The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, January 12, 2018 — 5

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Artists and their underappreciated albums of 2017

For 20 years, John Dwyer 
has been experimenting with 
a variety of psychedelic garage 
rock sounds that move in every 
direction, 
leaving 
drips 
of 
eccentric colors behind. After 
countless name changes, Dwyer 
and his band released 2017’s Orc 
as the Thee Oh Sees.
Orc is a 50-minute tooth-
numbing catapult into a land 
unknown. In the first two seconds 
of the record, Dwyer’s screeching 
guitar, glued with Tim Hellman’s 
bass, is accompanied by both Dan 
Rincon’s and Paul Quattrone’s 
tight and rapid drum style in a 
way where each element begins 
to vibrate into an abrupt shock of 
high voltage energy.
But as the record moves 
along, Dwyer doesn’t forget to 

give listeners time to catch their 
breath. Between every aggressive, 
slick guitar riff is a movement 
into something smoother and less 
intense, a moment of recollection 
that lasts for just the right amount 
of time until he plunges you into 
another moment of chaos.
This juxtaposition of sound 
moves fluidly within and between 
songs like the fourth track “Keys 
to the Castle.” In about eight 
minutes, “Keys to the Castle” 
takes listeners on a joyful journey 
that warps into a hypnotic 
movement of sounds, all falling 
into a blissful violin that creates 
its individual moment in the song.
The 
record’s 
stimulating 
sounds 
are 
laced 
with 
a 
theme of war, of conquering 
a forbidden place, of violence 

and the aftermath; the song 
titles of “Animated Violence” 
and “Cadaver Dog” reference a 
battleground and the dogs that 
come to pick up the pieces of the 
dismembered.
These 
dark 
and 
brutal 
references are set upon upbeat 
instrumentals, 
making 
the 
record lend itself to feelings 
of 
dissipation, 
the 
rise 
of 
goosebumps along your arms 
and warm colors dancing along 
your eyelids. It is an album that 
reinvents the admired sounds of 
the past’s psychedelic pop and 
raw noise rock bands, blending 
genres together to create an 
other-worldly environment that 
feels enticing to be in. 

— Selena Aguilera, Daily Arts Writer

‘End of the F***ing World’ 
another win for Netflix

In 
this 
day 
and 
age, 
branding a show a “Netflix 
Original” is essentially the 
Midas Touch in a TV series’s 
success. Originally debuting 
in the U.K. in Oct. 2017, the 
take-off series “The End of 
the F***ing World” is brought 
to the U.S. and “only available 
on 
Netflix.” 
While 
being 
under the golden label may 
be indicative of immediate 
success in itself, the show has 
the goods to back it up.
This dark dramedy, based 
on the comic series “The End 
of the Fucking World” by 
Charles S. Forsman, follows a 
17-year-old, 
self-proclaimed 
psychopath 
James 
(Alex 
Lawther, 
“The 
Imitation 
Game”), who is looking to 
graduate from killing small 
animals to “something bigger.” 
Alyssa 
(Jessica 
Barden, 
“Hanna”), a crass, rebellious 
girl who is the picture of teen 
angst, finds herself involved 
with James — romantically she 
thinks, though his intentions 
are much more malevolent. 
The two misguided teens steal 
James’s father’s car and take 
off 
with 
nothing 
planned, 
other than James’s underlying 
motive to murder his partner 
in crime.
The 
pilot 
episode 
is 
dedicated more to establishing 

these two young protagonists 
than 
it 
is 
to 
rapid 
plot 
movement, 
and 
though 
some 
may 
describe 
this 
style as “slow,” I believe this 
character-centric focus helps 
build the viewers’s connection 
with them. James and Alyssa, 

as two emotionally unavailable 
characters who finally find 
human connection with each 
other, 
have 
an 
interesting 
dynamic — reminiscent of 
the cold, but deep, connection 
of the young protagonists in 
Wes 
Anderson’s 
“Moonrise 
Kingdom.” With the narration 
switching 
between 
James’s 
and Alyssa’s respective inner 
monologues, the viewer sees 
through their projected tough 
personas with the help of their 
vocalized internal fears.
Another way this series is 
reminiscent of Wes Anderson 
is in its cinematic symmetry, 
most clearly evident in the 
cataloging shots of animals 
James killed or letters Alyssa 
received 
from 
her 
absent 
father, all neatly arranged. 
The show’s cinematography is 
crisp, unique and compelling; 
when Alyssa is first introduced, 
she lays perfectly centered in 

the frame, staring up at the 
sky and out at the viewer. The 
writing could be described 
in a similar way. Alyssa’s 
unfiltered, sharp tongue, ready 
to attack at any given moment, 
paired with the all-but-silent 
James, provides for quick-
witted and multi-dimensional 
conversations 
between 
the 
two. 
The 
aforementioned 
cutting between characters’ 
narrations also leads to this 
dynamic flow of the script.
While my parents argued 
that 
they 
“didn’t 
quite 
get” the show, I think that 
there is something in these 
angsty teens that most, if 
not all, young people today 
can 
identify 
with. 
The 
relatable, underlying theme 
of the us-against-the-world 
mentality has the audience 
rooting for the success of these 
misanthropes. I found myself 
connected to the protagonists, 
for reasons unbeknownst to 
me since they are so rough 
around the edges; I believe 
that the ability of the show to 
keep the audience’s sympathy 
with these outsiders despite 
their 
(at 
times 
abhorrent) 
actions speaks to the quality 
of the series at large. With 
the combination of strong 
cinematography, witty writing 
and a stellar soundtrack, this 
U.K. series has just what it 
takes to nestle itself in the 
hearts 
of 
Netflix 
bingers 
across the country.

