The Icarus Line Fly too Close to the Sun

Listening to The Icarus Line is like stepping through a portal into some parallel universe where the early 90's never ended. They're like a golem formed from the dessicated flesh of dead bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, but still fresh enough not to reek like the horrid nu-metal parade that tried to continue where grunge left off.

Visit their site for more evidence of their talent, or just read the appalling amount of praise they're earning from the critics out there. I tried desperately to avoid a knee-jerk-positive review of the I.C. but they confounded me with their dazzling virtuosity and their heavy, mind-boggling bass lines.

I.C. in a blurry monochrome press shot

According to their official bio, they've already toured with bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, A Perfect Circle, Primal Scream, Queens Of The Stone age, & And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of Dead.

In April, they passed through Montreal with that other Great Mic Hope the Distillers (April 2nd, Club Soda), but I wasn't lucky/blessed/intelligent enough to catch their show. It would have been a psychotropic experience, seeing two bands of such a calibre prowling the same stage. Although the Icarus Line's tour recently wound up, June and July dates should be announced in the near future. I'll keep my eyes open for any updates (and for Brody Dalle sunbathing).

Ms. Dalle Showing us all how it's Done

The Onion's Latest Headline: "U.S. to Fight Terror with Terror"

Bite into this Onion and tell me if you don't laugh until you cry. The scary thing is, they're not far from the truth. The U.S. isn't making life easy for any Americans working in the Diplomatic Corps overseas. They have to explain for all the atrocities and broken promises resulting from their government's failing Iraqi experiment.

I don't advocate violence no matter where it originates from. Fundamentalists should be resisted whether they are clutching a Bible or a Koran.

While we're on the topic of terror, I've read a couple of rumours that allege foreign agents may have been responsible for Nick Berg's death (as opposed to the Iraqi insurgency or an Al-Qaeda cell). Just google "Nick Berg" and "conspiracy" and you'll find blogs full of reasons why. I won't bother to repeat the same tired points. (ie. the discrepancy between the accent heard on the video versus a native tongue, the link between Nick Berg & Zacarias Moussaoui, etc.) Still, an investigation examining the details behind Berg's murder would be warranted.

B-52's that bomb wedding receptions from twenty thousand feet are just as frightening as homicidal terrorists or murderous rebels. Terror doesn't limit itself to civilian origins and nations like the U.S. and Israel shouldn't try to outdo Al-Qaeda or Hamas by being even more brutal.

I sense that I'm straying off the main topic of this post but I was just thinking about the contradiction inherent in a term like a "war crime". Every war should be considered a crime because every war is against humanity. (Of course, that puts me on some loose soil since it would mean intervention in conflicts impossible, potentially giving tyrants a free hand to conquer half of the globe. Then again, isn't that what we're living?)