Playing John Koestler, a professor of astrophysics at MIT, Nicolas Cage’s unconventional presence seems appropriate within his characterization. His beliefs are that the world’s creation lies through a series of lucky coincidences, stating to his class, “shit happens.” At home he raises his young son, Caleb. With his wife deceased, he tries his best to relate, seeming overly protective of his only child. At school, Caleb’s class participates in the unveiling of a time capsule placed there decades prior, containing pictures drawn by the class of 1959. Each student receives a drawing. Caleb’s is different though, containing random numbers consuming the entire sheet of paper. What does it all mean? It seems that the child who produced this, a troubled girl named Lucinda, wrote down the numbers possessed by voices in her head.

By now you probably now that these numbers act as a catalyst to Armageddon.  John discovers these predictions through an accident, singling out the sequential pairing of 09/11/01 from Caleb’s paper- referring to the events of September 11. Through this, he slowly realizes that the rest of the numbers indicate past, present and future disasters. His colleagues think he’s nuts, stating people see what they want to see. It is not until John witnesses a first hand account of a plane disaster, knowingly from the prediction, that the film gears into action-heavy material.

Let me just talk about this specific scene for a moment. With a depiction of a fatal air crash, the film achieves harrowing realism. I have never been one to tout the believability of CGI, frankly I find it distracts and for the most part looks phony. Yet Knowing creates an awe of devastation through its rendering of computer-generated destruction, throwing the viewer into this surreal event of screaming passengers and burning bodies.

Unfortunately the film peaks just around this point, never topping itself, only gradually sinking into predictable car chases and plot devices. What’s left in the story?  Well, they’re only a few numbers that have not transpired into chaos. Could the last one indicate the fate of mankind? With Caleb having intense dreams of an inferno engulfing the planet, there have also been strange men showing up every so often, ominously standing in the background. We know they have something do to with the cause or effect, thus creating no suspense when their identities are truly unveiled. John and his son track down the daughter of Lucinda, the crazed girl of Nostradamus comparability. At first she thinks he’s insane with his story, yet knowingly she believes him. Of course she does, if not, there wouldn’t be a story. Sure enough, she is waiting at his home in the next scene, willingly to do whatever it takes solve the mystery of the final numbers.

As stated before, the film shows slight glimpses of thought and intelligence. At one point Cage opens up about his wife’s death, claiming that he never felt anything when she died miles away in another state. “I always thought you were supposed to feel something, but I didn’t,” he explains. Now that is a good scene, evoking of themes of love and mortality. Faith plays a constant role throughout, isolating John in the beginning as a non-believer, but ultimately bringing him together with his estranged father, a retired minster. Even the ending aspires for religious symbolism, predicting hope and rebirth. While Knowing has the right intentions, it falters too many times, indulging itself with arresting visuals and clichés when it should have truthfully depicted a world coming together as it falls apart.

**1/2

Told through a barrage of flash backs, the film was somewhat difficult to follow until about half way through. Duplicity centers around two warring corporations and two individuals a former MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) and a former CIA agent Clair Stenwick (Roberts) who have become entangled in the underworld of corporate espionage. We first meet the pair Dubai, when they were working for their respective government organizations. They do not part on entirely good terms, as one of them ends up drugged and handcuffed to a bed. Then the film skips to a couple of years in the future when, as we learn, they are now corporate spies working for the same company. They must learn to get past these past indiscretions and work together. Later still, with another plot twist, we are informed through more flashbacks that everything isn’t quite as it appears. Koval and Stenwick may have a past deeper than was first insinuated, and may be more romantically involved then was first let on. The plot twists continue throughout the film, yet everything comes together and makes sense in the end. 

In a way the film can be seen as a statement. Government agencies have been replaced by international corporations as the realm for spies and espionage. Patents and products have taken the place national secrets and security. Whatever the case, watching operatives engaged in corporate espionage proves to be just as engaging. 

The film was highly entertaining, although it wasn’t as action packed as other spy movies. The first half of the film moved along sort of slowly. Your whole perception of what was going on got flipped every 30 minutes or so, when another flashback was shown and you were given new plot information. However, these plot twists were interesting, because they made it very difficult to predict what was coming next. There weren’t any car chases or gun fights, yet the film wasn’t slow; there were a couple of high intensity points near the end of the film that left you at the edge of your seat. 

A couple of times, the drama did seem a little over drawn, specifically when the relationship between the two leads was being dealt with, but overall the writing, and acting of the film was well done, and the relationships seemed believable.

All of the characters were thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Both Owen and Roberts held their own and played the spy game well. Owen succeeded in portraying a James Bond-esc type character while Roberts still pulled off the sexy leading lady role at 41 years old. They were convincing as lovers who were always trying to outwit each other and gain the upper hand. Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson also did fantastic jobs as the CEO’s of the rival companies. One hilarious moment in the film was a slow motion fight between them. The film was peppered with witty dialogue, which made the characters all the more entertaining to watch. 

