I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-The Best of Voivod (1992).

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. 

The longer articles: “Portrait of a Ten-Year-Old Girl” (by Katrina Onstad) is about a typical Canadian ten year old girl–what her life is like.  I really enjoyed taking this peek into a typical (meaning well off) but atypical (meaning non-white) girl and seeing if things in The Toronto suburbs are much different from down here.  “Repairing the House” looks at Members of Parliament and how they are no longer relevant.  Although the details are different in the U.S., the sentiment is absolutely the same for us and our Senators.

There’s an article about Russell Peters (by Matthew McKinnon) a Canadian comedian who transcends race–someone who is so very different from even black comedians from ten years ago.  I hadn’t heard of him but I’m looking forward to watching one of his specials.  The biggest article here is a lengthy piece about Stephen Harper (by Ron Graham).  It is largely negative and yet seems to be eerily apt.  Like the author, I never thought that Harper would remain Prime Minister more than a few months and yet here he is several years and several elections later.

“Hot Wired’ (by Michael Harris) is about how gay men (in particular) are using technology to find each other–how much easier it is now that you can both hunt electronically but also be more open about it at the same time.  It focuses on technologies like Grindr (which sounds fascinating), a GPS for available guys.

“The Walking Cure” (by Dan Rubinstein) looks at the benefits of walking, by Rubinstein takes it to an extreme level by going walking in the woods in Northern Quebec with Native guides for health and spiritual salvation. In the completely other part of the world is an article about Afghanistan called “Afghanistan Undone” (by Melissa Fung).  In addition to having a very interesting personal angle bu Fung, it also focuses on the charity Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, which is doing amazing things in that country and which I think few Americans know about (seriously, check out what they have accomplished there).

The issue has a poem by Richard Greene and a short story by Lisa Moore (which I’ll post about tomorrow).  It also has a very cool photo essay by Edward Burtynsky called “Water.”  he has taken amazing photos from helicopters and airplanes that show the scope and scale of water on our planet.  The colors and textures he captures are staggering.  There is a gallery show in Toronto at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery from September 5-October 12 of these prints.  I’ll bet they are even more amazing on the wall.

And the final page (122) has a satirical cartoon about what we expect to see in the next ten yeas.  Let’s hope none of that comes true.

But I do hope The Walrus will be around for another ten and more.  Keep up the great work from a neighbor to the south (who, unlike last month’s cover story) is not a gun carrier.

For ease of searching I include: Rrroooaaarrr, Dimension Hatross.