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ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment The Quad
DECEMBER 6, 2010
QUADENTERTAINMENT@WCUPA.EDU
By Daniel Ream
Special to The Quad
The first time anyone had ever heard of Lissie was in 2009, when she was singing over Morgan Page’s spacy techno beats in clubs across the USA. Based on that sampling (which won a Grammy after house supergroup Deadmau5 remixed it), one could have expected her to fade into the background as do the many artists who work in the niche market of club music. However, Lissie appeared shortly after, releasing an EP that drew critical acclaim and attention for its folksy acoustic appeal. For those who were looking for Lissie to return to this formula on her new album be warned, “Catching a Tiger” is not that album. It is, however, a divergent collection of songs that displays Lissie’s versatility both vocally and musically; it is an impressive freshman effort. In “Yes Man,” a recently released movie starring Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel, the two main characters sneak into a concert stadium and sit out among the myriad empty seats, gazing at the stage, wondering what it would be like if someone were playing there for just the two of them. The experience of “Catching a Tiger” is the same – the feeling of a personal concert in a nearly empty stadium. This is not to say that the album has the kind of feel of a typical man-and-guitar grassroots – the warning to those seeking a quiet acoustic compilation still applies. Lissie manages to achieve the effect of a personal appearance through her slightly less than polished electric guitar that seems to echo throughout your bones, her chillingly expressive voice that raises the hair on your skin, rather than through simplicity, the living room performance one might get from a Dylan-esque type artist. On “In Sleep,” she croons softly of a lover lost, wondering “Why am I so terrified of waking? / He’s gone and I feel I’ve been forsaken / In sleep is the only place I get to see him, get to love him,” but later in the song switches gears and turns to a raw, emotionally accurate guitar solo to round out the tune. Her voice, combined with
Lissie impresses with debut LP ‘Catching a Tiger’
the bare twang of her Telecaster, adds another layer, giving it an updated Motown feel, akin to what would result from a fusion of The Edge’s clean, reverberating chords (minus the packed arena over-dramatization) with Bryan Adam’s raspy tones, with more range and rasp, and less chintzy pop lyrics. From a songwriting standpoint, Lissie wrote every song on the LP, and it shows. On “Cuckoo,” an upbeat song that comes far closer (at some points too close) than any other song to crossing the “pop music” barrier, she employs meaningful and edgy lyrics that keep the song from falling into the generic category of girlhood rebellion. It feels instead like a celebration of her own experiences, as she sings, “I fell in love with being defiant / In a pick up truck that roared like a lion,” and hints playfully that “we were brave,we misbehaved / Yeah you know what I mean.” “Loosen the Knot” is a breakup song hidden behind a jumpy beat and lyrics that go outside the norm, as she tells her significant other that “I wanna loosen up loosen up / Loosen the knot / The knot that is holding us / Binding us / Tying us together now,” and on “Oh Mississippi,” she invokes nature in a fashion reminiscent of old bluesmen like Mississippi John Hurt and Robert Johnson, all while sounding eerily similar to Emmylou Harris. She writes of a peaceful passing and reflects on life, showing her maturity in understanding the circular connection between people and the earth as she sweetly sings “Oh witness
Kick Ass delivers... By Mark Gionta Practicum Writer
Every once in a while a movie comes along that you know you need to watch again as soon as you are done enjoying it for the first time. Kick-Ass, starring Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, and Christopher Mintz-Plass of “Superbad” fame, is one of those movies. This satire has all of the classic elements of a good super-hero movie, mixed with the humor of a great comedy as well. Action, romance, identity struggle, sexual innuendos, and awkward moments fill the film from start to finish. “Kick-Ass” is a film about a high school teenager struggling to find his identity at school, so he decides to act out one of his fantasies, the life of a superhero. The story is told by the narrator and protagonist, Dave Lizewski, otherwise known as his superhero double identity “Kick-
Ass.” Dave is a regular high school teen: likes to hang out with his friends, read comics, attempt to talk to girls, and of course live a super-hero double life on the weekends. His crazy idea that just a normal guy like him could turn into a vigilante crime fighting hero occurred after a conversation between him and his two best friends at their local comic book shop. As the guys left the store they were mugged by two thugs, and Dave just froze as they emptied their pockets. Dave decided he would no longer let he and his friends be the victim by transforming into the wet suit wearing hero, “Kick-Ass.” After a few weeks of training in the alleys and rooftops of the city, Dave encounters the two thugs that mugged him before breaking into a car. After a brief hesitation Kick-Ass See KICK ASS page 12
