SOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS FIVE-The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2013).
The first Ben Folds Five album in over a decade opens with a big noisy sound and then quickly shows the diversity of the band by pulling back and showing a mellow verse with Ben’s piano and occasional bass. But then the chorus comes in and Robert Sledge’s bass is once again masterful. While Ben is clearly the leader of the band, there is something about the BFF’s bass that is so notable. And this album rocks in BFF’s unique way–rollicking piano, and noisy buzzy bass.
“Michael Praytor, Five Years Later” has some great harmonies (the kind that BFF do so well). “Sky High” is the kind of social commentary ballad that Ben excels at. And the title track is a fast moving rocker that has more great harmonies.
“On Being Frank” is a Sinatra inspired song with strings. While “Draw a Crowd” continues Ben’s humorous vulgarity in a very unexpected way: “if you’re feeling small, and you can’t draw a crowd…draw dicks on a wall.” “Do It Anyway” the single, which inexplicably wasn’t huge, gets more and more fun with each listen–to scream along with “OKAY!” is very cathartic.
“Hold That Thought” is one of those mellow but speedy numbers that I love from Ben. And when then bass plays that high solo bit near the end (oh that bass), the song kicks into new levels of excellence. “Away When You were Down” is another string-filled mellow song. The final track “Thank You for Breaking My Heart” reminds me of “Boxing”, a mellow piano ballad which is, obviously, heartbreaking.
This is a great return to form. There’s some heavy rockers and some pretty ballads. It’s nice to hear the Five back together again.
[READ: October 5, 2013] 3 book reviews
This month Bissell reviewed three books.
The first book is a biography of Flavius Jospehus called A Jew Among Romans by Frederic Raphael (who also wrote the screen play for Eyes Wide Shut). I had never heard of Flavius Jospehus but evidently without him we would have no historical accounts of time from around the beginning of the Common Era. His writings are pretty much the only works that have survived.
And his story itself is interesting too. In 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. This attack has had more impact on current life than can be explained. Judaism lost the Second temple, Jewish Christianity soon disappeared beneath the waves of Gentile Christianity, even Islam was shaped by this because a Mosque now stands where the Second Temple was. And nearly all modern forms of anti-Semitism can be traced back to this attack in some way. Flavius Jospehus chronicled this time as a Jew in a reasonably impartial way (which led many to call him a traitor). His books Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War are the sources for almost all of our knowledge of that era, including about Pontius Pilate. (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)
SOUNDTRACK: THE FRONT BOTTOMS-Tiny Desk Concert #297 (August 19, 2013).
I really enjoyed The Front Bottoms’ “Au Revoir” and was pretty excited to see they had a Tiny Desk Concert. After watching this, I’m very curious to see what they do in a full band setting because their sound works very well in this stripped down fashion–with acoustic guitars, penny whistle and muted trumpet (!).
Lead singer, Brian Sella, reminds me a lot of Mike Doughty in his speaky/singing way (especially on “Swear To God The Devil Made Me Do It”–although less speaky than Doughty or Cake–there’s just something about his delivery that puts me in mind of them.
He’s also always got a smirk on his face, which makes me like them more.
I’m torn between wondering if they’re a novelty band that I wouldn’t listen to more than a few times or a cool alternative band whose idiosyncrasies only get better with each listen. I love the way “Twin Size Mattress” has little elements (like the tambourine moment–and the “no fucking way moment) which elevate it above some of the seemingly sillier songs. Not to mention the lyrics are really good in the song. Indeed, even though the lyrics are funny, they are often very clever, too.
I really enjoyed all four songs in this set and I have listened to it many times now. “Au Revoir (Adios)” sounds great. All four songs comes from their new album Talonof the Hawk. And the more I listen the more I’m convincing myself to jut get the damned album.
[READ: September 6, 2013] “Gaboxadol”
This essay was actually hard for me to read. That’s because the first half was all scientific chemistry talk and I really got lost–I don’t really know what GABA receptors are or do and I didn’t even really understand what he was talking about what Stepan Krasheninnikov did in 1755. And I worried that I wasn’t going to enjoy this at all.
