Brother Danielson - Brother Is To Son
(Sounds Familyre/Secretly Canadian)

Daniel Smith, eldest brother and leader of Clarksboro, New Jersey’s The Danielson Famile, has been busy since the Famile’s 2001 release “Fetch the Compass Kids”. When he’s not hand-sewing pillow cases or creating other ‘great comfort stuff’, he’s running Sounds Familyre, his very own record label. Although the Famile itself has been dormant over the last couple of years, Daniel continued to tour with his nine fruit tree, playing stripped down versions of Danielson Famile songs with the help of Sufjan Stevens and available members of the Famile. Now he’s taken the solo act to the next level with the release of ‘Brother is to Son”, Brother Danielson’s first solo album.

The perfect thing about this album is that it’s a complete representation of Daniel Smith, right down to the signature artwork and handwritten lyric sheet. You’re hearing and seeing exactly what Daniel wants you to hear, without any outside interference. Although this technically is a solo album, we still hear help from Daniel’s family and friends, including Soul Junk’s Glen Galaxy and Daniel’s touring partner and adopted Famile member Sufjan Stevens. Although the song writing is somewhat toned down a notch from the quirky stop-start sing-a-longs featured on previous recordings, the sound of the Famile still shines through in the form of sleigh bells, banjo, piano and catchy back up vocals.

“Things Against Stuff” starts the album off perfectly, showcasing what the family does best. A poppy-folk EXPLOSION of cheer and cynicism. “Unbox the blox and let’s build, good and bad taste, inlaws and out. Together we’ll shout to all!!” The album carries on to the seven and a half minute epic, “Cookin’ Mid-County”. Sufjan Stevens provides prominent banjo picking as Daniel covers most of the vocals on his own. The song builds up to a signature high pitched blast from Daniel and friends singing: “I hear the campfire trumpets callin’, blastin with a sound of triumph callin’..” The album ends with the title track “Brother:Son”, capturing a child-like melody backed by lyrics supporting the on-going theme of family, spirituality and joy with the proclamation that Daniel is “outright anti-miserable”.

Although this album could pass as a fifth Danielson Famile LP, there are minor aspects of it that separate it from the usual carnival fair that the Famile brings with them. This is a more sombre Danielson, however still maintaining all of the quirks and signatures that make the Danielson Famile one of my personal favourite bands and one of the most original pop around. — Jay C.

Sparta - Porcelain
(Geffen)

It’s really gotta to suck to continuously toil in the shadow of your former band and former bandmates, but unfortunately for Sparta they seem doomed to such a career of cut short comparisons and quick criticisms. Realistically, At The Drive-In are all but forgotten now; Grand Royal is out of business, their website no longer exists and their videos certainly are not getting MTV airplay anymore, but somehow they still greatly overshadow Sparta. The problem is that Sparta are the more mainstream and predictable of the two spin-off bands, and they’ve never really done anything to distinguish themselves from At The Drive-In, much less progress beyond them.

I still stand by my praise for Sparta’s debut album Wiretap Scars, but maybe part of my appreciation for the album was based on a simple need to hear something new that was even remotely connected to ATDI. Once Cedric and Omar unleashed the Mars Volta LP, it absolutely knocked Sparta down a few notches, making their music seem generic and conventional by comparison. Fans out of the Sparta camp will tell you that Omar and Cedric are egomaniacs who broke up At The Drive-In and that The Mars Volta are pretentious and overrated. Well, I’ll tell you one thing… at the end of the day, they were the most talented members of the band. Sparta can write some decent songs, but they’re not even on the same page in terms of creativity.

Now that Sparta went ahead and recorded a second album, I thought I’d give them another chance to truly prove themselves. I can’t say they really came through. This album has made me see Sparta as one of those bands that could be mistaken for “nu-metal” and suddenly have a breakthrough single that would launch their careers into the stratosphere. But the truth is, with this album they don’t seem liable to make an impression on anyone any time soon.

I hate to say it, but sometimes you can judge a book by its cover, and the cover for this album sums up the band for me. It just looks like they didn’t even have the artistic inspiration to come up with any artwork or design concepts, so they just hired someone else to create it for them. What does this swan logo have to do with anything? As a result the cover is bland and not eye-catching at all.

Musically, there is very little that stands out on Porcelain either. I was half-expecting every song to be a relentless assault of heavy guitar riffs and screaming, but surprisingly many of the songs are not all that aggressive. At first I thought this was a nice change of pace, but then it became clear that aggressive music was the only thing that really worked for them in the first place.

Jim Ward tries a lot of actual singing on this record as opposed to screaming, but he often stumbles through awkward melodies. He fit the role of back-up singer well in ATDI, but a whole album of his vocals with nothing else gets irritating after a while because there is no variety or range to his voice. On poppier tunes like “Hiss The Villain” and “La Cerca” he comes close to pulling it off, but then there’s songs like the closer “Splinters” and “Travel By Bloodline” (which closes with Ward repeatedly wailing “I Miss You”) that just make me wince and feel uncomfortable.

