Archives for ‘review’
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Beth Orton – Daybreaker
Goosebumps. That is what the album opens with: big, gigantic, and spiky Goosebumps. Headlines should read: Huzzah! Melody not yet dead! Long Live The Orton of Beth! And they will, well… at least here they will.
The 51-minute Daybreaker launches with the haunting Paris Train, which fits the smoldering backdrop with a rickety train percussion track … -
Powerpuff Girls – The Movie
Here is a story of how great things come in small packages – I’m speaking both of the teensy size of the movie’s namesake ass-kickers as well as the densely packed cinematic artifice. The Powerpuff girls are pint sized but immensely powerful, and the movie is barely 70 minutes long but is effectively a challenge …
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Star Wars – Attack of the Clones
One thing I can say is that I was certainly quite surprised coming out of Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.
I was surprised that the title, shunned for years by nerds worldwide, was actually quite fitting in describing this confused, high-tech A/V hack job, frankensteined from 10 vastly superior films, and carrying no … -
Rogers/Shaw Hi-Speed Internet
D4V: Claim: Unlimited High Speed Internet Fact: Unlimited hassles guarantee
Crom: You know, I remember when I got my iStar account; I thought I was in paradise. When I got my High Speed cable, I thought I’d walked into the greatest show room on earth. Instead, I’d walked into a shit sandwich, and we all had … -
NEC FE950+ (19″ CRT)
Quick Specification breakdown:
18-inch viewable screen size
0.25- to 0.27-millimeter dot pitch
1,792 x 1,344 maximum resolution at 68 Hz refresh rate
OptiClear viewing; antistatic, antiglare screen treatment
Compatible with PCs and MacintoshesI remember when I bought my first NEC monitor in 1995; $1200 and I was sitting in front of a brand new 17″ Multisync M700. The M700 …
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Insomnia (Movie)
The film was slow… with little drama.
What’s worse, you have seen all the clichés in this film many times over. Let’s review: our hero, played by Al Pacino, is a decorated cop whose rep is on the line. Swank plays the rookie who has “followed EVERY case…” of our hero. The cop who accidentally (?) … -
Dj Shadow – Private Press
Survey says…good album! Shadow manages to maintain his style from his 1996 “Entroducing….” release without sounding dated. Shadow fans will not be disappointed.
Here’s a track-by-track size-up:
1. Letter from Home – This is kind of random. Apparently, this was the way to communicate with a loved one over long distance back in the day. Just another … -
Fubar (The Movie)
Just Give’r.
Sweet, a movie about head-bangers that shotgun cans of Pilsner. What else would you want to see in a low budget movie depicting some white trash in Calgary.
Having seen Terry (Dave Lawrence) act out several times at the Loose Moose theater, I was greatly anticipating the release of this movie. I first heard about … -
J-Live – All of the Above
When the “The Low End Theory” album dropped in 1991, A Tribe Called Quest showed the hip hop world that you could have street cred, intellectual stimuli, and dance floor bangers and still come correct. People who thought rap was only about Kid’n Play’s high top fades or Rob Base’s redundant anthems began to see …
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Black Label Society – 1919 Eternal
A lot of fans and critics alike lauded Ozzy’s latest album “Down to Earth” as his heaviest record ever. I would have to say that this has little to do with the bat-biting madman, and everything to do with Zakk Wylde’s input in the songwriting. “1919 Eternal” is the third album from Black Label Society …
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Remy Zero – The Golden Hum
Maybe it will take ‘The Golden Hum’ to shake off Remy Zero’s unofficial title of “Hey! It’s that band whose lead singer was married to Alyssa Milano!” but unfortunately it probably won’t. But hey, Ozzy Osborne is still known as “That british guy who bites the heads of bats on stage” so as far as …
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Dungeon Siege (PC)
Crom: Unless you’ve lived in a dark hole, then you’ve heard of Microsofts latest RPG “Dungeon Siege”. Following in the unsure footsteps of such gaming extravaganzas as Diablow and Diablow II , Dungeon Siege is a Single/Multiplayer world of battle. The 3d graphics were a much needed improvement to this style of game, and the …
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Baldwin Brothers – Cooking with Lasers
Fuzzy breakbeats AM Gold style.
