The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 'Heart'of a washout Tffr~*i--- - Friday, January 22, 2010 - 5 Tap and ballet meet Radiohead Jett bridges echoes Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson, but with a gentler touch By TIMOTHY RABB Daily Arts Writer As powerful and emotionally evocative as its message of hopeless struggle is, Dar- ren Aronofsky's gritty character study that epit- omizes "The Wrestler" ends too ambiguously to Crazy Heart provoke any change in its audience. Despite Mickey Atthe Rourke's standout perfor- Michigan mance, this lack of reso- FoxSearchlight lution feels rather hollow and trite, considering that the same despairing, inconsequential endings are reworked time and time again in an increasingly cynical society. But now, a year later, debut director Scott Cooper has set out to prove that not all lost souls are fated to perpetual wandering. Part contemporary road film and part musical, "Crazy Heart" invites us to walk a mile in the boots of Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges, "The Big Lebowski"), a folk artist whose pitiable state pales in comparison to his former glory. Blake is a stereotypi- cal failed musician; living in the shadow of his former protege, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell, "Pride and Glory"), he continually struggles to make a respectable living and to forge meaningful relationships despite the rootless nature of a life on the road. Even at first glance, the parallels between "Crazy Heart" and Aronofsky's low-budget gem "The Wrestler" are evi- That random guy on the Diag, 40 years later. dent. Washout Blake (who hasn't yet real- ized he's a washout) finds his true love Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal, "The Dark Knight") and subsequently endures a series of unfortunate trials. Like Rourke's Randy "the Ram" Robinson, Blake is estranged from what little remaining fam- ily he has, and his doctor heckles him for his poor lifestyle choices. Essentially, he's faced with many of the same difficult life decisions that determined the Ram's fate in "The Wrestler." In contrast to the Ram, Blake's genuine nature is far more relevant to his story, and he makes sensible choices based on the hard lessons he learns. Though the story's resolution may not seem ideal, it certainly doesn't lambaste the possibil- ity of reformation. And no one can dis- pute the effectiveness of folk music as a presentational format - Blake's crooning lamentations, ample belly, choice liquor and portable plastic chamber pot are far more endearing than the Ram and his constant presence in strip clubs and tan- ning salons. Make no mistake; "The Wrestler" and its unlikely protagonist are formidable predecessors to Blake and his meander- ing quest for identity. But the methods of the former exaggerate things too much to retain plausibility, and (like Aronof- sky's "Requiem for a Dream") the feeling of manipulation one gets after watching it is more akin to the ignorant propa- ganda of a D.A.R.E. commercial than a realistic character piece. "Crazy Heart" expounds on the concepts of isolation and self-destruction in ways that a main- stream audience can more easily relate to, and that certainly represents a marked improvement.r By BRAD SANDERS For theDaily It's that time of the year when a select group of students trades in boots and winter footwear for tap and danc- ing shoes. The Pur- eRhythM show is PURE Dance a display of PURE Dance Xtreme's and Xtreme and the RhythM Tap RhythM Tap Ensemble's dedica- tion and hard work Ensemble throughout the fall Tonight at semester. 730 p.m. PURE Dance Mendelssohn Xtreme's jazz and bal- Theatre let style will be paired Ticketsfrom $5 with songs ranging from classical to mod- ern pop. RhythM Tap Ensemble will be tap dancing to a similarly wide range of music, from Radiohead to Broadway hits. Both groups will share the stage and combine their forms of dance in the finale, accompanied by The Beatles' "Come Together." "We try to do a variety of numbers to diversify our performance, as well as add an element of surprise," said Nurs- ing senior and Laura Langberg, direc- tor of RhythM. "You don't normally see people tap dancing to a Radiohead song, but it works." Three other groups will also be per- forming: the Michigan Bhangra Team, an Indian dance group, Encore, a hip- hop dance group and Compulsive Lyres, an a capella group. "We get invited to different student groups' performances, so we like to invite others to ours," explained Kinesi- ology senior and RhythM dancer Jessica Rapp. Langbergfeels akinship with 'U' alum and co-founder of PURE Dance Xtreme Shelby Kaufman, who now dances pro- fessionally in New York City. "Shelby believed that dance was the lost art of American youth, and strived to bring it back to campus," Langberg said. Both groups are largely made up of girls with intense dance backgrounds. "I've been dancing since I was three because my mom is a dance teacher, so she inspired me to pursue it," Langberg said. "The group is very advanced and is 'coffipletely stiudent run, Ahd'gives inulti- ple members the chance to choreograph pieces for the performance." "I've been dancing since I was five, primarily ballet," said Business senior and PURE Dance co-director Gina De Silva. "I danced all throughout high school, and during smy freshman year of college I missed it and wanted to keep up my skills." Rapp, too, had a similar experience. "I've been dancing since I was five as well, in all styles such as tap, jazz and ballet," Rapp said. "My dance company in high school was -focused on tap, and I had actually heard of RhythM before I came to Michigan, so I joined freshman year." In addition to their love for dance, PURE Dance Xtreme and RhythM Tap Ensemble hope to create