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RECYCLE
Albums mix bland sound, mediocre lyrics
Music review
Ryan Nyburg
Pulse Columnist
Film critics often say the easiest re
views to write are either for great films
or terrible films. It’s the ones in be
tween that are difficult. I have recently
found, after wading through a vast sea
of musical mediocrity, the same goes
for music. What adjectives do you at
tach to an album that is merely “OK”?
‘Might as well haul out the thesaurus
and give it a shot.
First off is the new solo album from
Depeche Mode keyboardist and gui
tarist Martin L. Gore, “Counterfeit
2.” Oh goody, 1980s nostalgia. The
album is a collection of covers radi
cally reworked by Gore into droning
synth-trash with vocals that never
make it beyond lounge singer-style
crooning. I think the best example of
what is wrong with this album can be
summed up in the cover of Nick
Cave’s “Loverman,” a song practical
ly begging for menace and over-the
top vocal pyrotechnics. Gore, on this
track and through the rest of the al
bum, barely reaches a whimper.
While the production values are
superb, this doesn’t translate to them
being interesting. The whole album
feels like Depeche Mode B-sides —
well done, eclectic, but not worth the
trouble, and certainly not the materi
al for a full-length album.
Next, a litde something for the cof
feehouse crowd: Pseudo folk singer
Brian Webb’s “Broken Folk.” The al
bum is full of early 1990s pop-rock
melodies. Unfortunately, it also con
tains all the lyrical cliches from that
era as well. As I always say, it’s difficult
to take someone seriously as a song
writer when they remind you of
Matchbox 20. This is the kind of light
rock that never seems to break out of
the Starbucks concert circuit. The
only track with any semblance of life in
it is “Oh Lord,” a bluesy number that
wants so badly to rock but never seems
to take off. Webb will perform in Eu
gene on May 15, but no venue has been
announced at this time.
Speaking of songwriters who
sound like other, better songwriters,
Rod Picott has released his sopho
more effort, “Stray Dogs.” This man
sounds too much like Bruce Spring
steen for me to ever be comfortable
Courtesy
with him. Aside from personal preju
dice, the album is just on the brink of
being really good. Unfortunately it
gets bogged down in its similarities to
other artists. Picott sounds like his
influences, not himself, and it’s only
on a couple of the latter tracks that
he seems to develop his own voice.
Unfortunately it’s all for naught; what
doesn’t sound like Tom Petty or The
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Boss are bland filler tracks you forget
about before they’re over.
Nowforsomething worthwhile. The
San Francisco band Vue just released a
limited edition EP as a preview of a
new full-length album, which is due
sometime this summer. The band has
liberal doses of that garage rock sound
that’s so trendy these days, but unlike
most bands on that trip, Vue has more
eclectic influences. There are surf and
rockabilly guitar lines laid over the dis
torted riffs. 1960s pop melodies and
even some rough Broadway musical
numbers are buried under all the noise
—Burt Bacharach by way of The Son
ics. While much of the EP feels incom
plete, it shows promise, and the up
coming album should be one
to wait for.
So that’s it. Three albums not
worth the trouble and one decent 18
minute EP. Not the most invigorating
collection of music, but informing
the public is what we do. And if
you’ve learned anything from these
albums, it’s that you should save your
money for summer.
Contact the Pulse columnist
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
Picnic
continued from page 7
Shapiro neither glamorizes nor de
monizes these people; he simply
makes their plight appear under
standable, human, real.
The longest story in the collection,
“two hermits,” at 14 pages (most av
erage six pages), is easily my favorite.
Here the main character is narrating
the tale. He’s aware that he’s going
crazy, and he describes it to you, but
you feel helpless watching it happen.
The power of this collection is most
evident in “two hermits”: Shapiro
weaves compelling, frightening and ex
citing tapestries. The fact that he’s also
bringing out the realities of living with
mental illness is beside the point.
These are great short stories.
Perhaps I relate to these stories so
much because I’ve sometimes
thought I was going crazy; I recog
nized I was just a few steps away from
being diagnosed, and I thank the uni
verse it’s never gone that far.
Or, it could be that Shapiro has en
gaged these mental illnesses in such a
way that anyone can recognize the
ways our brains malfunction.
In either case, everyone should
give “Short of a Picnic” a read.
There is little help in America for
people with mental illnesses — es
pecially in Oregon’s post-Measure
28 budget nightmare — and we
should all be ashamed.
Instead of shame, though, here’s a
better scenario: Americans could un
derstand the reality of mental illnesses
and provide appropriate care. This
book is one step in that direction.
“Short of a Picnic” is on sale right
now at www.amazon.com, and it also
can be purchased from the publisher
at www. Be-Mused. com.
Contact the editor in chief
at editor@dailyemerald.com.