SOUNDTRACK: KEVIN DEVINE & THE GODDAMN BAND-“Nobel Prize” (2013).
I’d never heard of Kevin Devine before (he apparently has 7 solo albums out). This track is his first single with his new (radio friendly it seems) band called The Goddamn Band. Interestingly, the album is called “Bubblegum” and it’s that sentiment that sticks out with this song.
Over buzzy guitars and pounding drums, a screamed (but not unpleasant) voice comes piercing through the fuzz. And once the guitars come in, it’s all bubblegum pop (fuzzy and distorted absolutely, but pure bubblegum chord structures). The song (including the voice) remind me a lot of Cheap trick–simple, catchy melodies with vocals that are urgent and intense. Even the quieter spoken word section sounds like Cheap Trick. The very mellow bridge or chorus or whatever it is mixes things up when it brings in picked strings and a gentle vocal.
It’s catchy as hell and could fit into a lot of playlists of poppy rock. At only 2 and a half minutes it’s a pop gem. Too bad no DJ would ever say the band’s name.
[READ: September 19, 2013] “The Way Things Are Going”
As the story opens we read the Gwen had insisted that “Ma and I” move to America (from South Africa). Gwen wanted them to move because “sooner or later…it would happen again.” The narrator says that what had happened was actually her fault. But really what difference did it make whose fault it was—once they were tying you up. She only let them in the first place because she was trying to be mannerly.
The story flashes back to what happened. The narrator had been struck across the head with a gun, praying that the men would leave her alone—just take their few valuables and go. And then she had to worry about her mother, who was upstairs by herself. It was only the phone call (and the answering machine) which saved them from further damage because a neighbor said she’d be right over. (more…)
I wasn’t aware of this tribute to Venom, the much reviled/much beloved black metal band. It is titled In the name of Satan. Voivod has done some covers of Venom songs throughout their career, so it seems natural that they would do one for an official tribute album.
The music is fine. As anyone who knows Venom knows their music isn’t terribly complicated. So it’s nothing for Voivod to do. I’m actually wondering if Piggy wanted to spruce it up a bit. But no, he plays it straight, as does everyone else.
But man are the vocals awful. They are a kind of high-pitched growl–very strangely affected and sounding really weird both for Venom and for Voivod. I’m not sure who is singing on this track (I assume E-Force given the date). It doesn’t really sound like either E-Force or Snake, but I’m siding with E-Force because there’s none of the odd pronunciations that Snake is prone to do.
I didn’t listen to anything else on the album, but even for a Voivod diehard, this one is not worth owning.
[READ: September 19, 2013] “The Challenges and Rewards of Re-entering the Workforce”
Lisa Moore doesn’t deserve to be associated with Satan or a less than stellar cover song. So apologies to her for pairing this together, but it worked nicely in my Voivod timeline.
I was really intrigued by the title of this short story and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. What I got was a very interesting and very interestingly structured story. The first thing of note is the pronoun choice: “Everybody had a target on his back. His or her back.” This specification continues throughout the story. But before we learn why exactly, we learn about the devastation at this job (which is never specified). People are let go in waves, then in clumps, and just when it seems safe, one at a time. Some people are moved around to fill those empty spots. In other words, resentment is breeding wildly. Rumors spread—they wouldn’t fire people if you stand up for yourselves—but no one wanted to stand up. And just when we think Moore can’t give any more examples of the anonymous firing, we get into specifics.
The Downeys (who both worked there) were fired on the same day. The had just purchased a new house as well. Of course, that was before the summer when the dump started to stink. So we can anticipate how much they will get when they try to sell. (more…)
Most Best of records promise you a selection of popular songs from a band. Voivod never really had any popular songs, so this is an interesting choice to start with. This may also be the only Best of compilation of a band where people who like some of the songs almost assuredly will not like other songs.
As my posts about the band have indicated, Voivod changed drastically over their first six records (which is the period this collection covers). And so in twelve tracks and 50 some minutes you get the very diverse history of this very unusual band. I’m not going to talk about each track (already done that), but I will list the songs
Voivod [War and Pain] classic screaming metal.
Ripping Headaches [Rrröööaaarrr] brutal, but I must say sounds a ton better than the original CD. I wonder if this was remastered for the compilation).
Korgull the Exterminator [Rrröööaaarrr] hard to believe they used two songs from this album.
Tornado [Killing Technology] heavy but quite catchy.
Ravenous Medicine [Killing Technology] signs of complexity enter the heaviness.
Cockroaches [EP] a strange inclusion, almost a rarity.
Tribal Convictions [Dimension Hätross] very complex with some heaviness.
Psychic Vacuum [Dimension Hätross] I’m surprised they didn’t pick other songs though from this album.
Astronomy Domine [Nothingface] their hit.
The Unknown Knows [Nothingface] very hard to choose just two songs from this masterpiece.
Panorama [Angel Rat] Their newest single and quite a departure from everything that has come before.
