8/2/2019 Lana Del Rey by Austin Metz (MCCPA 2nd Place)

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A&E 11February 15, 2012 Reviews

Vocal Music DepartmentConcertA concert presentation by the GRCC

Choral Ensembles@St. Cecilia Music Center

-FREE

GRCC International

Guitar SeriesPaul Vondizano

@GRCC Music Center Recital Hall(Room 200)-$10 General

-$7 Students & Seniors7:30 p.m.

Grand River Winds(Community Wind

Ensemble)A wind ensemble concert presented by

the GRW Community Wind Ensemble

@St. Cecilia Music Center

-$5 Adults-$3 Students & Seniors

-Children 12 & under FREE

2-16

2-17

GRCC Performance Arts

2-19

S H O W

S T O P

Dopehead/LA The Dark-man/Willie The Kid/Bronze Nazareth@Pyramid Scheme -$10

Lotus@The Intersection -$15

2-15

Heatbox/Sophistafunk/DJ Snax@Founders -FREE

2-17

The Spits/TV Ghost/TheAmoebas/DGR/DWN@Pyramid Scheme -$8

2-16

2-22 8:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

Upcoming concerts andevents

Big Gigantic@The Intersection -$15

2-25 8:00 p.m.

Skies Revolt CD Release@Pyramid Scheme -$7

2-18 7:30 p.m.

Born to Die, Lana Del Reyssecond studio album, has been releasedto mixed reviews by critics and listenersalike.

The album eatures lyrics that

touch on the struggles o growing up,drinking excessively, and blah, blah,blah. The real truth? The album and itslyrics are a mess.

Sometimes compared to the soulul

Frank Sinatra, Lana Del Reys voicemore closely resembles the alwaysmonotone Ben Stein.

The albums rst song, Born toDie starts out with the sound o a string

quartet but is quickly overpowered by

Del Reys slightly conused voice andgives listeners a preview o what toexpect or the entire album.

Released around the time o DelReys terrible perormance o VideoGames on Saturday Night Live, I wentinto the album thinking that maybe itwas a simple case o the nerves.

Ater listening to Video Games,which is the ourth song on the album,I realized that Del Rey sounds just asbad on the album as she does live.

Following Video Games is DelReys attempt to pair her singing witha hip-hop beat. Titled Diet MountainDew, I elt like I was struggling just tounderstand the jumbled mess o words

and was never able to understand whatwas actually going on in the song.There are a ew okay songs on the

album, Radio being one o them, butoverall, the album is mediocre at best.

The album closes with This Is

What Makes Us Girls, which talksabout growing up and the partyinginvolved. I wasnt able to make it 40seconds without being distracted bythe background singers as they echoedthe words Pabst Blue Ribbon on ice.Thats right, Pabst Blue Ribbon homeo the dirty 30 on ice is what makesDel Rey a girl. Do I really need to saymore?

Del Reys voice seems to be stuckin a single octave the entire album,

and the only way this album could beenjoyed is i it was listened to in a deepstate o depression in a dimly lit roomall alone.

Is she the emale version o Frank

Sinatra as some have said? I dont thinkso. I also dont think this album isworth the $7.99 its going or on iTunes.

One o the greatest challenges ormusicians is to create albums thatbring the energy o a live concert. The

cheering o the crowd and the buzzcreated with the band interacting withthe crowd are nearly impossible toshow in an album.

This, however, is exactly whatTyler Bryant and the Shakedown havedone in their rst album, From theSandcastle.

From the opening notes o Kick theHabit, Bryant and his our piece band

show a sound that closely resemblesTom Petty and the Heartbreakers onsteroids.

The sound is straight out o thesouth with heavy guitar solos and atwangy drawl but is delivered with anattitude as big as Texas.

The band, which eatures Bryant,

Caleb Crosby, Graham Whitord, andCalvin Webster, created From theSandcastle as a way to get the word outand showcase one o the top guitarists

o today and maybe the uture.Although its only seven songs

long, each song delivers over-the-topmusical talent rom the lead guitardown to the drums.

Say a Prayer serves as the hal-way point or the album but seems tobe the musical peak.

From a lyrical standpoint, it isabove average, but rom a musical

standpoint, it is up there with the best.Its ast, hard, and cleverly written.

Following Say a Prayer is thebands slow, acoustic classic, BeingHere. Bryants voice and song writingabilities are put on display throughoutthis emotional song which talks aboutlies problems and being able to get

back up ater these problems.Shackles serves as the closingsong to the album and showcases theuse o a slide guitar and background

singing rom the band to add a newdimension.

From the Sandcastle shows thatthere still is a hint o talent in todaysmusic scene. No obnoxious technobeats or pointless, talentless singinghere. Only driving guitar, talentedbackground musicians and superiorsong writing ability.

instrumental melodies that broil over with sick and trickyguitar work.

Ever diligent John on keys had me melted into the foralwallpaper with his subtle fourishes to Brians expansivedroning sounds that clear the cobwebs o the conscience likea broom in an oil slick. As stone-aced as Ral Florian romKratwerk, John needled me into a stupeying poker move

o submission. His serene glow o the mystic emanated ontap and seemed to sweep the room with a hypnotizing paintbrush propelled by the band. Mick and Ivans interplaywove visuals into tangible light as the crowd and I developed

a ne pair o goose-pimples as well as a dragons tail o morepeople, and beore you could breathe there were enoughreprobates to shake a stick at, creeping and pawing to belongunder the silver cellophane stars that swung rom the stageceiling to the motion o the noise.

Mick, Ivan, the Pacic bros., and John pounded outthrasher ater thrasher including a vigorously charged send-

up o Toredo rom the new P.V.C. H.EX. comp which onlyhinted at the ruthless annihilation to come in their soulmassacring nale.

By the time John Follets band Everybody and theirEmpty Cups hit their place in the sun, I was a man withouta country. Bent rom the riders whips, I was picking upmy scattered hide all over the busy coee/bar with shakinghands. My clothes were tattered rags o what they had beenand I was blowing bubbles through a socket-wrench thing Icalled a mouth.

My av perk about this Empty Cups Zoo band was theguitars, i I had the sense to judge anymore. My drool cupwas ull and the savage guitar rhythms made waste puttyo any neurons I had let. I was plumed to see Gabe romThe Wrap, (a punky, hip-hop party band thats inamous

or stripping to their bries in the midst o lip-tripping).Everybody and their Empty Cups was addictive and engagingenough to make the night a raging success! The bandplayed with their hearts on their sleeves, making clear whatwe were there or: Deja Vishnu and its artists. Not onlyor sharing lies battle scars so succinctly, but challengingothers to pony up and create together.

Flipping through the welcoming pages o DejaVishnu, you immediately all under the web-like spell o itshallucinatory collages and handwritten poetic secrets whichspeak volumes or the zine and lie because o their real andhonest composites. I you like to eel the heat o local spunkand scrappy wit pulsing like a Levis popsicle hunt down

Deja Vishnu at their Facebook site and snap up a copyo this rad zine pulled straight rom the howling crypt thatmost olks mistake or waste disposals nowadays on a tragicdownward trajectory to oblivion!

By Austin MetzEditor in Chief

Lana Del Rey

Born to DieFGGGG

FFFFG

By Austin MetzEditor in Chief

Tyler Bryant and theShakedownFrom the Sandcastle

Courtesy of Ryan Koster

Cont. from page 9

The Strutt in K-Zoo welcomes new zine

Cover of Deja Vishnu issue 1