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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