The Prow [Angel Rat] their prettiest number ever. If you buy this CD for this song you’ll hate the early stuff.
Although Voivod fans (like Dave Grohl)
are diehard, anyone who would buy only a Best of record from the band is sure to be disappointed. There are so many phases of the band and they are so radically different from “Voivod” to “The Prow” that it’s almost not even the same band. I’m very curious as to what sales for this album were like. (Even the cover isn’t that inspired)
[READ: September 2013] The Walrus: Tenth Anniversary Issue
It’s hard for me to believe that The Walrus has been around for ten years (even they seem a bit surprised). I still remember hearing about the magazine on Book TV from some Canadian channel that I just happened upon.
When I heard about it The Walrus seemed interesting–kind of like Harper’s and elements of the New Yorker but all about Canada. I’ve been a Canuckophile for decades now, so it seemed like an interesting prospect. And over the ten years of the magazine, while I haven’t written about every issue, I have read every article. I have written about all of the short stories that they’ve published.
This issue eschews some of my favorite elements (the short articles in the front and the arts section in the back), but they make up for it with an oversized issue (twice as long as usual and the articles are all packed with content) and some fascinating articles.
And while there are none of the short articles from the front, there are “Time Capsules,” one page articles about things that have happened in the last ten years: The iPhone, Sports Concussions, Armed Drones, The Residential School Apology, Justin Bieber, Foodies, Hand Sanitizer and Cyberbullying. It’s interesting to read about these phenomena from a slightly different perspective. We know that Canada and the U.S. share many similarities but there are, at heart some core differences. And it’s these differences that make you rethink a subject. (more…)
After thirteen years, alternative rap supergroup Deltron 3030 is back. If you’ve forgotten, Deltron 3030 is comprised of Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala. Evidently the album is chock full of guest stars (which I usually dislike, but the guest stars are a weirdly unexpected bunch–David Cross, Amber Tamblyn, chef David Chang?–so I’m curious to hear what they are going to add to the sound.
Okay even I admit I don’t really remember what the first Deltron album sounded like, but if memory serves this seems to be picking up in that same spacey vibe that made Deltron so weird and fun.
There’s a story going on here, told in Del’s awesome rapping style–mellow and trippy with big words and convoluted phrasings. Of course, this is only track 2 on the record so I don’t know exactly what the story is about. But I know that Deltron 0 is back and I’m pretty excited to hear the whole thing.
You can hear this track on NPR and you can watch the intro track (featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) here:
[READ: September 20, 2013] Almost Silent
This book collects four of Jason’s previous books “Meow, Baby,” “Tell Me Something,” “You Can’t Get There from Here” and “The Living and the Dead.”
“Meow, Baby” (2006) is a collection of “short stories” from Jason. They feature the same (looking) cast of characters as most of the other Jason books I’ve read (anthropomorphic animals), but there’s a few additions: a mummy, a zombie,a skeleton and a vampire. None of the pieces are titled and the only way to know when each is done is when you see his signature. This is just to note that if there is a mummy in two stories, it’s good to know he’s not necessarily the same mummy.
The stories are quite funny with variations on mummy stories (wrapping your head in a bandage after you are hurt, getting an erection(!)), and vampire stories (the same looking guy is always following him with a stake) and some very amusing domestic scenes with skeletons. I enjoyed the one where the mummy comes out of the sarcophagus, looks at a newspaper and then walks back into the sarcophagus with a look of despair on his face (his face is still covered in bandages—Jason has an amazing way of expression even with people who have no faces). There’s also a whole series of skeletons who climb out of their graves and go about mundane tasks . There’s even a guy dressed like the Terminator who has some funny moments where he misses the opportunity to say his trademark lines.
The last few pages are three panel strips—like daily cartoons . Were they ever shown in newspapers? These show that Jason is also very funny at punchlines, not just dark stories and black humor. True, all of these three panel comic are black humor (with the same cast of zombies, vampires, mummies and skeletons), but he really makes some funny and unexpected strips here. (more…)
It’s tempting to say that Phobos is a carbon copy of Negatron, but that’s not true. While the line up is the same, and the overall tone is very similar—very heavy, aggressive music—there are subtle differences. The first is that the album sounds vaguely more electronic, as if they were really flirting with industrial after the experiment with Jim Thirwell on the last album. E-Force’s vocals, while still abrasive and screamed have a lot of processing on them which makes them far more interesting and actually quite a bit more understandable. There’s also a lot of weird electronic effects that link the album and make it feel more “spacey.”
And while there are different sections of songs and parts that are actually quiet, this i still a difficult album–the vocals especially are exceedingly harsh and will turn off people who like the instrumental sections. I hate to sound like the band’s declining popular are all down to E-Force, but he is the weakest link in the band at this point. Whats weird about thee two E-Force era albums is that although they are very very heavy with several weird parts per song, the basic structure of them is very conventional. So instead of sounding proggy and weird, they sound more like a bludgeoning metal band. Which didn’t really work for them. Indeed, the band intended to if not call it quits at least take a hiatus after this album.
