I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THEM CROOKED VULTURES-Them Crooked Vultures (2010).

So whose group is this?  Dave Grohl’s? Josh Homme’s? John Paul Jones’? (This question is kind of answered in the excellent Austin City Limits episode).  But while the question is a but silly, it’s also not.  This band sounds like Josh Homme (who pretty much makes into gold whatever he does) playing his own blend of rock over what is undeniably Led Zeppelin’s bassist.

There are times when it is so evident that JPJ played classic Led Zep riffs that you almost think Vultures are just ripping off Led Zeppelin.  Until you realize it’s the same guy and therefore it’s totally okay.  And Dave Grohl…after years away from the drums, it’s like he has a new vengeance to beat the crap out them.  I don’t know if his style is unmistakable, but once you know it’s Grohl, it’s very obvious that it’s him.

And the songs are really great.  A cool mixture of Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age sleaze within a solid, classic rock framework.  Many of the songs have monster, stomping riffs that are catchy and fantastic.  The longer songs (5 are over 5 minutes) loosen the band up a bit, with some jamming and fun middle sections.  But when they’re not jamming, the music is tight and fast and loud, and they play off of each other wonderfully.  There’s not a bad song in the bunch.

A few times while listening to the disc, I’ve felt that maybe it was a tad long (66 minutes of non-stop music).  But since this is ostensibly a one-off project, why shouldn’t they pack the disc full of everything they can?  Of course, if they can make a second album, that is as cool and interesting as this, I’ll welcome it right away too.

[READ: November 23, 2010] Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour

I have yet to see the movie of Scott Pilgrim (primarily because I never get to the movies anymore, but also because the DVD hasn’t come back at my library yet).  But I’m pretty psyched that I was able to read the final volume before seeing the movie. [I’m also hugely embarrassed to be so out of the loop that I didn’t realize the book came out BEFORE the movie–come on!]

But now, behold, the climax of this excellent series.

To summarize: Scott Pilgrim (the guy with the sword up on the cover) is in love with Ramona Flowers.  But in order to win her completely he must battle her seven evil exes.  The battles are video-game inspired (and are consequently surreal and funny).  And the revelation of the individual exes is also amusing.

This final volume is somewhat surprising in its contemplativeness.  While longing and depression are par for the course in the series, this volume was surprising for its early lack of action (leading up to the final showdown of course). The great news is that O’Malley handles this non-action with skill, and scenes of Scott moping and slouching around are amusing, not dull.  There’s also a great deal of introspection (again, handled deftly).  All of this navel gazing makes sense because at the end of Vol. 5 Ramona disappeared with neither explanation nor clue.

During this down time in the first third of the book, many loose ends are prepared for tying: Knives is about to head of to college (she’s a respectable age at last, Scott!), and Envy–Scott’s first girlfriend–looks better than ever and is about to release her first solo album.  We learn that Young Neil is not so young anymore, and there’s an amusing bit about Stephen Stills as well.  So what else should a 24 year old guy who just lost his girlfriend do?  Troll through ex girlfriends to try and get a sympathy hook-up, of course!  Let’s see how well that goes when he tracks down Kim from the band!

But back to the action.  Scott convinces himself that Ramona has run off with the final ex, Gideon (minor spoiler, but not really, because duh: Scott has vanquished the other exes in previous books).  And that leads to a massive confrontation which takes place at Gideon’s awesome new club (at which Envy will perform her debut).  Scott finally gets into Ramona’s head (to try to get Gideon out of it).  The conclusion is really wonderful.

I’m looking forward to re-reading the entire series because it seems like for all of its videogame trappings, there’s some interesting psychology going on under the surface.

The artwork is even better in this volume. In the past, there have been moments where it wasn’t always easy to tell characters apart, but there’s no problem with that here.  And, there’s so many interesting “locations” that provide ample opportunity for cool looking scenes.

I’ve loved almost everything that Oni Press has published, but Scott Pilgrim is a completely wonderful series.  If you’ve seen the movie, definitely check out the books.  If you don’t know anything about the series, well, catch up here, and the get reading!