The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - 5

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - 5
0

Bare trees ... ohhhh.

Bird's gypsy-pop
Sstyle enlivens LP

Living up to a
'Namesake'
MIRA NAIR CRAFTS
MODEL ADAPTATION
By IMRAN SYED He struggles with his busy college
Daily Arts Writer schedule to find time for visits to
- --Indian friends and ethnic stores,
Director Mira Nair's "The but his wife's homesickness is
Namesake" glistens with a narra- embedded in more than superficial
tive exuberance relations or material goods.
that is strangely Through tears of loneliness,
at odds with the **** apprehension of a foreign society
intense strug- and a compounding sense of alien-
gle that char- The ation, Ashima remains committed
acterizes this to her life in America. She gives
tale. But Nair's Nameske birth to a boy, named by Ashoke
adaptation of a Atthe after Nikolai Gogol, the famous
archetypal story Michigan Russian author and wayfarer in
of self discov- Theatre his own time, without whose lit-
ery is a sharper Fox Searchlight erary influence this family would
transition than never have existed.
most. Based on Through a careful balance of
the novel by Pulitzer Prize-win- curiosity, respect and charm, Nair
ner Jhumpa Lahiri, the film strips grants audiences a peek into the
away the varnish of social and life of an immigrant family with-
generational gaps to find even in out any condescending sense of
tragedy an enduring, universal pity. The film has no delusions of
wisdom and beauty. pontificating on the consummate
The film centers on Ashoke and immigrant experience, even if
Ashima Ganguli, immigrants to many critics have lazily misread
New York from Calcutta in the that in it. This is simply an excep-
Indian state of West Bengal. A tionally colorful and subtle depic-
laid-backcollege professorAshoke tion of one family's struggle and
is at first unprepared for the diffi- growth.
culty his wife has in transitioning The main character in the story
from her communal, family-ori- is Gogol, their son, played here by
ented life in Calcutta to a dingy Kal Penn ("Harold and Kumar Go
apartment near a college campus. to White Castle"), who needs no

By KAREN STASEVICH
Daily Arts Writer
A decade after the release of
Andrew Bird's
first album
Music of Hair ****
comes his most
focused record Andrew Bird
to date, Arm-
chair Apocry- Armchair
pha. Bird has Apocrypha
come a long Fat Possum
way, reigning
in his haphaz-
ard musical whims and uncon-
ventional ethnic fiddle music, and
channeling it into a professional
and distinct sound.
The album opens with a lyrical
depiction of post-Sept. 11 airplane
phobia in "Fiery Crash": "Turn-
stiles on mezzanine / Jet ways
and Dramamine fiends / And x-
ray machines / You were hurling
through space / G-forces twist-
ing your face / Breeding super-
stition / A fatal premonition /
You know you got to envision the
fiery crash." Bird covers the gen-
eral anxietyof the subject with an
uplifting beat, creating the same
serenity and anticipation one feels
when sitting window side, gazing
at the billowing clouds.
Armchair Apocrypha oscillates
between poppy and morose, song
to song and from lyrics to melody.
As always, Bird's work is multi-
layered - delicate strings lie
under snappy guitar plucking and
glockenspiel.
The fourth track, "Dark Mat-
ter," contains most of the same
lyrics as "Sweetbreads," although
the songs have vastly different
melodies. Bird poses existential
questions like "Do you wonder
where the self resides? / Is it in
your head or between your sides?/
And who will be the one who will
decide its true location?" By lis-
tening to the song it's evident that
9 the meaning of "Sweetbreads,"
which deals with issues of eating
the vital organs of animals, has
taken on new significance in the
context of "Dark Matter."
A solid
return for
Redman
By ANDREW KAHN
Daily Arts Writer
It's been more than six years
since Redman's last album, and
it's not like the
Funk Doc has
been featured on
many other art-
ists' tracks dur-
ing that span. Red Gone Wild:
Simply put, Red- Thee Album
man has been Def Jam
nonexistent in
the music scene
since the release of 2001's Mal-
practice, but listening to his latest
album, Red Gone Wild, you'd have
no idea he's been away at all.
Gone Wild's standout track is the
Timbaland-produced first single
"Put It Down." Timbo's not at his
best, but the constant kick-drums
and synths drive the uptempo
beat, which Redman rides with
ease. On "Hold Dis Blaow!," Rock-
wilder - who has produced many
of Redman's past hits - delivers
a dark, sleekly pounding beat to
accompany Red's signature flow.
Now these two aren't much bet-