But soon Morris brought it back to an area that dummies like me can enjoy He talks about the history of Gaboxadol a drug created by Dutch chemist Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen in 1977. The first time Povl took it (self-experiment was very common until recently) he said it made him feel like he had just had three beers–a very comfortable feeling.
But Gaboxadol never found its niche. Povl knew it had relaxing qualities but he couldn’t specifically diagnose who would best benefit from it. It was tried on the mentally ill. The desired effects did not really arrive–but the side effects made people feel sleepy. Then it was tried as an analgesic for cancer patients. It relieved some pain but it made everyone sleepy (you see where this is gong, right?). It was then tested on patients with anxiety disorder, but the side effects were more powerful that the anti-anxiety effects.
So then the drug was just shelved (were people just less experimental back then?) It wasn’t until 1996 that Marike Lancel a somnologist in Munich read the research and decided to try it as a sleeping aid. She realized that Gaboxadol assisted sleep and also had none of the side effects that Ambien had (apparently terrible insomnia once you stop taking it–so I’ll not be taking that, thank you very much). Merck bought the rights to Gaboxadol for $270 million. (more…)
As I said, this album’s art looks much better. And you can hear from the first notes that this album is better produced and is going to be a lot more interesting than the previous two. It’s hard to know just how much of a leap this is from Rrröööaaarrr because that album was so muddy–maybe there were gems of guitar chords under all that noise. Like the previous openings, there’s a sort of prologue to the album. But unlike the previous album’s swirls, this one is beeping with a computer voice announcing “we are connected”
The opening chords are heavy, but man they sound clear—like they weren’t recorded underground. You can also hear all of Piggy’s weird higher notes—he’s playing complicated chords, not just solo notes. And when the chorus of “Killing Technology” rolls around, it offers stop and start rhythms and Snake’s voice even goes up an octave at the end. But the first real indication that Piggy is on to something new comes in the bridge. Underneath the robotic voice, Piggy is playing some really strange-sounding chords. The story is that he had been admiring Robert Fripp’s guitar work and so he added some of those King Crimson-y angular weird chords to his repertoire. And he melds them perfectly with the heavy thrash that the band had been playing.
Lyrically also, this album has moved away from killing and headaches. “Killing Technology” while having “killing” in the title is a very different subject:
The star wars have started up
The new invention is coming out
Making a spider web over the atmosphere
To make them sure that we can’t get out of here
Computers controlling your functions
Seems like we got electronic alienation
Trading children for a new kind of robot
Waiting for the old people to disappear
Quite a departure from Rrröööaaarr’s “Fuck Off and Die”
Stand up, right now, kill
No pleasure, the pain comes down here
No return, don’t look back, there’s no tomorrow
And if you’re a fucker and don’t believe it
I’d say fuck off and die, fuck off and die
“Overreaction” leans more towards the heavier side—Snake screams a bit more—but the subject (nuclear disaster) is thoughtful. Then comes their first truly amazing song: “Tornado.” Not only building like a tornado, this song allows them to talk about violent imagery without resorting to bloodshed. It’s even scientific:
Cumulonimbus storms arrive
Lightning flashes a hundred miles around
Electrical collision course
Creates the elephant trunk
But the best part is the chorus—it’s simple enough (just the word Tornado repeated) but it’s completely catchy and sing-alongable with bright major key chords.
“Forgotten in Space” features some great drumming from Away—he’s really quite underrated both in speed and technique—which explands even more on later albums. “Ravenous Medicine” is another highlight—an interesting series of uncomfortable chords opens this track about scientific research. It’s a pretty fast, heavy song. Although not too complicated except for the occasional breaks as the story progresses.