a sense of unity within their groups. "Joining this group is a great way to come in contact with people you would never have met otherwise, who share an interest for different kinds of dance," De Silva said. "We have five freshmen on our team, so it's fun to be their mentors and have participants from every age group." Both groups, however, sometimes struggle with finding funds for their performances, but use their creativity as a solution. "(PURE Dance is) not funded at all by the University, so it's really hard to pay for everything that comes along with a performance, such as renting out the theater," De Silva said. A variety of dance and musical styles. "RhythM is partially funded by the University, but we have to figure out our costumes and other factors by our- selves," Langberg added. "We try to find various ways to use things we already have, look for cheaper items, or make things, because we don't want people to feel pressured to spend a lot of money on costumes." "We try to keep our costumes very clean, and nothing too exorbitant," Rapp said. Both groups share unbridled enthu- siasm for the upcoming PureRhythM show. "We spend a'lot of"tithe prdcticing and we all love performing, and we hope it will be a great show," Langberg said. "We're very excited." RJD2's dynamic 'Colossus' By SHARON JACOBS AssistantArtsEditor The Colossus opens big. With bombastic trumpet bursts anchored by a pulsating hip- hop beat and occasionally Ibedkei up by a heavy, RJD2 vaguely Mid- dle Eastern TheColossus * motif, opener Rs Electrical "Let There Be Connections Horns" lets RJD2 loose at his instrumen- tal finest - thick, melodic and mesmerizing. The creatively named Ram- ble John Krohn (RJD2 is a nickname from his high school days) has always been bold. Melding instrumental hip hop and ambient electronica, he managed to create a sound like nothing else on his 2002 debut album, Deadringer. With an approach that rang- es from unashamedly badass ("The Horror") to lounge-style classy ("A Beautiful Mine" - the theme song for TV's "Mad Men"), RJD2's musical reper- toire is vast and varied. Often compared to California-based DJ Shadow, RJD2 similarly sticks to instrumental tracks. So the world was confused when, on 2007's The Third Hand, RJ suddenly started singing - and not very well. But The Colossus shows lis- teners what RJD2 has been get- ting at the whole time. Most of the album's'sorigs have l yics, but RJ treats the vocal track like another instrument, using vocals to support the instru- mentals instead of the other way around. And as he explains in an overdone Cockney accent on "Salud 2," he's "assembled a healthy bunch of folks who are much more talented than (he is)" to lend their voices to the album. As if ambient instrumen- tal hip-hop electronica wasn't enough of a mouthful, RJ has added even more styles to The Colossus. Single "Games You Can Win" has somewhat of a retro-soul feel, with Ethiopi- an-born singer Kenna croon- ing "Keep your mouth shut 'til you get in / And only play the games you can win." Only its gentle chimes keep the track in the realm of twinkly trip-hop. "A Son's Cycle" is the hard- est-rapping RJD2 song yet - its bass line is simple and its ele minim Cataly vide a sphere The the wt Flowe what c lounge Corpo Th the fu "Giz Thieve sion. ing be plucke sound early domin the tr. the lil been h But porati ectronic embellishments background music. His songs aal, letting guests The have enough exciting build- st, Illogic and NP pro- ups and powerful backbeats to heavy rhythmic atmo- stand on their own, and while e. some of the tracks on Colossus pan flute melody and wouldn't be out of place on a oridly drum beat of "Tin movie soundtrack, they create r" adds Andean flair to imagery that begs the listener's ould alrhiost be a track by" 'Attstftiotl."" """"1" e-music buddies Thievery At times catchy ("The ration. Glow"), at times kitschy ("Walk With Me"), but neither too ridiculous nor too serious, ' iad ]M[en' The Colossus could easily have spread its focus too wide and nmecre to lost all cohesiveness. But some- thing holds it together - maybe ink-infused the thick production, maybe the delicate chimes that pop up new disc. on several songs. Penultimate track "The Stranger" has the smoothest buildup on The Colossus, as a ant Squid" also has a funk-infused melody is gradu- ery-esque global infu- ally overcome by a choral motif Above a simple puls- with power that grows over rat comes a synthesized four minutes. It represents all d instrument that that The Colossus is: animated s like a harpsichord or and dynamic, drawing its influ- guitar. Whatever it is, it ences from unexpected places ates the last minute of and putting it all together in a ack with an intense solo creative way. With The Colos- kes of which have never sus, RJD2 has carved out a eard before. niche for himself in the all- unlike Thievery Cor- encompassing genre that is on, RJD2 doesn't write good music. The Spooniest Spoon yet Asphalt rivalry makes for asinine television By NICK YRIBAR For the Daily It's the best trick a documentarian can pull off when she takes something obscure - something usually available only to the initi- ated - and makes it acces- sible. Better still when Madhouse she makes it entertaining. Recent documentaries Sundays at have found critical and 10 p.m. commercial success in History this vein; "King ofKong: A Fistful of Quarters" made competitive, retro video-gaming a harrow- ing human drama; "Spellbound" did the same with youth spelling bees. Television, especially in the form of reality television, has aimed in the same direction with mixed results. For every "Pawn Stars" success story, there's three or four iterations of "Fat Camp" trailing behind, making us dumber one hour at a time. History's new show "Madhouse" aspires to something transcending fluff, something like a meaningful exploration of a particular American subculture. In the end, it falls short. "Madhouse" is focused on the 16-week stock car racing season at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem N.C., a leg- endary race track that was one of the first NASCAR certified venues. The action is centered .on the personalities and clashes of four racing teams, and it shows their col- lisions both on and off the race track. Two of the teams, the Millers and the Myers, have been nicknamed the "Hatfield's and McCoy's of stock car racing" as a result of their bitter and mutual dislike that finds its roots in generations long passed. This personal, emotional investment gives "Madhouse" its initial appeal. The racers at these events lack big name spon- sorship and professional pit crews, and there's little to no chance of any of the teams making any money over the course of the season. What's left is the drive to win - and a mean, sunburned itch to beat the other guy. It's hard not to be taken with the drivers' willingness to sacrifice money and family, blood and bone for a half year's worth of bragging rights. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, there's only so much you can do with a show about racing. How long can you watch proudly self-proclaimed rednecks assemble and then disassemble their stock Rednecks take the track by storm. cars? Even the bitter rivalry between the Myer and Miller families began to ring false about halfway through, giving the distinct sense that perhaps the vitriol had more to do with upping attendance at the races and putting on a show for History than any actual animosity. And of course, there's not much in the way of actual racing. Like so many racing fans, "Madhouse" is more interested in the crashes than in the race (which takes up less than five minutes in the hour-long program), whether those crashes are park- ing lot fistfights or t-boned stock cars. Ultimately, it's never quite clear whether History wants us to observe and laugh at these passionate amateurs or pop open a cold one, yell at the TV and cheer them on. The safe route is to do neither, to give "Madhouse" a wide berth so it can pass you by while you try not to choke on the fumes. By MIKE KUNTZ Daily Music Editor Perfectionism and rock'n'roll don't tend to go hand in hand. For a style that relies on impromptu miscues and sheer feeling, rock'n'roll is a label **** typically reserved for true greats --the $P" Rolling Stones-caliber musicians of yore. But Transference Spoon has found a way Merge to combine a perfec- tionist work habit with the rhythm and soul of traditional rock, creating a tight style that comes off as unruffled and spontaneous as that of the greats. But while nearly every track the band has recorded throughout its 16-year, seven-LP career sounds like a coolly half-hashed studio demo, frontman Britt Daniel would be the first to admit how carefully planned each track is - back- ground chatter and all. Transference, the Austin band's lat- est, continues the remarkably con- sistent streak of albums the band has delivered in the past decade, though it is decidedly less hi-fi and radio-ready as its predecessor, 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Spoon opted to self-produce Trans- ference, and the album is a return to the barest elements of what makes the band tick: sparse, carefully-laid instrumenta- tion, Daniel's cool if not cryptic lyrics and a steady groove. "Before Destruction" opens the album with Daniel's acoustic guitar and vocals captured from a distant room mic, making it sound like he's playing from a few feet behind your speakers. The undressed sound of the first track sets a tone for the rest of the album, in which pop hooks and'Daniel's willfully obscure lyrics are interspersed with longer, more open-ended instrumental jogs. "Is Love Forever?" is driven by quick, punchy guitars and syncopated vocal rhythms, eschewing additional studio trickery in favor of meat-and-potatoes indie rock. Leading single "Written In Reverse" is more fully formed, with jagged guitars and driving, fuzzed-out bass filling in the gaps between the one- two rhythmic jaunt of piano strikes and drum hits. "I Saw the Light" and "Goodnight Laura" are also clear standouts, the lat- ter being a rare Spoon ballad. Driven Holden Caulfield's family Christmas. by bare piano and a crooning Daniel, it'd sound just as at home as one of the more sincere, soft-spoken tracks on The Beatles' TheBeatles (better known as the White Album). While the majority of Spoon's albums have been restricted to a run time of 36 minutes, here the jams run free, making for a more open-ended affair. Though Transference is decidedly less neatly wrapped than Spoon's previous efforts, it nonetheless maintains the band's It transcends into awesomeness. uncanny knack for implanting pop hooks and memorable moments within songs that may have otherwise turned out dis- jointed and half-formed. It would have been easy for Spoon to replicate the immediate pop appeal ofGa Ga Ga Ga Ga, its most successful record to date. Even expected. But expectations are overrated, especially with an album as unassumingly brilliant as Transfer- ence. If anything, it acts more as a sequel to the o-fi minimalism of 2002's Kill the Moonlight, with eight years of wisdom in production and songwriting clearly gained along the way. Perfectionists as they are, it seems only logical that the members of Spoon are most in their element when they're doing it all themselves: "It's the most that we sounded like us yet," Daniel said in an interview with the New York Times. And if Transference is any indica- tion, that's just the way it should be. What's black and white and redneck all over?