ter than the other tracks - and
r that's not a bad thing. In fact, it's
what makes Gone Wild so solid.
Despite his long hiatus, Red has
managed to deliver an album that's
consistently strong throughout.
Even 23 tracks (three of which are
skits), there's not much filler here.
That's not to say the album is
 flawless. There are some songs,
like "Freestyle Freestyle" and
"Sumtn 4 Urrbody," which could
have been better had the beats
not been so similar to previously
released material. Produced by
Scott Storch, "Freestyle," with

Toward the end of the album
the tone and tempo both drop to
a slower pace. "Cataracts" comes
after a brief violin instrumental
that captures the tone of a solo
concert in a grand concert hall.
Just at the song's climax, Bird
begins an ingenious whistling
solo before the song dwindles
away with the words "Light will
fill our eyes like cats / Cataracts
"Spare-Ohs," a ballad about
mortality and the dying beauty
of animals, brings the album to a
seemingly somber close, but it's
quickly followed by the pleas-
ant "Yawny at the Apocalpyse."
Bird can't seem to stop himself
from reminding the listener of his
namesake, mixing in the calls of
morning songbirds among mas-
terful violin.
Like all good
birds, this guy has
one mean whistle.
Tenth in a long line of praise-
worthy albums, Armchair Apoc-
rypha has a lengthy tradition to
uphold. And it succeeds master-
fully. Songs from The Mysterious
Production of Eggs, like "Fake
Palindromes" and "Measuring
Cups," may not have been topped;
but they have nearly met their
match with the new material.
Fair comparisons maybe found
between Bird's smooth vocals and
Rufus Wainwright, but the simi-
larities end there. Stylistically,
nothing quite matches Bird's
work. He continues to make a
career of mashing up his own tra-
dition of unconventional violin
and professional whistling skills
with introspective and witty lyr-
ics. In the case of Armchair, the
end result is a very personal state-
ment of Bird's Hungarian gypsy-
meets-pop brand of art.

Yes, that's Kumar. Get over it.
introduction to campus audiences.
Penn brings to his brash-then-
anguished character an emotional
and thematic dexterity we could
never have guessed he had (and
certainly not from his role in last
year's "Superman Returns," where
he had several chances to grunt a
single line which went something
like: "Aaaaah!").
But even if he's better than ever,
Penn is nowhere close to Bolly-
wood veterans Tabu and Irfan
Khan, who play his mother and
father, respectively. The laurels of
emotional suppression and rebirth
that define the thematic core of
Lahiri's novel are beautifully
illustrated by the performances of

these two actors. Not only do they
melt into their roles, they carry
into believability even the film's
weakest performers.
Spectacular in many ways, "The
Namesake" manages as a film
what even Lahiri's novel could
not: It maintains an emotional
tenor throughout and doesn't get
distracted by the many non sequi-
turs that inevitably comprise life.
In skipping entire chapters of the
periodically scattered novel, it
skims off manylayers of embellish-
ment that would be easily misin-
terpreted by movie audiences and
presents only the most meaningful
episodes of its rich source. It is, as
such, a near-perfect adaptation.

Seamless jazz from two generations

By RACHEL COMMON
Daily Arts Writer
On Quartet, Pat Metheny and
Brad Mehldau exhibit the kind of
unspoken chem-
istry of two
musicians who ^ ^
have been col-
laborating for Pat Metheny
years. and Brad
But in fact
the two jazzers Mehldau
had never made Q
music together Quartet
until last year's Nonesuch
Metheny/Mehl-
dau. The 2006
release brought together iconic
jazz-guitarist Metheny, 53, and ris-
ing jazz-pianist Mehldau, 37, for a
stellar album of original material.
The pair had long admired
each other before working togeth-
er. Mehldau first heard the Pat
Metheny Group's Travels album
(1982) at 13 and Metheny heard
Mehldau's piano chops on saxo-
phonist Joshua Redman's 1994
Moodswirng. With shared admira-
tion, the two finally decided to play

