SOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-Live BBC 1970-1971 (1970/1971).
Since I am delving deeply into early Pink Floyd, I came across this bootleg of Floyd on the John Peel show.
The first show is Live at Paris Cinema, London 07-16-1970, just before the release of the album Atom Heart Mother (which we know because Peel says the song will be on their forthcoming album). The first set includes “Embryo” (which only ever appeared on their compilation Works, in a much shorter version), “Fat Old Sun” (from AHM), “Green is the Colour” (from the More soundtrack), “Careful with that Axe, Eugene” (available on Relics and in live formats), “If” (from AHM) and “Atom Heart Mother.”
The version of “AHM” here is interesting because the cello solo is played by a horn instead. The reason for this is because it allowed them to have fewer musicians on tour. It’s the same theme but the horn brings a very different feel than the cello did. It’s also interesting to hear that the horn players are nowhere near as polished as they might be. (In Geesin’s book he does talk about the lack of rehearsal the orchestra had for their live shows).
The second show is Live at Paris Cinema 09-30-1971, just over a year later. They once again do “Fat Old Sun” but in 1970 it was 6 minutes and in 1971 it is now 15 minutes long with a lot of jamming and keyboard stuff thrown on top. Next up is “One of These Days” (from the forthcoming Meddle) a favorite of mine. From this set I learned that the distorted voice that says “one of these days I’m going to cut you in to little pieces” is actually that of Nick Mason (and interestingly, in this version, the quote comes at the end of the song rather than the middle). Then they play “Embryo” again (it was clearly a concert favorite even if it never got a proper release (same length for each show and not drastically different). Then comes “Echoes,” the big side long epic from Meddle. And the set ends with “Blues,” which is indeed a blues. I don’t really expect to hear a blues from Pink Floyd, but here it is, and it’s a good one (Gilmour clearly can jam to anything).
The video below contains the two complete shows running at over 2 hours.
[READ: September 29, 2013] School Spirit
This is the final obscure Douglas Coupland book that I’m aware of and will be the final DC book that I need to hunt down for this blog (I have three other proper novels that I haven’t posted about, but those are proper books and will be dealt with in turn).
This book has about the least amount of information about it that I’ve seen in a book.
The (I assume) official description of the book (which I get from Amazon and Google Books) says
Dis Voir’s Encounters series invites a well-known contemporary artist to choose a subject for a book. The artist also selects a person with “elective affinities”–someone with whom he or she would like to share this exchange. The resulting collaborative volumes serve as an artistic and political laboratory of the present. For this first installment, French artist Pierre Huyghe choose Canadian writer Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X, for the influence that Coupland has had on his generation, and on Huyghe’s own work. Using a high school yearbook as scaffolding for their meditations, they discuss the construction of character, narrative techniques based on chance and the political dimensions of Coupland’s work–themes that are also fundamental questions for Huyghe’s projects. Using a high school yearbook as the framework for a meditation on memory.
But my copy (which has a different cover and limited publication information so may possibly be a different version) does not have anything to say at all about “the construction of character, narrative techniques based on chance and the political dimensions of Coupland’s work.” (more…)
I wasn’t aware of this tribute to Venom, the much reviled/much beloved black metal band. It is titled In the name of Satan. Voivod has done some covers of Venom songs throughout their career, so it seems natural that they would do one for an official tribute album.
The music is fine. As anyone who knows Venom knows their music isn’t terribly complicated. So it’s nothing for Voivod to do. I’m actually wondering if Piggy wanted to spruce it up a bit. But no, he plays it straight, as does everyone else.
But man are the vocals awful. They are a kind of high-pitched growl–very strangely affected and sounding really weird both for Venom and for Voivod. I’m not sure who is singing on this track (I assume E-Force given the date). It doesn’t really sound like either E-Force or Snake, but I’m siding with E-Force because there’s none of the odd pronunciations that Snake is prone to do.
I didn’t listen to anything else on the album, but even for a Voivod diehard, this one is not worth owning.
[READ: September 19, 2013] “The Challenges and Rewards of Re-entering the Workforce”
Lisa Moore doesn’t deserve to be associated with Satan or a less than stellar cover song. So apologies to her for pairing this together, but it worked nicely in my Voivod timeline.
I was really intrigued by the title of this short story and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. What I got was a very interesting and very interestingly structured story. The first thing of note is the pronoun choice: “Everybody had a target on his back. His or her back.” This specification continues throughout the story. But before we learn why exactly, we learn about the devastation at this job (which is never specified). People are let go in waves, then in clumps, and just when it seems safe, one at a time. Some people are moved around to fill those empty spots. In other words, resentment is breeding wildly. Rumors spread—they wouldn’t fire people if you stand up for yourselves—but no one wanted to stand up. And just when we think Moore can’t give any more examples of the anonymous firing, we get into specifics.
