8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 22, 2000
TENGO AGES WELL, TURNS 'INSIDE OUT'
New record provides
Cure for hungry fang
Like fine wine, Yo La Tengo keeps getting
better with age. Since 1986, the Hoboken, NJ,
trio (drummer-vocalist Georgia Hubley, gui-
tarist-vocalist Ira Kaplan and bassist James
McNew) has released a slew of excellent
albums, the best of which is 1997's "I Can Hear
the Heart Beating as One." Mixing the usual
Tengo fare - distortion-fueled rockers, tender
ballads, irresistible pop songs - with arty sound
collages and even a stab at electronica (on
"Autumn Sweater"), "Heart" is an indie rock
masterpiece-I
Grade: A
Yo La Tengo
And Then Nothin
Turned Itself Inside-Ou
Matado
Reviewed by
Daily Arts Edito
Christian Hoard
not to mention a tough act for
"And Then Nothing Turned
Itself Inside-Out," YLT's
tenth LP, to follow.
But "And Then..." is up to
D the task. Instead of trying to
g duplicate "Heart"'s noise-
t rock sprawl, it heads in an
r altogether different direc-
tion: It's a quieter, more sub-
ir dued, more focused record.
You won't find anything
here that's as instantly
Kaplan have been happily married for more than
two decades, and hearing "The Crying of Lot G"
and "Tears Are in Your Eyes" is a little like spy-
ing on their candlelit anniversary dinner - or
else it's Archie and Edith Bunker singing "Those
Were the Days" with guitars, organs, synths and
drums pulsating in the background. On "The
Last Days of Disco," the couple recall meeting
at a party during the late '70s: Georgia asks Ira
to dance, Ira replies that he "doesn't really dance
much," but since "the music's great for danc-
ing," he'll dance anyway.
Though it's easy to wax philosophical when
talking about this stuff, Yo La Tengo have never
striven for high-brow artiness. Like the album's
cover - a twilit shot of a middle-class neighbor-
hood - "And Then..." is really a celebration of
the commonplace: A solid marriage, record col-
lections, good pop-culture references ("Let's
Save Tony Orlando's House" is the title of one
song).
On the other hand, Yo La Tengo is not a band that
everyone will fall in love with. "And Then..."
won't garner hordes of new fans, and despite the
touches of olderYLT that emerge in the distortion-
rocker "Cherry Chapstick" and the country-tinged
"Madeline," it might even fail to win over some
old ones.
But Hubley, Kaplan and McNew are too
focused on doing their own thing to care who
does or doesn't like it, and on "And Then...,"
they're fiercely innovative yet hopelessly roman-
tic, a combination of virtues that's made for
delightful records for 14 years. And counting.
After the release of their second great-
est hits compilation "Galore" in 1997,
one would expect the departure of The
Cure from the music world. But alas,
Robert Smith, singer, songwriter and
creator of The Cure, wished to purge
himself once more before bowing out
quietly. "Bloodflowers" is a first-class
last album, filled with the dark, macabre
themes and lyrics one would expect
from The Cure.
The album opens with an Oasis-like
"Out of this World." Slow, mellow and
filled with the soft strums of an acoustic
guitar, the track has an underlying addic-
tive quality to it. Though Smith's monot-
onous vocals are barely audible, they're
\
4
i
j~f:~~ 1I2S
FF a r.r
At w
Y5
catchy (or as loud) as "Sugarcube" or "Deeper
Into Movies," because "And Then..." isn't about
guitar rave-ups and sonic clutter. Rather, it's the
sort of album you'll want to listen to while
lounging around or staring at the stars, a glass of
Merlot in hand.
That the set of mostly mid-tempo ballads (or
near-ballads) never gets dull is a testament to the
songwriting skills of Hubley, Kaplan and
McNew. The album's 13 tracks manage to be
both relaxed and consistently engaging; they
abandon the layers of noise that have marked
previous albums in favor of charming melodies
and clever (if subtle) instrumental touches.
"Everyday," the disc's opener, dutifully
announces this new MO: It's a languid, moody
number with Hubley's double-tracked vocal set
over a droning organ vamp and electronic drum
beat. "Saturday" is its sister track, another
organ-droner complete with spacey sound
effects and some gorgeous, spooky harmonies
from Hubley and Kaplan.
Even the more upbeat songs have a romantic,
reflective grace about them that most indie rock-
ers couldn't pull off half as well. Hubley and
The Cure
Bloodflowers
}'4:4:iiinyy+:
4i}"::}tii': iT'i:
'JV:iti f"::"r: i
I
Grade: B
reminiscent of
days gone by:
"When we look
back at it all as I
know we iwill /
You and me,
wide-eyed - I
wonder / Will we
really remember
how it feels to be
this alive?"
Climbing through
Elektra
Reviewed by
Daily Arts Writer
Gautam Baksi
Hutchence risen from Grave
the keys, a seemingly inharmonious, yet
decidedly precise piano entrance four
minutes into the song teases the listener
for more from "Bloodflowers." -
Smith then attempts to capture the
spirit of a symphony with the I1-minute
""Watching Me Fall" The song twists
and turns through various segments,
sometimes climaxing in extended
screams and at other times settling with
an electric guitar accompanied by a
cymbal-heavy drumbeat. Regardless of
the song's fine quality, it's far too long to
maintain the interest of a casual listener.
