Comparitive Review: AIM vs AIM

AIM
(Evil Organisation)



NEILL says:

AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) is a subversive scientific think-tank founded in secret during WWII by the demented Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker to develop cutting-edge technology and weaponry for his terrorist organisation HYDRA. In the years since its inception, A.I.M. has been at the forefront of scientific development, introducing the world to countless inventions that are now commonplace; inventions such as:

• the Super-Adaptoid, an android capable of duplicating the form and superhuman powers of another being,


• the Cosmic Cube, an unimaginably powerful object capable of restructuring reality,

...and of course, who could forget:

• MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing), an artificially mutated human being with an enormous head and a stunted body who possesses superhuman intelligence and various psionic abilities.

Despite these impressive achievements, several questions hang over the organisational efficiency and long-term 'product roadmap' that governs A.I.M. For instance, many observers ask why, if these guys can invent laser beams and flying cars and MODOKs, why on Earth don't they patent some of this shit and make with the fat cash, instead of sitting around in their crappy secret lair underneath the Hudson River or wherever waiting until Nick Fury or Captain America turn up to kick their sorry asses. One also has to question the sanity of a Human Resources policy based on the principle of making their top scientific brains run around with guns like some kind of freaky yellow stormtroopers. Staff turnover is presumably pretty high due to the twin dangers of employees either being smashed by the Hulk or simply deciding they'd be better off relocating to a lower-risk, better-benefit-plan evil organisation. Like Microsoft! A Ha ha ha! No? Sigh...

In the final analysis, A.I.M. stand as a decidedly second-rate evil organisation; they lack the edgy glamour of a C.O.B.R.A or the sheer glorious acronymical excess of a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Furthermore, their efforts in the field of downtempo instrumental Hip-hop are decidedly negligible.

4.3/10

AIM
(Recording Artist)



NEILL says:

AIM, known to his parents as Andy Turner (or 'Andy', we may suppose) has produced two classic studio albums to date; Cold Water Music and Hinterland, and is probably the single finest Hip-hop producer ever to come out of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. His music is part of the great British tradition of downtempo instrumental Hip-hop, standing in a direct line with such artists as The Herbaliser and Rae & Christian, but his work shows a vision and a potential that could conceivably yet carry him far beyond such comparisons and into a whole other weight class. Whilst complex and utterly cool, many of his tunes carry an honest emotional charge rare in this kind of electronic music; from the joyful exuberance of the Souls of Mischief collaboration No Restriction to the sleepy melancholy optimism of A Twilight Zone. His collaborations with vocalist Kate Rogers are particularly effective; Sail (on Cold Water Music) being simply one of the more beautiful things you're likely to hear in a good year.

For all that, though, it must be said: he has never invented a Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing (or 'MODOK'), and indeed it seems unlikely that he ever will.

8.5/10