The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 5
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 5
Paramore reintroduces
itself with self-titled LP
Finding the
nostalgia in
cinema
Pop-rock band
sticks mostly to its
stylistic roots
By GREGORY HICKS
Daily Arts Writer
Poor Josh and Zac Farro,
left in the dust after the dra-
matic turmoil spun about by
Paramore's
label dispute. A-
The commo-
tion occurred Pramore
after front- Paramore
woman H aley Paaoe
Williams was Atlantic
slammed by
her fellow
bandmates for being the sole
band member actually signed
to Atlantic Records, among
related accusations of Williams
being treated as the band's only
imperative aspect. Bob?
After a sour finale to that
catastrophe, listeners' curios- producer-of-choice, Justin Mel-
ity rose with Paramore's posi- dal-Johnsen.
tion on the Billboard Social-40, Meldal-Johnsen, the former
a testament to Billboard's belief bassist of Nine Inch Nails, is
that any publicity is good pub- no stranger to the rock game.
licity. The moment is here, how- He was notably credited for
ever, and Paramore's following his work with Beck, but most
no longer waits in wonder of recently credited for his work
what changes the Josh- and on Tegan and Sara's Heartthrob.
Zac-less self-titled record will The twins have ties to Para-
bring. more from its previous tour, so
Paramore sticks its toes in a it doesn't take many degrees
few different waters but clings of Justin Meldal-Johnsen to
to its rock foundation. "Day- understand the band's choice of
dreaming" lays out a humble bit producer.
of synth, sufficient for inspiring Album openers "Fast in My
interest and keeping coherency Car" and "Now" might bring the
with its previous work. Mus- group back to its garage-band
tering up some contemporary days, but the second promotion-
styling doesn't push any of the al single, "Still Into You," and
band's members out of the pic- its close relative, "Ain't It Fun,"
ture - credit to Paramore's new sport less of a crunchy rock per-
ATLANTIC
formance, gearing more toward
the radio-ready style of Brand
New Eyes. On "Ain't It Fun,"
for instance, new percussive
bell styles add a hint of playful
flavor, similar to the additional
synth-subtleties of the record's
other tracks.
A less-subtle new detail of
Paramore is the breakdown of
the record's format - divided
into three parts by the "Mov-
ing On" and "Holiday" inter-
ludes. This is where production
changes step potentially too far
outside of their boundaries, tak-
ing on the musical portrait of a
Hawaiian adventure by swap-
ping out Paramore's rock guitar
with a ukulele. It's easy to see
where this "Holiday" is taking
place.
The record's styles have a
relatively short attention span,
typically lasting for two or
three songs, but isn't so dras-
tic that the music would be
labeled "an atypical sound" of
Haley and her crew. The nearly
perfect blend of coherency and
experimentation is the vac-
cine to protect against a case of
fourth-studio-album boredom.
Williams stated that the pref-
erence for a self-titled album
stemmed from an urge to rein-
troduce the band to the world -
a wise decision, given the doubts
built on the recent melodrama.
Paramore listeners will appre-
ciate the reintroduction and
understand the group's musical
roots are still there, even if its
original founders aren't.
n old friend hides his
stash in the top drawer
of his bedroom dresser.
It's a plastic bag, bloated
between balled socks and spare
change. I've
never seen
anything
like it.
"What?"
he asks, jug-
gling the bag
between his
hands. BRIANNE
I shrug JOHNSON
and shake my
head with a
smile. "Nothing," I say, "It's just
weird, I guess."
He peels the bag open, dumps
its contents out onto the dress-
er. "I've got about four years'
worth right here. And I remem-
ber every single one - who I
went with, when we went.
"Oh, c'mon. You're telling
me that you don't collect ticket
stubs?"
Huh. I guess not.
You could call me a collec-
tor: I've got binders of Pok6-
mon cards, stacks of Britney
Spears albums and a short list
of famous and fictional hus-
bands. But movie ticket stubs?
You watch, endure or snooze
through a film - then it's over.
What's the point of saving
scraps of trash for "sentimental
value"? That's not a collection;
it's a symptom of hoarding ... or
so I thought.
I'd never heard a film spoken
about in the way that music lov-
ers fawn over the classics or in
the way that self-proclaimed
book nerds leak enthusiasm
and simultaneous dread every
time a chapter reaches its end.
Film has never fit itself into my
nostalgic conversations - not
in the way that Islay back in
the passenger seat of my best
friend's car and marvel at the
waya song sucks us back into
certain moments with certain
people in certain places.
We don't discuss films like
familiar scents from childhood,
not like how a waft of lemon
Pledge is my band-camp cabin
or how a spritz of Victoria's
Secret "Love Spell" is middle-
school locker rooms. I'd never
thought film captured what
songs could latch onto, not like
how All Time Low's "Remem-
bering Sunday" is post-gradu-
ation bonfires ringed by boys
with guitars and "Skinny Love"
is mornings-to-afternoons bur-
ied in bedsheets.
So, as fond asI am of the
Olsen twins' "Passport to
Paris," it just doesn't "take me
back" - in fact, it doesn't take
me anywhere (and certainly not
to Paris). A trip to the theater
was just that: a trip to the the-
ater. Nothing more, nothing less
(unless I conceded and sprung
for another pack of Sour Patch
Kids. Then it cost a little more).
