HAVE MARITIME, WILL TRAVEL
Album Review: Maritime - We, The Vehicles
9/10
by Bobby Ellis
“So, come on, Davey, sing me something that I know.” Though some may only be peripherally aware of Davey Von Bolen through the reference in that famous Jimmy Eat World lyric, he has spent the last 15 years in the Chicago music scene earning his stripes while playing key roles in two seminally important pre-mall-emo bands, Cap’n Jazz and The Promise Ring (TPR). Now, with the release of his latest effort, We, The Vehicles, from his new band Maritime, he’s asking for our full attention. He’s about to get it.
Throughout his now long romance with emotionally inspired guitar pop, Von Bolen has proven two things: he knows how to write one hell of a catchy song, and he can’t sing worth a lick. His lackluster vocals were always forgivable in his earlier work in the way that his enthusiasm and the driving rock sound that propelled TPR forward always made up for them. Maritime’s 2004 debut, The Glass Floor, was to be his triumphant comeback. He had a new sound, a new band (snatching up The Dismemberment Plan’s former bassist Eric Axelson and TPR drummer Dan Didier), and all the trappings of his emo past behind him. Unfortunately, The Glass Floor fell through (ha-ha). It wasn’t a complete mess, but it showcased just how awkward Von Bolen’s voice was within the new lighter environment of Maritime and was overall dismissed by critics and fans alike. Maybe it has taken all of that for him to get to We, The Vehicles, but somewhere in the time between releases, Von Bolen has confidently found his new voice, and all the pieces seem to have finally come together. The result is a surprisingly accomplished album that might just end up becoming a wildcard entry on some people’s lists of their favorite albums of 2006.
The difference on Vehicles is clear from the very start. On the album opener, “Calm,” Von Bolen’s warbled and smoky voice comes on slowly over a driving snare. He sounds worn and weathered, but not defeated, and even admits early on in the song that “we are powerful despite our injuries.” The theme of redemption through growth and maturity is repeated all throughout the album’s 11 tracks and reveals its author at his most reflective and masterful. Without Von Bolen’s age, he wouldn’t have the distance and perspective to be able to write a song like “Young Alumni,” in which he examines the new generation of musicians and hipsters snapping at his heels. He remarks on it comically, almost in reference to his checkered emotional past, that “love is no big deal.” Similarly, on “Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts,” arguably one of the best songs he’s ever written, Von Bolen simultaneously cuts right to the heart of modern relationships and indie-rock snobbism with the question, “should I feel really flattered that you hate everything but me?” Still, on other songs, like “Tearing Up the Oxygen,” he can’t resist a cathartic emo moment during which he sings, “When your eyes are off me, I’m alone.”
If any of this is sounding like Von Bolen has lost his edge with his new maturity, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Though Maritime’s sound is less straightforward rock than TPR, We, The Vehicles has on it some of the most dancey and upbeat songs that Von Bolen has ever written. The barebones production of the album gives the musicians space to depend on their riffs and inventive drumming to drive the songs instead of studio trickery. Also, the horns which marred The Glass Floor are thankfully absent from the sonic landscape of the We, The Vehicles, leaving the album with a sound that is clear-cut, but not flat.
Whether this new Maritime album is a sign of things to come or just an accidental masterpiece, We, The Vehicles still remains for Von Bolen a crowning accomplishment in an already impressive musical career and an album that is well worth your attention.
A SEQUEL WORTH WHILE
Movie Review - Ice Age 2
9/10
by Amanda Lerman
With a sea of terrible movies being played in our movie theaters, I never thought I’d be so happy to see a sequel among the choices. Given the natural concern that a sequel will be terrible and ruin the first excellent film, it usually makes you wonder why no one can come up with some great new ideas instead of watching the same old stuff. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown dissolved all sequel fears and rocked my world from beginning to end. The film exudes everything you’ve come to expect out of a Pixar film—beautiful graphics, cute one-liners, and talking animals as well as the feeling of personable friendships with each of the new characters introduced. It’s just as enjoyable as the first movie and brings even more fun to the screen, such as the experience of Manny the mammoth working his game on a voluptuous female counterpart.
