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6 - Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


'Kiss' spins da

The Weeknd
branches out
beyond 'Trilogy'
By JACKSON HOWARD
Daily Arts Writer
The Weeknd had already
released three critically
acclaimed and, with the repack-
aged edition
titled Trilogy,B
commercially
successful Kiss Land
album-quality
projects in an The Weeknd
eight-month Republic
span in 2011.
Still, being that
it is backed by a major label, Kiss
Land serves as his official debut.
The most stark difference,
however, between Kiss Land and
the 30 songs contained on Trilogy
is not The Weeknd's subject mat-
ter or vocals, but the production.
On House of Balloons, Thursday
and Echoes ofSilence, The Weeknd
worked extensively with produc-
ers Illangelo and Doc McKin-
ney to create a hazy, mysterious,
bone-chilling sound that was as
much the producer's work as it
was The Weeknd's. On Kiss Land,
The Weeknd decided to bring ina
new group of producers; the rea-
soning as of now remains unclear.
What is clear, though, is The
Weeknd's evolution. Kiss Land,
as The Weeknd stated during his
press run, was greatly inspired
by the classic dystopian 1980s
film "Blade Runner," and more
than likely his new artistic vision
didn't mesh with the McKinney/
Illangelo style of old - a tragedy
considering the pure magic the
three managed to create on past
projects.
While the production on Trilo-
gy was glum, R&B-tinged despair,
the production here is schizo-
phrenic, filled with erratic strings
and echoing drums that certainly
recall Harrison Ford battling rep-
licants. Trilogy was a young man
discovering himself in the con-
text of his hometown of Toronto,
and though Kiss Land contains
the same angst and desperation,

"Better call Saul!"
it centers on The Weeknd's time
on the road, playing more like an
audible horror movie in the style
of John Carpenter and David
Cronenberg. "I went from sta-
rin' at the same four walls for 21
years / To seein' the whole world
in just 12 months" he sings on the
title track, and this transition -
of home to tour, of anonymity to
fame - rings free throughout Kiss
Land.
Though the sounds have
changed, the subject matter
remains generally the same. On
opening track "Professional," The
Weeknd sings to one of his favor-
ite subjects, a stripper, the track
panting "I love..." over and over
in deathbed-sounding breaths.
The first highlight of the album,
though, comes on "The Town,"
which, ironically, is the only song
not about tour life. Syncopated
claps and heavy bass carry his
floating vocals, which tell a story
of a woman who leaves him and
ultimately comes back. The best
part, though, is the traumatically
distorted breakdown - remi-
niscent of a glockenspiel - in
between verses that jolts the song
alive, proving that while The

Weeknd hass
sic R&B soun
nize good mu
itself.
The subje.
projects, do
a couple lis
drugged-upr
on the road p
making filler
expendable.
doesn't help
industrial dr
synths do as
album cohes:
it all togethe
Still, tract
out. The exc
World" is as
opus as Th
been. Over a
head sample
The Weekndl
of isolation,
a bigger stag
just love that
I'm not a fool
he oozes in.
nerable mon
features a sir
finding The
about the gir
the road.

rk dream
7
FP,,
strayed fromhis clas- "Live For," a collaboration with
d, he can still recog- Drake, comes off unfortunately
usic when it presents flat. Longtime friends and Toron-
to natives, the two have worked
et matter, as in past together on "Crew Love" from
es get tired after Drake's Take Care - an album
teos. Lost women, heavily influenced by The Week-
nights and loneliness od soad on The Weekod's "The
ter meate the record, Zone." Missiog from "Live For" is
songs like "Pretty" exactly what made the aforemen-
The production tioned tracks classic: McKinney
in this sense, as the and Illangelo's spaced-out and
rums and reverbing dimly lit production that cap-
much to make the tured the essence of both artists.
ive as they do to blur Drake comes through with a solid
r. verse as usual, but the chorus feels
ks manage to stick forced, and the magic simply is
elleot "Belong to the ot there.
close to a niagnumi Rmbraciog a newfound fame
e Weekod has ever that should surround him for
well-placed Portis- the foreseeable future, The
aod bouoding guitar, Weekod is takiog the inevitable,
brings his old themes and necessary, step to reconcile
sex and mosey onto his fan-adored mystical R&B
e. "i'm not a fool / I persons with the oew artistic
you're dead inside / direction now expected of him.
I'm just lifeless too" ''You belong to the temporary
sue of his most vul- moments of a drea i," he coos on
uents. "Wanderlust" "Belong to the World," address-
milar lyrical growth, ing an abiguous subject -- his
Weeknd lamenting lover, his fans, his career, or,
rls he encounters on most likely as he intended, some-
thing bigger than us all.b
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

