Tuesday November 30, 2004 arts. michigandaiy.com artspage@michigandaily.com b e 3 i gurn & t 1 igRI 5 ----------- . . ... ... .. .. . .. . . . . ............. . ......... . ....... . ...... Tom 50 ALBUMS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM ..: , . 4 4 E 5 4 r- -- 1 T ANDREW GAERIG Daily Music's list of the millenni- um's top 50 albums continues today, moving slowly up the ladder. Today's albums represent some of the spe- cific tastes of our writers, manifesting itself in relative obscurities like the wordless Books or the cartoonish Viktor Vaughn. Old standbys - Dylan, Blur and The Roots - make appearances as well, rounding out our second installment. Placing our favorites next to giants of popular music led to some of our toughest choices. Enjoy the selections, debate the omissions and check back tomorrow for the next installment. If you missed 41 through 50, check out wwwmichigandailycom. 40 39 Music geeks unite Courtesy of Roo A Fella Be cool. Stay in school. 4 OFugazi - The Argument For Fugazi's last release, I was expecting some- thing along the lines of their previous output: furious riffs, vitriolic shouts and a visceral, "local band" qual- ity. Yet right from the start, Fugazi challenged me with melodic tunes and complex arrangements, all the while maintaining the cathartic choruses and inspiring, call- to-arms lyrics. Fugazi started a revolution in the '80s, and if they continue their mutation into a more mature version of the same $5 show band, they will influence a whole new generation. - Will Gary Ghostface Killah - The Pretty ToneyAlbum Ghostface is hysterical yet masculine, as he gets rap's best soul samples and spins out surreal, vibrant narratives. I want someone to make the great- est Blaxploitation film of all time just so Ghostface can stuff the soundtrack with ridiculous metaphors, grimy horns and earthy redemption. He's got images a poet would kill for and the gusto to hammer out each verse like it owes him money. Pretty Toney is what every Jay-Z album after Reasonable Doubt should've sounded like. - Evan McGarvey The Constantines - Shine a Light If Lou Reed dragged you into an alley and screamed the lyrics of "Rock and Roll" through a mega- phone, or if Iggy Pop bled on the ground beneath your feet or if Springsteen pocketed his ham-fisted dad-rock and transmitted all of Born to Run through a cracked Telecaster, you still wouldn't be able to fathom the youth, spirit and vitriol that The Constantines channel on this album. Castoff phrases, like post-punk and indie rock, cease to have meaning when the searing, hellhole sloganeering of "Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)" hits the stereo. You want a label? How about "Best Young Band in America?" - Andrew M. Gaerig ' he Roots - Phrenology 3' n many waysThe Roots had come to be defined by Common's line on their song, "Hip Hop (The Love Of My Life)" - "When we perform, all you see is coffee shop chicks and white dudes."Phrenology was billed by none other than ringleader ?uestlove as the album that would finally break The Roots into the mainstream. It was a conscious effort for more widespread acceptance, but that didn't mean it didn't retain the unique sensibili- ties of the world's self-proclaimed indie hip-hop band. Yes, it is more accessible. But it's also undeniably better off because of it. - Amos Barshad 36 6The Books - Lemon of Pink If The Books were to write one of these entries, it may look a little something like this: Bunch if a first grade collage over-perceptive musicians The Lemon of Pink with something akin they might wind up art project of to took part, in a. Non-electronic The Books listener somehow make electronic composi- tion to a pool. Words and most basic elements to their imagery mimics the its title subliminally, dissecting music phrases. - Andrew Horowitz 35Cat Power - You Are Free Cat Power has been defined throughout her career by sadness and struggle. You Are Free shows Chan Marshall in a new light, but even this light is dark and depressing. Marshall makes incredible use of raw- sounding pianos and twanging guitars to produce slow- ly building, crisp tracks. The songs ring with a bell-like clarity, echoing metallic reverberations and mechani- cal precision. This album will put you through the emotional ringer, but at the end of the day, Marshall's emotive lyrics and textured melodies overshadow your despair. - Jacob Nathan 34 Bob Dylan - Love and Theft Love? Theft? Why not both? Shakespeare, after all, wrote, in Sonnet 35, "That I an accessory needs must be I To that sweet thief which sourly robs me." In his twilight, Dylan is not afraid of redundancy. His persona is distant, his tours all blend together and his music sounds like an echo of lost forms. But with songs like "Sugar Baby," he nurtures a sound and sentiment that are, if not new, at least sanguine and self-assured. In the "give and take" of well-worn styles, the album earns its name by acceding to that central contradiction in life and music. - Steve Cotner 3 Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain It's another mysterious concoction from the genius that is MF Doom, aka Viktor Vaughn, a spaced- out being traveling through multiple dimensions, gets stuck on planet Earth. With his cocky attitude, his adventure leads him through the hip-hop scene and streets of planet Earth. As Doom continues dropping classics