The adventure is continued with the same three main characters: Manny the cynically sarcastic mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary). Faced with the villain of global warming, these three animals are confronted with serious lifestyle changes. With their caps melting and their valleys beginning to flood, the home they once knew begins to cave in and change forever. Manny even deals with his belief that his species will go extinct and that he’s the only surviving mammoth.
Manny, Sid, and Diego set out as one on their fight for survival against Mother Nature. They are joined in this movie by Ellie (Queen Latifah), a female mammoth, and her opossum brothers, Eddie and Crash (Josh Peck and Seann William Scott).
Director Carlos Saldanha focuses in on Manny as we experience right along with him his relationship issues, his need to migrate, and his loneliness. Watching Manny and Ellie interact brings the film to a new level of care and compassion for these characters, especially since Ellie believes she’s really an opossum and spends her time with two pests who have a great resemblance to that of the MTV Jackass characters. Hilarious musical numbers and rollercoaster rides of melting ice slides also keep the audience smiling and on the edge of their seat. The film’s ingredients of crazy action, creative slapstick, innuendo, and sexual politics make the experience enjoyable for children as well as adults.
So, here’s a big thank you to Pixar for bringing another fun-filled movie of evil alligators, shark-like villains, singing vultures, water slides, and romance. The characters also continue to be hilarious, loving, and your best friends. Go spend your money on a movie actually worth your time.
BUILT TO LAST
Album Review: Built to Spill - You In Reverse
9/10
by Justin Touretz
For those not in the know, Built To Spill (BTS) have been indie rock gods since they formed in Boise, ID in 1992. Fronted by underground guitar legend Doug Martsch, the group fuses the sounds of Pavement and Neil Young to create a rocking blend of melodic dissonance filled to the brim with hooks. In their first release since 2001, BTS delivers You In Reverse, a masterful album loaded with jams and grooves to the delight of anyone who enjoys folk, southern, or classic rock. Hell, even if you just dig great guitar playing, you’ll love it.
What distinguishes BTS from any other jamming rock band that might grace the stage of Bonnaroo is that even though seven out of the ten songs on the album cross the five-minute barrier—brief for BTS standards—there is never the sense that anything is wasted. Instead of taking a few minutes to get to the meaty part of the songs, every riff, rhythm change, and solo is perfectly placed. Each moment of twang, reverb, or feedback is a pleasure, masterfully assembled.
BTS’s decision to entirely self-produce the album—a first for them—allows the remaining core (bassist Brett Nelson and drummer Scott Plouf) further room for exploration in beautifully subtle rhythmic changes. Each track never finishes in the same musical place it started, leaving you simply happy that BTS is kind enough to take you along for the ride.
You In Reverse’s first track, “Goin’ Against Your Mind,” clocking in at over eight minutes, is a perfect example of BTS’s ability to build off a killer riff. The first two minutes of instrumentals build up a foot-stomping climax of rock n’ roll before any vocals kick in. It’s a catchy epic with a killer hook that’ll pull you head first into the rest of the album.
“Conventional Wisdom” kick starts with killer drum and guitar solos, so if you appreciate the art of either, this song will be your album highlight, whereas “Liar” features Martsch’s spaced-out, dreamy vocal style to perfection.
Another notable track is “Wherever You Go,” a track displaying some of the best riffs you’ll ever hear, all the while building them up further than you could ever imagine. “Mess With Time” is the heaviest song on the disk and is the pillar for BTS’s ability to change rhythms on a dime.
You In Reverse seems to be a few decades out of place, but their ability to call on their rock n’ roll forefathers allows them to deliver some truly inspired work. Do yourself a favor and get to know this band. It’s hard for talent this impressive to stay underground forever.
THE KING IS DEAD
Album Review: T.I. - King
5/10
by Susy Kim
Last week T.I.’s new album King was released, taking the number one spot on the Billboard 200. Though it has a great opening, T.I.’s performance on the new album is definitely not what the title claims him to be. The album contains 19 tracks with a few skits which were actually pretty interesting compared to other artists who have tried to incorporate them into their albums in the past. T.I. had great producers on his album, including the Neptunes, Dj Toomp, and McMasters to name a few.
