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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 2004)
CD releases fall short of avoiding derivative cjuality Artists including former Eugenean David Jacobs S train harness their genres RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR Rock 'n' roll is so rarely original that often the music praised during the year is merely derivative retreads of ideas put forward years before. What we often end up with are re minders of better ( ) times rather than D r\ 71 C\ a i rally calls for better 1\1. V 1 l.j V V futures. It all boils down to the same five or six ideas repeated ad nauseum un til something breaks and a new sound is created. We might be heading toward a breaking point soon, if this collection of new albums is any indication of what passes for modem musical flavor. First up is the latest from the Silos, "When the Telephone Rings." Oh, Tom Petty, what horrors you have wrought. This band sounds like noth ing better than a retread of a retread, pedestrian rock music without a single original idea. It's a light rock af fair in the style of Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen and other horrors of the 1980s. These guys want to be the Ea gles so badly it's almost palpable. The music is unoriginal and the lyrics are bland. Senseless and unqualified lines such as "Keep your heart innocent of this world" abound, as the band un leashes a message of hope and trust that would be all fine and dandy if it didn't make me want to vomit so profusely. None of it is ever well-written enough to be meaningful, and if songwriter Walter Salas-Humara had been able to squeeze out even an ounce of elo quence, instead of simply reciting what could be discarded bumper sticker lo gos, this whole affair might have been worthwhile. But what the hell, it proba bly sounds a whole lot better to a drunken audience than it does to mu sic snobs such as myself. Something you don't have to be ine briated to enjoy is the latest from song writer/guitarist David Jacobs-Strain (all right! A local boy!). The former Euge nean's new album, "Ocean or a Teardrop," is a decent collection of modem blues and blues-rock tunes, featuring a few more decent licks than some of the material deserves. Jacobs Strain is a superb acoustic-guitar player and an interesting vocalist, his voice reaching into registers much lower than his youth would lead you to be lieve were possible. The problem with the album is a simple unevenness in the quality of the songwriting. Some of the songs just don't cut it compared to the high lights. It isn't just a matter of Jacob Strain's abilities as a songwriter; some of the original material is fantastic, while some of the covers plod on without purpose. Strain's guitar work is also often buried by the overbearing backing band, as drums, guitars and mandolins are laid over songs that don't require much in the way of ex travagance. Simpler instrumentation and a more refined songwriting sense could have produced a masterwork, but what we have instead is worth while for the highlights nonetheless. Still uneven, but not so much so, is the latest from the Pleasure Club, entitled "The Fugitive Kind." The Your Summer Check out the September Experience Program September 7-17, 2004 • Short on group requirements? • Looking for a unique way to wrap up your summer? • Want to get ahead in your course of study? • Excited to get hack in the swing of classes? • Does $500 for 4 credits sound like a deal to you? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you need to find out more about the September Experience Program. Resident and nonresident students take one course for 4 credits in nine days for just $500. All are group satisfying! Classes meet from 8:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. Monday - Friday. We have the courses you want, the courses you need, and the courses you should take. Courses are included in Summer 04 DuckHunt. CpurspHp. ANTH 161 ANTH 170 GEOG 206 HIST 382 INTL 350 PSY 330 PSY 375 SOC 301 .Coarse Title World Cultures Intro to Human Origins Geography of Oregon Latin America International Leadership Thinking Development American Society Instructor CRM P. Scher 45407 G. Nelson 45366 M. Power 45365 C. Aguirre 45364 K. Carpenter 45361 H. Arrow 45363 J. Measelle 45362 M. Dreilling 45370 019281 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON SUMMER SESSION SEPTEMBER EXPERIENCE PROGRAM Register using DuckWeb <http://duckweb.uoregon.edu/>. Visit our Summer Session web site, <http://uosummer.uoregon.edu/SepExp.htmi>; coil us, 346-3475, or send us email, <septexp@darkwing.uoregon.edu.> album is an amalgamate of post punk influences mixed with Lou Reed-style subject matter, all junkies and hookers. Kicking off with the an themic "Hey! Hey! Hey!," the album sets itself up right in the middle of the current dance-oriented rock trend, with all the rap and disco bass lines and catchy-as-hell choruses that the sub-genera entails. But the band is a little more eclectic than that, mut ing a wide range of rock into the mix, including My Bloody Valentine-style guitars and a few tracks that are pure indie pop gems. The album's problem is less with the material than with the weak pro duction. The music has no bottom and nothing really rumbles or growls the way it wants to. Lead singer James Hall's voice sounds like it's straining against a weak public-announcement system. This problem becomes evi dent through the album's stand-out track, the scary-ass funk of "Crooks," a song recorded at an earlier date than the rest of the album and by a differ ent producer. It sounds like the rest of the album should sound like. An excellent effort, in any case. Last up is the Hentchmen, a mainstay of the Detroit rock scene for the past dozen years or so. Their new album, "FormFollowsFunction," has been tossed into the current trend of modem, glossy garage rock. Though it fits that definition, the band stands out for actually knowing what 1960s garage rock actually sounded like. The album is a dozen simplistic rock songs about the love of cars, the love of girls, girls and cars, girls in cars, etc. It's old-fashioned party music and en joyable in its simple pleasures. The album never proves why this should be preferable to the original garage rockers, except for maybe its more sophisticated lyrical approach. In the end it might be more rewarding to pull out the old "Back from the Grave" or "Pebbles" compilations. Basing its sound on instrumental interplay and sing-song melodies rather than speedy riffs, the group is a refreshing take on the old sounds of rock, even if not an original one. ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com Large Slice Pizza 22 &■ ounce'P drink ♦ 884 East 13th Ave Eugene, OR 97401 (541) 343-PIZA (7492) / Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm • Sun 4:00 pm -10:00 pm J / yi / / ® Email: Jh.hbw@Jhnet.com / Need extra WwmCI mm cash? If you’re available 3:00-5:00pm Monday-Friday, we’ve got the job ir you. 019560 Now hiring for an advertising assistant to start early September. The Oregon Daily Emerald, the student-run independent campus newspaper, seeks an advertising assistant to start early September. We are looking for a reliable, detail-oriented individual to perform several crucial daily activities necessary to keeping the display ad office running smoothly. Responsibilities include laying out the pages of the newspaper, inputting and tracking national advertising and other duties as assigned. Apply in person 8am-5pm, Monday-Friday, 300 EMU. Deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, 8/20. Oregon Daily Emerald An Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workplace.
