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Archive for the ‘Animals’ Category

Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido–Blacksad (2010) [originally written 2000, 2002, 2005]

Posted in Animals, Anthya Flores, Bart Beatty, Beat Happening, Blawan, Girl Band, Graphic Novel, Guns, Juan Díaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido, Katie LaBarbera, Mystery, Neal Adams, Noir, Patricia Rivera, Racism, Sex, Therapy?, Translation, Violence on March 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

blacksad1SOUNDTRACK: GIRL BAND-Live at Kex Hostel in Reykjavik (November 8, 2014)

girlbandlive This brief concert finally allows us to see just how Girl Band make their unholy noise.  And yes, it is just four guys–guitar (and a whole lot of pedals) bass drums and a vocalist.

“Sexy Wife” has staccato guitars until the real noise kicks in for the chorus (oh, so that’s how he does it).  It’s also fun watching the bassist remain largely calm while still playing some unsuaul high notes on his instrument.  The drummer doesn’t have any fancy gizmos, but he keeps a steady loud beat.  And I love that the singer is quite a pretty fellow in his Oxford shirt and parted hair (but he can scream like the best of them).

“De Bom Bom (their newest single) is just full of noise and more noise (how can you have chords if it’s just staicky noise?) as the bass rumbles along.  This song is intense.

“Heckle The Frames” is a noisy chaotic pile of hardcore (and is about 90 seconds long).  It’s followed by “I Love You” a cover of the Beat Happening song.  For this one, it’s pretty much all bass and drums while the guitarist fiddles with his pedals making a larger wall of noise until he begins playing a ringing open note.  I don’t know the original, but I imagine it’s nothing like this.

“Lawman” shows off just how noisy the bassist can be in the opening moments.  And his riff, coupled with the noisy riff of the guitar, make for such an enjoyable combination.  I love how the song which you assume is over–at about the length of their other songs–suddenly turns into something else altogether–a sort of guitar solo, if you will.

The final song is “The Cha Cha Cha” which is all of 25 seconds.  It’s a pretty great set if you like your music noisy.

[READ: March 19, 2015] Blacksad

This book collects the first three Blacksad volumes: Somewhere within the Shadows (2000), Arctic Nation (2002) and Red Soul (2005).  I’m only bummed that it took me so long between books to read them.  They were translated by Anthya Flores and Patricia Rivera

It’s amazing to see that it takes two or three years between books, but when you look at the visuals, it is completely understandable.  The drawings/paintings in these volumes are simply incredibly.  They are incredibly realistic with exquisite attention paid to detail.  The fact that he can make people with animal heads seem sexy is really a testament to his drawing skills.

Okay so Blacksad is a noirish detective series with a slight twist.  John Blacksad is a cat.  Well, he is a human shaped person with a cat head.  But otherwise he is very much a detective–he is hunky, has smoldering eyes and is a really hard dude. And that first story opens with his former lover dead in her bead.  She is so pretty (and colored in pale fleshtones), that one might be hard pressed to see her as a car (except for the ears).

This mystery is personal and John sets out to find out who wanted his former lover dead. (more…)

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Juan Diaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido–Blacksad: A Silent Hell (2010) [translated 2012]

Posted in Animals, Bart Beatty, Blawan, Girl Band, Graphic Novel, Guns, Juan Díaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido, Katie LaBarbera, Mystery, Noir, Record Labels, Sex, Translation, Violence on March 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

blacksad4SOUNDTRACK: GIRL BAND-“Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?” (2014).

girl band I first heard about Girl Band from the NPR Austin 100 list.  This song blew me away.  It is a noisy and unrelenting 8 minutes.  It builds and builds into a chaotic tumult.  And, amazingly, it is a cover of a dance song.

Girl Band is from Dublin and they make some of the noisiest rock I’ve heard in a long time.  Not heavy rumbling death metal noise, but ear-piercing feedback and squalls and sqwaks of sound that are heard to imagine originating with a guitar or bass.

It open with controlled chaos, and clearly some kind of pedal manipulation from the sounds generated by… a guitar?

The lyrics are minimal–a simple repeat of “Why they hide they bodies under my garage?”  These lyrics are repeated, more frenetically with the “music” just squeals of feedback and noise.  The song doesn’t seem to change much, but there are subtle (if that’s the right word) changes in noise and intensity for four minutes until the song sorta stops and then resumes with even more intensity.  It drops out again, but by 6 minutes the song has built to epic intensity, with interesting sounds in between “chants.”