The Downeys (who both worked there) were fired on the same day. The had just purchased a new house as well. Of course, that was before the summer when the dump started to stink. So we can anticipate how much they will get when they try to sell. (more…)
Most Best of records promise you a selection of popular songs from a band. Voivod never really had any popular songs, so this is an interesting choice to start with. This may also be the only Best of compilation of a band where people who like some of the songs almost assuredly will not like other songs.
As my posts about the band have indicated, Voivod changed drastically over their first six records (which is the period this collection covers). And so in twelve tracks and 50 some minutes you get the very diverse history of this very unusual band. I’m not going to talk about each track (already done that), but I will list the songs
Voivod [War and Pain] classic screaming metal.
Ripping Headaches [Rrröööaaarrr] brutal, but I must say sounds a ton better than the original CD. I wonder if this was remastered for the compilation).
Korgull the Exterminator [Rrröööaaarrr] hard to believe they used two songs from this album.
Tornado [Killing Technology] heavy but quite catchy.
Ravenous Medicine [Killing Technology] signs of complexity enter the heaviness.
Cockroaches [EP] a strange inclusion, almost a rarity.
Tribal Convictions [Dimension Hätross] very complex with some heaviness.
Psychic Vacuum [Dimension Hätross] I’m surprised they didn’t pick other songs though from this album.
Astronomy Domine [Nothingface] their hit.
The Unknown Knows [Nothingface] very hard to choose just two songs from this masterpiece.
Panorama [Angel Rat] Their newest single and quite a departure from everything that has come before.
The Prow [Angel Rat] their prettiest number ever. If you buy this CD for this song you’ll hate the early stuff.
Although Voivod fans (like Dave Grohl)
are diehard, anyone who would buy only a Best of record from the band is sure to be disappointed. There are so many phases of the band and they are so radically different from “Voivod” to “The Prow” that it’s almost not even the same band. I’m very curious as to what sales for this album were like. (Even the cover isn’t that inspired)
[READ: September 2013] The Walrus: Tenth Anniversary Issue
It’s hard for me to believe that The Walrus has been around for ten years (even they seem a bit surprised). I still remember hearing about the magazine on Book TV from some Canadian channel that I just happened upon.
When I heard about it The Walrus seemed interesting–kind of like Harper’s and elements of the New Yorker but all about Canada. I’ve been a Canuckophile for decades now, so it seemed like an interesting prospect. And over the ten years of the magazine, while I haven’t written about every issue, I have read every article. I have written about all of the short stories that they’ve published.
This issue eschews some of my favorite elements (the short articles in the front and the arts section in the back), but they make up for it with an oversized issue (twice as long as usual and the articles are all packed with content) and some fascinating articles.
And while there are none of the short articles from the front, there are “Time Capsules,” one page articles about things that have happened in the last ten years: The iPhone, Sports Concussions, Armed Drones, The Residential School Apology, Justin Bieber, Foodies, Hand Sanitizer and Cyberbullying. It’s interesting to read about these phenomena from a slightly different perspective. We know that Canada and the U.S. share many similarities but there are, at heart some core differences. And it’s these differences that make you rethink a subject. (more…)
It’s tempting to say that Phobos is a carbon copy of Negatron, but that’s not true. While the line up is the same, and the overall tone is very similar—very heavy, aggressive music—there are subtle differences. The first is that the album sounds vaguely more electronic, as if they were really flirting with industrial after the experiment with Jim Thirwell on the last album. E-Force’s vocals, while still abrasive and screamed have a lot of processing on them which makes them far more interesting and actually quite a bit more understandable. There’s also a lot of weird electronic effects that link the album and make it feel more “spacey.”
And while there are different sections of songs and parts that are actually quiet, this i still a difficult album–the vocals especially are exceedingly harsh and will turn off people who like the instrumental sections. I hate to sound like the band’s declining popular are all down to E-Force, but he is the weakest link in the band at this point. Whats weird about thee two E-Force era albums is that although they are very very heavy with several weird parts per song, the basic structure of them is very conventional. So instead of sounding proggy and weird, they sound more like a bludgeoning metal band. Which didn’t really work for them. Indeed, the band intended to if not call it quits at least take a hiatus after this album.
Phobos opens with “Catalepsy I” an introductory song—noises and whatnot. And indeed, these electronic noises link all of the songs of the record, with different sounds in between the tracks (like the way “Bacteria” opens with spacey effects and electronic drum noises for 35 seconds). But the first proper song “Rise,” has an opening guitar riff that is quite normal—dark, but normal. It’s true that the heaviness of the chugging section is heavier than most (like earlier Voivod), but it’s still not that strange. Until the verses come in. And here’s where E-Force’s vocals are a little different—more processed and robotic sounding. It actually works a lot better. And in the middle of the song while the heaviness is ongoing, that opening normal guitar riff comes back. Rather conventionally.
