The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 7A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 7A

Grace, confusion in
Memory Tapes's latest

Translating Tagore,
his legacy at Hill

By KATIE STEEN
Daily Arts Writer
Sometimes, if you're feeling
like shit, it's better to not fight it.
Sometimes shit moods can even
sublimate into
a reasonably (3
enjoyable, kind
of weird album, Memory
as is the case T
with Memory
Tapes's latest Grace/
work, Grace/ Confusion
Confusion.
The album Carpark
offers a glimpse
into the inner unrest of Dayve
Hawk, the man behind Memory
Tapes, who explained in an inter-
view with MTV Hive that he felt
like a mess while working on it.
Grace/Confusion is an LP that
squirms, that quickly becomes
tired and restless if forced to stay
in one place for too long. The
shortest track is almost five min-
utes long, though, so the songs
have plenty of wiggle room. This
allows Hawk the opportunity
to twist a track into a number of
shapes, leaving listeners in a diz-
zied, giddy vertigo .by the end of
the album.
The opening track, "Neighbor-
hood Watch," starts off pretty
straightforward with a drowsy
guitar and Hawk's delightfully
androgynous vocals, but 45 sec-
onds in, shifts to a springy refrain
that remains sleek and polished
despite the change in pace. Hawk
goes back and forth between the
two personalities up until the
end, which involves a clumsy
transition into a screechy guitar
solo that tears the song apart for
no reason. It's essentially a tan-
trum - out of place and unpre-
dictable - but if messy is what
Hawk is going for, he's accom-
plished it.
Now for the Grace aspect of the
album. Hawk redeems himself
with the subsequent "Thru the
Field," a venturesome track that

An extreme close-up from the last scientific exploration of Ke$ha.

V
bir
"H
all t.
the d
rhym
after
age
to a
rhyth
These
the
Rabin
Tagor
great
poet,
er an
who
woul
150 y
On
the
Music
& Dar
Nobel
its om
ebrati
Th
ebrat
throu
Poetr
oratin
of th
Conte

Nobel Prize- in addition to showcasing the
University's 20-member string
vinning poet's orchestra and 90-member choir
in their winter concert.
thday celebrated ."You're going to get some
incredible solo playing by some
By MAX RADWIN of the leading jazz soloists in the
Daily Arts Writer world," said Associate Director
of Choirs Eugene Rogers, the
e binds with his mace / show's conductor. "You're going
hings to Law, / imposes to have Ed Sarath, Geri Allen,
liscipline / of metre and Robert Hurst ... in a solo perfor-
e Age mance at one time."
age aft Celebratin Jazz Prof. Ed Sarath will be
is slave ing bringing back his 1998 piece set
mighty Tagore; to Tagore's "Brahma, Vishnu,
im." Translations Shiva." Alongside the world-
are famous choreographer Sreyas-
words of through hi Dey, student organization
ldranath Mus Michigan Sahana will be doing
-e, the Srishti dances to accompany the
Indian Dance, and piece. Professor Sarath will be
songwrit- Poetry presenting a new composition as
d painter well, set to Tagore's poem "Sor-
this year Thursday row Persists, Joy Prevails."
d turn at 8 p.m. Tagore was born in Calcutta
years old. Hill Audiotirum and started writing poetry in his
Thursday, Free native Bengali. Only after trans-
School of lating his poetry into English
c, Theatre did he gain international recog-
nce will be putting Tagore's nition, becoming the first Asian
I-prize winning poetry to to win the Nobel Prize in poetry
en mighty rhythm in cel- in 1913. In addition to painting
ion of his birthday. and writing short stories later in
e show, entitled "Cel- life, Tagore was also a composer.
ing Tagore: Translations one of his songs, "Aguner
gh Music, Dance, and Parashmani," will be performed
y," will also be commem- in the show. Demetrius Nabors,
ig the 25th anniversary a MT&D graduate student,
e Department of Jazz & arranged the piece, and Public
mporary improvisation, Health Prof. Mousumi Banerjee

will perform a solo in the com-
position. The show will be an
artistic collaboration from many
facets of the University, accord=
ing to Rogers.
"I love collaborating," he said.
"This goes"right along with my
personal philosophy of what I
think students should be doing:
not just studying the traditional
western canon, but exploring
other forms of singing ... It all
just works together."
. The performance will be
presented as part of the LSA's
Translation Theme Semester
organized by the Comparative
Literature Department, which
has encouraged the study of
translation through poetry,
dance, singing and composing
throughout the semester.
"If you really like singing and
orchestras and you like danc-
ing, ... instruments, and you like
poetry - it's all going be there in
one shock," Rogers said.
Keith Taylor of the Eng-
lish Language and Literature
Department's Creative Writ-
ing Program will be speaking
and doing a reading at the show,
in addition to speaker Amitav
Ghosh, the International Writer
in Residence.
"It's everything," Rogers said
of the performance. "It's truly
going to be an evening of all of
the arts coming together. How
often do you get to see that
onstage, really?"

