8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 5, 2002 BREAKING RECORDS REVIEWS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY'S NEW RELEASES BREAKING REcoRDs STAR SYSTEM E ELS SOULJACKER KINETIC RECORDS * * * * CLASSIC *** GREAT FAIR * * SUB-PAR * WORTHLESS T If you missed a week of BREAKING RECORDS check the archives at www.michigandaily. com ! I By Matthew Weiler For the Daily All apologies to the Smashing Pumpkins, but the Eels' Beautiful Freak is the Mellow Gold of the Prozac Age. Beck wrote the definitive album about Slacker- dom, and the Eels made preoccupation with, as opposed to reaction to, one's suffering and alienation sound just as anthemic. E, The Eels' often self-tormented lead singer, has a knack for surrounding his confessional lyrics in eclectic, symphonic arrangement lush enough to make Beck jealous. But where Beck is funky and feckless, E is funky and unflinchingly sardonic. Soul- jacker continues E's project of combining melancholia, wry wit and a preternatural obsession with groove. Eels albums are marked by their prismatic sonic experimentation. Souljacker is no different: Snorkeling sounds in "Bus Stop Boxer", the wall of feedback in "What is this note?" and dueling xylophones in "That's Not Really Funny." But where 2000's Daisies of the Galaxy found E and company uncharacteristically upbeat and sounding surprisingly blithe, Souljacker is not exactly uplifting, or even novacaine for the soul. "Fresh Feeling" is the type of song the Eels have mas- tered over their last two albums. An alluring string loop threads through hip-hop beats while lyrics about some sort of droll pastoral are met with only a hint that things are not as pretty as they sound: "Birds singing a song / old paint is peeling / this is that fresh / that fresh feelin." The pat happiness feels ominous, because the darkness is sure to return. In "Jennifer Eccles" E sounds like the post-punk Brian Wilson. It is a queasily nostalgic song about a schoolboy's unrequited love: "Love, kiss, hate or adore," or so ponders E. "World of Shit" is (yet another) happy-sad song about a lonely hearted boy from a bro- ken family ("Daddy was a troubled genius / momma was a real good egg") looking for a flower in a shit-storm: "In this world of shit / baby you are it." E's fragile, raspy vocals, even when affecting a Wilson-esque melody, convey a brood-ish darkness that is never far off. One of the most refreshing, and grating, things about E is that he insists on looking at the world from an ado- lescent perspective: "Mom won't take me / Jesus won't save me / dogface boy" or so complains E on "Dogface Boy," in his typical mock-serious -fashion. That he sets these half-assed insights in stunning sonic landscapes makes the ventures through the school yards and neigh- borhood curmudgeons of his arrested youth endurable and, at times, sublime. "Friendly Ghost (Is All I Need)," set to a startling sonic wash of mellotron and guitar, nails down the uneasy resolution that all Eels albums eventually reach: "If you're going to be scared to die / you better not be scared to live." E has been confronting the monsters in his anxiety closet for years, that he neglects to depart much from his usual preoccupations should not spoil the fact that this is a pretty good, if self- indulgent, album. RATING: *** JAGUAR WRIGHT DENIALS, DELUSIONS AND DECISIONS MCA By Dustin J. Seibert Daily Arts Writer With the so-called "neo-soul" trend on top in today's music world, every artist with a headwrap, a "cof- fee shop" vibe and a penchant for not conforming to society's stan- dards is attempting to make their mark on the music industry. In the midst of the bourgeoning popularity of Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and. India.Arie, newcomer Jaguar Wright steps up to the plate, and she has to prove herself as not just another artist trying to jump on the ship. Jaguar, however, surpasses her predecessors on a number of differ- ent levels. She has a spice about her that is lost on the other artists. This woman tells it like it is, and she doesn't pull her words with concern of anyone viewing her as less of a lady. It is as if she says the things that the others are thinking, but refuse to place so blatantly in their lyrics. In addition, Jaguar can actually sing better than any of the aforemen- tioned artists. Her vocal range is superb, and her voice has enough soul power to reach Aretha-esque proportions. None of Badu's whiing or Macy Gray'sslaying of sheep - just pure, uncorrupted harmony. Naysayers should check out her per- formance on MTV's Jay-Z: Unplugged - she-absolutely kills it Beginning her career with The Roots just like Jill Scott did, Jaguar's debut album has a heavy influence from the group and its affiliates. Brother ?uestlove