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Mike Chen–We Can Be Heroes (2020)

February 24, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 3 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 20 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows in the last eight months.  Like this full week of shows from the Third Green Sprouts Music Week

Third night of the third annual Green Sprouts Music Week held at Ultrasound Showbar September 18-23 1995. Shorter mid week set though I believe the first song is missing and not sure if there were any encores. The show focused predominantly on Blue Hysteria material they were working on at the time with 8 of the 14 songs being unreleased. The show builds pretty nicely to epic song territory. The last four songs alone make up almost 1/3 of the show.This tape starts with “All the Same Eyes,” which sounds great–martin adds in some cool noisy guitar effects.

But, as seems to happen a lot for these guys, there’s technical problems.  The first song does appear to be missing because after this, Dave says something about being only two songs in.  Someone shouts “Tell me a story, Dave.” “I don’t have a story at the ready.”  “Tell us the Milli Vanilli story.”  “I don’t have a Milli Vanilli story….  And if I did I wouldn’t be at liberty to release that information.”

Martin tells everyone, “On New Years Eve we sat down and wrote four songs and if we made a whole song of any of them it would be awful.  So we put them into one song.”  “Four Little Songs” comes out perfectly.  Dave says that he’s in Neil Finn’s kitchen.  At the end of the song “And now they’re gone,” he asks, “Did you eat them?”

Introducing “Desert Island Poem” Dave talks about writing a song about cannibalism already: IOn “Oneilly’s Strange Dream” he has to eat his friend to survive.  So we have reprise the theme in this song.  Tyler from Farm Fresh adds some scratching.  Don says “I feel like we’re being attacked by one of those beam swords from Star Trek or Star Wars.  Everyone cracks up that he can’t remember light saber.

Martin says he was once hurt by a toy torpedo.  Did one of your brothers do that to you?  Martin: The mean one, the one they don’t talk about.   Gus, the hidden Tielli.

Then comes three Tim songs in a row.  In “Introducing Happiness’ Tim sings “your sister lives in … wherever the hell she is.”

Dave asks “How are the cats doing?”  Tim: “They’re a little bored.”  Dave” Bring them to the show–all kitties half price.”  But…  Is Dale [the Rooster] here tonight?  There would be a problem.

Up next are “Connecting Flights” and “An Offer.”

Martin follows up with “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine” which has some outstanding drumming in the chorus.

Dave plays “My First Rock Concert” and I noticed that instead of “Paul Weller was Christ” he says he’s seen “The Special Beat thrice.”

They’re going to take a little break (it’s pretty early for that, frankly) and then they come back for “California Dreamline.”  Martin had no monitor and couldn’t hear anything–“I sang it deaf.”  Don: “That was def man.”

It’s weird how many people are talking but then how many people are excited to hear it.

A gorgeous “Northern Wish” segues into “Saskatchewan” which has a cool buzzing sound that goes from one ear to the other.  Was that on purpose?

Throughout the week, there is some concern in the audience about people standing up.  I guess this is a seated venue, maybe with tables?  Before they start “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson,” Dave says, “you can stand up now.”  As they start the song, Dave starts singing Bowie’s “Fashion” (turn to the left).  Then he starts singing a refrain that pops up a lot this week and I cant figure out what it’s from

It’s tuesday night in the discotheque / I can’t dance what the heck / I’m an Uzbek.

Farm Fresh gets the Michael Shout out and Tyler does a scratching solo.  There’s a fantastic vocal ending from Martin and Tim.

They follow this with “When Winter Comes, with a stomping honky tonk guitar before the main riff comes in.  Someone else is sings the “blue Canadian winter” part.

Dave says they’re going to do a couple more, but the tape only has one more–a really good version of “Fat.”

[READ: February 20, 2021] We Can Be Heroes

S. brought this book home and after describing the premise I wanted to give it a read.  I’d never read Mike Chen before.  Apparently his books are typically a lot darker than this one.  So I’m glad I read this as I don’t think I’d like the darker ones.

This one comes from an amusing premise.  It also comes from a short story that he wrote that had a similar premise but when in a different direction.  In that story (called “Anonymous,” from Storyteller Vol. 1 No. 3 which I can’t find anywhere) two superheroes meet in A.A.  The premise of the novel is similar–two superheroes meet in a memory loss group.  But it’s that memory loss that really changes the direction of the story.

The book opens on Jamie Sorensen–a villain. He is the Mind Robber and he is robbing a bank.  He is able to look into people’s minds and flick through their memories like pictures on a phone (I liked that detail).  He can read them or erase them or just stun people’s memories with a flick of his finger.  He doesn’t want to hurt anyone in the bank, but people are afraid that he is going to wipe out their entire memory.  He just wants to get a ton of money so he can go to the tropics and hide out for the rest of his life–not an ambitious villain, really.  Plus he had heard that banks are insured so as long as he doesn’t take too much at a time, no one really gets hurt. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Music, Death, Farm Fresh, Mike Chen, Mind Robber, Rheostatics, Storyteller, Superheroes, Supernatural, Throwing Star, Violence | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Felix Mertikat–Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down (2018)

February 23, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 2 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 19 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows including this entire week from 1995.

