I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ALEXISONFIRE-Crisis (2006).

I was watching the Juno Awards one night and saw that Alexisonfire were going to be on. I’ve been curious about them for awhile, and was thrilled. And, wow, what an impact. First off, I’m very surprised that a band that is this aggressive would be on the Juno Awards (but the Junos are far more interesting than the Grammies). However, when the song “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” started, and the lead singer was growling away, I just wasn’t that interested…it was a bit too death metal/hardcore. But then Dallas Green sang these beautiful counterpoint vocals, and I stopped what i was doing and took notice. The rest of the song bounced back and forth between hardcore noise and melodic harmonies. And it was amazing.

I’ve heard a lot of bands mix styles, some successfully and some disastrously, but this mix of aggression and beauty is really something. I’ve listened to this album a bunch of times now, and I’m still not sure that I really like the growly vocals of George Petit, but I think without them, the harmonies of Green wouldn’t sound quite so good.

So what you get is some complicated songs that lurch between a trashy hardcore feel and a more streamlined poppiness. The two sides play off each other so well, it makes the whole collection shine. There’s a 3rd vocalist who pops in once in a while and he adds a nice flavor to the mix although I’d say mostly it’s his harmonies that work so well.

Lyrically, the band is pretty angry. “Mailbox Arson” should give you a clue to the tone; however, the lyrics are well considered even if they’re not fully understandable.

I’ve not heard the previous Alexisonfire records, but I’m led to believe that Crisis is a huge step forward, so maybe it’s not worth backtracking .

[READ: June 11, 2008] Cheat.

This came as part of my Oni shipment a few weeks ago. I didn’t know anything about this story either, but I took the risk as it’s a typical slice of life story. I was surprised at how there was very little in the book that moved me. It was a very simple story of two couples who, as the title says, cheat. It all seemed a little too easy and obvious (there’s only 4 characters after all) . There were some nice minor twists, but sometimes they came across as jarring rather than twisty.

The art style reminded me of Roy Lichtenstein and his pop art works (see below), and yet I felt there wasn’t a lot of care put into the work (or perhaps it was a style she was experimenting with). The whole thing seemed like a personal story that she just needed to get out there. It was dedicated: “This one is for all my lady friends” so maybe I wasn’t the right audience, but I wasn’t all that impressed by the book.

The basic story is that the main character, Janey, is married to a man who writes travel guides. She is a co-author (but has become more of a secretary as of late). Their new neighbors had helped them find their new apartment. In their case, it is the wife who leads a hectic whirlwind life, while the husband stays at home a lot. Will the two stay at home people cheat? Of course, that’s the title. I was sort of interested to see what would happen after the affair (since it happens fairly early), and it had a sad but honest resolution.

So imagine my surprise to find out that she’s an artist for the Hopeless Savages series, one of my favorite comic series of all time. It’s weird to see an artist go in a place you’re not expecting.