Moneen - Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?
Moneen - Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?
(Smallman/Vagrant)
It’s amazing to think that this is only Moneen’s second full-length album and yet suddenly these Brampton Ontario kids find themselves poised to take over the world. This is going to be the album that propels them to the ranks of emo stardom, and deservedly so. Unfortunately, that does not necessarily mean that this is their finest or most memorable work to date.
To be sure, Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now will sound very comfortable and familiar to anyone who has heard their previous recordings — maybe a little too familiar. One of the album’s weaknesses is that there are no surprises waiting for the listener. It’s the same dreamy, layered guitars turning into chugging stop/start riffs, the same wordy song titles and the same sappy lyrics sung in the same vocal patterns. Although these things have become Moneen’s trademark in a way, they are also beginning to sound a bit stale.
With their steady surge in popularity it’s a shame that they haven’t done much to re-invent their style, especially considering that their style doesn’t sound very new or different anymore. Anyone hearing Moneen for the first time could very well be tempted to label them Taking Back Sunday wanna-bes, and what a misleading assumption that would be.
This is because, if anything, Moneen have simplified their music by cutting out some of the sonic experimentation that was found on their last album and replaced it with more standard emo fodder. Kenny and Chris still fiddle with their delay pedals at the end of every other song, but it’s more out of habit than anything else. I guess it should come as no surprise that their first album for Vagrant Records is also their most poppy and accessible release so far. In Moneen’s world melody has always been paramount, but this time they’ve gone overboard. Producer Trever Keith (better known as the frontman for Face To Face) has emphasized the vocal melodies at the expense of just about everything else, and it ironically makes the songs seem more sterilized and distant than emotional. Even the token piano song (”I Have Never Done Anything For Anyone That Was Not For Me As Well”) sounds like exactly that… a token piano song.
Maybe the hardest thing to swallow about this album is that it simply doesn’t have any of the urgency or intensity that Moneen are known for in their live performances. Sure there is some screaming and some attempts to sound edgy on songs like “Start Angry… End Mad”, but it’s only an illusion, one that quickly fades when the pretty-sounding guitars fade in.
As underwhelming as the album feels, however, I have to admit that it does a good job of capturing Moneen’s youthful energy and it still manages to rock out at points. In particular there’s a new recording of the song, “With This Song I Will Destroy Myself”, previously only heard on a Brampton-area compilation, not to mention songs like “Closing My Eyes Won’t Help Me Leave” and “Life’s Just Too Short Little Ndugu” (the latter seemingly inspired by the movie About Schmidt), all of which are trademark Moneen songs proving that if the songwriting formula ain’t broke, it need not be fixed.
Considering that this is only their second full-length release, maybe hopes of a reinvented Moneen are a little much at this point. If you’re looking for something new and exciting on this album then it’s going to be kind of a bummer, but if you’re just interested in hearing what the newest Vagrant band is all about, well you’re in luck because this album proves that Moneen are a perfect fit on Vagrant’s roster, and they don’t have to suck to do it. — Sean
I was thinking recently that the current comic book movie craze won’t last much longer because audiences will grow tired of seeing the same basic superhero stories told over and over again. The truth is, there are enough different comic book stories out there to keep making movies for the next few decades. Hulk reminded me of this, because as we all know, the Hulk isn’t really a superhero at all… he’s just a guy who gets really big and smashes stuff when he’s mad. As many people have pointed out in the past, he’s more of a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde or Frankenstein tragic hero, and this movie certainly stays true to that.
The acting was a very important part of the film, since the action sequences are kind of sparse and the story itself is pretty straightforward. Eric Bana as Bruce Banner does a good job playing up the inner rage, but something about his performance wasn’t particularly likeable. There was just a certain depth that we never get from his everyday life, and strangely the facial expressions from the CGI Hulk seemed more powerful than the ones from Bana himself. Nick Nolte… well, what can you say about Nick Nolte? His performance as Bruce Banner’s father was way over-the-top. Not only did he look like he just got arrested for one of his many drug offenses, but he also reminded me more of Whistler from the Blade movies than a scientist. Jennifer Connelly is really what keeps the movie together, and it’s hard not to compare her role here as Bruce Banner’s love interest Betty Ross to her role in A Beautiful Mind.