Second night of the third annual Green Sprouts Music Week held at Ultrasound Showbar September 18-23 1995. This show is much tighter than the first night. Of note this is the third show that Martin played his double neck guitar (the second being the night before). First live performance of Feed Yourself, An Offer and My First Rock Concert. I believe this is the first time Stolen Car made a live appearance as a verse in the middle of Dope Fiends and Boozehounds. Also Farm Fresh from Brandon Manitoba opened all the shows this week and guested on an amazing version of Fat which had also only been played live a couple times.

“Digital Beach” is a quiet opening and I’m glad the crowd are pretty respectful  It segues into “Earth with its “Monstrous Hummingbird” crashing end and a pretty guitar trilling at end the song.

“Aliens” has a middle slow down part which is pretty unusual–the music cuts back to a simple groove.

Dave notes that “the one wearing the Green Sprouts jersey is the first to start the mosh pit.  Then he addresses Dale the Rooster.  More about Dale later in the week.  But Dave says they don’t allow chickens in the mosh pit.  Dale the rooster has seen five shows.

A swinging “All the Same Eyes” is followed by “Four Little Songs.”  They coordinate ahead of time but they get the countdown perfect.  After the “can’t go wrong” but Dave prepares us for the next verse with a scary “UNLESS!”  And in what would be a weeklong thing Dave starts picking a different Neil whose kitchen he was in.  Tonight it’s Neal Schon’s kitchen.

At the end of the song Tim says “We got the 1234 right–nothing can be harder than that.”

Dave: This is the second night of our residency.  Of the third Green Sprouts week.  There’s an all ages matinee saturday at 6.  Three years old? We’ve had younger than 3.  We birthed a baby onstage at last GSMW and they named it Green Sprouts Music Week.

MT: [“Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine”] is a song I wrote the chorus to [not true, so I must have misheard].  He messes up the chord, which leads to a “Capo Problems” reprise this time with an avant garde solo by Dave.  He wonders, was the person who invented the capo named Capo?  Don: Victor Capo.  MT corrects: this is a song I stole from Mrs. Torrance.

Mrs. Torrance is here every Tuesday in September.  And Farm Fresh drove all the way from Brandon, Manitoba.  They play dope shit or is it shit dope?

“Fan Letter” gives another shout out to Farm Fresh instead of Michael Jackson.  Dave says “we just re-recorded that song and are selling it on white vinyl.  Two sides of the record have music–quite an idea.  Side 1 is the Springfield Duff mix and side two is the Shelbyville Fudd mix.

Up next is a song about Etobicoke: “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” gets a big reaction, then Don throws ina drums solo and the song segues into “Stolen Car” (sung by Dave!).

Don tells a story about the first time he tried to smoke a joint.  It was in Etobicoke at a condominium complex on Islington and Dixon called Fortuna 2000  MT: He once saw a girl going in there with Simon Le Bon.  Don: That’s who I was with!

Up next is “Desert Island Poem” or “Drumheller” (name undecided as of yet) a “happy song about cannibalism.”

Dave says tonight’s show is better than last night–suckers who paid last night got a bad show.

It’s the first time they’re playing “An Offer,” in which Tim sings in a major falsetto, they play a rocking “Feed Yourself.”  This is the first time they’re playing it as well and Dave is still tinkering with the words, instead of “sucking his thumb,” he sings “fucking his mom” (!).  The end is chaos.  Tim says we’ve haven’t even done it yet and we’re trying to change it.

Dave: We’ll play a few old ones now–sweatin’ to the oldies tonight.

Dave asks about Martin’s double neck guitar.  Martin: I’m getting used to its weight.  Dave: I’m a little afraid that you’re gonna be buff like Thor.  Tim: It’s only the third show you’ve used it in, and you brought it out and it didn’t get a laugh.  It got a laugh the night before because Tyler was there–everything is funny when Tyler Stewart (from Barenaked Lades) is there.

A solid “Northern Wish” (Martin forgets a line but it’s fine) is followed by a really funky “Soul Glue” in which Dave plays a great scratching sound for “Dragged the bottom of the lake.”

Drum roll ladies and gentlemen for “My First Rock Concert” (the first time Dave played it live).  Some of it is different–the Joe Jackson part is more improv sounding.  Martin: that’s a song we’re just gonna learn on stage.