“Mercury” has a more typical Voivod guitar riff although the pounding heavy chords are still quite heavy. There’s more of the distorted vocals and weird chords for the bridge. It also begins a series of increasingly longer songs. This one is nearly 6 minutes. While “Phobos” is nearly 7. It also has an interesting echoing staccato guitar riff with E-Force’s vocals very distorted (like Nine Inch Nails or Skinny Puppy). The bridge is a crazy noisy monstrosity and yet the middle section is very simple: loud chords delivered at a slow pace with interesting effects and fiddly guitar solo noises. “Bacteria” reaches over 8 minutes long. But it is unlike any of their earlier prog songs. It has an interesting echoing guitar opening and a bunch of staggered parts. But once the song’s major chords start up it sounds probably most like the previous album except for the lengthy instrumental/psychedelic section starting at around 5 minutes.
The album slows down somewhat with the 1:48 “Temps Mort” a short instrumental with what sounds alike an accordion. It’s a weird little time out (which is what the title means), and I like it a lot.
“The Tower” has an underwater kind of feel to it amidst the bludgeoning guitars. The middle and the end have some very cool heavy trippy/spacey metal which is so radically different from the heavy Voivod chords that make up the proper song. Indeed the very end is a minute of mellow spacey guitars. “Quantum” is a pretty straight ahead (for Voivod) metal song with echoed vocals that take some of th edge off (until he screams the chorus). There’s another cool instrumental section. In fact, the whole album has great instrumental sections, it’s kind of a shame the vocals are so offputting (although at the end of this song they are so distorted and computerized that they sound very cool)
“Neutrino” opens with those big loud slow ringing chords of noise before the simple but creepy solo riff comes in. It’s 6 minutes long and has another interesting guitar line amid the noise. It takes 3 minutes (of 7) before the vocals come in and the song gets much darker. “Forlorn” is the closest thing to a hit on the album. The chorus is really easy to sing along to. And the verses are actually pretty straightforward. It’s very very heavy and isn’t going to make the radio anywhere, but it’s still catchy. The album proper ends with “Catalepsy II,” more swirling noises that sound like the beginning.
There are two bonus tracks on the CD. “M-Body” was written by Jason Newsted and is the most industrial mechanized/voiced songs on the album. It’s certainly out of place, although it does hint at what is to come on their next album. “21st Century Schizoid Man” is a cover of the King Crimson song. They’d done Pink Floyd and King Crimson fits pretty nicely. As with the Floyd covers this one is very heavy. Piggy gets the guitars right. But as with the rest of the album, E-Force’s vocals just don’t work. Whereas Snake’s weird pronunciations accented the covers in a cool way, E-Force just seems to be forcing his way through the track (the fact that he puts 3 syllables in “century” is pretty unforgivable. Overall the song is pretty great, although I’m not so sure about the guitar solo which sounds like Piggy doesn’t really know what to do.
And that’s the end of this Voivod lineup. Two albums and a lot of lost fans.
[READ: September 20, 2013] Terry
I have known about this book for a pretty long time. I was never really that interested in reading it because, while I don’t know all that much about Terry Fox, I felt like I knew enough about him to not bother with a full bio.
For those who don’t know (basically anyone from the U.S.), Terry Fox was a young man who developed cancer at the age of 19 in 1977. and had his leg amputated. To draw attention to cancer research he decided to run (yes run) across Canada on the Trans Canada Highway. He had a prosthetic leg, he practiced running every day (he was already a natural athlete) and he decided that in 1980 he would run from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific (he even had a bottle of water from the Atlantic that he wanted to pour into the Pacific). His plan was to run between 26 miles a day. Yes, run a marathon every day. He called it the Marathon of Hope.
When he started out, the media coverage was nothing but as he progressed and his friend (who drove the van alongside him) started making media attention, Terry’s cause became more well known. And by the time he made it to Ontario, he was a huge personality—making TV appearances, talking to anyone and, most importantly, making a ton of money for cancer research. (more…)
After Angel Rat, original bassist Blacky left the band. That’s never a good sign. After the tour for this album, original singer Snake left the band. That’s an even worse sign. I still can’t quite figure out exactly why Snake left (personal problems) but he went on to form the band Union Made. For a very detailed history of the band, check out this very cool timeline at Voivod dot net.
The Outer Limits got a pretty big release. I have an original copy that came with 3D glasses and all of the illustrations in 3D. But I was a little disappointed in Angel Rat and I don’t think I gave The Outer Limits much of a chance. It was no Nothingface. But the band was always morphing. Since Angel Rat went very commercial, this album brought things back into the prog realm (with a 17(!) minute song) but also had a lot of commercial songs.