Slightly shorter in length, the transic-
rock sounds of "39" are irresistible.
Smith's confident vocals are joined by
layers of guitars fading in and out of the
background and a well-conducted
orchestral supplement. The lyrics appear
to foreshadow the future as Smith grim-
ly warns, "But the fire is almost out!"
Without a doubt, "Bloodflowers'& a
chilling album. One can almost imagine
the various songs accompanying "Hari
Kiri", the Japanese ritual act of suicide.
The climactic "There is No I...," hid-
den between tracks 5 and 7, may be The
Cure's finest acoustic ballad. Telling the
tale of two lovers' first encounters, the
song elicits the pain evoked by the
stunned spirit of Juliet staring at her dead
Romeo. "If you die... so do I." Smith
masterfully captures the prec. s
moments and whispers shared by l.rs
and accompanies them with an acopstic
guitar.
Fortunately, "Bloodflowers" is absent
of perky "Friday, I'm in Love" sing-
alongs. Lacking standout tracks, the CD
is instead filled with solid, dark and
melodic songs presenting Smith at bare
st. For those brooding intellectuals
yearning for a lost soul to share their
depression, this CD is sublime. For se
unfamiliar with The Cure, perhaps k-
ing backwards is best; "Bloodflowers" is
supreme
}Thre's a partic
e d o- the second
post iumous solo
ularly
i track
haunting moment at the
on Michael Hutchence's
debut. The background music
drops away, and all that's left
is the quiet voice of
Hutchence lamentfully
Gade: B+ singing, "All the possibili-
Michael ties," as if commenting on
what it was that he took from
Hutchence the world.
Michael Hutchence "Michael Hutchence"
V2 Records bursts with possibilities,
Reviewed by which makes the former INXS
Andrew Eder singer's suicide all the more
For the Daily tragic. Taken mostly from
material completed before
Hutchence's death, the album has a surprising con-
sistncy and cohesion, thanks in large part to
writer-producers Andy Gill and Danny Saber.
Hutchence began work on the album in the sum-
mer of '95 with Gill and Saber. He left the project
to work on INXS's last album, 1997's "Elegantly
Wasted," before taking his life in November of that
year.
Gill and Saber let a year pass before returning to
"Michael Hutchence." They carefully polished the
material they had and brought Hutchence's friend
Bono in to add a verse to "Slide Away." The affec-
tion and admiration Gill and Saber felt for
Hutchence shines through in the complex, richly
textured songs. The album expands on INXS's mix
of white-boy funk and heartfelt balladry by
embracing influences like industrial and trip-hop.
The variety of styles makes for an intricate and
rewarding album.
Most of Hutchence's lyrics center around
themes of loneliness and isolation. It's easy to see
the irony in lines like "I've got my finger on the
trigger" and song titles like "Don't Save Me From
Myself," but the album wisely shies away from
melodramatic grief. Instead, it is a celebration of
musical creativity, from the Sly and the Family
Stone funk of "Get on the Inside" and "A Straight
Line" to the plush waves of sound of "All I'm
Saying" to the bluesy, wistful "Possibilities."
Still, the album's finest track, "Slide Away," is
also its saddest. Hutchence eerily sings, "I just
wanna slide away and come alive again / I will see
that love again and find a life againi over a trip-
hop beat and an elegant string arrangement. Bono
provides an eloquent eulogy for Hutchence: "I'd
catch you if I heard your call / But you tore a hole
in space / Like a dark star, falls from grace / You
burn across the sky." A fitting goodbye for a musi-
cal icon gone too soon.
Double live album
does jam band justiCe
There's an unwritten rule which
states that a jam band is not proven
until it releases its first double-disc
live album.
It should come as no surprise, then,
for The String Cheese Incident, a
genre-bending, Colorado-based quin-
tet that has amassed a rabid fan fol-
lowing, to finally
toss its jam-
G e B happy hat into
Grade: B the live album
The String ring with
Cheese Incident "Carnival '99."
DITC overcomes tragedy with s/t release
For several years, a loose-knit
group of MCs and producers from
the Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem
would make cameos on each other's
albums. In 1997, they all finally
came together to release three inde-
pendent 12-inches that would serve
as the precursors to the hip-hop all-
star team of the Diggin' In The
'Crates crew's soon to be released
album. However, tragedy struck the
crew in early 1999 when group mem-
ber Big L was murdered on a Harlem
street corner. Shaken but not
deterred, DITC continued to work
and chose to release their "DITC"
album on February 22, one year and
a week to the day after Big Ls death.
With a line-up featuring OC, Lord
Finesse, Show, Fat Joe, Buckwild,
AG, Diamond and Big L, DITC is
not short on talent. All of these
artists are accomplished in their
own right but they still find it nec-
essary to get some help over the 14
tracks from the likes of DJ Premier,
KRS-ONE and the recently
deceased Big Punisher. The only
difficulty that may arise is allowing
each MC to shine, but DITC is able
to alleviate this problem due to the
crew's unselfish nature and partly
because they tend to have cuts that
highlight Big L's skill as a tribute of
sorts.
