I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: NATE WOOD – fOUR-Tiny Desk #818 (January 16, 2019).

This Tiny Desk opens with a flurry of keyboard noise followed by a flurry of rums.  When the camera pulls back we see that all of that noise is made by one person–Nate Wood (who also starts playing bass after about a minute),

I have seen a number of one man (and woman) bands over the years and it is always amazing to watch.

Unlike some of them though, Nate Wood doesn’t loop anything   He’s playing live drums and live bass at the same time.  And his drumming is not standard snare-bass, he’s got a lot of (relatively) complex percussion going on.

His bass playing is also really solid–using only one hand while he plays drums.  Again, it’s not simple two chord melodies, he’s doing proper bass lines.  The synth notes do appear to be on a kind of trigger, but he is actually playing most of the notes, in between drum hits.  Watch around the three-minute mark of “Rabbit,” while he plays the bass with his left hand, hits the snare and cymbals with his right hand and taps out melodies on the keys with that same hand.  His feet meanwhile are stomping out the bass drum and hi-hat (and there must be some kind of foot pedal switch involved).  And the amazing thing is how effortless he looks.

“Rabbit” is an instrumental, but he introduces the next song by saying, “This one is called ‘Better if You Try’ and there will now be singing (!)”.

So who is this guy?

Nate Wood says he only wishes he had more limbs, noting only the limitations of his physical body, rather than his ability to multitask. In his latest project, Nate Wood – fOUR, Wood’s brain splits attention between four synthesizers, an electric bass and a drum kit, all while singing about futurism. He’s his own engineer and roadie, too, who drove himself from Brooklyn to our D.C. office and quietly set up his gear, alone.

His setup is made possible through a long road of ergonomic trial-and-error that includes the precise height of the keyboards, the instrument sequencing and a wearable microphone to minimize physical demand and maximize as many possibilities as he can fit within arm’s reach of a drum throne. It’s a feat of ingenuity, especially considering Wood plays all of fOUR’s tunes in one take. No backing tracks. No overdubs.

“Better If You Try” has a cool bass riff and echoing keys.  It must be said that his singing isn’t anything special, and I find myself tuning out while enjoying the music.

I have to disagree with the final paragraph of the blurb:

But while it’s a thrill to see the multi-instrumentalist wizardry here, his music is perhaps best appreciated with eyes closed. Nate Wood pulls us into an industrial, neon dystopia with tunes that stand alone as headphone music without the accompanying visuals, meticulously crafted and with precise execution. This isn’t novelty music. You’re hearing (and seeing) a mastermind songwriter and mad scientist at work. Just look at that lab coat!

I don’t find his music all that compelling by itself.  I do love the excellent echoing electronic sounds from his bass on the final song.  And I do like the more sinister edge “They’re Coming” gets.  Thematically, “They’re Coming” is interesting enough, but the lyrics are sci-fi standard and when I listened without watching I kept thinking–how is he doing that?

[READ: January 18, 2019] New Shoes

It’s funny that I read this book right after Peter & Ernesto because while they are very different, they share an amazing number of similarities.

This book is set in a fictional, animal-dominated version of Guyana.  The epilogue says that Sara and John visited Johns’ family in Guyana where she took hundreds of pictures as inspiration.  You even see the house that inspired her main character Francis’ own house.

Francis is a shoemaker–he always wanted to be one.  And he is hugely successful.  People come from all over for his amazing shoes.

I love that Varon includes some socially responsible messages about shopping without making it a specific point.  Francis uses the finest coconut wood for soles and the uppers are made from wild tiger grass which he purchases from his neighbor Nigel, a squirrel monkey.

We learn about the production of shoes (in the credits she thanks a shoemaker from Doylestown, and apologizes for not using more details that she learned.

Soon enough, Francis get a special request.  An order comes in for Miss Manatee. Miss Manatee is a famous singer and happens to be Francis’ hero.  Holy cow is he honored and excited.

The next day he goes to get some grass from Nigel, but Nigel is missing.  It always takes Nigel a few days to get the grass, but he should have been back by now.  Frances decides to go look for Nigel.

And he is accompanied by a macaw (just like Peter in Peter & Ernesto)

They set out on their journey complete with food and a book Animals of the new world (tropics).  Francis refers to this throughout the story as he meets new creatures including a capybara, a river otter and a tapir(!) which is nicer than the one Peter met.  The field guide contains realistic pictures of the animals (in other words nothing at all like Varon’s fun drawings).  These were done by George Boorujy.

The capybara teach Francis to swim (gotta take those shoes off first) and then they meet Sister toucan.  She tells them that Nigel was caught in a trap by the bush dogs (which the book says are carnivorous).

As they walk through the jungle the book helpfully labels all the animals they see black curassow, golden-handed tamarin, hoatzins, and a kinkajou.  The kinkajou teaches them all about the fruits they can eat in the jungle.  This part was so informative to me.  For instance, I did not know that the cashew nut actually grew on an edible fruit.  I’ve also never heard about the foul-smelling but delicious stinking toe or soursops or starapples.

But it’s not all friendly creatures in the jungle and as our friends flee an anaconda they run into a sloth (nether Ernesto nor Peter).  This sloth plays by actual sloth rules and is very very slow.  But he is helpful in pointing out where Nigel is tied up.

As they find Nigel, three animals come up behind them which makes Francis and Rosa pass out.  The animals pick up the field guide and look at pictures of themselves: (jaguar, wild hog, howler monkey) and they crack up at how they weird they look in the book).

When they wake up, Loretta the jaguar (which is called a tiger there) invites them to her house and shows of her wild tiger grass (which she named after herself).  When Francis slips that his shoes are made of this grass they realize that Francis and Rosa are connected to Nigel.  Trouble ensues.

What has Nigel done to make them so mad?  Are they all in trouble now?  And what about Miss Manatee?

Fortunately the Jaguar is a fan too.  But how is a manatee supposed to wear a shoe?

This is a sweet children;s book and the resolution is easy but funny

Sara Varon makes wonderful books and this is a delightful addition to her work–the tropical setting is a terrific expansion of her normal palate, as well.