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Archive for the ‘Dogs’ Category

Justin Taylor–“After Ellen” (New Yorker, August 13 & 20, 2012)

Posted in Dogs, Justin Taylor, Kiss, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Travel, Unlikable main character on August 23, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Revenge (1992).

Having not learned from Creatures of the Night, this time when I blew off Kiss for a few years, they came out with Revenge, a very heavy, very aggressive album.  It’s certainly one of their best post-70s albums.  I didn’t pick it up until many years later, so I never got to appreciate it to its fullest extent.  And I really like it.  But in typical Kiss fashion it is marred by a few truly ghastly songs.  Ghastly in and of themselves, but also ghastly because they do not belong anywhere near this album.

The band was having a hard time by 1992.  Eric Carr died in 1991, and that had to be pretty rough (even for the businessmen of Kiss).  Nevertheless, they regrouped with a new drummer, Eric Singer (who is blond, for god’s sake!) and came up with an album that fit in more with the aggressive alt sound of the early 90s.  It opens with “Unholy” a heavy dark song, very much like early Kiss (and interestingly co written with Vinnie Vincent, although he doesn’t play on the record).  This is the kind of aggressive song that Gene is meant to sing.  “Take It Off” is a cheesy song about going to strip clubs.  Kiss seems to live in the world of metaphor, so this very explicit song is quite shocking from them—even if the content is no surprise at all.  And Paul’s voice doesn’t seem to work with the music very well.  Although in a rare twist for Kiss, the slow middle section is actually pretty good.  “Tough Love” sounds like a very different style of Kiss–it’s all minor key and menacing.  This is especially odd for a Paul song.  It’s a respectable change of style.

“Spit” is another really weird Kiss song.  The guitar is very rough and raw—almost industrial.  But having Gene sing “It don’t mean spit to me” seems like a total cop out.  Of course, when the bridge comes in and Paul actually sings “the bigger the cushion the better the pushing” which is literally a Spinal Tap lyric (and given all the groupie photos I’ve ever seen, completely untrue) the song hits rock bottom.  The chorus “I need a whole lotta woman” actually makes it worse.  Although the odd solo section in which Gene scat-sings along with the solo is pretty wild.

“God Gave Rock and Roll to You II” may be an anthem and may have been Kiss’ biggest hit in years, but I think it’s pretty awful.  Kiss doesn’t need yet another song about rock n roll being awesome.  Although they sound very good in the little Beatles-esque breakdown near the end.

“Domino” is a popular song still, and it’s got that old school swagger.  I happen to dislike Gene’s lascivious opening and frankly, the lyrics are really, really gross.  I mean, sure, he wants to sleep with young girls, but you’re 43 and she “ain’t old enough to vote.”  Couldn’t you just make her 22 and make us all feel a lot less queasy?  I mean in “Goin’ Blind,” you were 93 and she was 16, but somehow that doesn’t seem as gross.  “Heart of Chrome” (also co written by Vinnie Vincent) is a fast rocker—another odd one for Paul (this whole album feels like it should be sung by Gene), but Paul works it very well.  “Thou Shalt Not” is mildly blasphemous and kind of interesting (Gene was born in the promised land!).

“Every Time I Look at You” is the obligatory ballad.  It sounds so crazily out of place on this heavy disc.  And it’s a pretty typical metal ballad of the time.  “Paralyzed” is an example of how Kulick’s wild soloing fits with the heavy sound of the album—it’s noisy and rough like the songs themselves. Of course the actual song, a near the end of the album track by gene, is pretty much filler.  But it’s good filler.

The end of the album has the stupid, but fun “I Just Wanna.”  I hate that the vocal melody is ripped straight out of “Summertime Blues.”  And it’s got a “naughty” chorus straight out of 7th grade—”I just wanna Fuh I just wanna Fuh I just wanna Forget you.” Okay, it is kind of fun to sing that part.  “Carr Jam 1981” is an instrumental jam that is dominated by Eric Carr’s drum solo.  It’s nice tribute to Eric (even if they did have Bruce record over Ace’s original guitar work).