“Order of the Blackguards” is another fast song, but this one has so many parts that if you don’t like one, just wait a few seconds for the next one. “This is Not an Exercise” ends the disc proper. The middle section has a great heavy riff. But it’s the beginning of the ending sequence which is so perfectly sci-fi that really sets the tone of the album and looks towards the next one. It’s cool to think of Piggy playing these spacey chords on his guitar. And when Blacky’s bass rumbles in to resume the song, it’s quintessential Voivod.
By th way, this disc is a concept album as well. There’s a “Killing Side” (the first three songs) and a “Ravenous Side.” The strange thing about the CD though is that they have added two tracks from their Cockroaches EP which is nice. But they put one song at track 4 (the end of side one). How odd to put a bonus track in the middle of a sequenced album.
The EP came out before the album and it has a slightly different feel from the album proper. Although as a step towards Killing Technology it’s perfectly in sync. “Too Scared to Scream” is heavy and has some interesting time changes—I love the way the song feels like it is crashing to a halt around 3:30. “Cockroaches” feels like more traditional metal. It opens with drums and Piggy playing a typical sounding metal solo. Then the riffing starts and it’s very heavy indeed. Even the staggered section near the end sounds like a mosh section more than the prog time changes that Voivod uses on the album proper. The song ends with Snake screaming as the cockroaches are coming. A good ending to the EP and a pretty good ending to the disc.
The whole album has a very mechanical and robotic feel—the chords that Piggy plays just sound like mechanical failure, it’s very well constructed and foreshadows the music of their future.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #6
Grantland #6 covers from Sept 2012-Dec 2012. Despite the short time frame, this is the largest issue yet. And it maintains all the quality that I’ve come to expect from the book/magazine thing. Which means, I love the writing (especially about people/sports I’m not that interested in). And it also means that the editing is typically crap. In this issue the editing was crap more because they simply forgot to remove mention of hyperlinks. At least I assume that’s why sentences like “See here for ____” are included in any given article. But yes, there are some very simple typos that Word would correct pretty easily.
But beyond that, I really enjoyed this issue. And I’m finding it amusing how much certain people and shows crop up in a given time frame. So this is a four month period and Kobe Bryant still dominates (there will never be an issue without at least one Kobe article). But this time Homeland is the big show (since Breaking Bad has been on hiatus I gather). Basketball remains the favorite sport here (even though they speak of football as being the most popular sport).
Chuck Klosertman and Charlie Pierce continue to write thoughtful (sometimes funny) articles. And I like how there is still talk of Jeremy Lin even if Linsanity has gone away somewhat. (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…)
Sara Neufeld has a new album coming out on Constellation Records. Neufeld is the violinist for Arcade Fire–not someone you think of as a “special” violinist or someone who necessarily stands out in the band. But her violin here is haunting and beautiful.
The album is pretty much her and her violin with occasional accompaniment. On this track she is accompanied by pianist Nils Frahm (whom I don’t know). The song was recorded in a parking garage giving it an incredibly expansive sound.
It opens is a somber tone with repeated triplets. But once the pianos come in, the triplets become slightly more positive. For a time.
There is something very simple and yet very pleasing about this track–it doesn’t alter itself very much over its three minutes and yet the subtle variations in notes can really affect the mood of the song as it is playing.
[READ: July 15, 2013] “The Eviction Process”
I don’t know why I’m always surprised by stories that go dark. But this story is very dark indeed.
It begins with two men and an autistic boy (who proves to be the son of one of the men) visiting The Champ in the hospital. The Champ is one of their roommates and they have come to tell him that he is being evicted. They are nervous as anything because The Champ is not afraid to use his considerable strength in a fight (and the narrator has a stashed bottle of vodka in his pants that he would hate to see smashed).
But The Champ takes it very well, considering he is now homeless.
Their next stop is back home where the eviction process continues. The next person is Morgan, but Morgan is passed out from huffing keyboard duster. So, they’ll get him later. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS–Live from SXSW 2013, playing all of Yoshimi battles the Pink robots.
