SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-Keep It Like a Secret (1999).
This was the first Built to Spill album I ever bought and from the opening notes of the “The Plan” I was immediately hooked on the song, the album and the band. Doug’s voice is high and strong and it has a great ringing guitar riff and big chords to open the song. Then comes the excellent third section that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the song but which sounds great. And then it’s capped off with the crazy guitar solo that is wild noises and seemingly out of tune notes that all gels together.
Like many Built to Spill albums, the whole disc works like this. The sound is a bit more open and ringing, dare I say orchestral than the previous album (which always felt a bit claustrophobic sounding to me). And most of the songs have multiple distinct parts. But also unlike the previous record, the songs are mostly much shorter (with “Center of the Universe”) turning in at under 3 minutes even.
“Carry the Zero” was the first song I heard by them, and it was the real impetus for me becoming a huge fan (I have put this song on so many mix tapes/CDs). “Sidewalk” continues with another fantastic, surprisingly catchy song.
“Time Trap” stars off with wild and crazy guitars and then mellows out for the verses. And I love that the super catchy chorus comes more than 3 minutes into the 5 minute song. I have about 6 or 7 favorite songs on this record, although “You Were Wrong” tops them all, with its lyrics of clichés from other songs: “You were right when you said all that glitters isn’t gold; you were right when you said all we are is dust in the wind.” Hilarious, but also right on (and amazing musically too)
“Broken Chairs” is the only long song on the disc running almost 9 minutes long. It even includes a section with a whistle solo. It’s cool that on a relatively poppy album full of super catchy songs, Doug wasn’t afraid to jam out a little bit (the song is amazing live).
[READ: October 1, 2015] Lumberjanes
I love the premise behind Lumberjanes. The Lumberjanes are a kind of Girl Scout/Wilderness Adventure group. They have been around for a long time and the Janes must follow the manual to achieve their various badges. I love the way the book is set up around an “actual” field manual from 1984 (tenth edition) which has been
Prepared for the Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for [written in] HARDCORE LADY-TYPES.
This graphic novel has received glowing reviews so I was pretty excited to read it. And for the most part I really enjoyed it. The story was funny and adventurous. And, of course it’s cool that all the lead characters are girls. My daughter (age 7) loved the book and couldn’t wait to show me the last page and wondered when the next book was out. Since she loved it I guess my opinion is irrelevant, but I didn’t love it as much as that. There were some quibbles I had with the book, but that’s mostly because I wanted it to be awesome!
The first one came on the first page. The book feels like you’ve missed a whole bunch of pages. I know all about starting in medias res and all that but it never really catches us up to the action. There’s not really a fair introduction to the story. And while you don’t really need an introduction necessarily, I feel like a great opportunity was lost in not having one.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the way the chapters were set up with the manual explaining how to get a certain badge and then the story takes a crazy method of potentially (maybe) earning that badge. (I did enjoy the Pungeon Master Badge, although I’m sure there could have been a much funnier Pun available). I also really enjoy that whenever the girls are freaked out they utter (or scream) “What the junk is that?”
The first chapter is the Up All Night Badge in which you learn what goes bump in the night. The girls encounter all manner of supernatural weirdos who reveal the message “Beware the kitten holy.” This message (the subtitle of the book) runs throughout the story, but with no attempt at all to explain it (presumably that’s saved for later books).
The second chapter is the Naval Gauging Badge in which the girls encounter a river monster and lose their Counselor, Jen (who freaks out of course)..
Chapter Three is the Everything Under the Sum Badge. This was not only my favorite chapter (I feel like the story really found its footing here) but it was also the section where I felt that the badge and the story really worked well together The girls go down into a cave (without their Counselor) and find all kinds of weird, ancient stuff. But they also have to use some advanced math to solve some problems (Fibonacci!)
Chapter Four is the Robyn Hood Badge (love the twist on the name). Jen takes them out looking for wild life (she’s really into it). The girls are bored until they encounter not only a yeti but also the boys from The Scouting Lads who are able to help them out of a jam (they also baked cookies). The yetis play a prominent role a bit later in the story. Especially when the Scouting lads prove to be less than honest about their motives (and their cookies).
And that all sets up excitement for the next book, whenever it comes.
One thin g that I think is weird about the book (and wish it was addressed in some kind of introduction) is that Jen, the Counselor, is a real stick in the mud (which is understandable since they are in her care, but she is not very lumberjaney) and yet, the camp owner is very much into the crazy lumbejaneyness that the girls get up to (she seems especially excited by the supernatural entity that the encounter in book one, who is never mentioned again). It’s unclear what the camp is really about. Are the supernatural things part of the camp experience or just a weird thing that happens because the camp is weird. Again, I get that more will likely be revealed later, but it’s unsettling to have so much up in the air.
And I must say that the prose in the field guide section (which I assume is meant to be read) is really poor. Perhaps it is meant to be making fun of the wooden prose of field guides, but no field guide ever had a sentence like this:
Hand and eye coordination is not only important for day-to-day activities, but can be instrumental in a Lumberjane’s experience with nature. In these modern times, the basic practices of what was once a right practice is seen more as a sport, but the Lumberjanes recognize the importance of not only the respect and care of their tools but by training with their fellow Lumberjanes they will learn to trust in not only each other, but in themselves and the skills they already possess.
Gracious, a lumberjane must also learn how to unpack needlessly complex paragraphs.
But heck, who is reading that section anyhow? The graphic novel part (with fun illustrations by Brooke Allen) leaves you absolutely wanting more.
I Just Read About That... 
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