There are moments of cool guitar work on this album, particularly the incorporation of harmonics and dreamy reverb like the opening of “While Oceana Sleeps”, the morphing notes in “Guns Of Memorial Park” or even the lead riff of “Tensioning”, but the sound always ends up being ruined by needless digital guitar effects or dull and inelegant breakdowns with no flow. Believe it or not, there are times when Sparta sound more like The Deftones than I ever thought possible, unfortunately they are tapping the cheesy side of the Deftones that I don’t like.

They have tried to branch out on a few tracks like the 8 and a half minute “From Now To Never”, which downshifts to a melancholy ending with a french female voice-over, slide guitar and piano, and the out-of-place “P.O.M.E.”, a 45 second experiment in effects on a drum solo. One gets the feeling that they are trying to keep up with The Mars Volta in this department, but they do not manage to pull anything brilliant out of these aimless jams.

I guess if you listen hard enough, you can still find echoes of At The Drive-In on this album, but for the most part Sparta have succeeded in moving towards a sound more their own. This is probably their only notable achievement with Porcelain, but the farther they get from ATDI, the less listenable they become. There may be more development and progression in Sparta’s future but I could also see this leading them towards a musical dead end. I don’t recommend the album, and I’m doubtful as to whether or not I’ll give them another chance to prove themselves again. — Sean

Transformers Armada (PS2)
Developed by: Melbourne House
Published by: Atari

I’m so sick of playing crappy Transformers games and it’s about friggin time they made a good one. Well I think it’s safe to say Transformers Armada is the best one to date.

As the story goes, this race of Transformers called the Mini-cons have been lost for millions of years now, and all of the sudden they show up on Earth. Now it’s your job to harvest them before the Megatron and his punk ass goons get to them first. Once you find some Mini-cons, you can equip them to enhance your powers.

This game is a 3rd person shooter/vehicular, driving, flying/1st person game. When you transform into vehicle mode the controls are similar to any driving game on PS2. The 1st person mode is optional, but I find that this mode is the best. As far as transforming goes, there isn’t really a point to it that I’ve found, but you’ll want to do it just because it’s cool and you can. The game can get repetitive, but you get large non-linear levels to explore for secrets and other goodies.

Transformers Armada looks very impressive and you can tell it is pushing the limits of the PS2 to the max. The first thing you’ll notice in the game are the crazy ass graphics that it sports. There are nicely detailed, lush environments, and nicely modeled NPCs and players. However it does suffer from slow frame rates at some points, especially when there are a million guys on screen wanting to make you into a can opener… or even someone’s bitch.

The word “Transformers” is enough for many of us to deposit stuff in our pants… out of sheer excitement of course. Just don’t expect anything sophisticated in this game, and be prepared to lock and load because “Megatron must be stopped no matter the cost”.

7.8 on my ass kick meter — Chian

Mario Golf: Advance Tour (Gameboy Advance)
Developed by: Camelot Software Planning
Published by: Nintendo

With this year’s installment of EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour bringing new levels of realism and control to the world of virtual golf, you have to wonder if there’s still a place for games like Mario Golf Advance Tour anymore. After sitting down to play it, I have to say that the answer is a resounding yes. It may not be revolutionary, but on handheld systems where the processing power isn’t quite ready for hyper-realism, Mario Golf is exactly the kind of game you want to play — colourful, creative, easy to jump into but hard to put down.

Camelot have previously developed a number of Mario Golf and Tennis titles for other Nintendo platforms, often using their experience with RPGs such as Golden Sun and Shining Force to incorporate a unique story-based RPG twist to these sports games. In the past it has worked well, and with Mario Golf Advance Tour it is once again the Story mode that really sets it apart from other golf games. You meet two aspiring young golfers, Neil and Ella, who are students at the Marion Golf Club with the hopes of eventually working their way up through the ranks to become champs at every golf club in the area… and maybe even earning a chance to tee off against the ultimate golf pro, Mario himself.

You are free to explore the golf club premises, talking to other golfers, examining the environments, and searching for hidden items and valuable tips. The main portion of the game involves entering singles and doubles tournaments, and challenging specific competitors on the course. In addition, there are numerous training facilities, mini-games and other challenges throughout the world to ensure that you never get bored. Things like “Go-Go Gates”, a mini-game where you have to par each hole while also passing your ball through a series of gates, a driving range, chipping and putting greens, and other wacky stuff. By doing this you gain experience and actually “level up” your 2 characters. Interesting to note, however, that you never actually control your doubles partner; he or she is CPU-controlled during games but you still have to spend experience points to increase his/her skills. One qualm about the Story mode is that there appears to be only one save slot, but this may be because of the numerous saved highlights and replays that also take up memory space.

The graphics are not true 3D but use Mode 7 (the same technology showcased in the original Super Mario Kart) in order give the illusion of three dimensions and it looks quite good… probably better than any golf games I remember on the SNES. In order to fit everything into the GBA’s small screen, however, the main perspective view is very high overhead and you never get to see a close-up of the terrain that the ball lands on after the shot. Because of this, the game doesn’t feel as involving as it could with a more dynamic shot cam.