Lissie is here, and if she continues to take stylistic risks, and does not succumb to mainstream success, she will be here to stay. river / You have seen it all / Now do your waters / Have room for one more?” If there is anything about this album that may be frustrating for some, it is the lack of stylistic consistency throughout. The lineup of the songs could be organized differently, but there are so many choices in composition that Lissie makes, even within one track, that any effort to make the album cohesive would be rendered relatively futile. That being said, the various
power in her voice that is unrivaled by any other track on the album. “Look Away” blends the banjo and a harp into a song that uses the echo effect present on the whole album to produce a track sounding more like a prayer set to music than a song written by a green young woman, and comparisons between “Stranger” and pretty much anything by the Turtles and their contemporaries in the 60’s would not be a stretch. The jazzy (albeit muted) Hammond B-9 on “Worried About” adds flair to a track that is nowhere near jazz in spirit. She even manages to do an updated yet completely faithful cover of “Wedding Bells” by Hank Williams, checking Country off her to-do list of musical influences for the record. Genres do not seem to have a place in Lissie’s music – all styles are fair game to be manipulated, updated, and blended with pretty much anything that strikes her fancy. Not every track on forfolksake.com this album is stellar. As modes she is able to bring into one mentioned before, “Cuckoo” can song, let alone on the different be trying at times, as it is placed songs on the record, is impres- right in the middle of the album sive. “Record Collector,” which and robs it of its non-commercial kicks off the album, begins as appeal. “Bully,” a piano ballad, is one might expect an indie female dreadfully boring. songwriter’s debut to sound, Despite these misses, the making use of unique percussion record remains incredibly strong, and jaunting melody. Halfway backed by the outstanding tracks through, however, the indie vibe that frame the two mistakes. The fades and a church style rejoice breadth of musical influence, begins. mature lyrics, and surprisingly Like a Baptist preacher, she strong vocals, both in range and starts slow, drawing out every tone, allow this record to serve as word with an eerie chorus of an announcement to the music voices providing a subtle back- community – Lissie is here, and ground, then gains speed, power, if she continues to take stylistic and volume, rising to a feverish risks, and does not succumb to crescendo where her voice breaks mainstream success, she will be ever so slightly, perfectly. here to stay. On “Little Lovin,” she graceDaniel Ream is a third-year English fully represents West Virginia secondary education major and can mountain blues, displaying a be reached at DR729079@wcupa.edu.
Movie ...Due Date does not Reviews: By Anthony Fioriglio Practicum Writer
Director Todd Phillips had one of the biggest hits of 2009 with “The Hangover.” It was the latest success for the director whose previous credits include “Road Trip” and “Old School.” Unfortunately for Phillips and his fans, the director’s latest effort, “Due Date,” which stars the breakout star of “The Hangover” Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey, Jr., failed to live up to the high standard of comedic excellence that Phillips has established over the past decade. The film opens with Downey’s character, Peter Highman, in an Atlanta hotel talking to his pregnant wife in Los Angeles on the phone. Peter then heads to the airport with the intention of flying back to Los Angeles in time to see his child born. At the same time Galifianakis’ character, Ethan Tremblay, also arrives at the airport with the same destination in mind, only his ultimate
goal is to become an actor after being inspired by the television show “Two and a Half Men.” At this point in the film, the clichés take over. Ethan and Peter get into a poorly-worded discussion on the plane involving the words “bomb” and “terrorist” which ultimately results in both being kicked off the flight and detained but not before an air marshal shoots Peter in the neck with a rubber bullet. Both still need to reach Los Angeles, however, so naturally the pair shares a rental car, creating the played-out odd couple dynamic, with Peter being the no-nonsense, successful architect with a bad temper to clash perfectly with Ethan’s freespirited, naïve burnout. Once on the road, the movie adds to the odd couple cliché with the classic road trip dynamic, where anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Ethan crashes the rental car and acciSee Due Date page 12