As the pile of ticket stubs
spilled across the dresser, I
channeled my inner Patron
of the Arts. Plot twist: She is
unsurprisingly clich . Filmjust
doesn't ... speak to me, I thought.
Or maybe we were simply
speaking two different languag-
es. Had I grown deaf? I wanted
my deep emotional resonance,
and I wanted it now!
It turns out that I just wasn't
looking - or listening - hard
enough.
Film fooled me. It presented
itself as an isolated experience
with no more residual sig-
nificance than the buzz of back-
ground noise while music, on the
other ear, offered the definitive
soundtrack to my teenage years
and rites of passage. I thought
film was nothing special, and
certainly nothing to document
and collect in my drawers. But
after some diggingthrough my
DVD collection and my memory,
my socks and the lacy like, I
realized that - oh, how the
words pain me - I was wrong.
To this day, I refuse to watch
"The Year Without a Santa
Claus" since the night when,
as the Heat Miser spit fire, my
8-year-old self spewed less-
exciting substances all over the
living-room couch. Cringe.
Collecting
ticket stubs and
memories.
""The Temptations" will for-
ever remind (or haunt, to be
more accurate) me of my middle-
school band room where, at least
once a month, Mrs. Scott would
pull the window blinds tight and
"tsk" at every saxophone player
who'd made his music stand a
headrest.
And "Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind" is branded onto
my psyche as that bittersweet
movie that stimulates both my
tear ducts and my gag reflex
(for very different reasons than
"Claus"). These aren'tejust mov-
ies anymore. They're a part of my
identity.
I'm still a collector: Boxes of
Seventeen Magazine have lined
my family's garage shelves since
2005 (they'll be useful one day!).
And, now, faded ticket stubs dot
the bulletin board above my desk,
pinned and jammed and stuck by
magnets. Call me a hoarder (of
memories!), but hey, maybe some
things are worth saving.
Johnson is reminiscing on
film. To exonerate her, e-mail
briannen@umich.edu.
France's M83 delivers versatile
score for Cruise flick Oblivion'
By ERIKA HARWOOD
Daily Arts Writer
M83 frontman Anthony
Gonzalez is no stranger to
soundtracks. The sounds of M83
have been lit-
tering both A
the small and
big screens Olijon:
for years and . .
could be heard OgInIaI
in everything Motion
from BBC Piure
documenta-
ries to movies Soundtrack
like "Project M83
X." But when
Gonzalez Universal
announced that
he would be
composing the score for the new
Tom Cruise sci-fi movie, "Oblivi-
on," obvious questions emerged:
Will the score echo the classic
shoegaze sound M83 cultivated "Waaaaaaaall-E."
throughout six albums? How
will the fans react to it? Will us Hurry Up, W
the soundtrack only be different Saturdays = You
remixes of "Midnight City"? appearance of s
e're Dreaming or
uth cloaked in the
ongs Tom Cruise
W
mo
Whi
Daft Pu
movies
recogni
lez, alo
Trapan
sic M8
for "Ob
can run to (we can talk about how
awesome that would be another
e'll see if the time) - he gives us a soundtrack
comparable to the style of Hans
)vie's good Zier
The vocal-less songs build
into dramatic, fully orchestrated
arrangements with shimmering
le electronic artists like electronic elements occasion-
ink have been able to score ally filtering through. Without
while maintaining their even knowing what events in the
izable sounds, Gonza- film these songs will correspond
ng with composer Joseph to, Gonzalez beautifully created
ese, tones down the clas- tension and induces suspense
3 sound about 10 notches through the different tracks.
blivion." M83 doesn't give "StarWaves" calmly begins before
crescendoing into a full sound
reminiscent of M83's own "Outro"
on Hurry Up. Songs such as "Can-
yon Battle" and "Losing Control"
seem perfectly crafted for a block-
buster film, meticulously com-
posed with swelling orchestration
that incites anxiety and anticipa-
tion.
The shining star, and most
recognizable M83 moment on
the soundtrack, is the title track,
"Oblivion," which will presum-
ably play as the credits roll, and
everyone quickly shuffles out of
the theatre unaware of the incred-
ible song narrating their exit. Nor-
wegian singer Susanne Sundfor
shows off her strong vocals while
the orchestration builds and Gon-
zalez's recognizable synths finally
get to have their moment. The
song conglomerates all the ele-
ments in the proceeding tracks of
the soundtrack and adds flawless
vocals, creating a stunning finish
to the soundtrack and perhaps the
entire film.
The work done on the "Obliv-
ion" soundtrack proves that
M83 is more than just another
French electronic act and estab-
lishes Gonzalez as a versatile and
accomplished artist. While it's too
soon to say whether the film itself
will be a success, if M83's contri-
bution is any indication, it will
do just fine.
CAN'T TO WAIT TO
FALL IN LOVE WITH
YOU.
WAIT ... WHAT?
JOIN DAILY ARTS AND FALL
IN SUMMER LOVE ... WITH
JOURNALISM.
E-mail arts@michigandaily.com to
request an application.
WAS THERE A BASKETBALL GAME
LAST NIGHT?
ANSWER US ON TWITTER: @MICHDAILYARTS
I