The first single from King, “What You Know,” peaked at the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Billboard charts at number two. The track produced by DJ Toomp is probably one of the best songs delivered by T.I. during his career. He often emphasizes on a certain word to bring the song into a better stance, but at the same time he also seems to be repeating the same things that he said before in his previous tracks, making the later track seem pretty clichéd. Another good track on King is “Front Back” featuring U.G.K. It has an addicting chorus that, once you hear it, is extremely difficult to get it out of your head. Nevertheless, the lyrics are pretty lame; it contains the most over-used topics in rap: money, cars, and women.
One of the best tracks on King is “Live in the Sky” in which T.I. collaborates with Jamie Foxx in an effort to bring back old memories from his past. This is the typical dedication song, and T.I. uses it to show respect to his cousins and friends who have passed away. His lyrics in this cut are strong and moving, allowing the listener to feel his pain. T.I. mainly talks about the death of his loved ones and the difficult life that he leads as a famous rapper. “Live in the Sky” is probably the most vibrant and personal track on King. T.I. was smart to borrow Jamie Foxx’s voice for the chorus as he is the one who gives life to the song.
To my dismay, “Goodlife,” produced by the Neptunes was rather sub par. The track was too pop for T.I., who emphasizes the fact that he is from the south. It just does not fit his style, and Common’s collaboration makes it seem further out of place.
King is a difficult album to finish in one sitting. Half of the songs do not have great production, and they can get sickening very easily. T.I. also seems to have lost the original vibe that he brought onto the rap industry when he first came out. In other words, he has become too commercialized. You can definitely feel the difference between his style in Trap Muzik and King. Overall, King will do pretty well on the charts with the help of a few hot singles that he will have.
A VIDEO GAME
YOU CAN’T REFUSE
Game Review - The Godfather
10/10
by Jason Tracy
The Godfather drama has recently had one more addition to its timeless saga: a video game by Electronic Arts (EA). EA has offered a video game with true ties to The Godfather movie including voice-overs by Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone (pre-humous, of course), James Caan as Sonny Corleone, and Robert Duvall as consigliore Tom Hagen. Gamers can expect many of the game’s missions to play out just like they do in the movie. Gamers, though, should not expect an exact copy of the movie experience because EA had to turn a three-hour movie into a game with 30 to 40 hours playing time. Also, most noticeably, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino in the movies) is nowhere to be found in the video game.
The game looks and plays like the Rockstar Games’ popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series, but the missions take place in post-WWII New York City.
The game starts with creating your own mob character and then being thrown right into the action. Your character will be reliving classic moments from the movie and also undertaking original missions alongside characters both original and borrowed from the film. Players work their way up to joining the Corleone family as a soldier and continue working with the ultimate goal of becoming the Don of their own family.
Even though game the looks like GTA, the missions in this game are less auto-related. Moving up in the Corleone world does involve mob-related activities like robbing banks, gunfights with rival families, mob hits, drive-bys, shaking down businesses for protection, buying illegal rackets, extortion, and various other illegal tasks you perform for la famiglia.
The game play itself is very close to GTA. The driving in this game, just like GTA, is great. It is easy to learn how to drive the cars; they are easy to steal, easy to handle, and lots of fun to drive. While not in a vehicle, running around is pretty easy for the player, but this game is largely about combat, and the fighting can be a little difficult and clumsy.
Both hand-to-hand combat and gun fighting are a little too complex in The Godfather. Combat sometimes involves tapping on a button to cycle through a cache of weapons, pressing another button to draw the weapon out, having to tap another button to lock onto a target, and then finally using another button to shoot or swing your weapon at the target, and all the while enemies are shooting or pummeling you with their own weapons. It takes a while to get used to this, but after you do combat gets easier.
