November 5, 2003

Justin Ray Culture Critic

Do you buy your music or download it? The controversial topic of MP3s and online music swapping is not going away and the music industry is unlikely to succeed in preventing file swapping. Software piracy has been a persistent problem for years, and music swapping is technically much easier. Therefore, the decision to pur- chase or make “illegal copies” of music is a matter of ethics and economics. As the costs of listening to music change, perhaps some people will reconsider their stand on this issue.

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> Future Stars vol. 1

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Gauae! Page 16 e http://www.otherpress.ca

Various Artists

Future Stars vol. 1

With CDs now at aggressively low prices, record companies are practically giving music away. Those philanthropists at Future Shop really are giving away free music on their Future Stars vol. 1 compilation. No strings attached. This seems like a great idea since many great bands have been part of the Future Stars promotion. Coldplay's break- through album, Parachutes, was featured long before “Yellow” ever hit the airwaves. But isn't it a little strange for me to be reviewing a promotional item? Yes, but this is not really a review, just a plug for a little freebie you might want to check out.

While Future Stars vol. I does not have a lot of great songs, it does have a few good ones. Pilate lends an exclu- sive track, “The Volunteer,” making the compilation col- lectable for that alone.

Sam Roberts

We Were Born In a Flame

We Were Born In a Flame has been out for a while now, but probably not as long as you think. The radio singles you've been hearing for the past year—“Don’t Walk Away, Eileen,” “Brother Down,” “Where Have All The Good People Gone”?—were all released on Sam Roberts’ EP, The Inhuman Condition. For a mere $2 more, the full album was definitely worth the wait.

The lead track “Hard Road” is the first single off Born In a Flame, although any other song from the album would have been as good. One of my favourites, “The Canadian Dream” is an ironic piece about Socialism in Canada. This flagrant political content settles Roberts in nicely with other roots rocker outfits. But it’s not all serious—a little O- bla-di, O-bla-da never hurt anyone.

The music is boisterous and cheerful, standing on its own without undermining the effectiveness of Robert's lyrics, which have universal appeal. He asks questions about self- worth, human nature, and rock’s favourite four-letter word, love. Born In a Flame is one of those great albums that cre- ates huge expectations for a band, and deservedly so.

The Rapture

Echoes

Blondie meets The Sugarcubes in Echoes, the debut full- length from The Rapture. This nii-wave punk group from New York blends rock elements with a disco aesthetic—the band lists Chic as an influence—with mixed results. But even those who are sick of “the whole 80s thing” ought to appreciate much of Echoes.

A friend of mine dragged me out to Sonar to check them out a few months ago, and once the show got going, I had a blast. But it did take a little while to get into, and the CD plays the same. Echoes opens with its weakest tracks. The first song, “Olio,” sounds like a drum machine preset. “Heaven” flutters around Hot Hot Heat territory, but then crashes back to earth with the drippy “Open Up Your Heart.” Patience, my friend. Or just skip to track four.

The housey “I Need Your Love” gets everything back on track, and from there Echoes is smoother than Skippy’s. Saxophone solos, trash guitar, and clever vocal tricks fill out the sound, but everything is suitably in place. Songs transi- tion very well, as if mixed for dancing. And you might just find yourself doing that. Again, and again, and again.

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Amnesty International Film Festival

Amanda Aikman Culture Editor

Billed as “cinema with a social conscious—cine- ma that speaks truth to power,” Vancouver's eighth-annual Amnesty International Film Festival will take place from November 6-9 at Pacific Cinematheque this week. The festival fea- tures a number of informative and thought-pro- voking films that deal with or reflect human rights issues.

This year the festival is pleased to present the Canadian premieres of A Monks Voice—a gentle story of one monk’s effort to maintain Tibetan culture under the shadow of Chinese rule, Burma: Anatomy of Terror—an eye-opening account of the devastating effects of thirty years of military rule, and Blood Diamonds Forever?— which demonstrates just how easy it is to sell ille- gal diamonds into mainstream markets, generat- ing money that fuels conflict and repression.

In addition to these and other Canadian debuts, the festival will open with the Vancouver premiere of the acclaimed Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, a dramatic feature-length documentary that chronicles the dark secrets of Tibet, and will close with the remarkable The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, an inside look at the first coup of the 21st-century.

Selected films will subsequently tour commu- nities throughout British Columbia, but inter- ested filmgoers are urged to attend the Vancouver festival in order to take advantage of the complete roster (23 films in total). Tickets ($6 for students) can be purchased at the door prior to each screening and five-show passes are also available. For a complete schedule with film descriptions visit <http://www.amnesty.bc.ca/filmfest.html>.