ARTS AND FEATURES
Photo by Alex Milstein - Staff Writer
Students played various instruments during the Percussion Ensemble concert.
DRUMS
tinned from page 10
con
with an arrangement of the
Jackson 5’s classic “I Want
You Back,” and world music
was represented by Farrar’s
arrangement of Afrobeat leg
end Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get
Enemy,” and saxophonist John
Dallmer’s aiTangement of Bal
kan Beat Box’s “Gross.”
“I usually get a lot of great
ideas from the students,” Rich
mond said. “And then we have
to evaluate those based on how
difficult they are, if they’re a
good match for the ability of
the group and how well they
translate to percussion instru-.
ments, since a lot of them are
originally on other instru
ments.”
The concert also showcased
UNCA’s African Ensemble, di
rected by Agya Boakye-Boat-
en, Africana studies program
assistant professor. Boakye-
Boaten and five of his students
performed “Fume Fume” and
“Kpalongo,” two traditional
Ghanaian folk tunes. Their
performance, which featured
danceable rhythms and rous
ing vocal harmonies, felt
somewhat removed from the
rest of the concert.
“We didn’t have a chance to
coordinate,” Richmond said.
“I’m thinking we’re going to
continue bringing them in, and
maybe next semester we’ll do
some pieces together.”
The music department offers
two ensembles every semester,
with the Percussion Ensemble
serving as a mainstay. Rich
mond encourages students
with interests in music from all
departments, both experienced
and inexperienced, to take part
in future ensembles.
“The only requirement I
have for students coming in
is that they can read music,
because I can’t teach them to
read in the course of the class,
but I can teach them to play
percussion,” Richmond said.
“It’s a one-credit class, so most
people can fit it in. I’m happy
to have anybody who wants to
come.”
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Arcade Fire awes
listeners
Noor Al-Sibai
naalsiba@unca.edu - Staff Writer
Reflektor, both the album
and single, charmed and
awed the music blogosphere
- from the highly-coveted 9.2
rating at Pitchfork, to Pretty
Much Amazing asserting the
album is Arcade Fire’s OK
Computer, to an MTV.com
review calling the album the
band’s “U2 moment.”
Perhaps the only highly-
disseminated review that
couldn’t be construed as un
abashedly singing the album’s
praises is St. Vincent’s Annie
Clark, and only because it’s
impossible to understand.
It’s easy to see why critics
have been losing their minds
over the album - not only was
Reflektor the follow-up to Ar
cade Fire’s 20Il’s Grammy-
winning release The Suburbs,
it also famously includes Da
vid Bowie on the title track
and LCD Soundsystem’s
James Murphy as its produc
er. With the steadily-evolving
mythos suiTounding frontman
Win Butler’s inspirations for
the album - Kierkegaard,
Haitian rara music and the
film Black Oipheus - and the
band’s ascent into the annals
of musical fame, it’s safe to
say a lot was riding on this al
bum. With characteristic flair
and panache, Butler and wife
Regine Chassange - the only
remaining members of the
original lineup - delivered.
“Reflektor,” the opening
track, is evei^thing you’d
expect from an Arcade Fire
single: poupding rhythms
and newly-mature saxophone
sounds, culminating into a
bona fide frenzy in which
David freakin’ Bowie mtikes
his guest appearance, act
ing as the “ressurrector” to
whom Butler is praying. As
Chassange, whose Haitian
background inspired But
ler’s first visit to the island,
sings in her little-girl French
about the time between dawn
and dusk - “Entre la nuit. la
nuit et I’aurore,” - it almost
sounds like she’s singing
about the ennui that acts as
a driving force for the rest of
the album. Butler is clearly
unsettled, and as Annie Clark
said the final paragraph of her
bizane review, he has created
an album full of “sleaze, anx
iety, and pathos that you can
dance to.”
It’s no coincidence
that the pathos of “Reflek
tor” is immediately followed
by “We Exist,” a slow, disco-
infused meditation on the ex
istential crises of existing in
a technological world, set to
a stoiyline Butler revealed to
TimeOut London that’s about
a young gay man coming
out to his father. The disco
sounds are also not coinci
dental - Butler has regularly
commented on his own disco
inspiration as well as produc
er James Murphy’s funk and
disco tendencies.
The Haitian influence fea
tures heavily on “Here Comes
The Night Time,” complete
with a 22-minute music video
featuring some of the band’s
friends, including Bono,
James Franco', Zach Galifi-
anakis, Ben Stiller, Aziz An-
sari and Michael Cera. De
spite the genuine soulfulness
produced by the Haitian rara
music, the song’s corporate
ties to The Creators Project,
a subset of Vice funded by
Intel, render the video some
what soulless.
The rest of the album fol
lows a similar pattern of
intellectual-cum-disco-cum-
rara stylings. From the sepia-
tinted throwback to both the
‘70s and Neon Bible on “You
Already Know,” to the funer
ary dirge “Here Comes The
Night Time II,” the album
simultaneously follows the
formulaic perfection of their
first three albums while also
throwing it out entirely in
favor of their newer, more
mature sound. Echoes of the
band’s literally mythological
roots with a hint of new wave
comes in on “Awful Sound
See ALBUM page 12