Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CONTACT US ' THEY SAID IT Story ideas? Questions? Comments? COLETTE: “A happy childhood is poor E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com preparation for human contacts.” THE YEAR IN MUSIC: 2000 out of left field Radiohead gradually grew more abstract during the ’90s, but no fan could have seen ‘Kid A coming BY JUSTIN BAJAN AND CHARLES TOMLINSON THE GAMECOCK Radiohead created an al bum full of beau tiful pop-rock songs with “The Bends,” but the band exercised its creativity and eccentric musical tastes on “OK Computer”; it stretched out its compositions and in cluded more synthesized sounds and electronics. But Radiohead shocked its fans and the music world with Kid A, an album that emerged from a swampy, chemically altered left field. Listeners can find comfort in the title of the first song, “Everything in Its Right Place,” but they will soon be disquieted: The song features no guitars or drums, except for a constant, subtle thump that nearly blends into the background. And Thom Yorke’s voice is thin and ethereal — when it’s not manipu lated and flipped backwards to cre ate a herky jerky effect. And if listen ers are still in disar ray from this illogi cal transi tion, the title track spooks them even more. This time, Yorke decides to use his voice as an instrument; rather than singing over the music, he blends in with his sur roundings. Yorke’s trapped in-a-tin-can vocal effect makes his lyrics unintelligible, leav ing the interpretation of the song up to the emotion he con veys in his singing. So up until this point, the listener might be expecting rock elements — electric gui tars, live drums, a vocalist who actually sings in words - to be absent, but again, Radiohead perplexes with “The National Anthem.” The song returns to familiar rock territory with an electric bass line, but puts eardrums to the test with a cacophonous Omette-Coleman like horn line. The album devi ates from the weird for the most part, with “How to Disappear Completely.” It is the most palatable song, with a strumming acoustic guitar, Yorke crooning “I’m not here, this isn’t hap pening,” and Phil Selway picking up his drum sticks for an entire song. The song does retain the sparse qualities of “Kid A” with sickly strings, twinkling keyboards and an eerie sound playing in the background. Johnny Greenwood gets a chance to display his guitar prowess on “Optimistic.” His sprawling guitar work domi nates the more rock-related track, which also features Selway on acoustic drums and _ PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood, left, and singer Thom Yorke were key players In “Kid A,” a breakthrough album of 2000. _ Yorke singing about the real ity of the food chain. Yorke, instead of remaining elusive and hard to relate to, repeat edly assures the listener, “The best you can is good enough.” Radiohead’s interesting rhythms keep “Kid A” mov ing. Greenwood and guitarist Ed O’Brien create a layered polyrhythmic effect with key boards and guitars on “In Limbo.” And Selway leaves out some of the beats on “Morning Bell,” a song lament ing a relationship’s bitter end ing. “Idioteque,” devoid of a bass line, is the album’s most unset tling song. An extended dance drum beat makes up most of the instrumentation, and Yorke wails nonstop over it. If listeners make it this far, the glorious “Motion Picture Soundtrack” waits to greet them with an accordion and bid them farewell with a glim mering harp. “Kid A” is a mainstream-music shocker, and the album doesn’t let up the entire time. Although it was Radio head’s most ambitious album, “Kid A” still overpowers any tired, formulaic rock music. It was a pleasant surprise for the new millennium and just what everyone needed to hear. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockmix kT“" The Radiohead Releases \ The Bends (1995) Radiohead started to grow up on this record, combining its attitude with maturity, Pablo Honey (1993) This album featured the youthful Radiohead barely separating itself from early '90s counterparts. OK Computer (1997) Radiohead expanded its mystique, sounding more alien than human. Amnesiac (2001) Recorded at the same time as "Kid A," this album had more electric guitar than its predecessor did. / Might Be Wrong (2001) Radio head's only official live recording, the release interpreted the loops and samples of albums. rtRAPwir rv ha win cTAnr;/THF RAMrrnru TOP 10 These were the most requested songs on USC's student radio station from Nov. 10-17. 