6 4B - Thursday, October 8, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com ®j REMY ZERO 'VILLA ELAINE' (1998) Finding its own timeK 6 By SHARON JACOBS For the Daily Remember 1998? Climbing the charts were Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Tearin' Up My Heart" by *NSYNC - the industry was dominated by punk-tinged alt rock and tween- darling boy bands. The "Titanic" soundtrack was the top-selling albumofthe year and alittle-known band called Remy Zero released Villa Elaine, an otherworldly and gritty album that just didn't fit in. More famous for penning "Save Me" (better known as "that song from 'Smallville' "), Remy Zero's more seminal '90s work has gone largely unnoticed. Villa Elaine was the result of the Alabama-based group's two-year hole-up in a run- down Los Angeles motel of the same name. We've all heard the story of the wide-eyed artists who came to the city looking to make it big. But as Remy Zero demonstrates on Villa, these five Southern boys are not your average idealists. Lyrically, the album presents a bleak landscape while simultane- ously beaconing hope - a cathar- tically contradictory stance that's embodied in the chorus of the first song, "Hermes Bird" - "So hold to your permanent bliss / in the time that it takes to exist / From the hours to the fall of it / It's all right, you're all wrong." The track's overpowering confusion funnels into a simple and vaguely positive message. Even "Life in Rain," the album's biggest downer, finds sing- er Cinjun Tate proclaiming, "So when it comes down / you'll know rm with you." Villa Elaine oper- ates in an apocalyptic world where Cinjun's smooth, emotive voice gar- there's nothing left but simple emo- nered comparisons to Thom Yorke, tions. and rightly so - Remy Zero was Mystical references and myste- invited to open for Radiohead after rious sounds run rampant on Villa. it heard the band's demo. But the Song titles like "Hermes Bird" and dirty, grinding guitars on "Proph- "Whither Vulcan" recall ancient ecy" give the song a churning drive Greek and Roman mythology. The thatkeeps it from soundinglike any songs are linked by veiled lyrical other band. references to ghosts and flames Hidden among the gems on the and spirits. Lines range from enig- ubiquitous "Garden State" sound- matic ("A thousand hours are in track, "Fair" may be the best song your mouth / I dreamed our learn- on Villa. With a franker vibe than ing / And now it's time to dream most rock songs could even dream our turning out") to a cdrugged-out of, the song's first murmuring brand of creepy ("And she's strung "Hey, are you lonely / Summer gone so slowly?" makes you want to answer the query. It's the kind of songa girl would want a cute boy Af album lost with a guitar to sing to her, if only in the '90s that the meaning wasn't so elusive ("So what if you catch me, where would could have we land? / In somebody's life for taking his hands / Sing to me hope f lcsiiicbc* today. as she's thrown on the sand / All * of our work is raided again"). The melody ambles along like the musi- cal equivalent of a stroll on a foggy out on life, he soon rolls his teeth beach - the acoustic guitars wrap / Spilling out from a mouth fit the listener and the song's sudden to overflow / back into me"), but end comes too soon. always stop just short of real life. So how come Remy Zero didn't Remy Zero's music is pretty make it back in 1998? If Villa Elaine without being delicate, strong with- had been released in today's musi- out being pushy and coarse with- cal climate, it would have easily out being crude. Layered guitars found a home. Remy Zero wouldn't frame simple melodies with soar- be out of place next to mellow ing choruses. Unabashedly melodic British acts like Snow Patrol and and emotional, the group is often Keane, or even indie-pop groups compared to U2 and Coldplay, but like The Shins. The late '90s was its unpolished, personal style and an unfortunate time to be a moody unconventional lyrics are better and introspective band, as Remy suited to bars than to huge arenas. Zero found out. But in the coolly "Prophecy" was the only song intimate world of modern indie on Villa Elaine to get any radio play music, Villa Elaine finds itself more upon release. The cryptic lyrics and relevant than ever. CHANEL VON HABSBURG-LOTHRtNGEN/Daily Every Thursday and Sunday the Michigan Men's Glee Club meets in the Modern Language Building for rehearsal. U phold ing tradition TOY STORY From Page 3B Barbie and Emperor Zurg say- ing "No Buzz, I am your father" - solidifying the production studio's image as a purveyor of magical kid's films made for adults. During the intermission, Pixar treated us to creepy footage of the infant stages of Woody and Buzz Lightyear (then dubbed "Tempus from Morph"). Woody is a drawl- ing, drooling mess of a cowboy and "Tempus" 's mouth doesn't move properly. Thank goodness