left and right, Vaudeville Villain will always remain an interstellar masterpiece. - Cyril Cordor 3 2Blur - Think Tank Think Tank is a bold step forward from a band that earned its credibility writing witty, intelligent pop songs. Soulful rhythm and sparse electronics swirl beautifully throughout the album as Damon Albarn's world music tendencies blend with the band's strong British roots. The album is of an uncharacteristic beau- ty for Blur, and it's exemplary of the evolution of an underrated musical force. - Matt Kivel Kanye West - The College Dropout 31 When it all fell down, Kanye spit it "Through the Wire," slowing it down and bringing it all back to Jesus. His impeccable production style and infectious hooks made The College Dropout one of the most successful albums among the gangster-filled, cut- throat and unforgiving world of mainstream hip-hop. In a genre filled with crunktacular club hits, Kanye instilled his genre with a roots consciousness that hip- hop mostly lacked. The College Dropout screamed for, and received, the acclaim and praise it rightfully deserves. - Chris Gaerig t's an oft-forgotten truth that music geeks exist in the same world as literature geeks, cin- ema geeks and fine art geeks. Why forgotten? Well, it's a safe bet that a majority of you out there have some music aficionado in your circle of friends, someone constantly making mixes for you, but there's probably no one nattering in your ear about Tolstoy or Jasper Johns. It seems that the desire to impress one's taste on friends and associates is uniquely that of the music geek. People like myself get a lot of criti- cism for this sort of behavior: "Why can't I just listen to what I like?" is the common rallying cry. And at the same time, you wouldn't expect a film critic to let you off the hook for your Bruckheimer fixation, nor would a literature snob tolerate your J.K. Rowling fanaticism, sincere as they may be. Why then, is it neces- sary for me to point out that you're listening to a cover of a cover of a Leonard Cohen song, that Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels did it better, that it's Sam Cooke, Otis Red- ding, Al Green and Marvin Gaye, in that order? The answer, it seems, lies at least partially in time and economics. A song - a great song, the kind that I would sit you in front of the stereo and make you listen to under threat of friendship - can be digested and appreciated all before the opening credits finish rolling on "Eraser- head." Similarly, while it would take months of research, numerous essays and a broader understanding of art in general to truly appreciate any single painting of Edward Degas, an audio- phile can explain to you the essence of beauty in the opening seconds of "I Want You Back," subtext be damned. New technologies like Walkmen and iPods have made immediate exposure that much easier. Although the possibility of instant understanding is alluring, the poten- tial of ownership catapults music into an "every person" realm that no other art form enjoys. If by playing you "God Only Knows" for three minutes can sufficiently encourage you to go out and buy Pet Sounds, then my job here is done. It's differ- ent with other art forms. Books, even when purchased, can take weeks to fully engage. Paintings are prohibi- tively expensive, and reproductions are ultimately limited, failing to capture the subtlety and thrill of a first-hand experience. In other words, while it's nearly impossible to build an authentic art collection, and even the most devot- ed readers are limited to several hun- dred pages a day, any plebeian can enjoy a kickass music collection (an idea supported by the fact that most music snobs are semi-unemployed social recluses, or at least pretend to be as much). The mostly intuitive, dryly aca- demic argument outlined above goes a long way to explain the abundance of audiophiles. Ultimately, however, it fails to explain the obsession: why it's absolutely essential for me to remind you that Dylan had the best three-album run in the history of rock music, even if I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you don't give a damn. It fails to explain why I've contemplated dropping out of school to listen to The Constantines' "On to You" professionally, and more importantly, why I think so much less of you if you don't feel the same way after a few spins. It fails to explain why more than 20 members of the Daily's music staff gathered over expensive pizza and cheap beer on a Friday night to discuss which White Stripes albums were among the 50 (an even, if essentially arbitrary number) best of the last half-decade, whether Jay-Z's Black Album belonged higher than the legendary Smile and wheth- er Elliot Smith's fourth best album belonged in such diverse, esteemed company. That otherwise rational people think about these things speaks vol- umes about their obsessions. Imag- ine a friend hounding you about not reading "Ulysses" for days on end, for making you watch "Full Metal Jack- et" until you enjoy it. What instills music elitists with such a sense of social duty, of perfectionism, even in others, isn't economics, it isn't convenience and it sure as hell isn't some sense of social Samaritanism. It's the slight delay on the organ on "Like a Rolling Stone," or the whis- tling coda on "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."