The controls are pretty much the standard we’ve come to expect from golf games over the years. The typical timed 3-click procedure will handle most of your club swinging needs, but with a few tiny amendments. There is a simplified 2-click auto swing for beginners that activates the 3rd click for you with semi-random timing. For grizzled veterans who are already comfortable with the technique, you can also add top spin or back spin with a quick double tap of A or B at the end of the swing. More advanced swing options are also available, including a “Power Shot” (only 6 allowed per game, but your supply won’t decrease every time you achieve a perfect shot) and an “Impact Mode” that puts spin on the ball by manipulating the club’s impact point on the ball. Both of these concepts seem to have been swiped from Camelot’s own Playstation classic, Hot Shots Golf. Putting is unfortunately the easiest part of the game, with the actual lie of the green having little influence on the movement of the ball.

Multiplayer options are pretty broad, from stroke play to skins play to doubles (alternating shots) teams and closest-to-the-pin contests. Although it says on the box that a link cable is required, you can play with up to 4 people using a single GBA, which is convenient and cost-efficient. Of course, there are some added bonuses when playing a linked multiplayer game, such as the ability to taunt or praise your opponents with pre-defined messages.

The game even has a glossary of golf lingo for the real newbies proving that yes indeed, they have thought of pretty much everything.

Mario Golf Advance Tour is supposed to be the handheld companion to Toadstool Tour for the Gamecube. They are different games with different courses and styles, but the control schemes are similar. There is an option to link up and use your character from the GBA on the Gamecube one, but I doubt this is a big selling point for anyone.

My only regret with this game is that they didn’t fully embrace the game’s stylistic strengths. If the game is going to be cartoony rather than realistic, then you should go all out with it. Why not have cartoony interactive obstacles on some of the courses, or have wild power-ups that can give you mega distance or mess up your opponents’ swing? There are extra courses that can be unlocked but still, the game feels at times like too much of a true golf sim. As for the RPG stuff, why not do more with it? Create environments that actually feel like more than an elaborate menu system and characters that have more to offer than just generic golf advice. Sure this goes against the actual core gameplay, but hey it’s never been done before and that’s my point!

Aside from the role-playing elements of the game, Mario Golf doesn’t really add anything new to the genre, and that is a bit disappointing. However, its deep and engaging design make it probably the best handheld golf game to date, and gives you tremendous value for your money. It may not be a hole-in-one but it’s definitely a birdie putt for the win. — Sean

The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
(Interscope)

It’s been 4 long years since The Hives released “Veni, Vidi, Vicious” and about 2 since it was relaunched in North America to make them a household name, riding a wave of so-called rock revivalism led by bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes. Not soon after, an intense bidding war erupted between record labels vying for their next release, and with legal action on the horizon it seemed we would have to wait at least another year before hearing anything new from The Hives. What a pleasant surprise it is to find that the dust has settled and these Swedish rockers were given a green light to head back to the studio and generate another album of loud and snotty rock anthems.

Tyrannosaurus Hives is exactly that — a collection of frenzied garage rock tunes with authentic 60’s flavour that clocks in at just under 30 minutes. The 90 second “Abra Cadaver” hits hard and fast with the vigor of The Ramones, The Makers and The Stooges all in one. The album continues with a similar breakneck pace from here on… it rarely slows down but it does get more infectious with each and every song.

The album’s first single, “Walk Idiot Walk”, may be the most accessible and fun song they have written to date, With a stabbing Stones-esque guitar riff and a spy surf progression in the verses, plus some handclaps for danceability. Clearly, it’s just what this summer needed, and I for one won’t be annoyed if I have to hear every hip radio station in the world play it to death.

The only real exception to the band’s loud and fast formula is “Diabolic Scheme”, a weird lurching blues ditty accented by screeching violins and Howlin’ Pelle’s drunken-sounding crooning… not to mention one hell of an off-kilter guitar solo.

Some of my personal favourites include “Two-Timing Touch And Broken Bones” and “A Little More For Little You”, both featuring stellar sing-along choruses, the latter with some farfisa organ flourishes to accent the rhythm as well. There really isn’t a bad song in the bunch, and if you like one you should like them all.

The production on this record is what seals the deal, with The Hives making themselves sound the way rock and roll should - dangerous and fun, loud but not overly trashy or needlessly lo-fi. There is not a lot of variety on Tyrannosaurus Hives, but honestly why would you want any? It’s short but sweet, but sounds great on repeat. This one won’t be coming out of your cd player for the rest of the summer, I can pretty much guarantee it. — Sean

The Big Empty (DVD)
Written and Directed by: Steve Anderson
Starring: Jon Favreau, Joey Lauren Adams, Rachael Leigh Cook, Daryl Hannah, Sean Bean, Kelsey Grammar

After the runaway success of their clever low budget cult comedy Swingers in 1996, Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau had Hollywood producers eating out of the palm of their hands. They had broken into the film industry in a big way and they were well on their way to stardom, landing roles in such movies as Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, The Cell, Old School, and Starsky & Hutch. Well at least one of them did anyways. Poor Jon Favreau seems to have gotten the short end of the stick on this deal, as he has struggled to find bit parts in bigger productions while Vince Vaughn continues to get more and more exposure as time goes on. To his credit, Favreau did direct the Will Ferrell vehicle Elf and scored an enjoyable role in Daredevil, but for the most part Favreau is still resigned to working the indie circuit — which is not necessarily a bad thing. But other than the unofficial sequel to Swingers (Made, again co-starring Vaughn) and his TV show “Dinner For 5″ on IFC, his output even on this front has been rather slow as of late.