Pixar fixed that snafu or else the studio might've gained an entirely differ- ent household reputation - one for unintentionally making children's horror films. Although I wouldn't say the 3-D really adds a great deal to the films, it doesn't take away anything either. Henry Selick's "Coraline" set the gold standard for 3-0 anima- tion transcending dimensions, and "Toy Story 3-D" doesn't come any- where close to meeting this prec- edent. Even still, it's refreshing that Pixar didn't succumb to the showy, headache-inducing gimmicks that most 3-D films possess. While the characters don't exactly "pop out of the screen" as advertised, there are moments ofshivering awesome- ness. The camera careens upward to reveal "The Claw" looming down upon the worshiping aliens. Buzz Lightyear spins off the ceiling and loops around a model car racetrack, only to land upright on his feet. Still, the benefits of watching this double feature don't lie in the 3-D effects, but rather in the magic of reliving a childhood masterpiece. In contrast to "Wall-E," which was a biting commentary on the ubiquity of mass-marketed mer- chandise, "Toy Story" seeks out the softer sides of globalization, exam- ining how a mass-produced toy can be a simple joy in a kid's life, and how a kid can be a simple joy in a toy's life. We put our own souls into our toys, and no matter how much we accidentally abused them or out- grew them, we still loved them. We constructed elaborate scenarios in which the hero encountered insur- mountable obstacles only to get the girl. Before we all promptly turned into cynics upon reaching puberty, we were storytellers - idealistic champions of the imagination. "Toy Story" captures that childhood spirit in the highest degree. "Toy Story 2" was the first movie I ever cried at. The moment when Jes- sie the cowgirl relives memories of an owner long grown-up while Sarah McLachlan's "When She Loved Me" swells up in the background (I have this song on my iPod - don't judge) remains one of the most powerful scenes in my movie memory. Years later, the scene still doesn't fail to get me. I had to take offmy3-D glassesto wipe my tears away. "Toy Story" is a film about child- hood. It's about your childhood, my childhood, Pixar's childhood and our collective childhood. It's about what you wish your toys did when you weren't around. The movies makeyouwantruntoyourattic,pull out all your dusty playthings and transport yourself back to elemen- tary school. Back then, a yard sale was a battleground, a trip down- stairs seemed like a covert mission and cars moved so damn fast. "Toy Story" is a perfect encapsulation of youth's perceptions, reminding you of whatyou were like when you first watched it. It reflects a time when you thought you too could go "to infinity and beyond." If mere sentiment won't get you there, the full trailer for "Toy Story Not particularly flashy, but still inspiring. 3" in all its 3-D glory can be seen exclusively intheaters with the "Toy Story" double feature. A montage of Andy growing up and leaving for college while the toys try to survive in a daycare center forecasts heart- break alongside comedy. I am liter- ally counting the days until June 18, 2010. Hopefully, "Toy Story 3" will be the crowning jewel in this trio of childhood celebration. From Page lB inappropriate - but the harmony! Oh, the harmony in that wonderful echo chamber." Business senior and current member Anthony Ambroselli explained a little less spontaneous but equally unforgettable moment. "A favorite recent concert memory was during our trip to Spain last spring," he explained. "In C6rdoba, the Glee Club was featured as the final attraction of the town's music festival. We sang in a small church for a (house full) of people far over the building's capacity. The energy in that venue was indescribable - the audience was thrilled to have us and that, in turn, fed the energy of that particular performance. "During the third encore, we sang 'La Tarara,' a traditional Spanish folksong. Upon conclusion, the entire audience immediately began applauding us in a uniform rhythm of triplets," Abroselli said. "One man in the front row exclaimed 'Viva laUniversidad de Michigan!' It was a very unique cultural experi- ence, really showing us how easily music can tran- scend cultural and linguistic boundaries." At times, the club has exceeded its role as pro- moter of the University, and acted as representative of the United States. In 2003, during a tour in the British Isles, former director and current associate professor of voice in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance Stephen Lusmann described the experience of performing on behalf of the entire country. "My fondest memory was our overseastour of Ire- land and the United Kingdom," he said. "This tour was during one of the lowest points of the Iraq War: the scandal at Abu Ghraib. The Men's