Arts & Culture

As Weezer comes out with more heart-meltingly adorable songs about getting ignored by hot girls and living life as nonchalant nerds, the more I fall in love. Weezer's seventh album is an endearing combination of pop rock and humorous lyrics mostly written by lead singer Rivers Cuomo.

The debut album from these three Chicago natives proves at once to be versatile, creative and driven by guitars, bass and drums that work in perfect harmony. Amidst a background of electric, psychedelic beats, the lead singer's voice holds a sound reminiscent of The Killers' Brandon Flowers.

"[There's] too many dicks on the dance floor." Yes, this is the kind of profound lyrical content New Zealand a cappella/rap/funk/electro-pop/folk comedy duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement sing about.

The new Kings of Convenience album, brilliantly titled Declaration of Dependence, will go a long way for you if you're into bands like Feist, Belle and Sebastian and Simon and Garfunkel. The album consists of quiet folk-pop music formed by light layers of bass, cello, viola, acoustic guitars, piano plinks and vocal harmonies between the winsome, whispery vocals of Norwegian duo Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe.

Film today has been reduced to white noise in our generation's culture. To be said quite relatively, film is a medium that directors use in order to convey a specific message, be it educational or simply for pure artistic expression.

1989. Most UC Davis undergraduate students will remember this year as the year they took their first steps, spoke their first words or had their first brush with that bully on the kindergarten playground. To Joshua Clover, Associate Professor of English at UCD, the year signifies something greater. To him, 1989 evoked images and sounds of a year that had the cultural revolution of the century.

I'm starting to think Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most devastating and widespread diseases today, simply judging from the number of people who tell me they have it. Everyone and their kids, family and friends apparently have ADHD - even their pets suffer, too.

The Manhattan School of Music band in residence, better known as the Meridian Arts Ensemble, will perform this Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Vanderhoef Studio at the Mondavi Center.

Within the modern architecture and sandstone of the Mondavi Performing Arts Center this past Wednesday night, the historically and internationally acclaimed Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg awed listeners with renowned symphonic repertoire by Wolfgang Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert.

With Halloween comes the candy, masks, slutty outfits, fake blood and the inevitable mass of freshmen wandering campus to make use of their Saturday night. But look no further. Performing at Coachella, Pitchfork music festival and now Freeborn Hall, it's time to listen to one of the UK's best-kept secrets.

MUSIC

Warning - side effects of listening to Rodrigo y Gabriela's 11:11 may include uncontrollable foot-tapping, head-bobbing and clapping. Listen at your own risk.

In their debut album, I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose, UK-based band Bombay Bicycle Club combines alternative rock, experimental and blues elements with Strokes-esque rhythms and melodies to bring an enticing mix of sounds to the soi-disant indie rock genre.

A challenge often confronting eccentric, visually arresting musicians is the task of transferring the spirit of frenzied and elaborate live shows onto a recorded medium. And they rarely come as weird as Baltimore's Nuclear Power Pants. The guitar-less nine piece includes two very bearded lead singers, three female backup singers, a synth player, a keytar player and a dude that jabs a mic into an amplifier.

The Blueprint 3 is supposedly an anthem to Jay-Z's innovative mark on the music industry. Jay-Z ambitiously sets out to release an album entirely centered on the idea that it will be a template for future originality - something he took literally in some tracks with its futuristic sound.