As the title of the film would suggest, Duplicity kept you always questioning the characters’ integrity. You were constantly made to guess who was involved with who, and whether the characters are lying to one another, you basically didn’t know who to trust. All in all, this added to the fun of the film, because you, along with the characters, had to be constantly assessing everyone on screen. 

The film was really well made. Through the use of a split screen and other transitional devises, the shifts through time were interestingly done. Kudos to director Tony Gilroy for pulling things together. The good writing, directing and editing made the film all the more enjoyable to watch.

Although Duplicity isn’t the best film ever made, and probably won’t become a classic, it was well put together and a really entertaining watch. If you can get past the confusing first half, it is definitely worth a chance.  It’s not a mindless action movie, and you have to pay close attention to the many plot twists to understand everything in the end. But if you do you won’t be disappointed.

***½

Infomercials have permeated every facet of society since their first inception in the eighties, following a reduction of regulatory limitations forwarded by the FCC. There are myriad websites celebrating the most awesome infomercial exploits and even a handful detailing the exploits of infomercial tycoon, and failed Hollywood producer, Vince Offer.

This man is just amazing. He owns the ShamWow! He OWNS that shit! You know how awesome he must be to own such a revolutionary step in towel technology? I’ve yet to buy myself a ShamWow, but I imagine it’s just a matter of time before I’ve seen the commercial enough times to call in and receive my not one, but two sets of ShamWows… That’s eight ShamWows! Eight fucking rags of absorbent material for the price of one! 

You all remember the infamous Magic Bullet? Well yeah, I own one, and yeah I went out and bought it after I saw the infomercial. Who doesn’t want a ten-second alfredo or a “delicious, nutritious fruit smoothie?” Suffice to say, the product doesn’t live up to the hype of the commercial, but what does it matter? I get more enjoyment out of using my shitty, standard old blender, whipping up a ridiculously time-consuming thirty-second smoothie, and flicking on some infomercials.

You may also have heard of the Snuggie. You know the one, it has the old man whose arms are cold from reading a book without sleeves, and it has the woman trying to keep warm on the couch while reaching the phone. These are REAL people, and these events, while they may be re-enactments, happen to people across this great country of ours. The voiceover talent claims that similar products (that is, blankets with sleeves) sell for sixty dollars. Anyone who pays sixty dollars for a blanket with sleeves is a fucking idiot. 

There’s a definite rule of thumb when it comes to infomercials: the product always blows; it’s cheap and poorly-made, but the lame, in-your-face attitude of the people in the commercial, along with the banal rednecks who get interviewed during, and after the introduction of each product is enough to have me watching again and again.

Sometimes I’ll set my television timer to wake me up at a pre-determined time, directly correlating to the aptly-provided ShopTV schedule. That way I can catch the rare infomercials, only aired between the hours of one and four a.m. 

There has only been one infomercial to date, which is neither compelling, nor captivating: the Ab Rocket. It’s another one of those five-minute-a-day workout scams. With this little charmer, you can remove all of the work, which makes working out, working out. Quite literally, it’s a rocking chair without legs. Thank God the FCC did away with those regulations. Now we can truly bask in the benign as infomercials have made their way to the web, enveloping YouTube and other streaming video websites with their warm, comforting, easily-relatable messages and soft, wispy voiceovers.

“Has this ever happened to you?” Chances are, it hasn’t; you haven’t ever needed the use of “My Lil’ Reminder,” “The Tiddy Bear,” “MagicJack” or “The Ab Rocket,” but shit, y’all know these paid advertisements are entertaining. 

John Boyne’s 2006 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold 4 million copies worldwide. Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 novel, The Reader, was remade in 2008 into a film that was nominated for five Academy Awards. Markus Zusak’s 2005 best-selling novel, The Book Thief has been on the New York Times Children’s Best Seller list for over 70 weeks. While these books all relate in some way to the tragedies of the Holocaust and the atrocities committed by the Nazi Regime, they have all played off of these stories as a revenue-generating powerhouse. Not to say that the stories are not valid, or that the message of the truth being told should be silenced, but when the true message is hidden in marketing and screenplays, it begins to dilute. For those have been either implicitly or explicitly affected by the Holocaust, there is a limit to where literature meets the realm of inappropriately exploiting a story in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.

In the future of literature, there will surely be more events that will take the world by storm and leave a lasting impression to be played out in books and films. In the future, there will be terrible events that get turned into stories, and then adapted, and then repackaged and sold to the public in the name of social justice. In the future, there will be money made at the expense of people’s homes, people’s cultures and, ultimately, people’s lives. In the future there will be a museum and documentaries and public speakers that devoted their lives to reliving the events that they endured, but never should they do this in the name of revenue. Never should a piece of literature be used to manipulate the psyche of human beings into paying money to relive horrendous social events of the past. 

