THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 6,2003
MUSIC
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 13
Riot Act Pearl Jam Reviewed by Nate Harold nharold@kansan.com
"Can't Keep," the first track from Pearl Jam's seventh studio album, Riot Act, sets the mood for the rest of the record.
A slowly rising and dissonant acoustic guitar and drum intro leads into the familiar mumbling of the ever-pensive vocalist/guitarist Eddie Vedder. But
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the song never rises to the climax that is expected. Instead, the band keeps listeners on a narrow wave of dynamics ranging from quiet to less quiet.
Has the band finally forsaken rock, opting instead for laid-back, experimental works? On the contrary; the album shows that the band has mastered the long-lost art of control in rock songwriting. Pearl Jam doesn't seem concerned with pummeling its audience for the sake of having a good time. Instead, the band focuses more on creating an atmosphere and using the deadly weapon of rock sparingly.
Throughout most of Riot Act, the band sticks to its slowly developed sound, continuing where previous albums Yield and Binaural left off. But tracks like "Bushleaguer" and "Thumbing My Way" stray from
the expected sound.
"Bushleaguer" is a biting critique of the president, featuring Vedder's spoken word delivery over the band's wandering background music.
Vedder's usual outspoken political beliefs are evident in lines such as, "He's not a leader / He's a Texas Leaguer / Swinging for the fence / Got lucky with a strike / Drilling for fear / Makes the job simple / Born on third / Thinks he got a triple."
"Thumbing My Way" is a lazy, relaxed folk song complete with upright bass and brushed drums. This song epitomizes the dark, lyrical tone of the album with lines like "I let go of the rope / Thinking that's what held me back / And in time I've realized / It's now wrapped around my neck."
In addition to Vedder, drummer Matt Cameron, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready are given the opportunity to showcase their songwriting abilities throughout Riot Act.
Each member contributed to at least one song lyrically or musically, giving the album a more diverse feel. Each track contrasts the previous one.
The standout writer of the band, aside from Vedder, is former Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron. Cameron contributed to tracks like the poppy, meter-shifting "Cropduster." He shows he hasn't lost his appreciation for the odd-time, signature rock that made Soundgarden popular.
With Riot Act, Pearl Jam has hit its stride and risen above mainstream contemporaries with intelligent and thoughtful songwriting that continues to improve with each release.
GRADE: A-
Soundtrack for the motion picture 'Biker Boyz'
Various Artists
Reviewed by Steve Vockrodt
svockrodt@kansan.com
For a movie as unimaginative as Biker Boyz, which is one Vin Diesel short of another Fast and the Furious knock-off, the natural outcome is an equally unimaginative soundtrack. Such a relationship is true in the case of the Biker Boyz CD.
Featuring kings of the current bland rotation of mainstream rap and the heavily played-out rap-rock genre, the soundtrack piles on predictable and turgid tracks throughout. It has one standout track, one decent track and another that gets only halfway there.
Possibly the most intriguing track, at least initially, is the huggable thug Ja Rule in a bizarre collaboration with Metallica. If Metallica's albums since the 1991 selftitled effort didn't hammer home the amount of a struggle music has become for them, the band's work on "We Did It Again" should prove it.
It is difficult to say exactly what both artists are trying on this track, a veritable tug-of-war between conflicting interests of ponderous heavy metal and guttural voicing by Ja Rule. Either way, both artists fall short of producing anything that effectively combines both genres as Aerosmith and Run DMC once did.
Other tracks include an uninspired effort in "Ride" by Redman featuring E3 that typifies the derivative nature of many current mainstream rap acts. Rap-rock favorites
P. O.D. lean heavily on the rap side with Crystal Method's remix of "Boom." Papa Roach ineffectively follows suit on "Don't Look Back."
The real gem here comes from Grammy nominee Meshell Ndegeocello's guitar and vocal piece "Lilliquoi Moon." This laidback and sentimental tune showcases Ndegeocello's instrumental and vocal talents — two skills conspicuously absent in
the rest of the soundtrack.
Former Follow For Now front man David Ryan Harris contributes a decent but not outstanding track, "Don't
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Look Down." The track effectively plays in a funeral scene and serves as the only other track worth listening to.
Mos Def nearly breaks out of his lackluster pattern of unimaginative rap with his strings-laden "Kalifornia." Unfortunately, he has trouble escaping the confines of unoriginality that punctuate the soundtrack when the refrain of the song has Mos Def singing Tupac Shakur's "California Love."
For fans of the MTV rap and rap-rock scene, this album might be worth considering.
Otherwise, the only favor this album does is leave off contributions by Biker Boyz cast member Kid Rock.
GRADE: C+
Opening band's performance steals the show
Vendetta Red blew away The Juliana Theory Thursday night.
The opening act defied the norm of frequently leaving concert-goers scratching their heads and wondering why they have to sit through the sets of unknown bands.
Following Vendetta Red, The Juliana Theory performance at the Granada seemed almost anti-climactic. Such an assessment of the show does The Juliana Theory little justice because it still played a solid show.
The show started when Vendetta Red took the stage and pounded out an abbreviated 25-minute set that seemed to last for the blink of a strobe-light shutter.
With Zach Davidson taking the microphone appearing as a poor man's Robert Plant from a distance, the band hammered
Steve Vockrodt svockrodt@kansan.com
REVIEW
Where: Granada
VENDETTA RED ... A+
THE JULIANA THEORY ... B
When: Last Thursday
out all of its songs from its upcoming album.
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Midway through the set, Davidson underscored the normal role and perils of an opening act — a mold his band easily broke through.
Energy unparalleled through the rest of the evening punctuated Red's performance.
Drummer Justin Cronk's performance inspired memories of a Nirvana-era Dave Grohl behind the kits.
The Seattle-based band has toured nonstop for most of the past two years and has showed no signs of fatigue.
The Juliana Theory opened with "To the Tune of 5,000 Screaming Children" and switched immediately to "Is Patience Still Waiting?"
Both tracks appear on the band's previous album Understand the Dream Is Over. The band released its newest album,
The Juliana Theory played about one-third of its set from the new album. Bassist Joshua Kosker said afterward that the crowd response to the new material was encouraging.
Love. Tuesday.
The crowd sang along with older favorites such as "Into The Dark," especially after lead singer Brett Detar rallied the crowd's enthusiasm.
Compared to Vendetta Red, members of The Juliana Theory looked statuesque and generated less intensity.
The show was one of the few exceptions to the popular belief that opening acts stand in the way for the show everyone wants to see.
Vockrodt is a Denver, Colo., junior in journalism and political science.