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Show Monday • July 28, 2008 The Dark Knight returns A L B U M S P O T L I G H T Amazon.com The Dandy Warhols' twelfth album will be released on August 19. Newest album doesn't disappoint Earth to the Dandy Warhols Greg Wilcox • ~~T Life writer Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. For some reason. The Dandy Warhols ' have always been a very subdued band in the United States while achieving huge popularity in Europe. The Portland-based band, subject of the documentary DIG! alongside The Brian Jonestown Massacre in 2004, have released their sixth album, Earth to the Dandy Warhols. The group has ditched their parent record Warner Bros. label Capital and released the album independently to be downloaded. On Earth to the Dandy Warhols, the Dandies (as they are called) have seemed to return to the shoe-gaze, layered sound of their 1998 album, Come in horrible positions. He wants to see Down. The album begins where people draw the line in seeking with "The Earth, the People the greater good. Together," which is meThough The Dark Knight has rediocre at best. It's followed, ceived a PG-13 rating, it is not a family film. It is extremely dark, violent ' however, by "Mission Control," a much-needed return and even terrifying. It is not the family to more sophisticated and friendly Batman that Joel Schumacher pragmatic use of electroncreated in the '90s with Batman Forever And Batman And Robin — this is a ica. Next up is "The Wasp in the Lotus," a borderline new, gritty Batman. In essence, this is industrial song with a very The Dark Knight. thick mix and assortment of If you haven't seen The Dark Knight layered sounds. "And Then yet, what are you waiting for? Sure I Dreamt of Yes" follows — you've heard a lot about the story, the a whispery, contemplative action, and maybe even the Joker's brilsong, evoking deep emoliant magic trick, but you really have no tions with a simple melody. idea for what you're in store for. It's a brilliant film without any downtime. Courtney Taylor-Taylor And if you haven't seen it on 1MAX, really utilizes his favorite now you have a reason to see it again. sleepy, languid singing on Throughout the film. Nolan filmed with this album, flaunting the an [MAX camera so that major action style that he has adapted to sequences jump and fill the entire mashis own from the likes of sive screen - creating amazing effects. The Jesus and Mary Chain and Love and Rockets. No matter what, whether you've seen it already or not, watching The The most surprising Dark Knight this week instead of any track of the album is "The other movie is the best choice you can Legend of the Last oi' the make. Outlaw Truckers. AKA the Ballad of Sheriff Shorty." A fun rockabilly number, this song is impressive. It clearly Go to luke hickman.biog spot, showcases Taylor-Taylor's com for reviews of Step Brothimpeccable ability to sing ers and The X Files. a variety of styles, and, in a Batman begins on a whole new level when you hear people discussing the film, they talk just as much about the elaborate story, the action, the violence, the stunts, the twists and the movie as a Since the The Dark Knighfs unique whole, as they do about Ledger - and marketing campaign took off over a even then, they mostly mention his brilyear ago, the buzz for the sequel to Batliant performance and his character's man Begins has taken off to completely maniacal actions, not his death. The new levels. You couldn't see a movie Dark Knight has earned its success all in the theater without seeing a Dark by itself, not by the passing of one of Knight trailer before it. With the conits great actors. stant bombardment of trailers and postI will go ahead and say the same ers and overall buzz, you might think thing about The Dark Knight that I said that audiences would*ve become tired about Batman Begins three years ago of the relentless advertising — if so. you - only with more emphasis: The Dark couldn't be further from the truth. Knight is not only an amazing Batman The Dark Knight has been in themovie, it's an amazing movie. Period. aters for just over a week, has broken In fact, it's so good that I would go so two major box office records (highest far as to call this one a film -- not a movgrossing weekend and highest grossing ie. It is just as much artistic, emotional first day), everyone is talking about it, and beautiful as it is entertaining. and if you haven't seen it, you're conWith The Dark Knight, director sidered odd. and co-writer Christopher Nolan (BatThe Dark Knight is set around a year man Begins, Memento, The Prestige) is after Batman Begins, and it quickly beat the very lop of his game. When the comes evident that the caped crusader Joker appeared in Tim Burton's Batis still cleaning up some of the mess left man, though the film's tone was dark, behind from the previous film. Because he was not. The Joker was simply a the Joker only goes after mob bosses gag-playing clown with dirty tricks up and other criminals, the new threat has his sleeves. Nolan's Joker is pure, plain been placed on the back burner. Only evil. He doesn't have a plan to take when Batman's actions affect the Jokover Gotham. He's an agent of chaos. er's capers do the two cross paths and He represents anarchy. Or. as Alfred begin their fated conflict. (Michael Caine) puts it, "some men just Lots of cynics believe the reason want to watch the world burn." Instead for the hype and success of The Dark of seeking money or power, he delights Knight is Heath Ledger's death, but in seeing what people do when placed Luke Hickman F ] Life writer ~~ Mario marathon needs you Local fundraiser hopes community will get a little competitive These days, videogames can be, and are, incorporated in everything from entertainment to physical therapy to military training. And soon, if USU student Christopher Leitch has his way, they'll also be synonymous with charity. Starting on July 30 at 3:00 p.m. and running for the next 72 hours straight, Leitch will be hosting the first ever Paper Mario marathon. The event is aimed at getting the community involved in raising money for both Child's ^lay, an organization that 'donates video games to hospitals' children's wards, and One Laptop per Child, a charity that donates inexpensive laptops to children in developing countries. The marathon will take the shape of a competitive gaming tournament where each team represents one of the organizations. Com- munity members are invited to participate via live Web streaming and encouraged to donate to the charity, or team, of their choice. Leitch is hoping to find sponsors to match the donations garnered by the winning learn. Interested parties can watch the live stream of the marathon at www.papermariomarathon.com and donations can be made at www.chipin.com with either a credit card or PayPal account. Contributors will be entered to win various prizes, up to and including a Nintendo Wii. And even though the marathon is competitive, Leitch doubts that anyone will lose sight of the big picture. "The main goal is just having fun and raising money for charity," he said. world of perfect equity, this would be a chart-topper. "Love Song," though not an original title, is a shoegazey and blissfully listless composition that is easily one of the best songs the Dandies have written yet. And while not every song on this album can claim as much, the songs that shine are enough to compensate for any weaknesses. Overall, the album stands as evidence that the album mixing process is often best left to the band. It also signifies a return some bands are making to make complete albums; that is, albums that have meaning, not just a few "hits." Granted, The Dandy Warhols have recycled a number of chord progressions and clearly have no interest in exploring the musically technical. Or maybe they consciously choose to dispose of pathetic and predictable pentatonic soloing and misguided exploration and thus only appear as such. But that is what is great about this band: they always put out albums that are good and reliably listenable many times over. You never have to worry about them releasing a musically masturbatory album that alienates the listener and forgets the music itself. They focus on creating the moods and emotions that even the most technically gifted musicians are hard pressed to achieve. Earth to the Dandy Warhols is currently available to purchase online at the band's web site http://www.d3ndywarhols.com/ and the will be officially released on CD August 19, 2008. |