So where does the line exist? Does it stop at the numerous accountable tales from Auschwitz and the Jewish internment camps that housed so many before meeting the end of their lives at the hands of a ruthless regime? Does it end when the last survivor has died, and their story told, first hand, for the last time? How can we, as consumers, and educators and learners of past historical events allow the market to be saturated with multiple versions and re-enactments of the same tragedy instead of allowing the event to slip into the past. As not to forget the past, but as a way to remember it, we should be remembering the Holocaust as a staple of the pinnacle of humanity reaching its absolute lowest point, and building from there. When literature exploits, we should be able to distinguish between the social injustices of the Holocaust and the social injustices of using it as a currency for publishers and writers alike.

The Best: Sometimes remix, tribute and cover projects not only capture the spirit of the artists they chronicle, but indeed, enhance their legacy.

I’m Not There Soundtrack

Various Artist, 2007

I’m Not There was a strange little film, with a risky mandate— a biopic charged with chronicling rock’s most schizophrenic figure, notorious shape-shifter, outright-liar and ghostly-wordsmith. Rather than, as many people anticipated, merely follow in the footsteps of the enormously successful soundtracks to Walk the Line and Ray, where cast members had to enormous acclaim, produced their own imitations of other artists hits, director Todd Haynes opted to employ a broad group of singers to each imitate phases and changes over the course of Bob Dylan’s four-decade long career. With artists like Willie Nelson and Calexico capturing the singer’s haunted side and others like Karen O articulating his sense of the irreverent, this two-disc set brilliantly captures Dylan’s many moods and personas. The result was one of the best, most vibrant collections of songs released in the past decade. Indeed, in many ways this soundtrack articulates Dylan’s legacy better than the film it accompanies does.

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur

Various Artists, 2007

When Yoko Ono announced after September 11 that she and Sean Lennon had taken it upon themselves to update the lyrics of “Give Peace a Chance,” commentators and rock critics scoffed at the idea— this was a blatant cash-grab, the absolute desecration of the words and spirit of an anthem for peace and hope. Yet, half a decade later when the task of updating her late-husbands back-catalogue was really and truly brought into fruition, the reaction was different. John Lennon had entered the 21 century. Yoko Ono had brought together a motley cast of artists— from Aerosmith and Christina Aguilera to Matisyahu and the Flaming Lips— to rearticulate twenty-eight of rock-and-roll’s most cherished songs.  Both attached to a noble cause that her late husband would have certainly championed, and lacking a single bum-track this collection is a wonderful example of John Lennon’s ideal— peace, love and harmony through music, cooperation and activism.  

Me and Mr. Johnson

Eric Clapton, 2004 

Robert Johnson, since his “rediscovery” by musicologists in the early 1960’s has been a ghost-like figure, a shadow looming over and haunting the psyche of blues, country, folk and roots music. When King of the Delta Blues was issued in 1966, it and the subsequent writings and speculations which surrounded it turned the tiny, frail singer— who was only ever photographed once before ambling into death, folklore and the depths of the Mississippi delta, into the most influential guitarist of the last forty years.  Musicians like Eric Clapton, coming of age amid the “British Blues Explosion,” built their careers out of exploring the depravity and rawness of Johnson’s music. In this collection of 14 songs, Clapton not only explores the work of one of his idols, but also makes the hardened music of a lost age warm and approachable for a contemporary audience.

The Grey Album

Danger Mouse, 2004

Possibly the most controversial, and certainly the most illegal release of 2004, this mash-up of the Beatles White Album and Jay Z’s The Black Album, not only made Danger Mouse a household name, but also redefined the possibilities of what artists could do with sampled music in way that hadn’t happened since P. Diddy “invented” the remix. Although not a straight remix album, as a project that sought to deconstruct music and then rebuild it as an entirely new entity, The Grey Album did something odd, that none of the other discs in this article could imagine, it rethought and reconsidered an entire genre of music. Suddenly the remix album became an art form in its own right— removed from the artistic merit of the projects that gave it birth. Without The Grey Album it’s hard to fathom a whole host of recent projects like the Beatles Love or the re-imagined 25 anniversary edition of Thriller. 

The Worst:  These four projects are some of the worst and most-misguided recent covers, tribute and remix albums.

Cadillac Records Soundtrack

Various Artists 2008

When it was first conceived, Cadillac Records Soundtrack looked like it was going to be a commercial and critical force to be reckoned with.  Not only boasting 13 decent covers from Chess Records legendary catalogue of R&B and blues hit being done by the likes of Beyoncé, Mos Def and the such, the soundtrack was originally supposed to include a bonus disc of the original hits by the original artists. But then the good folks at Universal got greedy, and they decided that it might be a good idea to split the whole package in two— releasing the bonus disc as The Best of Chess Records. Just to make matters worse, they decided it might be worthwhile to put out Beyoncé’s massive third solo album two weeks before the now shaky Cadillac Records Soundtrack, thus, pre-emptively sapping its momentum. The result: three albums where there should have been one— fans bought one, critics another, and no one gave a shit about the poor old Cadillac Records Soundtrack.