There is pretty much nothing to this song and yet it is amazingly intense.  And not for the faint of heart.

This song is from an earlier compilation release but is getting reissued on their soon to be released EP.  (You can get a lot of their early stuff from their bandcamp site).

The video is creepy as anything too:

You can also hear the original by Blawan, which is similar without the building intensity, I tend to think that Girl Band has done this song a real service.

[READ: December 20, 2014] Blacksad: A Silent Hell

I had gotten the latest Blacksad book at work, so I looked to see if I could find the earlier editions. I couldn’t find the first book right away so I decided to dive in with this book.  It is the second collection, but is apparently the fourth book.  The first collection, simply titled Blacksad collects the first three books together.  The books were originally written in French and were translated by Katie LaBarbera.

I don’t know how much if any introduction there is in that first book, so there’s no context for why these animals are people or people are animals.  And I rather hope there isn’t one.  It’s just a great world where everyone looks human except that their heads are a (very realistic) animal shape.  In fact speaking of realistic, the artwork by Guarnido is amazing–perfectly noir with incredible realism and gorgeous colors (all done with watercolors, I believe).

This book opens with Blacksad, a private investigator, and Weekly, a reporter, at a strip club.  (It is disconcerting that the stripper is a leopard woman and that she is really hot (thankfully, it’s only shown from the back because that would get weird).  Weekly is super psyched but Blacksad has other things on his mind.  They are supposed to be meeting Junior Harper but he ain’t showing.

The pull back shows that we are in New Orleans. (more…)

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Michael DeForge–First Year Healthy (2015)

Posted in Cats, Drawn & Quarterly, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Michael Deforge, T-Pain, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on March 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

first yearSOUNDTRACK: T-PAIN-Tiny Desk Concert #400 (October 29, 2014).

tpainA while back I was writing about all the Tiny Desk Concerts.  Then they started airing new ones several times a week and I realized the goal was futile.  Of course, since I like to complete projects, I may go back to it again, but not for a while.  Nevertheless, while I was looking up the Tiny Desk Contest winners I came across a list of superlatives from 2014 Tiny Desk Concerts.  And the one that struck me was that the T-Pain Tiny Desk Concert had been viewed over 6 million times (3 times more than the previous high water mark).  It was over 7 million when I watched it). So I decided to check it out.

I don’t know anything about T-Pain other than that he is associated with auto tune and even has an auto tune microphone for sale (which I would totally buy if I saw it for cheaper than retail). I don’t think I’ve ever even heard a T-Pain song.  So I assumed he couldn’t sing.  Which is a pretty common reaction: “People felt like I was using it to sound good,” says T-Pain.  “But I was just using it to sound different.”

And indeed. T-Pain has a beautiful voice.  The Tiny Desk Concert is just him and a keyboardist (named Toro). They play 3 songs
“Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” “Up Down (Do This All Day),” “Drankin’ Patna.”

I don’t know what the originals sound like (given the spelling, I assume they are not as sweet and tender as these versions were). But these are very simple, stripped down songs.  The music is just keyboard notes, no rhythm tracks or any effects.  And then T-Pain singing.

He is charming because the setting is so weird to him (as I imagine it is) and he even “censors” a line in a very funny way. I’m not going to be buying a T-Pain CD or anything, but I was delighted by this Tiny Desk.

[READ: March 2, 2015] First Year Healthy

I saw the cover of this book at work and decided I had to see what it was all about.

The artwork in this book is so bizarre–delightful and creepy at the same time.  For instance, the cover image up there is a baby and a cat (I love that the cat’s eyes are “sideways”).  Even more interesting is the way the main character looks.

That image below is the main character.  That is all her hair.  So weird and yet so interesting at the same time.

firstThe story is a bit less sweet than the drawings.  But it is no less unusual than the drawings.

(more…)

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Kathy Page–“Red Dog” (The Walrus, December 2014)

Posted in Christmas, Death Cab For Cutie, Dogs, Kathy Page, Our World, Parenting, Short Story, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Rutles on February 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

walrusdec SOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES-Magical Mystery Tour (1967).

