A brief look at new media.
On their third trip around the block, leather-clad Swedish disco-punk quartet Franz Ferdinand don’t do much to change their formula. In 2001 they exploded on the scene with the breakthrough hit “Take Me Out”. In 2008 the same Saturday night fever bass and drum groove are bouncing through the speakers. FF has the goal of making albums both listenable and danceable. For example, “No You Girls” will have your dad reaching for the polyester while “Ulysses”, a song about getting high out of boredom, might appeal to the ‘Arcadian’ in you.
What sounds like a dusty old west tale full of whistles and handclaps? Well, the latest melodic virtuoso Andrew Bird of course. What sounds like an episode of planet earth complete with violin and warm acoustic guitar? Yep, you guessed it, Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast. Bird is constantly working on material. The Chicago native has side projects and collaborations galore all showcasing his infallible songwriting, improvisation and thesaurus-wielding lyrics. The best part of Bird’s music, Noble Beast included, is the sublime cohesiveness Bird crafts throughout his sweeping scenes of musical flavor. One minute Noble Beast sounds like the soundtrack to a movie about a professional hitchhiker (“Tenuousness”) and minutes later Bird makes like the Discovery Channel all the way down to talk of microorganisms (“Anoanimal”). Noble Beast is cinematic and vivid, always painting a picture with the harmony Bird demands.
Hitting close to home for the majority of Arcadians (j/k), Taken, an action thriller whatever, takes place abroad specifically France. In the film, businessman Bryan Mills (played by Liam Neeson) prepares for his 17-year-old daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), to arrive on her European vacation. When she does dear ol’ dad warns Kim about a certain “type of people” that make being a tourist in France dangerous. Of course Kim gets snatched up and Liam Neeson finds himself breaking necks, stabbing baddies, and shooting up a bunch of Albanian (they couldn’t be French too) hoodlums to get his daughter back.
