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Archive for the ‘End of the World’ Category

McSweeney’s #32

Posted in Adventure, Anthony Doerr, Chris Adrian, Chris Bachelder, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, End of the World, Heidi Julavits, J. Erin Sweeney, Jim Shepard, LGBTQ, McSweeney's, Natural Disasters, Plague, Salvador Plascencia, Sesshu Foster, Sheila Heti, Short Story, Technology, The Future, Threats, Tindersticks, Wells Tower on October 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

32SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Tindersticks [the red one] (1993).

tsTindersticks are a fascinating band.  The first distinctive thing about them is Stuart Staples’ voice: a deep rich bass that he uses almost like a whisper.  The second thing you notice is the music.  It’s an orchestral/chamber pop collection of dark rockers with fantastic moodiness to it.  And then you notice the lyrics: dark songs of lost (and decayed) love.

Yet despite the description of chamber pop, the nad is really much darker than chamber pop suggests.  The band has a very noir sound: organs that penetrate through walls of sound, tinkling pianos suring hushed moments.  The horns and strings add dark atmospherics (strings zing like a Hitchcock movie).  And the minor key chords are rich and loud.

You also get a song like “Whisky and Water” which genuinely rocks hard (loud guitars are featured).  Or a simple acoustic guitar driven song like “Blood.”  Throughout the disk you get these fantastic melodies that play off of Staples’ voice and the twisted lyrics.  “City Sickness” and “Patchwork” are just two of the tracks that are very catchy.

And then there’s the fantastic “Jism” with its awesome noir organ.  Or “Raindrops” with its accents of vibes and the beautiful piano trilling at the end (and the detailed and emotional lyrics: What we got here is a lazy love / It mooches around the house / Can’t wait to go out / What it needs, it just grabs / It never asks / We sit and watch the divide widen / We sit and listen to our hearts crumble”).  “Her” follows up with a wonderfully flamenco-infused spaghetti western number.

And lets not forget “Drunk Tank” a propulsive song that is as sinister as it is catchy.  Oh heck, I could just keep raving.  But there’s 22 songs!   Four songs are about a minute each, and the disc is about 75 minutes (not bad for a debut!).  And the disc never loses momentum or its sense of purpose.

What really distinguishes this disk is the mood of the music.  Like the best soundtracks, you can feel the emotions and imagery with the music alone, but when you add Staples’ evocative lyrics and powerful voice, it’s a deadly potent combination.

The disc was reissued a few years ago with a bonus disc of demo tracks.  The demos are surprisingly rich (they’re not at-home recordings or done without accompaniment) so they don’t differ that dramatically from the originals.  But they have a slightly less polished feel, which doesn’t hurt the band at all. There’s also a demo of the fantastic “For Those…” which doesn’t appear on the original disc.

I have to thank my friend Lar for getting me into this band. (Thanks Lar).

[READ: October 19, 2009] McSweeney’s #32

The concept for this issue is this: McSweeney’s asked several authors to “travel somewhere in the world–Budapest, Cape Town, Houston, any sleepy or sleepless outpost they could find–and send back a story set in that spot fifteen years from now, in the year 2024.”

And so, all of the stories are vaguely sci-fi-ish in that they are future related, but they are all grounded very heavily in reality, in particular, the reality of individuals trying to live in this future world. (more…)

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Clash of the Gods (The History Channel, 2009)

Posted in Adventure, Bible, Clash of the Gods, Death, Demons, End of the World, Fables, Gods, History, Homer, Marillion, Natural Disasters, NPR/PRI/PBS, Religion, Sex, Supernatural, Universities, Violence, War, Wikipedia on August 12, 2009| 21 Comments »

[WATCHED: August-October 2009] Clash of the Gods

clash

[UPDATE: October 26, 2009]

I have now finished the entire series.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned from it.  (Not that I considered myself an expert, but you never know what you’ll get from TV series). The biggest surprise was how much this series filled in the gaps of things I half knew, or things that I didn’t know were missing from my knowledge.  Can’t ask for more than that!

I’m still a little confused by the inclusion of Tolkien, but that’s okay, it was a good episode nonetheless.