I hadn’t really listened to this album all that much, but I found that when I listened to it again recently (aside from those three or four bad songs) it was a really good, rocking album.

[READ: August 13, 2012] “After Ellen”

This is a story about an asshole.  And that is deliberate.

The title is “After Ellen” and the first 8 or so paragraphs are all about what a cowardly shit Scott is.  He doesn’t want to get too serious with Ellen.  They have already picked up stakes from Long Island and moved to Portland together.  But he knew an evil seed was planted when they got there.  And so, on the day after they talked about adopting a dog, he packed all of his things into their shared car and just left.  While she was at work.  Giving her no warning.  And now, leaving her with no ride home.

How is it possible that one would want to read any more about this guy?  Perhaps to see if he gets a comeuppance or to see if he changes his mind (although one hopes that Ellen would never take him back after that).  But Taylor is a good writer and I want to read on.

He heads south to stay with his sister in Los Angeles–unannounced of course.  But he stops in San Francisco to rest for the night.  He checks his phone for the first time in two days.  Ellen called 16 times and has gone from pleading to rage. There’s also messages from his parents (who are going to cut him off if he doesn’t call) and from Andy, a college friend from Portland who says he is a shit for taking the car–how is Ellen supposed to get to work?  He texts Alan who immediate writes back and says to never even think about Ellen again.

After he settles in, he had deliberately avoided checking his past life, but when he finally logs into Facebook he sees that Ellen has not unfriended him (she was always a lazy Facebooker).  And her most recent post is Fffrrryyydddaaayyy (and five people “like It).  But Andy has unfriended him and Andy’s new profile picture is of him and Ellen.

And here’s where I say the asshole part of the story is deliberate.  (more…)

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Sara Varon–Bake Sale (2011)

Posted in Canadian Music, Cook Book, Corb Lund, Cupcakes, Dogs, First Second :01, Food, Funny (ha ha), Sara Varon, Short Books, Travel on July 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CORB LUND-“Dig Gravedigger Dig” (2012).

I’m not what you’d call a country music fan.  There’s a lot of reasons for this.  But most of the reasons have little to do with the music itself–some of which (the faster honkier tonkier stuff) I rather like.  Corb Lund is a Canadian country singer who I’ve heard of but don’t know anything about.

This song is a honky tonking, harmonica stomping, group singing song about digging graves.

This is the kind of country I could get used to. Whoo!

[READ: July 19, 2012] Bake Sale

Why not follow a cookbook with a book about cooking.  Bake Sale is a graphic novel about a cupcake who makes cupcakes.  He is friends with an eggplant and all of the residents of his Brooklyn neighborhood come into buy his wonderful baked goods (a bag of sugar loves his brownies and an egg gets coffee every morning).  Cupcake is also in a band with his friends: bagel on banjo, pear on bass, egg on horn, eggplant on trombone.

(After I read it, Sarah pointed out how odd it is that all of the characters are foodstuffs, and that the bag of sugar is eating something that contains sugar.  I noticed that (how could you not?) but I allowed for some cognitive dissonance I think).

Turns out that Eggplant’s Aunt Aubergine knows Turkish Delight, the famous chef.  And Eggplant is traveling to Turkey to visit Aunt Aubergine.  Cupcake would love to meet Turkish Delight, but he can’t afford an airplane ticket.  So cupcake has a choice to make–work longer hours and quit the band or simply not meet his idol.

Cupcake decides to work extra hours.  But not in his shop–he begins selling his cupcakes (and more) on the street.  I enjoyed his table laden with themed items (for a boxing match, for the blessing of the animals at the cathedral, and even dog biscuits for the Westminster dog show). (more…)

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Gordon Grice–Deadly Kingdom: The Book of Dangerous Animals (2010)

Posted in Africa, Animals, Birds, Cats, David Sedaris, Death, Disease, Dogs, Essays, Fears, Fishing, Gordon Grice, History, Hunting, Monkeys, Pets, Plague, Religion, Russia, Scientists, The Flaming Lips, Threats, Travel, Violence, Yuck! on July 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Due to High Expectations…The Flaming Lips are Providing Needles for Your Balloons EP (1994).

