The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 — 5
Last year was the year of Migos.
They began 2017 by releasing their
tour de force, Culture, a project that
catapulted them to international
stardom. They maintained their
public presence throughout the
year: A series of well-placed
features (e.g. “Slide” by Calvin
Harris
and
“Congratulations”
by Post Malone), the release of
collaborative
albums
(Huncho
Jack, Jack Huncho and Without
Warning) as well as a leading role
on Quality Control’s compilation
album Control the Streets Volume
1 kept them in the limelight.
There was no way that Culture
II would have that same X-factor
that Culture possessed; sequels
almost never do. My first listen
through, I really disliked this
album. I went in worried that the
excessive length and repetitious
flows of the members (a crime of
which Quavo is particularly guilty)
would make this project a chore to
get through. The opening tracks
seemed to confirm my fears — this
would be a project bogged down by
sameness and lack of innovation,
the death knell of Migos’s time in
the spotlight. Sure, “Walk It Talk
It,” “BBO (Bad Bitches Only)” and
maybe “Narcos” would be hits,
but they felt stale nonetheless
and were surrounded by below
average cuts. It was only on track
nine (“Stir Fry”) that the album
began to feel like something new.
Previously released as a single,
this Pharrell-produced song is an
auspicious sign for the rest of the
album. “Too Much Jewelry” is
OK but bland until the 2:45 mark,
where some captivating autotune
comes in (it sounds almost like a
talkbox at times). “White Sand” is
probably the most disappointing
track on the album — with Travis
Scott production and a star-
studded ensemble of features one
would expect a strong outing, but
the end product is weak in every
way.
Perhaps the most interesting
track is “Gang Gang.” The beat
grabs immediately — it’s kind of
melancholy, not a vibe ever really
explored by Migos before. It’s
quite poppy as well (produced by
The Arcade, known mostly for his
work with Iggy Azalea). It perhaps
suffers from a overly-repetitive
hook, but it’s new territory for
Migos regardless.
The decision to make a 24-track
album bottom-heavy is bold, the
stretch from tracks 20-23 (“Notice
Me” to “Top Down On Da NAWF”)
being the most consistent section
of the album by far. Culture felt
polished and restrained, only 13
tracks long. Culture II is almost
double that, and in serious need of
some cuts.
An ideal version of Culture II
would have a tracklist something
like:
“Supastars”
“Narcos”
“BBO (Bad Bitches Only)”
“Walk It Talk It”
“Stir Fry”
“Too Much Jewelry”
“Gang Gang”
“Crown the Kings”
“Open It Up”
“Motorsport”
“Notice Me”
“Too Playa”
“Made Men”
“Top Down On Da NAWF”
This
tracklist
would
rival
Culture in terms of quality and
variety, but not in terms of cultural
influence. Culture II feels like a
transitionary album; Migos have
reached a point in their career at
which they have to choose what
path to follow next.
On ‘Culture II’ Migos falls
victim to the sequel curse
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
JONAH MENDELSON
Daily Arts Writer
QUALITY CONTROL
I met a stranger this Tuesday
at The Ark.
Now at my keyboard, I want
to make another introduction to
you: Here is Backstage Pass, The
Daily’s new series where writers
share their experiences meeting
new people in the setting of Ann
Arbor’s arts scene.
At the top of the staircase
in this house of folk, I kept an
eye out for indicators of an
undergraduate female in the
line of people ascending the
staircase. A girl in a red coat
came up to me asking if I was
Alex. Easy.
Mariah
Scissom,
LSA
sophomore,
joined
me
for
Twisted
Pine’s
performance
at The Ark on “Take A Chance
Tuesday,” where non perishable
food donations were welcomed
in place of ticket fare.
In
the
prelude
to
the
performance, we talked about
Fleetwood
Mac’s
Rumours,
an
album
thematically
and
sequentially
linked
to
the
breakups of the band members. I
also learned that Mic Fleetwood
is a member of Fleetwood Mac,
and we agreed Fleetwood Mic
would have probably been a
less suitable band name. So it
felt eerily coincidental that,
after this conversation, Twisted
Pine’s performance seemed to
be love-themed and spoke to bad
relationships. The night’s set
featured “Bad Boyfriend” — for
all of those in the audience who
have had a bad boyfriend “or are
a bad boyfriend,” said guitarist
Rachel Sumner.
While I watched the quartet
strum on stage, I thought about
how I would confront the
unfamiliar task of how to write
about music. I’m not well-versed
in the language of music — I
don’t know how to speak about
it — but I believe I know how
to engage my ears. I let myself
absorb the beats and vibrations
from the instruments and vocals,
physically feeling the emotion in
the music. I really try to listen
to the lyrics so they register
as words rather than sounds,
listening and connecting to the
stories that singers vocalize.
