Wednesday Re TScbigan Bailg Rlr arts. michigandaily. com artspage@michigandaily.com 5 - - - ------- .... . .. . 5 BOOK SART EXPERIMENTAL NYC BAND COMES TO UMMA By Caitlin Cowan Daily Features Editor 'Fight Night' By Michael Passman Daily Arts Writer a hit Even if you've never heard of them, you probably already know The Books. One night while watching MTV and poring over your Orgo notes, you most likely saw one of the "Knowing is Beautiful" HIV- testing campaign commercials, The Books complete with crowds of people dancing and snaking their way Tonight at 8 p.m. through city streets. "It's spread- At UMMA ing," the screen said, alluding to the rising number of youngadults getting tested. That's good news, but the real gem of the TV spot was the song that trickled and gurgled in the back- ground. That song was "Tokyo" by The Books, a sonic flight to the Far East that sounds more like a pseudo- Baroque etude than a piece of post-rock history. Nick Zammuto, half of the experimental New York City-based group said that the inspiration for the song "was everything except for Tokyo. The stewardess sound clip in the middle comes from a tourist record of Japan. It's a place that neither Paul nor I have ever visited, and I think our music has sort of a similar feeling for us - journeys into places that are completely unknown." The band promises just this kind of strange trip to a new place during their free show tonight at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. "I think it's a pretty unexpected experience for people, but they like it a lot," Zammuto said, referring to the college audiences they have already played for at Oberlin College and other campuses. "We use computers to make our music, although most of the sounds we use come from acoustic sourc- es to begin with. I think it has as much to do with rock music as it does with folk music as it does with electronic music," he said. The band chose to play at UMMA because of the unique atmosphere of an art museum, which is Zam- muto said is "quieter, and more focused." The self-taught guitarist, who also holds degrees in chemistry and visual arts from Williams College in Massachusetts, moved away from his work in art conservation to make unconventional music, and sound became his full-time job after a friend intro- duced him to his current better half: cellist and fel- low electronic-music aficionado Paul de Jong. The Books were born soon after in 2000. The first time you break Joe Frazier's jaw, you might feel kind of bad. But don't worry: After a few more fights, you'll get over it. In the hyper-realistic "Fight Night Round 3" for Xbox 360, EA Sports has taken console boxing to new levels with incredible detail and a polished ringside experience. In a wise move, EA kept "Round 3's" controls and gameplay in line with its predecessors. The game utilizes a Fight Night slightly modified R version of EA's Total ound 3 Punch Control for Xbox 360 fluid punch execu- EA Sports tion and maneuver- ing. The days of button-mashing slugfests are gone, with all movement controlled by the analog sticks. This time around, EA expanded the bout-shifting haymaker punch by offering three variations known as impact punch- es, each with their own degree of risk and reward. The new punches are well imple- mented in the control scheme and give players better control and handling. The execution of the different punches varies from fighter to fighter; individual styles are spot on. The artificial intelli- gence-controlled boxers resemble their real-life counterparts from their aggres- siveness and fighting style down to the way they navigate the ring. The same goes for controlling the fight- ers, as each boxer has their own feel and technique that makes choosing your boxer less about the color of his trunks and more about how he matches your strategy. The style and mannerisms of the fight- ers are propelled even further via the game's spectacular graphics. The fight- ers are incredibly lifelike: Their compo- sure is constantly changing as the fight progresses. A knockout or impact punch causes time to slow down and players can see the force of the punch move through the victim's body - often altering bone structure and drawing blood. Gainers will likely spend the majority of their time in the career mode; in which they can choose to create their own boxer and modify their technique as they wish, or choose a real boxer to guide through his career. Boxers start out as amateurs and work their way up the ranks, fight- ing in various sponsored events and title i bouts against real and fictitious fighters. In "Round 3," gamers are now able to move up weight classes once they've claimed their rightful belt, thereby increasing the difficulty and lengthening the mode. On the downside, the career mode can become rather monotonous when players are constantly fighting and training with little diversion - outside of buying new gloves and accessorizing their boxers. Another new feature in the career mode assigns boxers a "rival" who keeps pop- ping up during their career. It seems to be a failed experiment; it in no way enhances the game. Occasionally there will be a weigh-in cut scene before a rival fight that ends with the rival sucker-punching the player's boxer. It gets old fast. Although the career additions may be fewer than one could hope.for, online gameplay is where "Fight Night" truly shines. Boxing is the perfect platform for online sports gaming, because fights don't consume too much time and trash talking is a must. Detailed stats and rankings are automatically compiled over time so play- ers can chart their progress. It's just a shame Jim Braddock wasn't included. "Raging Bull" and "Cinderella Man" head to head would have been sublime. Courtesy of The Books The Books will perform a sold-out show tonight at 8 p.m. at UMMA. "(Playing music) grew out of my visual art. I started making sculptures after working in painting and drawing for a long time, and then incorporating sounds into the sculptures," he said. Tonight's concert at UMMA, the fourth show sponsored by the University's student-run radio sta- tion WCBN, promises not only music but a kind of collaborative electronic and visual spectacle. "I guess you could call it collage music," Zammuto added. The Books' latest effort, Lost and Safe, is their best album to date. Packed with unexpected audio snippets, the duo uses clips culled from old radio broadcasts to instructional tapes to create their aural art. Different from their previous work on The Lemon f Pink and Thought far Food, their latest includes vocals provided by Zammuto and de Jong themselves. But Lost and Safe is still the veritable decoupage box of sounds and amalgamation that The Books' devotees have come to love. "For me, it has something to do with how I relate to the world in general," Zammuto said. "It's such a noisy world we live in now, you know? There's infor- mation coming in from all directions, and figuring out a way to relate to it without being overwhelmed and actually being able to enjoy it is a real life skill." Lost and Safe moves seamlessly from the off-put- ting to the relaxing, from the kitschy to the undeni- ably cool. Zammuto and Books fans find solace in the concentrated chaos of their sound. "I think our music has become sort of a way to prepare our own minds for dealing with the cacoph- ony of everyday life," Zammuto said. 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