When I heard Equilibrium being compared to both The Matrix and 1984, my ears perked up right away. Even moreso when I heard that Christian Bale was starring, but despite my anticipation, it never arrived in theatres nearby. I thought for sure all the hype and The Matrix name-dropping would be enough to bring it to most mainstream theatres, but it’s theatrical run ended up being pretty limited. With the current runaway success of the DVD market, it ended up being a borderline direct-to-video release. After seeing it, I guess I can understand why it got the short end of the stick in some ways. It does have that low budget b-movie feel at times, but that’s still no reason to overlook it. As we all know, low budget affairs frequently offer the best movie experiences of all, and this is one movie that’s worth tracking down and to watch in the privacy of your home.
The action sequences are one of the movie’s most appealing aspects, and yet also one of its stumbling blocks. This is where the comparisons to The Matrix come into play, but there’s no bullet time here and no serious martial arts choreography. Kurt Wimmer has tried to invent a new fighting style which he calls “Gun Katas” - the use of double pistols with a variety of body stances and movements to maximize the damage to your opponent based on probability of his own movements. The guns also have retractable spikes on them that can be used to pistol whip people in hand-to-hand combat. As cool as the idea is, Equilibrium didn’t have the budget to compete on the same level as a movie like The Matrix, so unfortunately they have to resort to a lot of quick cutting and shaky cam shots - it’s pretty obvious where they are copping out in some areas. They also didn’t have the opportunity to train actors like Christian Bale and Taye Diggs all that extensively, and their inexperience shows at times. The final showdown near the end of the film which was very anti-climactic and felt like a bit of a cop out as well, but I have to say I respect it a little more after hearing Wimmer’s explanation in the audio commentary. In some instances I was left wondering what could have been if there had been more money behind the production, but thankfully there’s more to the movie than just gun fights.
Probably the best reason to see this movie is for the cinematography, lighting, costume and set design. They did a great job visually, particularly considering the budgetary restrictions. There are a lot of cold, blue hues, and a believable futuristic cityscape with very “cubic” buildings showing signs of urban decay as seen in 1984 or Blade Runner. Much of the movie was actually shot in Germany, so it’s interesting to note that a lot of the buildings really exist in Berlin and the surrounding area. The political symbol in the movie also closely resembles the Nazi emblem, incidentally, and you can notice it repeated in many places throughout the movie, including the muzzle flashes of guns.
It’s a shame when you see a great musical performance and there are very few people around to share the experience with you. Experimental/electronic/avante-jazz/fusion band I Am Spoonbender used to be one of the most talked about indie bands after the release of their debut album Sender/Receiver on Mint Records, but they havesince faded into a certain level of obscurity. I’m not sure why, but it probably has something to do with the fact that they’ve only released two EPs in the last few years, both arguably of lesser quality, the second of which was onlyreleased through a small San Francisco label. Even if their new material isweaker and harder to find, however, that’s no excuse for a poor turn out to a concert from one of the most unique and creative live bands around.
They went on to play a number of brand new songs, definitely in an electronic vein similar to their other recent material. Their current band features 4 members, each of which are armed with a keyboard, although sometimes one of them would hammer away at a live drum kit or lay down beats with electronic drum pads. One of the coolest new songs involved duelling electronic beats on synth pads, for which the lights were brought down as they played with glow in the dark drumsticks. For most of the other songs they had screens set up on stage where they continually cast random primary colours onto while they played. Visually it was a very exciting show.
As much as I enjoy the immersive 3D graphics of today’s video game world, sometimes you just can’t beat the feel of a good ol’ side scrolling 2D action game. This is what I like about the Gameboy Advance. It’s the only game system on the market nowadays where 3D graphics are not an unspoken prerequisite for a game, and although there are far too many generic GBA side-scrollers out there, it is the only place that you can hope to find a game like Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow.
The abilities in Aria Of Sorrow come in the form of souls that you can absorb from fallen enemies. For most of the enemies it’s a random thing (some enemy abilities are harder to absorb than others), but with major boss fights you will always receive their “orbs” after you defeat them. You can even trade souls with friends over a GBA link cable and this “gotta catch ‘em all” theme adds a certain amount of replay value to the game. Most of these souls provide a typical secondary weapon that can be used like in previous Castlevania games, with these secondary weapons ranging from spears, axes and skeleton bones to lightning bolts and attacking animals. Other souls operate differently by providing magical effects that last for a certain period of time (shield, feather falling, petrification mist) or permanently (increased strength, power slide, ability to walk on or under water).
It does sound like a stupid name for an album, but “Song In The Air” pretty accurately describes the music that can be found on Elliott’s 3rd full length album. There is a feeling of weightlessness one gets while listening to it as the swirling guitars and ethereal vocals float around you. Then again, after looking at the cover artwork there’s also a feeling that someone’s been smoking too much weed.