When I heard about The Big Empty, it caught my interest because it sounded like Favreau’s long overdue next film, and a chance for him to prove himself as a writer, director and actor without Vince Vaughn at his side. The thing is, I didn’t realize until after watching the movie that he didn’t actually write or direct it at all, he only stars in it. The movie is the brainchild of first-time director Steve Anderson, which is a little hard to believe — not because of the outstanding quality of the film, but because of the industry clout required to so many big name actors on a small indie flick. I mean, with Kelsey Grammar, Sean Bean, Daryl Hannah, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Joey Lauren Adams, we’re talking about a movie with more familiar faces than some big summer blockbusters have. Anderson even had to cut an entire character from the film played by Danny Trejo… who does this guy think he is? I don’t know how he did it, but Steve Anderson should be glad he was able to attract this kind of talent for his film. Without such an interesting cast this movie would have gotten little to no attention, and probably wouldn’t have been worth watching either.

As it is, it’s still a pretty low key film that’s hard to find even now that it’s out on DVD. Perhaps this is because the concept is so vague and difficult to describe without giving away anything. Allow me to try and summarize: John Person is a struggling actor who is propositioned by a strange, nervous man in his apartment building to do a simple job in exchange for a large sum of money. All he has to do is take a blue suitcase to Baker, California and deliver it to a man named “Cowboy”. When he arrives in Baker however, weird things start happening to him. Not really like Twilight Zone-weird, just sort of… odd weird… at first. He meets a hostile young man who is worked up about his girl troubles, a hotel clerk who delivers him breakfast in bed without being asked, and a flirtatious young girl who, according to the locals, simply walked in from the desert one day. He has trouble meeting up with this Cowboy character but keeps hearing from others that he is in town. After that, well things just go plain wacky.

As you can probably tell, Anderson seems to be going for an X-Files-esque/David Lynch story here, and for a first-time director he’s taking a risk because such a thing is very difficult to pull off without seeming contrived or hokey. To his credit, it does retain a feeling of believability all the way through, although this is also thanks in part to Jon Favreau’s own likeable persona and the aura of realism he projects in all his roles. The movie builds up a number of little mysteries along the way to the point where the fate of the film all rests on a climactic revelation at the end. Whether or not Anderson delivers such a pay off is probably a matter of opinion. The ending is left pretty wide open for interpretation, and personally I felt like it was a case of lazy storytelling. The story was told well enough along the way, but I doubt Anderson himself even had a complete picture worked out in his head and that just doesn’t cut it for me.

Also, despite the big names involved, The Big Empty still feels like a low budget indie production. You can tell it was written with certain limitations in mind, focusing on dialogue and suspense rather than action and special effects, and also keeping the number of locations to a minimum and making them convenient for shooting. Often low budget movies make up for their shortcomings with their D.I.Y. charm, but The Big Empty seemed to be aiming for something more and comes off feeling… well… empty.

I don’t think the movie was completely worthless as there are some fun performances here. Sean Bean as the mysterious Cowboy completely draws you in, and Kelsey Grammar (who I tend to dislike) as the fast-talking F.B.I. Agent Banks has some of the best lines in the movie. Jon Gries and Bud Cort also create some quirky and memorable characters that deliver a few laughs, and Favreau alongside them shows he can be one of the best comedic straight guys around.

Maybe The Big Empty will end up finding a cult following on DVD, similar to other mindbenders like Donnie Darko, but something tells me there isn’t enough substance behind this movie to merit that kind of worship. Still, if you like Twin Peaks or the X-Files then there might be something here for you. The DVD also contains a fair amount of extras including director’s commentary, deleted scenes, “Making Of” featurette and a gag reel, so for hardcore fans there is plenty more to delve into. Personally, I’m not interested enough to dig much further than the movie itself. — Sean

SCENE 2004
Sunday, July 11, 2004 @ Various Venues, Downtown St. Catharines

The following are excerpts from The Pretentious Goon’s personal diary on the day of the SCENE 2004 music festival in St. Catharines.

10:00 - I arrived in St. Catharines the night before from Oakville for SCENE. I wake up on just a few hours sleep. I was up all night flipping between movies on TV. Ed Wood, Princess Bride and uh… Jingle all the Way were on. I couldnt resist. I go to That’s Entertainment to get ripped off selling used CDs and VHS tapes.

12:00 - After done with this, I go to Beat Goes On on 4th Avenue to sell “the good cds” I wasnt going to let myself get ripped off for. Talk to guy with long hair there about SCENE and check out his planned schedule. Its about the same as mine, but I don’t think I saw him the whole night. He might have been the same guy on the street who gave me a Backyard Wrestling Federation DVD though. I’m not too sure anymore.

2:00 - After eating, I go to the mall to pick up the Controller Controller CD for 10 bones. I didnt know if they’d have merch for sure and I figured “eh, better get it now” since I had nothing else to do. I see JAY C at HMV and we discuss an upcoming untitled movie project.

