ARTS
unda avoid sophomore blues
B Brandon Harig 0
Daily Arts Writer .......
The Michigan Daily - Monday, August 9, 2004 - 13
Local troupe excels
4m
With a roster rearrangement that
tore the band in half, the fact that
Taking Back Sunday is even still
together is a wonder. All gossip and
"he-said-she-
said" aside, the Taking Back
departure of
members Shaun Sunday
Cooper and Where You
John Nolan Want to Be
made fans and Victory Records
critics alike
wonder what the group would be
capable of on their second release,
Where You Want to Be. While the
band never fully reassembled, the
signature sound and passion that
were hallmarks of their first release
are still in place.
The opening track, "Set Phasers
To Stun," sprints headlong into fer-
vor with lead singer Adam Lazzara
leaping into his now trademark
howl, electric guitar buzzing along
in the background. The song also
resonates in its pleading, with back-
ground vocals pleading "Say yes,
say yes" as the song progresses.
As a whole, Where You Want to
Be progresses fluidly, a shift in
style that goes alongside the more
fervent tempo and mood. This sort
of swaying pace and drag-out emo-
tion pushes songs like "Number
Five With A Bullet" past depressive
lyrics and into sneering defiance.
Followed by "Little Devotional,"
one of the album's only flaws is the
lumping of quick, forceful songs
and following them with paired
By Cyril Cordor
FoEthe Doily
Ann Arbor's music scene is
known more for its folk music and
garage rock bands than for its hip
hop community.
Nonetheless, Athletic Mic
Ann Arbor hip
hop group Ath-
letic Mic Jungle Gym
League have Jungle
carved them- Barak Records
selves a niche in
A2's diverse
music scene.
"Who said good music will never
make it again, but I beg to differ /
This is modern day soul music."
This line from "Heavy Medal" cap-
tures the essence of AML's latest
album, Jungle Gym Jungle. Exem-
plified best by the songs "Heart-
less/This Ain't Livin"' and "R
U???," their neo-soul flavor sounds
like the present-day equivalent of
Native Tongue.
AML's creativity is expressed
most in the motif and wordplay of
sports and athletics. Over the blazing
rock guitar sample of "Heavy
Medal," one member alluding to the
1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany
rhymes that he has "seen revolution
since 1936 / When Jesse Owens was
leading the battle against Hitler."
They give praise to the black and
other minority athletes who have had
to make a stand in the face of
racism.
Despite its strengths, there is noth-
ing that really stands out on Jungle
Death is a harsh penalty for losing a game of musical chairs.
Gym Jungle. Some tracks, including
"The Rip" and "Let's Go," just call
for a push on the fast forward but-
ton. One of the singles out now,
"Feel It," is one of the weaker songs
on the album. The delivery at some
parts sounds a little rushed and is not
on point with the triple-time beat.
Any review of this album cannot
go without mentioning the Lab Tech
production crew. This four-man team
produces beats with invigorating
originality and soul. The song
"Watch Me" mostly consists of
drums and a live bass guitar, and yet,
it is still a creative head nodder. A
more radio-friendly track, "Take
'Em High," with its nice groove and
the live instrumentation of local Ann
Arbor act, Funktelligence, would
serve as a better single. The use of
real instruments on the album hints
at the Lab Techs' sense of music and
top quality production.
Jungle Gym Jungle is fresh in part
because itsis not bound by the sound
of their previous material. With more
variation in creativity and style as
well as a continued collaboration
with the Lab Techs, AML could
eventually drop some classic shit.
slow songs. There are no halting
moments of silence but there are
temp shifts which prevent the band
from keeping the same fervent pace
that their peers - The Hives, The
Strokes - achieve.
Where Taking Back Sunday's
first album, Tell All Your Friends,
was the "bleeding on your shirt"
emo record of the millennium,
Where You Want to Be goes for -
and delivers - a rock aesthetic.