The album opens with “Fix My Heart” which starts out much heavier than anything on Angel Rat. It’s also got some metal guitar pyrotechnics (squeaks and harmonics). Snake’s voice isn’t quite as pretty as on Angel Rat either—he growls a bit, but maintains his nicer voice overall. Nevertheless, “Fix My Heart” is a pretty commercial enterprise (as the title might even suggest). There’s some good “spacey” guitars sounds which bode will for the sci-fi angle of the album (and there’s some cool effects that reward headphone use). “Moonbeam Rider” starts with a very classic rock sounding riff and then morphs into a kind of pretty, mellow verse. But the interstitial guitar is all speed. It’s a nice mix of fast and slow. This song features some interesting bass work—nothing fancy but for the slow parts it is actually keeping the beat instead of the drums. The bassist was a studio musician for this album. There’s also what sounds like a bong during the pre-guitar solo section (the solo is fairly traditional).
“Le Pont Noir” is a mellow, slow guitar song with a very cool delay effect and Snake’s whispered vocals. The bridge gets heavy with a wonderfully weird Piggy guitar riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Then the band’s second Pink Floyd cover appears. This time it’s the even more obscure “The Nile Song.” They have rather heavied this one up with crunching guitars and Snake’s distance screaming filling in the void (although in fairness the original vocals are also screamed). It’s not as dynamic or exciting as “Astronomy Domine,” but it’s still a cool cover. “The Lost Machine” starts off heavy with Away’s double cymbal work (a noisy splash and a fast ride cymbal). Then Piggy’s guitars have a slight delay on them which makes the opening chords sound especially odd. The bridge is a place for Piggy to show off some more weird spacey chords and some very cool guitar riffs. There’s even a spoken word narrator in the middle of the song that explains the “mission” “Time Warp” opens with a very bright and up beat sounding verse. But it quickly disintegrates into (intentional) musical chaos as the narrator gets lost in space.
This all leads up to the 17 minute “Jack Luminous.” If anyone doubted their prog rock leanings, this should dispel that immediate. 17 minutes, multiple parts, a sci-fi epic, it is prog (but heavy prog) at its finest. There are some incredibly catchy parts as well as some less catchy parts, and sections seem to change every two minutes or so. The slow down at 10 minutes is very cool—different guitar effects and the suspenseful bass line. There’s repeated sections as well, which means if you like some guitar line (the spacey part near the end) it comes back! It’s not quite as dynamic as say 2112, but it’s a very successful sci-fi epic.
“Wrong Way Street” returns to the normal and more conventional. The bass that opens the song sounds great and the chords are fairly conventional–the chorus is even really catchy. “We Are Not Alone” is a break-neck metal song, The drums are super fast, the guitars are relentless and the chorus even has an echoed “Hey!” that gets you to sing along. The song also features a cool slow, almost jazzy bass and drum section that lets Piggy throw some soloing in before returning to the fast paced verses.
There’s lots of theories about what happened to Voivod after this album. The success they had achieved earlier was now gone and the band seemed like they couldn’t decide to be metal or prog or is they should go for more pop music. The problem of course is that they were too weird to get mainstream acceptance anyway.
So Snake left and then there were only two original members. The next step would be a drastic one.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #7
This issue seemed to come hot on the heels of #6. But I enjoyed it just as much. A few notes: no Jeremy Lin in this issue. Lots of LeBron James, three articles about soccer! And a few pop culture moments that I had forgotten about.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-“The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament JUST. GOT. REAL.
Leonard Cooper didn’t know the final Jeopardy answer but he still won and he made a hilarious joke at the end (in cartoon format);
BILL SIMMONS-“Daring to Ask the PED Question”
Simmons talks a lot about PED’s in this forum. Of course, to me PED is my initials. For him (and sports fans) it is performance enhancing drugs. He asks why sports doesn’t do more about it. There are so many people who do it that every time we see someone who might be doing it or who suddenly has a good season, we assume they are doing them too. It would be a service to the players and the fans to have rigorous testing or none at all.
CHRIS RYAN AND ROBERT MAYS-“The NFL Coaches Family Portrait By the Numbers”
A silly analysis of a photo of NFL coaches.
WESLEY MORRIS-“Jodie Foster’s Big Night”
What exactly did Jodie Foster say at the Golden Globes? (This was in January and everybody talked about it and now it’s September and I’ve completely forgotten about it—funny ephemera of pop culture).
JONATHAN ABRAMS-“Out of Africa”
A serious look at trying to bring basketball to Africa. How the culture and language problems make it very difficult to establish any real cohesion in the diverse country. But there are a few examples of boys coming from Africa and benefiting from host families and then heading back to help those who love basketball back home. The main focus is on a 15-year-old Alexis Wangmene who came to the States (and left his family!) to try to gain an education and basketball skills. It’s a heartfelt story.
MOLLY LAMBERT-“Modern Love”
About the show Catfish which just goes to show we can sink even lower as a culture.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN-“Mental Health Protocol”
About Royce White again. Last time there was a lengthy look at him. Now we get to hear that he thinks that everyone has some kind of mental health issue.
ANDY GREENWALD-“Eat Bray Love”
How cooking shows have gone from educational to crazy and annoying. He dislikes Top Chef and the new Anthony Bourdain show The Taste (which he says is awful) but he likes a decent show called Chopped.