Phobos opens with “Catalepsy I” an introductory song—noises and whatnot. And indeed, these electronic noises link all of the songs of the record, with different sounds in between the tracks (like the way “Bacteria” opens with spacey effects and electronic drum noises for 35 seconds). But the first proper song “Rise,” has an opening guitar riff that is quite normal—dark, but normal. It’s true that the heaviness of the chugging section is heavier than most (like earlier Voivod), but it’s still not that strange. Until the verses come in. And here’s where E-Force’s vocals are a little different—more processed and robotic sounding. It actually works a lot better. And in the middle of the song while the heaviness is ongoing, that opening normal guitar riff comes back. Rather conventionally.
“Mercury” has a more typical Voivod guitar riff although the pounding heavy chords are still quite heavy. There’s more of the distorted vocals and weird chords for the bridge. It also begins a series of increasingly longer songs. This one is nearly 6 minutes. While “Phobos” is nearly 7. It also has an interesting echoing staccato guitar riff with E-Force’s vocals very distorted (like Nine Inch Nails or Skinny Puppy). The bridge is a crazy noisy monstrosity and yet the middle section is very simple: loud chords delivered at a slow pace with interesting effects and fiddly guitar solo noises. “Bacteria” reaches over 8 minutes long. But it is unlike any of their earlier prog songs. It has an interesting echoing guitar opening and a bunch of staggered parts. But once the song’s major chords start up it sounds probably most like the previous album except for the lengthy instrumental/psychedelic section starting at around 5 minutes.
The album slows down somewhat with the 1:48 “Temps Mort” a short instrumental with what sounds alike an accordion. It’s a weird little time out (which is what the title means), and I like it a lot.
“The Tower” has an underwater kind of feel to it amidst the bludgeoning guitars. The middle and the end have some very cool heavy trippy/spacey metal which is so radically different from the heavy Voivod chords that make up the proper song. Indeed the very end is a minute of mellow spacey guitars. “Quantum” is a pretty straight ahead (for Voivod) metal song with echoed vocals that take some of th edge off (until he screams the chorus). There’s another cool instrumental section. In fact, the whole album has great instrumental sections, it’s kind of a shame the vocals are so offputting (although at the end of this song they are so distorted and computerized that they sound very cool)
“Neutrino” opens with those big loud slow ringing chords of noise before the simple but creepy solo riff comes in. It’s 6 minutes long and has another interesting guitar line amid the noise. It takes 3 minutes (of 7) before the vocals come in and the song gets much darker. “Forlorn” is the closest thing to a hit on the album. The chorus is really easy to sing along to. And the verses are actually pretty straightforward. It’s very very heavy and isn’t going to make the radio anywhere, but it’s still catchy. The album proper ends with “Catalepsy II,” more swirling noises that sound like the beginning.
There are two bonus tracks on the CD. “M-Body” was written by Jason Newsted and is the most industrial mechanized/voiced songs on the album. It’s certainly out of place, although it does hint at what is to come on their next album. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is a cover of the King Crimson song. They’d done Pink Floyd and King Crimson fits pretty nicely. As with the Floyd covers this one is very heavy. Piggy gets the guitars right. But as with the rest of the album, E-Force’s vocals just don’t work. Whereas Snake’s weird pronunciations accented the covers in a cool way, E-Force just seems to be forcing his way through the track (the fact that he puts 3 syllables in “century” is pretty unforgivable. Overall the song is pretty great, although I’m not so sure about the guitar solo which sounds like Piggy doesn’t really know what to do.
And that’s the end of this Voivod lineup. Two albums and a lot of lost fans.
[READ: September 20, 2013] Terry
I have known about this book for a pretty long time. I was never really that interested in reading it because, while I don’t know all that much about Terry Fox, I felt like I knew enough about him to not bother with a full bio.
For those who don’t know (basically anyone from the U.S.), Terry Fox was a young man who developed cancer at the age of 19 in 1977. and had his leg amputated. To draw attention to cancer research he decided to run (yes run) across Canada on the Trans Canada Highway. He had a prosthetic leg, he practiced running every day (he was already a natural athlete) and he decided that in 1980 he would run from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (he even had a bottle of water from the Atlantic that he wanted to pour into the Pacific). His plan was to run between 26 miles a day. Yes, run a marathon every day. He called it the Marathon of Hope.
When he started out, the media coverage was nothing but as he progressed and his friend (who drove the van alongside him) started making media attention, Terry’s cause became more well known. And by the time he made it to Ontario, he was a huge personality—making TV appearances, talking to anyone and, most importantly, making a ton of money for cancer research. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY-LIve on Mountain Stage (April 11, 2013).
I saw Bonnie “Prince” Billy several years ago when he opened for Godspeed You Back Emperor. His set was really good. And yet I have never bought any of his music (his back catalog is just too intimidating to want to jump into). But i still enjoy his music, and this Mountain Stage appearance shows off his songs and his between set humor.