General negatives: I never did get used to the egregiously repetitive imagery (if I never see Zeus pulling off his hood again, I’ll be thrilled).  I also got rather tired of that crazy howling wind/scream noise that they used as some kind of dramatic effect.  But hey, that’s okay.

The actors and the CGI and all that was fine.  They had to include some kind of footage or else it would just be people talking to us, right?  I wonder where they got the actors?  The women were all quite beautiful. The men were less handsome than I would have expected (but then the male gods were all old, right?).  How did they cast these episodes, I wonder?  Okay Zeus: can you sit in that throne?  Good.  Can you remove your hood? Good. Athena: Can you stare smoldering at the camera?  Good.  I wonder how people tried out for the part of “soul writhing in hell” or whatever it was.

I’m not sure if the “that was the myth, but how does it relate to reality” part was supposed to be the real draw of the show.  Some of it was interesting, some of it was weird, and some of it was just stretching plausibility.  There’s been a lot if discussions below in the comments about the emphasis on Christianity throughout the series.  From a historical point of view I thought it was interesting.  Although there were time when I wasn’t entirely convinced.

It was the professors who really impressed me.  They were consistently informative, and clearly enjoyed what they were talking about.  There were one or two who I would NEVER have wanted in class (their voices were rather sharp) but there were also a few that I would have signed up for multiple times, no question. So thanks to them for doing the show (I know, it was a real drag for them to get out of the classroom and do TV, right).

I’m still trying to find more information about the people involved, but it is cleverly hidden (as is everything else about the show).  What is it with The History Channel’s website?  This is the only professor who I’ve found with a blog: Wormtalk and Slugspeak.  And he tells some interesting details about doing the show.  As for the rest, well, you’ll have to watch the episode and write down their names, apparently.

I’ll give a special shout out to the professor at Rutgers, since she’s just down the street, but i don’t remember her name.

[UPDATE: October 26, 2009]

See bottom for comments on final two episodes that i watched: Thor and Medusa (which I missed the first time around).

[UPDATE: October 15, 2009]

See bottom for comments about Beowulf and Tolkien.  (I haven’t watched Thor yet).

[UPDATE: September 28, 2009]

See bottom for comments about the Odyssey episodes.

[UPDATE: September 21, 2009]

I’ve been getting a number of hits here with people looking for the Clash of the Gods narrator.  So, his name is Stan Bernard.  He was also the narrator for Zero Hour and MonsterQuest as well as a few other things.  I’ve not seen anything else he’s done.

[UPDATE: September 2, 2009]

See bottom for reviews of 2 more episodes]

[WATCHED: August-October 2009]

I don’t normally review TV shows.  There’s just too much to keep up with.  But I’m making an exception in this case.

I had heard about this show on a public radio program.  The host was talking to some of the guys who were involved in making it, and it sounded fantastic. (I regret that I don’t know which host or even which radio station, I was driving a rental car and just happened upon the program, I think his name was John, which, frankly doesn’t help at all).

I love Greek mythology, and so did the host of the radio show.  When he said that the series was designed not only for people who are new to the mythology but that it would also give deeper information for those who were familiar with the stories, I has to check it out.

Two episodes have aired so far, Zeus and Hercules.  And the radio announcer was right.  The episodes are good.  They give the general story of the myth and then throw in some uncommon details.  But, perhaps most interestingly, they also include ways in which recent archaeological digs have uncovered information that shows the reality behind the stories.  And, even more interestingly, they discuss how some of the myths not only correspond very well to actual historical events, but also correspond to events from the Bible and other cultures’ mythologies.  So, Noah’s flood, is recounted in Greek mythology as a Zeus destroying the world.  And both are based on what is believed to be a real event in which a volcano erupted and flooded most of the Middle East.  The parallels are uncanny.

The stories (narrated by a frankly uninspired narrator) are interspersed with my favorite part: faculty from various universities (and Scientific American magazine) give their historical insight into the myths.  And they’re all pretty excited about what they’re talking about (and each has his or her own quirky mannerism which is fun to look for–and they were all apparently told to wear black, otherwise it is an amazing sartorial coincidence).

