Spy Machine 16

"I was worried that they had expended all their creative energy on the intricate packaging (the liner notes are an origami dog for goodness sake), but the music hit the ground running and never let up its manic, power-punk-pop-cheer-leader energy. Chalk up another good argument for indispensable EPs (FOUR perfect songs: no filler, all killer) and add another egg to the burgeoning basket of hotness that is Guelph's music scene. What are they putting in the water there?"
- Terence Dick - Broken Pencil Magazine

"You're probably not going to want to listen to The Soap From This Soapbox... if you're not in the mood for getting up and clapping and dancing, and just being happy about music. In fact, my girlfriend likes to call Spy Machine "happy clappy music", and it's not difficult to see why. But beneath each of the songs on their debut EP, there's an abundance of energy, and it's absolutely impossible to resist that." - i (heart) music

"A joyous, bright Guelph super group (super huge), Spy Machine Sixteen is working towards a brighter future where all of us will know the joys of dancing on the collective farm. Not dancing will be considered counterrevolutionary, and all resisters will be lined up at dawn and tickled. Hasta la Victoria, Sempre!" - Pop Montreal

"[Tokyo Police Club's] tight set highlighting the well thought out jangle that is 'Lessons In Crime' certainly brought the hand out of the collective pockets of the audience. But unfortunately it didn't quite attain the energetic high set by the openers, Spy Machine 16. Here's another one to keep your eye out for. Imagine Broken Social Scene after having thrown back eight cases of Red Bull. Lots of instruments, lots of bodies on stage, and lots of passion is what you'll get at a Spy Machine 16 show. Match that with politicised lyrics and you've got another successful product of Guelph's music scene. The kids surely took to them too; the empty box that once held their EP's meant that lots of grandmother's are gonna rock out with their christmas presents this year."
- Josh Kloke - The Ontarion

"This debut from my favourite Guelph dance-punks, Spy Machine 16, is a fantastic album of unparalleled energy and spunk. Driven at a break-neck pace by frenetic keys and anxious vocals poised to express sentiments of unrest (see the previously featured I Lost My Edge Last Night), this album is an ambitious call to arms–not to mention the dancefloor. You will flail, you will dance, and you might just get a little motivated in the process." (November 16th, 2007) - Wolves, Hawks and Kites

"A self-described "pop-punk supergroup" who count a pair of guerrilla dancers among the members of their eight-person-strong live armada, Guelph’s Spy Machine 16 are like a radical cheerleading squad let loose on recess from Schoolhouse Rock! All effervescent hooks and bright, buzzy keyboards, their latest LP is a flashback to turn-of-the-millennium west coast power pop; you can hear exuberant echoes of Operation Makeout and The Salteens in Dave Hudson’s slightly froggy falsetto and loose-limbed guitar chords, bolstered by his chipper bandmates’ yelped backups. The trick here is the critical content of the Spy kids’ songs — every word they chirp is politicized, whether they’re shouting at homophobe jocks to stay out of their bedrooms or condemning environmentally destructive developments. Admittedly, the vehemently good-natured vibe of their major-key melodies can make it hard to take all of Spy Machine 16’s critiques seriously, and the writing here isn’t breaking any new ground, but the overall effect is nevertheless quite delightful." (Sarah Liss) - Eye Weekly

"I’d wanted to check out Guelph’s Spy Machine 16 for about a year but had never had the chance until Saturday night. I was very pleasantly surprised. The six-member band (supported by two hyper-enthusiastic dancers) blasted through an impressive set that combined elements of indie-pop and ’90s emo and sounded like Tokyo Police Club meets Cap’n Jazz, complete with synth solos, shout-along choruses, and intelligent, anti-imperialist lyrics. It didn’t take long for SM16 to have the scruffy-looking crowd at Savannah Room jumping up and down and flailing along to songs from their LP How Things Come Apart like "I Lost My Edge Last Night," as well as new material like "Ronald McDonald House of Bullshit." Singer/guitarist Dave Hudson also wins my award for Best Stage Moves Ever. It was impossible not to have fun at this show." (Jordan Bimm) - The Varsity

"I’ve been meaning to catch Spy Machine 16 live ever since I got a hold of their frantic and supercharged 2007 release, How Things Come Apart (a release that made my list of last years best unsung albums). It is fitting then, that their set at the Savannah Room on Saturday night was the last show I took in during Canadian Music Week. Thankfully, I couldn’t have picked a more energetic or impassioned performance to close out my harried few days of concert hopping, as these Guelph rioteers were the definition of animated.

