I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: PAOLO ANGELI-Tiny Desk Concert #480 (October 20, 2015).

Paolo Angeli is kind of a one-man band.  But not in a novelty sense.  Rather, he is an accomplished guitarist who decided to modify his guitar.  First a little and then a lot.

Angeli plays a Sardinian guitar which is several steps lower (and bigger) than a traditional guitar (and is bigger accordingly).  And he has added a whole bunch of strange gadgets and toys to alter and enhance the sound.

Notable additions: a set of electronic foot pedals that allow him to play little piano pads which hit the bass strings–he can play lead guitar notes and play complex bass patterns with his feet on the same strings.  He is somehow able to make the guitar sound like an electric and an acoustic at the same time.  There are propellers in the body which make a continuous buzzing sound on the strings.  There’ even a mobile phone for a drone.  I don’t think he uses it in this show, but he jokes that in concert he takes away peoples’ phones when they don’t turn them off and he uses them in his guitar.  He also plays the strings with a bow.

Anything else?  Yes.  Crossing the center of the guitar perpendicularly are another set of “strings.”  He seems to bang on these a few times for more dissonance, and maybe they are what the propeller is playing?  There’s also a set of strings that extend from the guitar head to the base about three inches above where one normally plucks the strings.  These extra strings are primary there for bowing, but they are quite loose and make some interesting scratching sounds on the final song.  There’s also a big spring attached to the bottom for percussion.

Not all of the effects are necessarily pleasant. The buzzing of the propellers is kind of harsh and the giant spring makes some crazy noises.  But his guitar playing is rally very pretty.

Oh and he sings too.

Well, not on the first song, the 12 minute “Mascaratu.”  Although he does whistle (it’s unclear if the deep breaths that he takes are meant to be a part of the song or not).  It opens with beautiful acoustic (fairly traditional) soloing, including some nice harmonics.  And then he flicks a switch and suddenly it sounds electronic.  And you can see and hear the foot pedals at work.  And then he turns on the propeller and starts using the bow.  About 4 minutes in he starts playing chords and the song comes fully alive.  By 7 minutes, he is playing the foot pedals and a lovely acoustic melody which he then trades off for a fast bowing solo.  The song proceeds in different directions and then ends with a lovely bowed solo.

He jokes that “Corsicana” is “Tom Waits vacationing in Sardinia, singing a traditional song in his own way.”  He places a damper/washer type thing under the strings which makes all of the notes sound flat and dead and metallic–yes like Tom Waits.  The bass line is even a bit like Les Claypool.  After an interesting certainly Waitsian solo, he sings what I assume are traditional lyrics (in a traditionally high tenor).  It’s about 7 minutes long.

He asks if there is time for a short song, which proves to be the 8 minute “Brida.”  For this song he uses many items to create a “prepared guitar.” He says that a “prepared guitar comes from the prepared piano which comes from John Cage.”  He wedges all kinds of little things (like binder clips) into the strings.  The song begins as a kind of noisy, chaotic solo.  In the middle of the song he plays some really fast acoustic chords.  Then it’s back to the bow–it’s cool to watch him bowing while the bass pedals are tapping away.  Then he added the buzzing propeller sound and starts hitting the piece of wood at the bottom for percussion.  This includes hitting the big spring for that weird sound and slowly slowly bowing those top strings making a creepy sound.

Angeli is a pretty ingenious player and he is a lot of fun to watch up close–he flips switches, and turns pedals and plays barefoot.  But not everything he does sounds pretty.  And some of the sections seemed to go on a bit long.   I thought I would be fascinated by everything he did but there were times when I couldn’t tell if he was playing something or just showing off the things his guitar could do.

But he is personable and funny and certainly a likable guy.

[READ: March 11, 2016] Little Robot

I love Ben Hatke.  His drawing style is wonderfully cartoonish and cute but with the ability to go a little dark and mildly scary on a dime. He also loves to draw strange-looking aliens and creatures.  Or in this case, robots.

One thing that I thought was especially cool about this book was that there are hardly any words in it.  And there doesn’t need to be.  I kind of wish it was all done without words, but that might turn it into a different kind of story, so I think it was  good choice to include dialogue, but to keep it minimal.

The story opens on a dark night as a truck drives across a bridge.  It hits a bump and a box falls out.  The box bounces over the bridge and lands in the river.

The next morning a little girls wakes up in a trailer park.  She climbs out the window and runs off.  There’s a moment when she seems to be afraid of the kids by the school bus (and the neighbor–there’s clearly a back story here that I wonder what it’s all about–I love that about his stories–there’s stories behind them).  And then she runs down to the water.

She finds the box and opens it.  She pulls out a metal disk which turns into a robot (her reaction is wonderful).

The robot is clumsy and she helps it up–one step at a time.

Then we flash back to the warehouse, where the robot has been noted missing and a large yellow robotic retriever has been dispatched to find it.

Meanwhile the girl teaches the robot about things–birds cats, flowers.  But when the night comes, they must each return home–her to her trailer and him to the junkyard where she has been storing him.

Things seem okay, and they are becoming friends.

But the yellow robot is coming closer (and even appears to eat a cat!). And soon it is right on them!

They manage to escape, but things are suddenly different.  The robot realizes that the big robot is like him and the girl is not like him.  They are different.  And this makes her very sad.  So she locks up her new friend until the next day.

In the meantime, she tries to create some “robots” for him to interact with, but they are fragile and easily fall apart. He feels even more betrayed now.

So when the big robot comes to get him again, the robot doesn’t really know which way to go.  But the girl isn’t willing to give up.

There’s a wonderful twist at the end, when the girl is able to use her tool belt to change the power of the situation.

I love the way she comes up with ideas and that the things she uses to tun the tables then proves to be an even better ally for everyone.

It’s a delightful First Second children’s book full of Hatke’s cool illustrations.  #10yearsof01.

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