Music

Sanders Theatre was filled with rich, textured harmony last Friday evening during Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra’s (HRO) third concert of the 2009-2010 season.

For college students, issues of identity, origins, and the future are, admittedly, sensitive subjects.

“The Monitor,” named after the Civil War ironclad ship, is ostensibly a concept album centered on living in our times and questioning identities, with a focus on the lingering importance of the Civil War.

For Gorillaz to express the plasticity of this world in conventional rap would be disingenuous, and their turn from this language toward a less human and electronic musicality represents a broader investment in a synthetic experience.

On “Broken Bells,” however, Danger Mouse is billed as Brian Burton, and has spoken of his desire to make clear that he is not just producing an album by another artist; Broken Bells is meant to be a stand-alone project. It’s hard to say from the debut, though, if it will stand as more than just a brief, albeit enjoyable, collaborative adventure.

The very existence of a greatest hits album for this band—whose closest approximation of a hit was 1994’s “Cut Your Hair,” which peaked at the giddy height of 10 on the Billboard Alternative Chart—seems more or less unnecessary, but even when one accepts the notion, this particular collection of songs proves frustratingly off.

As flawless a blend as Leo’s falsetto, a tight drum line, and a melodic guitar solo can be, there’s no particular charm in stating the obvious.

The Bach Society Orchestra (BachSoc) gave its third performance of the season this past Saturday in Paine Hall. Under the ...