10- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 19, 2002 a BREAKING RECORDS REVIEWS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY'S NEW RELEASES BRENDAN BENSON LAPALCO STAR TIME INTERNATIONAL By Luke Smith Daily Arts Editor Singer/songwriter Brendan Benson shares more than a series of alliterative ties to the Alex Chilton/Chris Bell/Big Star songwriting combination. Before Big Star's fractured deconstruction (led by Alex Chilton's demented pop-mas- terpiece Third/Sister Lovers), Big Star pioneered what has come to be categorized as power-pop. Combining vocal and pop panache from the Beatles and the Beach Boys, plus the sonic grind of the Who, Big Star is a band whose influ- ences touches much of today's indie-rock. Where Alex Chilton successfully sabotaged Third/Sister Lovers with haphazard disjointed songs that rang as erratic as the mar- keting and distribution firms that handled the record, Ben- son's 1996 debut One Mississippi (Virgin) was commercially dismantled by poor label support and lack of a to-radio-single. Benson strikes a similar songwriting chord with the Chilton/Bell collaboration, he is involved in a songwriting partnership of his own with former Jellyfish guitarist Jason Falkner. The Benson/Falkner credit appears on five of the album's twelve songs, although Falkner's presence doesn't invade on Benson's amiable pop sensibilities. Following in the musical mold of the Raspberries, Benson's tunes bounce with wit, and kitsch alike. At times the young songsmith sounds vaguely like John Lennon, whose songstylings he often borrows from throughout the record. The Benson/Falkner vehicle"Tiny Spark," utilizes a rich combination of Beatles' back- ground "la-la's" and guitar-driven pop with darts of key- boards throughout. Benson's solo penned tune "Metarie," builds to a cho- rus that brings Radio City immediately to mind, a per- fectly arranged series of male/female harmonies sliding around the song's gummily-building hook, "There's something I've been meaning to say to you / I've run out of gas and I'm stuck like glue." The infectiously clever arrangements extend through- out the record, with Falkner and Benson's voices compet- ing brilliantly for lead vocal credits. In "Folk Singer" the song's ironically dirty-guitar driven verses break into open-ringing flange-sounding guitars. Comparisons to classic power-pop acts simmer during the introduction to "You're Quiet," which is dominated by a keyboards waxing a new wave homage to the Cars. If there is a weak point to Benson's songs, it may be his over-excitement for generic lyrics, but as in the case of The Beatles, the best lyrics don't make the best songs. Benson is wholly aware of his bold-face nods to Chilton and Lennon, his female speaker reminds him of the fact in "Folk Singer," joking, "Stop pretending, you're not John Lennon." Brendan Benson understands that he is no John Lennon, but he is a smart songwriter, crafting an album replete with clever pop tunes. SAUL WILLAMS AMETHYST ROCK STAR UNIVERSAL By Dustin J. Seibert Daily Arts Writer Poetry and spoken word slams are the new hot shit in the urban set these days, and the Michael Jordan of the art form has finally dropped a full-length album to whet the appetites of the new-age beatnik followers fiending for a major release. Amethyst Rock Star is the debut release of New York poet laureate Saul Williams, whose extraordinary talent led to a starring role in 1998's definitive street-poetry flick "Slam, which in turn gave him even more prominence. He and the movie have singlehandedly inspired a number of modern-day Gins- burgs to try their hand at the art. Williams' spoken word manifests a number of human emotions: anger, X-ECUTIONERS BUILT FROM SCRATCH LOUD/COLOMBIA By David Kerastas For the Daily With the recent break up of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, the X-Ecutioners (formerly X-Men) have been left standing alone in the hip-hop spotlight as arguably the best DJ crew in the business. To follow up their groundbreaking first album, New York's Finest have released Built From Scratch, further testament to the instrumental pos- sibilities of the turntable. Much to their credit, the X-Ecutioners have managed to craft a sound that is entirely their own, a sound characterized by abrasive, bass- heavy beats and skillful scratching. They are no longer simply mixing music but creating it, and they have managed to quiet all the music bigots who still insist that the turntable is not really an instrument. Unfortunately, for all their talent, the X- Ecutioners join today's long list of talented musicians (MCs and DJs alike) who, for some reason, merely produce half-assed hip-hop. Built From Scratch is an album hatred, love, motivation, etc. and man- ages to roll them all up in eleven power- ful tracks. "Penny for a Thought" is an amusing poem where Williams chal- lenges the masses to understand the absurdity of its wasteful ways. "Om Nia Merican" is a blazing piece that appears to be almost mocking the cliches that Americans tend to hold so dearly. "Wine" is a joint that has Williams singing praises of divinity over a melan- choly instrumental. Die-hard slam fans will have mixed feelings about the instrumentals on the album. The band plays a blend of rock and hip-hop, and more often than not it fuels Williams' words accordingly. However, the music occasionally dis- rupts his flow inadvertently, and it finds itself in a position where it would have better been suited to be left off com- pletely. The man is nationally renowned for a reason - he has mastered the art of metaphors and wordplay, and the album that possesses plenty of quality scratching and experimentation but lacks much of the creativity and musical insight that made X-Pressions so great. The several big- name MCs that grace the tracks only offer some uninspired battle rhymes to balance out all the scratching. Perhaps some metal fans will enjoy the collaboration with Linkin Park on "It's Goin' Down,' but any self-respecting hip-hop head can steer clear of this 4-minute serving of dung. The only impressive lyrical performance comes from Pharoahe Monch on "The X (Y'all Know The Name)." Intermittently placed between the tracks are a couple of