I have never remmtally thought of Magical Mystery Tour as a real album.  And it turns out I had good reason to feel that way.  It was originally released as a double EP in Britain (with the first six songs).  The rest of the tracks only ever appeared on the American release.  Those five songs were released as singles before this album In Britain and the U.S.), which means that this was the only place you could get these songs unless you bought the singles (eventually they were put out on the “blue album”).

So the first six songs are from the soundtrack to the TV movie Magical Mystery Tour (which was a flop as a film, but a hit as a soundtrack).  And the last five songs were released in different ways.

I’ve always liked “Magical Mystery Tour” it’s bouncy and fun with good harmonies.  I never much cared for “The Fool on the Hill” I tend to not like Paul’s piano ballads that much (they remind me too much of his solo and Wings material), although I do enjoy the way he wails the vocals later in the song.  The slide whistle solo is quite a treat and I also like the bass harmonica (my new favorite weird instrument).

This album also features two songs that I don’t know well at all (and I assumed I knew every Beatles song).  “Flying” is a weird fun little instrumental with “La La Las” at the end I really like it, and if I still made mix tapes I would often find a place for it on them.  And “Blue Jay Way” a song I don’t know at all.  It’s another George Harrison vaguely Indian song, although this one has more guitars than his other songs.  I find I can’t really get into it.  “Your Mother Should Know” is one of those songs that I like but I don’t love and don’t really think about too much.

But then there’s”I am the Walrus (“No you’re not, “said Little Nicola).”  It’s a cliché to really like this song but I really do.  It’s weird and goofy and the music is just fantastic.  I love all the elements (and didn’t realize that the spoken section at the end is King Lear).  I feel like The Beatles must have been huge to make a such a weird song become such a big hit.

And then came a bunch of singles: “Hello Goodbye” which I think hearkens back to the earlier Beatles, songs but which has a bit of the psychedelic elements form later Beatles thrown on top (including Paul’s shouting vocals in the background).

“Strawberry Fields Forever” was intended to be included on Sgt Peppers‘ but they needed a single to release during in the lengthy amount of time it was taking them to record the album (a whole nine months!).  This song holds up really well, with some really interesting chord progressions and mild dissonance.  And the middle of the song is fascinatingly split in the stereo version so that it’s all drums and sound effects in the left ear.  It was released as a double A side with “Penny Lane.”  Although I said I don’t really like Paul’ piano songs, I do like “Penny Lane” quite a lot, I find it very satisfying.

“Baby You’re A Rich Man” was the B-side to “All You Need is Love.” I always felt the song was kind of weird and it turns out that the two parts were two different songs (Lennon: verses; McCartney: chorus) that they just stuck together.  It’s a weird mic of fun sing along rocking chorus and peculiar Eastern melody in the verses.  “All You Need is Love” was first performed on Our World, the first live global television link watched by over 400 million in 25 countries.  The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom’s contribution.  They apparently wrote a song that was simple enough for it to be universal, and man, were they right.

So, there’s all of these fabulous songs sort of tacked on to the end of this soundtrack.  Beatles releases were sure weird.

Incidentally, the film also used “Death Cab for Cutie” performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in its soundtrack which you can see here.  Obviously, this is where Death Cab for Cutie got their band name, but also, Neil from thee Bonzos was involved in The Rutles, who did such great parodies of Beatles songs.

[READ: January 15, 2015] “The Red Dog”

This was a sad holiday story about an eight year old girl with learning disabilities.  She evidently lives away from her family for most of the year but is allowed to come home for Christmas and the summer vacation.  It’s clear that Katie is a handful.  She tends to lash out easily, but she also seems to be able to control herself as well.

There’s some weird aspects of the story that I didn’t fully understand.  Like the fact that while her family ii shopping they tell her to stay outside because they’re afraid she will damage things in the store.  But her family leaves her outside for at least a half an hour, just standing in front of the store (“don’t move an inch”).  And she behaves, even though it is rather difficult.  But really, they leave her standing outside of a store for over half an hour? (more…)

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Jonathan Franzen–Freedom (2010)

Posted in Basketball, Big Books, Birds, Books about music, Bright Eyes, Canadian Music, Christmas Album, Conor Oberst, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Crash Test Dummies, Death, Decadence, Drinking, Drugs, Environmentalism, Greed, Humiliation, Jonathan Franzen, Marriage Trouble, Minnesota, Morality, Neurotics, Political Humor, Poo, Punks, Religion, Sex, Yuck! on December 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

freedomSOUNDTRACK: CRASH TEST DUMMIES-Jingle all the way… (2002).

ctdEven though the Crash Test Dummies are often seen as a joke band or a one hit wonder (which I guess they are), I’ve liked them for a while (their earlier stuff a lot more than their later stuff, admittedly).  But it seemed like they’d have a fun take on Christmas music.