The Punk Goes… Collections

Various Artists, 2000-

Now, when Me First and The Gimme Gimmes thrust Have A Ball upon an unsuspecting public in 1995, they proved the badass awesome potential of pop-punk covers of decidedly not-pop-punk songs— taking on the music of a diverse group of performers, ranging from Elton John and Prince to John Denver and Neil Diamond. The genius of Me First and The Gimme Gimmes though, was that— unlike most cover artists— they never took themselves seriously. Their whole shtick was parody— since they recognized that the original artists they covered had generally produced the best, and most loved versions of their hits.  Enter the Punk Goes… collections— starting with Punk Goes Metal eight years ago, began operating on the premise that those hits sucked, and that punk bands could do better. Although a noble pursuit, these collections quickly began to fall apart, as groups like The Plain White T’s, equally devoid of irony and talent, badly mess around hits by bands with more “punk-cred” than them— I mean, Copeland pretending to be more “punk” than Soundgarden… really?

Elvis Spankox Remix

Elvis Presley, 2008

Bringing the music of an artist who’s thirty years dead and pushing fifty washed up into the present is always a challenging task, especially when the singer in question’s talent has been bled for every once of gold that its worth since the mid-50’s. Despite the fact that there aren’t large back-catalogues of unheard Elvis material, his estate has done everything imaginable provide “new” material every year for his legions of loyal fans.  They’ve added strings to his old recordings, edited new singers into old duets, thrust mountains of live material into record stores. Then finally, after sitting on the success of JXL’s 2003 remix of “A Little Less Conversation” for five years, they decided to replicate the magic of Elvis’ first number-one hit in decades with a full length “remix album.” The problem though, is that half the songs just sound like cheap imitations of “A Little Less Conversation” while the rest just feel like cleaned-up, souped-up Elvis with the odd “techno” sound thrown in.

Johnny Cash Remixed

Johnny Cash, 2009

Although most of the material chopped up and ripped apart during the recent glut of remix albums during the past three years has been, despite being perhaps unnecessary, at least relatively tolerable, there have been a few exceptions. Johnny Cash Remixxed is the exception. This is a rare sort of album— one without even a single saving grace. The production value is hurried and sloppy. The songs, robbed of their charm and resonance, rather than being catchy become loud, ceaseless and annoying. Unlike some genres of music, 1950’s country music does not lend itself to heavy hip-hop production— something that Snoop Dogg seems determined to prove as he drowns Cash’s trademark “I Walk the Line” in a sea of thick bass.  Even the packaging looks cheap and tacky. But, the strangest part of this particular cash-grab fiasco is that “Ring of Fire,” with its big mariachi brass section— probably the most likely candidate of any track in Cash’s extensive back-catalogue for remix— is ominously absent.

First getting on the subject of her regularly updated blog on the group’s website, it is clear that Isis strives to keep in touch with her fans, and values the accessibility that she creates. “It is really important to me, we owe it to our fans to let then know what they are doing. I don’t ever want to alienate them, and they deserve to be really involved.” At the same time, Isis demonstrated her need for her own personal space, revealing that, “Everyone needs their own private time, and that is something that is truly important to me too.” The delicate balance of openness and privacy is something that all artists have to deal with, especially with the popularization of sites like Twitter. When asked how important the Internet has become in music, Isis not only recognized it as a means of communication, but also saw it as a sign of the current changing economic times. “The industry has changed, and with the recession in place it has become a lot more difficult to actually make money from music. At the same time though, the Internet is really beneficial to independent artists because it is a way of regaining control from the monopolies of major record labels.” Isis went on to explain that success is subjective, and it does not necessarily mean rolling around in a bed of money. “Obviously we need to make a certain amount of money to sustain ourselves, but we don’t worry too much about getting mainstream success. Success is something that we want, but it’s not something that we think about all the time.”

Isis exudes an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude with everything she does, including her antics onstage which are entertaining to say the least. Known for her “dirty dancing” on stage, Isis supports all women to be comfortable with themselves in every aspect of their life, including the dance floor. When asked to describe her live performance, Isis summed it up as “Fun! Fun! Fun!” and was confident that fans will have a fantastic time at their upcoming show in Hamilton. 

As for her response to all the media hype Thunderheist have been getting, Isis remained modest. Talking about her latest stint on Jimmy Kimmel Live with MSTRKRFT and N.O.R.E., she explained that it was a surreal experience. “It was just amazing. I had a blast. N.O.R.E ending up twittering during the performance which was hilarious, and it was such a great experience even having Jimmy Kimmel say our name!”

Also known for her risky fashion choices, Isis recognized the importance of artists’ image in the media. Further proving that she is in full control of what she does, Isis explains that the way she dresses is an extension of who she is. “Graham and I do whatever we want. The way we look is exactly how we choose, and it is not controlled by anybody else. It is so important to stay true to yourself when people are trying to influence you,” Isis expressed.

Looking at Thunderheist’s future endeavours, it is obvious that there is little time for Isis and Grahm to stop and take it all in. “We are playing the Gay Porn Awards afterparty, we are playing the 70 anniversary for Exclaim! and we are going to be touring Europe for a month.”

