Monday, July 19, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 9
'Bizkit proves to be more
than just a dull 'Nookie'
By Ian Dyament
For the Daily al from their current number one album
"Significant Other." Some of the better songs
The Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater welcomed played off of the album were "Trust," "Don't
Limp Bizkit on one of the hottest days of summer Go Off Wondering" and current MTV staple
is past weekend. As a clever promotion tie-in, "Nookie."
modern rock radio station 89X held their Eighth Hardcore Limp Bizkit fans could distinguish
Annual Birthday Bash at the concert. their melodic commercial sounding new mate-
Billed as the "Limptropolis" tour, Limp Bizkit rial from their aggressive old material off of
along with openers, Staind and Simon Says played their debut album. "Three Dollar Bill, Y'all."
to a sold out crowd at the The highlights of the show was a heavy rendi-
Amphitheater. The capacity tion of the Ministry classic, "Thieves," and a
crowd of 8,000 jocks and rousing rendition of "Stuck." During this num-
mall rats braved the hot teto- her, lead vocalist Fred Durst walked into the
Limp Bizkit peratures and humidity to lawn section of the park and sang with the
Phoenix Plaza show the band their love, fans.
Amphitheater Sorely missing from the This current tour is a warm up for the second
festivities was energetic annual "Family Values" festival, which Limp
July 16, 1999 Detroit rapper Kid Rock, Bizkit is going to headline in the fall. The
who was slated as an open- "Limptropolis" tour is Limp Bizkit's first
ing act on the tour but due to major tour for "Significant Other" since their
some undisclosed reason at slew of "guerilla-style" promotional shows
this point was not present. that hit the 7th House in Pontiac last June.
Simon Says kicked off With the Eighth Annual 89X Birthday Bash
the show instead with its Limp Bizkit proved that they have what it takes to
dose of watered down emo- lead a generation of vulnerable teenagers into the
core music. Staind finished millenium and the bank.
off the-opening duties with a tight set of frail and
dotional songs from their debut album
ysfunctional."
In between set changes, some girls got on
their boyfriend's shoulders and exposed them-
selves to the crowd in a shameless attempt for
a backstage passes which angered some con-
cert goers.
LSA junior, Harmony Tahy, lead the pack of
angry patrons by throwing half-empty water
bottles at the exhibitionists. Commenting on
the event, Tahy said, "If people are that hard up
for T&A they should have went to a topless
With the nudity and opening acts out of the
way, Florida's Limp Bizkit took to the stage
that was decorated with an amazing array of ["
lights and gothic stage props. To the opening
chords of the group's first number "Just like
This," the crowd whirled itself into a fit of
aggression that didn't end until the closing
chord of its last song, George Michael's
"Faith." courtesy of terscope Records
Limp Bizkit showcased most of the materi- iUmp Bizkit wants to help improve America's drains.
The summer of bland fficks
Courtesy of Warner Bros
Why yes, that is Mike Patton of the now defunct Faith No More, posing here with his other band, Mr. Bungle.
Mr. Bungle
California
Warner Bros
***I
Mr. Bungle has again released an album to
alienate their past fans. Their self-titled major
label debut was aggressive; the follow up noisy
and avant garde.
"California" appeals to the Burt Bacharach
lovers in the crowd. From the gentle opening gull
cries and xylophone, the CD firmly recants the
cacaphony of its Bungle forebears. Mike Patton
really sings on this album, a skill he's rarely shown
on the last half dozen projects he's been involved
with:
While there are punctuated moments of energy,
like the hopping Raymond Scott-y "None of Them
Knew They Were Robots," the recording is rather-
soothing. "Retrovertigo" could almost be a '70s
love song, if not for the sentiment of lines like
"But I'm sheltered byyyy my channel surfing."
And again with the xylophones! "The Air-
Conditioned Nightmare" is a bizarre sonic apoth-
eosis of the Beach Boys, and perhaps of the
album's namesake.
It begins with a layered percussion and vocal
harmony section a la "Pet Sounds," but morphs
into a faster, louder "Barbara Ann"-as-punk cho-
rus.
It's intriguing and complicated - and a quite
mature bit of theft. "California" is thought pro-
voking, but doesn't hang together as well as it
could. Hey, it must be because they were trying as
many ways as possible to get a radio single. If you
don't get that joke, don't buy the album.