F~i
of rock
concert
at the D
Symph:
Orches
My we
were sp
ponder
life and
pursuit
happin(
while s
fling th
an exhi
I was b
mother
It w
classics
mother
literatu
to as m
and my
it up. Ic
else. Ii
er, wise
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She has
every b
memoir
the wo:
art sho
corner4
culture

or the first 14 years of my someone that only speaks the
life, I held hands with fine-art language, maybe that
the finer arts; instead holds true - but time doesn't
ing out at a Linkin Park stop; history continued on after
, I'd be sitting front row pop culture sprang up. The new
)etroit Daft Punk album is no Mozart,
ony but that could be said in reverse:
tra. Mozart is no Daft Punk.
ekends Art is too often regarded
tent as a competition - everyone
ing is constantly tryingto define
i the what's "the best" in a genre,
'of decade, country. Everyone is
ess ANNA interested in finding their niche
huf- S DVSAYA and advertising it as "the best."
rough My upbringing made me think
bit. fine arts were superior, and all
ecoming "cultured," my others were second-rate. It's no
'would remind me. different than someone raised on
as important to know the classic rock staying firmly in the
sin my family: My grand- genre and not branching out.
'and I studied Russian Too many people turn away
re, my mother took us all from museums and classi-
any museums as possible cal concerts due to the snob
'brother and I had to soak aspect. It's deemed elitist and
didn't know anything stuffy. You don't know Manet's
ooked at mygrandmoth- Olympia? You haven't heard
rand impressive, and of Escher's prints? There's no
Ito know what she knew. room for inquiry. It's not as easy
spent her life reading as popping a CD inon a long
'ook, every play, every drive and really listening to a
r. She's traveled around new artist, really understanding
rld, been to innumerable and enjoying the experience.
Ws, knows every nook and It's too removed, too stigma-
of any arts museum. She's tized, etc.
d - smart. To be cultured is to be
aware of all forms of art. And
as obtuse as that sounds, it's
Mozart and not about enjoying everything,
it's about respecting the time
ift Punk are and effort put in by artists.It's
not about superiority, rather it
.fferent, and focuses on inquiry and interest.
Concert halls were the night-
that's OK. clubs of my grandmother's
youth. The culture of the 1930s
and '40s was involved with fine
arts in the same way our gen-
what did that mean? My eration hypes up music festivals
iation of current culture and covets new releases. My
ed of the Top-40 playlist grandmother grew up reveling
d MTV shows. I couldn't at the masters of earlier centu-
difference between hip ries, while today, we wait with
d rap. I was useless when bated breath for novelty. It's
to Oscar predictions. It the originality that keeps arts
out of distaste; it was out going, but it's also the past that
rance. IShad grown up in allows a foundation for future
world bubble, out of tune artists.
urrent interests. It's impossible to grasp the
sn't completely out of it. full scope of all the arts, but
going to the movies; I failing to venture out of a pre-
anging out and listening disposed comfort zone keeps
ic with friends - but I innovation and discussion to a
is imaginary belief that minimum. If cultural relevance
y way to expand your didn't expire at the emergence
c horizons was to spend a of post-apocalyptic modern
dying Pasternak paint- art, there's plenty of room for
took a while for me to appreciating the new Madonna
culture as the under- album while strumming the
ng and appreciation of chords for "Barbarian" by
August Burns Red.