ZACH LOWE-“The Fragile Science of Basketball Chemistry”
Sure the Heat were great this year, but it’s the way they evolved as a team, creating chemistry, that is so impressive.
RAFE BARTHOLOMEW-“The Pariah”
Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in a disputed judges call. Instead of rising to fame, he has been avoided like the plague.
BILL SIMMONS-“The All-Manti Te’o Mailbag
Remember that crazy story about the football guy with the dead girlfriend who turned out to be fake? I never really understood the story and while they spend a lot of time talking and theorizing about it I still don’t get it. Did they ever find out the truth about it?
CHRIS BROWN-“Speak My Language”
When you play for the Patriots, you learn their way of doing things—it is simple and efficient, a streamlined version of what other coaches try to do.
KIRK GOLDSBERRY-“The Evolution of LeBron James”
Using diagrams, we see how much of a different player James is in just the last few years with The Heat. This article has made me want to watch James in a game while he is at his peak. So, Heat vs Bulls at the end of October, you’re on my schedule.
SEAN McINDOE-“The Non-Hater’s Guide to the NHL”
Even people who hate everyone in the NHL (which is everyone) can agree that there are some players who are universally admired: Martin Brodeur, Pavel Satsyuk. Teemu Selanne, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Elias (Devils get two!), Ryan Smyth, Steve Sullivan, Saku Koivu, Henrik Lundqvist.
ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“God Needs a Hobby”
A look at Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown. Harmon seems like he might be a crazy alcoholic, but he’s also pretty darn funny.
MARK TITUS-“Duke’s Ignominious Son”
Everybody hates Christian Laettner, but that’s only because he’s pretty and he made The Shot
MARK LISANTI-“Three Days in Austin”
Dealing with the craziness of the South by Southwest film festival. Sounds awful.
HUA HSU-“The Alien Has Landed”
Soccer legend Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford
BILL SIMMONS-“The Greatest Action Franchise That Ever Was”
Live blogging the Fast and Furious 6 trailer. I admit I may have to see these films after reading this.
ZACH LOWE-“Lights, Camera, Revolution”
There’s some kind of new technology that will change the NBA forever. I pretty much don’t care.
TESS LYNCH-“Nostalgia Bites”
Watching old Real World episodes shows how much things have changed in reality TV, but also how much certain behaviors are not new.
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“Maradona, Then and Now”
Maradona was an amazing kid—at 15 he was remarkable at his ball control. Now at 52 he’s a crazy loon. What exactly happened in between?
ANDY GREENWALD-“From Big to Small, From Movie to TV”
Why not make Men in Black into a TV show—with some other film recommendations.
AMOS BARSHAD-“How Soccer Explains Israel”
I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found it very interesting. An Israeli soccer team has signed two Muslim players and it has caused incredible animosity and even arson. How this look at a team is like a microcosm of the whole Israeli situation.
LOUISA THOMS-“Back to School”
Missy Franklin won a ton of medals in the Olympics. And then she went back to high school. What’s it like to be on her team at Regis Jesuit?
WESLEY MORRIS-“Run, Frank, Run”
Frank Ocean apparently wasn’t as huge as I thought he was.
MALCOLM GLADWELL AND CHUCK KLOSTERMAN–“The Lies He Told”
More about Manti Te’o. This discussion was a bit more helpful about what happened and how crazy it is.
CHRIS RYAN AND REMBERT BROWNE-“A List of Possible Reasons for Rob Gronkowski’s Arm Infection”
Hypothetical humor.
JORDAN CONN-“The Invisible Man”
Marc Gasol is extremely respected by scouts and agents, but the fans all think of him as Pau Gasol’s chubby little brother.
REMBERT BROWNE-“French Quarter Lessons”
While in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Browne decided to go to a bunch of used bookstores. This is very funny and enjoyable.
JAY CASPIAN KANG-“Fiercely Disputed”
Mike Tyson’s one man show is weird and strangely affecting.
KATIE BAKER-“Do Svidanya to All That”
Several NHL players went to Russia’s KHL during the lockout. And some don’t want to come back.
CHRIS RYAN-“The All-Star Circus”
NBA All-Star weekend is a crazy circus (and sounds worse than the above SXSW festival).
CHUCK KLOSETRMAN AND ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“The Nobituary”
There was a serious rumor that David Bowie was on death’s door. Klosterman and Pappademas imagine writing his obituary.
DAVID SHOEMAKER-“Glenn Beck vs. WWE”
The WWE has always had racists as part of the act. What happens when some goons start acting like the Tea Party?
DAVID JACOBY-“The Pure Heart Meets The Bachelor”
Jacoby’s grandmother watches The Bachelor and he feels badly for her.
STEVEN HYDEN-“Is This It?”
The Strokes’ fifth album had just come out [really?]. It could be their last, but Hyden thinks their last two have been quite good.
BILL SIMMONS-“The Heat in Hindsight”
The Miami Heat came close to breaking the longest winning streak in the NBA. Simmons looks at the fallout and who “wins” and “loses” in the effort.
