The Maybe Happening to hold CD release party
The Portland-based duo use
poetry, guitars and violins
to flesh out their sound
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
Nathan Langston and Jonathan An
dersen, tire Portland duo that compris
es The Maybe I Iappening, have been
playing together for a long time.
"We started off playing video games,"
Langston said. "Now we play in a band."
The two have been close since
Langston was 2 and Andersen was 3,
and they eventually decided to form a
band. But this is not to say they were
completely alike.
"I was classically trained," Langston
said. "I was playing Bach, Rachmani
noff, etc. Jon, on the other hand, took a
few lessons, but mosdy was playing the
Pixies and Nirvana."
Combining their disparate musical
influences, along with Langston's inter
est in poetry, The Maybe I Iappening do
not resemble many other bands. Mixing
spoken word poetry with Andersen's
distorted guitar and Langston's violin,
the band creates a sound that Andersen
describes as "Mozart meets Metallica."
"Many of our songs are like classical
compositions," Andersen said. "Some
of them are just standard verse/cho
ms/verse, but many of them are classi
cal in the way they move through many
different areas."
With a new self-titled album, the
band is ready to expand beyond the few
Eugene and Portland clubs where they
have been able to score gigs. Filling out
their sound on the album with trum
pets, drums and cellos, they recorded
many songs that Langston and Ander
sen had been playing for a while, as
well as a few new tunes. In regards to
the songwriting, the band uses a simple
and collaborative process.
"One of us will come up with a riff or
an idea and we'll play around with it
until we come up with something,"
said Andersen.
The newly recorded work might
mean the band could find a larger au
dience. That audience will be able to
watch the band Saturday night at
Foolscap Books, where the Happening
will be having their CD release party.
But publicity isn't all the band has in
mind for the event.
"It's going to be a multimedia
event," Foolscap owner Marietta
Bonaventure said. "There will be oth
er bands from Portland, like Broken
Prophylaxis and the Binary Dolls.
There will be local poets, including
Jerry Wagner and Doug Jerome, some
interactive art and maybe film."
The show is the latest in a series of
"experiment shows" that Langston has
put on at the bookstore.
"The idea is to get in as many forms
of expression as possible," Langston
said. "We try to get everything that we
can involved in it. We're even getting a
stand-up comic."
Langston has a long history with
Foolscap. While an English major at the
University last year, he won the
Foolscap-hosted Eugene Poetry Slam
and was a member of the Eugene Slam
team. But after graduating, Langston
decided to move to Portland.
"I think I did all I could do in Eu
gene," Langston said. "Anyway, my
girlfriend lives here."
After their new album is released to
the public, the Happening aren't exactly
Courtesy
Portland's The Maybe Happening will hold a CD release party at Foolscap Books on Saturday.
sure what their next move will be.
"Sound wise, I think we might be
come more extreme in the way of dy
namics, switching from really soft to re
ally loud," Andersen said. "Beyond that
1 really don't know where we'll go."
For the moment, the band is simply
looking forward to the upcoming show.
"It's going to be great," Langston
said. "This party is going to be of comic
book proportions."
Foolscap Books is located at 780 Blair
Blvd. The Maybe Happening CD release
party begins at 9 p.m., with tickets avail
able for $5 at the door. The Happening's
new CD will be on sale for $8.
Contact the senior pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
Band uses odd noises to create beauty
The Austin, Texas-based
band Explosions in the Sky
has a stunningly unique, if
slightly pretentious, sound
By Helen Schumacher
Pulse Columnist
I hate the sounds of modem living.
Our ears are coastantly subjected to the
buzz of technology — computers, re
frigerators, heaters, fans, cars, leaf blow
ers and lawn mowers — that is devel
oped to make our lives easier. And I
suppose they do, but at a cost. Silence
is rare, if not non-existent, in a city.
Explosions in the Sky, an Austin,
Texas, quartet, provides a remedy for
this 21st-century drone. Their latest
album, "The Earth Is Not a Cold
not the decaying sphere of metal and
concrete that comes across in the
sound of machinery.
The album begins with the song
"First Breath After Coma." And that's
what it sounds like, an aural awaken
ing after years of listening to buzzing
motors. Explosions In the Sky trans
form the noise of daily life into music.
