ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Screw Noise Rock Kevin Lalonde, OP Janitor There are certain things in life that I don’t understand. Cubist art, reality television, women, none of these things make any sense to me. But the one thing that bothers me the most is, quite simply, noise rock. I just don’t get it. Now before you grab your pitchforks and call for my head, I should clarify. I never thought of early Sonic Youth as noise rock, for example. I mean, when was the last time you heard someone say, “Oh my god, man I LOVE Shellac?” or, “Dude, the new Butthole Surfers is SO amaz- ing!” Alright, to be fair, a lot of people probably did. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I’m talking about new noise rock. Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, all of it. It makes no god- damn sense to me. People describe noise rock as big and cacophonous, abrasive, an onslaught of noise meant to shatter the eardrums. The genre is highlighted by distorted, amateur- ishly-played guitars and heavy, crashing percussion, often lacking a cohesive rhythm or melody, or a melody altogeth- er. Reading that description back, it sounds like ’m describing math rock. Well, fuck math rock too, but we'll get to that another time. Right now, I’m pissed about how good people think the new Deerhoof is, or the new Xiu Xiu, or the new whatever. Again, I just don’t get it. When I threw in Deerhoof’s new LP Appk O’ this week, I was excited. I had never really listened to Deerhoof before, aside from a few tracks that some friends had played for me, and the new album was getting hugely posi- tive press from all points. Clearly, it had to be good. My excitement, however, quickly melted into aggravated irrita- tion. Not surprising for a guy whose idea of a good time is a bottle of wine, a pan-fried trout, and some old Decemberists while reading Harry Potter. What the fuck was this shit? Why do I hate noise rock so much? It’s usually discor- dant and unpleasantly unmelodic. It’s annoying. You can’t sing along to the words (if there are any), and even if you can understand the lyrics, they rarely make any sense. It’s so dissonant and harsh, and you can’t even get high to it because it just agitates you and freaks you out. Case in point: the song “Saturn” by celebrated noise rock ’innova- tors’ Xiu Xiu. Theoretically, you should be able to light a joint and listen to damn near anything, But that? I don’t fucking think so. Again, I just don’t understand it. That said, not all noise rock is so unlistenable for me that I can’t stomach it. However, it is kinda sad that the only half-melodic tracks on La Foret sound unmistakably like Depeche Mode. What does that say about the genre? Indeed, the term “noise rock” has been thrown around like an old pair of socks so much recently that it’s hard to make distinctions as to who is actually playing noise rock and who isn’t. No, I won’t try to give any clarity in that regard; remember, I don’t understand it. However, it fright- ens me when I hear people labeling bands like Wolf Parade as noise rock. Sure, for the first 12 seconds of “You Are a Runner,” you might think the song a bit grating. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, you hear...what’s that, a melody? Jesus, is that so fucking hard to play? It’s cohesive, it’s pleasant, and it’s goddamn catchy is what it is! And it causes me to say to myself, “yeah, I really want to put that on,” and don’t have to suffer through it in any way. So the real question is, why the hell do people who like noise rock like noise rock? Is it because they’re angry? Were they not hugged enough when they were little? Have they been drinking too much? Frankly, and I know some- one is gonna hit me for saying it, I think it’s because they have a metal plate in their head or something. Either that or they’re deaf. Otherwise, I simply can’t explain it. Frankenstein-Douglas College Theatre Department Production Brady Ehler, OP Contributor Douglas College's own Allan Lysell recently adapted Mary Shelly's Frankenstein for the stage as one of the two major theatre productions of the semester. For Frankenstein, Lysell took a-unique approach; he used the original literary work as a touches. He also underscored the classic tale with a modern-day sub-story, which explore additions. we should? texture to the play. template, added elements of popular fiction portrayals, and then further added personal moral issues around human cloning. Lysell stays true to the philosophical nature of the original work, with both the traditional Frankenstein sequences as well as the modern-day After examining various stage adaptations of Frankenstein and re-reading the original text, which Lysell feels has many merits and many faults, he decided to do his own adapta- tion. Because of the relevance of the novel to modern day issues concerning human cloning, Lysell chose to augment the play writing a modern day storyline to compliment the original piece with philosophic questions directly relevant to today. “When I looked at it, it was just so obvious to me that we are doing exactly the same thing. We're involved in stem-cell research and cloning...we are very, very, very close to being able to clone human beings.” Some of the issues that Lysell explores within the context of the play are: what are the social connotations that result from man playing god? At what point does human life begin? Is it at birth? Does life begin in the embryonic state? Does it begin sometime in the pre-embryonic state? Just because we can clone (or create) a human being, does that mean The Lysell adaptation is certainly a fresh take on the story. To reduce the story into a two-hour play and accommodate the “future” sequences, large chunks of the novel have been omitted, characters have been cut, and other characters have been augmented. Much to his credit, Lysell manages to keep the spirit of the original work intact despite the alter- ations. Some of the ways Lysell achieves this is by portraying The Creature as an intelli- gent character, who is essentially human, despite his horrific origins, and by analyzing Victor Frankenstein's feelings for his creation. “Tt's not the creation of the monster that is Victor Frankenstein's downfall, but the fact that he rejects the creature in this really horrible post-partum depression...he sees the creature as having no soul, but it's fairly obvious from the novel, that the creature does have a soul, or acquires a soul through the process of educating himself.” The set design mirrors Lysell's unorthodox approach to the piece. There are no major set alterations during the play. Instead, the ambiance of the scenes is created through thoughtful lighting, music, sound effects, and character placement upon the double-helix shaped set. The hexagonal platforms (the shape of protein structures within DNA) that make up the stage are mirrored by six video screens, which provide an excellent tool for creating background for the scenes, and work as an effective tool for adding depth and