Ea ; a si ea ‘

What to Buy

Kali Thurber, A&E Editor

ince you are most likely suffering from post Buy-Nothing-Day desperation (if

you’ve been heard murmuring to yourself in the halls, “must...buy...some-

thing,” it is you to whom I speak), and with the consumer (I mean Christmas)
holidays just around the corner, your thoughtful (and not to mention, completely self-
less) editor is here with three albums for your buying needs. Buyable for differing (but
all c6mpletely reasonable) justifications, Has Been, The Lost Riots, and A Hangover You
Don? Deserve are there for you in your time of need.

William Shatner: Has Been

ritten and recorded in a musical epiphany.
The fourth song on the album,

“That’s me trying” is a letter from

period of two weeks, in the
same old studio where Elvis
once gyrated those infamous hips, Has Shatner to his long-lost daughter,
attempting to “get a little daughter-dad

action going soon.” The unapologetic

Been is, in Shatner’s words, a legacy for
his family. The album features William
Shatner’s bluesy voice (comforting like honesty of the song, as well as the sin-
a cup of hot cocoa on a snowy after- cerity of the rest of the album, is
noon) literally speaking the lyrics while almost uncomfortable to hear. But
a full band, complete with with musical contributions and
back-up singers, trans- singing from such greats as Ben
forms Shatnetr’s Folds (who also produced the
thoughts and sto- album), Aimee Mann, and
ries into a Sabastian Steinberg (of
Soul Coughing), the

songs are a beautiful,
willingly exploitive

medley of soft
rock, pop, and

blues.

10 | OUnBPPPeSs

 
  
  
        

 

Hope of the States: Bowling
The Lost Riots

 
  
 
 
  
    
    
  
 
       
         
       
     
       
     

here are some musical groups that come to
us at just the right moment, with just the
tight sound, accompanied by the appropri
ately political message, that suddenly make the chaos of
the world all seems worth it because that music was born
of it. Hope of the States is one of these bands. Yes,
they’ve been described as the UK’s answer to Radiohead,
not to mention a mix of Sigur Rose and God Speed You

Black Emperor!, but in truth, they are their own category,
r

I
t

and are a lovely light in
a world of darkness.
When Sam Herlihy

sings, “clap yer hands sam) ay

    
 
 

c it =
together for me/as I a

album.” J

  

watch my world col-

 
 
 

little bit s
kind of
“breast-e

lapse/don’t waste

  

yer sympathy on

  
 
  

me/because I made it
all up,” listeners want

. musician
to revolt against...well, .

  

I mus
anything. And when

 
    
 
   
 
 
    
 

a realizati
Dont Des

are some

he sings “if you don’t
do something/they’ll
steal it all from under
you,’ in “The Red
The White The Black
The Blue,” it becomes
clear that their name

them as q

  

ing to |
actually s
But then
sic break

 
 
 
    
 

speaks of a desperate

  

re al s
anarchy and isn’t just a es

peak of clever wit. rapidly iny
Listen to The Lost Riots

on some big-ass head-

okay, I w
really is j

    

phones while you walk a listen if

through a crowded mall
sand expect the worst as you hear the best.

December 1/2000