The absolute worst part of the series (and I fear it will continue through all  of the shows since it was in Zeus and Hercules) is the absolutely horrid “reenactment” footage.  It’s bad enough that the footage is kind of lame (even if the blue contacts do “pop” on screen as they said they would in the radio interview).  But they reuse the same footage over and over again in the same episode–heck in the same segments of the same episode.  It is maddening.  Are they really telling us that they couldn’t have had Zeus do something other than sit down heavily on his rocky throne?  (I think they showed that particular scene 6, maybe 7 times).  I realize that if the actor isn’t actually going to speak, there’s not a lot he can do, but come on, show us something else! (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 5] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corner Gas, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Digression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, End of the World, Eschaton, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, Neurotics, Postmoderism, Rick Mercer, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Suicide, Technology, Tennis, The Future, The Kids in the Hall, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Toilets, Violence, Work, Yuck! on July 24, 2009| 6 Comments »

in hereSOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-We Are the Same (2009).

Itragically hip first heard of The Hip when I saw their video for “Nautical Disaster.” This is back in the day when I first got Canada’s MuchMusic on my Brighton, MA cable system, and when I actually watched Music channels. Anyhow, the song was intense and very cool and it built to a great climax, and I was totally hooked.

I got their back catalog and continued to get their new releases.  Since then they’ve released some really good songs, and some pretty good discs.  It almost feels like since their live disc they decided to switch from intense songwriting to more simple, straightforward rock. This is a little disappointing to fans of their intense stuff, and yet if you accept the change in style, the music is quite solid.

So this disc seems to be shooting for an even broader, more commercial appeal.  And, in the first half, at least, they emphasize a more folksy/country feel.  All of this should make me flee from the disc, and I think longtime fans are pretty disappointed by it.  And yet, I can’t get over how much I like it. There’s something slightly off about the Tragically Hip that keeps them from being overtly commercial.  So that even when they release a disc like this, which is quite mellow in places, it still sounds alternative.  Maybe it’s Gord Downie’s voice, maybe it’s something in the melodies; whatever it is, it keeps this disc from being blah.

The final track, Country Day” seems to sum up the overall feel of the disc: meandering country roads.  And “Queen of the Furrows” is about farming.  The opening few songs have a Neil Young folkish feel, since “Morning Moon” and “Honey Please” have big catchy choruses with folky verses

“Coffee Girl” actually reminds me of a serious Barenaked Ladies type song, which is disconcerting coming from the Hip, but could possibly become a hit (it’s probably their most overtly commercial song I can think of since “My Music at Work”).  Actually, I take that back, one of the final tracks on the disc, “Love is  a Curse” sounds like it’s their last ditch attempt to have a big hit in the States.  And if they were a more well known (or on a bigger label) it would be a huge hit.  It rocks pretty hard and screams radio friendly.

The Hip of old do surface on two songs though: “Now the Struggle Has a Name” is one of those great sounding Hip songs:  as you’re singing along to the swelling chorus you wonder why they aren’t huge down here, and then you realize the song is 6 minutes long and will never get on the radio.   There’s also a 9 minute song, and the good news is that it doesn’t get boring (no mean feat).

The second half of the disc has more loud guitars.  The cool riff of “The Exact Feeling” is pretty great.  While “Frozen in My Tracks” is probably the weirdest track on the disc, with a very cool, off-sounding chorus.

So yeah, the disc has horns and strings and is maybe a little too polished and produced.  But the songwriting is still stellar.  I’m sure that if I had heard these songs now without knowing the Hip, I wouldn’t be all that impressed.  Maybe as I get older I’m less critical, or maybe I’m just happy to mellow out a bit more.

[READ: Week of July 20] Infinite Jest (to page 367)

Even though last week I said I would keep to the Spoiler Line Page, I am breaking the promise already.  I just couldn’t stand the thought of leaving a passage unfinished, so I just continued to the section break of Gately’s A.A. meeting.

When I first read IJ way back in 1996 I, like most Americans, didn’t really think too much about Canada.  I liked a lot of Canadian music and The Kids in the Hall were awesome, but beyond that I was pretty oblivious to our neighbors to the north.  Since then, I have become something of a Canuckophile.  I did Curling for two years and have visited up North a number of times.  We even had a Canadian satellite dish where we watched most of our TV (like Corner Gas and The Rick Mercer Report) until that moderately legal company was sued out of business.  Now I subscribe to The Walrus which keeps me well informed. Anyhow, this is all to say that I have a greater understanding of Quebec separatists and the state of US border relations.  This makes this whole Marathe-Steeply section more interesting to me this time around.  I sort of went from Hal (apolitical) to a quarter of the way to Avril in my understanding.