handles the drums on half of the album's 12 tracks, and Hub and Kamal bring their respec- tive instrumental talents to the cuts: The incomparable Roots lead vocalist Black Thought is featured on "Ain't Nobody Playin"' and "I Don't Know." He doesn't add to or take away anything from the album as a whole, though he delivers nicely as always. Fellow "neo-soul" artist Bilal makes an unimpressive guest appearance on "I Can't Wait," a cut that's reminiscent of an old Chaka Khan'song. "Same Shit, Different Day" is a testament to the bull pad- dies over a nice melody, and "Self Love" is a delightfully mellow track that calls for a bit of personal inde- pendence. This is an innovative album in the respect that Jaguar may be the only female artist to release a raw record and not have it be hip-hop, while also keeping the element of the music itself at a high quality. This woman is not some hip-hop whore, nor is she an R&B priss writing lyrics to appeal to the mainstream. She may never see the Billboard Top 10 charts, and she may never become as popular as her contempo- raries. But she came leaps and bounds ahead of most of these artists with her debut, and in the end, the truth lies in the tracks themselves. CORNELIUS POINT MATADOR RECORDS POINT by CORNELIUS RATING:* * * * I By Gina Pensiero Daily Arts Writer There's something about Japanese pop. It's either bril- liant or really completely annoying. This is certainly true of innovative Japanese artist Cornelius' (a.k.a. Keigo Oyamada) new album Point, which is a long-awaited follow up to his 1998 debut Fan- tasma. However, Cornelius is more enjoyable than both- ersome, most of the time. Cornelius uses everything in the album, from voice to guitar to vocal tweaks, as rhythm, which is an original technique for a piece of work that is basically reaching to be considered smart pop. The sound is layered and con- tains much technological texture. This is not to say that Cornelius doesn't do his fair share of surging into sweet harmonies in addition to his rhythmic approach, as illustrated on tracks like "Smoke" and "Drop." Other pretty hip tracks include exotic- sounding "Bird Watching At Inner Forest" and the stac- cato "Fly." Really annoying tracks include the ear-grating "Bug," the this-computerized-riff-has-gone-on-WAY-too-long "Another View Point" and scratchy, screechy and gener- ally displeasing "I Hate Hate." Tracks that should be really annoying but are somehow pulled off because Cornelius are "just that cool" and for ONESIDEZERO IS THIS ROOM GETTING SMALLER WARNER BROTHERS By Sonya Sutherland Daily Arts Writer It's easy enough to bash every boyband and teenage pop diva that corporate America markets to American youth. About as easy as it is to overlook each brand of rock that corporate mainstream has stickered, packaged, and put on the shelf. But out of the rap-rock, jock-rock, nu metal, hard-core, punk and whatever else is a profitable market at the time, a new sound always manages to surface. Welcome to the age of emo and a record that deserves all the trite praise that its publicity pack boasts. LA's onesidezero's first offering, Is This Room Getting Smaller is a pleasant return to the concept album - a record that presents itself as parts of a whole. Rather than providing the usual three chord combinations and random collection of could-be radio hits that seem to be so dominate in the rock world of today, Is This Room Getting Smaller is a complex, acoustic-based musical journey that explores a wide spectrum of guitar riffs instead of rehashing the same old hard core hooks. Onesideze- ro describe themselves as "melodic hard rock." Suc- c e s s f ull I y encompassing melody with the appropri- ate distortion, the musical arrangement supports Rad- ford's array of emotions in a surprisingly forceful manner. Devoid of any incomprehensible lyrics or hoarse screaming, Radford coveys his inner turmoil with not only his ability to carry a tune but a dynamic range that furthers the strength of this record. Radford's vocal prowess, backed by what truly can be considered a successfully guitar-based album, makes Is this Room Getting Smaller a strong con- tender for the album which will bring emo even fur- ther into the mainstream and is well worth the money or time spent finding it on the net. RATING: ** 0 0 a that matter, on Matador, are the audiophile's dream. Reference songs like "Point of View Point" and "Brazil," which sounds like a rip-off of Radiohead's "Fit- ter Happier" Fred-speak voice, except with pitch control. When it comes down to it, if you're a fan of indie, Japanese things, Matador, pseudonyms, texture or any of these in combination, you'll probably dig Point. Well, most of it, at least. RATING : * * L a 41 >.: s. ' 'U -°:e;; g': ::-g;' e,.'.,'i; : . {r';,k i I Adw