page B2 VVKIIIV November 11, 2005 MANITOU MESSENGER 4 Social scene' beats critics 17-member collective lives up to hype By April Wright before you realize Staff Writer they have started, and after the first part of "Hyped" and "heavily-produced" are not the album, these catchphrases normally associated with good tracks are necessary: records. But the heavily hyped 17-piece collective Not only do you need Broken Social Scene has delivered a strong, ambi­ your breath back, but tious and innovative fourth album. they help keep the The Canadian band's eponymous fourth album. album from feeling Broken Social Scene, has been one of the most antic­ rushed. ipated albums of the year for indie rockers. In the The tracks "Fire weeks and months before its official release, fans Eye'd Boy," clambered for leaked versions of the record and "Windsurfing Nation" pushed the band onto Amazon's Top 50 CD List. and "Swimmers" Some critics were even declaring it "album of the sound almost manic year" based on the leaks. next to each other. The And does it live up to the hype? The answer is former varies between "A History of Loneliness" an emphatic "Yes!" The album starts out with "Our being mellow and By Lisa Gulya Faces Split the Coast," which sets up the mellow, ostentatious and even­ Singles at St. Olaf tend to complain. We're but danceable, sound for which Broken Social tually collapses into a lonely, we say, and no one dates casually, Scene is notorious. The band incorporates brass gentle chaos. while others around us are happily hooked instruments tastefully into the song. "Windsurfing up. While other groups have fallen flat using brass. Nation," on the other But a Census Bureau study released mid- Broken Social Scene integrates them seamlessly; hand, is a joyful, hip- October revealed that the median age for the addijjonal instrumentation genuinely feels like hop infused track, first marriages in the United States is 26.7 it belongs there. Coupled with energetic drum with a brisk beat, years for men, 25.1 for women. beats of Broken Social Scene's rhythm section, the funky falsettos and So, if you find yourself a bit anxious about effect is a lush, robust and exciting track. hand claps. Rapper K- those slipping on engagement rings around The second song, "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A OS even makes an you, remember that there is life after and out­ Better Day)" has a more traditional rock vibe. The appearence. side St. Olaf. You have time. opening phrases recall the band that is named in "Swimmers" has a Maybe you're just too busy to think about the title. But Pavement never wrote a song this melancholy electronic a relationship, and singleness suits you. After skillfully crafted. Much of the song's beauty exists sound similar to all, we are ostensibly in college to get a in its simplicity. While there are many instrumental Metric's more mellow degree. And our friends do many of the parts, they are simple and they work together; songs (the band shares things for us that lovers would do - talk and none seem to compete for attention. members with Metric, listen, hug and sometimes even spoon. The lyrics are also strong and basic - the words whose lead singer, Just because you're single doesn't mean "You were there" are repeated after every verse Emily Haines, does you're alone. In our more sensible moments, line, more than a dozen times. However, the phrase vocals on this song). we realize that people emerge single from never sounds old; on the contrary, the words sound These three songs college all the time and continue to meet peo­ even more poignant with each reiteration. demonstrate one of ple in graduate school or at work. Or that just "7/4 Shoreline" is the quintessential Broken the curiosities of heading downtown or to Carleton can pro­ Social Scene song on the album. The initial mellow Broken Social Scene. vide social relief. arrangement grows more chaotic during the song, Because their mem­ COURTESY/GOOGLE. COM But don't take my word for it - there have Brendan Canning rocks out on the guitar during an outdoor concert, then returns to its previous baseline state. Vocals bers all have different been complaints and advice about dating in Canning is one of the two original founding members of the hot indie band. wisp in and are then chased out by stronger vocals, projects, songs some­ the Messenger long before the inception of making a parallel to the music. All of this is on top the sex column. times lean towards the with a stronger beat, more guitar and more brass. of an up-tempo beat with an excitable rhythm sound of one of the side bands. Critics might say For example, a male student's 1961 letter made for the dance floor. It melts into the aptly-titled "Superconnected." to the editor echoes complaints many men this is a weakness, but really, it adds flavor. While a bit indulgent in its opening, "Finish Your Collapse and Start Breakfast" and "Hotel" is a sexy four minutes of dizzy synth make daily around campus: "It is rather hard "Major Label Debut" serve as buffers between two "Superconnected" transforms into a fast-paced and for us to break into the tight circles the girls lines, punctuated by vocal whispers, falsettos and glossy song with spacey, bubbling vocals and a more fast-paced tracks. The two songs are over a horn break. "Handjobs for Holidays" is bolder. have formed." Nothing new there. chaotic end. They deplored dating in 1999, too: "Olaf is "Bandwitch" is the weakest track on the album. a pretty small place and word travels fast - The beat is there and the sudden vocals keep some sort of like high school... or summer camp." interest, but the song drags, and lacks a strong So, if you value your privacy, maybe it's a instrumental drive to keep it moving. "Tremolo good thing not to date here. Debut" is a cute little song, recalling R.E.M's But, the 1999 article also acknowledges the "Zither" in a slower, sadder way. panicky, marriage-focused culture that St. The album ends on a high note. "It's All Gonna Olaf can foster. "Since we go to a school Break" has pretty much everything fans have come where a large number of girls feel like a fail­ to expect from Broken Social Scene. There is a ure if they graduate without a ring, a certain strong, danceable beat, soulful vocals and, of mood is created," the male author reasoned. course, a healthy sense of perfect chaos in the But, looking through the Messenger denouement. It is a perfect fit. archives also reminds us that singleness now Broken Social Scene is a heavily produced album. shouldn't inspire the same urgency that it However, none of the songs feel false, formulaic or did when students were frequently