The Wake

It’s a big world outside. Terrific new bands from every corner of the world pop up each day. Keeping up with all the hot new bands in your home city, let alone entire continents at large, can be maddening.
Often times I’ll think about all the American bands with whom I’m currently enthused. I realize that, as good as they are, many will soon be forgotten. Given that only a handful of foreign bands hit it big each year in the States, I conclude that an unimaginable number of delightful songs will never reach my ears. It’s with this in mind …

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The people of this petroleum-addicted world-gone-to-hell are soon to be faced with an unprecedented number of environmental problems due to rapid resource consumption, pollution, and climate change. The planet’s ecosystems are crumbling before the eyes of the human race and the biggest tragedy about it is that few seem to be aware of just how bad these problems really are, and are not attempting to remedy the situation. Luckily, there is a bright and shining ray of hope beaming down through the carbon dioxide-saturated atmosphere. A group of progressive faculty members, administrators and students at the University …

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On a prominently displayed whiteboard in the Gopher football department of Dinkytown’s Gibson-Nagurski Complex, a brief and cryptic message is scrawled in dry-erase marker.

Recruit! 24/7. 365. E.D.S.

The series of letters and numbers may seem like gibberish to some, but to Tim Brewster it represents the most important expectation he has placed on his newly assembled staff.

Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week. Eat, drink and sleep recruiting.

“I was committed to putting together a staff that, one through nine, were going to be outstanding recruiters,” Brewster says. “I wasn’t going to have one recruiting liability on my staff.”

The emphasis on …

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Dear Uncle Ethan,So there’s this girl who’s got everything going for her: she’s gorgeous, smart, funny, and we’re totally on the same wavelength intellectually.There’s only one problem: she’s dating my roommate. But when she talks to me, I get a strong vibe that she’s craving something more. How can I steal this girl without my roommate killing me in my sleep? JessieDear Jessie,First off, roommates come and go, but true love is forever. So you should be more concerned with following your heart and less worried about pussyfooting around trying to avoid hurting your roommate’s feelings.You’re all open-minded college hippies, …

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I’m in an auditorium and 25% of the students are sleeping, 25% are sudokuing The Minnesota Daily and roughly half the room appears to be either paying attention or staring blankly into space. 10% of students look like they’re taking notes. Personally, I’m on my laptop, writing this introductory paragraph and wishing I were somewhere far, far away. What happened to that college education I was promised in high school?This particular class is Intro to Psychology – and it is the cause of an overwhelming urge to take what little money and self-respect I have and leave the college …

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Irony is tricky. Often cited but rarely understood, it is a modern day conversation-killer that has the power to make you sound both stupid and pretentious. The difficulty starts with the many definitions of the word. Beginning with Socrates who “knew nothing,” continuing through Shakespeare with Roman (dramatic) irony, and finally into the all-encompassing cosmic irony, the word has proven its resiliency until now. Plagued my constant misuse and misappropriation, we might be witnessing the death of the word in the worst expansion in (ironic) history. Two weeks ago I was wandering Dinkytown, meeting my new neighbors, and enjoying a …

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In the 1960s, student demonstrations for free speech erupted at the University of California at Berkeley, attracting national attention and cementing the movement’s reputation as a landmark in the history of civil disobedience and student protest. Since then, American universities like Berkeley have been seen as hotbeds of activism, “marketplaces of ideas” where multiple voices can be heard. But Indoctrinate U, an independent documentary that played last month at Oak St. Cinema as part of a series of screenings around the country, aims to unseat this image of the freethinking American college. The film claims that the liberal ideology behind …

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The Hip Hop Live show, in First Avenue’s Main room on the 11th, showcased three MCs; Brother Ali, Ghostface Killah, and Rakim. Though from drastically different backgrounds, the three artists share a bond through a common, continuing the fight for the survival of Hip Hop as vital music and a respected art form. It’s an uphill battle these days. Hip Hop over the last 8 years has slowly eroded into lack luster MCs with glossy images and major labeling backing. Fortunately, there are those who still believe. Acts like The Roots, Living Legends, Atmosphere and Del the Funky Homosapien, …

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Tegan and Sara - The Con

To tell you the truth I’m not sure which one is Tegan, or for that matter who Sara is. Yes, I have seen some captioned picture of them being all cute and stuff, but I still can’t identify their voices as unique entities. However, when the twins join together in their pseudo-harmonies, I become mystified as to why it sounds so good. On their fourth full-length album, The Con, the sisters’ Quin early output of Lilith …

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Coming from a middle-class suburb, walking around campus and seeing thick-rimmed glasses, scarves, vintage sweaters and leggings typically emblematic of pretentious indie rock kids makes me nostalgic for the Insane Clown Posse and Slipknot T-shirts clouding my high school memories.Throwing on Victory Records’ The Autumn Offering’s new CD is like taking a step back to simpler times – like 9th grade. Fear Will Cast No Shadow, the Florida metalcore band’s third studio album, wait for it…doesn’t suck.When working in one of the most culturally denigrated genres of music (behind pop country and ska), to create an album with some artistic …

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To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Patron

I recently created a sandwich. I call it the Spumonty Cristo because it is derived from a sandwich recipe called the Monte Cristo, served at Grandma’s restaurant on Washington. Music by The Patron has the same air of nonsensical compatibility as my sandwich. The Spumonty Cristo calls for two pieces of lightly toasted bread, sliced deli ham, two pieces of marble jack cheese, and a healthy portion …

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The Pantages was packed with people of all ages excited to see the band Stars perform. The band threw roses and praises from the stage. The lobby was bustling and the merch table was flooded. “Last time we played in Minneapolis, about 45 people showed up,” Torquil Campbell told the crowd, which promptly erupted into cheers and applause.Stars is touring for their new album, In Our Bedroom After the War. Opening with “Take Me to the Riot”, the single from their new album, the band carried the energy of that song through the rest of the show. The setlist for …

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It’s hard to tell whether the harshest critics of Wes Anderson (director of such films as Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Royal Tenenbaums) lack imagination, or whether they flat-out don’t get it. Either way, his work can be easily characterized as “not for everyone.”These critics need to offer legitimate rationale for this negative point of view. Instead, they use buzzwords like “pretentious” and “affected,” and calling Anderson a one-trick pony who relies on the same formula of privileged characters desensitized by disjointed familial issues.Though I would agree that there is a definite tone and common subject matter …

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In this day and age, it’s no wonder that a fictional animated metal band can blow away an audience. That’s exactly what Dethklok, the band featured in the show “Metalocalypse” on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, did on Wednesday Nov. 7 in the Great Hall at Coffman Union. Despite being billed as the opening act for …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Dethklok not only stole the main time slot but proved to deliver mind-numbing metal as good as any metal act today. Every aspect of the show was torturously, exhilaratingly brutal.Getting into the concert was ridiculously …

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A well-worked delay pedal and dueling electric guitars immediately come to mind with the mentioning of rock-electronica quintet, Minus the Bear. At the mention of seeing them live, the next thought is probably: “Can they nail every song with that same tightness and accuracy?”The Seattle-based band made their Minneapolis appearance last Friday as an array of different social groups filed in to the main room at First Avenue. Standing between a group of wasted frat bros chanting every word and some MCAD students armed with headbands and beat up converses, I watched Minus the Bear hit every appropriate fret on …

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