The Envy Corps
It Culls You
Self-Released
2011
Buy This Album
It was a long time coming - three years since their last full-length, with only one EP in between - but Iowa's The Envy Corps have finally returned with their third LP, It Culls You, available digitally now with physical releases in October.
The good news is the band has used the long hiatus to craft a worthy successor to 2008's Dwell, one of my favorite records of that year. It Culls You is generally more atmospheric, more electronic, and moodier than Dwell, but it's almost as impressive.
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Bioshock: Rapture
by John Shirley
Tor Books
432 Pages
First Published: 2011
2K Games' Bioshock is one of the strongest examples of how the medium of video games can be used to tell intriguing, meaningful stories. Creative director Ken Levine's tale of the dangers of objectivism, a self-serving philosophy outlined by the controversial and polarizing author Ayn Rand in novels such as Atlas Shrugged, in a city built under the sea is original and provocative, and deals with complex moral dilemmas seldom found in the medium.
Rapture, the undersea would-be utopia built by industrial mogul Andrew Ryan, is a fascinating place, and the game's breathtaking visuals bring it to life even in its declining state. Noted author John Shirley attempts to capture the rise and fall of Rapture in this prequel, but it doesn't entirely survive the shift in mediums.
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