But before we get to that, lets get into the book and learn about Orin. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #31

Posted in Anachronisms, Barzum, Biji, Bill Cotter, Books about writers, Charlie Chaplin, Consuetudinary, Corporate skewering, David Thomson, Death, Digression, Douglas Coupland, Duan Chengshi, Dystopia, End of the World, Ernest Hemingway, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Barr McCutcheon, Graustarkian Romance, History, James Hannaham, Jessica Anthony, John Brandon, John Cusack, Joy Williams, Legendary Saga, Mary Miller, McSweeney's, Meta, Miguel de Unamuno, Minnesota, Nicolas Chorier, Nivola, Oddities, Orson Welles, Pantoum, Plato, Poetry, Religion, Say Anything, Senryū, Sex, Shelley Jackson, Short Story, Sight & Sound, Smarty Pants, Socratic Dialogue, Supernatural, Susan Sontag, The Replacements, Threats, Violence, Virginia Woolf, Virginity (Loss of), War, Whore Dialogue, Will Sheff on June 12, 2009| 2 Comments »

31SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Hootenanny (1983).

hootThis is the second full length from The Replacements.  For a band that just released two punk albums (one’s an EP), naming your new one Hootenanny is pretty ballsy.  As is the fact that the first track sounds like, well, a hootenanny (even if it is making fun of hootenannies.)

However, the rest of the album doesn’t sound like hootenannies at all.  In fact, the rest of the album is all over the place.  I don’t want to read into album covers too much, but the design has all 16 titles in separate boxes in different colors.  It suggests a little bit of stylistic diversity inside.

Just see for yourself:  “Run It” is a one minute blast of some of the punkiest stuff they’ve done. (It’s about running a red light).  Meanwhile, “Color Me Impressed” marks the second great alt-rock anthem (after “Go”) that Westerberg has put on record.  “Willpower” is a sort of spooky ambient meandering piece that, at over 4 minutes is their longest piece yet.  “Take Me to The Hospital” is a punky/sloppy guitar song.  “Mr Whirly” is sort of an update of the Beatles’ “Oh Darlin.'”  “Within Your Reach” is technically the longest Replacements song to date.  It starts with a cool flangy guitar sound that swirls around a fairly mellow vocal track (this song was featured in the end of Say Anything.  John Cusack cranks the song up past the red line).  “Buck Hill” is an (almost) instrumental.  “Lovelines” is a spoken word reading of personals ads over a bluesy backing track.  “You Lose” is the first song that sounds like another one…a sort of hardcore song.  “Hayday” is a fast rocker like their first album.  And it ends with “Treatment Bound” a sloppy acoustic number that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.

As you can see, this album is all over the place, and almost every song sounds like they may not make it through to the end.  Yet, despite all of the genres represented, the band sounds cohesive.  The disc just sounds like a band playing all the kinds of music that they like, and the fact that there are a couple of really lasting songs on the disc makes it sound like more than just a bar band.

I feel as though not too many people even know of this disc (it was the last one I bought by them, as I couldn’t find it for the longest time).  But in reading reviews, I see that people seem to really love this disc.  I enjoyed it, and, like other ‘Mats discs, it’s certainly fun, but I don’t listen to it all that often.

[READ: June 9, 2009] McSweeney’s #31

The latest issue of McSweeney’s has a totally new concept (for this journal, anyhow):  They resurrect old, defunct writing styles and ask contemporary writers to try their hands at them. I had heard of only two of these defunct styles, so it was interesting to see how many forms of writing there were that had, more or less, disappeared.

Physically, the issue looks like a high school yearbook.  It’s that same shape, with the gilded cover and the name of the (school) on the spine.

Attached to the inside back cover is McSweeney’s Summertime Sampler. As far as I know this is the first time they have included a sampler of multiple upcoming works.  There are three books sampled in the booklet: Bill Cotter’s Fever Chart; Jessica Anthony’s The Convalescent & James Hannaham’s God Says No. I enjoyed all three of the pieces.  Fever Chart has stayed with me the most so far.  I can still feel how cold that apartment was.  The Convalescent begin a little slow, but I was hooked by the end of the excerpt. And God Says No has me very uncomfortable; I’m looking forward to finishing that one.

