Reviews: music & book
reviews
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FMUSC
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My Morning Jacket 1/2
Remember those big, colorful, plastic microphones you get at a carnival that
does you're pick eems inter-play with.
rower
would make an echo when you would talk into them? That's what it sounds like to listen to the vocal stylings of My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James. The Louisville band has just released its third major-label record, simply entitled Z.
The album masterfully incorporates some diverse influences in a very
verse influences in a very cohesive way. Overall, they have a definite space-rock overtone accentuated by a southern bluegrass style of riffing. James' vocals eerily meander in and out of the music with an echoy falcetto tinge. At other times, the record finds an upbeat, funk/soul sound without losing its twangy, alt-rock overtones which are very well accentuated by the accompanying keyboards. The band pulls all of this off in only 10 sweet, yet purposeful tracks.
make this really sad, mysterious kind of dance music, something that really got into your butt, but also really got into
I would recommend this album to fans of Radiohead, The Kings of Leon, and The White Stripes. I know those bands aren't similar at all, but this band is rather diverse.
your head and made you think." And that's what he's done.
On the band's website bio James explains his intentions: "I wanted to ...
- Joe Sibinski
Shalimar The Clown
By Salman Rushdie, Random House, Available in Hardcover, $25.95 1/2
Very few modern authors have sparked the controversy and provocation that Salman Rushdie has. So incendiary is Rushdie's work that Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (basically, a hit) against him in response to the novel, The Satanic Verses.
Indian by birth, Rushdie usually focuses on that country — specifically the disputed region of Kashmir, which is populated by both Hindus and Muslims. A staunch atheist, Rushdie nonetheless has a religious focus, that is to say, religious extremism. The title character, Shalimar, grows up in a Muslim family in Kashmir and over time, turns into a religious fanatic and terrorist.
The novel begins when Max Ophuls, a celebrated ambassador and American hero, is slain in front of his daughter India's house in Los Angeles. The assassin is Shalimar, Ophuls' driver. The rest of the novel details the lives of both men, and how they meet their fates. It's clever that such an assassination at first seems little more than a political statement, but is soon revealed to be much more personal and passionate.
Onhar and praetender in Kashmir, Shalimar marries a Hindu
dancer named Boonyi, who in turn ends up having a connection with Ophuls and his illegitimate daughter. Ophuls' past, specifically his World War II Resistance work and ambassador experience, is wonderfully detailed. The two men are very well fleshed-out, and their motives and experiences make them quite plausible.
The women, however, are mere cutouts and come off as spoiled brats (namely Ophuls' daughter India). Since the women aren't the focus of the novel, it seems almost nit-picky to point out flaws in their development. However, when the women are the men's driving motivation, a little more touching up should be expected. Also, Rushdie, who describes Kashmir with utter love and devotion, boils Los Angeles down to its popular culture skeleton, relying on clichés and stereotypes to depict it.
For those looking for a thought-provoking read about the sad state of current global affairs (come on, you know you are). Shalimar is another feather in Rushdie's cap of literary achievement.
- Kelsey Hayes
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