“Ghost World,” based on the comic book by Daniel Clowes, is a funny, deadpan tribute to adolescence, to improbable friendships and to beautiful and not-so-beautiful losers. Zwigoff previously directed “Crumb,” and he’s still transfixed by how weird and moving life can be. Illeana Douglas is a riot as Enid’s nutso-provocateur art teacher. Buscemi is a wonderfully nuanced outsider. And Birch, from “American Beauty,” gives a terrific performance that’s equal parts bitchiness and longing. In the hearts of losers, Zwigoff’s found a real winner.
Ghost WorldUnited Artists Aug. 3
title: “Revenge Of The Nerds” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-03” author: “Andrew Fields”
Their attention-grabbing sound–inspired as much by bleeping videogames as the wall-shaking bass of a house party or the heavy breathing of a prank phone call–has turned former studio dorks Chad (Chase) Hugo and Pharrell Williams into producers du jour. They now work with a roster of artists so diverse it looks like a star-studded Benetton ad: Janet Jackson, No Doubt, Busta Rhymes, Sugar Ray…
“We never want to be those people who specialize in a certain style, because once that dies, so do you,” says Williams, who started the Neptunes with partner Hugo in the mid-’90s. Williams is on the run, as usual, from the airport to his hotel to his studio, mobile phone ringing constantly. “While you’re listening to what we did for Busta, there’s some girl listening to what we did for Usher, and while she’s listening to that, some girl’s listening to the Britney single.”
Now, after making everyone else sound good, Williams, 29, Hugo, 28, and high-school buddy Shay (a.k.a. Sheldon Haley) have made their own album, “In Search Of… ,” under the moniker N.E.R.D. Although they aren’t the hippest guys in the room (sample outfit: a frumpy AC/DC shirt, ’80s-style leather jacket, faded baseball hat), N.E.R.D.’s disc is less an ode to their geek roots than it is an acronym for No One Ever Really Dies. “We’re constantly reinventing ourselves,” says Williams.
The record is a mix of their jump-start style–dead space, then jolting beat–a host of breathy, sexed-up samples and the new addition of live rock instrumentation (a decision they made after working with the ska/punk band No Doubt). The result is a frenetic concoction–mostly inspiring and occasionally off the rails. Though the lyrics can sometimes be annoyingly immature (the first song’s called “Lap Dance”), the music is terse, crisp and magnetic. It’s likely that producers across the country are already jacking ideas from N.E.R.D.
The men behind the Neptunes and N.E.R.D. grew up in Virginia Beach, Va. Their rap group was discovered at a talent show in 1992 by one of the ’80s’ most prominent R&B producers, Teddy Riley. Williams and Hugo signed to Riley’s production company, where, according to Williams, they wrote only a few rhymes and backup verses for other artists. Frustrated, the two eventually got out of the deal and began developing their own minimalist, choppy sound as the Neptunes. They hit big in 1998 when Noreaga’s “SuperThug” busted out and their sound was all over it.
Now the team is now working on singles with Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg and Nelly. “It’s not a matter of wanting to have a million songs out there,” says Williams. “It’s the freedom of knowing you can work with who you want to work with and have no creative limitations, except the ones you place on yourself. That’s why I don’t think we’ll ever get stagnant. It’s our nature to outdo ourselves.” And most other producers.
