6 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 6 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom The most wide-angled selfie ofall time. bring style to syn The twins evolve with pulsating 'Heartthrob' By GREGORY HICKS Daily Arts Writer The folk-pop duo has official- ly gone full-blown synth-pop, and such a polished 21st-century music tran- sition rarely A occurs. Tegan and Heartthrob Sarahave never been a force Teganand Sara to "treat like Sire (they're) oh so typical." That said, what doesn't make Heart- throb typical? What makes this record different than any other indie pop artist trying to make some extra spending money by jumping-on the synth-pop band- wagon? Tegan and Sara know who they are as artists - not exactly a vocal powerhouse, but most certainly a songwriting pow- erhouse. The duet continues to churn out lyrics that exceed the work of any hit-maker, even for its melodically radio friendly tracks like the album's lead sin- gle, "Closer." Catchiness is no excuse to sacrifice quality word choice. It's not a complete solo effort on their part, however. Recruit- ing Grammy award-winning producer Greg Kurstin to assist with the album's production was a well-played decision, given his musical resum6. Artists like Kelly Clarkson and P!nk owe Kurstin for his work in breeding an artist's original style with a 21st-century sound, and Heart- throb never falls short of that. Tegan and Sara claim that this seventh studio album is their most personal album to date - strange, considering the reputation synth-pop has for being a tawdry tone. But per- haps synth-pop is a contempt- ible style for generally having flavorless underlying composi- tion. A heap of intimacy sustains balance with the record's genre approach, similarly seen from British sensations Ellie Gould- ing and Florence + the Machine. Thanks to Morgan Paige and his Canadian Top 40 hit "Body Work," Tegan and Sara had the opportunity to experiment with EDM prior to their . sev- enth album, followed by their inclusion of "Every Chance We Get We Run" on David Guetta's Nothing But The Beat 2.0. Needless to say, Heartthrob's synthetic characteristics are certainly no coincidence, given the* recent DJ colla By no means, howeve work of pure electron ration; the typical i rock-folk fan base wt exhausted after a full Best of all to witn growth of the twin career. Generating sev is no small feat, espec the negligible amount help they required. that, but each recor more musically rele the next, whether i increased album sales charted singles, or ev tionally getting their on shows like "Grey's. "One Tree Hill" and Diaries." The duet takes no, even on the smalle of the record. The t through almost 100 a before narrowing it do titles - which obvi' tained the title Heartt Perhaps this is jus tic fling for the duet, potentially witnessini tion. There isn't much of pleasing a diehard crowd, but some track a Fool" and "I Couldn Friend" - are mor than others. Just don ing for an acoustic "Al this album. F.. ,:-[FILTER 'What I to The By KENDALL RUSS Online Arts Editor It has been nearly 12 years since The Strokes stormed through New York City's Mer- cury Lounge and catapulted to immediate fame with their phe- nomenal debut album Is This It. The album's maturity, grittiness SIRE and controlled aggression - see "Alone, Together" and "Last Nite" - make it highly replay- able and perpetually relevant in any conversation about the best albums of the early 21st century. One listen to the unabashedly blas6 but irrepressibly catchy "Someday" immediately hear- kens back to better times where The Strokes, Interpol and The White Stripes ruled and rein- aborations. vented garage rock. And just as 'r, is this a easily, one listen to The Strokes' nic exhila- latest single, "One Way Trigger," ndie pop- shows just how far the Manhat- on't be left tan quintet has come since its listen. inaugural success - for better or sess is the worse. s' musical "One WayTrigger"is a Strokes en albums song only nominally; the jarring ially given synth and foreign falsetto (Et tu, of outside Julian?) are about as un-Is This Not only It as it gets. Until Julian Casa- d becomes blancas languidly moans "You vant than ask me to stay" about a minute t be from into the song, you're not entirely and better sure if you're actually listen- en promo- ing to The Strokes. Perhaps the work aired futuristic, inorganic production Anatomy," shouldn't come as a surprise "Vampire after 2011's .much-anticipated- but-slightly-traumatic Angles. steps back, Toying with weird and unex- r aspects pected sounds in an effort to wins went expand the band's rigid identity, lbum titles Angles came off more as a dis- own to five jointed 1980s wannabe than the ously con- positive expansion The Strokes hrob. presumably sought. While at a stylis- "Under Cover of Darkness," but we're "Taken For A Fool" and "Grat- g an evolu- isfaction" showed glimmers in the way of hope, the rest of the album Sainthood ranged from the bizarre ("You're s - "I Was So Right") to the unfortunate 't Be Your ("Machu Picchu") to the down- e stripped right 't go look- awful ligator" on ("Call First seen on Me -the filter Back"). t mCall:# Email: t Ever Happened' Strokes? 