3:00 - I arrive downtown to get in like for tickets, hoping I’ll be there early enough to get a free sampler or two. Theres a huge lineup, and its moving slowly. Very slowly. Slower than your average concert line. Its extremely hot outside and I feel bad for the semi-goth-punk guy in front of me with a zillion piercings and his cute lady friend who looks like a member of Evanescence but would be offended if I told her so. Too much black, kids. Someone probably from Bedlam is asking everyone out front who they came to see which I find annoying for some reason and make a bad joke to the camera which I am ashamed of now.

3:15 - I’m still in line. Shit, this is taking too long. The line gets messed up by the blonde girl from Tantrum Records (Jen?) who needs to back out of the parking lot. This needs to be worked out next year. This line would continue to be long and slow until around 5:30. Get some more people working the door. With Market Square at their disposal you would think this would be easy to fix next time. Some friends are still in line around this time until 4:10 and they’re upset and thining of taking off, since their friends’ bands are playing the early sets they might end up missing them.

3:30 - 4:00 - Wandering around Market Square in the shade, talking to CFBU people (does that dreadlocks guy work at Out of the Past? I think its the same guy.), getting some free CDs, stickers, and talking to a few peoples including SCENE promoter, Bedlam’s Joel Carriere. I have a bag of video tapes that I’m supposed to be dropping off to someone at this time, but he hasnt showed up. Luckily, Matt B. of Bedlam shows up to pick up the CD I’m selling him though. I end up lugging this bag of tapes around with me all night as I never find my man. The bag rips once or twice and I’m sure I looked like a tool carrying them. I wish I brought a backpack or something in retrospect.

4:00 - To the Double Olive for Creek Road Crossing. I have a bias to this band as I’ve known lead singer Lee Campbell since grade 2. He has an amazing voice and they rock hard, playing early 90s type alternative mixed with a little bit of southern style rock. Theres a lot of talent in this band, but honestly, noone cares. The only people there to see CRC are myself and the bands other friends and girlfriends. People come in and leave frequently within seconds. I feel bad for CRC and know that at a different time (as in decade) and a different time (on the bill when people still arent in line) they’d pull a better crowd.

4:40 - I wander back to Market Square hoping to find the guy I’m supposed to be selling to. No dice. I notice however the drawing I did for Bedlamsociety is hanging over the ticket table. So I wander around a bit. I listen to the end of In These Walls from outside Big Bucks, as well as wander past the Merchant Ale House to listen to some of Inner City Surfers.They’re okay. I realize At the Mercy of Inspiration are about to start over at Red Square so I go there right away.

5:15 - ATMOI have a PACKED CROWD. Last year they had a decent showing, but nothing like this. I’m still all heatstroked out from standing in line (I hadn’t eatenyet) and luck out by getting a comfy seat at the back.ATMOI are awesome as usual, playing black metal that sounds like hardcore to me live (I guess its the way they perform and look), however I’ve seen ATMOI like 5 times already so I take off a few songs in to go to the Chili Pepper to see a band the CFBU guy tipped me off to.

5:35 - I am seeing the NJ band, bizarrely named Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start. For an hour I thought that was the code to unlock all levels to Sonic the Hedgehog, but it came to me later its the Konami Code for all their old games such as Contra. Up Up Down Down… are an emo band, which is a strike against them. However, they are a GOOD emo band, which I find very rare. They’re good enough to give credibility back to the genre and I appreciate their set very much. Their singer may be singing typically whiny emo nerd lyrics but it doesnt sound whiny in presentation. He has an excellent voice, and the band seem very happy to be here. As they keep playing they seem less to me of an emo band and more like an indie band with emo tendencies. I buy two of their CDs and a TShirt as they had a high value package deal. This is the only band merch I would purchase all night.

6:10 - After a little bit of Ken Reaume (solid as always, no need to say more) I head back to the Double Olive to meet up with people. Money Money is playing and they have no shirts on. I consider this a strike against them for some reason. I listen to their set from the patio as I exchange dead baby jokes with friends. Money Money are good but repetitive. The people I am with disagree with me and tout their energy, which I guess they have a point about. I look at my schedule and realize I missed Dallas Green, which kinda miffs me except for the fact that if I was at his show I’d have missed Up Up Down Down..

6:40 - I wander some more. I get some water and stand outside to listen to a bit of Jude the Obscure. Theres no way I’m getting into Big Bucks with the line thats there. I end up not going into Big Bucks (or for that matter, the Lynx or On the Rocks) all night. I find Jude to be a good band but also think of them as “dime a dozen”. Its really hot still, I haven’t eaten, I’m tired and not in the mood for screaming. I decide I’m going to take it easy for the rest of the night and avoid anything too loud. I’m tipped off that Pow Media favorite Barnaby (aka Chris Charkowy) and his new band Hymnalaya will be playing at 7pm at the Mansion House so I note to go see them instead of the End, who I really wanted to see but, since they’re on Relapse, means they will be loud and hurt me and my poor self. I wander some more, get a hot dog by the big line in front of L3, catch a few minutes of Rutteger and get over to the Mansion House.

7:10 - Hymnalaya apparently dropped out of SCENE because Charkowy got pneumonia or something. Playing in their place is the Classic Brown, aka Stacey Brown, just a girl and her guitar. I understand that she sometimes has a band with her but she’s alone tonight. This is just what I needed and I sit and listen to the rest of her set, which includes a cover of “Like a Prayer”. I make note to myself that I should hook her up with some people I know in Toronto that would love her as much as I did.

