ARTS
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 26, 2004 -11
Futureheads primed for long-term success
EVAN
MCGARVEY
By Lloyd Cargo
Daily Arts Writer
There's something about a great
album that upon first listen seems
familiar, yet totally new. The Future-
heads combine the best of post-punk
I remembe
Upon first examination, the album
cover appears to be nothing more
than a small topographical map
in white placed on a void-like black back-
ground. For those of us who know, it's a
visual that never fails to evoke combina-
tions of excitement, dread and true awe.
Late in my childhood, I'm not sure
when, I heard the album on my father's
stereo.'The drums sounded like they were
hammering out pure force, the guitars
weaved around each other like dual stars
and the lead singer's voice wailed out with
a drone I imagined could only come from
a place pure midnight. My father sat in his
chair by the stereo, his hands resting on
his knees and closed his eyes as one song
faded out and the next one began. When I
started to ask him what was playing, all he
said was, "It's Joy Division."
I tucked the name away like other piec-
es of random advice from my dad, and
it'd be almost a decade until I finally saw
the simple facts of his brief reply: It's Joy
Division, and if you know them, you don't
have to ask a lot of other questions.
I bought Unknown Pleasures, the first
Joy Division album, the album with famed
black and white cover art, only two years
ago. Each time I have a friend, usually a
friend with blossoming rock taste, I have
them listen to Unknown Pleasures. I usu-
ally don't hear from them for a few days
after. I'd like to think they're processing
the churning rhythm section or ghostly
tenor of lead singer Ian Curtis, but they're
probably just avoiding a guy who'd make
a friend listen to one of the most depress-
ing albums ever made.
The comforting thing is that as soon
as they see me next, their usual line of
conversation is about the record: How the
riffs have lodged in their minds, how Cur-
tis' voice is intertwined in their dreams1
and how the sheer gloom of it all has torn
their world asunder.
It's that kind of record.
Even for those young music elitists+
who preach the virtues of indie-rock
icons Velvet Underground, The Pixies,
Pavement and The Smiths, Joy Divi-i
sion is often a band skipped over. As
more and more of our sage rock experts
migrate into old age, are Unknown Plea-
sures and its equally momentous follow
up, Closer, doomed to be forgotten?
Why are such musical achievements
overlooked?
r nothing
They only released two proper studio
albums, Unknown Pleasures in 1979
and Closer in 1981. Shortly after the
release of Closer, Curtis hung himself
in his ex-wife's kitchen. Curtis and his
suicide have become not just personal
tragedy, but myth. The remaining mem-
bers of the band reformed into a synth-
dance-punk group New Order, a great
band in its own right.
Joy Division died with Ian Curtis, and
with its demise, all of its contributions
dispersed into the music landscape. The
heavy cloak of despair and pools of loneli-
ness that erupted from the band became
its most recognizable trait and, not sur-
prisingly, every band since has attempted
to emulate the ethereal sense of doom.
Emo, heavy metal and even the introspec-
tive moments in hip-hop all pull from
their catalogue. Rock had sadness before
Joy Division, but on nowhere near the
level of universal despair. It is one thing
for a band to impact musically, it is quite
other to change the very face of an emo-
tion in rock.
Like Holden Caulfield, Unknown
Pleasures is an anti-hero. Listeners tend
to cluster in groups, sharing songs and
moments only they understand. Once the
opening guitar lines of "Disorder" kick in
it's easy to see all the songs you've heard
in your life that borrow so much from Joy
Division. Though it may not render most
of the other albums in your life irrelevant,
it warps your perspective on every other.
rock album you own.
Today it's hard to fathom the suc-
cess of bands like Interpol and The
Stills without the trailblazing moves Joy
Division made into the dark territory of
rock. See that pouting punk boy wear-
ing black on MTV and mourning about
his position in the world? That's Joy
Division. See the drummer in the indie-
rock band slamming his kick drum and
filling the void around him with waves
of noise? That's Joy Division.
Just last year I found the secret of
Unknown Pleasures. That jagged map
is a chart of the energy output of a star
during a supernova. Just like the music
within, it's frighteningly elegant and a
source of near infinite power.
- When Evan isn't listening to post-
punk, he's getting his eagle on. E-mail
him at evanbmcg@umich.edu
and new wave with
a gift for vocal
harmonies and
end up with one
of the best albums
of the year. The
group draws from
influences such as
The
Futureheads
The Futureheads
Sire
long after, The Futureheads were
signed by 679, releasing their debut
album midway through this year in
the United Kingdom and this week in
the United States.
