The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October 7~ 2009 - 5A
Young, brash and
ready to electro-rock
ByKRISTYN ACHO
For the Daily
Like so many gritty, Ray Ban-
wearing British
pop bands before **
it, The Big Pink
has created quite The Big Pink
a buzz. Between A Brief
loudmouthed
media remarks History of Love
like "Lily Allen is 4AD
a mouthy bitch"
(which was, in fact, a compliment)
and the band's sexually sugges-
tive name, it's hard to push all the
bullshit aside and take the edgy
London duo's music seriously.
It looks like The Big Pink's Rob-
bie Furze and Milo Cordell got the
memo, though. The loudmouth
tendencies that arguably made the
band famous have seemed to dis-
appear. For one, A Brief History of
Love's formerly X-rated album art-
work by Dennis Cooper has been
toned down. The new cover now
looks as though it could be found
in any hipster-haven record store:
it merely features an artsy photo of
a scantily clad woman placed under
the band's name.
Even though the duo's name
may pay homage to The Band's
twangy, homespun Music from
Big Pink, its musical influences
are much closer to the textured,
gloomy vocals of The Jesus and
Mary Chain circa Psychocandy.
Furze and Cordell, who produced
A BriefHistory ofLove themselves,
play into the semi-garbled to-fi
sound that seems to be dominating
indie rock right now, but they still
manage to make the tracks sound
fresh-and exciting.
The first single, "Velvet," is a
moody ballad, complete with muf-
fled electronic feedback that per-
meates the entire track. Produced
by Alan Moulder, who has previ-
ously worked with bands like My
Bo94yVaj tjpandThe Smahing
Pumpkins, the song has an experi-
mental quality that complements
Furze's soulful vocals. Through
streams of percussion and sound,
Furze's voice seems drowned out
by the music, creating a haunting
sonic backdrop.
"Crystal' Visions" and "Domi-
nos" are both layered with elec-
tronic synthesizers that explode
into intense guitar solos at their
choruses. In an album slightly
bogged down by slow, emotionally
laden tracks, these songs bring a
hard rock exterior that matches
the band's hip persona. "Dominos"
takes on the cruel nature of love
with pitiless lyrics like "Swallow
my sugar kiss and eat it alone"
and "I really loved breaking your
heart." The lyrics are twisted and
almost sadistic, aiming for the gut
and forgoing simple interpreta-
tion. These guys obviously have
some serious hang-ups and aren't
afraid to air their dirty laundry in
these songs.
Cordell, who also produced
electronic tunes for Klaxons,
Crystal Castles and The Teenag-
ers, has plenty of experience with
the electro-pop genre. His uncan-
ny ability to take synthetically dis-
torted "noise" and make it music is
on full display here. Still, while the
album's unpolished sound is both
innovative and appealing, at times
the listeners might feel like they're
sitting in on a musical experiment
A bit unpolished,
but still exciting.
rather than listening to a well-
composed album. In "Golden Pen-
dulum," a repetitive and grating
beat is juxtaposed with monotone
vocals, falling flat with its scat-
tered tinkerings.
A Brief History of Love is a pretty
hefty subject to take on in a debut
album, but The Big Pink proves
it's up to the challenge. Each track
sums up a unique aspect of love:
From the excitement of budding
romance ("Too Young to Love")
to painful, drawn-out breakups
("Love in Vain"), the London duo
touches all the bases. While A Brief
History of Love may at times feel
like a wonky experiment in elec-
tro music, its crooning vocals and
innovative sound make up for these
minute glitches.
"Hand over the Lean Cuisines and nobody gets hurt ... or exposed in one of my films."
Moore of the same
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dumentary grills structure than Moore's previous
films, jumps from story to story
italism, but can't after it makes its premise clear.
Moore delivers his hypothesis -
'r a better system that the abusive economic system
of free trade is destroying the judi-
By NICK COSTON cial system of American democra-
Daily Arts Writer cy - and then presents examples
of this destruction across the
hael Moore's latest film country. Moore is acutely aware
s more than two hours that a two-hour PowerPoint pre-
ing the sentation on the subject would be
ation of *- . boring, so he intercuts interviews
lism in the and pie charts with gaudy public
d States, Capilism: spectacles like cordoning off the
icket to see New York Stock Exchange with
I still cost A LOve Story policetapeand drivinganarmored
American At Quality16, car to the headquarters of varioust
s. "Capi- Showcase and banks, attempting to recoup the
: A Love the Michigan losses of the American people in
delivers person with a burlap sack.
propriately Overture No one can claim that Michaeli
account of Mooreisanobjectivefilmmaker.He
merican economic landscape has never pretended to give equal
uccessfully appeals to audi- billing to two sides of an issue. He
emotions, but it remains too is a man on a mission, armed with
in its declarations to pro- his camera and considerable wit, to
a genuine cultural change. deliver his opinion and his alone.
