I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR 5: Sonic Youth Featuring Kim Gordon/DJ Olive/Ikue Mori (2000).

The fifth SYR disc is rather different from the others in that the only SY member is Kim.  This is a sort of side project for Kim, Ikue Mori and DJ Olive. They’ve played shows together as well.

This disc is also different because it features a number of short songs rather than a couple of long ones.  It also features a lot of different instrumentation: turntables, keyboards, that sort of thing.  Most of the tracks are instrumental (more or less) although a few have Kim’s vocals on it.  And Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto does vocals on one track.

Kim’s side projects (like Free Kitten) are usually pretty abrasive. She lets her freak flag fly with her vocals.  And that in a nutshell will determine whether you like this or not.  Kim is playing mostly guitar, so the other instruments tend to take over a bit.

It’s always interesting when SY mixes it up with another band or solo artist.  But it doesn’t really make it a SY record, proper.

Oh, and all of the writing on the disc is in Japanese.

[READ: August 25, 2009] Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe

There’s a new Scott Pilgrim website which lets us know that Volume 6 will be out in 2010.  I can’t wait that long!

This 5th volume seemed a bit different from the other four.  The lines were crisper, it seemed like Ramona looked a little bit different (her eyes were bigger or something) and overall, the volume was a lot darker (in tone).

Today is Scott’s 24th birthday (he’s now the same age as Ramona, yup he finally asked her).

But at a party Steven Stills tells Knives that Scott had cheated on Knives with Ramona and on Ramona with Knives (which wasn’t true exactly), which sets Knives off again.  She violently confronts Ramona and when she says why, Ramona gets pissed too.

At this same party, Ramona’s evil ex-boyfriends (the twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi) show up.  Scott prepares to fight them, but they send their robot after him instead.  The fight continues downstairs while everyone pretty much goes to other rooms, kind of bored with the whole escapade.

We also see a bit of Ramona and Scott’s domestic life (Ramona runs errands all day and Scott does, well, nothing).

But hey, at least Scott has his band Sex Bob-omb, right?  Well, from the last volume, Sex Bob-omb has been recording a record.  Or, really, Stephen Stills has been recording the record and Scott and Kim come in to play once in a while.  They haven’t had a gig in months. So, when they finally do get one, they are even worse than before.  And when Ramona tells him that she doesn’t like his band, Scott really starts to hit bottom (it’s only mildly worse when his former roommate Wallace tells him that he doesn’t like the band either).

Scott winds up spending a few nights at Kim’s place, and their not-freindship turns into an actual friendship.  He even apologizes to her.

From here, things get a little crazy.  Kim is kidnapped by the twins, and Scott only finds out when she text messages him.  Scott confronts them and they fight.  I felt this volume was notable for the rather brief fight sequences…it seems like the relationship story line is taking precedence (go figure!).

Oh, and as we noticed in earlier volumes, Ramona tends to glow.  Scott thought only he noticed it, but Kim does too.  And when she takes a picture of it and shows her, Ramona doesn’t really react at all.  And this glowing seems significant because it impacts what happens to Ramona at the end of this volume (which I’m not going to reveal).

We also have direct contact from evil ex-boyfriend number 7: Gideon Graves.  Ramona (and Scott by proxy) has a cat named Gideon, it is unclear if they are the same entity.  But as this volume comes to a close, Scott receives a rather nasty phone call from Gideon, setting up the exciting conclusion (which is at least six months away).

This volume is more serious and less whimsical.  That makes sense as we are reaching the climax of everything.  The Scott/Ramona relationship is getting a little ugly, which almost makes one wonder why he is bothering to fight, but fight he does.  I think it’s because Ramona is upset and Scott just is.  In general, this volume felt a lot more confident in the writing and in the art.  And my expectations are high for a kick-ass finale!