With a new album dropping on March 31, there seems to be an air of mystery surrounding what it will sound like. Giving us a bit of an idea, Isis explained that it will draw a lot of inspiration from their shows. “It’s a reflection of what we do live. It’s just really dancey and fun.” 

Upon hearing an announcement through the speaker of the grocery store she is in, Isis and I were reminded of the unconventional circumstances of the interview. Making light of the situation she laughed it off and continued to chat. “Maybe it’s sad, but this is the only time I have. The only personal time I have is grocery shopping, and that’s all the private time I get to myself!” If this is any indicator of her personality, it is clear that Isis puts both the band and the fans before herself. She may be tight for time, but it seems to be paying off, as Thunderheist are garnering rave reviews and tons of airtime on MTV Canada and Much Music. If you know what’s good for you, check out Thunderheist on April 4 at The Casbah. It could be the last time they are in Canada for a while.

In 2004, Florida post-hardcore band Underoath released their fourth full-length album, They’re Only Chasing Safety. With their current lead vocalist Spencer Chamberlain, the record marked a breakthrough for the band both musically and in terms of critical reception, and helped vault them into the post-hardcore spotlight in ways they’d never experienced before. Nearly five years later, they’re still as ambitious and driven as ever. Armed with a new album and upcoming tour dates in both Canada and Europe, they remain optimistic about what lies in store for the band amidst rapidly changing times.

When it comes to Underoath’s newest album, 2008’s Lost In The Sound Of Separation, lead vocalist Chamberlain doesn’t beat around the bush. “I think it’s a lot heavier, a lot darker, a lot more experimental… I think it’s our best album by far. We’re trying to tour on it a lot right now, and we just shot a new video for one of the songs.” Asked whether the band’s sound will continue to change as it has over the past five years, his outlook remains positive. “I think Define The Great Line and Lost In The Sound Of Separation are similar as far as the [latest] three albums, but I think we kind of found our niche in what we wanted to do with music with Define The Great Line, and then, from there, moving forward… like, Lost is moving forward, and whatever we do next will be moving forward. You don’t want to release the same record twice, so [this is] just kind of our sound, and we’re moving from there.”

As dramatically as they’ve changed, Underoath still look to Christianity for strength and inspiration as much as they did in the beginning. It’s a sensitive subject that’s earned them a lot of criticism and mockery from other bands of the genre, but Chamberlain’s take on the group’s belief system is refreshingly level-headed. “We’ve all been raised differently, every single one of us, and we all have our own disagreements with each other, which I think is what makes this band work. We all believe in Jesus, and some of us have disagreements about certain things here and there, which sounds ridiculous—even, to some people, like ‘you’re not a real Christian’ or whatever, but we just like to express to kids that God is real, and he loves you no matter who you are.” He stresses that, despite having been labeled “Christians,” Underoath’s core beliefs remain broad. “Some of the dudes have been raised in Christian backgrounds [and] some haven’t, some of them have been through hell and back [and] some haven’t, so there’s kind of a member for every kind of kid out there in our band… that’s what rules about being able to talk to people about it.” 

Religion aside, Underoath remain, at their roots, a band completely dedicated to playing music. They’ve worked tirelessly to be able to reproduce recorded material live, a detail in which Chamberlain takes particular pride. “If you listen to the new record, no one is double-tracked at all… if there are three-part harmonies, it’s three different dudes. Everything we do on at least the last record we can do in a room together. It’s something that we’re trying to be very conscious of in this day and age, with computers and auto-tune people can make a record and be terrible. We really want to be the best we can be and make the best record we can make, but we’re not going to do anything we can’t pull off live.” To Chamberlain, the band will have accomplished their most important goal as long as they can still attract audiences at live shows. “Honestly, if kids keep coming out to shows and we can tour and keep doing it, that’s all we want. Our goal is never to be the biggest band in the world… like, we’re not into writing songs for the radio or anything like that. People don’t buy records anymore and that’s obvious but I think that [we're happy] as long as kids keep coming out to shows and they’re stoked.”

Collectively, Underoath carries itself like a band that knows exactly what it wants, and Chamberlain speaks for the rest of the guys in saying that what the band does it does strictly on its own terms. Asked what they’d write about if I sat the band down and forced them to pen a song in the spur of the moment, he laughs. “We wouldn’t write a song. We don’t write a song in a day like that. If someone told us to write a song, we would probably say no because we don’t listen to labels or producers or any outside input. The minute someone puts in their input on the business end or [with] what they want to hear, that’s kind of when we shut down. We’d just be like “uh… no!” There is little doubt that Underoath are confident in both their beliefs and their music, and if their last album was any indication, they certainly have the musical talent to stand the test of time.

The Racoon Wedding

A few years ago, as Brantford heroes The Vermicous Knid disbanded, a rupture was created within the local Brantford music scene. In working class Brantford, a small city hard-hit by long-lingering hard-times, the Knid had been symbols of hope and promise, delivering a raw, emotional post hardcore sound as they toured the country with then up and coming groups like Silverstien and charted a hand-full of college radio hits. After the vibrant full length follow up to their hugely successful EP Days Stand Still, 2005’s Small Town Devotion, didn’t live up to the groups expectations for success they parted as friends— each going their own way.

