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THE YEAR IN MUSIC: 1996 Album fuses genres with genius Beck blends musical styles into a remarkable record r “ODELAY” Beck BY JUSTIN BAJAN THE OAMECOCK Uninformed music fans might have thought of Beck as a one-hit wonder with his funny but self deprecating debut single, “Loser,” off his 1994 album, “Mellow Gold.” But the California native released two additional albums, “One Foot in the Grave” and “Stereopathic Soul Manure,” in the same year, proving his work ethic and un limited creativity. Later, in 1996, Beck released “Odelay,” a rampant but care fully crafted collection of influ ences, genres and witty compo sitions. The album cements Beck’s range and musical multi ple-personality syndrome. The album sounds as if Hank Williams, the Beastie Boys and Bob Dylan all collaborated — with Beck assuming the role of a Quincy Jones-like producer ex traordinaire. And only Beck could fuse punk, country, hip hop, trip-hop, acid jazz, acid rock, garage rock, folk and the blues to create a perfectly coher ent album. Something that’s also re markable about “Odelay” is Beck’s cryptic and convoluted lyrics, which could be figurative or just babble. He says such seemingly symbolic lines as “Heads are hanging from the garbage man trees” on “Devil’s Haircut” and “I remembered the way that you smiled, when the gravity shackles were wild” on “Jack-Ass.” But Beck’s lyrical mysticism doesn’t take anything away from his undeniable talent and only further adds to his ge nius. “Odelay” is a musical pil grimage that takes the listener from the rustic “Hotwax” and “Lord Only Knows” to rougher works such as “Derelict” and “Minus.” Beck continued on his creative surge and has released three more albums to date, but none are as magnificently spo radic as “Odelay.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Rap group kept soul in hip-hop The Roots took hip-hop beyond sampling and loops “ILLADELPH HALFLIFE” The Roots BY CHARLES TOMLINSON THE GAMECOCK The Roots were a band that took hip-hop in a new direction, with live musicians who used in struments to create a form of or ganic hip-hop that strayed from drum machines and samples. While he played like a true jazz drummer on previous al bums, on “Illadelph Halflife,” Questlove gave a more focused performance and tightened his timekeeping so much that he of ten sounds like a loop. But he played like a loop with soul, and elements of a human touch re mained in his playing, which locked in perfectly with bassist Hub’s low-end grooves. Black Thought emceed inno vatively, placing emphasis on syllables not normally stressed, such as the “al” at the end of “universal.” The album is full of clever turns of phrase, such as when Malik B says, “Hip-hop extravaganza/Tell your man I’ll slump him with a stanza/Now who’s the boss? Not Tony Danza.” The Roots commonly used their songs to address social is sues and violence in urban ar eas, such as on “Episodes” and “It Just Don’t Stop.” The album closes with “The Adventures in Wonderland,” a disturbing, explicit spoken word commentary b^ Ursula Rucker about the plight of some urban black females. The'group isn’t all drama, though. Scratch made an ap pearance on one song and pro vided light-hearted and occa sionally hilarious vocal turntable sounds. And “One . Shine,” complete with a saxo phone soloist, showed that the Roots hadn’t abandoned jazz. After “Dladelph Halflife,” the Roots released another studio album and have another re lease coming out next year. The group also released a live al bum that showcases the band’s ability to improvise and stretch out its songs. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmaiLcom Song CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 people think of such events, they usually think about a coffeehouse with soft music. “I don’t like playing there. I like rock ‘n’ roll like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty—people that don’t play coffeehouses,” Davis said. “I like to see these mu sicians strip down and not be bored out of their mind. People get a bad connotation when they hear singer/songwriter night: that’s not what we’re all about.” This concert will be “more in timate, ” he said. The crowd “gets to be right there in front of you. ” Hunt added: “It’s more of an in timate approach to get in the minds of the artists who are writing.” Comments on this story?E-mail gammxkmvceditor@hotmail.com Help Save A Life - Donate Plasma Today. It's The Right Thing To Do! And Each Month You Can Earn Up To $180 BIOLIFE PLASMA SERVICES 803.254.6683 1916 Taylor Street* Columbia, SC 29201 Exams CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 back to talking on IM all day, tak ing beginning-level courses and not having to worry about actual ly getting a job in a little more than a year. And I miss the love ly convenience of the meal plan I denounced this time last month. But the bottom line is this: We can’t let this place kill our joy. Except for you Instant Messenger people who like to delineate your masochistic schedules; if you like that kind of thing, go for it. But, for the rest of you, if studying gets i- " . ' - too hard, and you can’t concen trate, listen to a CD or go see a movie, Don’t tell yourself, “I’ll wait until Friday night, and then it will be OK to have some fun.” Even though it seems that your responsibilities will pounce upon you and eat you alive if you stop even for a moment, everything will be fine, and you’ll be saner in the long run if you leave the books for a little while, even during midterms. Tomlinson is a third-year print journalism student. His column will run Wednesdays in The Mix. Data Management and Research Analyst Experienced data analyst needed to set up collection methods and analytical procedures for a large community mental health center. Knowledge of computer software, databases, spreadsheets, and word processing is essential. 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