Dave says he tried to fit in a verse about Tim passing out at a Devo concert.  Tim: in the early 80s when everyone was wearing those big heavy winter overcoats. Tim wore it to Massey Hall.   Devo were marching on treadmills and it freaked him out and he passed out and thought he was going to hell.

A delightful “Introducing Happiness” is followed by “Fat.”  They call Farm Fresh up to rap.  They say that really nice people come to see the Rheostatics because people actually listen to the music.  Tim: I heard 18 Farm Fresh tapes were sold last night is that true?

Farm Fresh do a freestyle over an awesome intro jam (there’s lots and lots of “shit” and “fuck” in it).  Although the refrain of “when I say ‘What do you think of Farm Fresh’ you say ‘they suck'” will appear throughout the week.  “Fat” sounds great with a lengthy jam at the end and some more freestyling that you can’t really hear.

They end the set with a combo of “Legal Age Life at Variety Store” and “Bread Meat Peas and Rice.”

Tim: I know it’s time for us to go because the bartender has put on Conan O’Brien.  Dave: We have commemorative T-shirts for sale, as well as pamphlets and biscuits and bowling shoes–we got all kinds of stuff.

They end the night with a two part–“The Royal Albert” and “Record Body Count” which get a huge reaction.  This is a really solid set and a great sounding recording.

[READ: February 10, 2021] Tsukuyumi

I found this book at work and thought it looked really interesting.

Then I saw that it was all in German.  But when I flipped through it, it didn’t seem like there was all that much dialogue.  So I thought I’d translate it for myself.  This took longer than I anticipated it would and no doubt I missed a lot, but it was still fun.

It turns out that this book was created to go along with a board game of the same name.  This book came with certain pledge levels.  There was an English version that came with a lesser level.  but i’m not sure if it’s the same story.

Felix Mertikat did all of the drawings in the book and there is a different author for each story.  All of the stories seem to be setting up something bigger, like this is the first intro part to a much larger saga.

The general idea: Man lives in fear all the time–fear that his creators could destroy him just as easily as they once created him. Continue Reading »

Posted in Andre Wiesler, Andrea Bottlinger, Bernd Perplies, Bernhard Hennen, Cyborgs, Death, Dragons, End of the World, Farm Fresh, Felix Mertikat, Mrs. Torrance, Tsukuyumi, Verena Klinke, Violence | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Scott Westerfeld–Leviathan (2009)

February 22, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-3rd Annual Green Sprouts Music Week Night 1 (Ultrasound Showbar, Toronto Ontario September 18 1995).

It has been a while since I’ve listened to a live Rheostatics show.  Darrin at Rheostatics Live has added a number of new shows in the last eight months.  Like this full week of shows from the Third Green Sprouts Music Week.

He writes:

Rheos had just come off of the 2nd Another Roadside Attraction tour with The Tragically Hip in July. The band would perform their Group Of 7 commission in Ottawa a month later and during this run were working on material for what would become The Blue Hysteria album. Some of the working titles are listed (Crescent II, Two Flights) as well as Drumheller which would end up as “Desert Island Poem” on Dave’s first Bidiniband album The Land Is Wild.

I don’t regret missing many shows that I’ve missed, but I do very much wish that i had been able to go to a few nights of a Green Sprouts Music Week.  Seeing them in a small club with them chatting away and experimenting seems like it would have been a wonderful experience.

As the tape starts on this first night, someone asks

“Are we going to play that song tonight?”
“What song?”
“The $1.79 song.”
“Of course it wouldn’t be a Green Sprouts…”

Never find out what that is.  But then Dave tells the audience

The plan is over the next 7 days to pay every song we know and even songs don’t know.  He says that it’s Roger the sound man’s first Green Sprouts week and he hasn’t caught Green Sprouts fever yet.  This is also Don Kerr’s first green sprouts, too.

We’ll lay a couple old ones to start.  Someone shouts “YAY!”  Dave: “Hey you haven’t even heard the new ones yet.”

They start with “Me & Stupid” which features the spoken part of the poem “Wilderness Gothic” by Al Purdy:  “Something is about to happen two shores away a man hammering the sky”

Dave: “The great thing about green sprouts is you forget different stuff each night.”

Up next is “another Southern Ontario song” “Fish Tailin’.”

Then Martin unveils his new (as yet unpainted double neck) guitar: “overcompensating for the lack of headstock for the last 6 years.  Now he’s got a guitar with two big ones.”

Tim gets the first new song with “All the Same Eyes,” a song that doesn’t change much between now and the record.

In what will be a theme for the week, they have a really hard time coordinating the opening countdown for “Four Little Songs.”  They have to start it three times.  And they mess up the 4321 at the end.  Martin’s verse seems different.

Kevin Hearn joins them for the next song.  Dave says they stole some part of “Four Little Songs” from [Kev’s “on patrol?  Cabs On patrol?   No idea].

