The Battalion • Page 2
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Monday • April 111
lor
Sincola'reaches Pixie-dom with debut album
By Kyle Littlefield
The Battalion
Sincola
What the Nothinghead
Said.
Caroline Records
★ ★ 3/2 (out of five)
From
Sincola’s
album cover
i t seems to be a trend in music for
artists to try to keep a good thing
going. When Kurt Cobain died,
there were bands like The Offspring
and Bush waiting in the wings; to be the next
love interest of alternative music fans.
The trend continues. It seems that when the
Pixies disbanded, and front man Black
Franci^/Frank Black went on to try to be Beach
Boy Brian Wilson, a large pair of shoes were left to
be filled.
Enter Sincola’s first full-length release, What the Nothinghead Said.
The Austin band’s debut sounds incredibly like the Pixies.
Drummer Terry Lord says in a press release, “We’re probably influ
enced by a lot of bands but, you know, you swallow something and by the
time it comes out the other end ...” However, Sincola’s music merits a de
scription other than “excrement.”
For instance, songs like “Sedate Me”, with lines like, “Sedate me ... I’ll
be your wish / your kewpie doll bitch,” show that Sincola can provide in
fectious, sing-song hooks that fueled the Pixies to underground success.
And then there is the similarity of all the guitars.
Two guitarists to be exact, create the Pixie-esque wall of guitars
sound. Pixies lead guitarist Joey Santiago may find himself asking for a
cut of the royalties on songs like “Bitch” which relies on a catchy, uncon
ventional guitar line echoing the Pixies’ song “Alex Eiffel.”
While the majority of the Pixies songs were sang by Black Francis,
Sincola has a female vocalist. With a seemingly bottomless grab-bag of
shock tactics, lead vocalist Rebecca Cannon shouts, rants and scares.
She sounds like a more-aggressive Kim Deal, but can turn on a
strange, cute charm. In today’s world of estrogen-driven music, Sincola
will have an audience.
But the resemblance doesn’t
stop there. Many of Sincola’s songs ex
periment with structures that reside some
where on the frontiers that the F'ixies tamed,
or rather untamed, in the 1980s.
It’s easy to imagine the recording session
for “Hint of the Titty”: “OK, I want you to
whisper some meaningless, cool stuff over this guitar part
right here, and then we will step on our distortion pedals '
here, and it will rock.”
And it does, indeed, rock. What the Nothinghead Said benefits;
from its odd sense of dynamics, which makes for interesting miii
sic.
It all comes down to whether wearing your influences on;/
sleeve is a good thing to do in the music world. The label of "Pias
tators” will probably plague the band. That’s too bad becausetk
ideas on Nothinghead are fresh and inventive in a time where ns
ternative bands are churning out thinly-veiled Top-40 hits.
Too bad Sincola’s musicians wear their influences a little tme';
Rap, TV stars explore silver screen in "Boys'
By Nick Georgandis
The Battalion
Bad Boys
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith and
Tea Leoni
Directed by: Michael Bay
Playing at: Schulman 6
Rated: R
Rating: 1/2 (out of five)
T he scene is tense.
A convenience store owner, thinking good cops
Marcus Garnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike
Lowery (Will Smith) are going to rob his store, has
pulled a large pistol on them.
In turn, the two draw three guns of their own on
him and Lowery instructs him on what to do next.
“Back up, lay the gun on the counter ... and get
me a pack of Tropical Fruit Bubblicious.”
“Yeah,” Garnett deadpans, “and throw in a pack
of Skittles.”
Such is the theme of Bad Boys, which sets up
stand-up comedian-turned-television star Lawrence
and rapper-turned-television star Smith as action
stars in a fast-paced thriller about two Miami vice
cops looking for a lost shipment of heroin and the
killer of a friendly prostitute.
The movie starts off with the two driving in
scenic Miami in Lowery’s extremely stylish Porsche.
Lowery is from a rich family and feels he has to
prove himself to the rest of the force by working that
much harder.
Garnett is the exact opposite of Lowery, a family
man with three small children. To him, being a po
lice officer is about earning a living. He knows that
he has to be good to keep food on the table for his
very middle-class fainily.
The first few minutes of the movie show that
there is a very natural rapport between Smith and
Lawrence. They trade quick, biting barbs with each
other until they are confronted by two carj ackers
who decide Lowery’s Porsche is too nice to pass up
on.
With a punch from Lowery and a swift kick to
the groin by Garnett, the comedy becomes an action-
comedy, moving quickly with substantial wit.
The new case for the pair is solving a late-night,
high-tech robbery at the very police station where
they work. Someone has stolen approximately $180
million worth of heroin from an earlier bust. The po
lice suspect an inside job, and thus, the case must
be solved before the press turns the station upside
down.