CHARLES P. PIERCE-“Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”
I had no idea that Charlie Pierce was a Canadiens fan!
KATIE BAKER-“The Ethics of a Family Plan”
Is it ethical to pretend that you are married to your roommate to get a family discount a ta gym? Hell yes.
EMILY YOSHIDA-“A Dark Force”
J.J. Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars films. Why, when sci-fi is so multifaceted and so different is everything coming down to J.J. Abrams?
SEAN FENNESSEY-“The Case Against Justin Timberlake”
Timberlakes’s previous album was amazing. Then he took years off to make (bad) film and (good) TV. His star would only continue to rise if he stopped making music and only hinted that he would make another album. But the release of his new album (which isn’t that good) can only hurt him.
BRYAN CURTIS-“Waiting for Bettman”
While many New Yorker’s didn’t care about the NHL strike, Canadian writers camped out waiting for Bettman to announce the strike was over.
WESLEY MORRIS-“30 Rock Landed on Us” 30 Rock was many things, but it dealt with racial issues (at least between blacks and whites) better than any show.
RANY JAZAYERLI-“Fall of the Evil Empire”
The New York Yankees look like they won’t make the playoff this year (this was written in March and as of my writing this they have a slim chance at getting the wild card slot). It will be the firs time in a while, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s the start of a new drought for the Evil Empire.
BILL BARNWELL-“The Master Raven”
Ozzie Davis knows how to pick players for the Baltimore Ravens.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-The Best Chappelle’s Show Sketches of All Time”
Done as a series of cartoons (by Parker); Browne picks his eight favorites:
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Prince
Wayne Brady’s Show
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James
Black Bush (especially now that Obama is president)
Clayton Bigsby: Black White Supremacist
Making the Band (P. Diddy)
The Racial Draft (Tiger Woods Now 100% Black)
The Niggar Family (uncomfortable and hilarious no matter how many times you watch it).
Once again, there’s another great issue of Grantland. Once again, I wish they would follow up on some of their speculative stories. But it’s fun to have a time capsule of events that occurred just a few months ago and yet which I have totally forgotten about.
And here’s the cover of The Outer Limits in non 3D style (which I haven’t see before)
It was easy to know that Voivod were going to be an unusual band. Their name is crazy. All the members had nicknames like Piggy, Blacky, Snake, and, confusingly, Away. And they were French Canadian, which meant that their singer’s first language wasn’t English–I love the way he stresses things in his vocals especially on later albums, and he had the guttural French that sounds like a cookie monster vocalist even when he is just speaking.
Later on, their prog and psychedelic leanings would come out more, but on their debut, they were just a noisy, screamy pounding metal band. And this debut has typically bad mid 80s metal production to top it off.
In 2004 the album was remastered with bonus tracks, a full live concert and a CD ROM with all kinds of goodies. I originally thought the remaster didn’t sound that good, but there is definitely some clarity that the remaster brings. It allows you to hear a lot of the subtleties (and there are some) that were lost in the original.
There are hints at the kind of weird sounding noises the band would make on future albums, but this is mostly just fast, pounding music. I’d have liked them to re-record this stuff before Piggy died, just to see what a proper recording studio could do with these earlier songs.
Of course, now that I have listenedto it again with better equipment, I’m changing my assessment somewhat. Despite the very heavy nature of the songs there are some very cool sequences in here. They are nothing compared to the complexities that the band would undertake in just a few short years, but there are some really interesting things underway and the remaster definitely highlights them a little better. It still sounds pretty bad 9especially compared to their later records), but hey, they only spent $2,000 and recorded it in a studio where the engineer had never heard a metal band before.
[READ: August 23, 2013] Lara’s Book
I have known of this book since it came out in 1998. I was a huge fan of Douglas Coupland and yet I had zero interest in Lara Croft or Tomb Raider. So I simply ignored this book. But because I’m being all completist with this blog, it was time to bite the bullet and see what this piece of nonsense was all about.
And it is just as weird and creepy as I feared.
There are several sections to the book, most of which are written by Coupland. I will admit right up front that I did not read the strategies and secrets from Kip Ward–sorry Kip, it seemed like fun but between the crazy fonts and layout and the fact that I will never play the game it just seemed like too much. (more…)
Wikipedia is a wondrous tool, especially for fans. For instance, many times the inside cover a book will tell you what other books an author has written. But sometimes if different publishers are involved, that list can be lacking in a thing or two. Heck, sometimes even an author’s website is incomplete. Take a look at Coupland’s website. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH-Live at KEXP (September 8, 2012).
The Tallest Man on Earth is Kristian Matsson a Swedish singer songwriter. His albums have a very full sound, but when he plays live, it’s just him and his guitar. And man, is he a compelling performer. His guitar playing (primarily classical-sounding but often heavy and mostly rocking) is gorgeous–fast and pretty. And his voice is gravelly and powerful. I’ve enjoyed the studio songs I’ve heard, but he is transcendent live.