I realized that music is another
medium, like visual art, to share
universal themes, feelings and
passions
that
everyone
will
experience in some way. In the
dim lighting of this music hall, an
audience of strangers engaged in
communal listening, captivated
by the unifying vibrations and
vocals of Twisted Pine.
This felt like the right type
of place to meet a new person.
Art is a good fostering ground
for
connection.
Music
and
art filled our conversations,
and together we shared the
experience
of
enjoying
the
music. We commented on what
we had expected and were
surprised by during the breaks
between songs, and we laughed
at funny commentary from the
performers.
Mariah told me she doesn’t
really know how to talk about
music either. But she helped
me out in trying to explain the
sounds we experienced.
“It was a little folky, wasn’t
it?” she said. “But it also kinda
had some flair.”
I would say so. Twisted Pine’s
website describes the band as
a quartet that has progressed
from
its
bluegrass
origins,
moving “beyond the standard
verse-chorus-solo
structure
of traditional string bands ...
(bringing) the enveloping sound
and pop hooks of indie music
to an acoustic instrumental
setting.”
The band brought a good
energy that was visible in their
group dynamic on stage.
“You
could
tell
they
all
supported each other ‘cause they
would just smile at each other
or nod along when someone
was doing a solo,” Mariah said.
“The whole vibe of the band and
the way they interact with each
other made it more interesting
and more fun.”
The members of Twisted Pine
connected with each other and
connected in creating music.
And being the visual arts lover
I am, the visual elements of
the performance piqued my
curiosity: the color blocking on
fiddler Kathleen Parks’s shift
dress, Rachel Sumner’s striking
resemblance to my cousin, the
sway of the bass in Chris Sartori’s
grip and Mandolinist Dan Bui’s
expression
of
concentration
and passion as he played his
instrument.
The performance ended on a
familiar note: some Bill Monroe,
The Beatles and a warm farewell
from
Sumner:
“Thank
you
Michigan, we love you!”
Afterward, we walked up
Main Street until we broke off at
State Theatre. We are both Art
History majors, and along the
way, we shared our aspirations
to forge professional careers
in the art world. So, my night
ended on an exciting note — high
from talking about my passions
and dreams. In saying farewell
to this stranger that I may not
meet again, to this band I may
not see again, I took away with
me invigorated optimism for the
power of art to connect people —
strangers and friends alike.
Backstage Pass: Meeting a
stranger for Twisted Pine
ALEX SUPPAN
Daily Arts Writer
Dual universes, same actor
playing
multiple
characters,
espionage
thriller
with
sci-fi
elements — yawn. We’ve all seen
that before. On the surface, Starz’s
“Counterpart” seems to be a new
addition into the canon of works
we’ve seen a million times, but
with a tight, smart plot and some
virtuoso performances, it manages
to stand out from the pack.
Set in Berlin, “Counterpart”
centers upon Howard Silk (J.K.
Simmons, “Whiplash”), an aging,
lowly bureaucrat who is trying
to finally move up the corporate
ladder while also trying to remain
hopeful after his wife enters a
coma as a result of an accident.
He is thrust into the center of an
incredible conflict when he meets
his “other,” a physically identical
version of himself who lives
in another dimension. He also
discovers that the very building he
works with is the “crossing” into
the other dimension.
Purely based on the premise,
this show could have fallen
horribly flat with an ineffective
portrayal of Silk and his other.
Luckily,
J.K.
Simmons
goes
above and beyond “serviceable”
and provides the single most
compelling reason to watch this
show. Silk in “our” world is a tame,
bumbling, bureaucratic slave —
exactly the type of guy who can
work at a place for 30 years and
never manage to get a promotion.
The “other” Silk puts Simmons
in more familiar territory. He is
more reminiscent of the stern jazz
instructor Terence Fletcher in
“Whiplash,” exuding confidence
and machismo as he enters
“our” world to chase down an
interdimensional killer.
When presented with the task of
playing multiple characters, many
actors fall into the habit of letting
themselves creep into both roles
rather than letting each character
breathe on their own. Simmons
avoids this completely and plays
both Silks with a stunning level
of
nuance.
Everything
down
to small facial movements and
speaking tone is distinct for
both characters, making it more
impactful when both Silks discuss
the commonalities they actually
share. While Simmons steals
the show, the characters of Peter
Quayle (Harry Lloyd, “Game of
Thrones”) and Aldrich (Ulrich
Thomsen,
“Mortdecai”)
are
valuable, if understated, additions.
