Tuesday, May 4, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 9 'Heaven' isn't now Frill-filled fun 0 The Hold Steady's latest album is timely but not timeless By DAVID WATNICK Daily Arts Writer "I really believe that music is tied to memory more than any of us want to admit, and that good times and good memories very much influence our enjoyment of songs and albums *** ... no matter what your favorite artist The Hold does, it will never Sed be as good as the album he/she/they Heaven is made when you Whenever were in college." Vagrant That's Hold Steady frontman CraigFinn discussing the meaning of "Sophomore Slump," a song he released through an old side project known as The Brokerdealer. Finn - an apt student of art, besides being a great artist himself - is sober- ingly correct: Songs don'tgetscratched into our souls on musical merit alone, they must be great songs at the right time. College is certainly one of those times, and anyone lucky enough to have graduated college this spring was greeted atthestartinggatebythe Hold Steady'sBoys andGirls in America (Oct. 2006), met on the back stretch by Stay Positive (July 2008) and rewarded at the finish by Heaven is Whenever. The timeframe is different for everyone, but the conclusion is the same: Even if Heaven is Whenever Does this picture make us look fat? drops on the most sentimental day of your life, it still won't match the reso- nance, spark or sex appeal of peak Hold Steady albums. The official departure of key- boardist Franz Nicolay in January was the first indicator that some- thing was amiss. But even if the record suffers from the lack of his contagious enthusiasm and eccentric songwriting flare, it's Finn's lane- shift to the middle of the road that is most to blame for the slowdown. Once a morality-play troubadour who sounded like he knew something with his cautionary tales of debauch- ery,("Hallelujah came to in a confes- sion booth / Infested with infections / Smiling on an abscessed tooth" on Separation Sunday's "Crucifixion By SHARON JACOBS ManagingArts Editor The first single off B.o.B.'s debut full-length album is already the feel- good anthem of spring 2010, * and for good reason. "Nothin' B.o.B. On You" is just so positive and B.o.B. Presents: to-the-point, The Adventures it's hard not to of Bobby Ray enjoy. Grand Hustle B.o.B.'s melodic acco- lades to a long-term girl who easily beats the plastic beauties of tour- ing life pleasantly slide over spurt- ing synths. The track shows a lot of promise - so it's a pity that, as radio-ready as it is, B.o.B. Presents: The Adventures ofBobby Ray isn't as fresh as fans would hope. In the world of up-and-coming rappers, B.o.B. (offstage, Bobby Ray Simmons) has stylisti- cally wedged himself in between the ultra-cool "hipster hop" coming from the likes of Kid Cudi and Wale, and the poppier, dan- cier Asher Roth- style stuff. The former comparison is most obvious on the track "The Kids." This funkier rehash- ing of the Vampire Weekend song "The COURTESY OF B.O.B Kids Don't Stand A Chance" trades in the baroque arpeggios and sweep- ing strings of the original for a less pretentious bare-bones bassline and electric guitar accompaniment. But at the same time, B.o.B. keeps the upbeat tune and melancholy lines that made Vampire Weekend's ver- sion so lovable in the first place. If Cudi could chill with indie- boppers MGMT and Ratatat on his single "Pursuit of Happiness," and Wale could remix Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.," then why shouldn't B.o.B. take a Vampire Weekend sin- gle on a toe-tapping and lyrical ride through his own childhood? B.o.B. presents: the identity crisis of Bobby Ray. Besides "The Kids," the thick production and super-prominent keyboards on opener "Don't Let Me Fall," as well as the delicate rising and fallingsynths that back the lyric rumination "Ghost in the Machine," recall intellectual hipster rap. But B.o.B. doesn't quite fit into that scene. Put simply, he just doesn't have the nerd cred of Kid Cudi or Wale. For one thing, B.o.B.'s lyrics are rarely clever, relevant or unexpect- ed. "Now I'm in your house / Now I'm in your stove / Now I'm every- See BOBBY RAY, Page 10 Cruise"), now he plays the part of a well-meaning parent encouraging safety and moderation ("The kids are all distracted / No one wins at violent shows," in "Barely Breathing"). Finn also opts more for a love out of convenience than one of passion ("You won't get every girl /You'll love the ones you get the best," in "Soft in the Center"), and he seems to have eschewed his uncanny ability to make partying sound creative and intel- lectual ("Tonight we're gonna have a really good time / But I want to go to heaven on the day I die," in "Our Whole Lives"). With Separation Sunday producer Dean Baltulonis back at the helm, Heaven is Whenever seemed poised to See HEAVEN, Page 10 Disney doesn't dive deep enough into 'Oceans' By JENNIFER XU balloon-eyed Japanese sheepshead Daily Arts Writer wrasse. On the shore, sea otters lazily bake their bellies in the hot sun while "The story of the ocean is one of crabs shakily scuttle past them, trying fierce and natural struggle for survival, not to be eaten. but also surely one of tenderness," nar- As a follow-up to last year's "Earth," rator Pierce Brosnan Disney returns to the environmental- ("The Ghost Writ- ist fold by plunging into our planet's er") sleepily - and greatest natural resource in "Oceans." a bit pretentiously O ans Directed by Jacques Perrin and - drones. Welcome At Quality16 Jacques Cluzaud (both of "Winged to Disney's new- andShowcase Migration") and narrated by a bland est documentary, Disney Brosnan, "Oceans" is an intimate and "Oceans," where majestic portrait of the life teeming seagulls dart like missiles into the beneath the shoreline. In other words, salty waters for food and milky-white it's a beautiful bore. jellyfish pulsate among the ancient, Disney's G-rated portrayal of the planet's waterways is the equivalent ficult to imagine a scene more harmon- of one of those perfectly-contained ic. Never mind that in real life, these snow globes that you can shake and creatures may actually be tearing each have glitter fall among the smiling other apart as they struggle at any cost to survive. 2005's "March of the Penguins" managed to balance the cute and A w atered-dow n fluffy with the picture of death loom- ing in the icy white vastness. In version of nature. "Oceans," there is no real tension, no real story - Disney seems more inter- ested in creating a 90-minute rendi- tion of a relaxing screensaver than sea animals. As the creatures amica- truly representing the murky seas bly scrub each other's orifices like the beneath. best of barbers and dance together in For the environmentally conscious, a perfectly orchestrated ballet, it's dif- "Oceans" doesn't provide any more marine awareness than a trip to Sea- World. In a heavily edited satellite image, the one minute devoted to oil pollution depicts it as a delicate choco- late vein gliding through a crystalline background, almost as beautiful as the ocean itself. The directors' preoccu- pation with natural beauty results in a disconnect from all environmental issues surrounding it - a disconnect so apparent that viewers emerging from the film would have no problem eating sushi afterward. But then again, that's what we've come to expect from Disney - safe, neutered and desexualized, but still completely and utterly magical.