The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts Friday, March 25, 2016 — 5 Japanese jazz hit ‘Scenery’ excels By ANAY KATYAL Daily Arts Writer Thelonious Monk taught us the beauty of improvisation. Louis Armstrong helped us find fun in swing. Duke Ellington showed us the wonder and joy to be had with a big orchestra. Ryo Fukui had all the mate- rial to make a similar impres- sion on the world of jazz with the modal masterpiece that is 1976’s Scenery, but among some of music’s biggest injustices, the lack of a global stage for musi- cians of Fukui’s ilk is one of the most unfortunate. When listen- ing to Scenery, it’s hard not to think about the countless other potential works of art that the Western musical zeitgeist has failed to account for. Jazz’s liberating nature sepa- rates it from other genres of music. Artists are free to stitch together a variety of styles and sounds effortlessly, affording them a significant level of cre- ativity and improvisation. In Scenery, Fukui provides listeners a refreshing take on some jazz classics, like “Willow Weep For Me,” “Autumn Leaves” and “I Want To Talk About You.” While he relies on the works of other musicians, he has an undoubt- edly unique take on every song. His rework of “Autumn Leaves” contains an eclectic, soulful introduction before he breaks into the slow, subdued jazz stan- dard. While “Autumn Leaves” is an oft-used piece for begin- ner jazz musicians to acquaint themselves with jazz harmony, Fukui still manages to create something original out of an otherwise rudimentary piece of music, adding an upbeat cadence and flair throughout the song. The drums are thunderous, but at the same time expertly restrained, and his keyboard has an air of both swing and finesse. Even in his original arrange- ments, the giants of jazz piano are channeled through the sounds of Scenery. Fukui’s style is immediately reminiscent of Bill Evans, and his modality recalls to life the masterpieces of the John Coltrane Quartet. In the track “Early Summer,” his transition between chill melo- dies and slapping chord pro- gressions culminates in a grand three minute solo, mirroring a lot of the grandiosity found in both Evans and Coltrane’s rep- ertoire. Though Fukui remains calm in some arrangements, he switches gears on frenetic, seemingly improvised pieces like “Early Summer,” a fitting apex for the album. While jazz in America was going through a crisis of iden- tity and relevancy, Japan had an artist whose talent and adher- ence to the purity of the genre’s sound created some of the world’s best, and most unno- ticed, works of art. Scenery is both an expert homage to jazz’s best, and a damning illustration of an artist whose talent can almost match the musicians he honors. Scenery fuses elements of modal, bop and cool jazz, creating an unbridled spirit of majesty and excitement. While even some of jazz’s most loyal patrons may have failed to sur- vey Fukui’s work, it’s never too late to rediscover the mastery of Scenery. MUSIC REVIEW ‘More Water’ flops by trap-rap standards By HARRY KRINSKY For the Daily At one point during a Vice Media mini-documentary about Atlanta rapper iLoveMakonnen, the rap- per eats an hallucino- genic mush- room, and as it hits him, he remarks, “I need a goddamn bed with the booth, you know what I’m saying, just lay down and record some shit.” It’s a funny moment and seems to (mostly) be a joke. It also explains the appeal of Makonnen’s sound better than any formal interview can. A peak Makonnen track sounds some- where between the thoughts of a rapper about to go to bed and the thoughts of a rapper who just took shrooms, all the while percolating in a brain raised on the Atlanta trap-rap sound. Unfortunately, Makonnen’s most recent EP, Drink More Water 6, does not sound like the musings of a sleepy tripper. The tape, more than anything, sounds like the cold authenticity-killing power of a rapid rise to fame and a major record deal. This is Makonnen’s first major studio album. While it’s been marketed as a mixtape, and comes as the sixth installment of his Drink More Water series, this is his first commercial release. The album-mixtape ambiguity seems to manifest itself in the project. From top to bottom, Drink More Water 6 feels like a collection of Soundcloud releases, rather than an album. It’s not particularly unique, nor is it necessarily a misstep, for rappers to dump a bunch of tracks in a mixtape and release it without much thought — Lil Wayne seemingly did it every other month for a few years. If Drink More Water 6 was simply a free mixtape track dump, it still wouldn’t be very good, but it wouldn’t have been as much of a disappointment as it was. Drink More Water 6 is, or at least should have been, Makonnen’s coming out party. He’s done the heavy lifting. He convinced the rap world that a goofy, shroom- popping rapper with repetitive pseudo-melodic choruses and hard Atlanta beats can be absolute fire. He’s been featured on a Drake song and rapped on DJ Mustard and Carnage beats. In spite of all his recent success, Makonnen feels strangely risk averse on Drink More Water 6, as if his response to a major studio deal was to just not mess anything up for himself. On “Sellin,” and “Pushin’,” Makonnen sticks with rapping broadly