Wednesday, April 7. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Silverchair matures with new album
By Matt Cox Kansan music boy
Silverchair pumps up its political views and musical maturity in Neon Ballroom.
its previous two albums, *Frostgast*
and *Freak Show*, were mediocre
attempts at the angershidden alternative market. The radio singles on those albums were disappointing highlights.
On Neon Ballroom, at
the melody. It's a smart modern rock radio single.
SILVERCHAIR
Neon Ballroom
Kansan Rating: B+
Emotion Sickness, a lesser candidate for a radio single, is an impressive epic that intertwines classical music and rock. The song begins the album with a powerful string arrangement that seems to mock the
least, the angst seems to be Silie: chair's own and not a music fashion statement. The music is a far step forward from the previous work, with a refined range of rock from puppy love stuff to stuff penetrating the hard-core genre.
Anthem for the Year 2000 is Silverchair's current single heading toward hot rotation on 105.9 the Lazer. The song revolves around the political lyrics, Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Daniel Johns sings, "We are the youth. We'll take your fascism away." Johns attempts to point out that his generation (the post Gen-X-ers) aren't the lazy pessimists that politicians project they are. The intensity of the guitars and bass accent the addicting rhythm of
typical rock guitar part. The guitar then comes in and quietens the strings, while Johns sweetly sings the melody that seems to float in the
air. Then the strings come swinging back in to emphasize the heightening tension of the music. The music then takes on a gothic piano and string arrangement, building the song further until the hard-edged guitars explode. It's Mozart doing modern rock.
The string arrangements don't work as well in Black Entangled Heart. The song is an aggravated love song. The music is guitar noise with very tight violins and cellos and an annoying harp lead that resembles cheesy fantasy movies. It doesn't work.
The only other problematic song is *Dearest Helps!*. No matter how hard the song tries, it just can't shake the fact that its tone is dangerously close
to Nirvana's Come as You Are. The verse uses the same drum, guitar and vocal effects as the
and vocal effects as the
late Kurt Cobain's old single.
That fact nea lly ruins the song.
Ana's Song is the most unpredictable tune. Just when you think the acoustic progressiveness and ironic lyrics will prevail, the chorus takes a completely different direction to that of an '80s rock love song. When it's time to sing the second
verse, Johns doesn't revert to the first verse format but rather uses electric guitars in a hard modern way. The lyrics offer an interesting perspective on being a slave to love. John sings, "Open fire on the needs designed on my knees for you."
Spawn Again follows Ana's Song with an all-out Korn like shout fest. Unlike many other core artists, the lyrics are understandable and the
After Silverchair gets that out of its system, a love song, *Miss You Love*, ensues. This could easily cross over many radio charts, scoring them a Top-40 spot. The melody is typical of love songs that have come and gone. The song is nothing new in modern rock world, but it's something not expected from this band.
Overall, the album is a solid variety of the modern rock spectrum, offering innovation and color to the genre.
— Edited by Clint Hooker
Plan to steal sexual toys blows up in man's face
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A plan to nab blowup dolls has blown up in the face of a man accused of robbery.
John Capriotti, 22, was charged with stealing several blowup dolls and other sexual devices from Big Al's Movie Outlet and then leading police on a short chase early Saturday.
A State Police trooper watched Capriotti's car spin out of the Route 11 plaza, where the video store is located, and followed it.
Police said he started tossing the dolls out of his window.
Capriotti was charged with breaking and entering, speeding, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving with a suspended license and not wearing a seat belt.
The dolls were recovered and a Big AI's employee identified them as property of the store.
Australian strikes it rich with 56-pound discovery
LOS ANGELES—Nice rock mate.
LOS ANGELES - Nice rock, mate.
A 56-pound chunk of metal belonging to an Australian prospector is 80 percent to 90 percent high-purity gold. University of Southern California scientists said Monday.
The nugget was found in western Australia by a man who wanted to remain anonymous. The nugget is worth between $250,000 to $300,000 if melted down, said Joel Forman, an appraiser representing the prospector.
A tiny flake removed from its surface was between 92.3 percent to 93 percent gold, with the remainder consisting of silver, according to USC. "It's so bright that you think it can't be real, but then, 56 pounds of real gold looks fake," said Jean Morrison, USC associate professor of earth sciences.
The nugget is scheduled to be auctioned at Sotheby's in June.
Rice, beans, dry ice mixture explodes in man's garage
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Rice and beans can be an explosive mixture in their own right. Adding dry ice does't exactly help. Steve Tate's roof is proof.
Tate's garage was damaged and a hole blown through his roof after a mixture of beans and rice he包装 with dry ice exploded.
Officials wouldn't say why Tate wanted to store the food in a group of 6-foot-long pipes near his home in Berryville, Ark., 140 miles northwest of Little Rock. Tate refused comment.
Tate called 911 Saturday afternoon after one of the pipes exploded.
The house was evacuated and the neighborhood partially was cleared.
"Dry ice is just frozen CO2 (carbon dioxide)," Jackson said, "so when you confine it, it has no place to go. The gas pressure just built up and it exploded, blowing a hole in the roof."
The Associated Press
PORTS:
$$ with valid KUID, $8 at the door
$15 for general public, $20 at the door
AVAILABLE:
SUA Box Office, Lied Center Box Office,
Murphy Hall Box Office and all
TicketMaster locations or by phone:
SUA Box Office 364-377 or
TicketMaster Lawrence 234-4545
ALLEN FIELDHOUSE
7PM, SUNDAY, APRIL 18
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
SPONSORED BY
NORTHERN BATHROOM TISSUE
STUDENT
SENATE
988
24 ROLL
CASE PACK
Red Lyon Tavern
944 Mass.832-8228
Interested in Law School? Come to a Law Career Forum
Heat from over six men and women with law degrees
Learn about what you can do with a law degree
Ask specific questions to professionals
Find out what options there are in the law profession
Tuesday, April 13 6:00pm The Kansas Union 6:00pm Centennial Room
AOpen CustomPC 300MHz Cyrix system Advancing the Standards
1.44MB Floppy Drive, Keyboard, Mouse
3.2GB Hard Drive
36X CD-ROM Drive
On Board Video and Sound
56K modem
15" .28dpi SVGA 1024 x 768 Display
Windows 98
One Year Depot Warranty
HP NEWLettT PACKARD DeskJet 695c printer
Hurry! Quantities are limited!
$869.00
Level 3,Burge Union □ 864-5690 □ Mon-Thurs 8:30-7:00 Fri 8:30-5:00 Sat 10:00-4:00 www.jayhawks.com/utc/
1. 2.
4