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Archive for November, 2008

Patrick Lane–“Red Dog, Red Dog” (The Walrus, October/November 2008)

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, King's X, Marriage Trouble, Patrick Lane, Short Story, The Walrus on November 14, 2008| Leave a Comment »

walrus-octSOUNDTRACK: KING’s X-XV (2008).

xvIt’s funny that it was the release of this King’s X album that got me to re-listen to all of them.  I was really pleased with this record when it came out because I had felt that I wasn’t enjoying King’s X as much as I used to.  But upon listening to this one again, I found I didn’t like it as much as some of their other more recent releases.

I’m not sure what it is, but something seems slightly less substantive on this record than say, Ogre Tones.  But I don’t think it’s the songs themselves, if that makes sense.  It has to be something about the overall feel of the disc or the track listing or even the production that detracts, because there’s not really a bad song on the disc.

“Pray” is as excellent a rocking single as you’ll hear these days: the bass is that cool watery sounding bass that Doug has been experimenting with lately.  And, while some may think it is a return to religious songs, I think it is just the opposite.  “Blue” and “Repeating Myself” are decent ballads from Doug and Ty respectively.  While “Rocket Ship” is another one of their Huh? songs, with the inscrutable chorus “Would you like to spend the night in my new rocket ship?”

But overall, the album seems to spend more time with their softer side.  Not that’s there’s anything wrong with their softer side, but their softer side has changed somewhat.  On earlier discs, the softer songs were beautiful, layered, harmonized ballads, but these seem to be mid-tempo rockers.  “Julie,” “I Just Want to Live,” and ” I Don’t Know” are mellow certainly but they lack the celestial quality of their earlier songs.  Again, they’re not bad, but they’re just good songs.  But lest you think they’ve gotten too old to rock, there’s still “Alright” and “Move” which get things back on the harder/faster track. The album ends with the raucous, awesome sing-along “Go Tell Somebody.”

There are two bonus songs (what does a bonus song mean anymore anyhow?  They used to be there to get people to buy CDs over LPs, so, where are these “bonus” tracks NOT available?”).  Love and Rockets (Hell’s Screaming)” is the heaviest/darkest thing on this album, or possible any album by them.  While “No Lie” is a fun little blues jam.

In re-listening, I can’t say that I dislike any of the songs and hearing any song by itself would be great. And even a few days later while writing this, “Alright” (one day (one day) it’s gonna be (it’s gonna be) alright (alright) alright! (alright!) just won’t leave my head.  But somehow the flow of the album is just not quite perfect.  Maybe I miss the gorgeous harmonies, or some of the real highs and lows of a typical KIng’s X album.  In fact, this may be their most mainstream sounding disc, suitable for all, and maybe that’s why I don’t like it quite as much.

[READ: November 6, 2008] “Red Dog, Red Dog”

This story follows in a tradition of rural Canadian stories full of bleakness and despair. Its temperament reminded me somewhat of Alice Munro, except there was no really redemption, which you often get from Atwood. (more…)

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Mary Gaitskill–“Don’t Cry” (New Yorker, June 9 & June 16, 2008)

Posted in Canadian Music, Chuck, Mary Gaitskill, Missile Command, New Yorker, Pregnancy, Rush, Short Story on November 12, 2008| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-Moving Pictures (1980).

movingpicturesThe other night on the show Chuck, Rush was described as “the music of the universe” (which enabled our hero to defeat Missile Command and get secret codes–thereby saving the lives of millions.  I have taken this as a sign that geeks have totally taken over the world.  They played “Tom Sawyer” 3 times during the show.  It was pretty awesome.  And my 13 year-old self would have been so excited, it might have been too much for me.

Since about 8th grade, I’ve been a huge Rush fan. And, yes, I do play bass guitar, thank you for asking.  I’m still a fan, although not nearly as rabid as I was back in the day.  Nevertheless, it’s pretty exciting to see these guys making inroads into pop culture, and it has only taken some thirty-four years after their first record.

Having said that, everyone knows Side A of this record (“Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta”, “YYZ” and “Limelight”).  So, I’m not even going to mention it.  Rather, I’ll focus on Side B (how quaint am I with this terminology?).  I think the overexposure of Side A led me to really investigate Side B.  And, for my money, Side B is the more enjoyable side.

“The Camera Eye” starts it out with a wondrous eleven-minute epic.  It has different sections, it has repeating motifs, and it’s probably the most overlooked song in their catalog (their other epic tracks were usually A sides which meant more notice).  It doesn’t have a lot of the drama of Rush’ other ten-minute-plus songs, rather, it’s a meditative look at life in the city.  And yet, all of the parts are essential, with a few minutes of little bits and pieces throughout the track.  And then suddenly you’re eight or so minutes in and totally hooked.  I’ve always has a soft spot for this song.

