I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010).

I somehow missed Beck’s next album, Modern Guilt.  Whether I was bummed about not loving The Information or that Iwas just out of the loop, I’m surprised I wasn’t all over this collaboration with Danger Mouse.  But I plan to give it a closer listen soon.

After that, Beck wrote several songs for Sex Bob-Omb, the band in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

In a confusing annotation, he wrote 4 songs that Sex Bob-Omb play on the soundtrack.  Three of those songs, Beck also performs on the deluxe version of the album.  Beck also recorded two versions of a song that he wrote for the soundtrack.  And, according to Spin, there are four more unreleased tracks that you can listen to on their site.

I’m only going to mention the officially released tracks here.

“We Are Sex Bob-Omb” is a great punky fuzzed out rock song (as all four turn out to be).  It has a very Stooges feel and at only 2 minutes (including the intro) it’s quite the punk anthem.  Beck doesn’t do a version of this one.

“Threshold” is a punk blast (less than 2 minutes).  Beck’s version is fuzzed out with all kinds of interesting noises swirling around.  The chorus is very traditional punk (ie. surprisingly catchy).  The Sex Bob-Omb version is very close to the original.  It’s actually a little cleaner (you can understand most of the lyrics), but I think all of the noises are the same, so maybe its the same music with different vocals?  Well, according to the movie Wiki, the actors played the music, but of the three it’s the closest musically to the original.  There’s also an 8-bit version of the song which sounds like a warped video game playing along to the melody.  It’s created by Brian LeBarton.

“Garbage Truck” is a big dumb slow track.  In Beck’s version, there’s more fuzzed out guitars and it sounds more 70s rock than punk.  There’s big drums and dumb lyrics.  It’s great.  The Sex Bob-Omb version sounds quite different in the recording.  It’s a wee bit slower, and once again the vocals are much cleaner, but the music is wonderfully fuzzed out again.

“Summertime” is the same style of song–fuzzy and simple (Beck must have had fun writing these).  This one is the longest of the songs, at just over 2 minutes. Beck’s voice is once again super distorted.  The Sex Bob-Omb version feels slower, but maybe that’s just because the vocals are so much cleaner.

Although I thought I’d enjoy the Sex Bob-Omb versions more, I side with the Beck versions on all of them.  None of the songs are great, but they’re not supposed to be (Sex Bob-Omb isn’t meant to be a great band).  But they are a lot of fun, especially if you like garage punk.

There are two versions of “Ramona” on the disc.  The acoustic one is just a minute long and is Beck strumming and singing the word “Ramona” a few times.  It sets the stage for the full version which has strings and actual lyrics.  It’s a pretty song, reminiscent of the string style of Sea Change.

So this is an interesting collection of songs for Beck fans.  And, in fact, the entire soundtrack is quite good.

[READ: March 16, 2014] When Did You Last See Her?

I enjoyed Book 2 in this series a lot more than I remember enjoying Book 1.  And it was great to get back into the fun writing style of Lemony Snicket novels.

The first book left us with the quest for the Bombinating Beast sculpture which, as the story ended, was taken by Ellington Feint, a girl who Snicket was just starting to like.  The first book was full of (intentionally) confusing writing in which Snicket knows that the things he did were wrong, and things like the true nature of what happened were written in a weird way.

There was some of that in this book, but the focus was more on the story than the weirdness of Snicket’s situation (which I’m still not entirely clear on).  Without dwelling on book 1 too much, suffice it to say that Lemony Snicket is an apprentice to the terrible mentor S. Theodora (we still don’t know what the S. stands for).  We also don’t even exactly know what they do, in other words what his he apprentice-ing in?  He claims it’s not detective work.

Despite the disappointment of losing the Beast statue, there is a new problem in Stain’d by the Sea, which Snicket and S. have not left yet.  It turns out a girl, heir to the Knight fortune, has gone missing.  Cleo Knight, budding chemist, and girl with a plan to save the dying town of Stain’d by the Sea was last seen leaving town in her indestructible car, the famous Dilemma.  And yet, she was also seen (by the proprietor of Partial Foods (ha!)) leaving in a taxicab.  When Snicket and S. Theodora investigate the house, they find that the Knight parents are being sedated by a Dr. Flammarion–who seems very suspicious.

Obviously S. Theodora is no help–indeed when she sees a note that says that Cleo ran off to join the circus, she considers the case solved. By Snicket knows better and soon he has the help of ace reporter Moxie Mallahan, a young girl who writes for her own newspaper since the real one folded now that Stain’d by the Sea is basically a bankrupt town.  There’s also the matter of Jake Hix, the diner owner who seems like he knows more than he does about Cleo.

This story was quite exciting and intentionally convoluted.  Snicket runs into various characters and slowly starts to piece somethings together.  Ellington Feint is definitely involved in some way, and it all seems to lead back to that Beast statue and the big troublemaker from Book One: Hangfire.  I loved the little details, like that Cleo Knight was trying to make invisible ink (Stain’d by the Sea is famous for its ink), and Snicket’s thoughts on honeydew melons.

Some issues were resolved (we learn what happened to Cleo), but other issues (both old and new) are left open for book 3.

And lest you be worried, all the great characters are back from book one: Pip and Squeak (who drive a cab and work for literary tips), Dashiell Qwerty, the enigmatic librarian (and the moths in his library) and even the irritating police family Harvey and Mimi Mitchum (and their annoying son who doubles as the police siren Stew) help to be unhelpflul to everyone.  Stew is less of a presence here, but he is just as two-faced.

While I seem to recall the first book being a little slow, I found this one to be really engaging and I couldn’t wait to get to the end.   And I see that the next book is due out next week already.

This copy (which I bought from Barnes & Noble) came complete with a bonus booklet called File Under: Suspicious Incidents: Ransom Note.  It is a convoluted mystery, the solution to which was far less enjoyable than the text itself.  I don’t know if Book One had one of these, but it doesn’t really enhance the story at all (unless you really like Pip an Squeak).  But it was a nice little bonus that i didn’t know about.

The artwork by Seth is once again fantastic and noirish.

You can also check out the website for some fun.