skits (brought to you by the same people who create the WHATFM skits), which should have people reaching for the skip button on their stereos. Fortunately, Built From Scratch is saved by a number of worthy tracks. "A Journey Into Sound," innovatively combines beat boxing by Kenny Muhammed and bizarre scratch samples. On "Premier's X-Ecu- tion," producer DJ Premier offers pleasant beats to go along with some quality scratching. Aside from that, there remain a bunch of decent songs that smoothly com- bine all the elements of turntablism and should find their ways onto future mix makes it all too clear that he is at the head of his craft. Though it possesses a hip-hop like ambiance, the album shouldn't find itself labeled as or com- pared to it - this is poetry, pure, uncut, and almost in its essence. Turn down the lights, get a frappucino machine and a headwrap, and it'll be like you never left the coffee house. ALANIs MORISSETTE UNDER RUG SWEPT MAVERICK By Luke Smith Daily Arts Editor Sulking on a therapy couch comes pretty naturally to Alanis Morissette, whose last two albums consist pri- marily of feminine proclamations of independence and stories of love lost - or more appropriately, love pissed on. Morisstte's breakthrough album, Jagged Little Pill, showed the big- haired Canadian spitting venom at men everywhere . Her follow-up to Jagged, Supposed Former Infatua- tion Junky, depicted a simmered- but-still- burning Morissette. Morissette's new set, Under Rug Swept, keeps Alanis singing and steers relatively clear of the searing vocals that caused listeners to squint on Jagged Little Pill. While Moris- sette has made her career singing about love, her songs are generally not silly. Instead, in the past, they have been quite the opposite, with a self-indulgent Morissette bearing her tortured soul for audiences. Under Rug Swept features Moris- sette abandoning her collaborator in Glen Ballard, and penning all of the album's tunes herself. Morissette's DRESsY BESSY SOUND GO ROUND KINDERCORE RECORDS By Gina Pensiero Daily Arts Writer This band is all handclaps, beat- lesque guitar tones and shit-eating grins. Oh, they're also sugary retro ultra-pop with a chick singing lead. And here's the kick- er: she's dating the guitarist of Apples in Stereo, who's also in the band. The name of the band: Dressy Bessy. Didn't you just guess it was going to rhyme? Their newest album, Sound-Go- Round, is a masterpiece in pop arc of record-making has found the canuck's sound softening, a trend which began in the interim between Jagged Little Pill and Supposed For- mer Infatuation Junky. Chunky power-chords open Under Rug Swept in Alanis' lengthy list of ideals for "21 Things I Want In A Lover. " The irony-free tune outlines Morissette's preference in character- istics that she hopes for in her lover. While Morissette usually writes songs about love, the tunes on Under Rug Swept aren't love songs. Instead, Morissette is complacent and reflec- tive, losing some of her edge. Replacing relational backfirings like "You Oughta Know" (from Jagged Little Pill), Under Rug Swept fea- tures tiny train-wreck s of relation- ships. Alanis confronts her own inse- curity with "So Unsexy," pining about how she "can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful." This inex- cusable camp continues to pop up throughout Alanis' latest batch of couch-confessionals. Perhaps more unsettling than Ala- nis' regressions away from her angst-filled tunes into a more melo- dramatic complacency is her need to bring the album to some sort of clo- sure with a therapeutic purge during "Utopia." Her need for album reso- lution is nearly as discouraging as other artists' inappropriate reaches for album-wide circularity, (fear not, Sir McCartney , Band on the Run is exempt here). Morissette sings about her own utopia in disjointed deliv- ery. The song speaks on a resolute level, proclaiming the rectification of relational turmoil. Under Rug Swept's resolution suc- cessfully undermines the importance of the tiny-relational problems that don't sink nearly as deep as the spit- toon-puddled lyric "are you thinking of me when you fuck her?" In this candid lack of depth and pain, Ala- nis' musical regression barely makes it off the couch for a sandwich, let alone therapy. Isn't that ironic? No. who truly completes the songs and causes them to stick in your head for hours/days/weeks. From the first track, "I Saw Cin- namon" to the last one, "Carry On," the listener is bombarded with major chords and hooky cho- ruses. The album hits some major peaks on the upbeat, happy-go- lucky "That's Why" and the woven melodies of "Flower Jargon." Overall if you're a sucker for infectious tunes, happiness, things that are good because they're sim- ple or America's smart pop renais- sance, you'll be a sucker for the poppy sing-along songs of Dressy Bessy. tapes. The essential fault of this sort of album is that provides a poor venue for the art of turntablism. Most of time, the four DJs are forced to hold back their skills so that they can all contribute in harmony. Conse- quently the scratching and juggling on this album are certainly impressive but hardly spectacular. In addition, an album cannot convey the important visual aspects of turntablism. We cannot witness Rob Swift's creativity or Roc Raida's incredible beat juggling tricks. It is difficult for any- one who isn't highly knowledgeable of dee-jaying to appreciate what is taking place. 4 that's so good it's bad and back to good again. Lead singer/rhythm guitarist Tammy Ealom makes the band with her enthusiastic jangley style. However, it is lead guitarist John Hill, of Apples in Stereo, MOMM9 fUD .bIfWS atUofM Bun Micresystem, sun representatives will be on hand Wednesday, Morci 1am - 3pm In the Michigan Unio first floor Pond Room *0 Sun microsystem We make the net work. presents: Who needs a teacher." ka,2W2 ,o*in hh 2th The nlursity lMichigan colle of Uterature, Science, adthe Arts presets M--m e Joan Crawl"ord and GaY Male SuijectivityP David M. Halperin Muom - 3pm eunBlude workstations & Ounflre servers product demo's Teach( TA Ia Saturday, March 23, 2002 LA 8am. to 4 pm. at the Sports and Expo Center 11 Macomb Community College South Campus I