I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Silver Session for Jason Knuth (1998).

This record came about for two reasons. One was the suicide of longtime Sonic Youth fan (whom the band didn’t know) Jason Knuth.  And the second was because when they tried to record vocal tracks for One Thousand Leaves, the band upstairs was so loud, it kept interfering with their recording.

So, SY turned all of their amps all the way up, put all of their guitars and basses against said amps, turned on a boombox for feedback fun and then left the room.  They say it was so loud that even with hands pressed against their ears it was still too physically oppressive to be in the room.

The band recorded it all (of course) but rather than releasing it all like some kind of Metal Machine Music, they cut the tracks down into small chunks (“Silver Shirt” is 7 minutes long but most are about 4, with “Silver Son” and “Silver Breeze” being under 2).  They also somehow turned what sounds like a noisy disturbing mess into rather pretty ambient pieces.  (In honesty, I have to believe that the band was in the room with for some pieces, since some of “Silver Flower” seems to have strumming on it).  And “Silver Son” actually has a beat of sorts to it.

As with the other disc in the SYR series, these aren’t really songs. They’re not even what you think of as Sonic Youth, but they are interesting experiments (some are actually quite nice).  Not for everyone (heck, hardly for anyone) but if you’re intrigued, its worth checking out.

[READ: August 23, 2009] Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

This volume mixes things up a bit for the series.  The cover is a wicked reflective style, and there are even 8 color pages at the beginning of the story (that work as a sort of catch up device).  I didn’t really like the color pages all that much to be honest. While it was nice to see that Ramona’s hair is blue, for the most part the color pages felt a bit more mechanical than the regular pages (the edges were crisper, which I didn’t really care for). But whatever, don’t complain about a free addition.

As for the story itself, it seems to up the ante in intensity.

On the home front, Wallace and Scott’s lease is running out, and since Scott has no money, he should really consider moving in with Ramona.  And yet, he doesn’t even know how old she is!  Nor has he said the L-word yet.  No not lesbian.  Although, that aspect does crop up quite a bit in this volume.

For you see, Ramona’s 4th ex-boyfriend was a actually a girl, Roxie Richter.  And when she shows up, as a ninja (well, half-ninja), she proves to be a formidable force.  In fact, Scott doesn’t know what to do about her (she has a sword!)  And, Scott spies Knives and Kim in a drunken smooch (since their lips have already kissed the same person, they might as well).

And, to add to Scott’s misery, there’s another sword wielding maniac after him. This is an older Chinese guy, and he cuts through a subway car in his attempt to capture Scott.  So, just who is this masked hit man? Another boyfriend?  And can Scott get him to fight Roxie since they both have swords? (Answer to that last question: Yes).

If he wants to defeat Roxie for good, Scott needs to gain experience points fast.  And he can do that by addressing an issue mentioned above.

There is a volume 5 (and 6) to the series, so you kind of know how this one will end; however, I’m not going to reveal the methodology.  I will say that Roxie provides an answer to a question I had: if it’s one ex per book, how can there be 7 exes and 6 books?

Twins! (Ramona is turning out to be quite the handful.)

This series is full of inside humor (to itself–dialogue about what happened “in volume 3”), and slacker humor.  Scott gets a JOB! There’s also the introduction of a former class mate of Scott and Kim: Lisa, the class slut.  (Well, she’s an actress who played a slut and is bound for California).  She causes some friction between Scott and Ramona (and a jealous Ramona is a scary thing).  When Scott sleeps over Lisa’s sister’s house (with Lisa in a specially selected nightgown), well… who can remember what will happen?  And speaking of infidelity, is that Roxie sleeping at Ramona’s house?  Even though she tried to kill Scott?

There’s also a fun subspace sequence in which the figures are drawn in a smaller anime/Legend of Zelda style.

I’m can’t wait to read vol 5!