He plays four songs here: “Oh How I Enjoy The Light,” “We Love Our Hole,” “Screaming Issue” and “You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes).”
“We Love Our Hole” is from an Australian movie about surfing (and features some great baking vocals from Emmett Kelly and especially Cheyenne Marie Mize. And “Screaming Issue” is a Loudon Wainwright song (it seems funny to me that he has so many songs but he chose to do a cover) and he does a great job of it. “You Remind Me of Something” may be my favorite song of the set.
One of these days I’ll have to dive into his recorded work. But, oh where to start?
[READ: September 19, 2013] Two Pints
Two Pints is a delightful, short book that shows just how funny Roddy Doyle is. I’m not sure how easy it is to find in the States, but if you’re a fan of Doyle’s humor, this is worth tracking down.
It is a series of conversations between two mates at the pub. Each entry is dated starting with 24-5-11 (May 24, 2011 for us Americans) and ending 4-9-12 (September 9, 2012). At first I thought that they were regular meetings, but they aren’t. Some come weekly some more frequently. But in each visit, the two men meet at their local with a pint to discuss the events of the day (often quite reluctantly).
Of course they also talk about their wives and kids and grand kids (the one crazy piece of nonsense is that one man (neither are named) keeps talking about buying wild animals for his kids (polar bears, hyenas and the lot). It’s so strangely far-fetched for something that is otherwise down to earth, that I’m just not sure if Doyle was making a point or just being goofy.
But otherwise, one man begins talking and the other joins in.
They talk about Gaddafi (one of them thinks he’s the guy at the chipper, the other one is sure he’s spotted him working at the airport—the perfect hiding place). They talk a lot about the Queen (it’s okay to hate the Brits again, phew) and The Pope (the mean German pope, not the nice new pope). They talk about politics and voting. They even talk about Anthony Weiner. (more…)
After The Outer Limits failed to grab an audience, Voivod’s lead singer Snake departed the band. With just the two original members left (and no bassist or singer), Piggy and Away decided to start again. And they went dark and heavy. For the first 45 second of this album, you think, wow, Voivod has made a really heavy album—with thundering riffs and, yet still, some unusual chords from Piggy (the chord progressions are definitely still weird). Then new singer (and bassist) E-Force opens his mouth. And that’s when a good portion of Voivod’s prog rock fan base started weeping.
E-Force is a screamer. He’s not unlike Snake on the first couple of albums (although without the French accent). But there’s very little diversity. E-Force’s voice isn’t a total failure. It works pretty well with the heaviness of the music. But those of us who grew used to Snake’s singing can’t help but be disappointed by E-Force’s very limited range and style.
Opener “Insects” has some very cool parts and the music is kind of interesting—Piggy is always inventive and it’s cool to hear him mix some of his weird chords with such heavy music (the style is kind of like Killing Technology era but heavier and weirder). And there’s some sequences where the chords are just bizarre and cool. There is a bridge in “Insects” where E-Force sounds a bit like Snake and it’s like a great heavy Voivod album of old.
Speaking of heavy, Away sounds like he is having a great time banging the hell out of his drums. I feel somewhat surprised that after the last few albums of mellowing out that both guys could ramp up to play so fast and heavy again. “Project X” gives E-Force some room to do some different vocal styles (like on the first bridge which is actually kind of catchy), but the song is more pounding than exciting,
“Nanoman” brings some diversity, with a standard, but cool metal riff (and double bass drums). It also has a chorus that you can sing along to (or scream along to at any rate). “Reality?” is by now standard scream fare, but there is a chorus “upside down reality” in which E-Force shows he can actually sing and that part is quite good. “Negatron” is over 7 minutes long, and yet there s very little prog at hand. It does have some astonishingly noisy dissonant chords, though. “Planet Hell” opens with a bass riff that stands out a bit on this pounding album. But it quickly begins to sound like much else of the album. I do like the middle of the song where it breaks down into alternating guitar and drum breaks.
Starting with “Meteor” the album gets a little more interesting. There’s more high notes in this song, especially in the bridge—it’s still heavy and bludgeoning but there is some diversity here. I haven’t talked about the lyrics on the albums mostly because I can’t make them out, but on this song you can actually hear the lyrics and you can tell that they’re also not really up to snuff: “I don’t fucking care, I don’t care no more, I don’t give a shit.”
“Cosmic Conspiracy” opens with a simple echoing guitar line. It introduces a sci-fi element that the album has sorely lacked. Between that and the heavy drums and the crunchy bass, the song sounds really promising. Indeed, when E-Force starts singing, it’s muffled in an interesting way. And mid way through, it breaks into just martial drumming from Away. This is the diversity we’ve been looking for. There’s even an impressive (an interestingly effected) drum solo. Then the guitars that kick in are fairly traditional but actually fun speed metal. Sadly, E-Force’s voice doesn’t work with this section and kind of ruins it, which is a shame. There’s some interesting guitar work in the end of the song but it’s kind of drowned out by E-Froce’s screams. “Bio-TV” has a staccato sound that breaks up the pummeling. And the middle has a kind of pretty guitar riff (and a simplistic sing along section that sounds great amidst the chaos).