Kevin plays on “Fan Letter” and in they chant “Farm Fresh” instead of Michael.

Over the course of the week we’ll get more details about the creation of “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine.”  Onm this first night, Martin forgets the second verse.

Dave says that Neil Peart said that he preferred playing smaller places (meaning arenas) because he could hear himself (he preferred arenas to open air venues).  But in arenas there’s big speakers but it sounds small.  But it’s snugsville in here, boy.

It’s been a long time since we did this song (“Palomar”), which gets a good response.  After which “it’s the fall but we can still play summer music” (“Introducing Happiness”).

Dave says he saw Asleep at the Wheel and the last song everyone did a solo.  Then the lead singer had a guitar shaped like Texas, but instead of his solo, he picked up three balls by his feet and did some juggling. The last one he threw up in the air and it landed on the brim of his cowboy hat.  They’re working on that for later in the week.

They start the new “Connecting Flights” but can’t find a capo.  They do an improv “capo shortage,” a goofy bit a fun.  Up next is the new “Desert Island Poem,” which sounds great.

Then comes the popular section.  A rocking “California Dreamline” which segues into a lovely “Song of Flight” and right into “Fat.”

They haven’t played “Queer” in a while (which is a surprise).  As they start Dave says, “now there’s a little matter of the words.”  Someone recites them for him.

Dave is going to play “My First Rock Concert” every night this week and the and are kind of learning it on the fly.  In the middle of the song, some words are different.

Dave: “I sense something funky coming on (start of “Soul Glue”).

The last song before “our first encore” is a rocking version of Jane Siberry’s “One More Colour.”  I love their version.

Heading into the encore break Don says, “We just played 18 songs without a pee break.”

That reminds him of a gig they played in Pennsylvania: drinks were free until the first person has to pee.  It was a real classy establishment.  The most boring place on earth–Harrisburg, PA.  It’s a great place if you have a huge bladder.

Martin says “My assessment of tonight is that it started out very vague and hazy, like we haven’t played in six months or like we’re getting back together after a year breakup.  But it gelled together in the last three or four songs.”

Martin tries to remember the new song “A Midwinter Night’s Dream.”  He doesn’t go for the high note in the middle of the song–choosing a lower growl instead.  It works pretty well, but I love the high note.

Dave jokes: You don’t know what it was like touring in Platinum Blonde town after town having to play the hits with the drummer under the stage playing the parts for the fake drummer on the stage.

A delicate “Take Me in Your Hand” is followed by Don Kerr’s first time playing “Northern Wish.”  Martin gets the first line but missed the rest of the verse and starts the song again.

The first night ends with a ripping “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds.”  There’s a drum solo for Don and then martin ends the song with interesting guitar effects.

It’s a good start to a great week.

[READ: February 20, 2021] Leviathan

I signed C. up for a YA program at the library.  His subject was steampunk and they chose this book for him.  S. had read this series and loved it, so I decided to give it a read while it was still in the house.  I found it to be a fast and fun read.

The story is set in 1914, the dawn of World War I. But it’s an alternate reality–one where zeppelins and other hydrogen-based flying machines dominate the air  It also has a very cool component of animal/machine hybrids that are really quite impossible to explain except to say that the Leviathan is a living airship that is made out of whale–they are in side of a whale–but it’s also a machine.  Or something.  Best not to think too much about that.

It’s here that I should mention the drawings by Keith Thompson. They are wonderful pencil-looking drawings–dark but detailed.  They really help to get the visuals down of thes extradoridfanly machiens tah Westerfeld has createa.  I’m not always certain that I could picture the without the drawings.

The book opens on teenaged Prince Aleksander, the heir to the Austrian throne.  While he is playing with toy soldiers, imagining a war, two of his servants enter the room and tell him they are off to do some training in the dark–his father’s orders.

The machine that Aleks is being taken to is a Cyklop Stormwalker.  This is a giant machine that walks on two legs (Star Wars, yes). Alek has never piloted something this large before, but they tell him it’s important for his training. But Alek senses something is wrong and that’s when they tell him this is not a drill.  His parents, the King and Queen of Austria, were killed that very night. He is probably another target and they are trying to keep him safe. Continue Reading »

Posted in Al Purdy, Alternate Reality, Animals, Death, Jane Siberry, Keith Thompson, Platinum Blonde, Rheostatics, Scott Westerfeld, Sexism, Steampunk, Supernatural, Superstitions, Surreal, Technology, Teenagers, Trilogy, Violence, World War I, YA Books | Tagged | Leave a Comment »

Gene Luen Yang–Dragon Hoops (2020)

February 21, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: BITCH FALCON-Staring at Clocks (2020).

Everyone can agree that Bitch Falcon is a terrible name.  Just awful.

Having said that, this album is pretty great.  Drummer Nigel Kenny was interviewed in the Irish Drummers book, and that book continues to introduce me to bands that I like.