This EP came after the success of Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and the single “She Don’t Use Jelly.”  Naturally that is not the single here, rather it is “Bad Days,” a new song tha sounds of the period.  As does “Jets Part 2 (My Two Days As An Ambulance Driver)” a fuzzed out trip.

“Ice Drummer” is a primarily acoustic but still distorted song.  It’s kind of boppy and light which is odd since it is a cover of a Suicide song.   “Put the Waterbug in the Policeman’s Ear’ is a demo with strings and piano.  It also has a very lengthy introduction in which Wayne explains his brother’s proclivity for drugs and his belief that he can control bugs (and have them attack the policeman who is trying to arrest him).  It was recorded on a boombox.

“Chewin’ the Apple of Yer Eye” is a live version recorded at a record studio.  It has nice guitars with scritchy violins.  “Chosen One” is a cover of a Bill Callahan song at the same venue.  There’s a lengthy introduction explaining that it’s a cover and why he likes it so much.  It’s a nice version, very stripped down.  “Little Drummer Boy” is a travesty, but a good one (and is 1,000 times better than their version of “White Christmas.)”

“Slow-Nerve-Action” is a live version apparently broadcast on a Top 40 radio station.  The squall of noise as the song opens would frighten off anyone listening to Top 40, but the middle of the song’s acoustic section is rather pleasant (if not a little scratchy and staticky).  Although this EP racks in at 44 minutes long, it’s really not that essential (although the live versions are nice).

[READ: May-July 2012] Deadly Kingdom

If you have any kind of animal phobias–literally any kind: snakes, sharks, spider, rodents, bugs, stay away from this book.  Indeed, even if you don’t have this kind of phobia, you may after reading this book.  As the title says, this book tells you every single conceivable way that an animal can kill you–from biting to clawing to stomping to crushing to infections to diseases to parasites to long lingering diseases to numbness to elephantiasis (and that’s just chapter 1).  Somehow the author is not afraid of everything that moves, and is even a collector (with his wee son) of all manner of unusual creepy crawlies–tarantulas, hissing cockroaches and the like.

Sarah bought me this book for my birthday because David Sedaris recommended it when we saw him speak.  When Sedaris read from it, it was funny but dark.  Sedaris’ comment that “Monkeys are such assholes “was certainly borne out by the book.  Sedaris’ other comment–if you ever feel bad about eating meat, just read this book–is also completely accurate.  Even cows can be assholes.  This book is hard to digest in large doses.  I found that I had to put the book down after a section or two because there’s only so much you-will-die-if-you-do-this reading that I could take.

Grice has done a ton of research–he has looked into all manner of medical and death records and talked to lots of scientists around the world.  And he breaks the book into five major categories: The Carnivorids, Aquatic Dangers, The Reptiles and Birds, The Arthropods and Worms and Other Mammals.  The introduction more or less explains his origin story for being interested in deadly animals–a cougar was on his Oklahoma panhandle property when he was six years old.  His grandfather dispatched it, but he had to stay safely in the car during the ordeal.  And he has been curious ever since.

The introduction also contextualizes the violence that animals do to humans.  Is it all defensive (as we take over more and more land, it’s hard to know exactly what is defensive) or is it straight out aggressive. But he says the hardest part about this kind of descriptor is that “besides our usual biased views of all the parties involved, is that violence rouses strong emotions.  We are almost forced to take sides with the injured humans or the slandered animals….  Many writers depict virtually all animal attacks as “provoked” by the victim.  On the other side, some writers are at pains to paint dangerous animals as monsters of cruelty.  All of these views are simplistic.” (xxiii). (more…)

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Margaret Atwood–I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth (2012)

Posted in Bad Company, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Death, Dogs, Ghosts, Kathleen Edwards, Margaret Atwood, Marriage Trouble, Short Story, The Walrus, Tom Petty on June 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KATHLEEN EDWARDS-Voyageur (2012).