about the drugs he sells, without much nuance to his angle. Even his love songs “Back Again” and “Turn Off the Lies,” which are rapped to an elusive female (or females) he refers to as “you,” don’t contain the relatable boyish emotion that makes “Second Chance” work. His hyped-up braggadocio tracks like “Uwonteva” and “Live for Real” don’t come close to the snarl- inducing tracks like “Where Your Girl At?” and “I Live Tuh” from his 2015 campaign. It’s possible that “Solo,” probably Makonnen’s most unique track on the mixtape, could have worked if it were surrounded by equally strange songs. But on Drink More Water 6, the track alone doesn’t have a long shelf life, and by the third listen it starts to lose its initial appeal. While the album is regrettably generic, it’s only generic by Makonnen’s standards. The album still has moments of the fun weirdness that characterize a peak Makonnen track. On the final track, where Makonnen best captures the hallucinogenic trap-rap fusion, he raps “two phones going ham, watch the bag triple double,” over a simple baseline, next to a subtle snare progression and under a whacky distorted set of echoing chimes. The line, along with the beat, is dripping with the duality of playful weirdness and serious subject matter. Ultimately, though, this album does not exude the feeling that time or effort was put into it. It’s a set of throwaway tracks that aren’t even the good kind of throwaway tracks. Makonnen had the opportunity to harness all his pent-up strangeness and push the envelope on how far the Atlanta trap-rap sound can stretch. He had the opportunity to belt quirky yet witty lyrics in his tonally questionable voice and have the rap world eat it up. On Drink More Water 6, he did none of that, but the flop of an album will not come as a death sentence. Makonnen will have another chance to show the world what it’s like to fall asleep, trip, trap and rap, all at the same time. C+ Drink More Water 6 iLoveMakonnen Warner Bros. Records MUSIC REVIEW A Scenery Ryo Fukui Trio Records ‘Daredevil’ continues along a sinister road By MEGAN MITCHELL Daily Arts Writer The cast of Marvel’s “Dare- devil” has finally come into its own, entering the second season more comfort- able in their roles than they were last season. The complete new season of the hit series began stream- ing on March 18, and since then, paus- ing an episode has proven crazy difficult. Before the first appear- ance of the vigilante Daredevil, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was solely characterized by shiny technology and the crisp suits of the Avengers. But when law- yer-by-day, hero-by-night Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox, “Board- walk Empire”) finally graced our screens, we were taken to the darker, sexier side of Marvel. Showrunners Doug Petrie (“American Horror Story”) and Marco Ramirez (“Orange is the New Black”) helm the new sea- son of “Daredevil,” taking the reigns from predecessor Steven DeKnight (“Spartacus”). So far, they’ve been sprinting ahead with the figurative baton. This season sees the addition of the Punisher (Jon Bernthal, “The Walking Dead”) and Elektra (Elodie Yung, “Gods of Egypt”), who, at first appearance, are meant to jux- tapose the actions of Daredevil, but ultimately end up encour- aging them. Where a stark line once stood between the actions of Murdock and season one antihero Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio, “Jurassic World”), season two explores the morally gray area that comes with vigilantism. It’s obvious that Petrie and Ramirez are taking a different approach to “Daredevil,” putting Murdock’s hero under the same scrutiny that Christian Bale’s Batman under- went in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” The season begins strongly as Matt struggles to balance his dual identities despite the urging of partner and longtime friend Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson, “Mockingjay: Part 2”) to give up the mask. As a break from the secrecy of the first season, it’s refreshing to have Foggy in the loop on Matt’s late-night activi- ties, and this season, he seems to be acting as the voice of reason. Although we may have prema- turely pinned Foggy as the side- kick to Murdock’s Daredevil, Nelson is taking over as a solid force in the series, shining in the duality of sarcasm and serious- ness. Another driving force in the show, Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll, “True Blood”), becomes more comfortable in her skin, fall- ing into the trio smoothly with her strong will and unwavering loyalty to the clients of Nelson & Murdock. Just as the characters begin to find balance in the mayhem, the unanticipated return of Elektra, a past lover of Murdock’s with a taste for blood, begins to deterio- rate Matt’s relationships. In the beginning, the audience is enticed by Elektra, with her suave, ninja- esque moves. Slowly, her sadistic thirst for vengeance breaks her facade, showing something much darker beneath the mysterious exterior. Especially since Karen and Matt have just begun to act on the spark of their relationship, Elektra’s arrival comes at a really a bad time. As the trial of the century between the DA’s office and Nel- son & Murdock over the fate of the Punisher