Bitch Falcon is a trio who have been together for five years.  They released their debut album Staring at Clocks in 2020.

Their sound touches on grunge and shoegaze, which I rather like, but they move beyond that and  explore really interesting sounds from Lizzie Fitzpatrick’s voice and guitar.  Her guitar shimmers and wobbles and she is excellent at sculpting feedback into sounds that veer into harshness.  Her voice is strong and powerful, hitting and holding notes that ring out.  But also singing in otherworldly styles like almost wordless sound effects.

The album is held together by bassist Barry O’Sullivan’s prominent position–playing the main lines and basic rhythms of most songs and by Nigel Kenny’s not traditional almost lead drumming.

The album opens with a squealing feedback followed by a rumbling bass and some solid thumping.  And it continues in this vein for some 40 minutes.  There’s diversity in the songs–some are softer and some are dreamy–but the overall sound is consistent.  Throughout the album, there are gorgeous  washes of guitars and wicked feedback.

I love the thumping bass and drum and the ringing guitar and voice in “How Did I Know?”  “Staring at Clocks” opens with guitar sounds that are so unguitarlike, it’s wild.  The fast drums and bass propel the otherwise ethereal song along.  The guitar sounds at the end of the song are like out of a sci-fi movie.

The opening bass sound of “Damp Breath” is great and when they throw in the cool guitar rolls over the top it sounds tremendous. I love the lead bass line of “Martyr” while the guitar lays down intricate passages.  And the final song, “Harvester” is 6 minutes long with the final two allowing the guitars to roar until the album crashes to a conclusion.

This album was a great surprise.  I would love to see them live.

[READ: February 1, 2021] Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang’s books are always fantastic.  He has such an excellent way with storytelling, that no matter what his books are about you know they’re going to pull you in.  Even if they’re about basketball!  Even high school basketball.

Mr Yang opens the book explaining that he never like sports–he was never interested. He got his excitement from comic books, He teaches at Bishop O’Dowd High School (in California) and has been there for seventeen years (Do his kids know that he’s an amazing cartoonist?  I assume so).  In all that time he never thought much about the school’s basketball team, but in this year 2014-2015, there was talk that their team would go all the way.  It was a big story, and Yang loves stories.

In order to see if this would work as a book, it meant talking to Coach Lou Richie.  They have obviously talked over the years, but not very much.  So Yang takes the first step (a wonderful recurring theme in the book) and approaches Lou.  They talk and Yang has an idea for his next book.

We go back through Coach Lou’s life.  He was a young nerd just like Gene.  He was short and skinny.  But when he went to a Bishop O’Dowd game at the Oakland Coliseum, Lou knew he wanted to do that one day.  So he worked out and grew some and by his junior year he was only 5’8″ (like me) but he was  a formidable player.  Lou’s team made it to the Coliseum that year (some kind of State playoffs) and, cliche of all cliches, he scored the game-winning basket.  But, cliche of all other cliches it was called a no basket because of a penalty. It was one of the most controversial calls in a high school game and obviously Lou never forgot it.  (Despite the cliches that’s all true).

Lou became head coach at O’Dowd, and since he came back his teams have been to state five times, but have never won.

But this year he has two secret weapons: Ivan Rabb and Paris Austin.

Imagine being a high school kid, being great at basketball and then having Mr Yang draw you in his book?  Wow. Continue Reading »

Posted in Basketball, Bitch Falcon, First Second :01, Gene Luen Yang, Georgeann Wells, Graphic Novel, Harlem Globetrotters, Joe Naismith, Racism, Senda Berenson, Set at School, Sexism, Superman | Leave a Comment »

Ben Costa & James Parks–Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo: The Road to Epoli [Book 1] (2017)

February 20, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: WALKING ON CARS-Colours (2019).

Walking on Cars drummer Evan Hadnett cited some pretty heavy bands as influences in the Irish Drummers book.  But also noted how important Irish trad music was to Irish drummers.  None of the songs on this album are as heavy or fast as anyone he talked about, but you can hear the anthemic power of those bands.

I hadn’t heard of Walking on Cars and I’m kind of surprised by that because they seems like they could have been really big.  They just called it quits after releasing the 2020 EP Clouds.

But Colours pushes every button for anthemic angst pop.  I’m hearing Imagine Dragons, The Head and the Heart, Of Monsters and Men.  and that’s just in the first song, “Monster.”  A huge chorus and dramatic vocal chops are only the beginning.  “Waiting on the Corner” has some processed “oohs” that could be an immediate hook.

Most of the songs are filled with intense angst–Patrick Sheehy’s voice is gravelly and passionate–“she’s in love with somebody else–someone who won’t let her down” (“Somebody else”) and “I was looking for a friend / And it all came to an end / But I survived, yeah I survived” (“Coldest Water”).  His voice is also prominent in the mix “yeah it as better when we were kids” (“When We Were Kids”), where he also throws in some angsty falsetto.