And it starts out in a comical sort of way with Brad Robert’s deeper-than-ever voice reciting about his life in Los Angeles, where it is warm and sunny at Christmas time.  I like that he rhymes 24th with up north.  The spoken section is quite loud in the mix (it sounds like he is right in your ear).  Unfortunately, that is the case when he starts singing too–he is uncomfortably loud in the mix and it sounds like he is holding back because of it–he doesn’t sound great and his voice sounds more comical than interesting.  Which is a shame because the music (with cheesey keyboards) is great.

Roberts sings lead on about half of the songs.  Ellen Reid sings lead on the other half except for a couple where they split lead duties.

The rest of Robert’s songs include: “Jingle Bells” (which is certainly comical–it sounds like a chain gang song with the “Hey!s” sounding almost like a prison chant).  It’s weird and cool though (even if his voice is once again too loud in the mix).  “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” has his voice mixed much better–he seems to be really singing.  And this version–a loungey/jazzy rendition is much great fun.  “God King Wenceslas” sounds proper (with Reid’s close backing vocals).  It has a pretty penny whistle keeping the song going.

Ellen Reid has a great voice and I love hearing her sing.  But in the first two songs she sings lead on in this disc she sounds like she is singing too slowly.  “O Little Town of Bethlehem” especially sounds like the music is going to pass her up at any minute.  I also don’t like the country vibe of the song.  “In the Bleak Midwinter” is also (intentionally) slow, which I don’t like.  Perhaps I just don’t like this song (although I do think the melody is lovely).  “The Little Drummer Boy” is beautiful and Robert’s bass backing vocals are perfect.  “Silent Night” is done in a countryish style, but I like this version.  Although normally this song can make me cry, this version absolutely does not–too honky tonkish.

The final song, “The Huron Carol” is quite formal and proper–just Reid and a piano opening the song.  It sounds very holy, very pretty.  When Robert’s bass backing vocals come in, it adds more depth to the song.  And it’s a lovely way to end.

[READ: October 30, 2014] Freedom

I read this a couple months ago and then got so caught up in reading other things that I never got around to posting about it.  And that’s a bummer because I really liked the book a lot and I fear that I won’t remember everything I wanted to say about it.

I had read a couple of excerpts from the book in the New Yorker (quite some time ago).  They were helpful in grounding the story for me, but they didn’t prepare me for the breadth of the story.  It follows one family, the Berglunds, through several decades, focusing on each of them in great detail as they navigate through the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and a smidge of the Obama years.

The Berglunds are a liberal family.  They were among the first white families to move onto their urban street in St. Paul, Minnesota (after white flight to the burbs).  Patty is a charming (some say smug) homemaker and Walter is a lawyer (public defendant, naturally).  They have two kids, Jessica and Joey.  Patty dotes on Joey to an embarrassing degree (Joey is embarrassed by it, Jessica is infuriated by it and even Patty is kind of embarrassed when she really thinks about it).  At the same time she is rather neglectful of Jessica.  Naturally, Jessica becomes quite the success (loves reading, committed to the environment), while Joey rebels and finds all kinds of ways to disappoint them and make money.  (This isn’t a bad thing, but the family has plenty of money and Joey doesn’t need to (especially not the way he goes about it).  Not to mention Walter and Patty are not into the money for money’s sake thing.

