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: RHEOSTATICS-Melville (1991).
This fantastic Rheostatics album was one of the last ones I bought for some reason. It came after their debut, Greatest Hits, and is quite a departure for that more simplistic disc.
SOUNDTRACK: DAN ZANES-Night Time (2002).
I’d only ever heard of Dan Zanes as the guy from the Del Fuegos (who probably got the biggest boost of their career when Juliana Hatfield sang about them in “My Sister”). But once we had our first child, everyone told me to check out Dan Zanes’ “kids” records. Night Time is one of our favorites. It’s often played at night (obviously) as a good bedtime CD.
You get 
And then there’s news about ALA, the organization (like their endorsement of the Public option in the Health Care debate). As the news items continue there’s a lot of items for librarians, but there’ also a lot of news about books and media in general. So, here we learn that J.D. Salinger won his lawsuit against Frederick Colting who wrote an unauthroized sequel to Catcher in the Rye. 
SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-Let It Die (2004).
I’ve recently discovered Feist through Broken Social Scene. I know that she is huge (and “1,2,3,4” is a really great song that we used for our son’s 4th birthday video), but it took me a while to catch on.
It’s seductive and very pretty. In many ways the disc reminds me of Fiona Apple (although I think Fiona has a stronger more interesting voice and a better selection of background instrumentation).
Amelia tries to make friends in the new neighborhood. And the boys she hangs out with are Reggie (whose goal is to become a superhero) and Pajamaman (the one unrealistic character in the story, although he does achieve more depth than just the “weirdo who wears pajamas all the time” as the comic continues). Amelia also gains a nemesis, Rhonda, who has a thing for Reggie but who is generally too cranky to do anything but snark about everything). 
SOUNDTRACK: DEERHUNTER-Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008).
Somehow, I can never remmeber what this disc is going to sound like when I pop it in. Once it gets going the songs are all familiar and very good, its just that initial listen, where I forget that the band is rather delicate and poppy. I tend to forget this because well, the bands name doesn’t sound delicate, and the album artwork has skulls all over it. So, to put it on and hear pleasant keyboard songs is alwaya bit of a surprise.
I’m not sure how I first learned about 
SOUNDTRACK: FANTÔMAS-Suspended Animation (2005).
If you know Fantômas, then you know what you’re in for. If you don’t, well, it’s a surprise!
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-TV Shit (1993).
This is a funny little addition to the SY catalog. It is essentially four covers of a song by Youth Brigade called “No Song II” (which is from Dischord records, Possible EP 
I’ve been reading Entertainment Weekly for years and years. I think I subscribed back in like 1993 or so. And I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with it. I’ve canceled my subscription on a number of occasions, mostly because I believed that it didn’t cover enough of the indie stuff I enjoyed (which is still largely true). But then I’d see an issue and realize that it is a fun magazine to flip through, so I’d re-subscribe.
read the entire half-a-column-length of an article. But they removed that, and it’s back to simple reviews.
I Just Read About That... 