“Two Straight Lines” plays simple guitar lines off of electronic washes and “Too Emotional” is even poppier than the other songs.  “One Last Dance” features co-lead vocals with pianist Sorcha Durham (I’m surprised there weren’t more prominent female vocals on other songs).  Paul Flannery rounds out the band on bass and vocals.  The final song “Pieces of You” ends the album with a big piano ballad.

The big surprise to me about thee songs is that they’re all pretty short.  The longest tracks on the record are just over three and a half minutes and the whole album is just over half an hour.  It seems like an album full of over the top anthemic bangers might stretch out and maybe overstay its welcome.  But this record is efficient.

It seems like the band is ending their career on a high note. They’d been together for ten years and played around the world (although never the U.S. it seems).  I imagine if they’d gotten this album in the right hands they could have definitely opened for one of those earlier mentioned bands here.

[READ: February 15, 2021] Rickety Stitch and the Gelatinous Goo

I saw this series at the library and thought it looked promising–I rather liked the cover art work.

So I was quite surprised to open it and find it in black and white.

A skeleton seems to have come to life and is walking with a mass of other skeletons through the woods.  They all seem to know their destination but our skeleton does not.  Then a song begins and sings of his plight.  It tells of the Road to Epoli.

Then the book switches to color and Rickety Stitch is seen sleeping on a rack. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ben Costa, Children's Books, Graphic Novel, Imagine Dragons, James Parks, Of Monsters and Men, Ogres, Supernatural, Surreal, The Head and the Heart, Unfinished series, Unicorns, Walking on Cars | Leave a Comment »

Greg Pak, Valeria Favoccia–Stranger Things: Zombie Boys (2020)

February 19, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: PILLOW QUEENS-“Liffey” (Live on the Late Late Show, January 13, 2021).

I learned about Pillow Queens from the book about Irish Drummers.  Rachel Lyons, Pillow Queens’ drummer is interviewed for the book and I thought their band sounded interesting.

I had no idea how good this band would be.  They have released a few EPs and a number of one-off songs on bandcamp.  They released their debut album in September.  To celebrate, the band made their American TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden performing “Liffey.”

The band has two leads ingers and all four members sing backing vocals.  As this song opens, Pamela Connolly sings an opening verses while everyone else sings harmony and counterpoint until everything comes crashing in–drums, guitars and bass.  (That’s Sarah Corcoran on bass and Cathy McGuinness playing lead guitar).

There are some cool parts in this song.  The bridge has as series of two note punches, while the verses are supported by soaring single guitar notes.  Lyons’ drumming is a real high point.  There’s martial beats and lots of floor tom (in the video you can see that she’s using mallets all the way though).  Noting her sounds expected and yet it all works together really nicely.

The roaring buzzsaw guitar that ends the song is just perfect.

I’m looking forward to listening to the whole album.

[READ: February 10, 2021] Stranger Things: Zombie Boys 

I get to see all kinds of unexpected things at work–books from other countries, books graphic novels in other languages, even popular novels.  One thing I never expected to see was a Stranger Things graphic novel.  In part because I didn’t know there were any.

But here one is.

This book is set right after Will is rescued from the Upside Down.  He’s been drawing pictures of their adventure.

But at school kids are calling him zombie boy.  Which is no fun.

The only bright spot is AV Club.  But even that’s no fun lately because the boys are all behind in school (what with fighting the forces of evil) and their AV advisor is making them do school work.

Until a new kids comes into the picture.  Joey Kim has just moved to town from San Diego.  His mom works for Sony and he has a brand new betamax film camera.

Their AV advisor says that he’ll see if they can make a movie for extra credit.  But what movie will they make?

That’s when Joey pulls out a drawing that Will made (it fell out of his bag).  The boys love the drawing and think it will make for an awesome zombie movie.

Will’s mom isn’t too keen on him drawing scary pictures–she even takes him to the doctor.  (The doctor is affiliated with the bad guys, but that doesn’t have an bearing on this story).  So Will changes the drawings into zombie joke pictures–it’s a pleasure to eat you, etc..  But the guys are having none of it. And Joey Kim says that it’s horror or nothing.

So they play with make up effects (kielbasa for eaten flesh!) and draw on some of their darker moments (of which they have many) to pull out some acting chops.

Lucas has an important demand though–the black guy always dies in horror movies and he wants Joey to know that this black guy is not going to die.

The book is pretty short and aside from a few of the bullies there’s nothing too dramatic in it–except for a moment when Will goes too deep into a dark place.  But the story line is cool and it feels like a setup for more to come.

I have no idea if Joey Kim is coming in the new season or if he is comics only, but he’s a fun addition for this story line.

