I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: NADJA-Truth Becomes Death (2005).

Slow and low that is the tempo. Very few reviews of Nadja will quote the Beastie Boys, and that is probably wise. The only reason I do is because the quote is so apt. Nadja plays music that is very very very slow. And the notes are very very very low. Have you ever played a 45 RPM vinyl record (remember those) on 33 and laughed at how it sounded? Well, that’s what this record sounds like. On purpose. There are 3 songs. The first is 23 minutes, the second is 16 and the third is 11.

The sound is generally an ominous drone, punctuated occasionally by high hats. It’s weird to me that someone would have even thought to make music like this.

None of this is to say it’s bad, it is just such a unique sounding record that I’m at a loss when I think about it. Some relief from the oppressiveness comes at the end of the third song, where there are suddenly three minutes of fairly light almost acoustic sing-alongs (this is relative of course, as nothing is light with this band). But for the most part it’s a punishing listen.

I’m not sure when you would play this, but I think you wouldn’t want to be anywhere where this is the soundtrack.

I discovered this album because I was buying records from the mighty Alien 8 Records web site, and they were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale. So, I tried Nadja. It was a worthy experiment, although I’m not sure if I’ll be checking out their other records. You never know though!

[READ: January 2008] Rick Mercer Report The Book

Many years ago, when I belonged to the Plainfield (NJ) Curling Club, I discovered that I could get satellite TV beamed in from Canada. Since I was really into curling, and so many other things Canadian (Kids in the Hall, 1/2 of my favorite bands) I thought I’d see what I could discover with a satellite dish of my own. It was through this dish that I found out about Rick Mercer.

Rick Mercer is a great political comedian. He puts all American political commentators to shame (except perhaps Jon Stewart, but Mercer has access to politicians in ways that Stewart can only dream about). I’m sure that much of this difference is the way Canada is structured. There seems to be so much more openness to politicians there than in our system. While politicians do appear on the Daily Show, and some of Jon’s on air friends get to visit lower-tier politicos, on the Mercer Report, Rick goes white-water rafting with the head of the Liberal party. Rick has a sleepover at the Prime Minister’s house (24 Sussex Dr is their 1600 Pennsylvania Ave).

For reasons I can’t fathom, all of these politicians agree to hang out with Rick even though in the next segment he will rant about their incompetence.

And that’s something else that Mercer has that we don’t. His political rants are astute, funny, and brief and right on the mark. Unlike Dennis Miller, whose rants were designed more for the benefit of showing off how much he had read (and now that he has become so overtly partisan he is neither astute nor funny), Mercer seems to offend both sides by raging against incompetence. And wherever there are politicians, there is incompetence.

I long for the day when Jon Stewart can “hang out” for a few minutes with the president in some kind of silly format, show him as a real human being and then, in a later show just rail against what a buffoon he is politically. Make the political humor political, not personal. (We won’t even talk about SNL’s “political” humor, which is basically finding one flaw in a person and picking on it week after week.)

So, anyhow, this book is an encapsulation of many of Rick’s ideas, stunts, and rants over the last four years of his show. Because Mercer is a writer and a comedian, the writing is sharp and crisp and it translates very well from the screen to the page. The book was a lot of fun, and although it’s presented in something of a “dip in a read a page here or there” style, I read it front to back and never got bored. Even when i didn’t know who he was talking about (the same is true for his on-air rants when he’s talking about lesser known politicians, he’s terse and passionate and makes you think “yeah!” even if you then realize you’ve never heard of the guy he was ranting about).

I don’t think you can find the book in the States, but should you come across it, or should you buy it on amazon.ca, you’ll see what all the fuss us about. It’s also a decent introduction to the politics of Canada, from one man’s point of view, anyhow.

And, if you’ve got some time, check out Rick’s site, where you can waste away the time with some fun clips, and the photo contest.