New student band The Aesthetic opened up the Archon Coffeehouse on Wednesday night at Chums. The crowd may have been small, but those in attendance received quite a treat. The band is made up of first-years Jake Daniels (drums), Jeremy Sisselman (bass and vocals), Daniel Duffy (rhythm guitar and vocals) and Jan Hammerquist (lead guitar and vocals). The first in its set of five songs was "Post-Punk in A Minor." The minor key gave it something extra and provided a head-banging feel. The band slipped very smoothly into its second song, "Peddlers of Freedom." The song had an upbeat sound similar to that of a Phantom Planet song but a little harder.

The band's third song was called "Your Favorite Country Boy." The title is misleading, however, it was more new wave sounding, with a dash of The Ataris thrown in for good measure. This song showed how well the boys work together as a group. "The Judge," a catchy dance song, started a little off-key vocally but not for more than a few lines.

The Aesthetic's last song was a punk cover of "Holland 1945" by Neutral Milk Hotel. For some reason, the band's vocals did not carry as well as they had on the previous songs, but this did not ruin the song or set. The music of The Aesthetic was enjoyable for everyone in attendance.

The next act was the always-enjoyable Rebecca Katz '05. Katz's set included favorites such as Tracy Chapman's "Give me One Reason," Hootie and the Blowfish's "Let Her Cry," Nancy Griffith's "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go," Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorns," Semisonic's "Closing Time," and Uncle Cracker's "Drift Away." Katz's sound, as usual, was smooth, relaxing and enjoyable to listen to. Toward the end of her set, more people began to arrive, just in time to hear comedian Dan Hirshon '04 perform.

As funny as some of Hirshon's jokes were, the majority of his act wasn't well received by the audience. There was a lot of talking by new arrivals which caused some great lines to be missed. Hirshon talked about superlatives from when he was younger, saying that he "was voted most likely to stare at the best-looking girl through her window." He also talked about his life prior to college: "We made a music video of us sitting on a couch for three hours not getting laid." He got a little frustrated toward the end of his set, commenting on how no one was listening to his story about haircuts.

Next up was sketch comedy group To Be Announced. They opened with the "BEMCo Opera," which entailed splitting the room into two sides and having one side shout "we!" while the other side shouted "you!" This created a clever mimic of an ambulance siren.

TBA's first game was "Day in the Life." For this skit, group members grabbed a random person from the audience and asked him to tell them about his normal day. It involved waking up to a roommate that played computer games 24/7, showering, a lot of sleeping through classes and possibly going to the gym. The skit provided valuable lessons, such as the fact that conditioning is shampooing more than once, and if you look scrawny you should work out.

Next up was "Slide Show." Two people put themselves into weird positions while two other people reminisced about that particular experience they had together. Audience members suggested topic words for the slides such as parasailing, revolution, and feminist porn. The game had some funny moments, but it was noticeable when they were stalling a bit to try to think of something to say, slightly hindering the effect of the performance. The best memory in the slide show was the slide entitled, "Buddhist Yoga Toe-Smelling Position."

After a few more games, TBA concluded its performance with "Channels." Three TV stations were chosen from the audience -BTV, MTV and Bravo-and two members simultaneously acted out shows on the respective channels. Some of the jokes were not well-accepted by the audience, but the best line of the night came from the person was playing a Real World character for MTV: "If you are not going to clean the bathroom and be homophobic then I can't live with you anymore!" The skit ended with a loud round of applause from the audience.

By the time the last act, Spur of the Moment, graced the stage, Chums was packed full. The first song, "Hold On" by Wilson Philips, was disappointing. Since several members left the group, its sound has not been as strong or as full as it used to be. Loyal fans provided thunderous applause after all of Spur's tunes, which included "3x5" by John Mayer, "Forgiven" by Alanis Morrisette, "Objection (Tango)" by Shakira and "A Sorta Fairytale" by Tori Amos. They also performed two new songs "This Love" by Maroon 5 and "What A Feeling" by Irene Cara from Flashdance.

"Objection (Tango)" sounded very weak in the male section, but during "This Love," the lack of male vocals wasn't even noticeable. "A Sorta Fairytale" had a great arrangement as did "What A Feeling." An excellent a cappella arrangement was combined with synchronized dancing and resulted in thunderous applause. Overall, despite the loss of some strong singers, they still delivered a great performance.