Posted in Graphic Novel, Greg Pak, Horror, Pillow Queens, Set at School, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Valeria Favoccia, Violence, YA Books, Yuck!, Zombies | Leave a Comment »

Swans / Anna Von Hausswolff (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 18, 2021) [rescheduled date CANCELLED]

February 18, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: February 18, 2021] Swans / Anna Von Hausswolff [rescheduled from June 25, 2020]

indexAs it looks like the COVID pandemic will continue into 2021, bands have already begun cancelling their shows/tours in the early parts of the year.  Swans were very proactive back in the summer when the virus hit and they are being very proactive again, cancelling the tour in October 2020. 

On October 7, the band posted this:

Due to the pandemic and the uncertainty and health risks it engenders all Swans tours and shows are cancelled. If you’ve purchased tickets please contact your local venue or the place where you purchased your ticket(s) for a refund – Michael Gira

In the comments section, Gira assured us it was not the end of Swans, though. Continue Reading »

Posted in Anna von Hausswolff, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Swans, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Breena Bard–Trespassers (2020)

February 18, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: THUMPER-Out of Body Auto-Message (2019).

THUMPER was mentioned in the Irish Drummers book.  They actually have TWO drummers, (Stephen D’arcy is in the book).

I hadn’t heard of them (They are reasonably new).  This EP collects their first few singles and adds a couple of other tracks.

The rest of the band is: oisin leahy furlong – vocals & guitar; alan dooley – guitar & backing vocals; brendan mcglynn – guitar & backing vocals; joey gavin – bass; stevie d’arcy – drums; shane holly – drums.

“(You’re Bringing Me) Down” opens the set with a rocking fast chords.  It’s a catchy melody with a simple but effective guitar riff on top.  Clean vocals lead to a catchy chorus with a rumbling bass and roaring guitars. I love that at 90 seconds the song changes sonically to as a glitchy guitar playing the chords before returning back to the fast rumbling joy of the verse.  The song more or less finishes after 3 and a half minutes, but the full version of the song tacks on a three minute jam to the end.

“AFL” pummels along in a similar vein–fast catchy fuzzy rock with lots of feedback.  Even though the song is pretty much nonstop, they do put in some interesting musical dynamics to mix it up.

“In My Room” is quieter and less fuzzy, although it opens with a squall of noise.  It does still have a fast and bouncy chorus.  “Half Light” is a woozy acoustic song with a woozy filter on the whole thing.  The guitar solo is feedbacky and almost out of tune. And it ends with a wall of noise.

The final song is ten minutes long. “3AM & Restless” takes off right from the get go. It’s relentless song with a lot of sounds going on (spoken conversations, screaming or feedback or something).  But after two and a half minutes the song slows down and stretches out.  Big chords ring out while a spoken conversation or something seems to be going on underneath them.  the end of the song stretches into a slow noisy jam of scratches and synth sounds, kinda like they had the tape rolling and just keep messing around with their gear until it ran out.

The ending is a little uninspired, but the rest o the EP is fantastic and I look forward to more from them.

[READ: February 15, 2021] Trespassers

This is the story of Gabby Woods and her family.  They are headed up to their vacation house on the lake.  It’s an annual trip that they all enjoy very much.

Gabby’s older sister, Morgan, is sort of out of the picture (she’d too old to hang with Gabby and their younger brother Simon), but she’s nice enough.  Gabby’s parents are kind and funny, but they have just learned that Gabby’s dad is going to have to take a new job in a different state.  This might be their last time visiting their lake house.

Gabby is a bookworm which Simon finds very boring.  He hates that Gabby wastes her time reading when there’s so much to do at the lake.  Gabby does put her book down from time to time, but really, a vacation is about resting.

When they arrive they see their neighbor Gene. Gene is an older man who has lived in his house for decades. He is a nice guy and he looks forward to the Woods’ family’s arrival.

As the Woods canoe around the lake, they approach Gabby’s favorite building–a beautiful architectural marvel with a gorgeous view of the lake.  It was built by Walter Goldworth, a Chicago architect who married a model, Angela.  He built this place for her. They were very happy until they both disappeared and have not been seen since.  The house has been vacant for decades. Continue Reading »

Posted in Breena Bard, Children's Books, Graphic Novel, Lakes, Murder, Mystery, THUMPER, Vacation | Leave a Comment »

Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Gregory Toner–A History of Ireland in 100 Words (2019)

February 17, 2021 by Paul Debraski

 SOUNDTRACK: THE REDNECK MANIFESTO-The How (2018).

Despite a terrible name that would keep me away from wanting to see them, The Redneck Manifesto are a very interesting and complicated band.  I discovered them through the book of Irish drummers.  TRM drummer Mervyn Craig is in the book.

