I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GIRL BAND-In My Head (2012).

I enjoyed “Why They Hide They Bodies Under My Garage?” so much that I immediately went to Girl Band’s bandcamp site to check out their other releases.

They have a bunch of EPs and singles out.  This was their first one.  It’s hard to believe that the band who is so experimental with noise and feedback sounds so different just two short years ago.

I like this single (which is only two songs and which you can get for free from their site), even though it has none of the more noisy elements that would come on later songs). Having said that it’s not like these are sweet ballads.  They are plenty noisy, just in a more conventional indie rock vein.

They actually sound a bit like a Steve Albini project–sharp guitars and feedback (and both songs total 5 minutes)–and an aggressive feel like Therapy? perhaps.

“In My Head” has a pretty conventional rhythm section (which unusual guitars) and a rocking chorus that is pretty catchy.  By the time the singer starts screaming the chorus the second time around, a lot has  been packed into 2 minutes.  “Conductor” has a thumping bass line that propels the song while the guitars alternate between ringing dissonant chords and a squealy guitar line.  The vocals are almost spoken and sound like someone but i can’t quite place it).  And once again, the chorus is strangely catchy under the noise.

But make no mistake this is still an abrasive bunch.

[READ: December 29, 2014] Blacksad: Amarillo

So I see now that this is actually the fifth book in the series, not the third.  I’m glad I found the fourth volume before reading this one.  I hope to get the first 3 volume set soon.  There’s a wonderful introduction by Neal Adams who puts some context and admiration for these guys’ work.

I enjoyed this story a bit more than A Silent Hell (which was really, really dark).  The fact that this one is so bright on the cover (and while I thought amarillo meant yellow (which it does) it is also set in Amarillo, Texas.

It opens with two lions–both writers–sitting by a pool.  The one writer (who is bigger in general) throws his poetry into the pool out of artistic honesty, while the other sits, aghast.  The poet then tries to throw the other writer’s scroll of a novel into the pool as well, but when the novelist talks about his work he did the poet scoffs and says he should think of it not as work but as poetry.  They depart with hard feelings between them.

We cut to the airport where Weekly is being sent back home (so this is right after their adventure in book 4).  While Blacksad says he has no way to get home Weekly offers him money which Blacksad refuses, but then Weekly gives Blacksad a nice camera.  In the parking lot, Blacksad sees a wallet on the ground and gives it to the man who dropped it.  The man is the owner of the yellow El Dorado on the cover and he and Blacksad come to a deal whereby Blacksad will drive it to Tulsa for him.

Blacksad succeeds, but as he is filling up the car, a kerfuffle ensues at the gas station.  The above writers are causing the trouble and they try to steal a biker’s motorcycle.  The bikers catch the writers but Blacksad intercedes before real violence happens.  And for his trouble the writers steal the El Dorado.

He finds their bags and sees they are going to Amarillo, so he sets off to track them down.  We cut to Amarillo where the writers are in a seedy bar, drinking and playing games with guns.  Chad Lowell, the novelist is getting heaps of abuse from Abraham Greenberg (the poet).  Chad is getting more and more angry and finally he shoots Greenberg.  He speeds off trying to escape but crashes the car (I feel bad for Blacksad on this one) and then he takes off.

Cut to El Paso where two federal agents have to go to Amarillo because of destruction of a mailbox (ha) which is of course the El Dorado.  When they open the trunk they find a dead body.

Also in Amarillo is Neal Beato an attorney (who is smarmy but charming).  A conversation ensures in which we learn that Chad has joined the circus and that Neal Beato is also Chad’s agent.  So they head off to follow the circus (in a car driven by a racist parrot which is very funny) no offense intended.

At the circus, bad things are afoot (aren’t they always), and when an abused woman strikes back at the abusive bear who is lusting for her, Chad gets in the middle of the fray.  The circus deems him guilty and decides to take circus justice.

The story ends with some interesting future prospects–a man finding a novel and Blacksad promising to send Weekly some photos.  I do hope it means more stories in the future.

Once again, the book was wonderfully translated by Katie LaBarbara.

For ease of searching, I include: Diaz Canales.