M U S I C R E V I E W

Michael Snydel
Staff Reporter

When I first heard about the list of artists on the “The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack,” I could not believe it. The soundtrack included the most eclectic lineup I have seen since the “Garden State Soundtrack.” This brooding soundtrack produced an ambience, which can be attributed to feelings of longing. Most songs seem to be loping, often full of pain and sorrow.
The set opens with the builder, “Meet Me On The Equinox”, written by the hopeless romantics Death Cab For Cutie.
The album continues with a rocker before delving into Thom Yorke’s contribution Hearing Damage, a synthesizer-heavy, reverb soaked lament about pain. Lykke Li took over, sticking to her niche of vocal heavy love songs, while still managing to add fascinating elements, including what sounded like pumps and submarine sonar in the background.
The Killers’ contribution was pleasant, but it felt more like good ideas thrown together instead of a full song.
Anya Marina tried for an interesting acoustic ballad, but I was increasingly drawn to the ringing of the slide guitar instead of the vocals. The instrument added tension that was absent elsewhere in the album.
Muse also got their chance in the spotlight. After the abysmal release “The Resistance” earlier this year, Muse reworked the album cut, “I Belong To You”. They replaced the original’s laughable synths with a crunchy guitar sound. It gave the song some meat and showed what the song could have been.
“Roslyn” really divided me. I loved the combination of St. Vincent’s and Bon Iver ‘s vocals, but the song was ultimately formless. It relied on repetitive strumming and banjo bits to keep momentum going but failed in the end with its four minute and fifty second run time.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s input is the short, dull acoustic, “Done All Wrong”.
On the other hand, Hurricane Bells impressed me with their messy distortion and great rock guitar solo that sounded reminiscent of rock gods Dinosaur Jr.
“The Violet Hour” was one of the catchiest songs on the CD, but it also took the least risks of probably any band on here. In the end, it came off boring and unoriginal.
“Shooting the Moon” was probably the biggest surprise. Ok Go has not been heard from since their infamous treadmill video to “Here We Go Again”. This song was definitely a departure as it began with triumphant tympani drums before going into a Peter Frampton imitation talk box effect. It was unexpected and totally hilarious.
Grizzly Bear has always slowly built their songs, but “Slow Life” was a fascinating song because it felt like almost two different songs. One was the powerful vocals of Beach House and slow acoustic finger-picking and the other a cornucopia of sound including a mixture of pulsing bass, scratchy guitar, vocal harmonies, bright keyboards and ringing percussion. It was a huge song full of sound and one of the most fully developed on
the album.
The last real song on the album was the Editors’ ballad, “No Sound But The Wind”. It was catchy enough, but awfully clichéd. It contained the repeated refrain of “Help me to carry the light, we will carry it together.”
That sentimentality was grating by the 10th time you heard it, let alone the 50th. At that point, you just want it to end. Overall, I am surprised that this album stayed away from soundtrack norms.
Most of these artists tried something new, forgoing the chance to just put a throwaway track on the album. What was more impressive was that I
like something relating to the “Twilight” series.

Current PHOTO Edward Fernandez

Intervarsity opens new “perspective”

Erica Share
Staff Reporter

How do you see it? With that question, Intervarsity put together a campus-wide art show of student works displaying a uniqueness of individual perspective.
Despite the large number of accomplished artists and musicians at Carthage College, only a handful are pursuing these talents as careers or openly showcasing their creative aspirations. However, last Friday, Oct. 23, Intervarsity hosted an art show in the H.F. Johnson Art Gallery to reveal the creativity of our fellow students. The show included a variety of art from 18 different artists, including musicians, Greg Schroeder, ‘12, Mari Panzer, ’12 and an ensemble including Joe Sena, ‘12.
With live music, delicious treats and a gallery packed with people to mingle with, the night was easily a success. The art ranged from oil paintings, photographs and poems to innovative found object sculptures. Alyssa Wyss, ‘11, who spent this past summer in Zambia, revealed an eye opening perspective of the world through the camera lens. Her photographs emphasized the Zambian culture in which thanks and blessings are given on a daily basis, yet they are deprived of the many luxuries of the western world.
Carman Anderson, ’12, displayed an abstract painting intertwining piano keys and trees to reflect her openness to different perspectives and urges viewers to think of how everything would look in a slightly
different way.
One of the coolest aspects of the show may have been the response wall located in the far corner of the gallery where visitors were free to reflect their own perspectives throughout the night. “To be able to listen to great live music, view the works of my fellow students, and then share my own ideas all in one night was a great, collaborative idea!” said Cory Bazany, ’12.
Intervarsity’s Leslie Sink, ‘11, was the brains behind last Friday’s show. Sink stated, “[This show] had two goals. The first was to get Intervarsity’s name out into the Fine Arts Department since that is an area of campus we rarely work with. The second was to allow student artists to show off what they can do and to celebrate their talents. I feel like both goals were met.”
The show put together by Intervarsity brought artists, musicians, and viewers together from all over campus. It revealed the secret talents of our fellow students, who have limited outlets to share and reflect their creativity.
With the Perspective Art Show’s great success, a new point of view may dawn upon our campus in which sharing great ideas and artistic talents is not only encouraged on a single Friday night in the H.F. Johnson Art Gallery, but daily. With great shows like the one held by Intervarsity, we can start giving ourselves the courage to share and grow from one another’s talents each and every day.

Indie frightfest full of“Paranormal Activity”

Charley Follett
Staff Columnist

“Paranormal activity” is an anomaly amongst this year’s Halloween films. It does not rely on gore or big budgets like “Saw VI”, and it is not a bland remake of an already tasteless movie like “The Stepfather”. Armed with a budget of less than $15,000 and a cheap Handycam, Oren Peli directed a film that went back to the roots of horror and is full of suspense and tension throughout.
Even the formula for the movie’s distribution is old school. Only playing in select theaters (Tinseltown here in Kenosha is one of them), the movie has mostly been advertised by word of mouth, much like “The Blair Witch Project” in 1999. The style of the film is similar too, as the two main characters Micah and Katie record the paranormal events in their house with their hand held camera for the length of the movie. However, “Paranormal Activity” has already beaten out “The Blair Witch Project” in ratio of box office sales to production cost, due to “Paranormal Activity” having a lower budget.
Micah and Katie are engaged and living together in San Diego. Weird things happening around the house spook the couple enough for Micah to buy a camera to try and record any ghosts that might be lurking around. Micah is a very brash and playful guy, and at first is just using the camera as a way to tease Katie, who he believes is taking things too seriously. But when strange noises and bizarre movements are recorded, the couple is pushed to consult a psychic and find out what is really going on.
Every night, Micah placed the camera at a table overlooking their bedside where they slept. At first, the incidents were innocuous: a door moving slightly or a slight rapping noise. But the movie started taking a turn towards dreadful suspense when Katie got up from her bed at 3 a.m., and stood near the door, staring at Micah. In the lower right corner is the timer for the camera, and your skin was invited to crawl as you notice that it was actually fast-forwarding, with Katie standing still for hours, just staring at Micah…
For the rest of the film, every time they crawled into bed with the camera rolling, I was at the edge of my seat, my eyes transfixed on their bedroom door. When the night was over and Micah and Katie thought they were “safe”, I experienced a different sort of suspense. When will Micah consult the demonologist, as their psychic advised? When will Katie explain to Micah why she thinks they are haunted? “Paranormal Activity” did not use blood, guts, or scary- voiced demon-children; it relied on the ancient and insurmountable fear of the unknown, and it worked for me like a charm.