The DJ Premier-produced "Thick"
features Big L, OC
Grade: B+
Diggin' In
The Crates
DiTC
Tommy Boy
Reviewed by
Daily Arts Wniter
W. Jacari Melton
and AG. The fact
that these three
compliment
each other so
well is a testa-
ment to each
MC. The tone
and style of the
rhyme stays the
same despite the
change in lead
MC. "Thick"
serves as a bois-
so often occupy an MC's lyrics. He
goes over almost every term in the
hip-hop dictionary. Definitions like
"the iron horse is the train/cham-
pagne is bubbly" and "smilin' is
cheezin'/bleedin' is leekin"' will
help many people not fully
engrossed in the hip-hop world with
the language that is being used cur-
rently.
It seems as though on an album
following so much loss and turmoil
that no other ending would be more
appropriate than a tribute to a fallen
friend. The poignantly titled track
"Tribute" serves this purpose. OC's
verse focuseson the day prior to the
murder. Big L apparently called him
but OC never got the chance to
return the call. The rest of "Tribute"
continues in a similar vein as AG and
Lord Finesse add their sentiments on
Big L.
DITC has the advantage of having
eight members who have had great
success in hip-hop. With four MCs,
two producers and two producer/MCs,
they have no problem creating music.
At times the production could be seen
_-as weak considering people like
SCI Fidelity
Records
Reviewed by
Daily Arts Editor
Chris Kula
Featuring 15
tracks culled
from various
concerts during
the band's most
recent fall/winter
tour, "Carnival"
terous proclamation of each rapper's
skills. It serves as the high-powered
DITC anthem and is greatly
enhanced by Premier's signature pro-
duction style that rarely fails to dis-
appoint listeners-
The track "Ebonies" probably
stands out as the most interesting and
creative rhyme on the entire album.
In one of Big L's final recordings, he
lays out the street terminologies that
Diamond and Buckwild are working
on this project, yet it is not enough to
detract greatly from the effort put
forth. The lyrics run the gamut from
reflective to money-getting and are
solid all-around. It is difficult to blame
them for any weakness in the album,
though. The death of a member during
the recording process would drastical-
ly alter the chemistry of a group.
However, the DITC crew proves life
does go on and hopefully leads the
audience to become familiar with Big
L and his works.
represents more than two hours of the
colorful, energetic jams that have
become synonymous with SCI's live
show. And for a group that draws
equally from the disparate realms of
bluegrass, jazz, Latin/Caribbean and
funk-rock, live performance is quite
often the only way to get a fair repre-
sentation of SCI's diverse mishmash of
sounds.
The album is a nice conglomerate of
tight, song-based tunes (the more tra-
ditional bluegrass numbers fit this bill)
and sprawling improvisations that
show off SCI 's deft group interplay.
One such example of the latter,
"Missin' Me," clocks in at over 15
minutes and features several changes
in both tempo and feel, shifting from a
steady groove to a breakneck, cut-time
romp before seguing beautifully into a
cover of fusion violinist Jean-Luc
Ponty's world-beat classic, "Mauna
Bowa."
The Ponty instrumental is the first
of several covers the band chose to
include on "Carnival" as a type oftrib-
ute to its musical heroes. Dave
Brubeck's "Take Five," with its ultra-
simple yet classy melody, is often fod-
der for high school - dare I say mid-
dle school? - jazz bands, but when
placed in the skillful hands of SCI's
five highly talented musicians, it
becomes richly textured and stirringly
exotic. Likewise, the band's takes on
the. Meters, Wayne Shorter and
Weather Report are eqully impr ive
and speak volumes regarding "'I's
various influences.
Of course, the band has forged a
name for itself with its own unique
brand of original material, and the
majority of the SCI selections that
made the "Carnival" album are among
the most popular of the band's cata-
logue. The first disc closes with the
epic "Black Clouds," while the finale
of the second disc is marked * ia
tasty drum jam sandwiched by'
"Jellyfish" and "Texas' both of which
give to some onstage ranting/story-
telling.
Musically speaking, SCI is in fine
form, as the band consistently impro-
vises as a group, rather than simply
supporting a featured soloist. The
respective playersaturdrummer/percus-
sionist Mike Travis, bassist Keith
Mosely, keyboardist gyle
Hollingsworth, guitarist Billy rshi
and mandolinist/violinist Michael
Kang - each make tasteful contribu-
tions to the carefully crafted web of
sound, and the result is both vivid and
unquestionably appealing.
St
JOHN CARROL
UIVERSfRlY
SUMMER 2000
r
. '
.'. i-
Our catalog of summer classes is
ready to be mailed to you. The
catalog gives you a complete listing
of our course offerings, special
workshops, and travel programs.
Call today for our Summer Catalog.
European Beer Night
$1.00 off pints of
Continental European Brews
9 p.m.-Close
1
- U_ - ±Ur{UEEUl#