This is Kathleen Edwards’ latest album.  And every time I listen to it, it gets better.  Her songwriting has reached amazing heights.  The lyrics are wonderful and the melodies are just outstanding.  “Empty Threat” (“I’m moving to America…it’s an empty threat), opens the disc with a bouncy acoustic guitar and, eventually, a full band.  The lyrics for “Chameleon/Comedian” are wonderful: the juxtaposition between these two ideas is just amazing—each verse gets more complex.  I would quote them, but the whole song is great.  And, amazingly, the “I don’t need a punchline” is easy to sing along to as well.  “Soft Place to Land” is a nice ballad—a full band that never gets overwhelmed by any of the instruments—the violin adds a nice texture as do the military drums mid way through.  “Change the Sheets” is one of my favorite songs of the year.  It starts out slow, with simple guitars and more great lyrics.  As it builds (of course it builds) it grows into an amazing bridge/chorus that just dares you not to tap your feet.

“House Full of Empty Rooms” is like a minor palate cleanser before “Mint.”  “Mint” opens like a classic 70s rock song (Bad Company or Tom Petty), but she brings in her unique voice and phrasings and changes the song into something very different.  But again, that chorus–how can you not sing along to the catchy/voice-breaking chorus after the minor key verses?  The tension builds wonderfully.  “Sidecars” is a fun poppy track (“You and I will be sidecars, we chase down the hard stuff”).

“Pink Champagne” is a five-minute piano ballad.  It’s more akin to her earlier more country songs.  It’s a wee bit long but never overstays itself.  It’s followed by “Going to Hell,” which features some great screaming guitars in the midst of more delicate singing.  “For the Record” closes the album with a seven minute slow burner.  It begins quietly, and builds and builds–never the ecstatic heights–but with a chorus that is as catchy as it is mournful.

I have this CD in my car and every time it comes up, i just can’t stop listening.

[READ: June 18,2012] I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth

I received this limited (autographed!) chapbook from The Walrus when I re-subscribed recently.  That’s pretty cool.  It has been sitting around because I thought it was a much longer piece.  When I received the latest issue of The Walrus, and saw that the same story was in there, well, I realized that this was just a short story and could be polished off pretty quickly.  The issue of The Walrus also told me that this story is a kind of follow-up to The Robber Bride.

I have never read The Robber Bride (I like Atwood quite a lot and yet have never read her most iconic books!).  So I would never have known that this was a sequel (of sorts).  As I said, I don’t know The Robber Bride, (and hope to read it maybe this year).  I don’t know exactly how it ties to the novel (the first line of the Wikipedia entry tells me that the three main characters are the same), and given the tone of the story, I assume it is simply catching up on them some twenty-five years later.

In this story, Claris, Tony and Roz (who are all women, I didn’t realize that right away) are going for their weekly walk in the woods together (because it’s good for you and Roz hopes to increase their cellular autophagic rates).  Tony and Roz bought (from a shelter) a dog for Claris called Ouida.  Ouida is a wild terrier mix (who hops on Roz’s orange coat and leaves footprints).

It quickly becomes apparent that Claris is something of a hippy—organic, vegetarian, communing with spirits and whatnot.  Claris just had a dream about Zenia.  Zenia (who I assume is in The Robber Bride, because why wouldn’t she be), was a woman from their past.  She stole a man from each one of them—with varying outcomes in each woman’s case.  Zenia died about twenty years ago but she has come back, Claris believes, to tell her about Billy. (more…)

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Louise Erdrich–“Nero” (New Yorker, May 7, 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Ani DiFranco, Dogs, Louise Erdrich, New Yorker, Pets, Short Story, Violence on May 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ANI DIFRANCO-“Hearse” (2012).

I used to really like Ani DiFranco.  Back in the 90s, she was a personal hero of independent spirit–self releasing records, gaining a huge fan base (while living in Buffalo(?)), speaking her mind, and basically not kowtowing to the man.  And all along she was making great music–folky yes, but also alternativey, with rebellious, fighting lyrics.

