Ai V sNN L'nIn
The fun of the Ann Arbor Art Fair
starts on July 21st. Keep on top of all
Art Fair happenings by reading Daily
Arts.
ARTS
Jul sday
Orbital launches show at State
Museum
gives cool
alternative
By Jason Birchmeier
Daily Arts Writer
Very few modern acts surpass
Orbital's over-
p o w er i n g
audio/visual live
performances.
Orbital Though these pio-
State Theater, neers of electroni-
Detroit ca may not sum-
Today, 7: rtp.m. mon as large of a
crowd as Pink
Floyd, they pro-
duce equally sub-
lime musical
compositions
accompanied by
an astonishingly
choreographed
video show.
Expect an intense experience tonight
in Detroit heightened by dizzying lights
and a packed crowd as Orbital teams up
with big-beat practitioners Crystal
Method and Lo-Fi All Stars.
Hidden behind a mass of synthesiz-
ers and various electronic equipment,
Orbital will don their trademark head-
lights and perform material from their
amazing new album, "Middle of
Nowhere," as well as a few classics
from their decade-long career.
Their fifth album in 10 -years,
"Middle of Nowhere" finds brothers
Phil and Paul Hartnoll producing a
more eclectic grouping of songs than in
the past. Though the eight songs flow
into one another without any loss of
momentum, each song alters the inten-
sity and mood invoked by the previous.
Overall though, Phil Hartnoll
describes the mood of the new album
best as possessing "more of a happier
vibe about it" in relation to past mas-
terpieces such as 1996's critically
applauded "Insides," a haunting album
of mysterious depth. "I suppose the
emphasis is on a different emotion. Not
a particular one but an area," Hartnoll
explained.
"We don't try to create a particular
picture while we're composing,"
Hartnoll said in response to Orbital's
interest in combining emotional music
with thematic imagery. "It's all instru-
mental music, whether it's electronic
or traditional or classical that conjures
up imagery to me. I think it's the ele-
ment of not being too suggestive with
lyrics.
"We use tons of imagery with our
live show," Phil continued. "We've been
working with Giles (Thacker) for years
doing the whole visual video show to
our live set so we have some thought
behind it rather than just images"
In addition to their notoriety for
offering a staggering visual experience,
Orbital also stress the fact that they
actually perform their complex compo-
sitions much like a rock band. "That's
the best way of doing it that we've
found," Phil said. "You've got quite a lot
of freedom. We've got everything bro-
ken down into individual parts and we
introduce them whenever and if ever we
like within the structure of the song. So
our songs could last a minute or an
hour."
"It's good because you can respond
to the audience," he continued. "If
they're really enjoying the bit, you can
say, 'Come on then, let's keep it for
another four bars!' or 'Break it down!'
I
Courtesy of Full Frequency Range Recordings.
The brothers Hartnoll have different
perspectives.
or 'Bring it back up again!' It's helped
us survive in a traditional way by
building up a fan base because we're
not commercial radio sort of stuff at
all."
Expensive 'West' stinks up theaters
By Ed Sholinsky movie, though, with $10 million in good about it, but not campy enough awful and the jokes aren't funny,
Daily Arts Editor reshoots and a budget which analysts to be funny. With Will Smith as Jim The film has West and Gordon
So far 1999 has been a bad year would put at anywhere from $160 to West and Kevin tracking General "Bloodbath"
for movies. One movie that ranks almost $200 million. Kline as his McGrath (Ted Levine) in the hopes
with the worst of the '90s ("The This begs the question, with all partner Artemus of finding a group of missing scien-
Corrupter"), another is pretentious that money, a talented director and a Gordon (Kline tists. It turns out, however, they have
bomb ("eXistenZ") and now one of dream cast for a summer block- Wild also plays to battle the far more dangerous Dr.
W tild PresidenIArisLvls(KnehBaa,
the worst summer movies in ages, buster, what happened? P r e s i d e n t Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh,
"Wild Wild West." "West" is one of the most exeruci- West Grant), "West" who is ruining his career).
Things looked bad early for this ating movies in months - nothing (no stars) could have been Director Barry Sonnenfeld ("Get
- ,.mr s,,'hoy" "Men in Black") has made
By Elizabeth Jablonsi
Forthe Daily
Looking to escape the heat?
Consider wandering through a
cool building surrounded by strik-
ing art. The University's Museum
of Art is open Tuesday through
Sunday, during the summer. In
addition to its permanent collec-
tion, it's currently showcasing two
exhibitions - one highlighting
the museum's 20th Century col-
lection, and the other displaying
the evolution of a work of art by
using university faculty pieces.
"Highlights from the 20th
Century Collection," displayed in
the lobby of the museum, includes
a wide range of artwork, from
watercolor to ink to woodcut, and a
wide range of interpretation, front
literal to abstract. The themesofthe
exhibit also widely vary, including
self-portraits and landscapes.
Examples of watercolor alone
range from Emil Nolde's "Frisian
Landscape" using extremely
vibrant color to depict a
Netherlands's backdrop to Max
Beckmann's "Still Life with Toys
and Shell," whose more subdued
colors suggest the reign of the
Nazis. "The 20th Century" colleco
tion conttnues upstairsi n the muse-
um, displaying photography and
sculpture as well as paintings and
prints.
"Seeing It Through," displayed
in one of the museum's upper story
rooms, highlights the struggle
undertaken when creating a piece
of art. The exhibit explores the
work of faculty artists from th
School of Art and Design from th
conception of their projccts until
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some very entertaining movies, but
dropss the ball here. In all likelihood
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WIll SmIth and Salma Hayek can't believe how bad "Wild WIld West" Is either,