SOUNDTRACK: THE 1975-Tiny Desk Concert #302 (September 10, 2013).
I sort of know The 1975 but I can’t decide if I like them or not. It seems like every song sounds different. But I did really like this stripped down Tiny Desk Concert.
The blurb notes the distinction:
The 1975 knows its way around bigness, [with songs of full of brash-but-winsome, electronics-tinged pop-rock]. But, when asked to strip his band’s sound down to fit the intimate confines of the Tiny Desk, Healy didn’t hesitate to transform both his songs and himself. Performing solo with a guitar — he even goes fully acoustic for his two hits — he’s reborn as an earnest troubadour, while his songs now register as melancholy musings. They’re remarkably sturdy in any form, as this bit of left-field sweetness amply demonstrates.
This performance is just Matthew Healy singing and playing guitar. And he turns these songs into little folkie ballads, with Healy’s cracking and accented voice (you can really hear his accent when he sings) making the songs sound more earning and aching.
The original of “Sex” is pretty rocking, with a middle section that strums pretty hard. This version slows it down dramatically, making it much more poignant.
“Chocolate” is a bouncy electronic song with an angular sound, radically different from this stripped down acoustic ballad (I much prefer this version). He introduces this song by saying “I’ve only done this twice so I apologize if I mess it up.” I’m not sure what he means by that. Surely he has played this song more than twice. Anyhow, it too has a yearning quality and his whispered vocals work perfectly with his gentle playing.
He finishes that by saying “Those two songs are like our singles. I didn’t know what else to play so this song is called “Woman.” It’s about that prostitute… but she was lovely [chuckles from the audience] and I was far too young–so nothing happened.
He switches to a gently echoed electric guitar. It doesn’t vary too much from the original–a plaintive yearning song about sex.
[READ: July 31, 2016] Sex Criminals Volume 3
Book three of the series seems to have polarized some readers. There’s not a lot of plot advancement,which upsets many, and there’s a lot of meta-jokes which also upsets many. Of course, I really like that sort of thing and happen to think that this book was outstanding. So pffft.
The book opens with someone we’ve never seen before. He takes care of his mom, he works in an old folks home. He’s a pretty decent guy. But he has a secret. It’s related to the whole time-stoppage thing (although it proves to be a bit different).
And there’s a few amusing panels. Like when Matt states that Chip would being drawing all kinds of funny Pan-Asian jokes in the Pan-Asian supermarket. The panels would be full of double entendre puns. But rather than making him do all of that hard work, we’ll jut have to imagine them. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 