10 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, September 21,2009 - 9A I The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, September 21, 2009 - 9A Polvo's newest adds up Nir her 12- thei Mat hard pin d boundE prog-r and the ge extend way f progre Yes an like BI It's typ larson stop-st dictabl the ye stretch of ban and Bi had a post- a since. Poly elder of Cha rock's day. B and G rock la local f skated pipelin neties math rock lina (Merge) and the Windy City with lasting results. With a string os return from a of fantastic albums in the mid- '90s, Polvo was arguably at their year hiatus with creative peak when they split in 1998. r best album ever In Prism comes after a 12-year absence of new material, and it By MIKE KUNTZ couldn't sound fresher. Gone are DailyArts Writer the scratchy mid-fi recordings of the early '90s, helped in no small h rock has always been a part by Brian Paulson's crisp pro- genre to duction. And while Paulson's no sown. Its stranger to the genre, having pro- s flirt with duced Slint's iconic Spiderland in ock, noise 1991, here he brings his experience post-rock, PO with more pop-oriented projects nre's roots Prism to create a punchy, clear sound ing all the Merge with teeth. tom '70s Starting with "Right the Rela- ssives like tion," the album immediately d Genesis to post-punkers reassures listeners that Polvo's ack Flag and Sonic Youth. still got it - and maybe better than ically classified by its angu- ever. Paulson's experience with netimes dissonantmelodies, Superchunk is also evident here, art rhythms and unpre- the opener having just the right [e song structures. Over mix of grungy power-pop lurking ars, math rock has been beneath the mathy surface to keep ted to describe the sounds the song together. But with vocals ds like Slint, Don Caballero slightly buried, it's guarded from g Black, each of which has excessive mainstream pop appeal, direct influence on other even with a chorus as anthemic as: nd experimental-rock acts "I kill my creation / to right the relation." o fits right in with these "D.C. Trails" is an excellent statesmen, emerging out demonstration of Polvo's knack pel Hill, NC during math for unorthodox groove-laden gui- late-'80s/early-'90s hey- tar work, with unconventional oasting ties with the Touch tunings making for beautiful and o (a pivotal experimental unexpected collisions of harmony abel) scene in Chicago and and melody. Singer Ash Bowie's ans like Steve Albini, Polvo voice hovers perfectly between the underground musical rant-singing and unimpressed e between North Caro- baritone with vague and highly imagistic lyrics to match. It makes for the best song on the album. In Prism maintains its momen- tum through the middle of the record, right though the eight- minute guitar explorations of "Lucia." Then comes "Dream Work/Residue," whose canned and distorted drums paint a depressed nightmarescape - the minor-to-major repetition within the guitar melody brings to mind Radiohead's "Morning Bell"- and strangely it fits right in. Closer "A Link in the Chain" has a soothing psychedelia wrapped around its near nine minutes, with dreamy guitar bends and distortion walls that channel vintage shoegaze sheen. Putting it plainly, this is by no means an "easy" record. The lay- ers of melody are deceptively com- plex and uncovering the lyrics is an adventure in itself. Polvo has always been able to find a tasteful mix of ambient experimental rock and SST-inspired noise, lurking somewhere in a mid-'80s alterna- tive limbo, and it has certainly hit that again here. And while it may be pretty easy to count the band's influences on one hand, Polvo blends them well enough to give its artistic state- ments considerable merit. Plus it does, like, way better than most bands. Derivatives aside, In Prism marks a welcomed return to the sounds that dominated the '80s underground, with some '90s experimentalism and '00s fidelity added to the mix to make it work in the present. The fastest way toa robot's heart is through the giant fucking zipper on its chest. Zero good reasons to see 9 By EMILY BOUDREAU Daily Arts Writer In "9," the fate of the world rests in the hands of nine creatures made from burlap sacks. However alarmingthis prospectmay seem, the whimsical world of direc- tor Shane Acker ("The Astounding 9 Talents of Mr. Grenade") should whisk viewers away from their fears At Quality16 of impendingglobal destruction. and Showcase The character 9 (voiced by Eli- Focus Features jah Wood, "The Lord of the Rings") first opens his eyes to see a world destroyed. The only other sentient beings he encoun- ters are eight similarly small burlap robots and a terri- fying host of angry machines. The nine robots must do battle againstthemachines to ensure the preservation of some semblance of humanity. "9" was originally a short film with much the same storyline. The short was so successful that it was adapted into this full-length feature. The short film, in fact, was nominated for an Oscar back in 2005. But while the new version is only 79 minutes long - mak- ing it much shorter than most modern features - it is an unnecessarily long extension of the original. The power of the original film gets diluted when stretched to take up the 79-minute span. There are too many chase scenes and far too much plot repetition. One member of the nine is captured and the rest have to go rescue him. Then another is captured on that rescue mission and he needs rescuing - after a while, it gets tedious. Despite the hiccups in the story, the animation is still enamoring. There are some truly beautiful over- laps between the world built by the humans and the world of the machines. The nine robots find sanctu- ary in an old sculpture garden, setting a scene that is both sad and truly haunting. In another moment, amidst the destruction, they find an old phonograph record and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" plays while the bots rummage through remnants of the past. Despite being an animated film, "9" carries a PG-13 rating, accurately indicating that the movie is not for small children. It's a film ripe with graphic and dis- turbing images and characters; one of the machine monsters is a snake-like creature with the head of a possessed baby doll. At the same time, the plot and the message remain fairlysimple.Butit'ssimpleinanegativesense-utter- ly basic and obvious. Though "9" aims to captivate an older audience, it cannot get past unsophisticated imagery - a burning church, a contrast between light and dark and ruinedbooks. Further, the characters are all helplessly one- dimensional. Each of the nine robots has essentially one personal quality. Number 7 (Jennifer Connelly, "He's Just Not ThatInto You") is the ferocious female, Number 1 (Christopher Plummer, "Up") is bossy and Number 5 (John C. Reilly, "Step Brothers") is always scared. Talented actors voice each of the nine robots, so it's unfortunate that the script turns them into a About as entertaining as a burlap sack. more boring version of the seven dwarfs. Beyond the identity crisis resulting from the scary animation and the simplistic script, the film suffers from the fact that several aspects of the plot, particu- larly the conclusion, will never make sense to anyone, no matter what age theyare. The film is an admirable attempt at turning a short film into a full-length movie, and it manages to keep some of its integrity, but in the end it's a failure. COURTESTY OF MERGE "You wanna hear this kitty purr?" HUMPDAY From Page 5A occasional hiccups, the general interplay remains crudely funny. The true beauty of the movie is derived from its simplicity. It doesn't harbor deep thematic undertones, but it isn't superficial either. "Humpday" stays true to its premise of two men dancing around each other's egotism. As a result, the film is great for both male and female audiences. Guys can relate to how stupid (and yet so important) their egos can be, and how far it can take them, while girls can at least attempt to understand what goes. on inside the male mind. The unique "bonding" shared by Ben and Andrew goes beyond a mere dare. "Humpday" is a testa- ment to the power of friendship. Lifelong friends will remain that way, even with all the humps in between. T.. . BEEP BOOP BEEP BEEP BOOP. ALL THE COOL ROBOTS WRITE FOR ARTS. BOOOOOP E-mail battlebots@umich.edu for an application. I L Learn more about the Peace Corps. Attend an information session. e ~ Wednesday, September 23rd 12:00 p.m. School of Natural Resources Room 2024 800.424.8580 I www.peacecorps.gov Life is calling. How far will you go? I