The Futureheads is packed full of
melodies and shifting arrangements,
captured perfectly by Gang of Four's
Andy Gill. The band's angular guitar
and drum interplay are impressive,
but the true centerpiece is their vocals
that venture into four-part-harmony
territory but never go over the top,
even with "Danger of the Water," a
foray into a cappella.
Taking a cue from late-'70s post-
punk heroes Wire, the band throws
conventional song structure out the
window, instead going for multi-sec-
tion pieces that make the 14 tracks and
33 minutes seem effortless. Among the
highlights are the call- and-response
hooks of "A to B," the killer riffs of
"Decent Days and Nights," and the
anthemic "Carnival Kids."
Hyde certainly has a gift for
melody, but he also has a way with
words. The songs bask in the notion
of less is more, exchanging quantity
for quality. "Robot," a song about
XTC, The Clash and The Jam, while
sounding just as exciting and fresh as
current newcomers Franz Ferdinand.
The group got their start in Sun-
derland, England when vocalist/
guitarist Barry Hyde and drummer
Pete Brewis were tutors at a lottery-
funded organization called the Sun-
derland City Detached Youth Project.
The project's goal was to get kids
off the street by having them play
music together, and it was there that
the rest of the band formed. Not too
Courtesy of Sire
Is that Ben Gibbard?
how great it is to be a robot, fea-
tures lines like "the best thing is our
lifespan, we last 900 years." The
only time his wit backfires is with
the bratty "Stupid and Shallow," the
only weak track on the album.
Literally two-thirds of the songs
on this album are potential singles.
It doesn't take much to imagine The
Futureheads joining Modest Mouse
and Franz Ferdinand's indie inva-
sion of mainstream America.
These are the kinds of songs that
grab you instantly and only reveal
more with each repeated listening.
The Futureheads' gift for melody
and their refusal to repeat them-
selves not only make this album
a classic but also make them seem
primed for long-term success.
The Used take emo to new levels on 'Death'
By Jerry Gordinler
Daily Arts Writer
The Used hears your pain.
When Bert McCracken (vocals), Quinn Allman
(guitar), Jeph Howard (bass) and Branden Steineck-
ert (drums) formed The Used in their heavily reli-
gious hometown of Orem, Utah, they were rebels.
With a band history steeped in
impoverishment, homelessness
and drug addiction, they too The Used
needed a way out. In Love and Death
Their self-titled debut pro- Reprise
vided just that, selling more
than a million copies. With
their new release on Reprise, In Love and Death,
they attempt again to inject originality into the
played-out screamo genre and cry their way into
new musical territory.
Death's first track, "Take it Away," opens with
a spoken diatribe by an unnamed evangelist. This
short, comical introduction is abruptly cut short by
a shotgun cock, followed by a furious rising elec-
tric guitar riff. Feeling a bit rebellious, privileged
and bitter, the listener will all at once forget what
they're listening to and ... feel slightly punk.
That is, until the screaming begins. "Get Down
/ Woooooo! / Get Down" McCracken cries out. All
at once the potentially powerful music becomes
less fierce and more farce. Attempting to amplify
light / Take take, take, take, take, take it away."
Though much of the disc follows this predict-
able cut-and-paste screamo formula, there are
some saving graces that save it from being pigeon-
holed. The interwoven guitar lines are the most
notable attributes of the record, always urgent and
passionate. The band digresses for a moment and
moves close to pop with "Cut up Angels," taking
an almost comical look at suicide and the afterlife.
When McCracken takes a break from crying, he
shows a serious vocal maturity, reminiscent of his
mainstream hits "Blue and Yellow" and "Taste of
Ink" off the self-titled debut.
The album's 11th track, "Lunacy Fringe," has
undeniable rhythm produced by a standing bass
line that skips rather than walks. Accompaniment
in the form of minimalist acoustic work and brush-
ings on the drum walk along with the line to form
an undeniable hit. Though a little over-produced,
it is the small aspects that contribute to a fuller
sound, and originality. This is the philosophy of
the album as a whole.
Though the omnipresent pseudo-emotion and
rebelliousness inherent in the genre can leave
the listener feeling patronized, and the migraine
that comes with a triple-layered scream won't be
going away anytime soon, there is something spe-
cial about In Love and Death. The punks won't
think it's punk enough, the emo kids will need a
double box of tissue and the indie-elitists aren't
paying attention, but there's something fuller
about this sound.
court esy Hprise
Hmm ... Maybe I should take a shower.
the emotion at various times with to-fi illusion and
screaming overlays, expensive production only
serves to intensify the terrible. This production
can do nothing to save the always awful lyrics,
McCracken commanding, "Burn the sun / Burn the
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