The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011- 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - 7
Globetrotting with Beirut
Bassist discusses travel and group's rise
from one-computer band to indie stardom
By Chloe Stachiowak I Daily Arts Writer'
The imperfect
legacy ofJobs
Don't be fooled by their baby
faces and short history together
-' from international tours to
appearances in
Spin Magazine, Bei
the members
of Beirut have Royal Oak
already tasted Music Theatre
what takesT
some a lifetime Tonightat7p.m.
to achieve. Fol- Tickets from $59
lowing the
August release of their third
album, The Rip Tide, the band-
mates are moving across con-
tinents yet again. They will be
lighting up Royal Oak tonight
with new music and inspira-
tion, but the same European folk
sound that started the frenzy five
years ago.
But it hasn't always been con-
certs and magazine shoots for Bei-
rut. Their story is a music industry
Cinderella story, beginning in
2006 when the band released
its, first album, Gulag Orkestar.
Before then the music could only
be heard in a University of New
Mexico bedroom, where singer
Zach Condon wrote and recorded
songsaby himself.
"The first, time I actually saw
(Condon) play, it was him with
his laptop and a trumpet," said
Beirut's bassist Paul Collins.
"He's come a long way from there.
It's a far more alive endeavor,
as opposed to him playing MP3
backingtracks alone."
It didn't take long for Condon to
form a band with six of his friends,
who used their humble, comput-
er-based origins as a launching
pointto perform in public.
"We were lucky to have the
Internet on our side," Collins said.
"We were immediately playing
shows for people who were famil-
iar with our music. Suddenly, we
had an international following.
That's different from any other
band I've been in before, where
we were really just trying to get
our friends out to hear us."
Beirut stands out in the music
scene for more than the instant
success story, though. It was the
music - a worldly fusion of horns,
strings and vocals - that first
caught public attention.
"Something that separates
Zach from his time is that he
wants to make music that will last
a longtime - even ifit's notimme-
diately successful to people," Col-
lins said. "You'd never find, say,
delayed vocals in any of his songs.
His music is always rooted in
the past and looking toward the
future."
This distinctive sound has
whisked the band away to coun-
tries ranging from Australia to
Taiwan, a far cry from the bed-
room recording studios the mem-
I don't think she understood when I told her I had a tiny instrument...
bers played in before. Collins
recalls the band's firsttour, which
stretched across Europe and parts
of North America.
"The first tour was amazing
and nuts and likea gypsy caravan
or something," Collins said. "We
were all just so young and new to
it ... there was so much discovery,
awe and wonder. Different places
in Europe can get really crazy and
fun. Always fun."
Even with the international
travels and album releases, Beirut
has managed to stay grounded in
its love for New York coffee and
Broolklyn roots.
"We just played in this place
in New York for two nights, and
for me, it was the best two shows
we've ever played," Collins said.
"It was so memorable going home
and really feeling the sense that
you've accomplished something.
Just having all of our family there
makes it really feel like we're part
of a community. In those shows, I
felt our whole lifespan as a band
culminating."
It has been an unpredictable
road for the members of Beirut,
who have seen most of the world
in just five years. Still, some things
will always be the same.
"We are still the best of
friends," Collins said. "We have
such a good time doing this stuff
.. Everyone is very good at being
professional, but we will always
have that loving, friendly bond. If
we didn't, I think the band might
fall apart."
Shall we canonize the man
already? At this point,
Steve Jobs has already
been hailed as a "secular proph-
et" in The Wall Street Journal,
been blessed
with iPhone
vigils and
enjoyed a
week-long
social media
hashtag
eulogy. From
12-year-olds JOE
on Facebook DIMUZIO
to Barry
Obama, the
nation's basking in the backlit
glow of reminiscence without
much of a second thought. Steve
Jobs, bless you.
But like for any iconic fig-
ure, death has a nasty way of
obscuring the real impact of
someone like Jobs, who, in
many ways, forever changed the
way we listen to music. At this
point, public discourse on Jobs
doesn't escape "What a guy!"