Over the next few years, Knid frontman Tim Ford began putting together a new group— fusing old bandmates with newly recruited veterans of the local Brantford music scene, The Racoon Wedding broke with the beloved sound of his old group and instead began to channel and update the spirit and energy of classic rock icons like The Band, CCR and punk-rock idols, The Clash. Honing their chops in living rooms and small indie rock clubs, this band has quickly become one of the most exciting and promising new acts to emerge out of Southern Ontario in the past few years. Their first full length album is expected to come out this June. Despite delays owing to the sudden and unexpected hospitalisation of their front-man and lead singer last spring, the group has put together a disc that explores the angst, trials and traumas of small-town life and pride. The Racoon Wedding can normally be found playing gigs at places like The Trepid House in Waterloo, Pepper Jack’s in Hamilton and just down the 403 at the Ford Plant in Brantford. Brantford heroes The Racoon Wedding are probably one of the most interesting and promising new bands to emerge out of Southern Ontario in the past few years.

•Corrigan Hammond

Cibelle

Until just recently, I had yet to come across any new exciting female musicians, as males continually seemed to dominate the music scene with females repetitively turning into over sexualized sell-outs. Then one night while creeping MySpace, I came across this eccentric artistic darling and music began to inspire me again. 

With so much depth, diversity and tranquility to her sound, I introduce to you the multitalented Cibelle Cavalli. Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil she now currently resides in East London. Her current work to date is the release of self-entitled Cibelle released in 2003 and the other beautifully entitled The Shine of Electric Leaves, which debuted in late 2007. Although her musical work may now be very recent, her sound is still quite fresh. Furthermore, every time I ask around (to individuals who know their music mind you), no one seems to know her name. This was outrageous, as her albums have been given spectacular reviews by many prestigious papers and critiques, but yet they have not received the public recognition that they truly deserve. 

Her enchanting voice and graceful lyrics have the power to take you away into a joyous little daydream of tropical birds and exotic blossoms. She is constantly creative, playful and dynamic, as she unpredictably experiments back and forth with different instruments and languages. Her songs are filled with so many unsuspected twists and turns, yet they are arranged so pleasantly and perfectly together. There is a sense of discovery when listening to her enchanting voice, as each song seems to take on their own little world separate from the last. With such an assortment of tropical rhythms, this old-world beauty seems to receive her musical inspiration from what seems to be different misadventures. A favourite melody of mine is  “London, London,” which is located on the most recent of her albums, and just when I thought I could not fall for this female any harder, she created a music video. This clip incorporated Devendra Banhart, umbrellas, and an old English allure; it doesn’t get better than this.

Music lovers must know the likes of this psychedelic electro pop puck queen. Serenely twinkling with soft folk and a sprinkle of fantasy, Cibelle is unable to be categorized or contrasted, as her sounds are revolutionary and much ahead of our time. 

• Jacqueline Flaggiello

Gasoline Heart

A year ago, I couldn’t recall the last time I had listened to a band or artist without feeling as though they were selling me something. Even if the cheap clothing and crappy band memorabilia didn’t manage to get under my skin, I rarely felt like much more than the tiniest of stepping stones in what bands hoped would be their sweeping ascent to stardom. Sure, I may have been a little melodramatic, but I don’t think it was unreasonable of me to wonder when I’d finally hear new music being made purely for music’s sake.

Enter Gasoline Heart, perhaps the most hardcore group of punks ever to have had absolutely nothing to do with punk music. To them, being a musician in the purest sense of the term should amount to more than screaming fans and three-minute spots on MTV, and I’m sure they’d tell anyone who thinks differently to get bent.

If you need convincing, look no further the band’s output over the past couple of years.  Between upbeat, tambourine-laden rock songs and heart-rending slow numbers that make you wonder exactly what kind of living hell lead singer Louis DeFabrizio has been through, Gasoline Heart have amassed a catalogue of remarkable depth and variety. Their sound, hinting at influences ranging from Tom Petty to The Hold Steady to The Rolling Stones, is almost instantly catchy and tingles with genuine emotive power. To date, their work has garnered praise from some of the most respected names modern music, and 2006’s You Know Who You Are even had the band working under the supervision of industry legend Steve Albini, former producer for Nirvana. High-profile or not, these guys have some serious street cred. 

Still, DeFabrizio maintains that he’s “never made a dollar playing music,” and I’m sure he’d be content to have things stay that way. It’s the quality of the music that ends up being his reward; I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

•Sean Hardy

I Am Committing A Sin

Despite being a band for less than a year, I Am Committing A Sin has already made a lot of headway. The Burlington thrash-punk five-piece features former members of Cain & Abel and Japaned, and Ryan Henderson, formerly of The Stickup and The Turn It Ups, was an original guitarist who really helped the band find their own unique sound.