married, scripted. The chaotic parts of songs feel improvised not just engaged, as undergraduates. A 1957 every time. Similar to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, article announces the revival of the "Lions' the album incorporates weird noises and broken Mates," a club for married St. Olaf women - melodies without sounding pretentious, droning and the wives of married St. Olaf men. (Miss or too indulgent. Hilleboe first started the club, with 100 mem­ While Broken Social Scene was once a band that bers, "immediately" after WSrld War Two.) collapsed under the weight of its own ingenuity, Apparently, marriage didn't make all the band has grown into its skin, striking more of a loneliness disappear; these 50 women still COURTESY/GOOGLE.COM balance between songwriting and instrumentation. Members from the 17-piece band pose in promotion of their new self-titled album. Some critics enjoyed spending time with other women: heralded the fourth release by Broken Social Scene as "album of the year" before it came out. "As one enthusiastic member stated, 'This club consists entirely of good lectures and many parties!"' The more formal heterosexual pressures All Taliaferro needs is love, love, love have largely disappeared, making life a little bit easier if you're choosing to be single - or By Megan Sutherland The title, Taliaferro explained, for friends and most of them have write, while others were simply you're not heterosexual. Most of us have Staff Writer has a special significance to him: been circulated among friends and inspired by bizarre, often acciden­ heard about the Week One mixer that used to "They were the last words my students," he said. tal, adventures. Like his classes, the pair students up, male-female, matching If you have not taken a course father shared with me, as we held Some of Taliaferro's students essays range from complete seri­ them by height. Week One may still be with philosophy professor Charles hands as he was dying." have actually been helping him ousness to amusing misadventures. socially awkward, but the pressure is off. Taliaferro, you have no doubt had a Though the collection, which compile the book. Jason Zencka '06, In the introductory essay, "A One 1967 article reminds us that if we are friend or two who has. He is Professor's Tale," Taliaferro single, we should remember that relation­ one of the most eccentric pro­ writes about unknowingly ships aren't just a cure for loneliness; they fessors on campus, often inter­ r cutting his hand and proceed­ require an emotional investment. jecting his classes with light- o Charles Taliaferro ing to inadvertently wipe "Everybody wants to talk and wants to be hearted comments and hilari­ < blood all over his forehead listened to sympathetically, but very few are CD ous stories from his college * and chin. Within the same willing to listen. Everybody desires to be days. r essay, though, he also writes liked and well accepted, but few are willing A few years ago, one student Love, Love, Love o about trying to comfort a stu­ to take the risk of involvement. We are not even created a website filled < CD dent whose mother recently willing to give an opportunity for others to with "Taliaferroisms," random And Other Essays passed away. come to know us. We are afraid of self expo­ musings and hilarious stories Taliaferro uses such inci­ sure," the male student wrote. the student jotted down in one Light Reflections on Love, Life, and Death dents as a springboard for The student went on to say that if we real­ of his philosophy classes. Yet, self-reflection: "I try to use ly want to connect with other people, we've Taliaferro also manages to these cases to think about got to slow down - and he wrote this nearly maintain an environment of what really matters; and in the 40 years before everyone was walking academic seriousness, often end I think what really matters around campus with iPods and laptops in positing assertions and chal­ is the question of who and tow. "Such rush and haste, everywhere!" he lenging the class to refute his what you love and why." wrote. His tone was ridiculous, but he still statements. The collection, which is has a point. He chastised Oles for what most He is one of the most distin­ being published by Cowley would consider a fault at Northfield's other guished faculty members on Press, is divided into three college - overemphasizing the intellectual campus. In the course of his parts, the first exploring love rather than taking the time to let our emo­ lengthy teaching career, he has in ordinary situations, the sec­ tional selves grow, too. Perhaps we have spent time as a scholar at many ond exploring love within some preparation to do before we're ready of the world's most prestigious contemporary politics and cul­ for more serious relationships. academic institutions like ture and the third reflecting on Looking at the dating past of St. Olaf Oxford University, New York the illness and death of his shows that the complaints haven't changed University, Columbia and father. much. But I think most of us have gotten Princeton. "The book is not a memoir away from considering St. Olaf our only dat­ Naturally, Taliaferro has or autobiography, but it uses ing arena, whether we look to other cities, plenty of stories to tell, and MEGAN SUTHERLAND/SUBMITTED events from life, often involv­ campuses or a later time in our lives. So, next March he will publish a Professor of philosophy Charles Taliaferro will publish his memoirs next March. ing life at St. Olaf College, to complain away if it makes you feel better, but collection of essays, many of Many of the essays in his book center on his experiences as a professor. develop the broad theme of relax and enjoy that extra time studying or which center around his experi­ love. And love is all around!" spending time with friends. ences as a professor. was written between 2000 and Kelly Robins '07, Kristen Rau '07 Taliaferro said enthusiastically. The theme of the collection is 2005, contains a few previously and Jennifer Cross '08 have lent With Taliaferro, love certainly is love, and the book, appropriately, published pieces, the majority of Taliaferro editorial advice and all around him, and his book will If you have more to talk about than just com­ is called "Love, Love, Love and the essays have never before been helped him with research. undoubtedly entertain as well as plaining about the dating scene, write to sex- Other Essays: Light Reflections on formally published. Taliaferro explained that many provoke reflection in anyone who [email protected]. Love, Life and Death." "Many are short essays I wrote of the essays were therapeutic to picks it up.