SOUNDTRACK: AMONG AUTHORS-Tiny Desk Contest # 878 (August 9, 2019)
A lot of the time when I say I haven’t heard of a band, tons of other people have.
But I’m expected to say I don’t know who Among Authors is because as of this performance they are unsigned and self-managed.
They make a kind of artful indie prog rock. Two lead guitars, a simple drum kit, and piano. All centered around pianist Ian Ketterer’s amazing voice.
Out of more than 6,000 entries to our 2018 Tiny Desk Contest, Among Authors was one of the most original bands I’d seen — so much so that we invited the group to perform as part of our Tiny Desk Contest tour in Seattle. I was even more impressed by Among Authors’ songwriting and keen, spare musicianship at that KEXP-sponsored event, so I invited them to play a Tiny Desk concert. By the time their big day came, nearly a year later, they were ready — nervous, but ready.
They play three songs, each one longer than the last.
“Radio Signals” opens with just piano and Ian Ketterer’s soaring falsetto–he sounds a bit like Ryan Lott from Son Lux. After a minute and a half Patrick Brockwell adds some gentle brushed drums and both guitarists play different intertwining melodies.
Ian Ketterer sat behind our upright piano, partially hidden by his hair and hoodie. Patrick Brockwell’s clean look provided a stark contrast, and his no-frills, perfectly placed rhythms matched his appearance. The two guitarists, Jon Livingston and Jason Ketterer (Ian’s brother), played intertwining melodies, often lifting the songs from their dimness while embracing the mystery in the lyrics.
“The Overture” opens with all of them singing oohs–they have great voices. The guitar parts are not unlike the slower parts of Explosions in the Sky–fast high notes in repeated melodies that interweave and sound amazing.
The blurb says that these songs aren’t catchy. And that’s true. These aren’t earworm pop songs. Yhey are intense and inviting. I’ve listened to this Tony Desk more than many others. It’s impressive when Brockwell hits his low drums (floor tom, I assume) how deep it is–there’s not a lot of bass in these songs so the low notes really stand out. And Ian’s voice is really quite amazing–he gives this his all.
“Lure” opens with lovely intertwining guitar lines. When the main part of the song kicks in, the thumping drums and fast piano really propel the song along. It’s fantastic. The song runs about 8 minutes with an extended instrumental outro that is dynamite.
Just to add some even more fascinating detail to this band
Nearly a dozen years ago, at 23, bandleader Ian Ketterer had open-heart surgery. Born without a thumb on his right hand and deaf in his right ear, he plays piano and sings.
I don’t know how hard it was to overcome any of that, but he (and the rest of the band) certainly did. I’m going to have to look for this CD.
[READ: August 2019] Exorsisters Vol. 1
I saw this book in the store during an Image comic book sale. I loved the title and was blown away by the art. The whole premise seemed like a lot of fun.
I love the way the story doesn’t explain the set up for several chapters, it just jumps right in at a wedding.
As a pretty redhead is about to marry a handsome blond, dude, chains comes out of the ground and pull the man into hell.
Everyone in the audience believes that she was stood up, but she saw him get grabbed by a demon.
Then we meet twin sisters Cate and Kate. Cate is prim and Kate is a rocker. Lagacé’s artwork is perfect from the start. They are distinct but similar. Her whole style is almost like an Archie comic, but less sweet. I love it.
The girls promise to investigate.
Meanwhile, we see a woman who proves to be their mom. She bets a guy in a bar that she has done something worse than he has. We don’t hear what she has done, but she clearly beat his horrible tale.
Back at the Harrow & Harrow agency, Kate makes a door to hell. It’s pretty tiny though (which Cate mocks) because she’s still a little drunk (later she makes a much prettier door).
Hell proves to be a pretty fascinating place with all kinds of cool monsters and a hilarious twist on Azphedel who did a binding spell backwards and now a six-year-old girl is possessing him.
The sisters pretty easily discover that the groom had actually made a deal with a demon and there’s a delightful comeuppance.
The end of the chapter sees Cate’s mom barge in and warn them about the end of the world.
In Chapter two Kate easily reaches into a possessed man’s mouth to pull out a devil while Cate stabs it with her hair chopstick–they are a formidable team.
Then we flash back to just what the heck is going on here. It turns out that when Cate’s father left them, Cate’s mother had no skills–no way to earn money. She couldn’t even get hired at the Magic Burger. So she took a job selling candles. But the candles were actually demonic candles and she wound up selling Cate’s soul.
Then, in a really fun twist we learn that Cate’s soul was sent to hell, but by the time she got it back, it had turned into Kate and was so different from Cate that they couldn’t be rejoined. Now there’s two of them.
The Cate/Kate dichotomy first existed when young Cate was afraid t so do something (like a roller coaster) she convinced herself she was Kate, the daring one. So she subconsciously (maybe), signed Kate when the demons came for her. That’s hwy her soul was so different and couldn’t be united. (How long did it take to think up that genius loophole for this story?).
Chapter three introduces a new aspect, Cate’s only ex-boyfriend. Cate went to a local occult shop to try to help her mom. A guy working here, called Buzz, says the store is mostly gimmicks. If she wants the real thing, she should meet her friends.
He shows her the real deal and there’s a great line form the book: “You made out on a pile of demonic texts? I said the pictures were stimulating.”
Obviously Buzz is a bad dude, but when he tries to steal Cate’s soul… oops, it’s already gone, so much revenge can happen.
But Buzz has arrived (as a fly) to tell them something important–angels are falling from the sky.
The next chapter is about a guy who sold his soul to the devil but nothing worked out the way he wanted (that’s how it goes with deals with the devil). Cate and Kate laugh at him because when they see the devil it is obviously a costume from a local shop.
But the devil turns out to actually be one of the fallen angels (Gabriel, to be exact) and he warns of the First Shadow which is coming to earth. Why now? “Why not now, it’s an eternal being time has no meaning for it.”
As the First Shadow starts to take over the world, Cate and Kate fight it–but it is too tough for them. He is just about to destroy them when their mother shows up and tells the first shadow that he promised he’d go easy on Cate and Kate.
So Cate’s mom is behind this?
The First Shadow stores them in a safe place. Whats the safest place not on earth?
Yup.
I absolutely love love love the artwork of this book. Gisèle Lagacé has such a great touch–she draws identical twins with enough distinction to make them completely different personality. They are pretty without being sexy (even in the shower scene (totally PG). Her facial expressions convey so much with so little and the whole book is so clean and pretty–there’s no confusion as to what is happening (except for deliberate authorial confusion). Even when they are swallowed up by blackness, it is still easy to see what’s going on.
There’s no word about if there’s another book, but oh my goodness do I hope there is more!
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