The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 — 5A
Despite flaws, ‘Jane’
brings laughs to MTV
By MEGAN MITCHELL
Daily Arts Writer
It sparks little surprise that
MTV’s
newest
weed-infused
comedy series is by executive pro-
ducer
Snoop
Dogg. “Mary +
Jane” revolves
around
the
concepts
embodied
by
both the rap-
per
and
the
front of MTV
alike, “Mary +
Jane” running
on
a
“main-
streamed” focus and relying on
millennials to identify with the
life that the series’ protagonists
live on a daily basis. The only
problem with this concept is
that, as a viewer, the line tends to
become blurred between genuine
and satirical humor. It’s almost
impossible to tell the difference
between serious points of parody
and humorously placed ideas.
Though one character’s t-shirt
reading “Some band you’ve never
heard of” accurately satirizes the
hipster movement, an L.A. restau-
rant that only serves dry toast à
la carte for $15 feels overbearing
and doesn’t blend well into the
grand scheme of the show. It is
pretty funny, though.
The premise of the show is sim-
ple. Roommates and best friends
Paige (Jessica Rothe, “Next Time
on Lonny”) and Jordan (Scout
Durwood, “The List”) are on
a mission to top the marijuana
industry of East L.A., aiming at
reaching drug-dealer stardom as
one of the top 15 dealers of the
region. To do so, they cater to cli-
ents via their weed business, con-
veniently titled “Mary + Jane,”
which is slowly drawing more
attention from celebrity icons
and competition alike. At the very
least, the series shows promise
in setting long-term goals and an
active running plot to keep the
show interesting over mindless
gigs. However, it’s unfortunate
that high-reaching goals are the
only things that seem to matter
in the series besides Paige and
Jordan
themselves.
Although
romantic interests are few and far
between — for Paige at least, as
Jordan is constantly ravaged by
lust — the romantics that ensue
are far from intimate in the series.
Besides the leading ladies, nobody
else seems to matter, given their
small and fleeting roles in the
pilot. In any other case, this would
seem refreshing and agreeable to
the series’s intent of skimming the
norms of society. But in “Mary +
Jane,” it stands out more as a flaw
in character development than
a cry against the mainstream.
If the writers wish to introduce
substantial supporting charac-
ters other than Paige and Jordan,
they should really consider doing
so now, before the series lives too
much up to its name.
Despite the many flaws that
plague this drug-induced sit-
com (one has to wonder how
that table read went...), there are
redeemable qualities to be found
in “Mary + Jane.” The greatest
example appears as a long-run-
ning joke — that Jordan’s “Legally
Blonde”-esque chihuahua is inti-
mately interested in Paige. The
puppy’s insatiable lust is humor-
ously expressed throughout the
show by stints that involve not-
so-edible underwear and sexual
subtitles that stand out brazenly
to viewers. Another talking point
comes from a covert ops celeb-
rity delivery involving high-tech
security and the probable forced
slavery of performers to spoiled
children. After taking too much of
her own product, Jordan delivers
the not-so-prescription weed to
the couple, who are unidentified
in her drug-induced haze, and
perceived as a skeleton and a raw
chicken. However, despite these
strange and silly antics, the lack
of close interpersonal relation-
ships in the series paints a picture
of detachment, and not in a way
that’s in best interests of the show.
Perhaps it’s because the series
runs on a time limit of twenty-odd
minutes as a sitcom, but if Jordan
and Paige don’t begin making
friends soon, then “Mary + Jane”
might not make it past the whole
casual,
scroll-through
watch
phase.
MTV
Which one is Becky with the good hair?
TV REVIEW
B-
Mary +
Jane
Season 1 Premiere
Mondays at
10 p.m.
MTV
‘Signs’ is a solid
indie-pop record
WARNER BROS MUSIC
Queen with her daddies.
ALBUM REVIEW
By SEAN LANG
For the Daily
On their third studio album
(and first for Warner Bros.
Records), Seattle-based indie rock
band The Head
and the Heart
continue
to
deliver reliably
catchy,
sing-
able melodies.
Though clearly
a creation of
the same band
that gave us
2011’s The Head
and the Heart
and
2013’s
Let’s Be Still, Signs of Light takes
more cues from pop rock than the
garage-band brand of indie Amer-
icana that defined their debut.
More often, electric guitar — a
new introduction to TH&TH’s
instrumentation — takes the lead
rather than the violin (or any
other instrument, for that mat-
ter, aside from frontman Jona-
than Russell’s voice). Whether
it’s directly a result of the electric
guitar or more representative of
a shift in songwriting mentality,
the band presents a more filled-
out sound here than on previous
albums, growing in tandem with
their audience.
