SOUNDTRACK: LO MOON-Tiny Desk Concert #688 (January 5, 2018).
WXPN has been playing “This is It” quite a bit lately and I’ve realized that it sounds way too much like Mr. Mister (I think it’s Mr. Mister, or something else cloyingly 80s) for me to really enjoy. [Speaking of Mr. Mister, how is it possible that Pat Mastelotto, currently touring with King Crimson, was the drummer for Mr. Mister? Are they better than “Broken Wings.” There’s hardly any drums in that song at all and Mastelotto is awesome].
Anyhow back to the history of Lo Moon, lead singer and instrumentalist Matt Lowell says he created the song “Loveless” 5 1/2 years ago in a basement studio in New York.
He then moved to Los Angeles and linked up with Crisanta Baker (guitar, bass, keyboards and backing vocals) and multi-instrumentalist and principal guitarist Sam Stewart. They spent months in a backyard shed with gear and guitars everywhere. There they learned to feed off each other, sometimes jamming on two-chord drones for six hours straight without even saying a word. With the lights turned down, it was a comfortable space for the band to catch its artistic wind and create a celestial sound.
No word on when Sterling Laws was added as a drummer.
The show starts with “This is It.” Lowell is on piano, and the song sounds pretty faithful to the recording. It’s the combination of the four note melody and the synth sound of those four notes at the end of the chorus that really rings Mr. Mister to me. The addition of the backing vocals (ahhhing) is a nice addition to the song.
For “Real Love” Chrisanta switches to piano, Sam switches to acoustic guitar and Matt goes to electric guitar. He plays a pretty melody on the guitar, but I can’t help feel that his voice is too soft, too middle of the road.
The same is true for “Loveless.” They switch back to the original instruments. Like “Real Love” it’s a pretty song, but ironically, without those Mr. Mister notes, there’s really no hook. The songs just sound like pretty, generic songs on some kind of soft rock station.
[READ: September 9, 2017] Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training
I enjoyed the first Pip Bartlett book. It was funny and had a good time with magical creatures.
In the first book we find out that Pip Bartlett is a young girl who can speak to magical creatures–unicorns, silky griffins, fuzzles–but no one believes her (because no one else can). This is a drag because she loves magical creatures and her Aunt Emma is a veterinarian of magical creatures (people know magical creatures exits, they just don’t think people can talk to them).
Pip loves Unicorns and in the past has assisted Mr Henshaw with a very timid Unicorn–Regent Maximus–who was afraid of his own shadow.
I love the tone of the books. This one opens: I was shoveling Greater Rainbow Mink poop. This wasn’t as bad as you might think. Greater Rainbow Minks only eat brunt sugar, so their poop literally smells like candy. (It’s NOT candy, of course, It’s very important to remember that no matter how good its smells, it’s still poop).
And then we see (or actually we don’t see) a Rockshine who can only say the word Hey, but most often says “Heyyyyyyyyyyy!” Rockshines are dull sheeplike creatures who turn invisible when frightened–which is often.
But this is just an introduction before the all-important 34th Annual Triple Trident. Pip and Tomas (who is allergic to magical creatures but is always prepared with a backpack full of medicines and ointments) are super excited to get to the Triple Trident–the competition for all things magical. Pip and Tomas are ready to help out with the Glimmerbeasts. But when they arrive they discover that Regent Maximus is actually entered. And that’s not good.
The book has illustrations as the previous one did. On one page is “the ideal unicorn and how to spot him” and he is a regal beast. On the following page is a picture of Regent Maximus and How to Spot Him–a poor, hunched over creature with his lovely tail tucked between his legs (and nervous farting).
Regent Maximus is possibly more unsettled than he was before. And being in public with a competition going on and a ton of other creatures nearby? Oh boy. Regent Maximus is not doing well at all. “I HEAR DEATH CALLING MY NAME!”
Regent Maximus is so freaked out that he takes off. And the only way that Pip can stop him is by blindfolding him with a mans’s scarf. It turns out that that man is Prince Temujin of Galatolia. Pip knows that Galatolia has the five largest endangered magical creatures on it. Callie (Pip’s cousin) is interested in Prince Temujin too. Not because of the magical beasts but because he is a prince And as soon as she hears that Pip has encountered him, she gets all made up –dressed to impress. It’s a little upsetting to Pip that Temujin is a judge as Regent Maximus has not made a good first impression.
After the incident with the Prince, Pip is now on Regent Maximus watch (sorry Glimmerbeats) and the things she does to keep him calm are pretty hilarious.
But things quickly grow urgent when there’s the possibility that Regent Maximus’ owner might sell him–Pip believes that if Regent doesn’t perform, his owner may be disappointed and want to get rid of him. And so, Regent must do well! If he can only stop being a afraid if the color blue first.
Obviously, Regent Maximus is not show material, but Pip is able to calm him enough that he can make it around the ring once or twice without galloping away–progress! But then bad things start happening to the other unicorns. Someone has begun cutting off their majestic tails. Obviously this is bad for the competition, but it’s also bad for the psyche of the unicorns (and their owners). I love that the unicorns are still utterly vain: they look at themselves and say “I’m so beautiful. I’m number one,” and just repeat their names to themselves over and over.
There are several suspects of course–the other competitors in the Trident (but who would do such a thing to animals they love?). What about Mr Henshaw? He could be trying to make Regent Maximus look good?
Pip might have to rely on the blank birds. This creature I thought was very clever and it is a good plot suggestion as well–blank birds have photographic memory and can project anything they have seen onto another birds white breast–mostly food of course–but occasionally something or someone important.
I have to admit that I liked the first book a little better–the mystery/crisis was a bit more substantial. This book had a ton of funny things in it but overall it was a little less satisfying somehow (and I really don’t love the drawings, I find them odd in some way). I assume there will be a third book and I am certainly prepared to read it because this is a really fun universe to be in. I just hope that there’s more at stake than a gold ribbon.
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