SOUNDTRACK: DO MAKE SAY THINK-Other Truths [CST062] (2009).
I’ve always enjoyed Do Make Say Think’s CDs. They play instrumentals that are always intriguing and which never get dull.
But this CD far exceeds anything they have done so far (and they’ve done some great work). There are only four tracks, and they range from 8 to 12 minutes long. Each track is named for a word in the band’s name: Do, Make, Say, Think. And each one is a fully realized mini epic.
“Do” sounds like a gorgeous Mogwai track. While “Make” has wonderfully diverse elements: a cool percussion midsection and a horn-fueled end section that works perfectly with the maniacal drumming. “Say” is another Mogwai-like exploration, although it is nicely complemented by horns. It also ends with a slow jazzy section that works in context but is somewhat unexpected. Finally, “Think” closes the disc with a delightful denouement. It’s the slowest (and shortest) track, and it shows that even slowing down their instrumentals doesn’t make them dull.
It’s a fantastic record from start to finish. This is hands down my favorite Constellation release in quite some time.
[READ: December 2009 – January 13, 2010] McSweeney’s #33.
The ever-evolving McSweeney’s has set out to do the unlikely: they printed Issue #33 as a Sunday Newspaper. It is called The San Francisco Panorama and, indeed, it is just like a huge Sunday newspaper. It has real news in (it is meant to be current as of December 7, 2009). As well as a Sports section, a magazine section and even comics!
[DIGRESSION] I stopped reading newspapers quite some time ago. I worked for one in college and have long been aware that the news is just something to fill the space between ads. I do like newspapers in theory, and certainly hope they don’t all go away but print issues are a dying breed. When I think about the waste that accompanies a newspaper, I’m horrified. Sarah and I even did a Sunday New York Times subscription for a while, but there were half a dozen sections that we would simply discard unopened. And, realistically that’s understandable. Given how long it took me to read all of the Panorama, if you actually tried to read the whole Sunday paper, you’d be finished the following Sunday (or even two Sundays later).
Their lofty goal here was to show what print journalism can still do. And with that I concur heartily. Even if I don’t read the newspaper, the newspapers as entities are worth saving. Because it is pretty much only print journalism that finds real, honest to God, worthy news stories. TV news is a joke. There is virtually nothing of value on network TV. Fox News is beyond a joke. CNBC is sad (although Rachel Maddow is awesome!) and even CNN, the originator of all of this 24 hour news nonsense still can’t fill their airtime with non-sensationalized news.
Obviously, there are some decent internet sites, but for the most part they don’t have the budget to support real news investigation. You either get sensationalized crap like Drudge or rebroadcasts of real news.
So, print is the last bastion of news. And you can see that in journalistic pieces in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Walrus, Prospect and, yes, in newspapers.
But enough. What about THIS newspaper? Oh and unlike other McSweeney’s reviews I’ve done, there is NO WAY that I am writing a thorough comment on everything in here. There’s just way too much. Plus, there are many sections that are just news blurbs. Larger articles and familiar authors will be addressed, however. [UPDATE: January 18]: If, however, like Alia Malek below, you bring it to my attention that I’ve left you out (or gotten something wrong!) drop me a line, and I’ll correct things.
There is in fact a Panorama Information Pamphlet which answers a lot of basic questions, like why, how and how often (just this once, they promise!). There’s also a Numbers section which details the size, scope and cost of making this (it shows that with an initial start up, anyone could make a newspaper if they talked enough about what the readers were interested in). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-Austin City Limits (2007).
esomeness of Austin City Limits. And in the two or so years that I’ve been watching, I’ve seen some great live shows (even is most bands are reduced to 30 minutes). This re-broadcast of The Decemberists, however, just blew me away.
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Box (complete) (2008).
I’ve decided not to review all of the volumes of this fabulous 
I was just about to Publish this post below. Then I searched for links to the sites mentioned, and I stumbled across an
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS–Static Journey Volume 3: Whale Music (2008).
Whale Music is a fantastic album by the Rheostatics, and this collection of live tracks, interviews and banter is certainly a high point in this box set. The album itself is far more complex than anything they’d done before, and it’s great to hear them play these difficult songs live.
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS–Static Journey Volume 2: Melville (2008).
At this stage, I realized just what the fine creator of this box set has set out to do: he is basically recreating the Rheos’ discs with live tracks, demos and other cool things. Initially I assumed that everything would be chronological (live concerts only from that tour, for instance). But he has gone beyond that simple task and is selecting the best version he can find. So a concert from, say, 2007 which features an awesome recording of a track from 
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Journey Volume 1: The Beginning (2009).
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Journey 1980-2007 (2008).
I just stumbled upon 
SOUNDTRACK: DARK WAS THE NIGHT-That Disc (2009).
The second disc in this set is a somewhat more raucous affair than the first (which was pretty much all acoustic performances). On the surface, this seemed like the better disc of the two. I like so many bands on this disc: Spoon, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, The New Pornographers, Stuart Murdoch, Blonde Redhead.
Mark Barrowcliffe wrote a very nice comment about my review of his book. But he made me aware of some things that I thought about saying then but which I didn’t.
I Just Read About That... 