The How is the band’s fifth album (and first in eight years).  The album is chock full of instrumentals that touch all genres of music.

There are jazzy elements, dancey elements and rock elements.  There are solos (but never long solos) and jamming sections.  Most of the songs are around 4 minutes long with a couple running a little longer.

“Djin Chin” has jangly chords and quiet riffs that switch to a muted melody.  All the while the bass is loping around.  It shifts tempos three times in the first two minutes.  Around three minutes the bass takes over the lead instrument pushing the song along with deep notes.

“The Rainbow Men” has a circular kind of riff with swirling effects that launch the song during the musical pauses.  After a minute and a half it drastically shifts direction and the adds in a cool solo.

“Sip Don’t Gulp” starts with a catchy bouncy guitar riff and bass lines.  At two minutes it too shifts gears to a staggered riff that sounds great.

“Kobo” is the shortest song and seems to tell a melodic story.  The two guitars play short, fast rhythms as call and response while the bass rumbles along.

“Head Full of Gold” is over 6 minutes with a thumping bass, rumbling drums and soft synths.  “No One” is nearly 7 minutes and feels conventionally catchy until you try to keep up with the beats.  After a middle series of washes from various instruments, the back half is a synthy almost dancey rhythm.

“Sweep” is a pretty song until the half-way mark when it just takes off in a fury of fast drumming and complex chords.  The end builds in upward riding notes until it hits a calming ending

“We Pigment” is a poppy staccato dancey number.  The second half turns martial with a series of four beat drum patterns and a soaring guitar solo.  More staccato runs through to the end.  “The Underneath Sun” also has a lot of staccato–fast guitar notes interspersed with bigger chords.  The end of the song is just littered with sweeping guitar slides until the thumping conclusion.

This album is great and I’m looking forward to exploring their other releases.

[READ: January 10, 2021] A History of Ireland in 100 Words

This book looks at old Irish words–how they’ve evolved and how they show the way Irish history came about.  The authors say:

our store of words says something fundamental about us and how we think.  This book is meant to provide insights into moments of life that may be otherwise absent from history books.  The focus is on Gaelic Ireland throughout as Gaelic was the native language of the majority of the inhabitants of the island for the last 2000 years. It yielded its primacy to English only in the last 150 years.

We selected words with the aim of illustrating each of our themes as broadly as possible.  We wanted the words in all their richness to tell their story … like how the word that originally meant noble came to mean cheaper (saor).

Almost all of the entries reference The cattle raid of Cooley (The Ulster Cycle) which features the hero Cú Chulainn.  This story is at the heart of most of historical Ireland and it’s pretty fascinating how many of these Gaelic words either originate with that story or get their foundation from the story.

There’s a general pronunciation guide although I wish each word had a phonetic guide because anyone who speaks English will look at Irish a if it is just a jumble of nonsensical consonants.

The book is broken down into sections, although the authors insist that there is no correct way to read the book.

  • Writing and Literature
  • Technology and Science
  • Food and Feasting
  • The Body
  • Social Circles
  • Other Worlds
  • War and Politics
  • A Sense of Place
  • Coming and Going
  • Health and Happiness
  • Trade and Status
  • Entertainment and Sport
  • The Last Word

There are also delightfully weird wood carving-like drawings from by Joe McLaren scattered throughout the book.

The words are listed below with either a definition or an interesting anecdote included. Continue Reading »

Posted in Accents, Adventure, Airlines, Animals, Curses, Death, Demons, Dictionary, Dip-in Books, Disease, Drinking, Fables, Fairies, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Farming, Festivals, Food, Gaeilge, Gods, Gregory Toner, History, Hurling, Ireland, Irish Writer, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joe McLaren, Language, Law, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Monsters, Morality, Myths, Poetry, Poets, Politicians, Pranks, Sharon Arbuthnot, Sports, Superstitions, Taxes, Turkeys, Violence, War | Leave a Comment »

Holy Fuck (Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, February 16, 2021) [rescheduled date CANCELLED]

February 16, 2021 by Paul Debraski

[CANCELLED: February 16, 2021] Holy Fuck (rescheduled from June 10, 2020]

indexNot only did Holy Fuck cancel this tour, Boot & Saddle closed its doors.   Mega cancelled.

~~~

After seeing that this show was postponed, it gave me an opportunity to explore their music. I was now looking forward to seeing them in the new year.  Well, I guess February is still too soon to plan anything, so this tour has also been cancelled.

Holy Fuck have a great name that pretty much guarantees they won’t get much in the way of airplay or advertising.

Of course their music isn’t super commercial either–although it can be quite catchy (and has been used in a bunch of soundtracks).  They play an electronic dance music but in a decidedly old-school fashion.  They don’t use laptops at all, employing all manner of old school equipment. Continue Reading »

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Holy Fuck, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine | Leave a Comment »

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