Wednesday February 8, 2006 arts. michigandaily.com artspage@michigandaily.com Ui be ,SiY~tigrtn 3 &iI RTwrS 5 Courtesy of Electric Six Hipster. But so not redefined. Electric Six suffers from lrical overkill BELLE & SEBASTIAN GROW INTO By Alexandra Jones Daily Arts Writer Many longtime Belle & Sebastian fans will feel frustrated when they hear The Life Pursuit. Ever since 2003's Belle & sparkly, soulful Dear Catastro- Sebastian phe Waitress marked a drastic shift away from shoegazer sen- The Life Pursuit timent and gauzy, to-fi produc- Matador tion for the Glasgow pop septet, some hardcore devotees have felt they've been deserted for ABBA-esque backing vocals, amped- up bass and funky, sunny hooks. They'll feel that Belle & Sebastian no longer make music in the same sanctified language. On their latest, B&S test our faith while simul- taneously struggling- with their belief in their own work. Despite near-deification from a devout fanbase, they're people just like us - and though their music can sound intensely intimate, even divinely inspired, their ethos isn't universe-defining, true-since-the- beginning-of-time theology. They're musicians, not apostles; they write songs, not gospel. And that's the attitude fans (or anyone who's ever formed an opinion about the group's oeuvre) will have to take to appreciate the chrome-shiny pop exultations that producer Tony Hoffer - the guy responsible for the electrified eroticism of Beck's Midnight Vultures - has brought to their new sound. Gone are stripped-down torch songs like "We Rule the School" and "Fox in the Snow." The absence of those intimate moments can make Pursuit feel a little hollow on the first few listens, as if it's all glitzy melo- dies and big smiles. But thematically, the group deals with new directions as well as tests of faith; the fact that they've created an album that believably explores these ideas within an ultra-pop framework - hooks galore, a boosted rhythm section and even guitar solos - shows the complexity and artistic force behind all those catchy melodies. Fans of all stripes should be ecstatic: The group has graduated to a brand-new sonic palette in which they can work more magic. The cool, syncopated piano of "Act of the Apostle I" opens Pursuit. The two-part story of a girl strug- gling with her faith during her mother's illness frames tracks that illustrate characters at different junctures in life and the band's own stylistic experimentations. The art-school hellion of "Sukie in the Graveyard" eclipses the timid Mary Jo and dreamy Judy, other archetypal female figures in Murdoch's back cata- logue, with her runaway antics and nude modeling for drawing classes. The story is punctuated with a joy- ful, ascending organ hook that's just one of Pursuit's' many infectious musical tropes. The vocal effects and blues-rocky riff of "The Blues Are Still Blue" create the impression that Murdoch discovered a lost Aladdin Sane-era David Bowie track. The AM Gold- style backing vocals and searing guitar solo (!) on "We Are the Sleepyheads" and "Song for Sunshine's" chilled-out funk progressions, however, might take a little getting used to -" but when would anyone have ~Courtesy of a Matador Hurrynd ... take the picture before the ants come!" NEW POP SOUND expected Belle & Sebastian to sound like this and sound so good? Pursuit's second half suffers from a slight lack of momentum, simply because of the bloc of brilliant, danceable tunes on the first half. The sweet, sincere "To Be Myself Completely," a contribution from gui- tarist and underrated B&S member Stevie Jackson, comes closest to their old-school sound; the effect is at once comforting and a little sobering. And Pursuit's first single, "Funny Little Frog," doesn't stand out much on the album, let alone as another addition to the band's rich singles catalogue, despite the fact that its candy-coated melody provides a welcome jolt of energy before the album's gentler denouement. "For the Price of a Cup of Tea," in which a social pariah discovers a 7" at a record store, sets a sentimen- tal mood for closer "Mornington Crescent." Despite the shift to a slow-tempo, retrospective tone, the track points forward to a new future. With its tinkly piano and constant, Ringo-esque drums, "Crescent" sounds somehow unlike anything they've released: It's not a quirky, pop exercise on unrequited love, but an expan- sive ballad on emotions far more complex. And the fact that Belle & Sebastian can still do sentimental without sounding like their old selves shows that this growth is a good thing. The Life Pur- suit hasn't narrowed their thematic or sonic scope. Rather, this new direction opens up creative possi- bilities for one of the most musically dynamic bands of our time. They've given us 10 years worth of fan- tastic records, and the least we can do in return is hear them out for the next decade. Don't worry about blowing a fuse to Electric Six's newly released Electric Six Senor Smoke: To . misquote one of Senor Smoke Electric Six's previ- Metropolis ous hits, "Danger, danger - moderately high voltage." Still nattily dressed and oddly nick- named, the Detroit sextet returns with their followup to 2003's Fire. The band's major-label debut as Electric Six, Fire's "Naked Pictures (Of Your Moth- er)" and "Gay Bar" propelled them to the "Top of the Pops" in the U.K. Their syncopated singles also found success stateside - Senor Smoke shakes up the same white-boy funk, disco-rock cock- tail with outlandish lyrics, but nothing quite matches the must-dance-now quality of "Danger (High Voltage)." Electric Six try once again to rep- licate the aggression of their first big hit with frontman Dick Valentine growling and yelping all over the album about vibrators and the Back- street Boys. He loves manipulating his coarse, arena-rock voice even while comparing girls to Capri Sun drinks. Valentine's versatile voice is one of the biggest reasons why some songs are funny and some fall flat: He can sound like an angry, constipated Fred Flintstone, while at other times he cribs Jack White's feline falsetto. By Kimberly Chou Daily Arts Writer Valentine is also the last original mem- ber of the band formerly known as the Wildbunch. Since cutting their teeth at famous Detroit dives like the Gold Dol- lar in the late '90s, the guys of Electric Six have rotated their lineup more often than Destiny's Child. While an ever-changing roster some- times means creative change, on Senor Smoke Electric Six's schtick gets old. Most songs follow a similar format: dense rhythm and choppy bass, blurts of synthesizer and the occasional strange detail such as the vaudevillian keyboard on "Taxi To Nowhere." Generally, vocals toe the line of '80s power-ballad grandiosity, while "Future Is In the Future" features Earth, Wind and Fire-style trum- pet shouts. But "Dance Epidemic" is a- throaty, punchy song that works despite its adherence to the band's typical songwriting recipe. But other songs with "dance" and "future" in the title - two of Electric Six's favorite words - don't fare as well. "Future Boys" and "Dance-a-Thon 2005" are repetitive and pointless. Although Electric Six manage to cover Queen without turning into Brit copycats The Darkness, they can't stop the absurd lyrical overkill. Senor Smoke is fun, superficial dance-rock and will do only if you're not search- ing for existentialist lyrics or guitar wizardry. But for a frothy good time, you'd better hope they take'you back to their days at the "Gay Bar," because on Senor, Electric Six just don't put out like they used to. The 'Omnibus' has left the station By Matt Emory For the Daily MUSIC R EVI EW Missoula, Montana doesn't come to mind as a birth- ing ground for new musical talent. That type of nurturing environment for fledgling musicians is usually associated with places like Tarkio Portland or Montreal. Colin Meloy was well aware that Mon- Omnibus tana was no place for a band to spread its Kill Rock Stars wings, and left his college group Tarkio to head for Portland, where college-rock favorites the Decem- berists were eventually conceived. Ten years after Tarkio was formed, the only place to find old Colin was through bootleg MP3s or a lucky find at the record store. That is, until now. Tarkio has been revived through Kill Rock Stars Records's rerelease of the band's three-year-long catalog. Omnibus, a double-disc, 27-cut album, shows off pre- Decemberists lead singer Meloy who, joined by Gibson Hartwell, Louis Stein and Brian Collins, set out to play the alternative country and indie-rock scene in 1996. The relics of Meloy's lyrical skills are uncovered on Omnibus. "Tristan and Iseult" is a snappy narrative describing two troubled lovers that sounds much like the Montanan's later work. "Neapolitan Bridesmaid" states beautifully, "I can't stand waiting while the lights are changing on me," and resonates with themes of grow- ing up and moving on. But lines about girls flipping off cop cars and summer-reading lists shows that Meloy isn't immune to lyrical pitfalls. Elsewhere, "Helena Won't Get Stoned" presumably tells the story of a Catholic school girl who just won't get stoned. But dig a bit deeper and Meloy's disdain for the capital city's addiction to weed becomes clear. It would be a stretch to find a title like this on any new songs from the Decemberists, but the concept works. The quick gui- tar and twangy country sound blends well with the song's subject matter. Most tracks on Omnibus have a Wilco-like feel to them: a mix of slow and somber storybooks and fast-tempo won- ders. Some even take advantage of the band's alternative- country prowess - banjo and violin add head-bobbing spark to "Caroline Avenue," and "Weight of the World" places optimistic thoughts ("I got two feet on the floor / I guess that's all I need") against a finger-picking guitar riff that makes for a pleasant, toe-tapping tune. Perhaps the greatest pitfall of Omnibus is its size. Most tracks clock in at around five minutes, some even pushing seven. With so many tracks, the album feels like a mara- thon. "Never Will Marry," a melancholy midtempo tune that showcases Meloy's descriptive storytelling style, drags and loses strength toward the end of its near six- minute track time. Just because Tarkio's name derives from a dot-on-the-map town in Montana doesn't mean the band's music is lacking. Omnibus has a fewtoo many songs that sound alike: a short- coming typical of a young band. 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