0 "We are totally in a barn. These are totally pleather." RCA "One Way Trigger" unfor- tunately takes its cue from the latter camp, sporting an angu- lar synth that's more "Machu Picchu" than "12:51" and a similarly pioneering attitude with ultimately underwhelm- ing results. There are moments where it works - Fab Moretti's rigid drumming saves the song from anonymity, Casablancas gets it together in time to belt a catchy, falsetto-filled chorus - but more where it doesn't. There's the crowded, haphazard guitar solo, Casablancas' vocal identity crisis, and, well, the entire opening minute. But per- haps the most worrisome part of "One Way Trigger" is its distinct lack of the scruff that distin- guished The Strokes in the first place. 734-418-4115 dailydisplay@gmail.com RELEASE DATE- Tuesday, January 29, 2013 Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis ACROSS DOWN 33 Turn a deaft_ 51 Four-wheeled flop 1 Bit of high jinks 1 Adapternletters 34 Airport 52 Dry Italian wine 6 Eastem 2Carolers'offering annoyance 54 Safecrackers European 3 Shakespeare's 37 Carlsbad Caverns 55 Ward of "CSI: NY" 10 Sounds of 'The Winter's._" locale: Abbr. 56 Small songbird disapproval 4Sleepy Hollow 38"I'm listening!" 58 Army division 14Team leaden- schoolteacher 41 "Watch your 59 Shotat the bar 15 Hung (around) in Crane head!" 60 Cold War country: 10 hamos kayed Pco 45 Prevailed against, Abbr. 16 Dos cubed company sagl 1Mld :Hnis 17 Second-largest 6 Side with a slangily r 1 Malde : Heria Indian city sandwich 47Commnentnal headache 18 Play parts 7 Bridal gown trim restriction 62 'That hurts!" 19 Say grace, say 8 Ancient Mexican ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 20 *4-0 World Series 9 Italian scooter win, e.g. 10 David Letterman M A N I L A A N T C H U B 22Saladlfish list A B A T E D I C U R A Z E 23 Mae illegul 11lScouringaid RE E E sM M AM MA M I A 4 Spyfr Moes e 2Genghisng L A M M I S A M M Y 26 Bitof schoolyard 13 Tofu source A N Y E0 M A N disagreement 21 Bureaucratic S C A R CAP N A M E 29Gardnerof bungles Hollywood 25 Speech ITAR E aRIT M0A 32 Unde thecovers therupist's C O M M I T T E E M E M B E R 35'The Shield" concem ALP N E O N F L O O R S force, briefly 26Highway to L E E K E T C L 0 S S 36 Diabolical sorts Fairbanks E N D I N G H O T 39 "Norma_" 27 Sirs' counterparts M A R I N E M A M M A L 40 Pooling vehicle 28 *Graffiti maker's M M M M G 0 0 D E L A I N E 41 *Broomatemative medium E R I E U T A GEC K 0 S 42 www bookmark 30 Clamping device 43 Org. with many 31Metwife G I L L P A K A S S E N T specialists competitor xwordeditor@aol.com 01/29/13 44 Onlinenewsgroup 1 2 3 4 5 s 7 9 10 11 12 13 system 45 Nora was his 14 1s 16 mistress 17 16 1s 46 Justin Timberlake's a 21 22 former band 49 Bok__: cabbage 50 Nudges a2 as2 an6 as9a0or1 as a3as 53 Corrosive stuff a se 37 a 39 55 Cashless deal 57 Designed for two 4 41 42 functions, and a answers to starred clues 63 Buffalo's lake so s1 so a 54 64 Not nuts 65 Run to the 5a nn s7 a5 a 9 60 1 62 window 66 Gave for a while 63 64 65 67 Malevolent a6sr6s 68 Great enthusiasm 69 Colony critters a 7 71 70 Riga resident 71 Scatterabout By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Vezke 01/2913 (c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 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Casablancas coolly crooned on 2003's Room on Fire opener, "What Ever Hap- pened?" And while The Strokes certainly sound new on "One Way Trigger," it's hard not to ask that exact question of them today. What ever happened? It's a question the band must address on their upcoming fifth studio release, but if "One Way Trig- ger" is any indication, it may be just as baffled as we are. - The original version of this article was published online on The Filter, the Daily Arts blog, on Jan. 27. ALTERNATIVE From Page 5A unknown artist that I could see sailing the seas of pop star- dom. Los Angeles natives The Neighbourhood have yet to release a complete LP (with the EP I'm Sorry... just makingland- fall this past August), but the band is edgy, almost as ifa live current of tension runs through each song. The genre is hard to nail down (Rock? Hip-folk? Rock- hop?), but listen to "Sweater Weather" or "Female Robbery" (or, the third of the triumvirate, "Wires") and feel cool in the process. 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