Iodine
Continued from Page 9
“We’re Radio Iodine from St.
Louis,” Ellen told the crowd.
Then, they began to play.
The dark gothic sound entranced,
capturing the ear. Ellen Persyn had a
stage presence about her that kept the
small audience’s attention.
Despite a couple of problems, the
show went off marvelously. A snare
drum head snapped, and Ellen Persyn
began blithering to the audience about
her childhood while Held fled off and
back onto the stage,changingthe snare.
One of the songs began with Held
rapping his sticks across the metal
rims of the drums, which sounded
exotic. It was one of the most unique
moments of the show.
Ellen Persyn also slipped in com
ments between songs that made the
audience ... well, it was something
else. “This is the part of the show
where you are invited to square dance”
and“this is the part of the show where
the whole audience gets naked” were
just a couple of memorable examples.
The best aspect of the show, how
ever, was that they were having fun.
Tony Persyn began the show stomp
ing around and spent part of the time
dueling with Bramer.
At the end of the show, Berry’s
microphone went out, and she and
Ellen went cheek to cheek, singing
their guts out as the show came to a
crashing climax. The whole show,
having built up to this moment, left the
tiny audience wishing for more.
Also playing that ni’ght was Heroes
and Villains, who unfortunately paled
in comparison. Next to Radio Iodine,
whose stage presence reached to ev
ery comer of the room, Heroes and
Vil lains were almost out of touch with
about half the audience.
Despite the marvelous guitar work,
their set did not really build. It unfor
tunately fell flat. Granted, for a mo
ment, when they played the song, “Mrs.
Nelson,” they had their moment.
But in the monstrous shadow of
Radio Iodine’s overwhelming perfor
mance, Heroes and Villains simply
didn’t have enough spark to shine.
Plug Into the
[World with FREE
Bigred Classes
Now that you have your computer account on BIGRED, you can
discover how to tap into the resources available to you on the internet.
These classes are free and no reservations are required. Seats are
available on a first come, first served basis. Call 472-9050 if you
have any questions.
Intro to E-Mail
Monday, October 9 10:00 - 1 1:30 a.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
Tuesday, October 10 9:30 - 1 1:00 a.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
Tuesday, October 10 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
Thursday, October 12 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
Friday, October 13 11:00 - 12:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
Friday, October 13 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239
COMPLETE COSTUMES 8 ACCESSORIES^* ^ -
Hundreds off Masks
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foi: Halloween
Gateway Mall
466-4488 Lincoln
““BUSINESS STUDENTS****
***N0 LANGUAGE REQUIRED***
***UNL FINANCIAL AID/SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE***
***STUDY WITH OTHER UNL STUDENTS***
***EARN UNL CREDIT TOWARD YOUR DEGREE***
^GRADUATE & UNDERGRADUATE CREDIT OPTIONS***
....so, why not "study abroad".
.for a week, summer, semester, or year!....
.in English (or in the language if you wish)
.at reasonable costs (scholarships available)
Learn more about how YOU can study abroad by attending any one
or more of the information sessions, in CBA138:
ISTANBUL, TURKEY ll:30 a m., October 9
TOKYO, JAPAN 3:00 p.m., October 9
MOSCOW, RUSSIA 4:00 p.m. October 9
OXFORD, ENGLAND 3:30 p.m., October 10
BEIJING, CHINA 3:00 p.m., October 11
MONTERREY OR
QUERETARO, MEXICO 4:00 p.m., October 11
ISTANBUL, TURKEY 3:30 p.m., October 12
•additional information sessions are scheduled next week*
-1 Music Reviews -
Machines Of Loving Grace
“Gilt”
Mammoth Records
Grade: C+
After their last album, “Concen
tration,” and “Golgotha Tenement
Blues,” the song from “The Crow”
soundtrack, one would have high
hopes for Machines Of Loving
Grace’s new album “Gilt.” But in
stead they take a slight fall from
grace with a less than solid album.
The band’s conscious effort to
try to use fewer electronics in song
writing is a detraction as the band
seems to lose some of its coher
ence. At some points, the group
seems almost chaotic, as if no one
could hear what the others were
doing.
A dark gothic feel still hangs
over the whole album, but at mo
ments, that presence is set aside in
favor of a much more direct rock
approach. At these times, the band
fails to capture the ear. Clean rock
ers, these boys are not.
Richest Junkie atilt Alive is a
deceptive opening track. With a
rhythmic crashing drum, a searing
electric guitar and some buzzing
electronic noises in the background,
it’s obvious why this is the first
single. Scott Benzel’s whispered
vocals plead for someone to under
stand the pain, and for almost four
minutes, you can.
“Kiss Destroyer,” however, is
flatly the worst track on the album.
The guitar is flooded through a bad
processor, the bass line is much
louder than everything else, the
drums are practically a straight
sample, and none of this flows well
together. Add in the fact that it has
no hook and you have a track to
skip past.
The better part of the rest of the
album depends on the mood you
may be in before you listen to it.
