8 ENTERTAINMENT THE ORACLE • T HURSDAY, APRIL 10, 20 0 8 RIGHT NOW ON THE INDIE SCENE T 1 1 • The Stills: Quebec rising Idols Sing way to top Chris Matter ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Megan Keller STAFF WRITER In 2003, when Montreal-based band, the Stills, burst out on the NYC indie scene, they were hailed for their noise-pop sound and for Just in case students can't get enough lowbrow pumping new life into the post-punk revival. entertainment, HEAT sponsored Hamline Idol Founding members Tim Fletcher, Dave Hamelin, Greg Paquet, last Thursday. Liam O'Neil, Julian Blais and Olivier Corbeil were friends since A panel of judges including Brian Johnson, childhood and had played in a number of different acts. When the Becky Wolf and Javier Gutierrez attempted to four got together in 2002 and recorded the Rememberese EP, the mirror Simon, Paula and Randy, respectively. band received mixed reviews from critics. The release was hailed by Rolling Stone for breaking the "Interpol With an effort to be comically critical, the event cover-band" mold and chided by Pitchfork for not offering anything plunged into a dull and uncultured disappoint­ new to the scene. Six months later, the band released their debut ment. According to the judges, Cuban folk songs album, Logic Will Break Your Heart. were unsatisfactory if they didn't make you jump The album is a melting pot of early Pixies noise pop with a hint out of your seat and start dancing; Led Zeppelin of Echo and the Bunnymen's wistfulness. Logic Will Break Your just didn't cut it either. Heart runs the gambit of emotions—happy without being overly joyful and melancholy without getting mired in screamo-style A remarkably high percentage of the seven melodrama. ensembles performed their own compositions, but But the Stills are not just the sum of'80s and '90s bands gone- their innovation was only partly acknowledged. by, however. It has been far too long since the use of reverb was Admittedly, the psuedo-celebrity panel did recog­ harnessed into another instrument. Vocalist Tim Fletcher realizes nize the first place winners, Jackie Libis and Angie that despite a lyricist's best efforts, sometimes there are no words, Dutremane, for their talent and original work. and the sound of a screeching feedback can sum up pent-up emotions better than any sonnet or smarmy attack at an ex-lover. The winners, including second place winner Sonya The best example is on the track "Lola Stars and Stripes." Glaessner, all received gift cards to Target. On the track, drummer Dave Hamelin's heavy sticks can be heard from the early seconds of the song. Not light or bass nor drum, the Stills have created a song opening that has not been this much fun to listen to since the opening lines of "Guns of Brixton." As the song progresses, lead singer Fletcher belts out, "With an M-l 6 you will feel the surge of your American past." This tongue- in-cheek ode to American girls from their Canadian counterparts walks a tightrope between resentment and happiness, which is the crux of the Stills' sound. Through it all, Fletcher avoids getting too down, and near the end of the song, the fast pitched guitars disappear and Hamelin's drumming and Corbeils bass slow to a near heart beat rate. In this moment of self-actualization Hamelin simply wishes to be taken back to his lover's window, "back to that place where stars glow?" and "comets swarm like fireflies outside your window." The album title was taken from a lyric on the track "Gender Bombs." Hamelin and Fletcher told Pitchfork that their reason for choosing the line as the title is because it encapsulated the tone of the album as a whole. A confusing misnomer which the band constantly had to explain was the track "Of Montreal;" an ode not to the band of the same name but to their hometown. On the track, the steady beats of Hamelin mix with Fletcher's raspy voice to create a love song that acts as a dirge to a former girlfriend and the city, and music scene that surrounded him as it occurred. These tracks are but a sample of the lyrical and music accomplishment that forms the album as a whole. After the release and tour of Logic Will Break Your Heart, tensions within the band about the direction of their music culminated Photos by Megan Keller/Oracle in lead guitarist Greg Paquet's departure from the group to finish (Above): Sonya Glaessner took second place with the help of her acoustic guitar. art school. Hamelin made the move from drums to guitar and (Below): Jackie Libis and Angie Dutremane won the Hamline Idol competition with an original Juilian Blais was brought on to fill in for Hamelin on drums. The composition. remaining band members scrapped the recording sessions hitherto Paquet's departure, pushing back the release date by almost a year. Their sessions led to the recording of what would become Without Feathers. The album, released in 2006, garnished mixed reviews as the band was met with ambivalence and even sheer hatred. The sound that made the Stills one of the most acclaimed HAMLINE HAPPENINGS Canadian acts two years earlier had been dumped overboard for a more mid-tempo rhythm and screechy falsetto vocals. In addition, The Artaria String Quartet their guitar feedback for piano, creating an band members traded in April 14 • 7:30 p.m. • Student tickets $5 album that combines the worst of groups like Keane and Longwave after its lineup change. It is not a stretch to say that, without Paquet, Sundin Music Hall the album floundered. The result was that the album was almost Aunt Dan and Lemon universally panned by fans and critics alike. In the midst of recording a new album with a planned spring April 18-19,24-26 • 7:30 p.m. • ACTC student tickets $2 release, the Stills will have to work hard to climb out of their Anne Simley Theatre sophomore slump to regain credibility. The in-studio tracks offer a return to the flavor of their first album but with a darker and The play, by Obie-award winner Wallace Shawn, centers around Lemon—a recluse who spends her time reading more disturbing sound. This edgy sound moves the band's musical books about Nazis and reminiscing about earlier years—and Aunt Dan who told her stories in youth. Set in the position to somewhere between the Strokes' reverb-heavy sound and Reagan Era, the play centers around questions of human integrity and tolerance. Interpol's catchy melancholy rhythm. .