Signs of Light opens with
crowd-rising anthem “All We
Ever Knew,” probably the most
successful song as well as the rare
track in which the violin takes
a prominent role in carving out
the melody. The chorus — for the
most part, a catchy but meaning-
less “la la la” — opens with the
line “All we ever do is all we ever
knew.” While in the context of the
song, this references the cyclical
or recurrent nature of relation-
ship woes, it also seems well-
suited as an introduction to the
album as a whole. It’s pleasant to
listen to, with some sonic tweaks,
but thematically, The Head and
the Heart are rehashing familiar
territory.
Most songs deal with an ambig-
uous sort of love or loss (or some-
times both), hinging largely on
clichés — particularly ironic given
the lyric, “ ’Cause I’m looking for
the truth / Not some tired cheap
cliché,” in “False Alarm.” Day-
to-day mundanity, nostalgia and
wounds healed only by the pass-
ing of time are all common themes
throughout the album. TH&TH
also appear to have found a more-
than-casual interest in dreams
and sleep, with lyrics referring
to one or both appearing in seven
of the 13 songs on the album, and
even one song titled “Dreamer.”
It’s difficult to decipher what
exactly inspired this theme, or
whether it was an intentional or
a subconscious inclusion. Perhaps
it’s in some way tied to the band’s
lengthy separation between Let’s
Be Still and this release, or per-
haps it’s, even better, just coin-
cidence. In any event, food for
thought.
While Signs of Light boasts a
greater range of instrumentation
than all of their previous material,
as well as a more confident (and
rightly so) falsetto out of Russell,
there is a striking lack of Charity
Rose Thielen’s voice. Though she
does back a range of tracks, her
only solo verse comes in the mid-
dle of “Colors.” Whatever the rea-
son for her lack of vocal feature
on the album, the absence of her
effervescent, delicately wavering
voice leaves a noticeable void.
Trading much of their indie
charm in exchange for wider
appeal, the sound of Signs of Light
is a surprisingly accurate reflec-
tion of TH&TH’s move to Warner
Bros. Records. For the vast major-
ity of longtime fans, this album is
sure to delight, but many will also
lament the days when “Rivers and
Roads” was a thorough represen-
tation of the band’s sound. There
are valuable moments here, to be
sure; “All We Ever Knew” is a clin-
ic on earworm melodies (sporting
about four distinct tunes itself),
and the back-to-back “Oh My
Dear” and “I Don’t Mind” present
some of the strongest songwriting
on the album and provide some of
the only moments where it sounds
like the band is actually challeng-
ing themselves sonically.
It’s not that there’s anything
wrong with the album, per se,
there’s just nothing new or par-
ticularly compelling about it. It
seems that the only factor differ-
entiating TH&TH from other alt-
indie-pop-rock-folk bands, at this
point, is Russell’s and Thielen’s
voices. Ultimately, Signs of Light
makes for a thoroughly pleasant
listening experience. Unfortu-
nately, even after multiple lis-
tens, the album fails to reveal any
meaning deeper than what is indi-
cated on the surface, and there
aren’t many truly innovative,
exciting moments, with fewer still
challenging ones.
B-
Signs of
Light
The Head and
the Heart
Warner Bros.
Music
ALBUM REVIEW
New DeGraw album
is not ‘Worth Saving’
RCA RECORDS
Just like your fedora-slingin’ boy next door.
By DANIELLE IMMERMAN
Daily Arts Writer
The other night I malicious-
ly subjected my roommates to
Gavin DeGraw’s latest album,
Something
Worth Saving.
Don’t
get
me wrong — I
love Gavin, I
could listen to
One Tree Hill’s
theme song, “I
Don’t Want To
Be,” on a loop
for the rest of
my life and I
would
prob-
ably belt the chorus every time.
However, Something Worth Sav-
ing is somewhat of a departure
from OG Gavin. This Gavin is
more upbeat, less angsty and a lot
more bubbly.
When the first track started
rolling, I thought Adam Levine
was serenading me with another
one of Maroon 5’s corny pop bal-
lads. But that annoyingly happy
and upbeat sound pouring out of
the speakers was none other than
Gavin DeGraw making the best
out of a bad situation.
For those of you who know of
Gavin DeGraw, good for you. But
I would be willing to bet that a lot
of people don’t know of him or,
at the very least, couldn’t name a
song other than “I Don’t Want To
Be.” So in an attempt to remain
somewhat relevant, Gavin put
out the ten-track, juvenile Some-
thing Worth Saving.
It’s not that the album is hor-
rendously,
unbearably
awful,
it’s just an immature effort for a
seemingly experienced musician
whose last album came out three
years ago.
