ENTERTAINMENTpage 15 Technique • Friday, August 31, 2001 • 15 Looking for fun? Want to laugh? If you want to find a live musical See what thoughts our Two Bits ENTERTAINMENT act here in Atlanta this weekend, Man has cooked up about you’ve found the place. Page 12 Virginia and the Highlands that Technique • Friday, August 31, 2001 share the name. Page 13 ‘Branch’ing out the definition of ‘pop’ New record By Jon Kaye Branch sings songs of love and hope Contributing Writer that are certain to inspire. not for the “The Spirit Room” begins with Album: The Spirit Room “Everywhere,” Branch’s first foray closed-minded Artist: Michelle Branch into top-forty radio. Receiving na- By Jon Kaye Genre: Pop tionwide play, including on Atlan- Contributing Writer Label: Maverick ta’s Star 94, “Everywhere” has quickly Tracks: 11 gained fame for Michelle Branch. Title: Eternally Hard Length: 42:25 Showcasing her beautiful voice and Artist: Bitch and Animal Rating: ttt1/2 adroitly played guitar, this cut proves Genre: Alternative to skeptical audiences that she is Label: Righteous Babe With the recording industry’s one teenage singer who really can Length: 59:58 target marketing what they refer to perform. In this track, Branch wist- Tracks: 13 + 1 hidden as “debbies” (fourteen-year-old girls,) fully sings to her lover that he is Rating: tttt it is often hard to find a pop album “everything I know that makes me worth buying for someone of col- believe I’m not alone.” It is hard to seriously ac- lege age. However, seventeen-year- Another cut worthy of note is cept a band baring the moni- old rookie songwriter, Michelle “All You Wanted.” With a simple By Tim Gaylord / MAVERICK RECORDS ker Bitch and Animal. With Branch changes stereotypes about melodic progression and unobtru- Michelle Branch is 17 years old, but listen to her music and you’ll song titles like “Best Cock on young singers with her debut al- sive percussion, this track has po- determine that she charts her own course and is the anti-Britney. the Block” and “Ganja,” this bum, “The Spirit Room.” tential to be Michelle Branch’s next band outwardly appears to Branch’s music is about halfway top-forty hit. Arguably, this song is where.” While some enhanced CDs the best music to reach pop radio of be a complete farce, yet this between Jewel and Britney Spears. better representative of Branch’s im- are computerized advertisements for late. This musical prowess is espe- New York based duo will be- With a caressing voice gracefully mense songwriting skill than the the artist or label, this one actually cially impressive due to that fact come a favorite after the first floating over a mellow guitar, Branch aforementioned “Everywhere.” offers the listener a chance to visual- that Branch wrote or co-wrote ev- spin. Signed to Ani DiFran- vaguely reminds her listeners of Jewel, As an added bonus, “The Spirit ly experience the music. ery song on the entire album, some- co’s Righteous Babe Records, yet unlike Jewel, Branch sings up- Room” is an enhanced CD, offer- While Michelle Branch’s upbeat thing rarely done by her musical Bitch and Animal offer the beat pop without an ostensible po- ing the listener the opportunity to brand of pop is certainly not for peers. In short, if you want a simple same borderline punk eccen- litical agenda. Through heartfelt view promotional photos of Michelle those looking for angry, controver- yet pleasing album for your collec- tricity that listeners have come lyrics in which she speaks her mind, Branch or view the video of “Every- sial lyrics, it is unmistakably among tion, this is the one to buy. to accept from that label. The only way to even attempt to explain their sound would be a fusion of Luscious Jackson Dave Ralph and the Grateful Dead. Their music, not unlike Luscious “Naturalizes” Jackson’s, has a sporadic flow, punctuated with aggressive electric bass and strong per- electronica cussion, yet the mellow By Jamie Schulz folkesque sound heard on Advertising Manager some of the slower tracks re- minds one of the Dead. Artist: Dave Ralph Place this disc in your CD Album: Naturalized player, and “Best Cock on Label: Kinetic Records the Block” will completely Rating: ttt catch you off-guard the first time you play it. While the I suppose that the label is Courtesy Atlantic Records song almost comedically re- somewhat of an oxymoron: lates the singers’ promiscu- there’s nothing that natural ity, the musical skill here is about electronica, or dance, Brazilians find their anything but silly. Bitch and or techno, or whatever you Animal demonstrate their mu- want to call it now. Howev- sical acumen with intense trib- er, compared to the other musical bliss together