What the game lacks in user combat fluidity, it more than makes up for in depth and richness. The game involves wonderfully and horribly graphic scenes where characters are tossed off roofs, clobbered with bats, or even have their necks audibly broken. The game also provides a very large world to discover and conquer, including Brooklyn, Manhattan, and parts of New Jersey. With so many missions and little extras tossed into the game, it should take at least 40 hours to fully complete this game and provide some great fun in the meantime.
SOLID GOLDFRAPP
Album Review: Goldfrapp - Supernature
8/10
by Erin McCarthy
Goldfrapp has a special place in my heart, as I vividly remember seeing posters of their last album, Black Cherry, plastered all over the sides of walls in the city I used to live in. Maybe it was over-exposure, but I never appreciated this infectious pop group until January, when I heard their single “No. 1” on the radio. In March, Supernature, the band’s third album, appeared in the U.S., and my only disappointment was that I hadn’t paid attention sooner.
Goldfrapp’s sound is seductive. Alison Goldfrapp looks like a reincarnation of Lana Turner. Her voice is lovely, and she applies it well to the keyboards and synthesizers, which she is assisted on by her musical partner, Will Gregory. She sometimes sounds like Lolita, sweetly teasing your speakers, while other times, her voice is reminiscent of Debbie Harry’s sultry purr that moves with such laziness that you know she appreciates every note.
If Shakira wants you to look at her hips, “Oh La La,” the album’s first track, makes you want to move your hips, and your entire body, for that matter. Alison croons, “Dial up my number now/ Weaving it through the wire/ Switch me on/ Turn me up/ Don’t want it Baudelaire/ Just glitter lust/ Switch me on/ Turn me up/ I want to touch you/ You’re just made for love.” Now, maybe if Debbie Harry had sang that against swaggering beats in “Hanging On The Telephone,” she wouldn’t have been, well, hanging on the telephone.
“No. 1” is my favorite track. If pop culture were perfect and Paris Hilton (and her little dog, too) were in prison for being famous, this track would bebop its mellow, happy, little beat to the top of the charts. Some of the lyrics are adorable in this song, with lines like, “You’re my favorite moment/ You’re my Saturday,” which should appease all you Jessica Simpson fans out there. The chorus is fantastic, though, stating, “‘Cos you’re my Number One/ I’m like a dog to get you/ I want it up and on/ I’m like a dog to get you.” I’m not going to try and interpret that, but I’m sure it’s only talking about the dogs in the music video. (Wink, wink.)
“Ride On A White Horse” is an amalgamation of ‘80s synthesizers and ‘70s disco. The song is an inspirational mix of T. Rex’s “Ride A White Swan” and Bianca Jagger’s ride through Studio 54 on a white horse. Very likeable.
The only drawback to a lot of Goldfrapp’s songs is that you feel you’ve heard the same tempo over and over again. It’s a good one, but you wonder if they can do anything a little different. This electronic group’s record sounds exactly how a pop album should sound—very simple and very sweet.
YOWZA DANCE
Album Review: Eagles of Death Metal - Death By Sexy
6/10
by Daniele Hauptman
Before I get started, the Eagles of Death Metal (EDOM) are not a death metal band and definitely not an obscure Eagles tribute band. EODM consists of J. Everett Hughes on lead vocals and guitar (band name: J. Devil Huge) and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on drums and back vocals (band name: Carlo Von Sexron). Their band excels in fast-paced cock-rock party music with a distinct swagger. I loved EODM’s first album, Peace Love Death Metal, and was anticipating more of the same sleazy party rock with upbeat imaginative combinations of lyrics, rhythms, and hard guitars from their new album, Death By Sexy.
Death By Sexy starts out with the fast-paced “I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News),” featuring a vocal cameo by Jack Black. It’s a great combination of upbeat rhythms, catchy vocals, and edgy garage-rock guitars. This song is perfect for rocking out embarrassingly hard on the air guitar in your friend’s basement. The bone rock continues with “I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen),” a lusty track about a 19-year-old lover. Hughes croons about the object of his affection in an alternation between falsetto and Elvis hunk-a-hunk style vocals. So far, this album is sounding great.
