Elliott Smith’s
Last Fond Farewell

Elliott Smith
From a Basement on the Hill
Anti, 2004

It’s hard to review a CD like
From a Basement on the Hill
because it can’t be reviewed as a
final artistic statement due to the
circumstances and timing of
Smith’s death.

I wondered if Basement would
be the kind of posthumous
release we too often see - a
maudlin collection of half fin-
ished odds and ends with no
uniting presence other than to
gather the last few drops-of cash
from a rich legacy into the coffers
of a record company.

Luckily for Smith fans (of
which I can count myself to be a
recent convert) this isn’t the case.
This feels like one-of his records,
and sees him adventuring musi-
cally into different territory.

If Smith has. always had a tal-
ent for Beatlesque melodies and
songs, Basement is Smith’s foray
into territories covered by
albums like Revolver.

He’s not composing experi-
mental electronic music of
course, but songs like Strung out
Again, and Kings Crossing are a
little messier and angrier than
much of Smith’s previous work.
There are still plenty. of Smith’s
famously angelic acoustic ballads
on Basement, but the whole
album shows Smith progressing
as an artist.

' It’s hard not to avoid reading
too much into this album regard-
ing Smith’s death. Song titles like
Fond Farewell, Twilight and Last
Hour seem painfully like cries for

Matt Sharp,
but Different

Matt Sharp
Boompa, 2004

I first heard Matt Sharp minus
Weezer and The Rentals at a club
- in Vancouver a few weeks ago. I
only caught the last ‘couple of
songs in his set, but his presence
was immense and heartfelt and I
wanted to hear more. (Well, there
was something about catching
the last bus into Burnaby, but
that’s another story.)
When Matt Sharp’s new self-
titled CD appeared at Over the
Edge, I grabbed it and ran, then
jumped around in excitement for
a while: After that, I needed
something uncluttered, honest,
and intimate to listen to.
Thankfully, I had Matt Sharp.
with me. There is something
oddly endearing about this
album.
Perhaps it’s the 70’s country-
rock Americana or the subtleties

— Music Reviews ———

help, but how out of the ordinary
are they for an artist whose trade
was creating some of.the most
beautiful sad songs most of us
had ever heard?

However, what is noticeable is
the distinct lack of hope in
Basement. The lyrics are mostly
bleak, sad and empty, and they
seem to chronicle Smith’s down-
ward cycle of drug abuse and
depression that.cumulated with
his death.

In Basement, people disap-
point Smith, and as he sings in
Strung out Again, “I know my
place/ hate my face/ I know how
I begin and how I'll end/ strung
out again.”

Musically, Basement isn’t an
artistic epiphany - it’s not Smith’s
best album, but it’s another
strong entry into his catalogue,
with excellent production and
more of those gorgeously sad.
Beatlesque songs Smith’s fans
have come to love.

Ultimately, Smith comes off as
untouchable and unreachable on

Basement. His sadness is well |.

documented, and Basement
serves as a perfect end point to
his career - and a reminder of
how fragile such a beautiful voice
can be.

B+

>> Kathleen

in the piano and acoustic guitar- |

driven melodies. Maybe it’s the
silence in just the right places and
introspective songs that make me
want to break out the red wine
and Jack Kerouac. Or maybe it’s
that Matt Sharp drags you along
for the ride, and then part-way
through you realize that you
want to keep going.

Outside of the pop-rock spot-
light, Matt Sharp has created a
brilliantly sensuous album. It’s
sad, it’s slow, and he shines.

A

>> Steph

NUNT
by Mingus tourette
Zygote Press, 2004

by Alex Deevy
o> Staff Writer

Forget your previously ill con-
ceived notions of poetry facilitated
by public school. Nunt is the dark
side.

Imagine you're in a dysfunction-
al, dead end, and co-dependent
marriage. Your efforts in an artistic
life aré_met with no success.
Racing down a long lonely stretch

-of highway in a rusted out Skylark

with your pregnant wife, you stop
suddenly to avoid a collision and
the seat belt, and shotty break
maintenance crushes your unborn
child out of existence.

You try to recover from the inci-
dent, but she'll never forget, and
she'll never forgive. Your marriage
is finished. Your child is dead. The
only place left to go is anywhere
else. With nothing but a bus ticket,
a death wish, and the haunting
poetic skills to convey it all, you
leave and hope to never return.

Nunt is an autobiographical
story, told through poetry of
Mingus Tourette's downward spi-
ral into borderline insanity. Two
years spent drifting across the
lower forty-eight, spent almost
entirely in bars, brothels, and
cheap motels.

Some might call these poems
tasteless and overly graphic, exces-
sively dark and morbid, but only
through them can- one begin to
understand what the life of a
Canadian poet, lost in his own
depression, and the sex and drugs
culture of America would be like.
Nunt is the poetic chronicle of a
man’s two-year odyssey, crusad-

ing against ideologies, America,
the cultural shortcomings of a bar-
baric nation, and the demons of a
past far too wrought with misery
to forget or drink away. A relative-
ly fast read, and morbidly enter-
taining,

The Biggest Darn

Damacy in the Land

Katamari Damacy
Namco, 2004

Katamari Damacy is another

innovative and intriguing novelty
game which makes me wonder
how people get these kinds of
ideas.

The premise is fairly simple: the
King of All Cosmos became a little
tipsy the night before and acciden-
tally utterly annihilated all of the
stars in the sky. It is your duty as
the Prince of All Cosmos to clean
up after your father’s mess, and so
you must restore the night sky to
its former glory.

The tiny prince rolls a sticky ball
called a katamari around earth,
picking up stuff until it is large
enough to be ascended into the
heavens, replacing a missing star.

When I say “stuff” I really mean
it! Practically everything can be
picked up and it doesn’t stop at
ordinary objects like thumbtacks,

Game Review

chairs, and dinner plates.

You can roll over and collect
mice, cats, random bystanders,
giant squid, and more! If your
katamari is large enough, you can
even pick up entire islands or
townsites.

The challenge lies in getting the
katamari large enough for a star
within the time limits, but the sim-
plistic controls.makes moving the
katamari a breeze. You simply use
the Dual-Shock Controller’s ana-
log sticks to direct the katamari.

The graphics are fairly simple,
but the basic shapes and vibrant
colours make it easy to tell exactly
what your katamari comprises of.

The character design is quite
unique. The music is delightfully
catchy, and. a number of the songs
actually have lyrics, The title
screen, however, is a bit out there.

If you enjoy elephants shooting
rainbows out of their trunks,

‘singing ducks and swans, floating

things reminiscent of pot leaves in
the background, and oddly-hued

mushrooms popping up magically |

14
‘OCTOBER 27, 2004

Nunt: A Terrifying Trip in Poetic Hell

Nunt is an engaging page-turner
that will leave you dumbfounded.
Be warned this is not Walt Disney
style entertainment, depression
can be contagious, and definitely
not feel good stuff but a very
worth while read, none the less.

in the wake of the King of All
Cosmos, then this game is for you!

Executed excellently, and beauti-
fully bizarre. The sale price is
much cheaper than most other PS2
games, so you shouldn’t go wrong
with Katamari Damacy.

A
>> JC Diachuk