SOFIA LYNCH
Daily TV/New Media Editor

“The End of the 
F***ing World”

Series Premiere

Netflix

THEE OH SEES

Orc, Thee Oh Sees

Apricot Princess is butter. It’s 
a gorgeous collection of lo-fi
 
tracks recorded by singer Alex 
O’Connor, better known as Rex 
Orange County, that pulls at 
a different part of the heart. 
The 19-year-old British wonder 
makes you yearn for your first 
love and your family, your sanity 
and your best friend. Each song 
slips into your mind, eases 
between the ears and into your 
soul. Before this album, I didn’t 
know what it meant to melt.

Released in April of this past 
year, the LP predated Rex’s 
breakthrough 
on 
Tyler 
the 
Creator’s Flower Boy, released 
later that summer. From there, 
his fame skyrocketed. Rex’s 
ability to string together lyrics 
alongside 
the 
jazz-infused, 
soulful nature of his music 
makes his age disappear behind 
the noise. Songs like “4 Seasons” 
and “Television/So Far So Good” 
are 
both 
tear-inducing 
and 
dance-worthy. Every situation, 

be it a family reunion or drawn-
out cries of “What about me?” 
hits personally, not contingent 
on whether you’ve felt the 
love he sings about. “Untitled” 
welcomes 
tears, 
“Nothing” 
evokes nostalgia, but the only 
thing the album truly depends 
on is what the listener brings to 
it. The songs are only complete 
then, narratives fully formed 
only when his notes hit our ears.

— Natalie Zak, Daily Arts Writer

Apricot Princess,
Rex Orange County

DADDY ISSUES

“I was gonna write a song about 
you sucking and look at your 
pictures / Hang with your friend I 
planned on kissing,” opens “High 
Street” off of Daddy Issues’s 
2017 release Deep Dream. A lyric 
delivered 
with 
nonchalance, 
monotone and a hint of spite, it 
acts almost like a sonic thesis for 
the rest of the album. And this is 
just a taste of the dreamy malice 
that Daddy Issues curates on their 
incredible sophomore release.
Deep Dream is an album fully 
concerned with emotional and 
physical detachment. It embraces 
the hatred and other unhealthy 
tendencies that follow breakups, 
delivered on wave after wave 
of grungy rhythms, some pop 

flare and sugary vocals. On “Dog 
Years,” guitarist/vocalist Jenna 
Moynihan delivers a scathing 
declaration: “I know how it ends 
/ We’re not gonna be friends / 
In dog years you’re dead.” On 
“Boring Girls,” she bites over the 
closing shrill drone: “Boring boy / 
don’t hurt yourself / I don’t think 
they have guitars in hell.” These 
lyrical gems are innumerable, 
with 
nearly 
every 
track 
containing a poignant emotional 
punch, directed both outward 
and inward.
An album revolving mostly 
around negativity might hardly 
seem enjoyable, but it’s the 
emotional 
delivery 
of 
these 
sentiments that contains such 

brutally relatable honesty. The 
pop on “In Your Head” translates 
the scathing triumph of being 
the more stable half of a failed 
relationship. The monotone that 
pervades the album draws out the 
numbness associated with love 
turned to hate. Deep Dream is a 
harsh look at the human psyche 
of young adults dealing with 
the messiness of interpersonal 
intimacy, and it does so with an 
impressively composed delivery.
Oh, and they also include a lo-fi 
cover of Don Henley’s “The Boys 
of Summer,” which in and of itself 
kicks so much ass.

— Dominic Polsinelli, 
Senior Arts Editor

Deep Dream, Daddy Issues

REX ORANGE COUNTY

NETFLIX

Doug Horn Trio to move 
audience at Kerrytown

A 
determining 
factor 
of 
a 
performance 
stems 
from 
whether there is a story being 
told, whether the music on 
the page comes to life and the 
musicians inspire the audience 
to do more than just follow the 
melodic line. The Doug Horn 
Trio will make it hard not to 
do more; it will be only natural 
to visualize, imagine and truly 
experience the music as they 
bring more than just a wide 
range of jazz standards and 

originals at the Kerrytown 
Concert 
House. 
With 
each 
tune backed by personal life 
experiences 
and 
memories, 
stories will fill the hall. In such 
an intimate venue and with a 
personal history behind each 
song, it is without a doubt that 
the Doug Horn Trio will bring 
the audience a remarkable and 
reminiscent experience. 
While the trio is more of 
a traditional and classic jazz 
group, they will be performing 
pieces of all influences: soulful 
tunes, ballads, rumba, country 
soul and Latin tunes. The 
concert is bound to inspire 

audience 
members 
of 
all 
backgrounds.
“We are trying to preserve the 
American songbook,” explained 
Doug Horn, saxophone player 
of the trio. They will be playing 
classics such as “If Ever I 
Would Leave You” by Robert 
Goulet, “You Don’t Know Me” 
by Eddy Arnold (though largely 
made famous by Ray Charles), 
“Heartaches” by Patsy Cline 
and others. Behind many of the 
selections are stories. 

ISABEL FRYE
Daily Arts Writer

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