As for #31 itself:

The Fugitive Genres Recaptured (or Old Forms Unearthed) include: pantoums, biji, whore dialogues, Graustarkian romances, nivolas, senryū, Socratic dialogues, consuetudinaries, and legendary sagas.  Each genre has an excerpt of an original writing in that style.  Following the sample is the modern take on it.  And, in the margins are notes in red giving context for what the author is doing.  I assume these notes are written by the author of the piece, but it doesn’t say.

I’m going to give a brief synopsis of the genre, but I’m not going to critique either the old piece or whether the new piece fits into the genre exactly (suffice it to say that they all do their job very well). (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Cat’s Cradle (1963)

Posted in Books about writers, Concept Albums, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, End of the World, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gods, Kurt Vonnegut, Lavender Diamond, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, Natural Disasters, Political Humor, Religion, Robyn Hitchcock, Sci-fi, Smarty Pants, Technology, The Decemberists on June 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

catsSOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-The Hazards of Love (2009).

hazardsI first played this disc a few times without really listening to it, just to get a feel for it.  And I was surprised by how heavy it sounded.  The harshest moments of the disc really stood out to me, and I was quite surprised, as I think of the Decemberists as more folky than this.

But when I finally sat down and listened, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the disc overall.  I have yet to understand the complete storyline (the lyrics are printed in a near impossible to read size and color, so I’ve had to rely on what I could pick out.)

The disc is a concept album.  It tells the story of  Margaret who falls for a shape shifting creature of the forest and, I think, their offspring as well.  There’s a jealous forest queen involved, and, of course, the Rake–although I’m not exactly sure how he fits in–but more on him in a moment.

In addition to some “celebrity” guest vocalists (Robyn Hitchcock and Jim James of My Morning Jacket sing backing vocals), for the first time on a Decemberists disc, Colin Meloy doesn’t sing all of the lead vocals.  The two women characters’ parts are sung by two singers I don’t know: Becky Stark (of the band Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond).  And when the queen (Shara Worden) sings, she’s pretty angry. She creates one of the harshest sounds I can think of by the Decemberists.

Interestingly, that song, “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” also contains one of the most beautiful passages that the Decemberists have done.  “The Wanting Comes in Waves” part of the song has an uplifting chorus, a wonderful melody and a beautiful sing-along.  Meanwhile, the “Repaid” part has some harsh, angular guitars and when the Queen repeats “repaid!” for the third time, the hair will stand up on your arms.  (Of course, the song then repeats the beautiful part once again…phew…and it is reprised at the end of the disc, because how could you NOT include that passage again?).

This record also features the catchiest song about infanticide that I know of.  “The Rake’s Song” rocks, and yet as you’re singing along to the simple but catchy chorus of “Alright, Alright, Alright,” you realize that the Rake has just killed all of his three children so that he can have a life as a free bachelor again.  (Revenge does come at the end).

And that revenge comes in one of the 4 versions of the title song.  What starts as a simple folky ditty (in Part 1) “singing, oh ho, the hazards of love,” morphs (in Part 2)  into a rocking track, then (in Part 3) a track with a children’s choir (my least favorite track on the disc–it works with the story, but I don’t care for the kids voices, really) and (finally) a haunting epilogue.

This is The Decemberists’ most striking album to date.  It is a bold attempt to alienate just about everyone, and yet I believe they have pulled off something just shy of a masterpiece.  The harshness of some of the songs still makes me a little uneasy (at least when listening with the kiddies), but the rewards are ample, and they really do fit perfectly with the plot.

I never expected the Decemberists to venture into prog rock territory but since they embraced it fully, they really pulled it off.  I do still need to get in and read the lyrics though, just to get all the details straight.  (They are legibly printed here).

[READ: June 1, 2009] Cat’s Cradle

This is the first “well-known” Vonnegut book I’ve read (not counting Slaughterhouse Five, which I’m going to re-read soon for the first time in fifteen or so years).  I’d heard of this book but never knew what it was about.  And, boy, trying to summarize is pretty tough.

