mday • February 16, 1998
The Battalion
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Chris
Martin
\taff writer
I was sitting on a park bench the
other day, next to Local Yokel,
discussing the agony and ec
stasy of the music business.
“I find myself drawn to the
freedom and emotion of indie
rock," I said.
“Uh, izzat bangin’ around
from up them boys in Indianer?"
Yokel asked, and resumed strug
gling with the sunflower-seed
husk wedged between his upper-
right incisors.
“No sir,” I said, “it’s short for in-
ndent rock. Music free from corporate control,
ge bands, punks, poets and nuts writing, recording
distributing their own unique sounds.”
[Say, I’m not familiar with indie rock,” he said, eye
's arched like an a-frame roof. “How can I learn
«‘bout indie rock’s special brand of autonomous
lanship and do-it-yourself ethic?”
[Mister,” I said, “you sure picked the right park bench.”
you think modem rock radio is the home of cut-
|-edge music, then you’re merely a pawn in the
ie. Like the punk-rock renaissance of ’77, the ’90s
he golden age of independent music. It used to take
|e chords to make a record. Thousands of indie
|ds now don’t even know that many. But they do
something to say, and it’s worth the journey to ex-
e their world.
what becomes indie rock most? Is it merely un-
ularity? Sloppy musicianship? Tape hiss? No. It’s a
thing called “indie cred,” short for credibility, the
commodity and holy grail of indie rock. Like brain
i, you are bom with a set amount of indie cred,
ch, when abused, will diminish to never be regained
A good example of losing one’s indie cred comes
Pat Smear.
Step one: Pat helps found \A proto-punk band
ms. Indie cred high.
Step two: Pat becomes second guitarist for Nirvana
iium tours. Cred steady, but faltering.
Step three: Pat joins Foo Fighters. Cred quickly fading.
Step three: Pat becomes regular on MTY/’s “House of
;e.” Cred who?
aking the leap from commercial to indie rock is
ainly one of faith. Since indie rock has no regula-
i, be warned that for every Guided by Voices there
40 Eve’s Plumbs. Consider the following list a “Cliffs
:es” guide to indie rock.
• Indie Pop
fyou like: the Beatles, the Beach Boys.
fou might enjoy: Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Ho
tel, Beulah, Cardinal, Elf Power, Marbles, Baby Bird, the
Lilys, High Llamas, Heavenly, Orange Cake Mix.
Pop is back and it’s fizzier than ever. Arid when shop
ping for indie pop, there’s only one label to look for - Ele
phant 6, home of the sweetest sugar and saltiest tears.
• Indie Rawk
If you like: the Who, the Ramones, Nirvana, the
Kinks.
Try out: Guided by Voices, Pavement, Modest
Mouse, Billy Childish, Sleather-Kinney, lllyah
Kuryahkin, Lenola, Polvo, the Wedding Present.
Do not be frightened by the lack of production value
- look for the heart. Most indie bands follow the lo-fi
ethic, recording songs on whatever equipment is
handy, including Walkmans, answering machines or
Edison wax rolls.
• Emo
Should you enjoy: Paul Simon, Mazzy Star,
Bob Dylan.
Perhaps you would like: Elliot Smith, Sebadoh, Beth
Orton, Tobin Sprout, East River Pipe, Barbara Manning,
Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Dump, Belle and Sebastain.
Emo, short for emotional, often takes two, three or
30 listens before the power of the song snags your heart.
These backwoods rivers run deep.
• Indie Saves
Say you listen to: Jars of Clay, old U2, DC Talk.
Check out: Starflyer 59, Soul Junk, and the wonder
fully bizarre Danielson Family.
All Christians. All indie. All ready to rock you with the
rock of ages. Moses felt God in a whisper, these bands
feel God in the feedback.
• No Depression
If you have albums by: Johnny Cash, Waylon, Willie
and the Boys.
Try these: Silver Jews, Will Oldham, Smog, Uncle Tli-
pelo, Palace, Edith Frost, Grifters, Gillian Welch.
It’s about time someone put emotion back into
country music. If candy-coated neo-Nashville makes
your skin crawl, take a walk off the beaten path with
these bands.
• Wow and Flutter
If you groove to: Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Bjork.
Then perhaps try: Magnetic Fields, the 6ths, Future
Bible Heroes, Stereolab, Squarepusher, Tortoise, Turn On.
Not all electronica is bad. Stephin Merritt of the
Magnetic Fields makes it organic. These bands can’t
leave a good sound alone.
Please see Rock on Page 5.
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon
Samuel L. Jackson and Liev Sc
Directed by Barry Levinson
Rated R
Playing at Hollywood 16
Critique: A-
. :
z :
James
Francis
aggielife editor
I t seems
these
days,
since the
film Con
tact was
released,
the move
ment to
have sci
ence-fic
tion films
exude in
telligence
has become a unique ingredi
ent for filmmakers to imple
ment into their projects.
In that respect, it would
seem Sphere is this year’s Con
tact. While both films are simi
lar in premise, that being the
first contact with alien life, the
overall theme of Sphere puts it
more in the thriller genre than
that of drama.
In the film, Sharon Stone (as
the biochemist, Beth Halpern),
Samuel L. Jackson (as the
mathematician, Harry Adams),
Dustin Hoffman (as the psy
chologist, Dr. Norman Good
man) and Liev Schreiber (as
the astrophysicist, Dr. Ted
Fielding) are thrown together
as a crack team of specialists,
summoned by the govern
ment, to investigate an alien
spacecraft located 1,000 feet
beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Stationed aboard an under
water facility the government
constructed for the team, the
specialists are soon able to en
ter the spacecraft, where they
find a mystical sphere.