1. “LIVE FROM X-RAY CAMP” Rocket from the Crypt 2. “HELLO LISA” __ Lisa Loeb 3. “SOUVENIR” ___Scaries 4. “NEVER GROW OLD" Jason Bowers 5. “HAVE YOU FED THE FISH?” Badly Drawn Boy 6. “SENOR BOOMBOX” Disco Biscuits 7. “PASATIEMPO” __ Joe Louis Walker 8. “SOCIAL LIFE” __Koufax 9. “LOST HORIZONS” _ Lemon Jelly 10. “YOU CAN PLAY THESE SONGS yVITH CHORDS” Death Cab for Cutie CD REVIEW Audioslave blends two music worlds “AUDIOSLAVE” Audioslave ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY MIKE LUKE THE (JAMECOCK Since the breakup of Rage Against the Machine in 2001, fans have seen the remaining mem bers consider using many new front men, including B Real of Cypress Hill and Chuck D of Public Enemy. The band finally settled with Chris Cornell, for mer lead singer and guitarist for Soundgarden, who also had a semisuccessful solo album, “Euphoria Morning,” in 1999. Together, they make up Audioslave. Let’s first address the question everyone is asking: What does the new band sound like? At first listen, it sounds exactly like what it should: Rage Against the Machine with Chris Cornell singing. We must assume most people weren’t thinking, “How will Rage’s music accommodate Chris Cornell’s solo work?” Audioslave is definitely a situa tion of Chris Cornell trying to fit into Rage’s music. Zach De La Rocha took an in tense, politically supercharged approach to Rage’s music, but could contribute only his voice. Cornell’s addition gives Audioslave rhythm- and lead-gui tar possibilities. Audioslave might seem like a toned-down Rage and a kicked-up “Euphoria Morning.” The result is perhaps how the members of Audioslave intend ed their music to be: eclectic and impossible to categorize. In the tradition of past Rage al bums, a disclaimer in the liner notes proclaims, “All noises were made by guitars, bass, drums or vocals.” Welcome to Audioslave. The album waits until the fifth track, “Like a Stone,” to intro duce the perfect blend of creative forces. Cornell’s rhythm guitar elevates his songwriting ability and guitarist Tom Morello’s son ic onslaught — in a band for which a second guitar is as un usual as a conventional “song writer" song. Vocal melodies similar to those on “Euphoria Morning” can be found throughout the al bum, on such songs as “Shadow of the Sun” and “I Am the Highway.” Most songs are indeed the best of both worlds — Cornell’s and Rage’s — and even when a soft er song might deter you from lis tening further, you will most likely miss a huge dynamic change and an incredible Morello noise solo. That’s the ♦ AUDIOSLAVE, SEE PAGE 9 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK From left, Brad Wllk, Chris Cornell, Tim Commerford and Tom Morello form Audioslave, a band composed of musicians from Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden. PLAY REVIEW Classic plays get new angle “OTHELLO" AND “MACBETH" Directed by Craig Miller and Jerry Winters, respectively ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY CARRIE PHILLIPS THE GAMECOCK USC students are bringing two classic plays to life on the Drayton Hall stage starting Thursday, but with a new per spective. Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “Macbeth” will play Thursday through Saturday with two performances each — and the audience will be on stage with the actors. The productions are this semester’s projects for two Master of Fine Arts directing candidates, Jerry Winters and Craig Miller. They decid ed to use a more experimen tal approach to presenting the plays, done in conjunction with each other; they have shifted the audience onto the stage, to sit on risers built specially for these produc firms “It creates an intimate set ting for the performance,” said Winters, who is di- “It Was a reefing blast “Macbeth.” , . _ “it puts the learning audience howto right on top use the of the ac- , _ tion language This also and your cuts the nor- own mally more- . than-300-seat personal auditorium interpre down to 130 tationof seats and re- .. stricts the Script actors to a to tell the 20-foot space, story you Both plays : z are using Want tO the same set tell.” and lighting design. The actors are mostly un dergradu ates and first-year graduate students, and both directors said they enjoyed having the opportuni ty to work with the new stu dents. This is the first time direct ing Shakespeare for both Winters and Miller, and they said that they picked these plays for similar reasons, in cluding themes of jealousy and greed. Miller said he chose “Othello” “because it has rele vant social issues: racism and > bigotry.” “It deals with love and jealousy that are born out of race and social status,” he said. “It was a blast learning how to use the language and your own personal interpre tation of the script to tell the story you want to tell,” Miller said. “Shakespeare affords us that.” Winters agrees. “It was a great learning experience. When you cut ‘Macbeth’ down to eight actors, it presents lot rtf -.1_11_ cnaiicngco. This is not the first time ei ther student has directed a USC production. Winters directed last year’s “The Hamlet Project,” which ran at Trustus Theater earlier this season, and “The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek.” Miller directed “Minnesota Moon” and “Speed the Plow.” “Othello” plays Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m. “Macbeth” plays Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 and are avail able at the door starting one hour before each show. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@notTmil.com