“Suicide King” is reminiscent of
the older, better days of the band.
This track is definitely for the late
nights when you feel anger welling
up in you. Here the band is coher
ent, playing like a learn again.
Who knows what they were
thinking of when they wrote “Ani
mal Mass.” One might compare il
to water torture; long, painful, re
petitive, pointless and agonizing.
This track itself drags the album
down a great deal, until the vocals
are gone, and a half-way decent
instrumental emerges.
As a droning guitar hums and
fades in and out like a mantra,
Benzel’s throaty pleas begin again,
a drum beat thuds, the bass begins
to throb and the final guitar comes
stomping in. That’s the way “The
Soft Collision” carries itself, and
its problem is in its inconsistency.
The chorus is large and powerful,
but in the moments between cho
ruses, it’s almost as though you are
on pause, with only the bass to
console you.
“Solar Temple” shares this same
problem. A great deal of the time,
when the band is simply jamming
and there are no vocals, the song
sounds so much better. Parts of this
song are magnificent, and others
feel out of place, like they are for
another song.
Happily, not all the album shares
this feel. “Tryst” is a true gothic
rock song, brooding and wicked,
angry and violent. When everyone
stops playing except the drummer
and Benzel sings “This is a tryst/
this is the discipline/the discipline
of the flowers always takes me in,”
it is a part of the song, not an added
footnote.
While “Casual User” may start a
touch unusually, it is well worth
getting through the first ten sec
onds. When Benzel chimes in “I’m
never going back/I didn’t mean it
this time,” the drug addiction atti
tude seeps into your veins and you
can sympathize with the pain.
Exactly what to make of “Two
fold Godhead,” it’s hard to be sure.
At moments, the song is an instru
mental, with vocals added in, but it
is too basic to be just an instrumen
tal. If it was background music,
then it would do fine, but as a con
scious song, it’s very hard to focus
on.
“Last” begins with a snipping
noise, and Benzel begins to whis
per. It is an excellent track and
should have been the last track on
the album, but “Serpico” is worth
less. It tries to be depressing with
out being angry, much like the Nine
Inch Nails track “hurt” but Ma
chines of Loving Grace are unable
to pull it off convincingly.
“Gilt” is not a bad album. But its
problem is that it isn’t a good album
either. Industrial music fans will
like about half of this album, and
those who like to experiment will
enjoy about the same amount. Wait
to buy it used, howeyer, because it
isn’t worth the new price.
— Cliff A. Hicks
Southern Culture on the Skids
“Dirt Track Date”
Geffen Records
Grade: B+
One of the least appealing as
pects of most rock music today is an
undermining sense of self-gratifi
cation and superiority.
Bands, for the most part, seem to
have taken the roads most traveled;
the “more indie than thou” band
wagon or the “aren’t we charm
ing?” schtick have grown cold and
old for the more observant listener
as the years ljave dragged by.
But with “Dirt Track Date,” a
fiery trio that goes by the name of
Southern Culture on the Skids dis
pels all of that layered-on public
imagery for some stripped-down,
old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll.
Consisting of David Hartman
(drums, vocals), Mary Huff (bass,
vocals), and Rick Miller (guitar,
vocals), SCOTS is about as basic as
you can get.
Their sound lies somewhere
within the parameters of rockabilly
Elvis Presley, Dick Dale and the
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, with
a bit of Les Claypool’s sly humor
thrown in.
To put it more simply — these
guys rock.
OK, so that may be a bit too
simplistic, but that also is the most
likely description the members of
the band would offer.
Highbrow hardly seems to be
the catchword on this album, with
song titles like “Skullbucket,”
“Fried Chicken and Gasoline,” and
“Camel Walk,” high society prob
ably wouldn’t welcome this band to
the debutante ball.
But it’s this lack of refinement
that gives SCOTS its absolutely
perfect charm.
Tossing aside the facades of
other supposedly raw bands, who
have been inevitably aided in their
elTorts to become less glamorous
by equally ambitious producers (i .e.
Steve Albini), SCOTS manages to
get to the bare bones of rock ‘n’ roll
all by themselves, thank you very
much.
—Jeff Randall
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‘ER’ outshined
by‘NYPD Blue’
at the Emmys
RADNOR, Pa. (AP) — Folks in
the “ER” are licking their wounds
over their Emmy snub.
George Clooney, who plays Dr.
DougRoss, said he was surprised when
the NBC hit lost out to “NYPD Blue”
for best drama. He was even more
surprised when a rival TV doc.Mandy
Patinkin of“Chicago Hope,” beat both
him and “ER” co-star Anthony
Edwards for best actor.
“Tony Edwards should have won
best actor,” Clooney said in the Oct.
14 issue of TV Guide. “It’s as simple
as that. He captained the best show on
television for a year.”
Julianna Margulies, who won a best
supporting actress Emmy for her role
as Nurse Carol Hathaway on “ER,”
was surprised but philosophical about
the “NYPD Blue” win.
“They should have won last year
and they didn ’t. So maybe next year is
for us.”