SOUNDTRACK: ATTACK ATTACK!-“Stick Stickly” (2010).
I discovered this video (again, considerably later than the controversy for it) because my friend Rich said he didn’t know there was a genre called “crabcore.” A search for crabcore suggests that it is a goof “genre” named specifically for this band and the goofy way they dance around.
This song starts with very heavy riffing and some growls and screaming and then jumps quickly into an auto-tuned very catchy chorus (they sound like a more polished and poppy version of Alexisonfire).
Then comes the verses which are screamed very loudly and heavily followed by a bridge (?) that is even more cookie monster-vocals like (with a strange cartoon effect thrown at the end of each line of the chorus). It’s almost like commercial death metal, and I kind of liked it. They’re pushing boundaries
Then there’s more chugga chugga heavy riffing and the song is reaching the end and then WHAT? the songs shifts gears into a keyboard fueled discoey dance song. First it’s hi energy and then it slows into a mellow auto-tuned bit that proceeds to the end.
What the hell? I’m all for a band pushing the boundaries of genres, but holy cow. And just to add one more gimmick, they’re a Christian band as well (although you’d never know from the lyrics, whatever the hell he’s singing about). This is no “Jesus is My Friend,” let me tell you.
So yea, I don’t really know what to make of it. The video makes me laugh with their all black outfits and synchronized everything–and that may be why they have replaced it with a new video which is much more boring. I assume they’re just anther trendy band that will disappear soon enough (there’s a lot of snarky fun at their expense at this definition of “crabcore“).
I don’t have a clue what the title is supposed to mean, nor half of their other titles on the album: “Fumbles O’Brian” “Renob, Nevada.” I listened to some samples of the other songs and they seem far more dancey/discoey than death metal, so I’m not really sure what’s up with the rest of the record.
But whatever. In the meantime, enjoy the silly video
[READ: July–September 10, 2010] K Blows Top
I heard about this book through a great interview on NPR in June of 2009. It sounded like a really funny book and I was seriously considering reading it. Of course, then I forgot about it.
About 8 months later, the library received a huge donation of books, and this was right on top, just begging me to read it. So, I saved it for myself and decided it was about time to crack it open. Several months after that I finally opened it and was totally hooked.
I didn’t know much about Khrushchev before reading this. I knew vaguely about “the shoe” incident, but that was it. In fact, the whole beginning of the cold war era was a bit of a mystery to me. Since I lived through Reagan, I never felt compelled to find out what had caused the 80s.
But I’m super glad that I read this. The book follows Khrushchev’s visits to the United States when he was premiere of the Soviet Union. Carlson combed through tons of newspaper reports about his visit here (ostensibly to visit with Eisenhower, but more just to enjoy himself in the American heartland), and pulls together a fascinating story from a number of sources.
But more than just an interesting look at history, this book is very funny. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 