The day before their main set, which featured songs from their newest album, The Flaming Lips did a surprise set in which they decided to play Yoshimi in its entirety–something they had never done before.
Indeed, there are a few songs from the album that they say they have never played live before.
They have an hour to do the deed. But, Wayne being Wayne, he can’t stop talking between songs long enough for them to actually complete the album and they are left without playing the final track. (I haven’t heard of that happening to other bands).
The set sounds pretty good. It is quite different from the album in that the live unit plays all kinds of interesting sounds effects and updated keyboards and whatnot, it alters things in small and large ways although it doesn’t make it sound completely unlike the album.
Wayne’s voice is not as great as it used to be and he can’t hit all the notes anymore, which is a little disappointing (and may explain why the newer albums are not quite so soaring). But they are clearly enjoying themselves, as is the audience.
The only bad thing about this set (you can stream the video at NPR) is that the volume is very low. It sounds good, but is a little too quiet to be fully enjoyable. And, of course, you don’t get to hear “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).” Although you do get to hear how they came up with the title “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell.”
[READ: July 11, 2013] “Blood Spore”
This was a Folio in the center of the July issue of Harper’s. The Folio is a lengthy article that’s printed on a different type of paper. The Harper’s Folios are usually quite good. And so was this one.
This essay is about the life and death of Steven Pollock. Pollock was into mushroom. Really into them. He believed that they held cures to many different ailments and he set about trying to prove it. He had a fully functioning lab and he did extensive tests on the different types of mushrooms and spores that he collected. (Some of the tests simply included ingesting them, but he also used scientific methods). He ordered manure and other kinds of bases and then he set about growing and testing different genus of mushrooms.
True, he was also interested in their psychedelic powers, but he believed they could do much more.
In order to make money he sold paraphernalia in High Times. He was very successful (his company name and color ad in the magazine was quite a hit and he made an astonishing amount on the quasi legal market). Most of his money went back into research. He believed that when he made $2 million, he could get a proper lab.
The whole article was really interesting—seeing what Pollock did, seeing how some of the mushrooms he cultivated lasted throughout the years and how he managed to get some to spread (by getting spores in various materials in time for a Hurricane to blow them all across the South). Pollock’s personal favorite mushroom, which he described as being the most amazing trip he’d had, was on the verge of extinction. And he died believing that it was no more. Fortunately somehow made it to Amsterdam where now it is a very common (and very popular) strain of the fungus.
Shame he was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the author began researching this article because he received a tape that someone claimed showed who was guilty of his death. (more…)
I have casually seen The xx on a few shows and I’m intrigued by them. I’ve never really given their albums any time though, so I can’t say anything much about them.
However, I really enjoy the sound they get live (which is funny since in the article below they talk about how much of a perfectionist Jamie, the studio tech guy, is about the recordings).
This set from KEXP (KEXP always has great audio quality) contains four songs “Fiction” “Reunion” “Sunset” and “Angels.” And I have to say the band sounds amazing. So close, so clean, so intimate. Oliver’s voice is right there, whispering in your ears, and Romy’s guitars sound gorgeous–gentle vibrato, chiming chords; her voice is also beautiful.
The thing that throws me about The xx is how spare their music is. Sometimes it’s almost like there’s no music at all. And I keep thinking of reasons why I wouldn’t enjoy such simple music (it’s usually not my thing). Or that it should only be experienced in a dark room by yourself. But the melodies are so beautiful that I think they’ve made a convert of me. I really adore these songs. And I must have heard “Angels” somewhere because it is completely familiar.
I wonder if they sound this good on record. You can watch the show here:
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #5
Grantland continues to impress me with articles about sports that I don’t care about. They style that the writers have (and the humor they impart) is wonderful. And it goes to show that if you are passionate about something you can make it interesting to anyone. So, even if I don’t know who some of the people who they’re talking about are, I can still enjoy what they say about them. Plus, their entertainment coverage is really fun, too.