Ted Watts
A Tribute to The Pixies
Where is my mind?
Glue Factory
Few bands have had a greater influence on the
sound of rock and roll in the past decade than The
Pixies. For instance, Nirvana is know to have
admitted that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was acon-
scious attempt to make a Pixies-style song.
15 different bands cover songs from all five
Pixies albums. There aren't many big name acts
on the album, the most recognizable being Weezer.
There are several one "Buzz Clip" wonders such
as Eve 6, Superdrag and Nada Surf. The rest of the
album is made up of bands like The Get-up Kids,
Braid and Weston who aren't well known outside
of the indie rock scene.
It was inevitable that some of the bands would
the make the mistake, common to tribute albums,
of trying too hard to replicate the original.
Luckily, not all of the bands fall into that trap.
Sense Field performs a hauntingly beautiful ver-
sion of "Caribou" The highlight of the album is
Reel Big Fish's low-fi techno rendition of
"Gigantic." The tracks by Far, Teen Heroes and
The Siren Six! are all solid.
With almost half of the songs taken from
"Doolittle," the tribute may disappoint fans of the
otheralbums. Itwould have also been nice if more
of the bands had tried harder to let there own style
come across on the CD.
Andrew Schlegel
Mortician
Chainsaw Dismemberment
Relapse Records
****, or no stars
The two sets of stars chosen to represent this
album is fully justified after one listen to
Mortician's new gore opus, "Chainsawr
Dismemberment." Through 27 tracks, with a
time average of one and a half minutes a track,
Mortician ceaselessly pounds the listener with
its no-holds-barred death metal.
The songs are furiously paced to the group's
drum machine playing inhumanly fast-blast
and double pedal beats while the guitars have
been apparently tuned down three more steps
than its last album (this means they are tuned
well below Korn's overhyped "A" tuning).
The bass consequently is so low that what is sup-
posed to be a bassline resembles more of that sound
you hear driving next to someone listening to rap
music in their car with the bass cranked to the point
of fuzz. Vocals for the album are pure subterraneap
guttural barks that sound like cookie monster's
voice slowed down and recorded under water.
If you think the group's detuned musical ethics
is as low as this group goes, Mortician sinks even
lower once you notice its song titles, lyrics and art-
work.
"Drowned In Your Blood," "Mauled Beyond
Recognition," "Final Bloodbath" and "Silent Night,
Bloody Night" are among the delightful numbers
on "Chainsaw Dismemberment," which get their
respective points across via lyrics such as, "Endless
slaughter/ eviscerated/ throats will be slit, cut,
chopped and hacked."
There are also plenty of obscure horror movie
samples placed in between songs to add to the mood
of the album. To top this all off, the band has'
adorned its album cover with a picture of a woman
with a dismembered leg tied up helplessly to a
stake.
Despite all of its songs sounding amazingly sim-
ilar to each other, hardly any note definition in its
riffing and its tasteless lyrics about mutilation and
See MUSICREVIEWS, Page 11-
By Ed Sholinsky
Daily Arts Editor
So, you're going to the
movie and you realize that
there's nothing worth seeing.
And you think back to this
e last year, where there
ejust a ton of good movies
in the multiplexes and art
houses.
By the end of the summer
last year most of the 1998's 15
best movies has already come
out - "Saving Private Ryan,"
"Out of Sight," "Zero Effect,"
"The Big Lebowski," "The
Truman Show," "Bulworth,"
'" " Smoke Signals,"
"idtng Doors" and "The Big
One" - and the summer had
been been the best in years.
Though the summer might be
turninga around with the',release
Courtesy of t',aWorks Pctues
It looks like things got a little scary for UII Taylor In "The Haunting."
of "Eyes Wide Shut" and the to break new ground like
upcoming "Drop Dead "SPR," "Out of Sight," "The
Gorgeous" and "Blair Witch Truman Show," "Bulworth,"
Project," for the most part this "Pi" and "Smoke Signals."
summer has just been a bore. When you go to theaters this
Even "Star War: Episode I - summer you've had the choice
The Phantom Menace," which between "Wild Wild West,"
has been the season's best, is -t Lake Placid," "Tarzan"or
old hat and has done nothing See SUMMER MOVIES, Page I