“Cooking With Lasers” would not necessarily be my first choice for a living room listening selection. But I would definitely take this album on a wild’n crazy road trip with the boyz. Those sexy Baldwin Brothers. Here’s what they might have said they did:
‘That’s Right’ – This is quintessential highway driving … -
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (PC)
D4V: Being a huge StarWars fan for many a year, I greatly anticipated trying out my own personal light-saber. Thusly picking up a copy of the latest from Lucasarts was in order. From install to uninstall please read on to find out more about this 1st person shooter with a twist.
Crom: Now, D4V and a … -
Desmond Williams – Delights from the Garden
Hi-fi riddums from the Jamacian Garden…
Before releasing this record, Desmond Williams had already made a name for himself in downtempo circles by playing bass, guitar, and keyboards on Thievery Corporation’s 2000 masterpiece ‘The Mirror Conspiracy.’ He is also credited as the main sound engineer for that entire album. In ‘Delights of the Garden,’ Desmond took … -
Aim – Hinterland
Hip-HOP.
No Restric-TION.
‘Hinterland’ is an eclectic (to the extreme) menagerie of heavy hip-hop beats on the English trip-hop tip. The album hits you like a watered down Massive Attack, but this isn’t meant to be a slight on Aim. The space created in the songs allows for jazzy instrumentation (guitars, piano, horns, and xylophone) to flourish … -
Wreckless (Xbox)
D4V: Once again we’ve fallen easy pray to a game with huge hype and crazy techno music. A few months back when I first scoped out the scene on this game, I thought it looked like yet another version of GTA3, except all you did was ram stuff with you car. Cool premise in theory …
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Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
Sunshine recordings with gyroscopes and dandelions.
Boards of Canada fans have been waiting fours years for a full length follow-up to the then-startling ‘Music Has the Right to Children’ LP that was put out in 1998. The Scottish duo teased underground enthusiasts with a few re-issues and even an EP last year, but the highly anticipated … -
Tosca – The Different Tastes of Honey
Dubby precision percussion at its best.
First there was ‘Suzuki,’ a stellar downtempo album put out by Tosca (who is compiled of the duo Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber) in 1999. Then there was the ‘Suzuki in Dub’ release in 2000 which had the likes of dZihan+Kamien, Baby Mammouth, and Deadbeats remixing the original Suzuki classics. … -
SSX Tricky (Xbox)
Crom: Having played our one Xbox game to death, a fresh one was needed. In the boredom of a Sunday night, we needed something fun, we needed something…tricky. And, we set sail for the nearest Buckluster, and picked up SSX Tricky, snowboarders delight. A crazy mix of big airs, cool tricks, and bad music.
D4V: Ah … -
Zero 7 – Simple Things
For those who were disappointed in the noble risk that the French band Air took in their “10,000 Hz. Legend” release last year, then this is the album for you. Not necessarily anything new or innovative here, but Zero 7’s “Simple Things” flawlessly rips off sounds from the [1998 Air album] “Moon Safari” hi-fi. Maybe …
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Tristeza – Mixed Signals
I’m a huge fan of sleep. There’s nothing like it. There’s nothing better. Nothing better than a 19 hour slumber, which usually results in an unholy dreamlike haze (in which some people call “headaches”, but I digress) that I’ve somehow over the course of my existence, associated it as a “good thing“.
However, in those 19 … -
Gotan Project – La Revancha Del Tango
Being that they call themselves “Gotan Project,” one would think that the music created by the trio Philippe Cohen Solal, Christoph H. Muller, and Eduardo Makaroff was an experiment of sort and in ways it sure is. By using the bandoneon (played by Nini Flores) and violin (Line Kruse) in almost of all of these …
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Sucks to Your Valentines Day-Mar!
