The Veldt (Dave Burris, Danny Chavis, Daniel Chavis, and Marvin Levi) may be teasing with Marigolds, but we think they're quite a heady brew. The Veldt shouldn'trap. Shepulls out an impres- Marigolds sive flow in the jams "The Hate That Stardog/PolyGram Hate Produced" and "The Final Solu- Straight outta North Carolina, this tion; Slaver's Back In Effect,' but explosive quintet is both:aggressive through the album's duration we hear and ambient. Combining the best ele- her teaching in a bold speaking voice. ments of Brit guitar wash with manic Souljah'sbeatsareminimalisticbut snatches of gothic swirl and hip-hop densehitting like It Takes A Nation Of snathes f gthicswir an hiphopMillions.., fresh for '92. Eric Sadler breakbeats, the Veldt create quite a keeps.the spa rieStheL heady brew.Theendresultisamelange keeps the mix sparse while the.LG reminiscent of an adolescent Cure and Experience pounds a nightmarish a not-so-self-conscious Smashing triphammer rhythm into your skull.. Pumpkins. Even with one-fourth of the Bomb This six-song EP crackles with a Squad andCube'sguitarist Al "Purple" sonic superblastofethereal energy. OnHayes in the house, the upbeat cuts are tracks like "Pleasure Toy" and the in- startlingly inhuman in their vitriolic clatter. cendiary "She Stoops To Conquer" ateo twisterella guitars do the shiver and Notenoughknowledgegetsdropped shake over a boombastic bottom.Pro- here either; Like PE's most exciting ducer Lincoln Fong (Lush, Cocteau records, this is more of a wake-up call duce Licol Fog {LshCoceauthan a listing of disquieting truths. The Twins) pushes the bass-heavy low end hostive o is Souahs me to mosh-pit proportions, especially on most effective lesson is Souljahs mes- the edgy "Tinsel Town." sage to her fellow Black women, "Um- The beautiful "Willow Tree" em- bilicalCord To The Future,""The chil- phasizes the Veldt's moody, 4AD in- dren cannotraise themselves/lf you do fluences, all drenched in six-string not teach them, they will not know." chimes and punctuated by Daniel Souljah isn't all that hard on the Chavis'youthfulandexuberantvocals. separatismissue,simply telling Blacks, Marigolds is a delicious tease. The Know your enemies from your album NOW, please. friends. However, her hasty motion into the comforting shelter of "exact -Scott Sterling Blackness" will end the album on a rather cold and nihilistic note for the Black listeners. We find her dissing Sister Souljah Harry Allenasatwo-facedbackstabber, 360 Degrees Of Power then taking a dubious side with Five Epic Percenters Poor Righteous Teachers. Sister Souljah is the single most Although the Nation of Islam does inspiring and captivating presence in agreat dealof good for Black peoplein rap today, but what results has her solo the cities,Souljah'schoiceleader Louis, album yielded? Farrakhan does have his shortcomings. To be perfectly honest, Souliah Elijah Muhammad's son Warith D. Beats International Excursion on the Version Go! Discsa/London/PolyGram Beats International's past, namely leader Norman Cook's past life as a member of Brit pop outfit The Housemartins and BI's last album, leaves its heavy mark on BI's latest album Excursionon theVersion.While BI's exploration of the point where reggae,dance,pop and disco meet,with a little funk and techno thrown in for good measure, sounds fun, Excursion on the Version is nodifferent from BI's last album. There's nothing new or intriguing - Excursion isn't bad for those reasons, but the potential in such a project makes it disappointing. If the music itself, is isolated in time,Cook'ssqueakycleanvocalsover somewhat contrived reggae/dance rhythms doesn't exactly fit. It's not startlingenoughtowork.Infact,Cook's smooth pop edge resembles George Michael's own vocal chords a bit too much for Cook's ego. Just check out "Change Your Mind," a tracks that sounds like Michael's return from his fate as the next Elton John. Ah, dreams. BI's use of (modified) toasting and a little rap, along with another vocalist who thankfully sounds nothing like George Michael, gives Excursion on the Version variety, yes, but to what end? Is there a blatant one-world mes- sage in all of this mish-mashing of musical styles-KCand the Sunshine band unwittingly paying their dues to disco and reggae with a Georgie soundalikehandling thevocals,as"The Sun Doesn't Shine,"seemsto suggest? Underlying the music is Cook and company's politically correct message. But whatever important issues and points of view that BI is trying to get acrossseemundercutby their very feel- good sound and emphasis on non- groundbreakting melding of different musical styles. BI lacks aself-conscious jollity that someone like Jimmy Sommerville retains thoroughout his work, Perhaps the very exploration of sound is supposed to reinforce theirPC message, but it's not that different from the lastalbum undereutting that notion and anything BI wants to say. Excursion onthe Versionopenswith a credo, "Everybody get on your feet androcktothisbrandnewbeat"(B rand New Beat"), which BI doesn't live up to. The Excursion maybe kind of cool, kindofinfectious,butit'snotalongtrip from their previous work, and, there- fore, not far from home. It's certainly nota "brand new beat." -Annette Petruso An Italian Gilligan Mediterraneo dir. Gabriele Salvatores by Annette Petruso Those bumbling Italian castaways! No Mary Ann is present, but the Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Mediterraneo, is very reminiscent of Gilligan's Island. Eight sailors from an Italian war boat find themselves stranded on aremote island in Greece during World War H. Of course, most of them shouldn't be soldiers anyway and each has an individual quirk tolfill out the plot.Leader Lieutenant Montini(ClaudioBigagli),forexample,isahigh schoolteacherin reallifeand isanartistonthesideThepriestofthelocalGreekOrthodoxchurchconvinces himtopaint frescosinthechapel.Montini isdistantthoughtfulandcaring,like Gilligan's captain. The film delightfully chronicles their occupation of the island, a jobwhich tursintoawayof life when theband is apparentlyabandoned by theirItalian leaders. After. finally discovering life in the town on the island, the soldiers settlein,marryingandfornicatingwiththelocals,playingsoccerwith thekids, and generally waiting to get the hell off. But even before theygot stuck on the island,the film reinforces the stereotype of the incompetentItalian soldier that has haunted that peninsula's residents for centuries. Mediterraneo, however, is more light-hearted than that, and probably means to poke fun at the stereotype, using it as a-device, rather than further condemningItaliansatwar.Thefilm basically worksas an amusing adventure, nicely exploring characters' inner tensions and how people can go stir-crazy when left some place they don't want to be. Though Mediterraneo looks slick atpoints,likean American made-for-television movie,theGreek islandseems like a bright paradise. The film isn't particularly superficial, either. One of the first things the soldiers see when they storm the island is graffiti proclaiming that "Greece is the tomb of the Italians."Further, Stra7zabosco's (Gigio Alberti) relationship with his mules, while droll, is also a touching testament to loneliness, as is innocentFarina's (Giuseppe Cedema)love for the villageprostitute, Vasilissa (Vanna Barba). ThoughGilligan'slslandwas(secretly)unappreciatedlydeep,Mediterraneo will never suffer the same fate. k11i t11 PTP N +A r u r n -stu l:ai -r lxr - 'nnn - - L.. . .n 0 0 0 Due to the holiday on May 25 has early deadlines for the paper. Early Ad Deadlines Summer Weekly: Thursday May 21 Classified Display: Friday May 22 9