Not knowing the sphere’s
function and not fully compre
hending how the spacecraft got
to be at the bottom of the ocean
without a single scratch on it,
the team soon loses contact
with the surface. Before long,
nightmarish incidents begin to
take place, and they only can be
explained as physical manifes
tations of dreams and fears
each team member possesses.
In the end, trust becomes the
issue and the film delivers a
poignant theme about the role
mankind plays in the “big pic
ture” of time, space and beyond.
As headliners of the film,
Stone, Hoffman and Jackson
deliver what audiences should
expect — powerful perfor
mances ’til the end.
But in their backgrounds,
Schreiber and Peter Coyote,
who portrays the team leader
sent by a secret government
agency, hold their own, offer
ing the film a diverse range of
character portrayals.
Also in the film, recording
artist and actress Queen Lati-
fah takes on the role of Fletchr
er, one of two station workers
for the underground Habitat
the team members reside on.
Although many people
might be skeptical about a
Michael Crichton bestseller be
ing turned into a film these
days,. Sphere erases any doubt
that sometimes a work of liter
ature can be transformed into
a thought-provoking film.
As director, Barry Levinson
has given audiences a film
that will engage the mind,
keep the heart at a constant
hummingbird rate of speed
and stay in memory even after
the lights come up.
Samuel 1_ Jackson, Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman stand in bewilderment when they discover the sphere.
Spring Business Career Fair *98!! -»
February 16 th - 19' h A
Below are the companies attending the Career Fair and the days their booths will be set up:
(booths will be in Wehner Bldg., West Campus)
th
Tuesday the 17
Aerotek, Inc.
Alltel
Andersen Consulting
Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
ARCO Information Technology
Baker & Botts, LLP
Bear Creek Corporation
Becker CPA Review
C.H. Robinson Co.
Career Center
Cintas Corporation
Consolidated Stores Corporation
The Container Store
Continental Airlines
Coopers & Lybrand LLP
Dealer Solutions
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Duke Energy Corporation
Enron Corporation
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Ernst & Young
FootAction USA
Halliburton/B&R
Hastings Entertainment
HEB
Hewitt Associates
IKON Office Solutions
IMG Financial Group
Kids “R” Us/Babies “R” Us
Koch Industries. Inc.
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
Kroger Corporation
Mervyn’s California
Neiman Marcus
Northwestern Mutual Life
Office Depot
OLDE Discount Corporation
Price Waterhouse LLP
Price Waterhouse Management Consulting
Rexton Interactive
Royce Homes
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sewell Motor Company
Sherwin-Williams
Smith & Associates
Stage Stores, Inc.
State Farm Insurance
Toys ‘R’ Us
Wal-Mart
Walgreens
th
Wednesday the 18
Aerotek. Inc.
Alltel
Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
The Associates
Baker & Botts LLP
BDO Seidman LLP
Beazer Homes, Texas
B ridges tone/F irestone
C.H. Robinson Co.
Career Center
CarMax, The Auto Superstore
Cintas Corporation
Consolidate Graphics
Consolidated Stores Corporation
Eddie Bauer, Inc.
EDS
Edward Jones
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Foley’s
General Mills, Inc.
Grant Thornton LLP
Great-West Employee Benefits
Halliburton/B&R
Hastings Entertainment
Houston Chronicle
IKON Office Solutions
InfoTech Solutions Group
International Paper
JC Penney Co.
JDA Software Group
John Deere Company
Kids “R” Us/Babies “R” Us
KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
Kroger Co.
Kurt Salmon Associates
Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse
Mervyn’s California
National Instruments
NationsBank
Northwestern Mutual Life
OLDE Discount Corporation
Platinum Technology
Sears Tire Group
Smith and Associates
Tbys ‘R’ Us
TTI, Inc.
Var-Tec Telecom, Inc.
Wal-Mart
Walgreens
White Petrov McHone
th
Thursday the 19
Aerotek, Inc.
AIM Management Group, Inc.
Albertson’s
Arthur Andersen LLP
Ashland Chemical Company
BANC ONE Corporate Audit
Blockbuster Entertainment
Career Center
Central Intelligence Agency
Chevron
Circuit City Stores, Inc.
Compaq Computer Corporation
CompuServe Network Services
Conoco, Inc.
Conviser Duffy CPA Review
Dell Computer Company
Delta Dallas Staffing
DHL Worldwide Express
EDS
EQUIS
Expo Group
Federal Reserve Bank
Ferguson Enterprises, Inc.
Fidelity Investments
Frito-Lay
Grant Thornton LLP
The Home Depot
IKON Office Solutions
JDA Software Group
JPI
Keane, Inc.
MassMutual - The Wilson Agency
Melrose Apartments/Integroup Property Management
National Instruments
Norwest Financial
Payless Shoe Source
Pier 1 Imports
Prudential Preferred Financial Services
Ryan & Company PC
Smith & Associates
Southwestern Bell
The Summit Group, Inc.
Tactica Technology Group
Target
TeleCheck International
United States Gypsum Co.
USAA
Veeder-Root
Walgreens
Wells-Fargo Bank
'k Dress in business attire when speaking with companies at their booths k Prepare and bring resumes. Resume Help? Contact the Career Center: 845-5139.
Any other questions?? Try the BSC Website: http://wehner.tamu.edu/BSC