I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GUARDS-Tiny Desk Concert #290 (July 29, 2013).

Guards play a simple, almost naïve, kind of pop music.  I’d almost call it bubblegum.  Particularly in the lyrics: “I wanna build a happy home a home for you and me…I wanna live for ever I don’t care.”

The blurb explains:

Guards’ music captures the pop sound of the late ’50s and early ’60s, but with more power and polish. It’s hard not to hear a bit of Buddy Holly’s melody and spirit — think 1958’s “Rave On” — when you hear Guards play “Silver Lining,” the first song in this Tiny Desk Concert.

I also found this factoid interesting:

I also hear a contemporary band like Cults, a band inspired by ’60s dreaminess and power pop, when I hear Guards. When I first saw this group in concert, I was struck by its physical similarity to Cults: a whole lot of long black hair, for starters, with a man and woman at the front of each band. It all made sense when I learned that Richie Follin of Guards and Madeline Follin of Cults are brother and sister, and that Richie played guitar in Cults for a bit. In fact, the first set of songs he wrote and demoed were meant for Cults.

I found all three songs to be fairly similar. I really like the guitar line of the first song, “Silver Lining” which yes, is quite Buddy Holly-esque.  I also like that the woman (no names given, sadly) is playing some kind of electronic contraption that’s generating twinkles and other effects [I see that it’s called a Qchord].

“Not Supposed To” has a similarly simple poppy melody, although it’s a little slower (switching the lead instrument from guitar to keyboards also softens the sound).  I really like the backing vocals on this song–it really flashes it out.

Richie Follin also seems really nice and cheerful and his voice is quite clean.  Before the final song he says that John needs his coffee first, and then John starts playing the opening keyboard notes of  “Coming True.”  It’s a straightforward love song, simple and pretty.

Guards are pretty much a poppier, sweeter version of Cults.  It would be a fun double bill.

[READ: June 16, 2016] Lucky Penny

Sarah brought this book home and I was instantly drawn to the art style on the cover (and the fact that it was by Oni Press).

This is the funny story of a young adult named Penny who has the worst luck imaginable.

As the book opens she gets fired. This means that she has to move out of her apartment.  Even the soda machine won’t give her a soda.

She decides to move into her roommate’s storage unit (her roommate is moving and was going to sell the unit, but it’s much cheaper too live there than to pay rent).  Even if it is against the rules.  The only things she still has to her name are a grandfather clock (what a pain to move) and her grandmother’s steamy romance novel collection (I love that she arranged it according to hotness).

Her roommate’s parents own a laundromat and Penny asks if she can get a job there.  She shows up but the only person there is her roommate’s younger brother David. And he is a cold unwelcoming figure (and he’s only 11 1/2).   He says she can’t have a job because he doesn’t like her. With some cajoling, he changes his mind and gives her the job.

Living in a storage facility isn’t all it’s cracked up to be–no facilities, no running water, no heat.  (And apparently people are trying to break into her unit, as well).  But at least a cat has come to stay with her.

Despite Penny’s bad luck she is a very funny character and not afraid to bust the chops of David (when she does her laundry during the day David freaks out that she is in her underwear but she proudly parades in front of him as he cowers).

Once she realizes that the bad smell is not her clothes, it is actually her, she decides to go to the local gym and sneak in to use the shower.  The guy monitoring the door is kind of a dork named Walter.  She decides that she can flirt with him to get into the gym.

This actually leads to a date–she shows him her amazing “room”–and they have a pretty good time. Walter is very shy and won’t make any moves, but they do seem to enjoy themselves despite both being convinced they messed up the date.

On their next date they go to Walter’s house where he is the Dungeon Master for a bunch of littler kids.  She is game to play but she is no good at it and her bad luck follows as she continually rolls ones.

Her bad luck also seems to be rubbing off on Walter in unexpectedly funny ways (well, not funny to him).

After some time, Penny wants to know if Walter is serious about her or if he thinks of her as just another one of the girls he hangs around with (he has a bunch of girl friends who ‘adopted’ him in high school and kept in touch during college).  At last one admits she had a crush on him but he never did anything.  So when Walter uses the G word to describe Penny, she needs to know if he’s serious.

Things go a little askew when she learns who is trying to break into her room.  And later we learn exactly why David hates Penny so much (they have a history).

And then, unexpectedly, there’s a pretty intense brawl in the laundry room which involves mini ninjas and a woman who is much stronger than she looks (a nice call back to an earlier joke).  The fight scene is a little weird and out of the blue and even a little hard to follow but it’s a fun addition.

The story has a lot of humor (even on the page after the last page).  The art style (by Yuko) is wonderfully fun–reminiscent of Faith Erin Hicks or Scott Pilgrim–big bold fun lines.  The book is black and white and it works well in this format.

I enjoyed this a lot and look forward to more from each of them.