Then at the dawn of 2000, I lost interest in her.  I didn’t enjoy the kind of music she was making anymore.  She seemed to be writing much longer compositions (not a good sign for a girl from the punk side of the tracks.  And her arrangements were growing bigger and bigger.  The occasional funk jam was fine, but once she started really letting her experimental side go, her songs were buried by smooth sounds.  And they were hard to listen to.  Especially since as she started embracing more interesting sonic sounds and textures, she seems to relax her grip on melody.  Her early songs were easy to sing along to but by 2005, mmm, not so much.

The funny thing to think about is that once you stop listening to an artist, you kind of think they must stop making music.  But that’s not the case, most of the time.  So imagine my surprise to see that since the last Ani album I listened to, she has released eight new ones!  This track comes from her most recent album, Which Side Are You On?  I can’t speak to the content of the rest of the album, but this song is a pretty ballad.

It’s a romantic song, even if her metaphors aren’t so pretty and romantic after all (hence the title).  But for some reason this song just doesn’t grab me.  It has all of the elements of Ani DiFranco songs of old, but it doesn’t make me want to sing along.

But the most surprising thing for me is just how different she looks in that picture (from NPR).  It’s not that she looks older or has grown her hair out, she looks completely different.  I don’t see anything of her old self in this photo.  That’s bizarre!

[READ: May 11, 2012] “Nero”

Warning (but not spoiler), there’s a dog death in this story.

This story shows us a world that (I assume) doesn’t exist much anymore.  It’s full of Midwesterners (of German descent) from many years ago when certain things were done a certain way and roles were very strictly defined.

The narrator is a woman and the story is set during her childhood.  She was sent to go live with her grandparents while her mother was having a new baby.  They figured she’d be there a couple weeks so her mother could adjust.  Her grandparents run a butcher shop and market; they live upstairs.  As the story opens, the narrator tells us about Nero, the attack dog who lives in the backyard, but “works” in the store at night.

She also explains How It Is in the house.  Nero is an employee.  He is not treated with kindness.  He is fed scraps and lives outside.  The other dogs who live inside are there to keep the humans feet warm.  The other animals outside are meat, except for the chickens, which provide eggs and then become meat.  That is How It Is.

The story settles on the narrator’s attempts to bond (somewhat) with Nero.  She begins feeding him gingersnaps and saying the word aloud.  And Nero starts to respond to the word.  But Nero is pretty much feral.  And Nero’s man enjoyment in life stems from leaping the (now) seven-foot fence and running down the street to get to the Cocker Spaniel. (more…)

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David Sedaris–Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (2011)

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Animals, David Sedaris, Death, Dogs, Geddy Lee, Humiliation, Ian Falconer, Marriage Trouble, Matt Groening, Neil Peart, Rush, Sex, Short Books, This American Life, Violence, Yuck! on April 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-“Headlong Flight” (2012).

A new single from Rush came out on Thursday.  And it’s seven minutes long!  Yeeha!  It’s also really heavy.

It opens with a cool bass riff and then thundering guitars.  This song continues in the heavier, grungier sound from Vapor Trails.  The middle section sounds distinctly Rush (late 80s style), and Geddy’s voice hits some pretty high notes.

There’s a brief extra section with a spoken word part–I’ve not been able to make out what it says, but the instruments (especially the great guitar sound) is fantastic behind it.  That’s followed by a great solo from Alex (that hearkens back to his wild solos from the 70s).  Geddy throws some cool bass fills–although he’s not showing off as much as he might).  And, of course, Neil is doing some cool drum things through the song–little fills and whatnot–and he sounds like he’s pounding the hell out of the drums.

Here’s the video

[READ: April 14, 2012] Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

As I mentioned yesterday, I bought a book to have David Sedaris sign it, but decided the wait wasn’t worth it.  This is the book I bought.  It very excitedly claims to “with one new story” which I thought was funny both in itself and also because I hadn’t read any of the other ones (I gather they are from This American Life, although they’re mostly too vulgar to have read on the radio).  It also has illustrations from Ian Falconer, who is the guy behind Olivia, the children’s book series.