The book opens that there was some “news” about Walter. He and Patty had moved to Washington DC two years earlier.  He clearly did something bad (we won’t find out until much later).  But that serves as an introduction to the Berglunds.  And then we go back to see them, years earlier, settling into St Paul. (more…)

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Ian Lendler and Zack Giallongo–The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth (2014)

Posted in Acting, Animals, Children's Books, Christmas, Christmas Album, Death, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Ian Lendler, Play (Drama), William Shakespeare, Witches, Zack Giallongo on December 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

macbethSOUNDTRACK: SWINGIN’ CHRISTMAS PARTY! (2002).

swingI love big band music.  It’s what I grew up listening to.  So this seemed like an ideal collection for the holidays.  I mean all of the big names in big band are here.  It’s a little less raucous than I would have imagined, but for a low key kind of swinging party, it works very well

GLENN MILLER-“Jingle Bells” starts off the collection right, with big horns and fast beats.  I don’t love the main singer (I do like the way he twists some of the lyrics), but I do enjoy the really really un-hip backing vocalists.
RALPH FLANAGAN-“Winter Wonderland” is the kind of swing I like–big horns, more horns, all louder than the last.  I also tend to like my big band as instrumental, so this one is aces for me.
TOMMY DORSEY-“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” opens with a verse that I’d never heard before.  It sounds like it is coming from a tiny transistor radio, but is fun nonetheless.
FREDDY MARTIN-“Sleigh Ride” sounds like a very traditional version of this with pizzicato violins and smooth orchestration.  When the vocals come in, it sounds like it may have been used in every Christmas TV special during the 1940s and 1950s (the “horse” whinny at the end especially).  Perhaps a little too smooth for my liking.
VAUGHN MONROE-“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” features Monroe’s deep bass voice.  They tinker with the standard melody somewhat–singing on an occasional minor note, which is interesting.  But it’s still a nice romantic version of the song.
CLAUDE THORNHILL-“Snowfall” is a slow piano instrumental. It definitely does not swing.
SAMMY KAYE-“White Christmas” is, as I’ve said, really a sad song underneath, but this one actually sounds like it could have the backing vocalists wailing in tears as Kaye sings along.  Again, there will be no swinging here.  Never have the words “merry and bright” sounded so sad.
LARRY CLINTON-“Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” is a big swingin’ horn fueled romp (it has nothing to do with the The Nutcracker).  It always makes me laugh when the first minute or so of a big band song are rollicking and wild, and then when the vocalist comes in, the horns drops out and the song becomes really quiet (that happens here).
FATS WALLER-“Winter Weather” is not really a swinging song, but Waller’s voice sounds great and raspy in this piano and guitar based song.
BENNY GOODMAN-“Santa Claus Came in the Spring” is a song I’m unfamiliar with.  It’s got a good swinging feel, although lyrically it’s a bit suspect (if not sweet).
FATS WALLER-“Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” is a swing version of Jingle Bells, with a lot of rollicking piano.  It’s good fun until the really weird vocals come in.  I guess it was something of a novelty (Waller seems to be having a lot of fun at any rate).
SPIKE JONES-“All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” is one of the oldie songs that I really don’t like.  I love Spike Jones, and I appreciate that it was a novelty hit (my father used to say this line every year).  But at 3 minutes of that weird squeaky voice, it feels way too long–and the fact that the middle just goes on and on is so weird.
GUY LOMBARDO-“Auld Lang Syne” is a pretty orchestral version of the song–probably the one you’ve heard every year.  A nice end to the party.

[READ: December 3, 2014] The Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue Presents Macbeth

I grabbed this at the library, not entirely sure what it was.  Could it really be a version of Macbeth?  Set in a zoo?  Well, yes it is.  It’s a version of Macbeth for kids as performed by animals in the zoo.

The plot is the same, but it is utterly simplified and made not only kid-friendly, but also funny.  Yes, Macbeth as comedy!

So the lion is Macbeth, a heroic figure if ever there was.  And the owl is the king.  Everything is great until th elion is hungry for…power!  Various other animals play different parts (some of them very humorously–like the blind mole as the guard).  And many other animals are in the audience (of course) and they get to comment on the performance too.   I particularly enjoyed the two tiny creatures (no idea what they are), one of whom loves the violence and the other one hates it. (more…)

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Gideon Lewis-Kraus–“Story A” (Harper’s, June 2014)

Posted in Cats, Culture Shock, Cute, Essays, Funky Web Sites, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Harper's, MitchiriNeko on November 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harpjuneSOUNDTRACK: みっちりねこマーチ – MitchiriNeko March (2013).

mitchiBecause Lewis-Kraus mentions “the most important internet cat band of our day” in this article, I did a search for such a thing and came across this.  This is an adorable cartoon of cats marching (and playing along to the music).