The final track is by far the most interesting and unusual. It is called “D.N.A” which stands for “Don’t know Anything” (seriously). But what’s unexpected is that the song is primarily written by and sung by Jim Thriwell (of Foetus). It’s not entirely clear if Piggy’s guitar is even on it (it is so distorted beyond guitar that it could be anything), although you do hear some chords near the end. Away’s drums are in the mix somewhere (it may indeed be all machines). It sounds like a Ministry/Skinny Puppy hybrid, and I would have preferred that electronic direction to the fairly generic death metal sound of the album. I’m really not sure what to make of this song. If you like noisy industrial music, this is an unexpectedly interesting track and surely a weird place to look for something like this.
There is a degree of irony that Blacky left to play more electronic music and Voivod recorded “DNA”. But even more ironic is that Snake left in part to start a much more heavy hardcore band (Union Made) and then the next Voivod album was the heaviest they’d done. It’s cool that Voivod is ever evolving, but this is a weird sidestep in a career of progression. It’s not a failure, but it takes a number of listens to find the gems within the noise.
[READ: September 17, 2013] “The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs”
This Simon Rich story is very funny. It begins (as the picture that accompanies it shows us) with Scrabble. Jeremy is playing his father. Jeremy always loses to his father. And yet, Jeremy reveals that he has been playing Words with Friends (his father doesn’t know what that is). And through Words with Friends he has learned that words like “qat” are playable (his father doubts the word but doesn’t challenge).
It soon becomes clear (because Jeremy can see the score) that although he is losing, it’s close enough that he might, for the first time, be able to beat his father.
When Jeremy plays Ta (a word they have always used), his father challenges. But it is useless. Jeremy’s father has a Z and that should do it. (more…)
After Angel Rat, original bassist Blacky left the band. That’s never a good sign. After the tour for this album, original singer Snake left the band. That’s an even worse sign. I still can’t quite figure out exactly why Snake left (personal problems) but he went on to form the band Union Made. For a very detailed history of the band, check out this very cool timeline at Voivod dot net.
The Outer Limits got a pretty big release. I have an original copy that came with 3D glasses and all of the illustrations in 3D. But I was a little disappointed in Angel Rat and I don’t think I gave The Outer Limits much of a chance. It was no Nothingface. But the band was always morphing. Since Angel Rat went very commercial, this album brought things back into the prog realm (with a 17(!) minute song) but also had a lot of commercial songs.
The album opens with “Fix My Heart” which starts out much heavier than anything on Angel Rat. It’s also got some metal guitar pyrotechnics (squeaks and harmonics). Snake’s voice isn’t quite as pretty as on Angel Rat either—he growls a bit, but maintains his nicer voice overall. Nevertheless, “Fix My Heart” is a pretty commercial enterprise (as the title might even suggest). There’s some good “spacey” guitars sounds which bode will for the sci-fi angle of the album (and there’s some cool effects that reward headphone use). “Moonbeam Rider” starts with a very classic rock sounding riff and then morphs into a kind of pretty, mellow verse. But the interstitial guitar is all speed. It’s a nice mix of fast and slow. This song features some interesting bass work—nothing fancy but for the slow parts it is actually keeping the beat instead of the drums. The bassist was a studio musician for this album. There’s also what sounds like a bong during the pre-guitar solo section (the solo is fairly traditional).
“Le Pont Noir” is a mellow, slow guitar song with a very cool delay effect and Snake’s whispered vocals. The bridge gets heavy with a wonderfully weird Piggy guitar riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Then the band’s second Pink Floyd cover appears. This time it’s the even more obscure “The Nile Song.” They have rather heavied this one up with crunching guitars and Snake’s distance screaming filling in the void (although in fairness the original vocals are also screamed). It’s not as dynamic or exciting as “Astronomy Domine,” but it’s still a cool cover. “The Lost Machine” starts off heavy with Away’s double cymbal work (a noisy splash and a fast ride cymbal). Then Piggy’s guitars have a slight delay on them which makes the opening chords sound especially odd. The bridge is a place for Piggy to show off some more weird spacey chords and some very cool guitar riffs. There’s even a spoken word narrator in the middle of the song that explains the “mission” “Time Warp” opens with a very bright and up beat sounding verse. But it quickly disintegrates into (intentional) musical chaos as the narrator gets lost in space.
This all leads up to the 17 minute “Jack Luminous.” If anyone doubted their prog rock leanings, this should dispel that immediate. 17 minutes, multiple parts, a sci-fi epic, it is prog (but heavy prog) at its finest. There are some incredibly catchy parts as well as some less catchy parts, and sections seem to change every two minutes or so. The slow down at 10 minutes is very cool—different guitar effects and the suspenseful bass line. There’s repeated sections as well, which means if you like some guitar line (the spacey part near the end) it comes back! It’s not quite as dynamic as say 2112, but it’s a very successful sci-fi epic.