FIEARTS COLUMN-
The tentative
steps of cultural
exploration

a

4

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di

But'
apprec
consist
and ba:
tell the
hop an
it came
wasn't
of igno
an old-
with ci
I wa
I liked
liked h
to mus
held th
the onl
artisti
day stu
ings. It
realize
standi
all art.
"No
can riv
tory of
grandn

a
I

Los Angel
Edit
ACROSS
1 Uniformed figure
in the National
Toy Hall oftFame
1 Corp. isalexecs
10lKissofrom 15-
Down
14 Epps and Sharif
15 Sow'ssqueal
16 43,560 square
feet
17 Oenophile
20 Indianapolis-to-
Fort Wayne dir.
21 Sleepover wear,
bietly
22 Shiny finish
23 Lone Ranger's
pal
26 iPhone's voice-
activated
personal
assistant
27 Reponeto
snake oil,
perhaps
31 Steering system
component
32 Caresses
33GM labor gp.
35 Redding otsol
36 FG's three
37 Hockeygreat
Phil, tamiliarly
38 Tails and tongues
do it
39 Feng.:
decorating
philosophy
41 Redeem
43 Privacy protector
of a sort
46 Closs to
47 "Incornect!
48 Readyto mate,
animal-miss
51 Pouch
52 Just minted
55 Has a big track
payday (and a
hint to hidden
words that begin
17-, 27-aed43-
Across)
59 Against
60 Dutch cheese
61 A driverwho
forgets
something might
make one
62 Info
63Toupees
64 Evaluated

es Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
ed by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
DOWN 34 Took thecup 48 "if__.my way..."
1 Graduation wear 36 Sound from a 49 Spanish lad
2 Poker declaration contented kitty 50 URoLpener
3"Psycho"Oscar 37 Thosegals, in 51 Deer dad
nomi 'se s Guadalajara 53 French 101
4 Prospectorsquest 395"Don' the infinitive
5 "Never mind" PC small stuff!" 54 Mascara
key

6 Grifter's game
7Swimming aids
8 Artist who lives
acrossfrom
Central Park's
Strawberry Fields
9 Wayup theoslope
15 HeroicTV dog
1 Rapper-tamed-
actor
12 "Motley" group
13Actress Dehorah
18 Went (for)
19 Pokes around on
the Internet
24 Some regatta
eqaipment
25Cpl.,foroe
26 Takes in, as a
movie
27 Greek deli
stockpile
28 Vision-related
29 Pillow-shaped
diamond style
30 Goter's gimme
31 _truck

40 Moor tlora
41 Early spring
blooms
42 ABA member
44 Layette suit
45 Strips oftweapons

applicator
56 University URL
ending
57 Pelt
58 H-like Greek
vowel

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O P I N E S R O T H I R A
H E P E L l E E I G E R
S I L E N T P A R T N E R
S OH O E T HE R S 0 L E
K N O W T R I C K U R I S
Y O D A S O C K S P E N T
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reading
OVIOS 0
~

'thing produced today
'al the deep-rooted his-
classic culture," my
mother said. And for

HAVE YOU EVER
BEEN TO A MUSEUM?

a

Sadovskaya is analyzing the
new Miley video. To ask her about
it, e-mail asado@umich.edu.

a

YOU SHOULD WRITE FOR THE
DAILY ARTS
FINE ARTS BEAT*.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 113
14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22
23 24 25 26
27 28 1 29 30
31 32 33 34
35 36 37
38 39 40 0 41 42
43 44 45
46 47
48 49 50 51 52 53 54
55 56 57 58
59 60 61
62 11 64

To request an application, e-mail
arts@michigandaily.com.

a

a

*you can also write for the beat even if
you've never been to a museum.

ByDonnas.Levin
(c)2013cribne Contetgn, LLC

09/10/13


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