'ecommendation for "Capi- Moore is a subjective filmmaker,
" relies largely upon the and an exceptionally talented one
on the viewers want to feel at that. Not even his fiercest crit-
they watch a film. t's not ics could argue that Moore lacks
ny film, it's not an exciting the ability to engagingly deliver his
nd it's not entertaining in the message through film.
ntional sense of the word. It is with this talent that Moore
someone who loves "Capital- regales us with the story of the
will be hard-pressed to leave American economy's demise. He
eater feeling anything but a is somehow able to employ insur-
of hopelessness. ance policies and Citibank quar-
pitalism," more loose in terly reports as gripping narrative
tools and yet maintains the film's
sequence of events at a brisk and
involving pace. Moore's use of
archive footage, still images, voi-
ceover and an active camera show-
cases his expertise in the medium.
Traditionally, Moore's films
have been sharp in their focus,
especially upon the object of his
criticism. While "Fahrenheit 9/11"
leveled specific accusations of
wrongdoing against clearly iden-
tified individuals, "Capitalism"
paints in broader strokes, naming
the abstract concept of capitalism,
at least in its twisted and malfunc-
tioning application in the United
States, as the chief villain of the
fil, TheproBble, though, is that
there is no hero.
Moore's stated desire is noble.
He wantstocorrect the American
economic system so that hard-
working Americans can reclaim
their lost jobs and rediscover
financial stability. However, he
refuses to name a potential politi-
cal alternative to big, bad capital-
ism. He expertly reveals the sins
and pitfalls of the system and why
the country must scrap it but stops
short ofnamingits successor.
By avoiding an endorsement of
anotherconcrete economicasystem,
Moore plays it far too safe. He has
never cared about political back-
lash in the past, so it is disappoint-
ing, even for staunch supporters of
the current American economic
structure, that Moore is not bold
enough to identify what he thinks
is a better plan for America.
"Capitalism: A Love Story"
tells a vivid yet horrifying tale of
economic stagnation and decline.
Michael Moore has once again
proven himself to be a masterful
storyteller whose skills at eliciting
an emotional response from his
audience areunmatched. Unfortu-
nately, after presenting the prob-
lem and establishing it as a threat
to the future of the nation, he fails
to identify a viable solution to the
disaster in which he insists we find
ourselves.
.Cox catches nobody
By CHRISTINA ANGER
For the Daily
Older men have always been
chasing younger women. Recently,
however, older
women, or "cou-
gars," have been
on the prowl for Cougar Town
studly young
men - and these
women are con- at9.30 .m.
fidently scouring ABC
the dating scene.
"Cougar Town" stars Courteney
Cox ("Friends") as Jules Cobb, a
40-something recent divorcee with
a teenage son. She is afraid of stag-
nant life and exasperated by the
prospect of looking for a new mate.
ABC's new series has the poten-
tial to be a sexy, funny sitcom for
singles and the hitched alike. It
arouses, perhaps, some competi-
tive interest in its younger female
viewers to get off the couch and
snag their male peers before a cou-
gar gets her paws on them. As fun
as the title's wordplay is, "Cougar
Town" is a half hour of forced sexu-
ality and unrelatable situations.
And, if it must be said, that's noth-
ing to howl at.
At one point, Courteney Cox
was a character on a little series
called "Friends." The show was,
for teens in the '90s, an important
part of learning how to grow up and
deal with those awkward sexual
moments that would'undoubtedly
play an integral part of viewers'
futures. As the world continued
turning, those teens became adults
and Cox got older (but still, she's as
gorgeous as ever).
Even so, "Cougar Town," pre-
mieres with Cobb in front of the
bathroom mirror staring in disgust
at her aging body. With maybe five
pounds of extra weight around her
middle, slightly flabby upper arms
and inner thighs that barely touch,
Jules delivers the show's first fail-
ure by her character's agonizing
over her mostly perfect physique.
As if it isn't annoying enough to
have a cougar with a body poten-
tially more fit than the young men
she hunts, there are the show's
excruciating sexual moments that
are so awkward they're just not
funny. From the idea of little boys
fantasizing over posters of Cobb to
her teenage son casually walking in
on her performing sexual favors on
a man half her age, the situations
are repellent. The scenes might've
been funny if they weren't lightly
shrugged off by Jules, followedby a
sigh of"oh, Mom" from a delusional
son. A teenage boy should wretch
at the mere thought of his mother's
sexual lifestyle, right?
Adding to the show's problems,
Cox acts as a ditzy, raging woman
who scorns the idea of her mid-
dle-aged male neighbor getting
with tons of college-aged girls. Of
course, the remedy to her repul-
sion comes in the form of a young
man, solidifying her status as a
cougar in the dating world. (He
isn't even attractive enough to
waste a short stare on.) Cox is too
over-the-top in her acting, and she
seems less like a cougar and more
like a promiscuous 20-something.
It doesn't help that she doesn't
look a day over 3.
The series is overly scripted,
stupidly sexual and holds no basis
for a thoughtful plot whatsoever.
overly scripted,
stupidly sexual.
This cougar isn't a sophisticated
woman who lures young men into
her lair with a wit too mature for
them to comprehend - now that
would've actually been interest-
ing. There's no sense of female
empowerment, which is a stance
the show should have taken, It
would be simple and fascinating to
play off the intimidation cougars
have the ability to possess.
"Cougar Town," if not doomed
to failwithinanolder women audi-
ence, isnsure to fall off the radar (if
it ever makes it on anyone's) with
a younger generation who couldn't
possibly push Monica Geller aside
for the shallow character that is
Jules Cobb.
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