Along the way to solving the crime, the two meet
Julie (Tea Leoni) the sole witness to the killing of a
prostitute who knew about the break-in. Julie man
ages to escape the bad guys, and calls Lowery.
Trouble is, Lowery isn’t around to field the call
and Garnett is forced to fill in his partner’s shoes.
Because Julie refuses to deal with any police help
besides Lowery, he and Garnett have to swap lives
until the case is solved, providing many laughs as
Garnett trips around in Lowery’s bachelor pad and
Lowery adapts to Garnett’s zoo-esque home life.
Both actors are properly muscled for the fighting
and gunfire scenes of the movie, although
Lawrence’s lack of height, especially compared to
the 6-foot, 3-inch Smith, makes him appear silly at
times. ,
But the real surprise is Lawrence’s acting ability.
He does exceptionally well as the married man,
looking to provide for his family, yet not wanting to
be upstaged by his younger, smoother partner.
Smith is solid in his role, not all that different
from his role on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” He’s
got plenty of money, a sharp tongue and a way with
the ladies. Still, his police work scenes are good
enough to believe.
Leoni is the real weak link in the movie. Her
lines seem forced and most of her comedic bits are
not funny unless they are accompanied by retorts
from Lawrence or Smith.
With ‘the probable success of this film at the box
office. Smith and Lawrence could become hot com
modities on the silver screen. Somewhere down the
line, they’ll have to make the decision between the
movies and television. Which success to pick?
Whatcha gonna do?
"Made in England" recycles same oldst)
By Erin Hill
The Battalion
Elton John
Made in England
Rocket Records
★ * 1/2 (out of five)
E lton John is all about ballads. And some
times he goes overboard on his latest album
Made in England.
You have to cut the man a little slack though.
For starters, he used to put out incredible music.
And second, he sings every last track it as if he
means it with his entire being. He begs to be tak
en seriously, even though his music makes that
difficult at times.
It seems that John doesn’t know how to be sub
tle. Perhaps it is his choice of mediums — piano and
orchestra — that causes his album to sound like one
big finale, or maybe the Michael Bolton syndrome
has hit the U.K.
Either way, the size of his songs can get a little
repetitive. REO Speedwagon is probably going to
ask him to make an appearance any day now, be
cause it sounds like John is trying to recreate the
huge Speedwagon sound of its tenure as the top
slow-song band of the ’80s.
And yet, there is a nice mix of personal and pub
lic in his choice of song subjects. His concern is both
for his heart and the state of the world.
The influence of touring partner Billy Joel rears
its head in “Made in England,” a song about being
indebted to American rock’n’roll.
“I was made in England ... I had Little Richard
/ and that black piano ..."atid the boy from Tupe
lo,” belts John.
In “Please,” he discusses commitment in a most
unique way: “Please let me grow old with you ...
tied to the same track / the two of us look back / at
oncoming trains ahead.”
Sometimes John’s instrumentation doesn’t fit
the message of the songs — sad songs sound
cheery, and vice versa. While this can be disconcert
ing, it also serves to showcase John’s messf ,
there is both a silver lining and a dark clonk
of the human experience.
References to his homeland are plentifi
pearing in “Made in England”, “Belfast”, and j
tude.” It sounds like he is trying to returr j
roots.
“Belfast”, in particular, is a beautifuls:!
well-crafted and sweet in its delivery.
The London Sessions orchestra is a pleasis!
dition to the song, and the violin, pipes anil
dion at the end of the song provide the local j
Ireland.
The listener leaves the song with the feci
helpless regret — highly appropriate eonsicj
the problems in Ireland. He
shows rare restraint on this
track by not overdoing it on
the emotions. Too bad it’s
the track least likely to be
released as a single.
John shows his sensitive
side through the lyrics in
“Man,” written by his lyri
cist Bernie Taupin. Even
though he is a talented
songwriter, Taupin gets
caught up in his own style.
In several songs, he seems
to be following a formula
called “Writing a top 40 pop
song.”
He feeds John lots of lines about embrac::. '
times, no matter what the result.
Call Elton John stupid, call him brave. Hijf&
keeps coming back for more.
Actually, call him a recycler, for that’s niDfS
is. He just isn’t creating anything terribly
this album.
Die-hard fans will beg for the old EltontoK
big boots, bizarre glasses and all.
He can do better. No one expects a radical
ture in style, because John’s trademark pian:
ing is one of the best things about him, but; 1
change-up would be appreciated at times.
fl
Elton Joh
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Thursday, April 13
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:ih©w
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