“Wrong Way Street” returns to the normal and more conventional. The bass that opens the song sounds great and the chords are fairly conventional–the chorus is even really catchy. “We Are Not Alone” is a break-neck metal song, The drums are super fast, the guitars are relentless and the chorus even has an echoed “Hey!” that gets you to sing along. The song also features a cool slow, almost jazzy bass and drum section that lets Piggy throw some soloing in before returning to the fast paced verses.
There’s lots of theories about what happened to Voivod after this album. The success they had achieved earlier was now gone and the band seemed like they couldn’t decide to be metal or prog or is they should go for more pop music. The problem of course is that they were too weird to get mainstream acceptance anyway.
So Snake left and then there were only two original members. The next step would be a drastic one.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #7
This issue seemed to come hot on the heels of #6. But I enjoyed it just as much. A few notes: no Jeremy Lin in this issue. Lots of LeBron James, three articles about soccer! And a few pop culture moments that I had forgotten about.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-“The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament JUST. GOT. REAL.
Leonard Cooper didn’t know the final Jeopardy answer but he still won and he made a hilarious joke at the end (in cartoon format);
BILL SIMMONS-“Daring to Ask the PED Question”
Simmons talks a lot about PED’s in this forum. Of course, to me PED is my initials. For him (and sports fans) it is performance enhancing drugs. He asks why sports doesn’t do more about it. There are so many people who do it that every time we see someone who might be doing it or who suddenly has a good season, we assume they are doing them too. It would be a service to the players and the fans to have rigorous testing or none at all.
CHRIS RYAN AND ROBERT MAYS-“The NFL Coaches Family Portrait By the Numbers”
A silly analysis of a photo of NFL coaches.
WESLEY MORRIS-“Jodie Foster’s Big Night”
What exactly did Jodie Foster say at the Golden Globes? (This was in January and everybody talked about it and now it’s September and I’ve completely forgotten about it—funny ephemera of pop culture).
JONATHAN ABRAMS-“Out of Africa”
A serious look at trying to bring basketball to Africa. How the culture and language problems make it very difficult to establish any real cohesion in the diverse country. But there are a few examples of boys coming from Africa and benefiting from host families and then heading back to help those who love basketball back home. The main focus is on a 15-year-old Alexis Wangmene who came to the States (and left his family!) to try to gain an education and basketball skills. It’s a heartfelt story.
MOLLY LAMBERT-“Modern Love”
About the show Catfish which just goes to show we can sink even lower as a culture.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN-“Mental Health Protocol”
About Royce White again. Last time there was a lengthy look at him. Now we get to hear that he thinks that everyone has some kind of mental health issue.
ANDY GREENWALD-“Eat Bray Love”
How cooking shows have gone from educational to crazy and annoying. He dislikes Top Chef and the new Anthony Bourdain show The Taste (which he says is awful) but he likes a decent show called Chopped.
ZACH LOWE-“The Fragile Science of Basketball Chemistry”
Sure the Heat were great this year, but it’s the way they evolved as a team, creating chemistry, that is so impressive.
RAFE BARTHOLOMEW-“The Pariah”
Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in a disputed judges call. Instead of rising to fame, he has been avoided like the plague.
BILL SIMMONS-“The All-Manti Te’o Mailbag
Remember that crazy story about the football guy with the dead girlfriend who turned out to be fake? I never really understood the story and while they spend a lot of time talking and theorizing about it I still don’t get it. Did they ever find out the truth about it?
CHRIS BROWN-“Speak My Language”
When you play for the Patriots, you learn their way of doing things—it is simple and efficient, a streamlined version of what other coaches try to do.
KIRK GOLDSBERRY-“The Evolution of LeBron James”
Using diagrams, we see how much of a different player James is in just the last few years with The Heat. This article has made me want to watch James in a game while he is at his peak. So, Heat vs Bulls at the end of October, you’re on my schedule.
SEAN McINDOE-“The Non-Hater’s Guide to the NHL”
Even people who hate everyone in the NHL (which is everyone) can agree that there are some players who are universally admired: Martin Brodeur, Pavel Satsyuk. Teemu Selanne, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Elias (Devils get two!), Ryan Smyth, Steve Sullivan, Saku Koivu, Henrik Lundqvist.
ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“God Needs a Hobby”
A look at Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown. Harmon seems like he might be a crazy alcoholic, but he’s also pretty darn funny.
MARK TITUS-“Duke’s Ignominious Son”
Everybody hates Christian Laettner, but that’s only because he’s pretty and he made The Shot
MARK LISANTI-“Three Days in Austin”
Dealing with the craziness of the South by Southwest film festival. Sounds awful.
HUA HSU-“The Alien Has Landed”
Soccer legend Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford
BILL SIMMONS-“The Greatest Action Franchise That Ever Was”
Live blogging the Fast and Furious 6 trailer. I admit I may have to see these films after reading this.