together after they both signed to
Nonesuch. Their 2006 collabora-
tion proved an important addition
to the label's catalog, merging a
jazz legend and a poised-to-be
one.
Metheny and Mehldau's collab-
orative creativity rises to a new
level on Quartet, where boundar-
ies are played with, stretched and
challenged via tempo and mood
shifts. Bassist Larry Grenadier and
drummer Jeff Ballard, who have
played in the Brad Mehldau Trio
since 1994 and 2005 respectively,
round out the solid four-piece
sound.
The album opens with "A Night
Away," which establishes the four
musicians' superb balance and
tight sound. Ballard'sbeatis ocean-
like, with rolling drums and spon-
taneous cymbal crashes. Mehldau
and Metheny play off each other's
melodies - something they will do
throughout the rest of the album
- and display a keen percep-
tion of one another's improvisa-
tional styles. The first half of this
eight-minute track is dominated
by Mehldau's complex chromatic
Thora birch's
creeeeeeeepy
dad.
Read the Daily's
gossip column
online at
michigandaily.
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lines, but Metheny takes the reigns
in the last four minutes, display-
ing a flurry of fast and controlled
melodies.
Each subsequent song brings
yet another mood to the album.
"Sound of Water" starts with
Metheny imitating falling water
with a sparkling, descending glis-
sando. Mehldau follows his lead,
The musical
equivalent of killer
dueling. And they
both win.
echoing on piano. It's a symbolic
moment - Metheny guiding and
making clear the mutual, musical
trust built between him and Mehl-
dau in only a few short years.
"Fear and Trembling" exhibits
Metheny's versatility, producing
frighteningly dissonant intervals
with a bright, erratic tone. This
track's disturbing, scream-like

twangs invoke the disorientation
of fun-house background music.
"Towards the Light" is the big-
gest achievement in Metheny and
Mehldau's collaborative body
of work to date. Mehldau plays
an almost atonal improvisation
in hemiola with Ballard, while
Metheny solos using a bright,
brass-like sound. A distortion-
packed rock section materializes
from nowhere, but the head-bang-
ing frenzy dissipates back into
soft jazz before you can fully com-
prehend its tonal scope. The fluid
shifting of moods, qualities and
tempos in this piece comprises the
most imaginative Metheny/Mehl-
dau statement yet.
It's already clear this album goes
beyond any of the Pat Metheny
Group's previous records because
of its sheer dedication to spontane-
ity and experimentation. Quartet
is fearless in its musical explora-
tion. Metheny and Mehldau's cre-
ative capacity and ability as well
as desire to search continually for
original sounds makes this collab-
oration, and hopefully future ones,
a significant contribution to jazz.

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Na

Now that's a hood.
its overall simplicity, is remi-
niscent of Clipse's "Grindin.' "
"Sumtn" is comparable to Lil'
Wayne's "Fireman" with a hook
featuring a Weezy sound-a-like.
Despite their obvious problems,
these songs are still solid and sur-
rounded by above-par tracks like
"Wutchoogonnado."
Redman is well known for his
collaborations with fellow Wu-
Tang member Method Man, and
while he makes an appearance on
the album, the results are unspec-
tacular. Other big names like
Snoop Dogg also deliver forget-
table performances.
It's hard to be disappointed with
Gone Wild. And unless you were
thinking Red would be rusty, it's
difficult to imagine anyone being
surprised either. In other words,
Red provides what he's always
provided: mischievous rhymes and
a general disregard for anything
too serious. His eccentric, in-your-
face flow and clever lyrical twists

are what make him so unique.
Lines like "I got my P.O. thinking
that my system clean / before I
seen her, I gargle with the Lister-
ine / so she can turn my felony to a
Who needs girls
when the Funk
Doc will go wild?
misdemeanor" from "Pimp Nutz"
are what separate Red from other
rappers. He's just a pot-smoking,
fun-loving dude and his personal-
ity has always shown in his music.
Gone Wild is no exception. He
sticks to the successful formula
he's used his entire career and
once again provides entertainment
from start to finish. Here's to hop-
ing we don't have to wait six more
years for Redman's next album.

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