Of course, that is not to take away from the various politically-charged messages inherent in Spy Machine 16’s tunes. In fact, singer Dave Hudson made it known that these were no mere throwaways, as he gave introductions like the following: "This song has a deep anti-imperialist sentiment…which means you should dance to it." And boy did they ever! In fact, encouraged by the band’s full time dancers, the dimly lit Savannah Room erupted into a veritable dance party throughout SM16’s frenetic and driven delivery.

All told, the band lent live credence to an already commendable album of spastic and upbeat numbers in what was arguably the most energetic performance I’d seen all week." (Paul Watson) - Wolves, Hawks and Kites

"How Things Come Apart aims to be both a call to revolution and a call to the dancefloor, and it succeeds on both counts without having to sacrifice one end to the other [...]

The ghost of Emma Goldman hangs heavily over How Things Come Apart. She was the one who said -- or, at least, has been mistakenly attributed as having said -- "If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution". Similarly, Spy Machine 16’s lyrics are probably as much polemic as poetry (if not more heavily weighted to the former), thereby adding them to the long list of bands who’ve combined politics and music.

What separates SM16 from nearly all those other politically-minded bands, however -- and what makes the misattributed Goldman quote so apt in their case -- is that they haven’t forgotten that the music shouldn’t be an afterthought if you’re trying to win converts to a global revolution. They understand that potential revolutionaries will be more inclined to listen to what they’re saying if those people are in a good mood. And, if nothing else, How Things Come Apart will put you in a good mood.

If you were to just scan the band’s lyric sheet, of course, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Songs touch on topics like racial identity, global warming, sexual confusion and Free Trade Zones, and it’s doubtful that anyone has ever been able to write about those themes without coming off as overly-earnest, preachy, affected, or some combination of the three. But Spy Machine 16 are able to avoid all those adjectives, by putting as much effort into their music as they do into their lyrics.

What it means is that songs can be enjoyed on multiple levels. "For The Jocks Who Scream From Cars", for example, has been my favourite song by the band since it appeared on their debut EP last year, what with its handclaps and shout-along chorus. Now, thanks to the lyric sheet in the liner notes, I know that it has a line like "Is your sexuality a bugaboo? / Does it make you want to scream or lie awake?", and I somehow love it even more.

The rest of the album has the same dynamic at work. "New Waterfront Properties, Fair Weather Friends" takes on global warming while being insanely catchy, "On Struggle For Changes And Hope" is epic in both its sound (with several distinct parts and a huge sounding group vocal) and scope (as it challenges both complacent pacifism and violent revolution), and "Autobiography: Some Notes On What’s Been Called ’Internalized’ Racism" manages to make fear or racial profiling sound like a disturbingly happy idea. Even when they scale things back, and just look at personal politics, they’re still able to make it sound both intense and passionate (as "I Lost My Edge Last Night" proves).

If there’s a downside to the album, it’s that it doesn’t fully capture the experience of seeing the band live. At the same time, though, it comes frighteningly close to doing that, which is more than can be said for nearly any other band you could possible name. Spy Machine 16 in concert are the most energetic, exuberant, cathartically happy band you could ever want to see, and it’s only fitting that their full-length debut is all of those things, with the added twist of sounding like it matters in the big scheme of things. Without question or doubt, How Things Come Apart is an album that deserves to be heard by as many people as possible, because its message deserves to be heard by as many people as possible, and because Spy Machine 16 deserve to be heard by as many people as possible, too." (August 21st, 2007) - i(heart)music.net

"Spy Machine 16 is a power-punk band from Guelph. All of their songs sound like they’re from the punk movement where the government isn’t welcome in your bedroom. For those who’ve heard of the band, there are two things you automatically know: 1) they are political, anti-imperialists and, 2) they will set the dance floor on fire." - Toronto Independent Music Blog