By the time the third track, another lame but catchy sex ballad entitled “Cherry Cola,” started playing, I realized that these guys don’t know when to cut their songs down. The vocals and guitars are really repetitive and, even though each track is only around three minutes long, a little over halfway through each one, I was overcome with major trigger finger and could barely stop myself from pressing the skip button. Half of the songs consist of “HA! HOO! YEAH!” in vocal ejaculations, or “OO-OOH” in wistful croons, and then the repetition of one or two lines over and over. In “Cherry Cola,” the one line that is repeated in excess is, “I can be your daddy/ Be your rock and roller/ You could be my sugar/ Be my cherry cola,” and then, “Cherry cola!/ Cherry cola!” Now, I’m a huge fan of the actual beverage mentioned in the song, and this song almost makes me never want to drink it again—almost, but not quite (my love for cherry cola is strong). The album improves with “I Like To Move In the Night,” which has some really nice twangy guitar riffs. The song is great if you like to listen to Hughes singing about his love of dancing, and if you ignore the lame lyrics, only listen to the guitar, or are very drunk.
Thankfully, by the time “Solid Gold” came around, my ears were so sick they were willing to accept anything that didn’t sound entirely the same. The guitars in this were a huge relief; the sound was much more varied and interesting. Unfortunately, I could not take this song seriously, with its chorus’s claim of, “We’re really rolling/ We’re solid gold.” Sorry, guys, but that’s just false.
Possibly the worst song on this album is “The Ballad Of Queen Bee and Baby Duck.” It sounds like it was recorded in someone’s garage by a bunch of middle school paint huffers as a tribute to the childhood rhyme “Little Bunny Foo-Foo.” If the music video for this song were to include a sock-puppet show, maybe I would respect it more.
Unfortunately, EODM did not rock as hard this time. As a whole, this album warrants a second skim, but definitely not a buy. A couple songs are dance mix material at best, but if you really like EODM you will let the majority of this album rest in peace.
V for (Painfully) Vacuous
Movie Review: V for Vendetta
3/10
by Christopher Ahearn
V for Vendetta is the latest in a long line of big screen adaptations of one of those “underground” graphic novels that have been all the rage in recent years. It tells the story of V (Hugo Weaving), a nameless terrorist—er, revolutionary—who prances gaily around a post-apocalyptic London, dispatching agents of the country’s fascist government. That is, of course, when he’s not delivering eloquently muffled soliloquies through the Guy Fawkes mask that he sports for the entirety of the movie.
He is joined by Evey (Natalie Portman), the orphaned daughter of political dissidents, whose sole purpose in the film appears to be able to cry convincingly on command and look hot with a shaved head.
Together, they set out to destroy a government that is controlling its citizens through a perpetual state of fear and to foment a rebellion by bombing the British Parliament building. Well, by together, I mean V kidnaps Evey, and she spends her time sulking around his creepy bachelor pad growing a strange affection for him—the poster child for Stockholm syndrome if there ever was one.
Perhaps if Woody Allen had written the screenplay rather than the Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame, we could have been treated to a comic romp about Natalie Portman and her obvious daddy issues, but instead, Vendetta’s audience is forced to sit through two humorless hours of flat, painfully alliterative dialogue and hackneyed storyline.
Ultimately, the problem with Vendetta is that it is a glorified copy-and-paste job, substituting symbols and ambiguous political references for plot development and meaning: the cinematic equivalent of John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
It has all the essential ingredients of a rebellious teenager’s political fantasies as seen through the eyes of a Hollywood studio. Clichéd Orwellian government controlling the media and all aspects of its citizens’ lives? Check. Vague references to Hitler and storm trooper-esque police squads? Check. Overblown and hollow speeches about personal liberties? Check. Half-cocked references to homosexuality and Islam peppered throughout as an afterthought? Check. Now just add some Matrix-style vapor trails and CGI explosions in post-production and voilà, you have an anti-establishment masterpiece void of any real commentary or substance.
“The world doesn’t need a building,” V says, explaining his motives for blowing up Parliament. “It needs an idea.” Unfortunately for us, that idea is the intellectual equivalent of an eleventh grader wearing a Che Guevara shirt for his yearbook picture.