The collective experience of all five band-members is astonishing, especially when you consider the band’s average age is only nineteen-years old. Over the years, they have played hundreds of shows and have shared the stage with acts like Silverstein, Moneen, Boys Night Out, Dead and Divine, and Cancer Bats. Now they have gathered their individual talents and combined them with their ingenious collaborative skills to create something truly unique: a pulsing sound that possesses equal parts compelling spontaneity and dynamic energy.

The dominant trait in I Am Committing A Sin’s music is its potent melodies. Coupled with vocalist Daniel Tremblay’s menacing, Freddie Mercury-like voice, the rhythmic qualities incite spasms of piercing euphoria. Tremblay’s voice itself is a marvel, as it is hardcore and visceral; a falsetto deconstructed so as to bring out the coarse and thrashy elements within it.

Former child-prodigy Kelly Bilan is a tight drummer who brings uncontested skills and an undying passion for music to the group. As most fourteen-year old musicians were still trying to learn how to play Green Day songs, by that age Bilan was already drumming for the fast-paced, hardcore/metal band MCODE.

Paul Rousseau and Kevin King are blossomed guitarists who have refined their talents and rely on the experiences of their whimsical youths and capricious romances to create the melodic sounds evident in their songs. The low-tone instrumentalist Andrew Basso was born to play bass, almost quite literally as he has the instrument transcribed into his very name.

With an EP already under their belt and a second one already recorded and on the way to being released, I Am Committing A Sin has been making the rounds, playing all across Ontario and preaching their message of free inquiry in an attempt to expose the zealous for their fallacious and constraining ideologies. They ask nothing more of their audience than to sing along with them.

• Kevin Elliott

Wavves

The music seems simple:  punk meets surf rock. With a penchant for both, Wavves is the latest act of the noise pop genre to create a substantial buzz with the musical press. Garnering much accolades from Pitchfork and oddly enough, The New York Times, this one-man wall of sound still remains a mystery for the most part. 22 year-old Nathan Williams, a native of Southern California, distills an image of youthful yet rebellious qualifications. His two full-length albums, entitled Wavves and Wavvves are separated with the distinction of only an extra “V.” While this may come off pretentious to the general public, it only adds to the allure as one gets a deeper sense to what lays beneath.  Tracks such as “No Hope Kids,” “So Bored,” and “Surf Goth” paint a picture of forlorn teen angst. Partially true, the music breathes a life all its own. Taking cues from Sonic Youth and Animal Collectives’ Panda Bear, Wavves lures the listener with melodic harmonies only to berate our ears with crashing cymbals mixed upfront. This style is nothing new. Dubbed “shitgaze,” the genre itself is a play on words of the cherished 90’s genre, “shoegaze.” Yet, while “shoegaze” used sound to layer and enhance a dreamlike state of consciousness, “shitgaze” vastly differs, combining instruments played at breakneck speed, all-melding into a muddy distortion. Wavves true talent lies in the craftsmanship, cohesively throwing nostalgic nuances of surf chords and backup singers while bizarrely transgressing into a chaotic lo-fi density without a moments notice. His output within the music community is unabashedly Californian. While taking influences from the west coast’s underground scene of decades past (surf and punk) it is also encrusted with sun kissed leisure. Take for instance the album cover of Wavves second release, a vintage photo of a teen skateboarding. While the photo may be out of focus, the subject displayed is certainly in focus with the task at hand, agile and determined, much like Nathan Williams himself. His newest album, Wavvves was released on March 17, 2009 (Fat Possum Records).

• Myles Herod

No time could be wasted. So we sat down and the server looked displeased because we were there to just talk. No food, no drinks. So I ordered a Coke out of guilt and Chris promised to buy a hamburger after the show, although, in true Dead and Divine style, he never did. It was a total bullshit lie.

Dead and Divine is Burlington’s post-hardcore antithesis to the city’s more pop-punk or screamo acts, such as Boys Night Out and Silverstein, with an attitude to match the heavy music. “We’re not mature,” admits LeMasters, in reference to the video blogs the band has been making to document the recording of their new album, The Machines We Are. “Right when we started doing pre-production on the record, our label gave us a video camera, and they were like, ‘Just fuck around with it, dudes. Just go nuts.’ We’re all complete idiots so we always wanted to document how stupid we are all the time. Anything that’s remotely funny or remotely stupid goes in the video blog. Absolutely none of it has anything to do with the recording.” In the latest video blog, posted on the band’s MySpace page, perhaps the funniest moment was when LeMasters showed the infamous “One Man, One Cup” video to the album’s producers and engineers while at the studio.

But Dead and Divine is serious about one thing: establishing themselves as a heavy hardcore band, especially after the release of their first full-length record The Fanciful early last year. As LeMasters explains, the songs on the upcoming The Machines We Are are going to be “heavy as fuck.”

In order to get their desired heavy sound, they took an efficacious approach, actually taking time off to write songs. “We were touring a lot and we always wanted to write heavier stuff, but the last time on The Fanciful we were sort of mixing songs we had written two years ago with new stuff, so we didn’t really get a chance to write everything on the spot, you know, actually take time off to just write an entire record all at once. So this time around it was easier because we took time off and focused one-hundred per cent on writing.”

