10 Reviews November 23, 2005 + Over the Edge CD Talented but Ravaged by Poor So ARTIST Jeen O’Brien ALBUM Sixties LABEL SoStarStruck YEAR 2005 TYLER CLARKE SPORTS AND CLUBS EDITOR Jeen O'Brien struck gold in getting Hawksley Workman to produce her ‘first solo album, Sixties, in the sense that having his name attached to it has aided its publicity, not for his actual producing skills. It's unclear whether or not producing on this album is particularly bad, but every song on this album seems to be miss- ing something. Much like the White Stripes are missing a bassist, which becomes evident when listening to them live, this CD is missing some kind of sound, making all the songs sound somewhat flat and lifeless. Not to say that the album is life- less; quite the contrary. In fact, since picking up this CD last week, I've been listening to it non-stop. Well, not non-stop, as I have to shower, eat, and go to classes, but whenever I've listened to music, this CD has been eit 7 spinning,.. and not just on my finger, but in a CD player...with the volume audible. Why is this? The songwriting, baby. Jeen O'Brien's songwriting is phenomenal. The songs, simply put, are catchy, and stay in your head until you crave the song, and have to get your fix as soon as possible. - As you begin listening to the latter half of the CD, it increasingly sounds more like Tegan and Sara. Not only the lyrics, but the guitar work, lyrics, and song structure. It's so strikingly similar, I had to check the CD case at one point to see what I was listening to. Assuming from the fact that top- ping her list of achievements is a song appearing on this season's premier of Degrassi: The Next Generation, O'Brien is yet to make it big in the Canadian music industry. Give it some time, and she might just make it, assuming she can find a producer that can produce a better sound out of her phenomenal song- writing, Alkaline Trio Rock a Fresh Sound ARTIST Alkaline Trio ALBUM Crimson LABEL Vagrant YEAR 2005 STEPHANIE WILSON MANAGING EDITOR Crimson is a fabulous display of Alkaline Trios musical evolution. Qn previous albums, the pop-punks tended to lose musical momentum in their songs. On Crimson, they power their way through the album with en- ergy and verve to spare.and present the kind of diversity that.makes an album more addictive than crack. Dramatic, lush arrangements on “Time to Waste,’ “Burn, “Sadie,’ and “Prevent This Tra- gedy” provide a fabulous counter to the edgy guitars on tracks such as “The Poi- son’ and “Back to Hell.’ With production by Jerry Finn of Green Day fame, Crimson shows a ma- turity that was carried over from 2003's Good Mourning. The group brings their trademark black-and-red emo- tional trips and demonstrate a lyrical finesse that oozes darkness. Whether they're singing about Sadie Mae Glutz on “Sadie” or giving up on the catchy- as-hell “Mercy Me,’ Alkaline Trio burns and demolishes the unfortunate crap-pop-drivel that plagues pop-punk today. When alcohol, death, and emo- tional depravity start to get too heavy, the group pulls out the pop sensibilities that make this album work. However, the layers of production eliminate the raw passion: of earlier albums such as Goddamnit! (1998) and Maybe I'll Catch Fire (2000) that propelled Al- kaline Trios cult following, The ‘music for the love of music’ spark on Crimson just doesnt kick you in the face as hard as earlier albums. But at the end of the day, Crimson is still a rush of fabulous beats and hooks melded with tight vocals. Matt Skiba, Dan Andriano, and Derek Grant still rock existential angst, and they rock it well. 4/5 Book Judging a Book By Its Cover TITLE Prosperity & Violence AUTHOR Robert H. Bates PUBLISHER WW Norton & Co. YEAR 2001 TYLER CLARKE SPORTS AND CLUBS EDITOR Prosperity is an epic tale of a noble king that bows down, allowing his young 15-year-old son, named James, to take the thrown, The entire story is told in first person narrative from the standpoint of a diabolical squirrel, hired by Satan himself to spy on the king. Although once prosperous, the new king soon gives in to violence in allow- ing the demonic squirrel to help him rule the country. The squirrels, inno- cent at first, show their evil side in the third chapter, when they brutally rape James's pet guinea pig. The guinea pig, ashamed of what had happened, spends much of the beginning of the book not telling anyone about this occurrence, but, after a while, he breaks down to his good friend Hammy the Hamster, who immediately tells James of what had happened. James, recognizing the evil of the squirrels after hearing the tale from Hammy, sets out to set things straight by getting the squirrels out of power. This proves quite difficult, which ac- counts for a myriad of problems which plague him in the latter half of the book. All of this conflict makes for an in- teresting read. These squirrels, though innocent and stupid looking, prove themselves to be worth adversaries to young James. The writing in this book is similar to that of JRR Tolkien... that Lord of the Rings guy. In some ways, it seems like a rip off. For example, the growing vague homosexuality between young James and his friend Andrew resembles that between Frodo and that fat hobbit-guy. The squirrels remind me somewhat of Gremlins; always up to trouble. These gremuirrels seem to have even less morals than gremlins do, penetrating the most putrid of orifices on the poor guinea pig. This leads to the reader be- ROBE RT coming more horrified, and anti-gre- muirrel, cheering very much for young King James. If you want an outlandish tale of bat- tle, defeat, and demonic squirrels, this is the book to get. Or, at least I assume it is. I haven't actually opened it. Neat cover, though. s Comic UNBC’s Own Post-Modern Cartoon TITLETV Batman & Real Life Robin ART Oro Barton STORY Oro Barton and David James Brown EARSON GIBSON 7 STAFF WRITER TV Batman and Real Life Robin is a comic strip drawn by Oro Brown, a teacher in the continuing studies program at UNBC, and David James Brown, who currently resides in Van- couver but who was also born in Prince George. It's a post modern comic that takes artistic liberties with existing charac- ters Batman and Robin, juxtaposing them with real-life people like Bono and Sting, The concept for the comic started as a game like “I Spy” between Barton and Brown, where one would be an air- headed but well meaning Batman, and the other a down-to-Earth Robin, who isnt so much into the rubber pants and crime fighting, but tolerates Batman for the free rent and five star meals. Oro teaches a class called “Fairy’s, Dragon's, and Mythical Worlds” and “Finger Drawing for the Shy’, where students talk about and draw bodies without a nude model. Last year, he also taught “The Inner Life of Stick People’, for people who want to open up to drawing without necessarily hav- ing any ability. You can buy copies of TV Batman and Real Life Robin from the UNBC Bookstore and Books and Company.