7:40 - I drop off my mix CD for the Mixtape Exchange and kill some time in front of L3. I hear at this time there was some band that played in the alley beside it and that they sucked. That’s kinda pathetic. There were a bunch of graffiti artists over there as well that people were watching even though I’m sure they had no view of what they were painting.

8:00 - Mixtape Exchange. I get a compilation of old punk songs which I am glad to get. The guy who gets mine seems happy and I’m glad. I dont know how he could, but it would be awesome if Chris “Rose City”O’Toole could find a way to make a bigger production out of the exchange for next time.

8:10 - I watch a bit of Maximum RNR and then head to the Chili Pepper to see Black Avalon. They’ve got quite a crowd at the front and they are a decent band, but nothing really moved me or anything. They have potential though.

8:40 - I go to L3 for the first time ever. Its a nice place, I like the set-up but feel they could do more with the place and all that empty wall. The setup around the stage is good too, giving people places to sit and still see everything good. Its incredibly hot upstairs, and I take it easy against the rail and shoot the shit with a friend I hadnt seen in almost 6 years, the mighty Boss-O. Bear vs. Shark are entertaining but sloppy, yet I’m glad they’re going late on their set so I dont have to wait listening to nothing. I stay here for Raising the Fawn’s set, and theirs is the best of the night. They are right now one of my favorite Canadian bands and live they are even better than on record. They have a spaciness about them that reminds me of Pink Floyd and the Secret Machines more than it does say, Mogwai. “Gwendolyn”, with its bassline, to me was the song of the night. I find out after this set that my ride for later has left for a reason I wont get into here.

10:00 - I go over to the Double Olive to see Oliver Black. I thought it would be “guy and his guitar”stuff like Ken Reaume, but then I saw the T-shirts and the gear come in. And the place was packed to a fault, so I took off before it even started. I realize Two Knives are playing and I head over and its busy there too. Not in the mood to wait I listen to some of Blue Skies at War from outside Big Bucks as I drank some water. I forget if it was at this time or earlier, but I should note that while having some water I took note of some wackiness with the police. There were bicycle cops out all night, and on more than one occasion I saw people caught with beer bottles who had to pour it out onto the street. One notable one was some guy who had a full 40oz bottle and was being written up by the cop. Sorry if you’re reading this man, but I have to laugh at people caught for stuff like this.

10:30 - I head over early for Controller.Controller - I saw them before at Franz Ferdinand and listened to their album on the Internet before buying it earlier that day. The easy way to describe them is “Hot Hot Heat with a girl singer” - thats an oversimplification though, they’re probably a bit funkier overall and there isn’t any synthesizer or traces of emo in their music. I actually expected the place to be packed at this point for them but it wasn’t. Controller.Controller came on 20 minutes late because2 of their band members got lost on the way to the show. That kinda sucks because it forced them to rush through many of their songs. It was still good and they appeared to be having a lot of fun. Once they got on stage the place started filling up. Everyone who came in stayed in. They ended very solidly and played a new song as well that struck me as better than anything off their album.

11:25 - By the time their set was over I was beat. I was too tired, I was sweating like a a sweaty guy back from holiday, and I still had that goddamn bag of videotapes and was sick of carrying it around with me.I took one look at the Alexisonfire line and said “I cant do this”, and was lucky enough to get a ride home with someone else at that time instead of being stuck with a cab later. With that ended my day of SCENE.Apparently I wasn’t the only one home early, as I checked the Bedlamsociety.com message board and found that SCENE founder Cashmere had already posted about the show. I spent the next little while visiting websites for some of the bands I saw and even for the bands who didnt, as well as getting my first listen of the SCENE compilation.

Overall I’d have to say that because of certain circumstances I preferred last years show to this years. Maybe if I didnt have a shitload of free CDs I got and videotapes that didnt get picked up, or if I had had more sleep, or if my ride hadnt bottomed out, I would have had a better time. Still, I can objectively, as someone who doesn’t really live in the area and like some people already posting their rave reviews, isn’t buddy-buddy with all the bands there, say that SCENE is an enjoyable experience with enough variety to keep me coming back year after year.

Still gotta fix that lineup problem though, or open the doors even earlier. The only excuse I’ll accept is that there was a bigger turnout than expected, which may actually be true. If so, I can only guess SCENE will expand even further next year, with more bars and more bands. — Goon

!!! - Louden Up Now
(Touch & Go)

It has been many years since it was feasible to even think about dancing to rock music, but with recent beat-oriented bands like The Rapture and Le Tigre taking underground clubs by storm, there is suddenly a lot of booty shaking going on. It has yet to emerge as a full-blown trend, mainly for lack of a trademark sound and style, but of course this is exactly what makes the movement special. Each band is bringing their own unique sense of rhythm to the dance floor, and !!! are among those adding to the diversity.

Terms like “electro-clash” and “dance-punk” apply very little to a band like !!!, in fact, with a name like that it’s pretty obvious that they’re not interested in easy labels or categories anyways. According to them, the band name is essentially open to interpretation — call them “chik-chik-chik”, “pow-pow-pow” or any other repeated 3 syllable expression of excitement. It’s not all that important. What is important is that you drop any preconceptions you might have and lose yourself in their music.