romps
what s
ground
Hawk
of the
fantast
in a wh
just so
guitar
try too
song is
cooling
sprinkl
Like m
the Fie
never s]

along with intersperses of ers the songs, maintaining some
ounds like a clip of a play- sort of continuity and sparing
i. About halfway through, you from the melodic potpourri
offers an interlude of one found in parts of Grace/Confusion
most shimmery, bouncy, (we mean you, "Neighborhood
ic pieces of pop you'll hear Watch").
ile - oh my goodness, it's The alter ego to "Let Me Be"
happy. There's a feverish is the fantastically average track,
solo that manages to not "Follow Me" - a static song that
hard, and the end of the hops around without really going
essentially Memory Tapes anywhere at all. There's plenty
down, the sound of rain of "ooh"-ing filler and the same
ling in the background. uninspired pinging sounds until
uch of the album, "Thru about seven minutes in, when
ld" is all over the place, but Hawk must have thought, "Well,
pirals out of control. I should probably end this song
now." So he does, and the album
ends on an underwhelming note
A squirmy that completely diverges from
the unpredictability of its prede-
foray into cessors.."Follow Me" may make
more sense than the majority of
the soul. Grace/Confusion but, simply put,
it's not as fun.
But that's no reason to for-
get about the middle chunk of
Me Be" is an eerier song Grace/Confusion,, where Hawk's
orphs together a variety real successes can be found. He
nds, including indistinct stumbles along, definitely achiev-
steel drums, a metallic ing the "confusion" aspect of the
hing sound and - is that album title, but it's in this mess
eridoo? But rather than where moments of grace can be
you around, Hawk lay- found.


"Let
that m
of sou
moans,
screech
a didg
jerking

ATV N0 .fPOK
An alternative approach to
television awards

DO YOU HAVE A TWEET
DISPOSITION?
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!
@michdai lyarts
UNNVERSrfY OF
MICHIGAN
WHAT DO
IHODESIMARSHALLIMITC
SCHOLARS'(
DO AFTER THEIR STUDIES
Well, this woman got her own
prime-time TV show.

By PROMA KHOSLA
DailyArtsWriter
Ron Swanson once said,
"Awards are stupid. But they'd
be less stupid if they went to the
right people."
I have toyed with this perfect
ideology for years asI find myself
overly invested in an addiction to
Hollywood award shows - every
year I get excited for the awards
season, from Emmys to Oscars,
and every year I face disappoint-
ment as the voters and I disagree.
"Well, the Academy is stupid,"
my friends and I will say to each
other, as we take Amy Poehler's

"No, Ron. There's no Promy award for your mustache."

latest
person,
"They j

'P
ti

failed nomination more Hindu festival of lights.
ally than she did herself. Last year, I wrote a paper on
ust don't understand." how this episode doesn't try to be
a lesson in culture but immerses
the audience in Diwali celebra-
tions as if they are normal for
'arks for al everyone. Despite the mislead-
he Pronys. ing title, this episode is still about
these characters and their inter-
actions, with Kaling's brilliant
portrayal of Indian celebrations

That maybe a classic sore-loser
response, but it's the basis of Ron
F***ing Swanson's Great Awards
Epiphany. I wouldn't think the
Academy of Television Arts & Sci-
ences were stupid if they awarded
all my favorite shows, would I?
With that in mind, and with a few
too many cups of tea consumed, I
decided to create my own awards
for television shows - not just
this season, but throughout my
life. I have named them, most
humbly, the Promys.
Best Holiday Episode
"The Office," season three, epi-
sode 6, "Diwali": This is a nice way
to disclaim at the beginning of
the Promys that I am completely
and 100-percent biased. "Diwali,"
written and directed by my spirit
animal, Mindy Kaling, shows
the Dunder Mifflin gang going
to Kelly Kapoor's (Kaling) fam-
ily celebration of the Diwali, the

as vibrant background.
Most Rewatchable Episode of
Anything Ever
"Parks and Recreation," sea-
son three, episode 14, "The Fight":
The title of this award is pretty
much dooming me to dissent
from our readers, but let me make
my case. "The Fight" is a comedy
acting powerhouse. Look no fur-
ther than the montage of Paw-
nee Parks employees interacting
drunkenly with the camera crew.
Each actor has his or own spin on
the disastrous effects of Tom's
(Aziz Ansari) "Snake Juice"
liqueur, and the extra attention
on Leslie (Amy Poehler) and
Ann's (Rashida Jones) friendship
makes it the most rewatchable
episode ... especially after a night
of drinking.
Best Finale

'Avatar: The Last Airbender,"
the season three finale, "Sozin's
Comet": "Avatar" is up there in
my favorite shows, but "Sozin's
Comet" ranks at the top of my
list of finales because of just how
well the writers thought it out.
-Each part focuses on a differ-
ent aspect of the battle against
Ozai (Mark Hamill), including
Aang's (Zach Tyler Eisen) inter-
nal struggle about possibly hav-
ing to take someone's life. The
best scene may be when Azula
(Grey DeLisle) becomes com-
pletely unhinged before a spec-
tacular final firebending duel
with Zuko (Dante Basco). Unlike
"The Fight," I can only watch
this episode sparingly because it
takes too much to cope with its
awesomeness.
Those are the three I came
up with on the spot, but the Pro-
mys list goes on. I won't impose
the rest on this world - yet -
because we have real awards
shows to disagree with. The
point, I realized, isn't who does
or doesn't win a gold statue from
some abstract group of alleg-
edly impressive individuals. The
point is that someone, some-
where appreciates this show,
character or actor for its work.
Someone thinks the award went
to the right person, which makes
it a little less stupid.

What will you do?
Anything you want.
You've written your own game
plan so far in life. Why not take
it one step further and become
a Rhodes, Marshall, or Mitchell
Scholar?

Come to a Rhodes/Marshall/Mitchell Orientation Session:
Monday, January 28, 2013 . 5:0D-6:00pm
Vandenberg Room, Michigan League
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 . 5:00-6:00pm
Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 . 5:00-6:00pm
Boulevard Room, Pierpont Commons
To learn more, please contact the Provost's Council on Student Honors at
734-763-8123 or visit the website at
provost.umich.edu/scholars/