It seems nearly every review I’ve read of local band Shark Speed compares them to the Seattle-based indie group Minus the Bear. And for the most part, it’s a comparison I get. I hear the strong similarities, for example, between Shark Speed vocalist Thayne Fagg and Jake Snider of Minus the Bear. Both bands also dabble in halting song structures and occasionally climb the precipice of cacophony.

That said, however, it’s not necessarily a comparison I like — primarily because I dig Shark Speed, but don’t love Minus the Bear. And while I’ve always had some trouble explaining why I like the one and not the other, Shark Speed’s latest EP “Education” — which will be released this Saturday at Velour — goes a long way in making the case that the band is a unique group that ought to be evaluated outside the shadows of its influences.

“Education” includes only four songs and is relatively short, even for an EP. It starts out strong with what’s probably my personal favorite of the collection, “King of the World.” The song is distinctly Shark Speed-esque, but startled me in the growth it displays over the band’s full-length album Sea Sick Music from last year. Fagg’s vocals are still grainy, for example, but suddenly they have more dance-hall bluster than they used to. Though he didn’t sound bad before, now he comes off as a seasoned pro at the helm of a versatile group. Similarly, the song’s instrumentation feels more palatable than both many Minus the Bear songs, and earlier Shark Speed. It doesn’t strictly unfold in a conventional verse-chorus-verse structure, but the instrumentation lends the song some much appreciated cohesion.

“King of the World” is followed by “Killing Kind” and “Ill-Fate Incarnate.” Though these songs didn’t envelop me the way the opener did, they continue to show off the band’s evolution and maintain the record’s momentum. I especially appreciated the electronic flourishes added by drummer Jared Christensen and, on “Ill-Fate Incarnate,” the quasi four-on-the-floor disco flavor that occasionally wafted up through the cracks.

The EP’s final track, “Like A Dead Dog,” offers a strong finish and surprisingly reminded me of the happy, proto-indie music that was popular in the late ’90s. (A good thing, in my opinion.) It synthesizes the different elements found in the previous songs — things like melancholic but ultimately cheerful lyrics and slightly asymmetrical song structure — but manages to convey a genuine exuberance rare for its genre. It finishes off with several measures of blisteringly distorted guitar that, combined with a simple trumpet riff, manage to not sound too “hard” or incongruous.

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Unless you’ve been living in a technology-free zone for the last six months, you probably heard the rumors of the secret Apple tablet computer (and when I say secret, I mean officially the worst kept secret in the history of technology).

Well, today Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck finally unveiled the product to the masses at a media event in San Fransisco. Despite sounding more like a high-tech feminine hygiene product than a groundbreaking media device, the iPad demonstrated impressive capabilities and Apple appears poised to have another huge hit. We at Rhombus, of course, are here to bring you the breakdown of what you need to know about this next-generation mobile computing device.

What is it?
Basically, it’s a giant iPod touch. The iPad looks identical to the iPhone except, instead of a 3-inch screen it features a 9.7-inch LED backlit display. It uses the same multi-touch technology used on the iPhone/iPod Touch, only made even more responsive by the enlarged screen.

What does it do?
The iPad is based on the iPhone operating system, so it will run almost all of the 144,000 iPhone apps on the day it launches. That means if you already have an iPhone or iPod touch, you’ll be able to play Bejeweled all you want right on your iPad — and the best part — without having to pay for the app again. The iPad will also have apps specifically developed to take advantage of its larger screen and increased processing power. So eventually, there will be an app for pretty much whatever you want your iPad to do.

The iPad was shown as using a bigger version of mobile Safari for Web browsing that looked quite slick and seemed very fast and responsive — about the same, if not faster than using Safari on a MacBook. Apple also demonstrated that eBooks are a large part of their plan for the tablet, with several big name publishers on-board to provide reading content through an iTunes-like store called iBooks. The iPad has completely redesigned the mail, calendar, and photo applications, with each one taking full advantage of the larger screen with more robust interfaces and features than their iPhone counterparts.

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I have a theory that I have cultivated over the past few years and propagated to just about anyone within earshot. It goes something like this — culture (and specifically American popular culture) runs in 20-year cycles. Think about it. Approximately 20 years after a certain style of music or trend or fashion was first cool, we tend to re-appropriate it for our own modern usage, if still with slight modifications.