-It's the throaty howl of "Disorder," the perfect, fleeting romanticism of "Summer Babe," the playful gush of "Gigantic," the sail- or's rant of "Louie Louie" and a bil- lion other microcosms of girls, God and growing up. And if this sounds ridiculous in print (as I'm almost sure it does), then there's a chair in front of my stereo that you can sit in until everything becomes a little clearer. - Andrew would appreciate your help in his quest to prove that Maroon 5 is the greatest rock band of our generation. E-mail him at agaearig @umich.edu Checkpoint' conversation delivers dire warning By Will Dunlap Daily Arts Writer BOOK R EVI EW * * * Ben is a historian, and Jay is an out of work ex-teacher. Friends since high school, the two men meet at a Washing- ton hotel. Jay has something on his mind and has sum- moned Ben to help him sort things out. With a tape recorder running, his intentions soon become clear: "I'm Checkpoint By Nicholson Baker Alfred A. Knopf going to assassinate narrative technique prevents access to the unspoken inner life of its characters, such digressions provide the reader with good a sense of both men. If Jay and Ben are the only characters to inhabit the novel physically, they are hardly alone in spirit as their conversation pro- gresses. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Clinton and Kennedy are all brought into the mix, maligned by Jay or Ben for their inces- sant warmongering. At the top of the heap is President Bush himself, rarely referred to by first or last name. Jay's justification for assassination is simple: "The guy can't be allowed to get away with murder. Period." Though liberal by nature and staunchly anti-war, Ben is horrified by Jay's intent. Attempts to leave result only in threats from Jay, who claims to have a gun and a number of "magic" bullets. Clued in to the pre- cariousness of Jay's mental state, Ben attempts to dissuade his friend from the task at hand with a reminder of what assassination could mean for fragile U.S. interests at home and abroad. The ensuing discussion results in a terrifying portrait of contemporary America. "We are so close to financial collapse in this country," Ben declares. "We're just on the edge. We're hollow. The termites have been munching for decades." In "Vox," Nicholson Baker considered fantasy in sexual terms. With "Check- point," he revisits the subject of fantasy with renewed passion. On recounting a visit to the book depository in Dallas, Texas, Jay says, "And I thought, I want to see what it feels like to be in the last place where a president was shot dead. Where somebody had moved from the fan- tasy stage over to the reality stage, shall we say." Baker's ability to walk the line between the two is what makes "Check- point" so interesting. In a year when "What if?" fiction ful- fills its literary quotient with Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America," Nicholson Baker never fully embraces his hypotheti- cal scenario. While "Checkpoint" poses a compelling "What if?" question, readers are finally left wondering, "What now?" Though Jay's intent is clear through- out, the reality of the situation is never revealed. When the taped conversation ends, so does the novel. In a book so passionately anti-war, Baker's characteristic restraint minimizes melodrama, keeping the heavy-handedness of his subject matter from overwhelming the plight of his characters. The resulting gravity makes for an unsettling portrait of rage and grief. Famous for his medita- tions on the mundane, Baker breaks new ground in "Checkpoint," delivering heart- felt controversy, and with it, a dire warn- ing. For a book capable of galvanizing the left and infuriating the right, "Checkpoint" is quick to show how easily, and terribly, political matters can blind a nation to the value of life and the terror of war. the president." What passes between the two men in the wake of Jay's declaration is "Checkpoint," Nicholson Baker's pas- sionately caustic diatribe against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. As in "Vox," Baker's notorious explo- ration of phone sex, "Checkpoint" serves up a single conversation, impersonally transcribed and structured in the manner of a drama or screenplay. The objective view, together with the novel's length - a mere 115 pages - is unassuming enough, but Baker's novel is surprising in its scope, touching on subjects ranging from chicken farming to the Cold War to summers in Bermuda. In a novel where ,Studen ts Fl y Cheaper holiday travel, study abroad, spring break Visit StudentUniverse.com for cheap student airfares on the world's major airlines to 1,000 destinations across the US and around the world. Fly on major airlines for discount airline prices. Sample roundtrip Student Airfares from Detroit to: U for more information call 734/998-6251 The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts presents a public poetry reading and reception TRUE OR FAISE? ~ Animals have languages much like human languages ~ Deaf children go through the same stages of language development as hearing children ~ English is like so degenerating before our eyes (ears) ~ Inuit languages have hundreds of words for snow ~ The average high school graduate has approximately 45,000 Miami New York Minneapolis/St. Paul San Francisco London Paris/Rome Mexico City $194 $199 $209 $259 $225 $262 $429 &CAE% ekr : l . ................. t ., Lima $54V I i