This set opens with a buzzy guitar that sounds like the show is not recorded well. But that quickly goes away and the songs shine. Matsson is a charming and self depreciating performer and when he has a malfunction as in “Love is All”and at the end he says “that was kind of embarrassing.” But he not bothered by it and plays on with a great, short set.
The set includes some (then) new songs and a few older ones as well: “A Field of Birds,” “King of Spain”, “Tangle in This Trampled Wheat,” “Thrown Right at Me,” “The Gardener” and “Like a Wheel.” It’s a great introduction to the guy and his amazing voice. which you can enjoy at KEXP.
[READ: August 20, 2013] Miss Wyoming
I first read the book during my trip to Vancouver on the eve of Y2K (the best flight I’ve ever had—mostly empty and we were given champagne). I started reading it on the plane and then in the second chapter the heroine is in a plane crash. So I stopped reading. I’m sure I finished it later, although I didn’t remember much of anything about it.
I read it again now and I was a little disappointed when I started reading it. The first few chapters are so full of similes it is insane. The word “like” is tossed around at an incredulous pace. Like:
John’s teeth were big and white, like pearls of baby corn
…his skin like brown leather.
His eyes looked like those of somebody who’s lost big.
They crossed San Vicente Blvd, passing buildings and roads that once held stories for each of them, but which now seemed transient and disconnected from their lives, like window displays.
Susan was wrapped in a pale light fabric, cool and comfortable, like a pageant winner’s sash.
John was sweating like a lemonade pitcher,
…his jeans, gingham shirt and black hair soaking up heat like desert stones.
John felt as close to Susan as paint is to a wall.
Staring at the pavement, like Prince William behind his mother’s coffin.
This man with sad pale yes, like snowy TV sets
That’s all in the first chapter!
Now, I have come to see that the story is cyclical and it’s about people looking for their real selves. So it’s possible that the simile heavy beginning is meant to reflect the fact that the protagonists are looking for themselves—they have no substance so they can only be compared to other things. But man, it is hard going with that many comparisons.
The other major problem I had with the story was the really aggressive use of coincidence. Susan and John both end up eating out of fast food dumpsters; just as Susan’s mother wants to sell their house, a pile of garbage from an airplane falls on it. Right after we learn of a guy hoarding gasoline, the house explodes. Again there are arguments for why these things might happen in this story (numerology is an important aspect of the book), but it seems too…easy.
But once the story starts moving the actual plot is really interesting and compelling. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: FORGET ALL THAT AND JUST WAIL: New Music That Orbits Around Jazz (compilation The Believer July/August 2013).
This compilation came as a digital download with The Believer’s 2013 Music Issue (you need to get a physical copy of the issue to get the download code). Ross Simonini, the compiler, explains that he used to like jazz, but that he really doesn’t anymore. And he finds himself attracted to these pieces that hover around jazz but which really aren’t jazz. You can read Simonini’s thoughtful comments about all of these tracks here). I enjoyed this compilation quite a lot and am considering getting a few of these discs, or at least investigating them further. And that’s want you want from a compilation.
COLIN STETSON-“The Righteous Wrath if an Honorable Man”
Any compilation that opens with Colin Stetson is okay with me. This track was my introduction to the man last year and I still love it, in all of its insanity.
KARRIEM RIGGINS-“Double Trouble” is only 2 minutes long. It’s got flutes and vibraphones and is super cool and retro sounding. I really like it, although this track ends abruptly and I can’t decide if the actual song does or if it was cut short for the disc.
THUNDERCAT-“For Love I Came” has some echoey keyboards and some great bass lines and cool/cheesy keyboard lines (it all sounds so gloriously 70s). When the vocals come in, the whole track feels like Yes if Yes were inspired by jazz instead of classical (and had no drums—until about 2 minutes when the drums kick in and the song takes off and bass solo makes it very Yes-like).
THE BEN MONDER TRIO-“Red Shifts” is a classic style jazz guitar workout—the echoed effect is very jazzy. And yet there is something very angular about the playing that keeps it from sounding smooth. It’s a great track (which once again seems to get cut off very abruptly).
DAWN OF MIDI-“Ymir” is another trio—piano bass and drums. The piano is muted (the pianist puts his hand on the strings) which makes it sound like another percussive instrument while it is also creating the melody. It’s very cool. And I like the way over the 8 or so minutes the melody changes slightly, giving it a new sound almost accidentally.
GLOWS IN THE DARK-“Up and Down” starts as a fast but quiet guitar piece with some cool subtle horns over the top. It features a rap by Count Bass D which i do not care for (The “I’m pissed/L.L. Cool J” verse is really awkward). This is the first track on the disc that i really don’t like, which is a shame because the music is really cool.
STEVE RAEGELE-“Traingle (Daedalus)” is a weird, cool experimental sounding track. Sounds are overlaid on each other with a lot of echoing that gives it a very dense structure. Whether or not this is jazz is hard to say but it’s very intriguing.