Louden Up Now is their second full length album and first for Touch & Go; definitely a step up in terms of exposure, but musically it finds them expanding their vision. While their trademark funk elements and punk energy are still in the mix, the songs seem to wander a lot more. There is much less liberal use of horns and a lot more electronic beats — fans of dub, house and other electronic dance genres will feel at home. There is a repetitious, trance influence at points, with some songs dragging on longer than they probably should. The opening track “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Karazzee”, for example, is not the strongest starting point, but the album quickly picks up steam. The extended groove is more than welcome on “Pardon My Freedom” , and also on the 7-minute “Hello? Is This Thing On?” where the beats give way to throbbing bass and horn breakdowns.

At first glance there appear to be some political undertones on the album but it’s pretty hard to take them seriously when pretentious art school silliness also abounds on songs like the two-part epic “Shit Scheisse Merde”. Truth be told, the lyrics are often amusing but certainly not deep or profound.

The album’s best song is something we’ve previously heard, specifically the title cut from last year’s Me And Guiliani Down By The School Yard EP. This may be a disappointment for those who were hoping the EP was a mere taste of what was to come, but on the other hand, it’s a sweeping 9-minute dance floor epic that’s hard to top. Other new favourites include “Dear Can” with its Prince meets no-wave aesthetic and driving percussion.

I can’t deny that !!! are an acquired taste and this album will probably take time to grow on you even if you are already a fan. However, once you get into their groove you’ll find yourself hooked. Louden Up Now is one of the most original albums you’re likely to hear this year so give it a spin — if you think you can handle it that is. “Y’all could learn a lesson by losing inhibitions / Losing yourself in the music, losing yourself in the moment cuz we have nothing more than this very second”. Hey maybe those lyrics are more profound than I give them credit for. — Sean

Spider-Man 2 (X-Box)
Developed by: Treyarch
Published by: Activision

The draw of any superhero game has always been the potential thrill of putting yourself in the role of the hero and experiencing a glimpse of what life might be like if you really had superpowers. Imagine flying over a city scouting for trouble with your x-ray vision, or wiping the floor with a bunch of thugs using your lightning-quick reflexes and super strength. Nothing could be more fun than that. The problem is, very few video games have ever managed to successfully convey such an experience. No doubt one big obstacle over the years is that the technology has been pretty limited. However, the real reason is probably just that licensed video games based on comics, TV shows and/or movies are usually little more than half-baked cash grabs.

This is where Treyarch have broken new ground. Their Spider-Man 2 game, while clearly created as a mass market movie tie-in, was not left to sell itself based on name alone. They gave a lot of thought as to how they could make the player truly feel like they were in Spider-Man’s tights and it paid off. The end product is an extremely fun and endlessly replayable open-ended gaming experience.

Think Grand Theft Auto and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater but instead of driving cars or riding a skateboard around the city you swing around on lines of webbing, climb walls and leap across rooftops. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want, and indeed the most impressive and addictive aspect of the game is simply soaring among the skyscrapers of Manhattan from Spider-Man’s POV. They have recreated all of Manhattan with many actual landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Central Park (not to mention the two beams of light where the World Trade Center once stood). The physics feel realistic, and the speed and fluidity with which you can maneuver are exhilirating — especially once Spider-Man’s attributes start to max out.

Taking their knowledge and experience from the Tony Hawk series, Treyarch have incorporated upgradeable skills and abilities for Spidey along with a staggering number of combat moves and combos that allow your creativity to dictate your enjoyment of the game. From Spider Reflexes (bullet-time slow mo), to the ability to entangle enemies in webbing or yank them over to your fist, to a Web zip line, to any number of different punches and kicks, your choices are virtually unlimited. You can even attach webbing to two buildings at once and then slingshot yourself with it. How cool is that? The designers have also placed a number of obstacle course style races and challenges throughout the city, and while they may seem a little out of context they allow you to constantly test and improve your gameplay skills. This really is a game, much like the THPS games, that you will want to turn on just to fool around in the world without even trying to accomplish anything specific.

The game progresses in a mission-based format, with a checklist of missions required to move on to the next chapter of the story that can be completed in any order you desire. What’s more, along the way you will encounter an endless supply of optional tasks that will earn you the “Hero Points” that are used to buy upgrades. These include stopping bank robberies, catching and punishing car thiefs, or even (the true test of courage) rescuing some kid’s balloon. Although the variety in these side missions is somewhat lacking, they never really get old due to the flexibility of the core gameplay mechanics. The main chapter objectives provide other fun and different activities that bring you into contact with all the characters from the movie and others from the comic book. Whether it be taking some photographs for The Daily Bugle, delivering pizzas for Mr. Aziz, or battling against classic Spider-Man enemies like Rhino, Mysterio, or eventually Doc Ock, all aspects of Peter Parker’s life are integrated into the story.

Spider-Man 2 does have its flaws. In order to pull off the super cool web-slinging feature, the developers had to make some concessions along the way. In particular, this is not the best looking game you are likely to see as it would be impossible to maintain highly-detailed reproductions of everything in Manhattan with no load times as you hurtle through the city at super speeds. As a result the environments look pretty bland and the NPC characters look like 3D relics from the past with a simple flat bitmap representing their face and no lip synch whatsoever. The cinematics also mostly look like ass, with odd jerky animation and lacklustre models.