The addition of drummer Kyle Anderson to the band also had an effect on the song-writing. Anderson, formerly of the Burlington pop-punk band Sydney, joined Dead and Divine after former drummer Ryan Leger left last summer. “He’s great; he’s definitely an influence on (the song-writing),” remarks LeMasters. “He’s a super tight drummer so it’s rad having a dude like that in the band.”

Indeed, a new drummer exemplifies the roller-coaster ride full of new experiences that Dead and Divine has encountered over the past several months. They recently signed with Distort Entertainment, the record label that boasts such acts as Alexisonfire and Cancer Bats. “It’s refreshing because we had been working with the same dudes for a really long time, so it’s always nice to be able to have new people working with the band,” notes LeMasters. “It could really help us get more exposure. Distort is a super great label.”

Recording for The Machines We Are is also the first time the band has worked with a professional engineer and producer, as Eric Ratz (Cancer Bats, Billy Talent) and Garth Richardson (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine) are lending their services during recording at Vespa Studios, a top-of-the-line studio which is also a first for Dead and Divine. “We haven’t recorded there before so everything right now is really neat for us,” LeMasters admits. “We haven’t recorded with Kyle and we just met up with Ratz and Garth. (The album) will be heavy, beautiful, melodic, and lovely.”

When asked which mythical creature he would want to be, LeMasters’ answer was fitting. “Unicorn, by far; they’re majestic. Fuck yeah, man, it’d be awesome!”  Majestic, just like he maintains the new album will be.  The Machines We Are is slated for a summer 2009 release.

Doiron began her career in the nineties with Eric’s Trip, a kind of grunge rock band that emerged out of New Brunswick in the early nineties. The band achieved success fairly quickly, but personal differences drove the band to split ways mid-tour in 1996. “Eric’s trip got a lot of success pretty early on, without really looking for it. It was really fun, and we were all really grateful for that.” 

Eric’s Trip’s distinct grunge rock stylings were relatively harder than Doiron’s solo sound, which takes on very folkish, singer-songwriter qualities with the avid guitar and percussive support. Kick starting her solo career was not without challenges though, as Doiron struggled to carve out her place in the music scene. “When we [Eric’s Trip] broke up, it was like starting from scratch, but having already experienced success. It was kind of exhausting psychologically because I was always part of this band that you know, wasn’t looking for success and didn’t really try for it, but it just came. I was starting as Julie from Eric’s Trip, and some people knew the band, but because I was making music nothing like Eric’s Trip, they weren’t really interested.” Doiron admitted sheepishly that she struggles to self-proclaim herself as any particular genre with the kind of modesty that few musicians who reach this level of success manage to maintain. 

Doiron teamed up with Herman Dune and Eric’s Trip bandmate Rick White to put together her latest album, I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day, one that really reflects the musical maturity she’s accumulated over the years. “When I first started recording, I found the idea very stressful– you know, going in and immortalizing a song on tape as the definitive version that everyone is going to hear. But this time I wasn’t really afraid. It felt really good.” Recorded in rural Ontario, Doiron found this round to be really relaxing, and different than a lot of her other records. “One of the things that I noticed was that we went into the studio having already played a lot of the songs live. So that was a nice change,” Doiron commented, “This time, a lot of them were already pretty solid.”

Julie often teams up with independent musicians and other bands on her label, Jagjaguwar, to work on various projects. She collaborated with Austin folk band Okkervil River to release a split album, and contributed vocals to Attack in Black’s song “I’m a Rock,” and the 2001 Snailhouse album entitled The Opposite is Also True. It gets complicated and expensive to tour with a band, and Doiron finds these collaborations to be a good alternative to being part of a band again. “I’ve been enjoying being solo because I’ve had to really figure out what it was I liked doing and what kind of music I wanted to make. But I never really wanted to be a solo artist, I like playing with a band.” Doiron’s recent tour with the Wooden Stars was a huge success because they seemed to have a set of ideals that were very much aligned to her own. 

This New Brunswick native grew up speaking French, and finds subtle ways to stay true to her Acadian roots. She divides her time fairly equally between New Brunswick and Montreal and released an entirely French album with Jagjaguwar in 2001 called Désormais. Her intentions for the album were entirely apolitical, but reflects Doiron’s appreciation for the language as part of the Canadian identity. “I think it would be awesome, obviously, if everyone in Canada could speak both languages, but sometimes I think it’s just not that realistic.” 

At some point in the decade or so of industry experience that stretches behind her, Doiron also managed to find time to build a family. With three kids under the age of 15, Julie elegantly balances her professional and personal life with the help of their supportive Dad. “It’s just kind of something we’ve always done,” Doiron commented casually. 

With a whole slew of projects coming up, Julie has plenty to keep her busy and although the label asked her to stay mum about a lot of them, she assured us that there were lots of exciting things happening. Julie Doiron, you are cute as a button.