I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING-Tiny Desk Concert #354 (May 5, 2014).

I heard about Public Service Broadcasting via NPR and I loved their song “Spitfire,” a rocking instrumental with interesting samples scattered throughout.  Well, it turns out that live, the rock just as hard.  Even though there’s only two of them.  There’s J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitar, banjo and electronics and Wrigglesworth on drums. The samples come from British public-service films from roughly the 1940s through the 1960s.

Watching this video, I was stunned at just how much Willgoose is doing, and just how much noise these two guys can make.  There’s even a video going on behind them.   The only problem here was that the samples were not loud enough.

 “Signal 30” opens with samples and samples and then a rocking guitar and solid drums. It amazing watching Willgoose do some many different things while playing the guitar. The change of tone at the middle of the song is great and I love watching him just bang the guitar to keep the notes going (while he is playing the keyboard).

 After the song, there is a sample of “Thank you very much” in an arch British voice (the duo don’t speak during the show).   “Spitfire” also sounds great hear–the song is surprisingly complex for an instrumental, and for what seems like it might be a novelty band, the song is really solid.  After this song, Willgoose had to fetch something and the talking sample said “talk amongst yourselves!” The final track “Everest” has a very catchy riff and some really great drumming.  But I love most watching Willgoose play the guitar with one hand and play a solo on the keyboard with the other.

This is definitely a band to check out live.

[READ: June 4, 2014] King of the Flies 1. Hallorave

Hallorave is a dark, violent, sexual comic series written by Pirus and drawn by Mezzo.  Both artists are French and have worked together before.  This book was translated by Helge Dascher and John Kadlecek (and it was translated very well–I didn’t realize it wasn’t American until they started talking about Euros sometime in the middle of the book.

So this is actually a series of short stories narrated by different people.  They seem unrelated, but after a couple of stories, you see the connections.  And there proves to be a core collection of characters all living in this suburb (the location is really irrelevant).

The first story starts with Eric (who proves to be the main protagonist) drinking, reading magazines and sitting on a couch on the (dried up and dead) lawn of his mother’s house.  He is also jealous of his best friend Damien because he is very hot for Damien’s girlfriend Sal.

That first story introduces us to a visual that will run through the book: Eric sitting with a giant fly head on.  The three are going to a Hallorave for Halloween.  Eric is King of the Flies, Sal has a giant cat’s head on and Damien is a skeleton.  By the end of the party, they are all high (you can seem them feeding each other drugs in the picture below).  Eric pledged his love to Sal in front of Damien, and Damien is in a foul mood.  He gets in a fight with some other party goers. By the end of the short story, Eric and Sal are having sex (with their costume heads on) and Damien has been hit by a car and killed.  That’s the kind of stories we’re getting here.

The next story is from the point of view of a dad.  He drinks too much and he sees his daughters growing up and he’s very sad and bitter.  Especially when his older daughter brings home a questionable guy.  Because he’s drunk he throws a beer at the boy.  Later, he follows them and gets into another fight with the boy.

The next story is about Karine, a girl who is doing laundry for a man in his 50s named Becker.  Becker is a bowler and something of a lech.  After a crazy night (in which she is spooked by Eric wearing his fly head, although she doesn’t know who he is), she winds up sleeping with Becker.  And they become a very creepy item.

We return to Eric–he sees Karine and Becker in the mall, but mostly he’s been sleeping with Sal while she deals with Damien’s death.  Eventually he winds up starting his own cleaning business–raking leaves and such.  Which brings him to Becker’s house.  While cleaning up, Eric hears some moaning in the house and when he goes to check it out, he runs into a thug named Ringo who doesn’t like being spied on.

Next we find that Sal and Marie work together as waitresses.  Sal is taking Marie under her (rather malevolent) wing, abusing her while Marie looks up to her.  Marie is fed up with everything in her house (her dad is the drunk guy from the earlier story).  She cuts her hair and looks for a guy to sleep with.  When she sees Eric shoveling the walk, she invites him in.  One thing leads to anther and now Eric and Marie are together.

The second to last story is from Ringo’s point of view.  He is pissed at Eric, and the world in general, and he has plans.

As the book ends some of the stories merge in a gloriously violent scene that certainly calls for another book.

The drawing style is really stunning–almost hyperrealistic as you can see above.  There are scenes when Eric thinks about old bands like the Rolling Stones and the drawings are eerily spot on.  The sex is quite graphic (this is an adults comic, for sure) and the violence is quite graphic as well.  There’s not really anyone likable in this story (in typical Fantagraphics fashion), but the nihilistic story is strangely compelling nevertheless.  This series will appeal to certain readers (who were sucked in by the art and the first story) and turn off others immediately.