The world of “Counterpart”
has a simultaneously retro and
futuristic aesthetic, juxtaposing
large, ancient computers with
modern EDM nightclubs. The
writing is tight, featuring few lines
of wasted dialogue and moving the
plot forward at a brisk pace. While
it seems that there is an immense
number of plot points to dig into
and eventually tie together, these
attributes inspire confidence that
the show will be able to pull such a
feat off successfully.
Perhaps the most intriguing part
of the show is the set of questions it
already raises. The Howard Silks
we meet are physically identical
and even share the same wives,
families, etc. Their incredibly
obvious divergence in personality
asks the question of whether they
were each born with different
personalities or whether it can be
attributed to a series of different
life choices. The well-crafted first
episode is a solid encouragement
to come back for the answers.
“Counterpart”
Season 1 Premiere
Sundays @ 8 p.m.
Starz
‘Counterpart’ bolstered
by masterclass Simmons
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer
The “Maze Runner” films have
always been some of the most
resoundingly average entries to
come out of the young adult boom
of the late 2000s, neither as good
as the first two “Hunger Games”
movies or as bad as the last two
“Hunger Games” movies. The
characters are nothing special
and there’s not really anything
to the performances despite
the obvious talent of the cast in
other projects, but the action is
generally thrilling and there’s
a sense of a scale that’s missing
from other films of this sort. The
movies overall just fall into the
middle ground of the genre as
a result: mostly forgettable but
semi-enjoyable in the moment.
On the surface, “The Death
Cure” — which finds Thomas
(Dylan
O’Brien,
“American
Assassin”) and co. traveling to
the last city on Earth to rescue
their captured friends from
evil organization WCKD — is
no different in those regards.
It’s
underneath
that
veneer
that something different begins
to show. It struck me as I was
walking out of the theater: “The
Death Cure” represents the end
of an era. The “Maze Runner”
series,
despite
its
middling
quality, is the last major young
adult franchise from the boom
that gave us “The Hunger
Games,” “The Divergent Series,”
“The Twilight Saga” and even the
“Harry Potter” films. It’s almost
an ill-advised eulogy in that it
represents many of the tropes
and storytelling techniques that
those familiar with the genre
have come to know like the back
of their hand.
The script manages to skip the
outright lying to the audience
that bogged down the second
chapter in the trilogy, “The
Scorch Trials” — a film that tried
so hard to escape its genre that
it wound up epitomizing many
of its worst aspects — but there’s
still a depressing dearth of
character development. Thomas,
like most YA protagonists, is the
most bland part of the movies
he’s ostensibly the star of, with
no traits besides “the good guy”
and “handsome” to make him
in any way memorable. Without
good writing to form the basis,
“The Death Cure” spends most
of its runtime manufacturing
plot contrivances to shuffle its
characters around between set
pieces, as they’re not three-
dimensional enough to make
decisions that would affect the
story in interesting ways.
However,
actively
fighting
to help his movie rise above its
script is director Wes Ball, who
made his feature film debut with
the original film and has almost
singlehandedly made the series
watchable. If there’s one thing
to take away from “The Death
Cure,” it’s that someone needs
to give Ball a script worthy
of his talents. The story he
works with here may be total
nonsense, but the action scenes
he weaves in are some of the
best the genre has ever seen.
From the opening sequence,
a thrilling train heist straight
out of a “Mad Max”/“Fast and
Furious” crossover, Ball handles
the scope of the action with
seeming ease, and by the nigh-
apocalyptic climax that recalls
a far more interesting version of
“Mockingjay – Part 2,” viewers
may find it easy to simply let go
and appreciate the insane scope
of what he’s crafted.
He isn’t always successful, as
“The Death Cure” still eventually
succumbs
to
the
bloated
exposition and poor pacing that
have defined much of his series.
This final installment clocks in
at almost two and a half hours
long, which would be hard to sit
through even if it was seemingly
intentionally extended. Again,
this has more to do with the
script and the demands of the
genre than anything else. By
the time we’ve fallen back into
the well-worn plot of another
resistance group (of course)
helping our heroes take the
down the big bad corporation
(of course) who has secretly
been monitoring their entire
lives (of course) for the greater
good (of course) because they’re
special (of course), there’s not
much anyone could have done to
save it. Whether it’s looked at as
the finale of its series or the de
facto endgame of its genre, “The
Death Cure” can’t outrun its own
formulaic writing.
‘Death Cure’ gives ‘Maze
Runner’ a bloated ending
JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Daily Arts Writer
STARZ
Culture II
Migos
Quality Contorl
FILM REVIEW
“The Death
Cure”
Rave + Quality 16
20th Century Fox
ALBUM REVIEW
TV REVIEW