SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-The Double Cross (2011).
Sloan never fail to make enjoyable punky pop songs. Surely it has something to do with having four songwriters in the band (which must minimize clunkers). I can never decide who my favorite songwriter of the group is as they all do fairly varied work.
“Follow the Leader” is a fast rocker (with a very cool guitar solo bit and a nice acoustic break in the middle). While “The Answer Was You” is a bouncy piano-based song that starts out fast and then settles into one of the more recognizable Sloan voices (I wish I knew who was who–even after twenty years I have never quite determined who was singing what). This song also has a great third part, minor keys and very dramatic structure. It’s the first of several songs that hover around the 2 minute mark, as well.
“Unkind” is a simple guitar based song and man is it catchy, with a chorus that sticks with you. “Shadow of Love” is a great fast rocker and even at only 2 minutes long it has several great parts. “She’s Slowing Down Again” has some great bah bahs and a strong chorus. “Green Gardens, Cold Montreal” actually slows things down, with a gentle acoustic ballad. But it’s followed by one of their screaming punk tracks, “It’s Plain to See,” simply put, it’s two minutes of adrenaline.
The album changes somewhat with “Your Daddy Will Do,” a catchy disco song. Yes, disco. How else do you explain those keyboards riffs? And man is it catchy. “I Gotta Know” may be the stupidest song they’ve recorded yet. How many times is the phrase “I gotta know” repeated in 82 seconds? Still, you can’t deny how catchy it is. “Beverly Terrace” returns to that cool pizzicato piano that they do so well.
“Traces” is the longest song (almost 5 minutes) and is one of the longer Sloan songs in general. It feels like an old classic rock song for many reasons (including Doors-y keyboards), and yet it doesn’t feel retro at all. Neat trick, that. The disc ends with “Laying So Low,” a piano ballad with a great catchy melody. It slows the album to a nice ending.
12 songs in 33 minutes. Multiple genres, multiple styles, multiple singers. All of it wonderful. Just an other typical Sloan album. Great jobs guys, here’s to twenty more years.
One word to yeprock records, though. If you offer “free bonus” songs for purchasing their album, I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that the four bonus songs should not be one song each from their previous records.
[READ: December 29, 2011] Chew: Volume Three
We were quite excited to get this book–we were on the Hold list forever at the library. So I’m surprised to see it came out back in 2010! I assumed it was much newer than that. I guess there’s a Volume Four out already (yes it came out, and they have just published issue 22 in single issues). Volume three covers issues 10-15.
This mini-arc, as they call it, isn’t so much of an arc as a continuation of the awesome story line.
For those in the dark, read the first two posts. But in a nutshell, Tony Chu is a Cibopath, which means that anything he tastes he knows the entire history of, be it vegetable, meat (ew) or, since he is a cop, human (bleagh, but hey it’s a comic book, right?). His partner, John, is part machine now, having been practically blown up and then put back together. And, as we start Chapter One (Issue #11), Tony is out on his first date with Amelia Mintz (alright, they got together!). Amelia Mintz is a Saboscrivner which means she can write about food so wonderfully that you can literally taste it.
Their first date is actually work, it’s a dinner of that club that fiction writers love so much–The Bon Vivants–rich folks who eat endangered species (or in this case, a recently discovered wooly mammoth).
Chapter 2 (Issue 12) starts off with a wonderful “gimmick.” All of the stories have so far been non-linear, but this one opens with the statement: “The Pages Got Shuffled Out of Sequence This Issue. This is Page Eighteen.” This issue gets back to the basic plot line of the series–because of the avian flu chickens are outlawed. As is cock-fighting. In this book, we see the magnificent Poyo, a blood thirsty cock who destroys his opponents. This issue ends with a nice cliffhanger.
Which, since this is a book, is quickly resolved–the rediscovery of Chu’s former partner, the now rogue Mason Savoy. This issue features some cool puns on Tarantino–Pullet Fiction and Reservoir Chogs (you’ll have to read the book to find out what a chog is). This issue follows the dual plot of Savoy’s return and the introduction of Poult-Plus the latest quasi-legal chicken substitute.
Chapter Four sends us to a flashback for Tony Chu. This time to when he proposed to his girlfriend Min. Who, upon accepting his ring does something rather, uh, nuts. It’s something I didn’t notice the first read through–good subtle drawing! But something which comes racing back to haunt Tony a little later. The issue ends on a major downer when John encounters Savoy and Amelia encounter’s Mon’s “gift.”
Chapter Five is also wonderfully told and needs to be read twice to really appreciate the storytelling. First we see Savoy eating a Thanksgiving dinner (ew–but they storytelling is amazing on a second read though). Next we see Tony going home for Thanksgiving. And we meet his extended family (most of whom dislike him intensely). But there is his identical twin sister who loves him still. There’s a nice surprise when John shows up for diner (the family loves him, of course). And then we get the biggest surprise of all. Followed slowly by a mind-blowing cliffhanger.
This book was fantastic. I love this series and am really excited to get book four.
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