I didn’t look into this too hard, and I don’t really know MitchiriNeko, although the video says that “MitchiriNeko” is a cat-like cartoon character who is always in a group to hang out so closely with each other wherever they go.

I’ve listed below more stuff about MitchiriNeko, but really I just enjoyed watching the video.

Evidently there is a web comic for this fella:
Manga Box! English editions are coming soon.
https://www.mangabox.me/
https://www.mangabox.me/reader/247/

There are apps for this character:
iPhone
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/mitch…
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de…

And this song “MitchiriNeko March” is now on sale.
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/mit…

[READ: November 17, 2014] “Story A”

I enjoyed Gideon Lewis-Kraus’ previous Harper’s essay about Japan: “Sleeping Together.”  I thought it would be fun to tie it to this one which is also about Japan.

He says that for a time, he was drawn to “particular breeds of the Japanese trivial” like “the “most important internet cat band of our day” and the cafe that he describes in “Sleeping Around.”  Thus he was immediately drawn to the Japanese hole-digging contest.  He decided to go see it, which would also allow him to visit his brother Micah in Japan.

The title of the article, “Story A” refers to a journalistic practice in which “essays purport to be about one thing but reveal themselves to be about some other, profounder thing.  Story A might be about the game of Monopoly but its real role is to give cover to Story B which is about the decline of the American city.”  He imagined that the nonsense of hole digging could lead to something incredibly profound. (more…)

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Walt Disney World–Animal Kingdom (2014)

Posted in Animals, C., Rides, S., T., Vacation, Walt Disney World on November 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

animalking[ATTENDED: November 2, 2014] Animal Kingdom

This past week we went on a Florida vacation.  We have never gone during the NJEA Teacher’s Convention (when the kids have literally one half day of school during the week).  And while I missed out on a few things locally that I would have liked to have done, the trip was super fun.

We did four days in Walt Disney World and two days at Universal Studios.

We had to decide what order to do the parks in.  And we decided that Animal Kingdom would be a good place to start–not too intense and lots to see.

With that in mind, we also knew that we wanted to go on Dinosaur first because there are always super long lines at that ride.  As it turned out, we all got up really early (it was the weekend of the time change) and we got to the park as it opened.  We got over to Dinosaur and there was only a 5 minute wait.  And then we got to ride it again because the line was short again. (more…)

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M.T. Anderson–Whales on Stilts (2005) M. T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales (Pals in Peril Book 1) [audiobook 2006–Marc Carman]

Posted in Adventure, Anachronisms, Audiobooks, Books about writers, Children's Books, Fears, Funny (ha ha), M.T. Anderson, Mac Barnett, Mad Scientists, Marc Carman, Meta, Whales on October 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: October 15, 2014] Whales on Stilts

whalesWhen this book came out it was hugely popular in my library.  I was very curious about the title–it’s crazy, right?  But I had no real sense of what the book was about (I wasn’t even sure if it was meant to be funny or a drama–it was on every reading list of that year but who knew why).  Well, had I ever looked at the book carefully I would have known it was a comedy and I would have realized that it was exactly the kind of comedy that I love.

This book is part one in Anderson’s Pals in Peril series.  I believe the series shares characters, but I’m not sure if it is necessary to read them in order (we’ll find out when we listen to Book 2 next week).  Of course there are more than three characters in this book, but the three main characters are: Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut! and star of his own adventure series; Katie Mulligan, star of her own horror books series Horror Hollow; and Lily Gefelty, a girl who is friends with both of them.

What is wonderful about the book is that the narrator describes Lily as being remarkably unremarkable.  She hides behind her bangs, doesn’t want to be the center of attention and is grateful that her two superfriends have known her for longer than they have been famous.  And what is doubly wonderful is that Lily is the catalyst for solving the major crisis that is about to hit her town.  In fact, Lily is the first one to even suspect that anything is awry. (more…)

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Eliza Robertson–“Who Will Water the Wallflowers?” (The Walrus, June 2014)

Posted in Battles, Blonde Redhead, Boredoms, Canadian Content, Cats, Don Caballero, Drinking, Eliza Robertson, Gary Numan, Helmet, Huh?, Natural Disasters, Short Story, The Walrus on October 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

june2014SOUNDTRACK: BATTLES-Glass Drop (2011).