Glee Club always thinks of itself as (an ambassa- dor) for the University of Michigan, but this was a time when we were truly ambassadors of the United States. "There were times during the tour when some of us had awkward moments on the street or in pubs with locals voicing their dislike of the war in Iraq and that the United States 'dragged the United King- dom into the conflict,"' Lusmann said. "However, after a concert at St. James Church in London many audience members expressed very emotionally their love for our concert and how we were the best ambassadors of goodwill the United States could have sent to Europe at that time." MORE MEMORIES Some other defining instances for a past and pres- ent director range from hilarious to heart-wrench- ing.. Bloom described the rush of celebrity approval of the club. "The movie star Gene Kelly ("Singin' in the Rain") received an honorary degree from the University at a Winter Commencement in 1987," he explained. "The club sang for the commencement exercises. When the ceremony ended, President (Harold) Sha- piro and Kelly led the recessional from the speaker's platform. Gene Kelly broke rank, came over to the place where the Glee Club sang, shook my hand and said 'That was terrific. Thank you.' I still have not washed my hand," Bloom said. Current Director Dr. Paul Rardin said, "The'best example I've witnessed of what Glee Club has'meant to its members came from a first-year student dur- ing his end-of-tour speech to fellow members. He described the way in which our performing a piece about death (set to Walt Whitman's poem 'Invoca- tion,' which welcomes death as a relief from suf- fering) helped him come to grips with the sudden death of a close friend of his," Rardin said. "I was overwhelmed with emotion at watching this brave student - still new to the Glee Club and surrounded by students who had been members for two, three and four years - stand and speak about something so powerful and so personal. The only way he could have arrived at that emotional stage was by feeling so comfortable with both the music and the members of the Glee Club. From what I could tell the Glee Club had become his social and spiritual home." CAMARADERIE National and international tours mark the amount of time group members spend together, but lifelong friendships are sparked right here in Ann Arbor. The second pillar is formed after an exhaust- ing rehearsal on Thursday night, club members will venture over to Cottage Inn and unwind, never ceasing their singing. Although it's difficult to put into words, the club's focus on camaraderie is always apparent and lasts well beyond the college years. "You know, it's a special fraternity, a special band of brothers," Ramsey explained. "Like guys in the military, maybe, who go through unique and excit- ing experiences together, there's an incredibly con, nective bond that's built, one that never breaks." MUSICAL EXCELLENCE Tradition and camaraderie aside, Lusmann may have said it best: "(Glee Club) is an organizationcthatdraws togeth- er men from every school in the University for one reason: their love of singing." Dr. Rardin explained how he upholds the third pillar of the Glee Club. "The steps I take to ensure musical excellence are nurturing a sense of energy and joy whenever we sing," he said, "which includes showing my own enthusiasm for the music; nurturing a basic under- standing of the words in a piece of music, not just its music (we will sing our best when we understand the text and context of a piece); insisting on excel- lent rehearsal protocol from every member; apply- ing for performances at regional and national music conferences - audiences at these conferences are all, professional musicians, so this ups the musical ante," he explained. THE NEXT 150 YEARS Although this year celebrates the past150years of the club, Quakenbush likes to think of it as atime to look forward to the next 150 years. Reaching out to the community factors heavily into this equation. "We have begun to regularly make music for patients in the University's hospital system, reach out to local urban high schools through our choral mentorship program and pursue relationships with local assisted living facilities," he said. With a century and a half of tradition under its belt, hundreds of thousands of relationships formed and alevel of perfection in singing measured only by its own high standards, the Glee Club should have no problem maintaining its high ranking among campus organizations and its standing as an elite collegiate choir. As Rardin said, "It is excitingto be part of a story that is still being written." COURTESY OF PIXAR Even in space the double judo chop is king. DETROIT FREE PRESS/FLG$ AR 91MARATHON .2009 University of Phoenix 5K FUN RUN & FITNESS WALK FE Presented by Compuware and enter code UMICH. 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