself into his instrument's upper register are stylistically similar to Joshua Redman (who, for better or worse, is essentially this genera- tion's Coltrane duplicate). Yet there are a few moments where "Ballad Session" diverges texturally, which can all be attrib- uted to the lovely assistance of gui- tarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. Turner's band consists of pianist Kevin lays and the highly touted bass and drum team of Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade. But Rosenwinkel's work, per- fectly placed accompaniment splashes and rich chordal solos, is the reason to listen to this album. Most significant are his tonal contri- butions to the arrangements, espe- cially on spacious, less orthodox compositions like Bobby Hutcherson's "Visions" and Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti." "Nerfertiti," in fact, also features a ponderous solo that ironically reminisces Kenny Burrell's playing on Coltrane's album with that guitarist and further emphasizes Turner's association with Trane.