The voice acting is mediocre to sub-par. While the main stars do lend their voices (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and Alfred Molina), many of the other peripheral characters are obviously not done by their real-life counterparts. Tobey Maguire’s deadpan voice did amuse me at times (”Hey Spidey, you da man!” “No… you da man.”), but mostly he sounded like he couldn’t care less (and I’m sure he couldn’t). The surprise star of the game however is Bruce Campbell, who provides his voice for narration and instructional purposes throughout. His sarcastic comments made me laugh from the get-go, and made for an especially fun way to learn the ropes.

The toughest flaw to get past is the fact that Spider-Man 2 is noticeably buggy, as can be expected from any game that has an inflexible release date that coincides with a movie. While I personally have seen the game lock up, I’ve also read about a particularly nasty glitch that prevents the game from progressing past chapter 9 under certain circumstances. This is the kind of thing that can really ruin a game, and it’s a roll of the dice whether or not you will encounter any major problems.

Still, with all these strikes against it, Spider-Man 2 is a very fun game. It’s a notable accomplishment that’s definitely worth a rental. The excellent replay value also makes this a promising title for anyone looking to stave off summer boredom. If you’re a big Spidey fan however, you’re going to want to run out and buy this immediately. Believe me when I say it’s the closest you’ll get to the world of Spider-Man without actually getting bit by one of those radioactive little buggers. — Sean

Dead Like Me: The Complete First Season (DVD)
Created by: Bryan Fuller
Starring: Ellen Muth, Callum Blue, Jasmine Guy, Cynthia Stevenson, Mandy Patinkin

I first heard about the Showtime tv show Dead Like Me last year from a person who more mentioned the show in passing than actually recommended it. But, since this year I had TMN and they were re-running the first season I thought I would check it out. It turned out, I liked the show.

Dead Like me is supposed to take place in the Pacific Northwest America, but is shot in B.C. George Lass (Ellen Muth) is a young lady who isn’t quite sure what she wants out of life. She is a college drop out whose mother does not want her daughter lazing about the house so she forces her to get a job. George ends up finding employment with a temp. agency, The Happy Time Workers. On her first day of employment, when she steps outside for some lunch, she gets pummeled by the toilet seat from the falling Mir Space Station. George is left stunned and standing beside what is left of herself. Enter Rube (Mandy Patinkin of Chicago Hope fame), the middle management supervisor who explains to George that she has died but she has been given a chance to live again as a Grim Reaper.

The reapers are not the stereotypical dark cloak, scythe carrying bunch but rather appear as humans and even have to take on day jobs to support themselves while they reap the souls of the near deceased. Also helping along the way are three other Grim Reapers, Mason, Roxy and Betty. Mason (Callum Blue) is a Brit with a bit of a drug problem. Roxy is played by Jasmine Guy, known to most people as “Whitley” from A Different World. She is the ball buster of the group and has to work as a meter maid during the day to make ends meet. Betty is played by Rebecca Gayheart but is replaced in episode four by Laura Harris whose most notable past preformance has been the voice of “Bright Eyes” in the My Little Pony cartoon. Harris’ character, “Daisy Adair” is an actress who died in the fourties and isn’t shy about admitting to the other reapers who she gave head to in order to get a role. George’s miserable mother, Joy Lass (pun intended I’m sure), is played by Cynthia Stephenson (Happiness; Air Bud). The cast is great and play off each other well.

The concept of the show is that these reapers are amongst many all over the world. They meet every day in a waffle house in order to receive yellow post-its from Rube with an E.T.D. (estimated time of death), name of a person and location written on it. They then have to be at the scene of the death in order to reap the soul. It sounds like a downer of a show since it’s about death and the main character is a young girl who died before she really got to live her life, but I assure you it is quite funny. If you enjoy sardonic, dry humour, you’ll love the dead pan delivery of the reapers.

There are fourteen episodes on this four disc boxed set and the pilot episode has an audio commentary track. Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin, Jasmine Guy, Callum Blue and Cynthia Stephenson are the cast members who contribute to the commentary track. Sometimes large group commentaries are good and sometimes they can be annoying because you can’t keep up with who is saying what. In this case, the commentary track turns into a love fest of compliments on performances. Cynthia Stephenson is the most complimentary member who keeps calling everything about the show “beautiful” and commending the performances of everyone constantly. You can tell that the cast really get along and love the show they are working on but it makes for a bit of a dull commentary. Even though it is only on the first episode, the cast members do still discuss the show as a whole. They don’t really get into too much detail about production or funny stories, however if it weren’t for this commentary track, the special features would only include deleted scenes and two short featurettes.

I think that the first season of Dead Like Me is good, so it can only get better. It is quite often in the third season that the characters are really developed and the actors are comfortable in their roles. If Dead Like Me is this entertaining in the awkward first season, I am really curious how the show will progress. Having said that, the dvd boxed set did not have a lot a lot of extras. This may be because it is only a first season release but I think that if the next season doesn’t have many special features, I would be satisfied just watching the episodes when they air on TMN and not buying the next boxed set. The show is entertaining but it is not cult status and I think a single viewing is all I would ever give it. — Alicia