The sensitive, anguished lyrics are
still there, however. The difference
now is that the words are surround-
ed by the hulking figures of hard
guitar, bass and drum tracks, like a
late-night confrontation with an ex
instead of running and hiding in the
corner with your notebook and pen.
Where You Want to Be is a solid
effort that shows that Taking Back
Sunday are not stuck in the genre of
sad bastard music. Instead, their lat-
est effort is a solid push towards an
edgy sound that allows the music to
be appreciated just as much as the
lyrics. If fans save Where You Want
to Be for the day-after-breakup
haze, they'll miss the point: Taking
Back Sunday have crafted a well-
rounded, propulsive rock album.
British touring vets Gomez bring their playful presence to Clutch
By Michelle Kiek
Daily Arts Writer
They weren't serving tea this past
Wednesday at Clutch Cargo's, but a
spectacular Euro
mullet, a few Eng- " "
lish accents and one Gomezi
really bad joke left Wednesday,
the audience of Aug.6
metro Detroiters At Clutch Cargo's
with a decidedly
British taste in their mouths.
Gomez, this flavorful Brit rock
group, was scheduled to play a show
at the venue that night. However, after
the Thrills kicked out a few tunes to
open the show, a short, fearless man
stood at the edge of the stage to
announce that Gomez had cancelled
their set, and that "Harpoon, the amaz-
ing band from Sweden" would be
playing instead. The crowd was dead
silent. A few minutes later, six guys
that looked incredibly similar to the
members of Gomez appeared on
stage. Not funny, really.
Before a sigh of relief could even
escape the audiences' lips, Harpoon,
a.k.a. Gomez, had already begun to
tackle "Nothing is Wrong" from their
latest album, Split the Difference, and
revealed what Brits are renowned for:
playing great rock music.
Although the guys were a little less
talkative than usual during the per-
formance, the music was extremely
tight. All of the tracks played off of
Split the Difference sounded as if they
had been toured on for years, rather
than only a few months, and as
impressive as the new material sound-
ed live, it was older favorites such as
"In Our Gun," "Here Comes the
Breeze" and "Free to Run" that solidi-
fied the Gomez experience. The band
took their time with each of these
tracks, extending into exciting outro
jams which strayed from the packaged
sets the group too often plays.
In fact, the well-rounded setlist dis-
played the artistic multi-ability of the
majority of the band, as Ian Ball, Tom
Gray and Ben Ottewell all had lead
vocal and guitar roles during the set.
Gray revved up "Catch Me Up" with a
speedy version of the recorded origi-
nal, while Ottewell plowed the crowd
over with his unrelenting vocal chords
on "Bring It On" and "There It Was."
After a thorough two-hour set full
of intricate keyboard work, intense
vocal harmonies and classic guitar
riffs, the crowd proudly displayed their
affection by chanting "Harpoons, Har-
poons, Harpoons!" to get the guys
back onstage for an encore. "Detroit
Swing 66" stood as the obvious closer
before Ottewell wowed the audience
with his soul-filled vocals in a beauti-
ful rendition of"Tijuana Lady."With a
final serge of energy, the band
whipped out "Whippin' Picadilly" to
conclude the show, while the entire
audience belted out in unison with the
band, "We like lovin', yeahhhh!"
Already a grizzled group of tour
veterans, Gomez cemented their status
as touring giants, delicately covering
their new material while instilling
energy into longtime favorites. By any
name, Gomez's playful, yet profes-
sional presence sets them apart from
other live acts.
r o ne$our Every Tuesday Is Calming and
College Night! tsorative,
h - surroundings of
a One Hour a well-tended
Soa fo T O garden setting...
Soak for TWO spacious and private,
Sunda-Thusdaya sparkling clean
o adonoday rweekends hot tu and the
Not valid with anyaoter offer. Coupon required great outdoorsl
Eprs-15-4.Mstb e18withIt.E Call)forreservations.
SOA&is HOT Tub GAQDFN6 - (734) 663-9001
Y