I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SUPER FURRY ANIMALS-Hey Venus! (2007).

I’ve been a fan of Super Furry Animals for years. Their early stuff is really wacky and psychedelic Britpop (even if they are from Wales). They sang songs about hamsters and they drove around on tanks, and their B-Sides collection was package like a big rubber, well, rubber, with a reservoir tip and all!. And yet even with Gruff Rhys’ peculiar accent, the songs were catchy as all get out, and they rocked pretty hard.

Their infamy grew when they released a song at Christmas called “The Man Don’t Give a Fuck” which sampled the Steely Dan line from “Showbiz Kids” “you know they don’t give a fuck about anybody else” about 100 times as a never-ending chorus of their song. They gave Steely Dan pretty much full writing credit, so that’s not where the controversy came from. It was that the song had the word “fuck” in it like 150 times. And it went to #1. During Christmas.

Ha!

Anyhow, many albums later, the Furries had started to mellow somewhat. They had a minor disco-tinged hit with “Juxtapose with U” a few years ago. And then their 2003 album Phantom Power was a very mellow, almost folksy album (still weird and psychedelic, just folk-sounding). So, one assumed that they were following in the tradition of fellow Welshies Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and just beginning to mellow with age. But no! Hey Venus! is their most rocking album in ages. It’s a short 30 minute blast of fun and catchiness, with just enough weirdness to make people stick up their nose and say “what are you listening to?” a few minutes before they start humming along.

It starts with the great “The Gateway Song.” Lyrics: “This is a gateway song;” 43 seconds of intro into the heavenly poppiness that is “Run-Away.” SFA still know how to write catchy fast upbeat rockers! But you know that SFA have not gone completely straight laced when they have a song called “Baby Ate My Eightball” and the great, weird “Suckers!” Oh, and just check out the cover art!

I’m sure this is not for everyone, but it’s certainly worth checking it out to see if you can expand your mind a bit!

[READ: January 20, 2008] The World of Quest.

This is a cute fantasy comic intended for all ages. I’d never heard of it before Sarah got a free copy from the publisher.

This is the first book of the series, and it sets up the story of young Prince Nestor who goes out in search of Quest, the hero who can save the land of Odyssia. Quest is a large- jawed muscle-bound antihero. Quest is not interested in helping the young prince and basically tries to get him to go away. In the interim Nestor is set upon by the Katastrophe brothers, three creatures who can become a gigantic, fearsome monster.

Some back story is given about what caused the rift between Quest and Nestor’s mother, the Queen who banished Quest from Odyssia, but it is clear that more will become apparent in later issues.

The style of the drawing was really clean, and I found it satisfying to read. The story is solid, with the humor being just juvenile enough to be really funny (or perhaps smart enough for adults but with great bits of juvenalia). I’d be interested in reading the rest of the series, but I’m not sure if I’d go out of my way to look for it.

You can see excerpts from it here: www.jasontkruse.com/

The comic is also about to be made into a cartoon on the CW’s Kids WB. Or, maybe it was, and is no longer on the air. I couldn’t find much more about it.