Despite the album’s overall
mediocracy, there were some
tiny peaks — albeit, only notice-
able with the aid of a magnifying
glass — throughout, such as “Kite
Like Girl.”
“Kite Like Girl” is actually
quite catchy and I jammed to it
like a little girl. With an upbeat
tempo and a peppy Maroon 5
meets John Mayer chorus, it’s by
far the most stylistically distinct
track on the album.
Another
peak
would
be
“Something Worth Saving,” for
the sole reason that it actually
made me realize that I’m sin-
gle. It’s sad, melodic and maybe
even a little bit beautiful. The
Ron Pope-esque, “I’m-weaping-
over-my-guitar” sound carries
throughout, making “Something
Worth Saving” the ideal song to
eat an entire pint of Halo Top 240
cal. ice cream to (I know, God
really does exist).
These two songs, though, are
it. The remaining eight tracks
are unremarkable — not bad, not
great, just unremarkable. But
then again, that’s Gavin DeGraw.
B-
Something
Worth
Saving
Gavin DeGraw
RCA Records
clipping. is ‘Misery’
ALBUM REVIEW
By DANIELLE IMMERMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Daveed Diggs’s experimental
rap group, clipping., just dropped
its second studio album. Splendor
& Misery only
holds true to the
second half of
its name. Sure,
one
can
find
enjoyment
in
Diggs’s erratic,
skipping
flow,
but the produc-
tion makes the
album
sink.
For the most part, it sounds like
someone recorded a maintenance
crew on a spaceship, and then said,
“This sounds awful, but whatever.
We’re doing it.”
clipping. began in Los Ange-
les in 2009. The group consists of
the aforementioned Diggs as its
vocalist, with William Hutson and
Jonathan Snipes providing pro-
duction. Their first album, Midc-
ity, was released in 2013 on the
group’s website. Shortly after that,
they were signed to the record
label Sub Pop and proceeded to
release CLPPNG in 2014.
Their latest album, the first since
Diggs found fame through his role
in the musical “Hamilton,” feels
out of reach. Perhaps it’s because
of the outlandish and extrater-
restrial production. Maybe it’s
because the album’s plot, which
“follows the sole survivor of a
slave uprising on an interstellar
cargo ship, and the onboard com-
puter that falls in love with him.”
Maybe it’s because of lines like
“flesh is hanging in sun” on the
track “True Believer.” Maybe it’s
because of Diggs himself, who
dances and glides over the beat
at such a breakneck pace that the
listener has little time to absorb
his message. At certain points in
the album, Diggs switches his
flow up, choosing to go on robot-
ic diatribes instead. This change
in pace is evident on the album’s
final track, “A Better Place,”
which is also the album’s most
optimistic piece.
Daveed Diggs can say a whole
bunch of words in a very small
amount of time and still sound
cool. At the risk of gross over-
simplification, this is his skill. He
captivated audiences through-
out his dual performances as
Thomas Jefferson and Marquis
de Lafayette in “Hamilton.” His
rhymes seem to barely touch the
air, like bubbles in a fresh glass of
champagne. The charisma of his
persona has also pushed Diggs
into the spotlight. His muscular
build, wild hair and garish fash-
ion choices all contribute to the
growing fame of the actor/rapper.
Since he is primarily known for
his Tony-winning performance
in “Hamilton,” those who listen
to Splendor & Misery are in for a
rude awakening.
Throughout Splendor & Mis-
ery, the essence of Diggs’s lyrical
style remains, but the abrasive
instrumentals make the listen-
ing experience a strenuous one.
The struggle is apparent from the
first track of the album, “Long
Way Away (Intro).” One is greet-
ed to the sound of overwhelming
vibration, the same vibration that
comes from your roommate’s sub-
woofer at 2 a.m. as you try to sleep
or from a rocket ship. It’s tough to
tell at 2 a.m.
It’s an annoying song, but it’s
not intolerable as a short open-
ing track. The second track,
“The Breach,” begins with Diggs
rapping as a computer aboard a
spaceship, describing a human
that has been found in one of
the cabins. It’s an undoubtedly
interesting introduction, which
shows off the rapper’s tremen-
dous lyrical versatility. It’s also
an
undoubtedly
unpleasant
beginning that ends with the
reverberations of broken glass,
gunfire and radio static. These
harsh vibrations provide a strong
foreshadowing for the rest of the
album.
There are some albums out
there that aren’t exactly fun,
but they’re important and thus
require listening: for instance,
Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a But-
terfly. The album’s cocktail of
jazz-fusion and hip hop contrib-
utes to a incredibly celebrated
and sophisticated work, but it
isn’t fun. Neither is Splendor
& Misery, but it also lacks the
cultural value to be considered
important.
C
Splendor
& Misery
clipping.
Sub Pop