“Witch Hunt” has such a fantastic drum opening.  My friend Joe was the drummer with whom I jammed to Rush back in the day.  Now, no kidding, Neil Peart is an amazing drummer, but sometimes you have to really listen to a song through the ears of a drummer to hear how amazing he is.  The opening drum motif is so complex, it’s amazing that one man could play it.  And then he throws in a cowbell to boot!  It also has some fantastic lyrics that I find myself singing a lot lately when I think of rabid right-wingers: “Confident their ways are best. The righteous rise with burning eyes, of hatred and ill-will….”  “Those who know what’s best for us, must rise and save us from ourselves….””Ignorance & prejudice and fear walk hand in hand….”

As “Witch Hunt” has a crazy opening drum motif, “Vital Signs” has a great guitar intro.  The guitar chords aren’t terribly complex, but Alex Lifeson plays the chords in a different pattern during alternate lines.  Boy is that fun to play.  This also features one of the great early keyboard workouts for Geddy Lee.  The keyboard riff in “Tom Sawyer” is pretty memorable, but in “Vital Signs” it’s intense.  The two main sections of the song don’t seem like they should fit together, but they segue nicely with drum fills and a smooth and fun bass solo.

It was in listening to the the Snakes and Arrows live CD recently that I was reminded how much I love “Witch Hunt” and what a great song it is.  My only regret is that I never got to see that one live.

[READ: October 31, 2008] “Don’t Cry”

I was introduced to Mary Gaitskill’s writing about a decade ago.  I really liked her short stories.  It’s been a while since I’ve read her work, and I basically forgot what her main themes were.  So it surprised me to find that this story was set in Ethiopia. (more…)

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Charles Burns–Black Hole (2005)

Posted in Altoids, Bad Company, Black Mountain, Black Sabbath, Canadian Music, Charles Burns, Dungen, Fleetwood Mac, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Heavy Metal, Jefferson Airplane, Set at School, The Believer, YA Books, Yuck! on November 10, 2008| 1 Comment »

black-holeSOUNDTRACK: BLACK MOUNTAIN–In the Future (2008).

black-mountainAn ironically titled disc, surely.  Black Mountain is a Vancouver-based band that specializes in 70’s era psychedelia with a heavy dose of Black Sabbath.  Yet, like Dungen or other bands that tread this “revivalist” style, they don’t mimic the sound..they definitely sound contemporary, but the vibes of the 70s are constant.

Black Mountain features two singers: Stephen McBean and Amanda Webber.  Webber’s voice in particular harkens back to an amalgamation of Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, Nancy Wilson and the collective voice of Fleetwood Mac. McBean sounds like several singers of the era too.

“Stormy High” opens the album with the best Black Sabbath riff that Sabbath never wrote.  It sounds like something straight out of Sabotage.  “Angels” slows things down into a kind of Bad Company vibe, complete with trippy 70s keyboards in the middle of the song.  “Wucan” sounds more contemporary (the vocals in particular remind me of something, but I can’t place it) and “Stay Free” is a nice acoustic ballad.  “Queens Will Play” gives Webber the spotlight and the song in particular sounds like a wonderfully creepy take on Fleetwood Mac.

Although some of the songs are longish (6-8 minute), most of them are fairly brief.  Except, of course, for the 16 minute “Bright Lights”.  I think it’s fair to say that 8 minutes could be cut off of this song and it would still be great.  The middle riff-tastic part is really fantastic, but the opening and the noodley keyboard solo could easily be lopped off.

The disc also came with a bonus disc of 3 songs.  Each one adds to the mythos of this fascinating band.  I’m curious about their debut release as well.

[READ: November 8, 2008] Black Hole

My friend Andrew loaned me this book.  I had recently read an interview with Charles Burns in The Believer (and more abou that in a moment), which excerpted this book.  It looked really good, but then I promptly forgot about it.  And Andrew filled in the gap for me.

Charles Burns’ work appears in astonishingly diverse places.  I know him mostly because he is the cover heavy-metalartist for The Believer, (his interview in that magazine is pretty great) and his been since its inception. But I also know him from the early 80s when he was an artist with Heavy Metal magazine–when I did a search for this magazine, this was one of the results, and I distinctly remember it being in my magazine collection (gosh, some 25 years ago?). (more…)

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Janice Galloway–“Opera” (The Walrus, April 2008)

Posted in Alexisonfire, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Janice Galloway, Moneen, The Walrus on November 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »

walrus-aprilSOUNDTRACK: ALEXISONFIRE/MONEEN Split EP (2005).

alexisThis is a disc in which the Alexisonfire guys play 2 Moneen songs and the Moneen guys play 2 Alexionfire songs. (Plus two originals from each band).  I picked this up when I ordered AOF’s Crisis, because according to MapleMusic, they couldn’t ship it outside of Canada.  I figured it must be some kind of rare thing, until I saw it on Amazon, so I just ordered it there.

The “selling point” of the disc is, of course, hearing these guys play each others’ songs.  However, I don’t know the originals, so it’s hard for me to comment on the covers.  Regardless, this is a fun collection of two bands respectfully playing each others songs (albeit in a fun way).