Anyone who has read David Sedaris essays knows what to expect–funny, presumably exaggerated stories about his family and loved ones.  Indeed, the stories that he read from during the show were just that–dark and funny and about his loved ones.  So imagine my surprise to find that these were all short fictional stories about animals!  No Sedaris’ are harmed in this book.

All of the animals are behaving like people, so Sedaris’ caustic wit and attacks on hypocrisy are all in play.  However, because they are animals, Sedaris can go much much further with them.  Matt Groening said that he could get away with a lot more social criticism because The Simpsons were cartoons; the same applies here.  Indeed, these are some of the darkest stories that I have ever read from Sedaris.

Some of them are kinda funny, but most of them left me mildly bemused at best.  Because while they seem to be a kind of laugh-at-the-recognition-of-our-foolish-behavior (as done by animals), really they are preachy and seem generally disappointed in us.   And who wants to read that?  It basically seemed like an opportunity for Sedaris to make fun of things that he doesn’t like about people.  But he knew it would be obnoxious to makes stories about people acting that way, so he made them animals instead.  And perhaps he thought that would make it funnier.  At times this was true, but not very often. (more…)

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Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer–“Laikas” (Significant Objects, April 26, 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Dogs, Huh?, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Los Campesinos!, Significant Objects on March 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOS CAMPESINOS! We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed (2008).

This is Los Campesinos! second disc in a year (after the smashing success of their debut).

The disc opens with a blast in “Make It Through the Walls”–great male and female shared vocals as well as gang screamed vocals; and by the end: violins.  It’s like the Los Campesinos! catalog packed into four minutes.  It’s followed by “Miserabilia” a perfect three-minute pop song (except for all those rough edges, of course), but it very nicely combines melody and punk attitude.

The title track continues with the frantically happy sounding music that backs off for lyrics like “We kid ourselves that there’s future in the fucking, but there is no fucking future.”   Meanwhile, “You’ll Need Those Fingers for Crossing” emphasizes their low end, which doesn’t often get a lot of emphasis.  “It’s Never That Easy Though, Is It?” has some great violins and group vocals (not screamed for a change).  “The End of the Asterisk” is an under two-minute blast of fun nonsense (with a fun chorus).

I’ve talked about the music but not much about the lyrics–but rest assured they are just as literate and darkly comic as on Romance is Boring.  Although the titles are certainly a giveaway, none sum up Los Campesinos! as much as “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1” (which has some very cool sound effects thrown in too).

“Heart Swells–Pacific Daylight Time” is one of their achingly slow songs that reminds me of “The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future” (I know, that song came later, but I’m reviewing them backwards).  Although this one is much shorter.  The disc ends with “All Your Kayfabe Friends” which has these fun triplet notes that ascend and descend with each line.

My copy came with a bonus DVD.  The disc contains a 30 minute home movie of the band on tour.  It’s nothing terribly revelatory, although it is amusing in places.  The home movie quality of it makes it a bit more personal, but also means that some shots are totally missed, which is a shame.   There’s also a few minutes of the band on various stages, which is quite a treat as I’ve never seen them live–they really embody their music and Gareth Campesinos! is a great front man.

At only 32 minutes, this is certainly a short release.  Wikipedia says that they argued that this was not a cash grab after the success of their first album.  And that’s believable, even if the only thing that makes this more than half an hour is the fiddly instrumental “Between an Erupting Earth and an Exploding Sky.”   Nevertheless, Los Campesinos! released some wonderfully cool songs.

[READ: February 28, 2012] “Laikas”

I complained recently that although Kuitenbrouwer calls this piece “Laikas” when you click on the link to Significant Objects, it is listed as “Greek Ashtray-Plate.”  This evidently has something to do with the nature of its publication.  Although I don’t know the pre-publication information, underneath the story it says:

The bidding on this object, with story by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, has ended. Original price: 69 cents. Final price: $30. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now

So, one assumes that Kuitenbrouwer wrote this short (very short) story about the ashtray-plate–after all, the full name of the website is Significant Objects…and how they got that way–so it all pieces together nicely.