REVIEW
Dead
Place," is
an affirma
tion that
the Earth
is, in fact,
Instead of a leaking faucet, listeners get
a steady, dripping guitar note and a
bass drum heartbeat. Layer upon layer
of instrumentation— guitar, bass, per
cussion— is added, building texture
and creating tension.
In other songs, such as "The Only
Moment We Were Alone" and "Six
Days at the Bottom of the Ocean," the
parts accumulate, becoming more
frantic, and then fade, only to return in
frill force, like a hurricane ripping out
street lights and creating waves that
erode away the soil. Finally, all traces
of civilization collapse into the sea.
The musicians in the band are able
to capture the dynamics of the
natural world and transform it into
thick and dreamy post-rock like that
of bands Mogwai, Godspeed You
Black Emperor! or The Dirty Three.
With its sweeping, grandiose songs,
Explosions in the Sky belong to a
pretentious genre of music, but not
without reason. It takes patience and
endurance from the musician to sus
tain the energy and emotion for so
long. "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead
Place" is only five songs long, but
spans just longer than 45 minutes.
Just like the name, Explosions in the
Sky is both apocalyptic and stunning.
Contact the Pulse columnist at
helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com.
TRIUMPH
continued from page 11
environment," before all merge into a
call and response finale that answers
"Needs a little pooping" to lyrics
such as "Every actor who tries to
sing," and "Shitty movies made
from crap TV." Most of the band
from O'Brien's TV show provides
the music.
Obviously, this album will rub
up against the edge of some listen
er's comfort zones. Laughter often
requires a suspension of judgment.
Just how much suspension will de
termine how much enjoyment
laughter is elicited from a given
person.
Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
The Oregon Humanities Center presents
a symposium on
February 29-March 1,2004
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Susan Niditch
Amherst College
War in the Hebrew Bible:
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Considerations
CMMMIAPV 90
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Mahmoud Ayoub
Temple University v
Jihad and Fighting:
Peace and War
in the Qur’an
MARCH 1
Both lectures will be held at 8 p.m. in Room 182, Lillis Hall.
These events are free and open to the public, and are
cosponsored by tire College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information, or for disability accommodations,
please caB (541) 346*3934.
EO/AA/ADA institution committed to cultural diversity.
O
UNIVERSITY
OF OREGON
■vmvlHflli
Communitu
Center (or the
Performing Arts
8th &
Lincoln
■ Friday •
Portland Showcase:
The Motive, Life at These Speeds, lotmyXand the
Groadies, Pseudosix
Rock
$3 advance for UO students with ID
%i, door; $6 advance for general public, $8 door
8:oo pm
■ Saturday ■
Deethoof
The Papercuts
Indie Rock
$8 advamce, $io door, 8:oo pm
■Sunday ■
Hie FCCToim
Saqe Francis Sloe Beats
Grand Buffet, Mac Lethal,
The Gimme Fund, Macromatics
Hip-Hop
Si2 advance, $15 door, 8:00 pm
■ Monday •
The Locust
Hie PtotTo Blow Up the Eiffel Tower,
YOB, Ned
Metal
$8 advance, $10 door, 8:00 pm
■ Wednesday ■
The Suicide Girts Burtesque Tour
with Bloom
Dance Performance
$8 advance, $10 door, 8:00 pm
All Ages Welcome
6X7-2746
Student Groups
Advertise in the Oregon Daily Emerald.
Call 346-3712 to speak with a sales rep.
We have great University rates.
BRIEF
continued from page 10
Human Services from the University.
"I thought about going into social *
work, but the position with Student
Life has allowed me to focus on my
music and stay in Eugene," Maken
na said.
Makenna took piano lessons for sev
eral years.
'The minute I started (lessons) I fell
in love with it," she said. "I knew it was
apart of me."
Inspired by the likes of Judy Garland
and Joni Mitchell as a youth, Maken
na's own sound has a self-described
New Age feel with songs focusing on
transformation and finding oneself.
Makenna played at the old Eu
gene City Bistro and local coffee
houses, but she didn't release her
first album until May.
With the help of Barbara Higbie, a
singer and songwriter who has worked
on more than 40 albums, Makenna got
started on her first release.
"Barbara Higbie is such an inspira
tion for me," Makenna said. "Since May
she's been such a great supporter of my
music."
With Higbie's help, Makenna also
produced a six-song blues and jazz al
bum that was released in October, and
she said she hopes to release another al
bum later this year.
— Beau Eastes
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§ 2841 Willamette *
484-1727