We're the munchkins chant-
ing, "Ding-Dong! The Witch is
Dead" (not to imply that Jobs is
a menace, by any means) with-
out really bothering to explain
why we cared much about her
in the first place.
Jobs's influence is undoubt-
edly enormous, and its implica-
tions are a bit tougher to hash
out. His effect on the world
of home computing is double-
edged. On one hand, he led the
wave of home computing innova-
tion with affordable, stylish and
user-friendly technology. On the
other, he built the company into
the opposite of what it prom-
ised in 1984 - creating uniform
machines for the masses, that
forbade any form of internal
customization while assuring
you of your creativity. Jobs made
us slaves to the Apple Store, the
brand and relentless planned
obsolescence.
I'm not going to pore over
the gray areas of Jobs's career,
which Mike Daisey's op-ed piece
in New York Times last week
effectively handled. One need
only look up Foxconn to tarnish
some of the saintly fluorescent
glow Apple commands. I'm not
going to expound on his quiet
love of LSD, his sober acceptance
of death or the devastation of
pancreatic cancer.
I'm focused, as ever, on the
musical side of things. And when
it comes to the world of music,
Jobs is more Alexander the Great
than Mother Teresa.
Apple's monopolization of
theMP3 and the subsequent
market dominance of iTunes
and the iPod are hallmarks of
Jobs's impact. They completely
changed the way Americans
engage, listen to and share popu-
lar music. He's the man who
deemed a song's worth one dol-
lar (raising it after we affirmed
his judgment) and gave us the
chance to put libraries in our
pockets. The iPod let us wear
music as our personal badge of
identification, one click wheel
away.
This consolidation afforded
new avenues of portability, shar-
ing and ease of access. It also
promoted ignorance - making
iTunes a musical gatekeeper and
rewarding the commitment to a
sole arbiter of taste and availabil-
ity. A generation (or two?) has
grown accustomed to the com-
pressed, unbalanced mastering
of songs tailor-made for uncom-
fortable earbuds. Jobs generated
greater hype for the machines
we used than the music we con-
sumed with them.
The innovations that Apple
and Jobs made in the world of
recorded music remain acces-
sories to the music. They remain,
however stylish and pervasive,
means of consumption.
The iPod is a
technology of
the now.
When does the means
become the music itself? The
terribly compressed song we
play on repeat looking out a
subway window, the mistitled
track on some burned disc we
gave our ex (who we never even
loved), the playlist we craft to
keep us from realizing we are
too tired to keep running ... for
so many people, Apple became
the music itself. Recorded music
remains the primary source
through which we engage in
music, however far away, how-
ever compressed, however slick,
stylized and priced.
Typing this column on a
Mac in my bedroom, I am sur-
rounded by outmoded technol-
ogy. A CD player. A turntable.
A Sony minidisc recorder. My
iPod, scratched and finger-
smudged, sits on my desk. In 30
years, it will be another gadget.
Another punchline of consumer
electronic obsolescence. For
now, whatever attractive plastic
machine sways my wallet in the
future exists in exactlythat -
the future. And free of that, the
music, in a thousand years' time,
will always remain. Mr. Jobs, his
incredible vision and his tech-
nology will not.
Dimuzio is chillin' with his
gramophone. E-mail him at
shonenjo@umich.edu.
FDI ptM RcEe EtWg
Despi e ces,'te'sastrn
By SEAN CZARNECKI
Daily Arts Writer
"Real Steel" 's idea of innova-
tive storytelling is welding the
elements of generic boxing films
with a science-
fiction setting.
Yet, even with
its laughable Real Ste
premise -
robots in the At Quality 16
future who box and Rave
in arenas - its
story manages Disney
to stay afloat in
the shallow end of the sports film
pool. "Real Steel" promises and
delivers fun, humor and action.