Why?

Because Vonnegut invents an entire new religion and a fictional island on which to practice it.  And his characterization of the whole thing is so complete, that it is utterly believable.  And that’s only half the book.

So, let’s try this: John, the narrator decides to write a personal biography of Felix Hoenikker, the Father of the atomic bomb. Okay, so we know we are on somewhat fictional ground, and yet it is sort of based in reality.  Fine. (more…)

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J.G. Ballard–The Autobiography of J.G.B. (New Yorker, May 11, 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Crash, End of the World, J.G. Ballard, Radio, Supernatural, The Divine Comedy, The Tragically Hip on May 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ny509SOUNDTRACK: ——-

radioThe CD player in my car died.

Evidently the CD Error screen in the Prius’ 6 disc changer is not completely uncommon.  And I am devastated.  (And looking at a pretty penny to replace it).  In the past, I have installed stereos in at least three different cars.  But man, not only don’t I want to interfere with the sleek Prius console, I can’t even find the screws!

sabotageI also have 2 CDs in the player, and they won’t play or eject!  The one disc is no biggie, Sabotage by Black Sabbath, easily replaceable and for cheap too.  The other one, however, is The Tragically Hip’s Live from the Vault Vol. 4 which came free with their new album, vaultWe Are the Same.  I don’t think it’s available anywhere (not even on their website yet).  When I go in for my 60,000 mile tune up next month, I’m going to hope they can rescue it.

Until then, I must switch to, gasp, the radio.  Which isn’t that terrible.  However, it means I have no place for scrutinizing music (it’s hard to get absorbed in a CD when you have two kids), and the car was my only place for music as more than background.  Alas.

[READ: May 6, 2009] The Autobiography of J.G.B.

My only exposure to J.G. Ballard prior to reading this has been in the Divine Comedy song “The Booklovers” in which Neil Hannon states “J.G. Bal-ARD”–“instrument binnacle” (which is from his novel Crash).  I did see the movie of Crash, but that’s neither here nor there.

This story is very short, barely one page long, and it shows the main character, B, wandering around Shepperton as he realizes that no other living creatures are around.  Anywhere.  And so, B slowly adjusts to his new life. (more…)

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Oisín McGann–Daylight Runner [Small Minded Giants] (2006)

Posted in Adventure, Dystopia, End of the World, Free Speech, Harry Potter, Irish Writer, John Keats, Modest Mouse, Oisín McGann, Roddy Doyle, Sci-fi, Set at School, The Smiths, Threats, Violence, YA Books, Yuck! on April 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

daylightSOUNDTRACK: THE SMITHS-The Queen Is Dead (1986).

queenisdeadYears ago, when I was a young metal head, my friend Garry expanded my musical palette by introducing me to a lot of college rock (or whatever it was called back then).  The album that had the most impact on me back then was this one, The Queen Is Dead.

Unlike most listeners and fans of The Smiths, I was first drawn to them because I found this album to be very funny.  Now, true, Morrissey is a funny, literate writer, but the general consensus is that the Smiths are mopey, sad, depressive, you know, goth.  I guess I was more interested in the words than the music at the time?

And of course, it was “Bigmouth Strikes Again” that really sold the deal for me, as “Now I know how Joan of Arc felt…when the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt,” is pretty twisted and funny.  [To the sticklers: all these lyrics are paraphrased somewhat].  And “Vicar in a Tutu” is weird and wonderful, with a rollicking skiffle beat that propels the song at a mighty pace as the vicar “comes sliding down the banister.”

Even “There is  Light that Never Goes Out” is a depressing sing about dying together, and yet the phrasing is pretty darn funny: “If a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.”  And lest we forget the peculiar disc ender, “Some Girls are Bigger Than Others.”  Certainly a true statement regardless of whatever he’s talking about.

My introduction to this disc was in the days of cassettes, and we listened to side 2 a lot, but side 1 is also fantastic.  The title track is a great opener: fabulous melody, rocking drums and a great verse about Morrissey breaking into the palace and being told by the Queen that he cannot sing.  Next, “Frankly Mr Shankly” is a 2 minute poppy song, also twisted, with lines about “making Christmas cards with the mentally ill.”  And “Cemetery Gates” is a twisted little fun piece which namechecks Keats, Yates and Oscar Wilde.

