I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: TANAKH-Tanakh (2004) & Ardent Fevers (2006).

Tanakh are part of the whole Montreal subculture that I really like. Even though Jesse Poe, the founder lives and records in Virginia, somehow he got involved with the Quebeckers. They release CDs on the venerable Constellation and Alien8Records labels. They also released two CDs in relatively quick succession. The reason I didn’t give any prelude about the band as a whole is because these two discs are so different that it wouldn’t be worth it.

Tanakh. This is a two disc set. It contains 2 songs. One is about 58 minutes the other is about 28 minutes. Each song is a long (obviously) improvisational piece. There’s about ten people involved in the recording, and while there are some clear traditional instruments involved: guitar, bass, drums) there are also scores and scores of ambient noises, non ambient noises (at one point I’m pretty sure you can hear duct tape being pulled off the roll). And on and on. Whether or not this type of thing is your cup of tea will determine your tolerance for it.

The 58 minute piece starts with a two note motif that fades away and returns. It reminds me in some ways of the early 70’s Pink Floyd side-long pieces which start off as songs and then have freak outs in the middle and then return to the motif. The big difference of course is that Tanakh’s freak outs are more noise than music. The 28 minute song had less of that wild improv in the middle, and I think is the more satisfying of the two. Of course, it’s pretty hard for me to listen to a 58 minute song straight through, as my commute is only 30 minutes, so some of the momentum gets lost.

In the past, Tanakh records were a little less willful, and, as it turns out, so they are in the future.

Ardent Fevers. This record is a stunningly beautiful collection of songs. It is so radically different from the self titled album that it’s hard to believe the same people were responsible. The liner notes for this album are from a fan who says he listened to this album and this album alone for several weeks on a long trip, and I can totally see that. I had listened to it a number of times and really enjoyed it. When I re-listened to it the other day I couldn’t believe how good it all sounded. It was as if it had aged well while put away. The melodies seemed stronger, the pieces more catchy, everything about it is great.

But what does it sound like, you ask. Despite the darker nature of the songs, they exude a calming effect somehow. They contain, usually, a nice strong riff, sometimes accompanied by horns, often with a repeated and hard to ignore motif. The songs build and build, yet never reach a fury or even a major crescendo. And despite this, the songs never feel like they are unfinished. They just build in strength until they stop.

Jesse Poe’s voice is a soft, low, almost-speak. Comparisons are not too useful–although he sounds so much like one singer who I just cannot place–but perhaps, like a sweeter Tom Waits, or a less depressed Tindersticks. The overall feeling of the album is kind of dark, yet there are all of these uplifting moments (like the horns or a great surge of acoustic guitars) that lift you out of the gloom. I hate to sound so fawning about this record, and yet I think it’s a really great piece.

The only thing I don’t care for about the album, and the thing that tends to burn me out and make me not want to listen right away again, is the last song: a 9 minute epic which is primarily a dueling guitars type solo extravaganza. None of the solos are that impressive and the entire enterprise tends to drag on, especially after so many beautifully constructed songs. But, really once the record restarts, all is well once again.

[UPDATE]: I just realized who Jesse Poe sounds like: Badly Drawn Boy. In fact, there are a number of similarities between the two. The big difference is that it sounds like this Tanakh album is like a less poppy, less polished, almost “indie” version of Badly Drawn Boy. Not that BDB are sellouts or anything, but imagine an indie version of them and this is what you’ll get. Phew, glad I figured that out.

[READ: May 13, 2008] April 20, 2008.

I don’t usually read the fiction in Esquire. The previous story that I read had the gimmick of being written along the bottom of every page. I just realized that it was written by the same author as this story, which explains a lot about how I feel about this story. I wasn’t that crazy about that previous story, and this one, well, it suffers from a similar problem with the end.

But let’s start with the beginning. This story starts out with a very promising beginning. The main character suffers from Mobius, a syndrome which leaves your face in a permanently frozen state. I didn’t know this was real, and am utterly fascinated by it. Here’s more information about it if you’re curious. What a great syndrome to give a character…he is always stone faced regardless of what happens to him.

The next interesting thing is that he gets revenge on people by modifying their Wikipedia pages. It’s interesting to see him modify either in small or large doses the various entries. I’m sure there are other stories in which the Wikipedia figures, but this was my first, and since I’m fascinated by Wikipedia, I was really intrigued at its use in a story.

Given the previous Esquire story, I’m seeing a pattern here. Now that I realize it was the same author, the pattern is clearly the author and not the magazine, right? His stories seem to be about men pushed to the brink (not my favorite subject but whatever). Obviously, the narrator of this story has issues, his syndrome has led to nothing but mockery his whole life… his anger builds and, [spoiler alert] he goes on a murderous rampage and blah blah blah kills himself, blah blah blah.

Once again, it seemed like the author was in high school by the end: Oh, grr, I’m going to get my revenge on everyone. Boom, blam, shoot em up. Normally I don’t cavalierly give away the ending of the story, but when you have such a great setup and you end it like that, well, my spoiler is not the worst thing that could happen.

If you want to read it, it’s available here.

[DIGRESSION]: And for the record, I can’t STAND the cover of this issue of Esquire. Picking Jessica Simpson to update the classic cover? God, what were they thinking? I mean, check out the original over here –> She’s beautiful, the photo is enticing. It’s pretty cool. Then look again at the Simpson cover: she’s so strangely unattractive (although she’s pretty odd looking to begin with), perhaps its the vacancy in her eyes that really creeps me out. And then the “cleavage,” ugh. She just screams skanky. Maybe it’s because her talentlessness peeks through. I’m just disappointed in Esquire for putting her on the cover at all.