ZACH LOWE-“Lights, Camera, Revolution”
There’s some kind of new technology that will change the NBA forever. I pretty much don’t care.
TESS LYNCH-“Nostalgia Bites”
Watching old Real World episodes shows how much things have changed in reality TV, but also how much certain behaviors are not new.
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“Maradona, Then and Now”
Maradona was an amazing kid—at 15 he was remarkable at his ball control. Now at 52 he’s a crazy loon. What exactly happened in between?
ANDY GREENWALD-“From Big to Small, From Movie to TV”
Why not make Men in Black into a TV show—with some other film recommendations.
AMOS BARSHAD-“How Soccer Explains Israel”
I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found it very interesting. An Israeli soccer team has signed two Muslim players and it has caused incredible animosity and even arson. How this look at a team is like a microcosm of the whole Israeli situation.
LOUISA THOMS-“Back to School”
Missy Franklin won a ton of medals in the Olympics. And then she went back to high school. What’s it like to be on her team at Regis Jesuit?
WESLEY MORRIS-“Run, Frank, Run”
Frank Ocean apparently wasn’t as huge as I thought he was.
MALCOLM GLADWELL AND CHUCK KLOSTERMAN–“The Lies He Told”
More about Manti Te’o. This discussion was a bit more helpful about what happened and how crazy it is.
CHRIS RYAN AND REMBERT BROWNE-“A List of Possible Reasons for Rob Gronkowski’s Arm Infection”
Hypothetical humor.
JORDAN CONN-“The Invisible Man”
Marc Gasol is extremely respected by scouts and agents, but the fans all think of him as Pau Gasol’s chubby little brother.
REMBERT BROWNE-“French Quarter Lessons”
While in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Browne decided to go to a bunch of used bookstores. This is very funny and enjoyable.
JAY CASPIAN KANG-“Fiercely Disputed”
Mike Tyson’s one man show is weird and strangely affecting.
KATIE BAKER-“Do Svidanya to All That”
Several NHL players went to Russia’s KHL during the lockout. And some don’t want to come back.
CHRIS RYAN-“The All-Star Circus”
NBA All-Star weekend is a crazy circus (and sounds worse than the above SXSW festival).
CHUCK KLOSETRMAN AND ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“The Nobituary”
There was a serious rumor that David Bowie was on death’s door. Klosterman and Pappademas imagine writing his obituary.
DAVID SHOEMAKER-“Glenn Beck vs. WWE”
The WWE has always had racists as part of the act. What happens when some goons start acting like the Tea Party?
DAVID JACOBY-“The Pure Heart Meets The Bachelor”
Jacoby’s grandmother watches The Bachelor and he feels badly for her.
STEVEN HYDEN-“Is This It?”
The Strokes’ fifth album had just come out [really?]. It could be their last, but Hyden thinks their last two have been quite good.
BILL SIMMONS-“The Heat in Hindsight”
The Miami Heat came close to breaking the longest winning streak in the NBA. Simmons looks at the fallout and who “wins” and “loses” in the effort.
CHARLES P. PIERCE-“Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”
I had no idea that Charlie Pierce was a Canadiens fan!
KATIE BAKER-“The Ethics of a Family Plan”
Is it ethical to pretend that you are married to your roommate to get a family discount a ta gym? Hell yes.
EMILY YOSHIDA-“A Dark Force”
J.J. Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars films. Why, when sci-fi is so multifaceted and so different is everything coming down to J.J. Abrams?
SEAN FENNESSEY-“The Case Against Justin Timberlake”
Timberlakes’s previous album was amazing. Then he took years off to make (bad) film and (good) TV. His star would only continue to rise if he stopped making music and only hinted that he would make another album. But the release of his new album (which isn’t that good) can only hurt him.
BRYAN CURTIS-“Waiting for Bettman”
While many New Yorker’s didn’t care about the NHL strike, Canadian writers camped out waiting for Bettman to announce the strike was over.
WESLEY MORRIS-“30 Rock Landed on Us” 30 Rock was many things, but it dealt with racial issues (at least between blacks and whites) better than any show.
RANY JAZAYERLI-“Fall of the Evil Empire”
The New York Yankees look like they won’t make the playoff this year (this was written in March and as of my writing this they have a slim chance at getting the wild card slot). It will be the firs time in a while, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s the start of a new drought for the Evil Empire.
BILL BARNWELL-“The Master Raven”
Ozzie Davis knows how to pick players for the Baltimore Ravens.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-The Best Chappelle’s Show Sketches of All Time”
Done as a series of cartoons (by Parker); Browne picks his eight favorites:
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Prince
Wayne Brady’s Show
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James
Black Bush (especially now that Obama is president)
Clayton Bigsby: Black White Supremacist
Making the Band (P. Diddy)
The Racial Draft (Tiger Woods Now 100% Black)
The Niggar Family (uncomfortable and hilarious no matter how many times you watch it).