And lest we forget the rest of the band, the music on this disc is varied and wonderful.  The music of “The Queen is Dead” is funky bass, smashing drums and the gorgeous guitars of Johnny Marr.  Since The Smiths broke up, Morrissey has been in the spotlight far more than Johnny Marr.  Morrissey’s solo career is flying pretty well these days, while Marr has been a sideman in a lot of different  bands (currently Modest Mouse).

Johnny Marr’s guitar playing has always been a fascinating mix of textures and effects.  No one would say that he was a show offy guitarist–I don’t think there are any solos in his career at all–but the sounds he creates are weird and more than appropriate to the songs.  I’ve been playing guitar for years and I’m not even sure how he makes some of those sounds.

The Smiths were a great band, and this is one of my favorite albums.

[READ: April 10, 2009] Daylight Runner

My friends Louise and Ailish told me that they met this author in their hiking group.  I imagine all kinds of interesting Irish folks climbing the coastline of Ireland talking literature….  Anyhow, when they told me about this author I pictured a fledgling writer who was trying to get his book published…and they read it and thought it was really good.  I was intrigued, and Louise said she’d send me a copy.  And she did.

What I didn’t realize is that she was able to order it from Amazon, and that McGann is a rather prolific author in Ireland.  He is primarily known for his kids and YA books.  So they know a widely respected and published author.  That is almost as cool as my friend Christopher being taught by Roddy Doyle before he wrote The Commitments. (more…)

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Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black–The Spiderwick Chronicles [Books 1-5] (2003-2004)

Posted in Children's Books, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Harry Potter, Holly Black, Short Books, Supernatural, Threats, Tony DiTerlizzi on March 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

s11SOUNDTRACK: FLAMING LIPS-She Don’t Use Jelly (1993).

jellyThis single contains three B-Sides:  “Translucent Egg” is something of an instrumental version of “She Don’t Use Jelly.”  It uses the same opening guitar riff, but it changes a few things along the way.  The highlights though are the other two tracks: variants from Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.  “Turn It On [Bluegrass Version]” is, as advertised, a stompin’ bluegrass version of that track (with help from the Butthole Surfers), and “******* [Porch Version]” is a solo acoustic version of “Plastic Jesus.”  Probably not an essential disc, but the alternate versions do highlight the quality of the songs and not just the raucous effects on the main disc.

[READ: Fall 2008 & March 24, 2009] The Spiderwick Chronicles

I started this series in the Fall of 2008, and for some reason, didn’t finish volumes 4 and 5.  I saw them on my night stand and decided it was time to polish them off.  And so I did.

I had originally intended to write about each volume, but that is not feasible now.  So, instead I’ll give a summary of events and some overall commentary.  (more…)

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Italo Calvino–“The Daughters of the Moon” (New Yorker, February 23, 2009)

Posted in Constellation Records, Consumerism, Dystopia, End of the World, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Italo Calvino, Life, New Yorker, Outer Space, Short Story, Silver Mt. Zion, Supernatural on March 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ny223SOUNDTRACK: THEE SILVER MT. ZION ORCHESTRA & TRA-LA-LA BAND-Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons [CST051] (2008).

13-bluesI’ve enjoyed most of the output by (A/Thee) Silver Mt. Zion (Orchestra (& Tra-La-La Band)) over the years.  So, I naturally picked up this one when it came out.  And I’m torn by the record.

This disc contains 4 lengthy tracks.  But unlike fellow Constellation label mates Godspeed you Black Emperor, they are not orchestral pieces that ebb and flow until they reach a climax.  Rather, they are almost punk-orchestral pieces.  They have different sounds throughout the disc, sounds that are powerful, tender, angry and very raw.

And musically I think the album is pretty great.  The problem I have, which I hadn’t noticed on previous releases, was how much I don’t like singer Efrim’s voice.  He simply doesn’t have a very good or strong voice.  It sounds weak and exposed, and, given the content of what he’s singing about, that is either perfectly appropriate or wildly off base.  It seems to work well on “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound” and yet for “blindblindblind” I just want him to be quiet and let the gorgeous backing choir take over.