As I said this is a very short piece (a page and a half, tops) that works as a quick sketch of why the ashtray-plate looks the way it does as well as a brief sketch of its owner. The details about the ashtray-plate are wonderful, vivid and violent in ways that I wouldn’t have expected–the placement of the burns is wonderfully described.

The rest of the story is strange, though. (more…)

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Shaun Tan–Tales from Outer Suburbia (2012)

Posted in Culture Shock, Death, Dogs, End of the World, Graphic Novel, Marriage Trouble, Oddities, Pets, Shaun Tan, Short Story, Supernatural, Surreal, Toys, TV on the Radio, YA Books on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TV ON THE RADIO-Nine Types of Light (2011).

I loved most of TV on the Radio’s releases.  On this one they scaled back some of their sound and they really highlight their assets, namely the vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone.  This album feels like something of a continuation of the style from Dear Science.

Indeed, some of the songs are downright simple. “Second Song” is completely straightforward; I really enjoy the falsetto vocals on it.  “Keep Your Heart” is so straightforward it has almost no music in the verses.  It’s very much back to basics. “Killer Crane” is also very simple, with a gorgeous melody.

But don’t count uberdude Dave Sitek out of the game, he throws in some very interesting sounds and textures on a number of tracks.  “No Future Shock”  introduces all kinds of wonderful sounds and repeated lyrics which work as a mantra.  One of my favorite songs is the weird and wonderful “New Cannonball Blues” great synth sounds, cool harmonies  (that falsetto is on fire here!) and a nice staccato chorus.  “Repetition” has some cool repetitions (it’s in the title after all) that really becomes a mantra, with some great musical accompaniment.  And the drums sound amazing.  And “Caffeinated Consciousness” has some more cool sounds: orchestral hits and the like followed by a very mellow bridge.

And then there’s “Will Do” a perfect blend of the two styles–rich melodies, cool effects and great vocals (which is why it was the single).

The simple songs are a good introduction to the kind of stuff TV on the Radio is capable of, but it’s clear they have a love for the unexpected and that’s why I enjoy them so much.

[READ: February 5, 2012] Tales from Outer Suburbia

Shaun Tan is an Australian author/artist who drew the amazing wordless The Arrival (it is stunning!).

This book is a collection of fifteen (very) short stories that come chock full of drawings.  Some drawings add to the story, some drawings tell the story and some drawings tell a kind of parallel story.  As with The Arrival, his artwork is weird and wonderful.

The library filed this book under YA Graphic Novels.  I’m not sure it’s either of those (The Arrival was filed under kids picture books).  While there are pictures, it is certainly not a conventional graphic novel.  And while the themes and idea aren’t risqué or anything, I feel like the ideas are more adult than teen oriented.  Of course, having said that, most of the protagonists are young, so maybe teens do enjoy stories about existential confusion! (more…)

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Margaret Atwood–“Underbrush Man” (The Guardian, November 7, 2011)

Posted in Canadian Content, Dinosaur Jr., Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Margaret Atwood, Marriage Trouble, My Bloody Valentine, Mystery, Nirvana, Short Story, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, The Guardian, The Smiths, Yuck on February 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YUCK-Yuck (2011).

If you’re like me, you love alt-rock from the 90s, however that may be described.  Typically, we’re talking loud guitars, but we’re also talking shoegazer music and alt folk and basically anything that might have appeared at Lollapalooza.

Yuck is like comfort food for anyone starved for new music from that ear.  There’s hardly anything new or original in it, but it sounds great.  It’s fun to play spot the influences (Dinosaur Jr. Nirvana, melodic Sonic Youth), but it’s more fun to just sit back and listen.

When the first song, “Get Away” opens up with that phased, distorted guitar I’m instantly transported back to the 90s.  And then when the solo begins (before the verse) it’s like adding screaming punk to shoegaze.  Blissful.