It's a silly concept and a silly
movie with a father-son story too
obvious to prop up its rock-'em,
sock-'em premise. The father,
played by Hugh Jackman ("X-
Men" movies), is Charlie, Ken-
ton, a part-time crook, full-time
unsuccessful robot-boxer, ex-
human-boxer. Charlie throws
himself into every match, search-
ing for the next score to even his
others, no passion or goals. Then
one day his old girlfriend dies
and leaves behind his illegitimate
son, Max, played by a charming
DakotaGoyo ("Thor"). So, Charlie
takes him on a journey to relieve
his debt, as the audience flounders
up to its eyeballs in clichs.
Of course, Max is a streetwise
kid with a smart mouth (who
will undoubtedly be poached by
the Disney Channel). Of course,
Jackman is a horrible father, but
a charismatic figure. Of course,
they learn to love and care for
* each other through their com-
mon interest, which is (of course)
robot boxing.
It's generic material at best,
but it rarely suffers under Shawn
Levy's ("Date Night") direc-
tion, despite its bloated length
of 127 minutes. Though Charlie
has his convincing moments as
an unapologetic rogue and Max
BJORK
From Page 6
But while these supplements
may enhance the music, Bjrk
made sure to maintain basic audi-
tory appeal in order to prevent
Biophilia from becoming another
sleepy concept album with over-
looked messages.
The instrumentation of the
album serves as a revolution-
ary concept in itself. In "Thun-
derbolt," Bjirk introduces a
determined bassline that churns
rhythmically while she sings
about "craving miracles." The
DISN EY
"Second star to the right, and straight on 'tilmorning!'
is never short on charm, "Real Earlier in the film, Charlie
Steel" probably could've benefit- remarks how robot boxing has
ed from more time in the editing removed the human spirit that
room, cutting away some of the had made human boxing an art.
sappier moments, and a more Now, it's about trashing machines
poignant final product would've for the sake of entertainment. But
been made. with Atom, Charlie can inject his
own ingenuity and experience
into a robot. Such a plot device
celebrates human ingenuity
and passion over cold clever-
POW ! ness in the context of a chang-
ing society. It's a sentiment
present throughout the entire
film: The camera soars over
As is, the film has its spots of serene fields of farm crops sur-
kinetic action, which fortunately rounded by towering wind tur-
don't overwhelm the audience bines; Charlie is a human boxer
with explosions and overzealous caught in a world that wants to
cinematography. These robots see destruction and mayhem,
certainly pack a wallop. They not art and passion. The story
scramble and dance about the contains all these rich elements
ring in great fashion as the and it attempts to explore them.
crowds eagerly await the killer But such an expansion might've
blow. But none of them have been overwhelmed the father-son
programmed a personality, until story, and so these elements are
Charlie and Max come across a only touched upon.
robot called Atom with a "shad- Still, while the story is more
ow function," which means Atom mechanic than authentic, the
is able to imitate the owner's film is surprisingly filled with
movements. humor and charm to win over
synthesizer that creates this becomes repetitive after a few
bassline is a Tesla coil, remark- minutes.
ably appropriate considering the Bjork stressed to online mag-
device actuallyuses lightning as a azine The Quietus that "we have
synthesizer. No, really, YouTube to work with nature, whether
it. If that isn't freaky enough, the we like it or not," likening her
beat created by the Tesla coil in, music to the creation of crys-
"Thunderbolt" actually mimics tals, DNA and viruses. But how
the time lapse between lightning does Bjork create such environ-
and thunder. mentally minded music? She
In "Solstice," Bjork employs chirped in with the uninten-
pendulums as additional unorth- tionally comic answer that it is
odox instrumentation, using "really easy to do on an iPad."
them to mimic the Earth's rota- Biophilia then may be consid-
tion in harp form. It's a fasci- ered an enigma - an organic
nating concept, but the harp is masterpiece that happens to be
unfortunately less funky than created in an age of an increas-
the Tesla coil's pulsations and ing love of technology.
audiences. This is a movie for
anyone looking for a robot film
with plenty of solid action scenes
- without an over-enthusiastic
camera filling the screen with
explosions at every opportuni-
ty - and just enough soul to fill
Michael Bay with envy.
I
t