BILL SIMMONS-“Battle of the Olympic Heavyweights”
I really enjoyed this article which compares Olympic swimming and gymnastics to see which one “wins” in this battle for TV coverage and the hearts of Olympic fans (hint: it’s gymnastics, but Simmon’s categories are very good).
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“The Death’s Head of Wimbledon”
Phillips tries to cover Wimbledon and finds it very difficult to manage because it is all designed for TV, not in person coverage.
REMBERT BROWNE-“I Feel Like a Free Man”
The amazing decision of Frank Ocean to come out and how little it impacted his career. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: WXPN (88.5 Philadelphia) and wxpn.org online-Prog rock Marathon (2012-??).
Every January, Dan Reed plays a prog rock marathon on WXPN. This year I was able to enjoy portions of it. I rather wish the playlist was still available (you can search, but only by artist), because I’d love to rave about the tracks they played (like the live “Supper’s Ready.”)
I was delighted by the great mix of songs they played and (as I learned from reading this book) I was surprised by how many prog artists I didn’t even know.
In 2014 I’ll be listening again and maybe this time I’ll copy the playlist to document what I’ve missed.
[READ: July 7, 2013] Yes is the Answer
This book was sitting on a cart outside of my cube. I was intrigued by the title (it didn’t have that trippy cover, so I didn’t know what it was). But “Yes is the Answer” was calling me. Especially when I looked at the cover and saw that the cover had an excerpt from a William Vollmann story in which the protagonist plays In the Court of the Crimson King (track 5) for Reepah and watches her face as they band went Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!.
Quoting Vollmann (from The Rifles), playing King Crimson? What could this book be? Then I saw the subtitle and I knew I had to read it all.
I’m not going to review these essays because that would be like making a radio edit of a side long track, but I’ll mention the band the author focuses on and any other relevant details. (more…)
It was Neko Case who got me out of my NPR summer music doldrums. From her new, wonderfully titled album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, comes this fast, rocking track.
It has everything that Neko does great—fast, clever lyrics over a simple but propulsive beat. There’s a cool, unexpected guitar squiggle at the end of each verse that just makes the song seem that much faster. But it is just an uptempo stomper from the great Case.
The song slows down in the middle with just a bass and drums and then as Case starts singing about her manliness, a harpsichord plays over the back giving it a nicely pompous air. Which is quickly deflated by the buzzy guitar solo. The song is clever and pointed and very well done.
The only thing missing is a great Neko Case wail, but the song (and the lyrics) are too fast for her to hold any notes for too long. I’m really excited about this new album from her,.
[READ: June 18, 2013] “Scenes of the Crime”
The New Yorker doesn’t often tell you when something is an excerpt, but this time they tell us right up front. This is an excerpt from an upcoming Ridley Scott film written by McCarthy called The Counselor.
Although I am told that I would love McCarthy, I have never read him with any seriousness. And from what I have heard of his writing I don’t think I would like him. This excerpt is more or less a useless attempt to try and get any sense for McCarthy as a writer.
There is no dialogue. Rather, it is just a series of scenes–shot after shot, establishing the action of the movie.
I have no idea if there is dialogue in the movie or not. I would be really impressed if there was no dialogue during these scenes and this whole sequence took twenty some minutes–with no dialogue at all. That would be pretty cool. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS FIVE-The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2013).
The first Ben Folds Five album in over a decade opens with a big noisy sound and then quickly shows the diversity of the band by pulling back and showing a mellow verse with Ben’s piano and occasional bass. But then the chorus comes in and Robert Sledge’s bass is once again masterful. While Ben is clearly the leader of the band, there is something about the BFF’s bass that is so notable. And this album rocks in BFF’s unique way–rollicking piano, and noisy buzzy bass.
by Frederic Raphael (who also wrote the screen play for Eyes Wide Shut). I had never heard of Flavius Jospehus but evidently without him we would have no historical accounts of time from around the beginning of the Common Era. His writings are pretty much the only works that have survived.
I Just Read About That... 