220px-BattlesGlossDropI didn’t know anything about Battles before I heard the single, “Ice Cream.”  Battles are an experimental band comprised of the guitarist from Don Caballero (one of my favorite post-rock bands) and the drummer from Helmet.   And they write music that is very angular, with lots of stops and starts and direction changes.  There’s some story about their first album (which I have not heard) having a singer who left just before the recording of this album.  And the remaining trio’s solution was to have outside singers sing on certain songs.  And it all works very well.

The majority of the album is instrumental though.  And the songs feature a very distinctive sound that I feel is close to a steel drum, but which I know is actually a keyboard–but that echoing sound is so drumlike, that when the drummer’s pounding is added, the whole album feels like a percussive explosion.

“Africastle” opens the disc with ringing guitars and a melody that uses those steel drum sounds.  After about 2 minutes of slow intro, when the ferocious drums kick in, the song rockets to life in a frenzy of activity and counterpoints.  It’s really quite something.

“Ice Cream” is the song that introduced me to this album.  The guitars are modified to once again a steel drum sound, but the melody and rhythm are so fast staccato that it removes any sense of steel drum especially when the notes are clearly electronic. This song features vocals (no idea what they are saying) by Matias Aguayo.  They compliment the sound of the music.  Despite all the overlapping disparate elements the song winds up being strangely catchy. The way the chaos ends with a simple Dum duh duh dum dum… is very cool.

“Futura” continues in that staccato style but it features an aggressively catchy melody.  “Inchworm” has a fun almost reggae feel amid the staccato noises.  “Wall Street” brings the drums to the fore again as it propels the jumpy melody along.  “My Machines” has a guest vocal from Gary Numan. I have never liked Gary Numan (I need to never hear “Cars” again) but his voice (he actually sings…sort of) works well with this cacophony.

“Dominican Fade” adds some heavier bass and wild percussion notes to this 2 minute track. It even has hand claps and cowbells at the end.  “Sweetie and Shag,” has vocals from  Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino.  She adds a whole new element to the album with her high pitched yet breathy vocals.  A definite highlight.

“Toddler” is a 1 minute sng that feels like a transition into the manic and bouncy “Rolls Bayce” (which Dave Konopka describes as almost wholly an experiment).

“White Electric” start slow with some echoed notes. Then a martial beat keeps time as the notes seems to swirl around. The song builds and builds with more layers until it crashes apart at around 5 minutes.  At which point the song slowly rebuilds itself into a pretty coda.

The final song sounds like a reggae singer but it is actually Yamataka Eye from The Boredoms.  Konopka says that Eye sent vocals and told them to do whatever they wanted with the track.  The band thought “he was speaking Japanese, but he’s just making up his own stuff and he’s repeating stuff that he’s making up.”  The backing noises sound like a whale song.

Despite the weirdness of the album, there’s a lot of poppiness to it, and I think it is a great release.  It also is a great headphones release, if you like that sort of thing.  I need to check out their debut as well.

[READ: October 15, 2014] “Who Will Water the Wallflowers?”

I don’t quite know what to make of this story.  It seemed to me to be full of individual incidents that were all wiped away by the flood that is mentioned in the very first line.

I enjoyed the details of the story quite a lot.  In it, the girl (unnamed) looks after her neighbor’s cat Cha-Cha while Ms Feliz is away.  Cha-Cha is a a Turkish angora, a delicate breed.  And there is an interesting description of the cat after he has gotten wet in the rain.  Sometime the girl sleeps at Ms Feliz’ house (her mom doesn’t mind since they live across the street).

The girl finds sanctuary in Ms Feliz’s house.  Except for Mr Bradley.  Mr Bradley is an enigmatic neighbor–he seems to be home all the time, dressed in work clothes and slippers. It is clear that the girl is uncomfortable around him, but he seems to always be around.  He seems pleasant enough.  He sees her almost every day and always asks “learning something?” to which she doesn’t know what to say.  She tries to avoid him by looking for Cha-Cha, but he doesn’t leave (and Cha-Cha doesn’t show up).  She tells him that she watched a film about geysers .

He replies, “I know a joke about geysers….it probably wouldn’t be appropriate.” (more…)

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