MARY HALVORSON QUINTET-“Sea Cut Like Snow (No. 26)” Halvorson is a guitarist and this live track features some of the most traditional jazz on the compilation. The song has cool melodies and some nice improvsiing (on various instruments). It runs a little long though (I wish this had been truncated rather than the earlier ones) but it’s enjoyable.
FLYING LOTUS-“German Haircut” this is an electronically manipulated pastiche of songs with a sax solos placed over the top. It’s an interesting concoction.
CHRIS CORSANO-“Famously Short Arms” This is one of the most amazing drum videos I’ve ever seen–it is so creative and original. As an audio track it is basically a drum solo, but watching him and what he does on the drums is really mind expanding.
MATANA ROBERTS-“lulla/bye” I have this track as well (two tracks from Constellation here). It’s full of saxophones and longing in the singing. It’s hard to define but it’s very evocative.
MICROKINGDOM-“Peppermint Crab” This is a weird and wild piece. It opens with some manipulated and spacey vibes and electronics and then gets assaulted by a wild and screaming sax solo that would make John Zorn proud.
DIAMOND TERRIFIER-“Kill the Self That Wants to Kill Yourself” This song opens with some simple keyboard chords and some odd unsettling sounds thrown over them (waves of static and squeaking saxophone). Then comes some wild soloing.
This is a solid compilation of jazz-like music. It veers into more extreme forms of jazz and will certainly alienate some listeners, but it’s an introduction to what else is out there on the fringes.
[READ: August 8, 2013] Shakespeare’s Nigga
The artistic director of the Obsidian Theatre Company (which put on this play) explains in the intro that with a title like that, you’re going to get attention. In fact he initially said that they couldn’t use that title, because it was too much. But they changed their mind because it really was…right.
This story looks at the two most prominent black men in Shakespeare: Othello (the Moorish general who is ruled by violent emotion) and Aaron (a Moorish slave who is basically pure evil—in Titus Andronicus). As the artistic development coordinator of the Obsidian Theater says, Shakespeare is the authority on writing characters, thus these two men have become entwined in Black masculinity. Which is a shame because “Moor” could basically be anyone who did not live in Europe and because Shakespeare likely didn’t know any black people (except as slaves). It’s not really a good sample.
Playwright Joseph Jomo Pierre doesn’t seek to rectify this or upend this or decry Shakespeare. What he does is much more subtle and much more powerful.
There are five characters in the play: Othello, Aaron, Tyrus (an older black male), Shakespeare and Judith (Shakespeare’s daughter). Shakespeare and Othello are comrades (I won’t say friends, but it seems like Shakespeare relies on Othello for protection and advice). Meanwhile, Aaron has tried to escape from his slavery and is currently chained up and beaten (usually by Othello). (more…)
Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” is a huge hit (with a NSFW video). And I gotta say that I find it insanely catchy, too. It’s pretty irresistible. So why not cover it?
Vampire Weekend’s new album is less formal than their first two–relaxing styles and adding a bunch more humor to their sound. And they make a surprisingly good cover of this song. Their version is quite faithful to the original (even mimicking the sound a lot). But at the same time, the band is having a lot of fun with the song as you can tell primarily from the backing vocals.
You can tell hear it’s Vampire Weekend, but it also doesn’t quite sound like them–a neat trick.
Check out their cover (which is not a live concert track, but was recorded for BBC’s Live Lounge (so it sounds good)) at Stereogum.
[READ: July 15, 2013] “Firebugs”
This was, I think, the longest story I’ve seen published in The Walrus.
It begins with several paragraphs describing fire–physical, psychological, intense descriptions. Since I didn’t realize the story was so long, I actually wondered if the whole story would be like that–if there were going to be no characters in it. But there are, and quite a few. And the story is focused on two of them.
Blake Kennedy Jr was a firebug as a kid. Then he became a fireman (seems this is not so uncommon of a history for firemen and may stem from the desire to control fire). After many good years, he was injured during training and had to get a desk job. Now he investigates suspicious fires. Perhaps coincidentally, there was a rash of arson during the year he was born. Those fires were technologically set–the arsonist used the spark from a telephone to ignite a can of gasoline. Of course, the killer would place the call when he was far enough away. And he was never found.
This year’s arsonist’s is much more simple–a milk jug of gasoline with a homemade wick left on the front porch. It is a slow burn, with the gasoline not exploding. It’s actually the fumes that catch fire, not the liquid. So, when the wick burns down, the whole thing doesn’t ignite until the milk jug melts and the gas spills out.
Blake is investigating the death of Detta, an older woman who tried to run out during the fire (the state of her feet must have been incredible, he determined). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-Live BBC 1970-1971 (1970/1971).
Since I am delving deeply into early Pink Floyd, I came across this bootleg of Floyd on the John Peel show.
I Just Read About That... 