13 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 11, 1998 .Evolved Sonic Youth blows its 'Leaves' into the State By Jason Birchmeier Daily Arts Writer Sonic Youth brings its mind-saturat- ing, experimental formula for poetic guitar orchestration to the State Theatre in Detroit on Thursday night. These New York City audio architects will perform a new portfolio of epic, *rtistically distorted symphonies from their highly anticipated new album, "A Thousand Leaves," available to the public on Tuesday, May 12. The four members of Sonic Youth began developing the concepts for their new album nearly a year ago. The band debuted instrumental seeds of songs to come at the Free Tibet Concert. A trilogy of records with premature 4 aterial were eventually distributed Wdependently by the band. These hard-to-find studio recordings consist of novel, expressionistic soundscapes and poetic sketches lacking coherent structure'or any attempt to follow the exhausted verse-chorus-verse formu- la. This past autumn, the band was invited to perform its challenging improvisational material at the incoln Center for Performing Arts in anhattan - a venue reserved for classical musicians - as well at Neil Young's private party at CBGB's. Although both performances were revered by critics, acclaim is nothing new for these alternative rock pio- neers. Since the era of Studio 54 and disco, Sonic Youth has evolved further artistically with each successive album than most bands do . throughout their Sonic careers. Youth T h u r s d a y The State Theatre night's perfor- Thursday, 7:30 pm mance will probably not be the abrasive g r a n g e onslaught that it may have been five years ago. Sonic Youth's latest material is more likely to manipulate the furthest depths of the mind in a hallucinatory fashion rather than generate a mosh pit. The highly amplified noise engineers still possess the ability to craft perception-altering feedback excursions, but they now choose to do it with graceful dynamic movements. New songs like "Karen Koltrane" and "Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)" shift from hushed guitar interplay to amplifier ejaculations before concluding minutes later with more elegance than an apocalyptic sunset. Not all songs share these epic pro- portions, however. Several songs, such as the wonderfully crafted gem "Sunday," clock in under seven min- utes and rely more on tight, unortho- dox song structures, indescribable audio textures and mysterious guitar tones in their attempt to achieve artis- tic merit. Another interesting element of the new material from "A Thousand Leaves" is its evolution. The concept behind the band's trilogy of studio demos was to showcase composition- al evolution. The catchy, six-minute pop song on the new album entitled "The Ineffable Me" began as a 22- minute instrumental exercise in rhythm. It was originally called "Slaapkamers Met Slagroom," and consisted of three guitars - one clean, one colorful, one dirty - coop- erating in a multi-layered guitar riff along soothing and booming percus- sion. Don't expect a traditional greatest- hits style performance from Sonic Youth. The band prefers to continual- There may not be a mosh pit, but Sonic Youth still promises to please State Theatre on Thursday. ly debut its latest excursions. There will be a few favorites like "Teenage Riot" and "Schizophrenia" sprinkled in the mix. But due to the lengthy improvisational manner of the new material, the show may resemble something similar to a late-60s Grateful Dead musical trip. Also keep in mind that the quartet's previous collection, "Washing Machine," was acclaimed for its intel- lectual challenge. Sonic Youth's new material is no different. Each listen has new revelations hidden within lay- ers of musical stimuli. Unlike the recycled MTV-style commercial music meant to be consumed by the masses, "A Thousand Leaves" is designed to intellectually challenge concepts of modern music. Shark makes old new The GameShark Interact Sony Playstation *Some avid gamers may recall the day when they first experienced the wishes granted by Galoob's Game Genie. "Oohs" and "aahs" were common reac- tions, but eventually people began to want more. Enter the GameShark video game enhancer from InterAct. The GameShark is an add-on peripheral that allows people to tinker with their games, and do things that normally uldn't be done. Invincibility, high ores and hidden characters all become available at the touch of a few buttons. The GameShark comes programmed with cheat codes for a humongous num- ber of games currently on the market, along with plenty of space to add games and more codes. New files are saved directly into the unit, so there's no need to re-enter codes. Also, several codes can be used in combination with each other - great for games that have W ny possible code options. Individual ects can be toggled on and off if only a few effects are desired. Aside from being a cheating device, GameShark has an option to can search game CDs for pictures and can display. the last image in the Playstation's mem- ory. It also allows you to play music tracks from games or off regular music CDs. The GameShark suffers from a few oblems, however. The CD Explorer unctions don't work with every game, and some games may not load if certain combinations of codes are used together. The Shark can revive older games collecting dust or help gamers through difficult areas by giving them a little- or a lot-of help. Interact's consumer service makes Game Shark a sound investment. InterAct has a newsletter and a website in order to keep the fresh- est codes and updates in the buyer's hands. Although I am a strong advocate of beating games the old fashioned way, gamers should pick the Game Shark up for a little fun. ---Deveron Q. Sanders SINGERS JUGGLERS DANCERS MAGICIANS If you have an act you'd like to share with our audience in Comic Opera Guild's September 18-19 show, Strictly Vaudeville, you should attend our PRODUCTION MEETING Thurs., May 14, 7:00pm Henderson Room, Michigan League Or call 973-3264 for more info QUEENS COLLEGE CITY UNIVERsITY OF NFW YORK This summer queens college is VOUr gateway to the sun and a brighter future. we offer superb faculty, affordable tuition, and courses on everything from astronomy to the sun King. with two sessions to choose from, you can earn credits toward yOUr degree and still have time for a long vacation worshipping the sun. 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