“The Wall” sounds like yet another style of 90s alt rock, with some more screaming guitars.  Then comes “Shook Down” in which the band slows down with acoustic guitars (think Teenage Fanclub).  It’s a little slow, but there’s a surprise third part which adds some wonderful distorted guitars to the song.

“Holing Out” brings a more punk edged guitar sound to the album (still distorted just edgier).  “Suicide Policeman” is a pretty straightforward folk rock song: acoustic guitars and whatnot and it never really rocks out.  The nice part is when the second, electric guitar plays slow wobbly chords over the top (think The Smiths).

“Georgia” rips right into a My Bloody Valentine song (female harmonies over washes of guitars).  This is the first song that I don’t love.  It’s got something to do with the chrous.  The verses are great, but the chorus is just a little too…blah.  But I love the sound of the song.

“Suck” is probably my least favorite song on the disc.  It’s really really slow and drags a bit.  Although, amusingly this song stays in my head the longest, especially the line “did you see the fire briagde.”  Maybe I secretly like it best

“Stutter” continues this slow mood–I think I like these songs individually, but they drag down this section of the album when played together like this.

Because when “Operation” bursts back, the album picks up (more great use of little guitar solos-think Smashing Pumpkins).  “Sunday” does the My Bloody Valentine thing much better–great chorus on this one.  Amusingly the verses are not very MBV-sounding at all, but it’s a nice blend.

“Rose Gives a Lilly” is an instrumental and, although it’s nothing amazing, it’s still nice.  The disc ends with “Rubber” a 7 minute retro blast.  It’s a slow builder, with big distorted guitars (the vocals are almost inaudible).  Just add more and more layers of guitar over the melody and you’ve got a great album ender.

It’s nice to see a band absorb influences rather than just aping them.

[READ: January 27, 2012] “Underbrush Man”

Once I saw Mohsid’s story in The Guardian, it was just a quick look to see that Margaret Atwood had a story there too!

I really enjoy Atwood’s stories, and this one is no exception.  But this one was rather unexpected for me because it begins with the point of view of a dog.  There are actually four points of view in this story.  I was delighted that the first two were more or less the same, that the third one was unexpectedly unrelated to the action and then the final one cleared everything up.

But we start with a dog. (more…)

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Max Barry–“Things I Learned from My Friend’s Dog” (maxbarry.com, 2004)

Posted in Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Max Barry, Radiohead on January 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RADIOHEAD-“Supercollider”/”The Butcher” (2011).

These two songs came out some time after The King of Limbs.  They were available from a number of sites, like Stereogum and were also released as a 12″ vinyl.

I liked these when they came out (it’s Radiohead after all), but listening again now, sort of out of the Radiohead mindset, I’m a little more critical.

“Supercollider” is 7 minutes long and, surprisingly for a Radiohead song, it doesn’t really deviate from itself very much in all that time.  And I know that that’s the point, it’s a moody piece–much of King of Limbs was like that.  It’s an enjoyable song for its mood, but it’s not a very interesting song.  For many groups that’s a minor criticism, but for Radiohead I think it’s pretty big.

“The Butcher” on the other hand has my favorite thing about new Radiohead: skittery drum beats.  And while the bass line (which is all the melody you’ll get here) isn’t super complex, Yorke’s voice more than complements it by really nailing an interesting, slightly menacing tune.  And when you can finally get a grip on the lyrics at the end of the song, it all gels nicely.

Neither one of these songs would be out of place on Limbs, but then again, neither one would really stand out on Limbs either.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Things I Learned from My Friend’s Dog”

Of all of the blog posts on Max Barry’s blog, this was the shortest.  But, given that it’s about dogs by a guy who has never owned a dog before I thought it would be fun to include it here.

The dog he’s watching is two years old (named Snow).  And Snow has taught Max what any dog owner knows:

There are smells (often bad) and sounds (surprisingly loud) that are specific to dogs.  Dogs have even worse selective hearing than people.  And my favorite, which I will quote: “If you step backwards (at any time), you will stand on Snow.” (more…)

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