al beats and confident use of mixed and compilation al- By Alan Back bass. The sharp rhythms and bums that have passed through Senior Staff Writer assertive vocals simply encour- my hands, Naturalized is a age dance, so this is definitely better pick among them. The Artists: Gilberto Gil & Milton Nascimento a track worthy of your next best thing going for the mix Album: Gil & Milton party. is that David Ralph actually Label: Atlantic On a less serious note, Bitch took the time to have the tracks Rating: ttt1/2 and Animal sing about an- By Cafi / WARNER BROS. RECORDS gels’ experiences with mari- blend smoothly together. Gilberto Gil (above left) and Milton Nascimento have Gilberto Gil (above left) and Milton Nascimento have juana in “Ganja.” Borrowing Actually, there may be some Latin influences showed up in popular music well earned their own reputations as stars of Brazilian earned their own reputations as stars of Brazilian its melody from a popular delay between tracks if the before the likes of Ricky Martin were in diapers. Dizzy music. Gil & Milton is the end result of the meeting of music. Gil & Milton is the end result of the meeting of Christmas carol, they replace CD is played using a media Gillespie loved to work with artists schooled in Cuban these two minds for their first full-length joint project. player on your computer. rhythms as he developed his style of playing jazz after “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” with Other than that, the theme World War II. Twenty-five years later, Chick Corea melancholy tone runs through the first part, written by “Ganja, in excess, ain’t dan- of a track slowly fades and made his fusion lineups sizzle and dance. And people Gil; when Nascimento takes it over, he drops the guitar gerous.” While this song lacks becomes the next track with- like Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento helped lead and brings in a backing chorus to push things along the inspired groove of the other out there really being a no- the charge from Brazil to spark crazes in bossa nova and more urgently. tracks, it recovers itself with ticeable change. The two CDs samba. “Lar Hospitalar” also points up their differences delightfully offbeat lyrics. A are pretty much ready to play Gil & Milton, the first full-length joint effort from nicely. Nascimento’s melody would do fine in a crowd- song completely unacceptable for the dance floor. these last two, gives a hint of why this fascination took ed dance hall, with the bar doing good business. Read to the deeply religious, the In essence, since the CD hold so strongly. Shifts in style and instrumentation— over Gil’s lyrics, though, and you get a much bleaker band advances their theory is a mix or compilation of everything from a simple piano to full string and wind impression—hopelessness mixed with anger at social that the Immaculate Concep- other mixes, Ralph should not sections—crop up throughout the album’s 15 tracks injustices. tion was a product of drug- get all the credit for the CD. and highlight the range of material they opened up to The disc starts to lose steam on some of the tracks induced date-rape. Though Ralph did do a good composers after them. penned by other composers, with “Maria” and “Yo This album completely vi- job of arranging the tracks so It’s hard to believe that both men are nearly 60, Vengo a Ofrecer Mi Corazón” sliding a little too far olates any popular standards that they progress nicely, it’s judging from the way they sing. They trade verses and into easy listening and almost sounding like Muzak. enacted by the mainstream. the artists themselves who lines in Portuguese on just about every track and make The two performers are more consistent when it comes With irreverent lyrics and deserve the credit, or some of the language a part of the overall picture, even for those to their own material, even when they send almost unconventional use of the the credit. When they’re do- who don’t speak a word of it. (The only track recorded everybody else out of the studio. Pay close attention to instruments, “Eternally Hard” ing a remix of something, it’s in English is their reggae-infused take on the Beatles’ the Nascimento vocal/piano feature “Dinamarca” for breaks from musical tradition. hard to tell who the actual “Something.”) an eloquent lesson in how to make just a little bit of While this album is not for The contrast between the stars’ approaches comes the closed-minded, it is a must- See Ralph, page 21 have for the unique. through most strongly on “Trovoada.” A languid, See Brazil, page 18 16 • Friday, August 31, 2001 • Technique ENTERTAINMENT Onward and Crossword: Gimme an S! By Kit FitzSimons 4.