…You have a boyfriend. You have a girlfriend. I am happy for you… for the most part…
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Old Skool Movie Review: The Natural
Old Skool Movie Review
This months classic: The Natural
The American pastime: Baseball. There have been countless movies about the game, and the history of players fiction and otherwise. Few of them are worth watching, or even writing about, but the one that stands out amongst them all is this one. More then a movie about baseball, … -
Halo (Xbox)
D4V: We finally got our dirty fingers on a super crazy all black big hype X-Box during the holidays. Thusly it seems fit that we review the main title available for this M$ console… Halo.
Crom: Much hype has surrounded Halo, since Bungie announced the game almost 2 and a half years ago. … -
Music: The Avalanches – Since I Left You
The Emperor’s New Clothes?
The Avalanches sure have been getting some good promotion- there has already been write-ups on this Australian five man DJ team in Mixer, Urb, Spin, and Rolling Stone. Everyone seems to be praising “Since I Left You” for its cut-and-paste production; critics are proclaiming the Avalanches as a fresh new postmodern sound … -
Old Skool Movie Review: Sneakers
Old Skool Movie Review
This months classic: Sneakers
For the most part, movies involving computer hacking or the use of computers, grossly over visualize the hacking process. Such debacles as “hackers” and “swordfish” have given plenty of examples thereof. However, true to its origins, while not being overly nerdy, Sneakers was a movie that could deliver the … -
Music: Plaid – Double Figure
IDM – The Cantina chill-out sessions.
Somewhere, in the world of Warp Records, between the childish yet dark crunchy-funked beats from Boards of Canada and the non-linear blips and bleeps of Autechre, lies the beautiful valley Plaid. If the Cantina Bar in Mos Eisley (on planet Tatoonie, of course) had a chill-out room, this album would … -
Game: Spy Hunter 2 (Playstation 2)
Crom: I remember riding my bike down to the Southland Leisure center for the sole purpose of shoveling quarters into the Spy Hunter arcade machine. The music and action were mesmerizing. I couldn’t wait to smash the weapons van button and get some smoke or missile action. It was that pleasant childhood memory that caused …
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Old Skool Movie Review: Rambo II
Old Skool Movie Review
This months classic: RAMBO First Blood Part II
There are few people over the age of 15 that haven’t seen this movie. It embodies the classic 80’s action movie template. From it’s outrageous premise, to the ludicrous over-use of explosions, Rambo 2 was the trademark action blockbuster. The concept that an ex-special forces, … -
Music: Boozoo Bajou – Satta
Sexy, impeccable slow-tempo.
Collaborating with an admirable list of producers such as Tosca, The Funky Lowlives, Thievery Corporation and The People Under the Stairs, you would expect great things to come from the sounds of the duo Peter Heider&Seyberth Florian, better known as Boozoo Bajou. However, what is so impressive about “Satta” is how they manage … -
Music: The American Analog Set – Know By Heart
This young hip little band from Austin, TX had stood the test of time in the trendy inde-rock/euro-poopie pop genre. Bringing several empathetic sounds to the table, American Analog Set is a perfect band of choice for those lazy rainy afternoons or comfortably early quiet mornings. The vocals are a cross between Nick Drake and …
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Music: Fila Brazillia – Another Late Night
Seeing the ambient aura on the CD cover and reading title of the album, one would think that this is yet another one of those trendy “chill-out” compilations. Well kids, this is definitely NOT a chill-out album (could anyone actually “chill” listening to Mike Ladd?). It is more a collection of songs that have, as …
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Movie: Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence
A.I. is the creative collaboration of two cinematic masters. Stanley Kubrick wrestled with its development for eight years, finally turning the reins over to Steven Spielberg to realize his dream when it was obvious that he could not. Kubrick’s movies are easily identifiable, and this one is no exception. However, it is arguably Spielberg’s …
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