A broad example: the slew of ’80s parties that marked the last decade of Provo weekends. It was simultaneously ironic and cool to get nostalgic for the dancing, fashion and trends of the Reagan era — you guessed it, 20 years after the fact. This ’80s revival peaked in 2009 with the death (and subsequent career renaissance) of pop icon Michael Jackson — an event which defined our lovefest with the decade, but also marked our transition into the 2010s and, per my theory, a 1990s nostalgia to boot.

Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it. The ’90s are making a comeback. Where Provo youth once craved legwarmers and frizzy hair, they now wax nostalgic over Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and late ’90s boy bands they totally pretended to loathe when said groups were actually (non-ironically) popular. Hell, another James Cameron monstrosity even rests atop the box office again for the first time since 1997 (albeit without the dazzling star power of a young Leonardo DiCaprio).

Still skeptical of my theory? Think about some of the most recent fashion trends, then consider their cultural roots. Case-in-point: you can’t walk anywhere in the year 2010 without seeing a multitude of young, hip men dressed in well-tailored flannel shirts. Now, we didn’t snatch this idea directly from the lumberjacks; nay, the flannel shirt first prominently entered American popular culture in the grunge scene of the early 1990s. Granted, Kurt Cobain and his mop-topped contemporaries wore them oversized and unbuttoned most of the time, but they pioneered the look as an acceptable fashion choice nonetheless.

Now, 20 years later, we’ve resurrected these grunge relics while also adding our own modern spin. We don’t wear them loose and grimy like they did in Seattle circa 1993, because that would just be gross. Instead, we channel Cobain through our 2010 prism — clean, crisp, well-fitted — and come out with the $40 flannel you recently bought off the rack at Urban Outfitters. We’re essentially adopting the look, feel and meaning of styles and symbols from decades past, but also providing our own modern alterations to maintain their relevance.

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June 23, 2008

Despite what one of my friends claims as her only explicable reason for not loving Get Smart, Steve Carrell’s latest foray into the comedy scene contained next to none of the despicably overused crotch humor all of decent civilization has finally come to despise.

If you haven’t heard about this film… well, first of all, I’m surprised. It got plenty of ad time, and Steve Carrell is currently a comedy darling. You really should have heard of this movie by now. But, if you haven’t, here’s a very brief description: This is a film adaptation of a popular TV comedy of the same name about a secret spy organization built to combat their evil Soviet counterparts. The movie ends up being your typical action comedy, of which there are simply too few.

Let me rephrase. There are far too few good action comedies. Shanghai NOON, Rush Hour (ONE), The Mummy, and, to some degree, the Indiana Jones movies are all great examples, but there really aren’t a lot of them. And when they’re done well, they’re an absolute blast and a half. I think that no other genre (hybrid or no) can satisfy the need for fun quite like it.

And Get Smart was an awful lot of fun. I haven’t laughed that hard in a theater in… oh, who knows? I laughed, out loud and often. And by the end of the movie, all I could do was smile — and decide to see it again in the near future.

First of all, this is Steve Carrell at his best. He was perfectly cast for this part, and he doesn’t succumb to any predictability in filling the role. I was constantly impressed with the uniqueness of his quirky character.

Anne Hathaway was a much tougher sell because I haven’t seen The Devil Wears Prada (I do plan on it, I promise) [note: I finally saw it, and it's brilliant], and so I can’t claim to have ever enjoyed watching her on screen. Well, she did a fabulous job in this film. I adored her character. She was professional, capable, sexy, uptight and almost completely believable. Shoot, I even bought the chemistry between her and Carrell. Awesome work, dudes (who made this movie.)

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The PB&J Report returns with a wide-ranging discussion of all things sports (and some not) — including BYU basketball’s historic run, the impending suckiness of the NBA’s slam dunk contest, the awesomeness of Cactus Cooler, the crew’s NFL playoff picks, and tons more. Also, tune in for an exclusive explanation of BYU Athletic Communications’ decision to shoot down our segment with Jackson Emery, provided by Rhombus editor-in-chief Steve Pierce. Enjoy!

Ed. — This podcast was taped on Wednesday, January 20th and, due to editorial forgetfulness, is now somewhat out-of-date. However, do not despair! You can now listen to the crew’s NFL playoff picks with the perfect knowledge of 20/20 hindsight and mock (some of) them for their misguided opinions. So really, it’s all good.

You can stream the podcast by simply clicking on the link below, or you can download it to your computer by right-clicking the link and selecting “Save Link As” from the menu.

Listen to: Rhombus Podcast 008 — The PB&J Report (01.25.10)