Once again, there’s another great issue of Grantland. Once again, I wish they would follow up on some of their speculative stories. But it’s fun to have a time capsule of events that occurred just a few months ago and yet which I have totally forgotten about.
And here’s the cover of The Outer Limits in non 3D style (which I haven’t see before)
SOUNDTRACK: DAVID LYNCH-“Crazy Clown Time” (2012).
It’s hard for me to divorce this song from the video, because the video is so…David Lynch. Even though it pictures the lyrics literally, there’s so many weird little Lynchisms that it’s an art unto itself. Imagine David Lynch directing a rocking music video, but of a song he wrote. Wow. But I’m not going to talk about the video.
Musically, his song is a fairly simple construction–it’s primarily drums with some echoing guitars (with no real melody) and other crazy noises. Over the rhythmic cacophony, we get David Lynch’s bizarre falsetto/spoken words. Lyrically the song seems to be describing a party that gets pretty out of hand (and the video certainly shows that).
Lyrics include: Paulie he had a red shirt; Suzy, she ripped her shirt off completely; Petey set his hair on fire. And then the chorus: It was crazy clown time. It was real fun.
Lynch’s voice sounds like an excited child (or demonic clown) as he talks about certain details of this party. This is definitely a song that people will ask you “what are you listening to?” There’s very few who will want to listen to this, although I’ve found that after three listens, it makes a kind of twisted sense.
If you dare, watch the NSFW video
[READ: September 10, 2013] Animal Instincts
I very rarely talk about reviews of TV shows–that’s a slipper slope if ever there was. But I like Lorrie Moore and I like Jane Campion and I hadn’t heard about Campion’s show called Top of the Lake Moore suggests is the best show on TV. It aired on the Sundance Channel but was originally a BBC production. Like Campions’ other works, it is set in New Zealand and the location and cinematography are part Deliverance, Road Warrior, Winter’s Bone and Hobbit.
The show sound very dark, but as soon as Moore started describing it I couldn’t help but think of Twin Peaks. And indeed, there is a David Lynch nod within the show (girls say they are reading Blue Velvet for their book club). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: JIM GUTHRIE-Tiny Desk Concert #294 (August 10, 2013).
I was unfamiliar with Guthrie before this set and I almost didn’t play it because of his mustache–he just looks so country to me. But then I read that he and his band drove 9 hours from Ontario just to do the show (which is 11 minutes long, so that’s pretty crazy). But the set is really good.
The three songs come from Guthrie’s new album Takes Time (his first solo album in ten years). And I was hooked…not right from the start, but 15 seconds into “The Difference a Day makes” when the guitar plays the chorus riff. There is something so… Canadian about the melody line. It reminds me of Neil Young, Sloan, Rheostatics, even Kathleen Edwards, all of these great Canadian songwriters who play with slightly different melodies. The fact that he sings “doubt” and “out” with an Ontario accent solidifies it. It’s one of my favorite mellow songs of the year. “Before & After” sounds a bit like Barenaked Ladies mellow song, like something written by Kevin Hearn. I tend to not like the Hearn songs, but I thin kit’s that I don’t like Hearn’s voice, because I like this song quite a lot.
Guthrie has a delicate but strong voice–I can’t imagine him screaming, but he conveys a lot. Especially in the final song, the more mellow (and minor key) “Like a Lake.” I’ve heard Tiny Desk shows that go on for five or six songs. I wish that Bob and Robin had let them play for ten more minutes. Now I’m off to find his records. Check it out.
[READ: September 10, 2013] 3 book reviews
Tom Bissell reviewed three new books in the August 2013 issue of Harper’s. I like Bissell in general and since I’ll probably wind up writing about these when they get collected anyway, why not jump the gun here. Especially when there’s three good-sounding books like these.
The first is Peter Orner’s Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge. I know Orner from McSweeney’s mostly, where I’ve read a few of his things But one of the stories that Bissell mentions from this short story collection sounds familiar and yet it doesn’t seem to be something I’ve read. Hmmm. Well anyhow, he says that Orner’s previous book (with a title that Bissell assumes he had to fight to keep–The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo) was a great piece of fiction about Africa, and that his previous collection Esther Stories was also very solid.
This book is a little stranger—bundled into 4 sections, it includes more than fifty “stories” and is all of 200 pages. (Sounds like just the kind of thing I can get into). Bissell suggests that the stories have a layer of remove, like someone telling a story about someone telling a story. Or, if they were about a bank robbery, the story would actually be about someone describing having once met the guy who sold the robbers their ski masks. But the real selling point for me was this pithy description of the collection: imagine Brief Interviews with Hideous Men written by Alice Munro. That sounds hard to pass up. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: KEVIN DEVINE & THE GODDAMN BAND-“Nobel Prize” (2013).
I’d never heard of Kevin Devine before (he apparently has 7 solo albums out). This track is his first single with his new (radio friendly it seems) band called The Goddamn Band. Interestingly, the album is called “Bubblegum” and it’s that sentiment that sticks out with this song.
I Just Read About That... 