Knowing what I do about the two bands, it’s interesting to see the different styles that they bring to the songs.  AOF’s growl-y singer brings a hardcore edge to Moneen’s more emo tracks, and conversely, Moneen soften up AOF’s songs with their math rock leanings.  Plus, there are a few surprises as well: “Passing Out in America” (done by AOF) has a great a capella section where the guys sing what I assume is a musical passage in Moneen’s original.

The Maplemusic listing and cover suggests that this is called “The Switcheroo” although my copy doesn’t state that on it.  Maybe that’s what couldn’t leave the Canadian border.

[READ: November 1, 2008] “Opera”

This story feels like an excerpt, although I’m not sure that it is.  There seems to be some things missing, which are only noticeable because of the things that are not missing.  For instance, Michaela is off the boat from Ireland, but it doesn’t say where she presently is or where the story is set. The other character, Lola has no characteristics that mark her as being Irish (it doesn’t say she is, for instance) yet she uses the most general Irish slang when talking to Michaela: calling her “hen,” saying “in wee pieces” and “on you go.”  None of these phrases are as Irish as say “caid mille failte” but they do give a bit of lilt to the character.  But Lola’s background is basically left out, she may be Irish, she may not. (more…)

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YES WE CAN!

Posted in Barack Obama, History, Magic, Shepard Fairey on November 5, 2008| 1 Comment »

hope1Congratulations, President Barack Obama!

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Ali Riley–“Hag” [excerpt] (The Walrus, May 2008)

Posted in Ali Riley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Creem, Funny (strange), Joni Mitchell, LGBTQ, Sloan, The Walrus on November 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-Parallel Play (2008).

I’ve enjoyed Sloan since my friend Al played me their first single “Underwhelmed” back in the 1990s.  Unlike Al, however, I have enjoyed them ever since.  In fact, a few of their discs rank up as my favorites of all time (Between the Bridges, in particular).

The one thing I have never been able to do, however, is keep track of who is who in the band and who writes/sings which songs.  I think if I were younger and had more free time I’d be all over keeping these things straight.  However, at this point, it’s not worth the effort.  Which is fine, as I can’t decide who is my favorite songwriter anyway.  Just when I’m sure that “Witches Wand” is my favorite track on the record, I remember “All I Am is All I’m Not” or “I’m Not a Kid Anymore” and I give up trying to decide which guy makes me happiest.

What’s interesting about this album is that (at least according to one interview) the four guys wrote and played each one of their songs by themselves.  There are 13 tracks which means they each got 3 songs and someone got a bonus track.  The joke of the title is that, much like 2 year-olds who play next to each other but don’t interact, this album was played by 4 friends who never interacted with each other.

So, you get 4 songwriters, playing the full spectrum of their ideas, but who are all still Sloan, and you get a wildly divergent album that retains the overall sound of the band.  It’s really tremendous.   This album is also under 40 minutes, so you get great hook-filled songs that come in, rock your world, and then leave.  It’s also hard for me to pick a favorite Sloan album at this point, because each one has so many good songs.  Their last album, Never Hear the End of It was a little too long at 70 minutes, but it was still full of fantastic songs (and I guess if you have 4 songwriters each contributing something you’d be hard pressed to create crap).

Sloan are back, and still producing great stuff.  Now, if anyone wants to tell me who is who, that would be terrific.

[READ: October 29, 2008] “Hag”

I didn’t realize this was an excerpt until the very end where it states that you can read an expanded version of the story here.  I thought the story seemed unfinished, so that makes sense.  Anyhow, this story won the 2007 Summer Literary Seminar.

This two page excerpt shows Lance and the narrator hitching a ride to Calgary.  The time is the mid 70s, as noted by Creem Magazine (I used to love that mag!), Joni Mitchell’s Hejira record and vinyl albums lovingly stored in plastic sleeves.  (more…)

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Annie Proulx–-“Tits-Up in a Ditch” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008) [UNFINISHED]

Posted in Annie Proulx, Unfinished on November 3, 2008| 3 Comments »

[READ: November 1, 2008] “Tits-Up in a Ditch”

When Accordion Crimes came out, the hype was fairly large, and I made a mental note to read it.  I never did, though.  So, this is my first exposure to Annie Proulx, and I’m not sure if it is representative of how or what she writes about. But with a title like this, how could I pass it up?

The story follows the life of Dakotah, whose mother left her shortly after she was born.  Dakotah’s grandparents were stuck with her.  The story notes that they were “in their late thirties” which is crazy that they are grandparents, but hey, I’m in my late thirties with two kids of my own, so no sympathy here.

The second arc of the story concerns Wyatt March and his rise to prominence in this Wyoming town.  He married well, moved up in society, started the March Ranch, and

Well, that’s as far as  I got.  I tried to resume the story on 3 occasions and just didn’t care.  There’s like ten pages left in the story, and, well, I have things that I’m more interested in.

Sorry, Annie Proulx, maybe someday I’ll get to Accordion Crimes and see what the hype was about.

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