And that’s the thing about SMZ, the backing vocal chantings are sublime: whether they are beautifully supportive or disconcertingly discordant, they are perfectly apt to the songs.

I guess when I think of SMZ I think of them as a collective band, an orchestra who works together to create their sound, and in many instances on Thirteen…  Efrim just stands out too much.  And who knows, maybe that’s the point, maybe that’s the punk aesthetic they wanted to bring to the album, I just think it takes a little something away from the beautiful noise they make.

[READ: March 4, 2009] “The Daughters of the Moon”

This is the first piece I have read by Italo Calvino.  Calvino’s name has been around for ages, but I honestly didn’t know a thing about him.

This story was written in 1968 (and was just translated into English) and as soon as I began reading it, I knew that it was a dated piece.  Not because of things like mentioning Life magazine, but because the naked women that populate the story were all referred to as “girls.”  And there was something about it that made my pop culture references hit upon Woody Allen’s early 1970s movie where he calls all the women that he’s interested in “girls.”  It seems strange that that stood out to me so much, but it just came across as something that a writer wouldn’t write anymore, or even pre 1960s.  At least as far as naked women were concerned.

And, about the naked women…

The story concerns the disintegration, capture and removal of the moon.  It is told by Qfwfq, who fills in the details of this extraordinary event.  Despite the fact that the narrator is named Qfwfq and it concerns the destruction of the moon, the story is set in Manhattan.

The moon is off course, it is wobbly and disconsolate.  And so are the residents of Earth.  One night, when Qfwfq is passing Central Park, he sees a naked woman in the park; she has removed all of her clothes and is lying prostrate to the moon.  She climbs on to his car and they race across the city to a large junkyard, where she and many other naked women support the moon with their power.

But soon a crane comes and tries to add the moon to the junkyard’s pile of old, discarded materials.

The story is a thinly veiled allegory of consumerism and disposable culture.  And I suppose that the allegory is so thinly veiled that I found it a little too obvious.  Maybe, it’s because the story is nearly 40 years old, and the topic is always in discussion now, but it seemed very obvious to me.

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Trenton Lee Stewart–The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007)

Posted in Adventure, Canadian Music, Carson Ellis, Children's Books, Contests, Corporate skewering, End of the World, Funky Web Sites, Handsome Furs, Mystery, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Sunset Rubdown, Technology, The Decemberists, Threats, Wolf Parade on March 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

benedictSOUNDTRACK: WOLF PARADE-At Mount Zoomer (2008).

zoomerThis album made many best of lists of 2008.  It is considered a side project of both Spencer Krug (of Sunset Rubdown) and Dan Boeckner (of Handsome Furs).  I’d not heard of either band, but I was very intrigued by this disc and I’m so glad I got it.

Every track has something outstanding about it, be it a cool guitar break (“Soldier’s Grin”)  or a cool keyboard break (“Language City”–which builds to a rollicking climax).  While “Bang Your Drum” has multiple parts, each one weird and wonderful.

“California Dreamer” has  wonderfully sinister soundtrack, with a great rocking chorus. And it’s followed by a surprisingly upbeat “The Grey Estates” (keyboard pop at its best).

The albums ends with the epic “Kissing the Beehive”: a ten minute track with several parts to it.  The first seven minutes just fly by, and then the song breaks down into a quieter feel.

It seems rare that an album comes out of nowhere to me (even if the album didn’t come out of nowhere for people who loved their first release (which I also have not heard) or the two main songwriter’s OTHER projects, but I’m very glad I found this one.  Its frenetic pacing and overall quality made it one of my favorite releases of 2008.

[READ: March 9, 2009] The Mysterious Benedict Society

While you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, you can certainly check it out because of it. I saw this book on our shelves and brought it home calling it The Decemberists’ book.  It was only later on that I realized that the cover (and interior) art is by Carson Ellis, who is, indeed, the primary artist for the Decemberists.

The second selling point was the blurb on the back cover: “Are You a Gifted Child Looking for Special Opportunities?”  How can you not say, “Why, yes, I think I am.” This blurb appears in the book in a newspaper and is the catalyst for the young children (orphans and runaways mostly) who will show up for the challenging test that comprises the beginning of the book. (more…)

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