begins, we see Matt choosing to abandon Foggy at the trial’s most crucial point, chip- ping away at their friendship right at the hinges. As the season goes on, it becomes harder to endorse Daredevil’s actions. Considering the second episode showcases Foggy’s desperate plea that Matt end his days as Daredevil, worried that his actions will ultimately lead to his demise, it’s irritating to see Matt fail to reciprocate Foggy’s loyalty. Petrie and Ramirez are making it increasingly difficult to root for Murdock as the series progresses. Surprisingly, the only common feature of the first and second seasons of “Daredevil” is the cinematography. There’s one stairwell fight scene that is so smoothly choreographed and sty- listically pulled off that it could’ve easily appeared in the first season. Overall, “Daredevil” seems to be balancing on the cliff between one of Marvel’s rare treasures and the cinematic graveyard. Hope- fully, the slightly rushed plot lines that characterize the first epi- sodes of the season will be outli- ers compared to the smoothness that eventually characterizes the following episodes. If “Daredevil” is picked up for another season, it should focus on this smoothness so the series doesn’t burn through plot too fast. As far as the cinema- tography and character portrayal is concerned, though, “Daredevil” might just be headed towards the same pedestal as “The Dark Knight” if they play their cards right. A- Daredevil Season Two (6 Episodes Reviewed) Netflix TV REVIEW NETFLIX Not really sure what’s going on here. Lichtenstein-esque ‘Sixty Six’ exuberant By VANESSA WONG Daily Arts Writer 1960s pop art and Greek mythology collide in a dizzying explosion in Lewis Klahr’s collage film series “Sixty Six.” Paper cutouts of Lichtenstein- esque blondes scuttle through period magazine imagery, background prints and photographs of modernist LA architecture in dynamic stop motion. It’s the Silver Age of Greek mythology played out with the pulpy suspense and visual identity of the Silver Age of comic books. Unlike some experimental films, Klahr’s work usually has a fairly defined, linear narrative, but an idiosyncratic method of reveal. He creates a scrapbook- like collage, physically overlaying flat cutouts and 3D found objects, then intercuts them with digital imagery, flashes of bold color and soapy sound bites that guide the storyline. The twelve films in the series work together as chapters of a larger storyline, one which switches easily between ominous melodrama and playful irony. “Helen of T” features a time period appropriate jazz to follow a seductive blonde grappling with the loss of her youth and beauty. He then switches visual styles in “Mercury,” a short fight between comic book superheroes. Choppy cuts hover in on various small details — the point where a punch meets or a muscle straining — sparking motion to what was once a static physical image. Then there’s “Ambrosia,” a respite from graphic imagery, focusing on banquet table photographs alone to tell a story of the guests unseen. “Lethe,” inspired by the eponymous river flowing through the Underworld, draws revolvers and top hats from slick noir cinema for a bored housewife and mad doctor’s romp through death and rebirth. Klahr says his films are from the “present tense, looking back”: that is, situating present iconography within the context of ideas that lead up to it. Cultural symbols may define an era, but aren’t exclusive to it. “Sixty Six” revives found imagery to uncover what relics of history have stuck and what they’ve become. After all, Greek myths were once narrative fodder for popular entertainment, just as the Pop Art movement drew from mass culture. Still, calling “Sixty Six” a modern retelling of traditional archetypes doesn’t encompass the complexity of its scope. Klahr sources from an eclectic variety of well-known cultural markers, but disregards the chronological continuum that structures the ideas. He hints at how past ideas inform modern thought, but spends more time reversing it, finding fresh angles on things that have now wormed their way into collective consciousness. He meshes images together, then flings them in unexpected directions so all of these threads of perspective — Greek mythology, 60’s culture and the modern viewer — are at once recontextualized under his interpretation and stripped of context to create building blocks that the viewer can rearrange themselves. He invites viewers to engage with the films within the context of their own lives, prefacing the screening by recommending that audiences unfamiliar with experimental film approach his series like listening to music. Just as song lyrics re-enter the mind during completely different situations than the original song, Klahr says because these cultural markers are already absorbed deeply into American popular culture, reassembling them is “about the way we personalize those images,” as Klahr said in the Q&A. With its delightfully distinctive collage style, “Sixty Six” has an unparalleled exuberance that truly does inspire audiences to make nostalgic imagery their own. A Sixty Six Lewis Khair Ann Arbor Film Festival FILM REVIEW ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL Sure, my life isn’t perfect, but at least my hair is.