SOUNDTRACK: WHITEHORSE-“Pins and Needles” and Kickstarter campaign (2014).
I really enjoyed seeing Whitehorse live. I would absolutely see them live again. I was delighted then that their album was also fantastic (I didn’t think it could match their live show…and it doesn’t but it is great in a different way). In a very short time I became a big fan of the band.
THey havea new song, “Pins and Needles” and a Kickstarter campaign. The song begins with Melissa McClelland’s voice singing in it beautiful way–there’s guitar in the right ear and bass in the left ear. Then Luke Doucet comes in for verse two. And when their voices fill the bridge it feels so complete. Until they get to the chorus when they push it even further and it sounds amazing.
They sing so well together. Her voice has a slight country twang, and his is a low baritone. Their harmonies are superb as they sing the compelling chorus: “Fake Your Death and I’ll Fake Mine”
Lyrics are certainly interesting for the band. How many times do you hear a woman singing a line like: “I’m the villain in this piece And back when I was a thief, I broke hearts like they were teeth.”
I love this song. And it may or may not end up on the new album for which there is a Kickstarter campaign.
And I’m in. I’m a little unclear about exactly what they aim to do with the money they raise. They say quite plainly that there will be an album regardless of whether they raise the funds. And their label, Six Shooter, is totally behind the band.
Rather seems to be a way to raise some money and some attention for the band. And, apparently it will give fans a glimpse of the album as it is being made–a sort of behind the scenes featurette that comes before the disc itself. The prizes are varied and moderate–from a download, to the CD, to a T shirt, to sheet music (all for reasonable donations), all the way to the grand prize–for $8,000 they will play a private show for you.
I’m in for a CD, and I’m happy to pay regular ticket price when they come around again.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign for more details where you can also hear “Pins and Needles.”
[READ: April 24, 2014] My Struggle Book Two
I read an excerpt of Book Two in Harper’s well over a year ago. So when I got to that section again (it’s the end of the book) I was trying to remember why it sounded so familiar–an accident during a soccer match that leaves Karl Ove with a broken collarbone and an unhappy girlfriend (who will be looking after three kids without him), and then I remembered the excerpt that started it all.
The translation of Book Two by Don Bartlett is fantastic, just as in the first book–I can only assume the original Norwegian is just as compelling. Book one was 430 pages and now book two was 573, so I’m in to Karl Ove’s life for 1003 pages, and there’s four more books due (Book Three comes out next month).
As I mentioned for Book One, this series has caused some controversy because it is given the same title as Hitler’s Mein Kampf (Min Kamp in Norwegian), and also because he says some pretty mean stuff about people who are still alive. Book One was about the death of his father. It was pretty dark. Book Two is about his first daughter and about falling in love with Linda, his children’s mom (although not yet his wife). And it is also pretty dark.
I was trying to figure out why I like this series so much. Not a lot happens, Karl Ove is not a very nice person and he seems to be pissed off most of the time. And I think what I realized is that I share a lot of opinions as him, but he takes everything to the extreme. And he is kind of an asshole. I mean, anyone who writes a six part autobiography called “My Struggle” (okay, really it’s called My Head) is kind of an asshole. But so when I see things that I would only think in my deepest recesses of my mind printed on a page, it’s strangely visceral to me. I realize this means that I’m kind of an asshole too, but the key difference is that I don’t act on the things that I think, nor do I write 4,000 pages about them.
I told Sarah that she might laugh at some of the opinions that he lists but that she would not enjoy reading the books. Indeed, this book, this series, is not for many, I’m sure. But to me there is something strangely engaging about him and his strange life and his writing style. And I really flew through this book, finishing it in about a week.
So this book begins (started in July 2008) with Karl Ove being pissed off. He talks about finishing the first part of the novel (which I have to assume is Book One, given when this was written and how this book ends) just last month (in other words he is really churning this stuff out!). He and Linda have been fighting (as the book opens they have three children, Vanja, Heidi and John–it’s also hard to believe that his children are young enough to not really know much about this series). The tension is high between them–glares, comments, nasty sniping. Karl Ove says that he is afraid to say things around her because he knows how she’ll react. But at the same time, some of things he desires are simply not defensible in a relationship or when you are parent. And the main conflict seems to be that Karl Ove is selfish and Linda is (at least according to him) mildly suicidal and possibly bipolar). And mind you, at the time of his writing this, I think they are still together…. (I could look that up, but it seems kind of fun not exactly knowing). (more…)
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I won tickets to see The Figaro Plays at McCarter Theater. And yes, there are two different plays going on at the same time. I have to say, I’m super impressed that they put on two Figaro plays on alternating days starring many of the same actors—how complicated must that be?
Bands change sounds from one album to another all the time, but few as radically as this one. From weirdo psychedelic band to French new wave pop band, from 6 minute instrumentals to 2 and 3 minute songs with vocals.
