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Archive for the ‘Fantasy’ Category

Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space 4 (2003) [translated 2006]

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Aliens, Automatisme, Cats, Children's Books, Constellation Records, Echoes, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Jason Sharp, Joann Sfar, Kevin Hearn, Meta, Off World, Outer Space, Pirates, Superheroes, The Simpsons, Translation on November 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

sardine4 SOUNDTRACK: AUTOMATISME-Momentform Accumulations [CST118] (2016).

Layout 1Constellation records had been rather quiet this year in terms of new releases.  And then back in August they announced three new discs with this intriguing blurb:

Constellation’s three new fall releases by Off World, Automatisme and Jason Sharp are dropping on September 30th…  These new releases are wildly different yet satisfyingly leftfield albums that share an electric thread of sorts.  Electronic music strategies, technologies, histories and sensibilities come into play, in very diverse ways, with each of these debut records – making them stand out a little differently in the context of the Constellation catalogue perhaps, but also informing one another and making a lot of sense to our ears as an album trio (somewhat in the spirit of our Musique Fragile series).

This is the second of those three.

From the Constellation site: “Automatisme is the electronic music project of Quebec-based producer William Jourdain, who has been self-releasing a brilliant series of albums and tracks under this moniker since 2013, exploring various intersections of drone, dub techno, electronica, ambient, electro-acoustic, and noise.”

This album is, indeed, very drone, dub techno, electronica, ambient, electro-acoustic, and noise.  There are six tracks: Transport 1, 2, and 3 and Simultanéité 3, 1, and 4.  The Transport tracks are all about 5 minutes and the Simultanéité tracks are all about 9 and they are interfiled on the record.

“Transport 1” seems to be all about the thumping drums. The synth lines are fairly simple and serve to propel the song along as almost an ambient dance track.  “Simultanéité 3” opens with some mechanical drone sounds and a beeping almost like a heart monitor.  The beeps change and then a new drum beat is added while fiddling synths tickle along the top of the song.  Things slow down and speed up and the track reminds me a lot of something you’d heard on NPRs awesome Echoes program.

“Transport 2” is more about drums. There are several different percussion themes going on–fat repeated drums, the main steady beat and then some low synth that runs through pretty much the whole thing.  “Simultanéité 1” is a drone song with a drum sound that is like a heart beat.  About a minute in the note changes and 30 second later the song takes on a different texture and pulse.  It remains largely ambient for most of the song.

“Transport 3” has more percussive sounds that make this track much faster than the others. The final track “Simultanéité 4” has what sounds like voices (although I assume they are not) echoing underneath the slow pulsing rhythms.

While the track listing alternates between drum heavy tracks and more mellow tracks, the whole disc has a very chill vibe.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space 4

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.

This time the inner flap says “No Grownups Allowed (Unless they’re pirates or space adventurers),” and this book had some of my favorite cartoons yet.

“Under the Bed” has the kids getting lost under Little Louie’s bed and finding all the monsters that hide there.  But Sardine’s adventures are so scary that the monsters don’t stand a chance trying to frighten him–they’re even a little afraid of Sardine, too.  Of course the kids have someone who they can go frighten. (more…)

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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space 3 (2002) [translated 2006]

Posted in #10yearsof01, Acting, Adventure, Automatisme, Children's Books, Constellation Records, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Food, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Jason Sharp, Joann Sfar, Meta, Off World, Outer Space, Pirates, Superheroes, Translation on November 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

sardine3SOUNDTRACK: OFF WORLD-1 [CST117] (2016).

Layout 1Constellation records had been rather quiet this year in terms of new releases.  And then back in August they announced three new discs with this intriguing blurb:

Constellation’s three new fall releases by Off World, Automatisme and Jason Sharp are dropping on September 30th…  These new releases are wildly different yet satisfyingly leftfield albums that share an electric thread of sorts.  Electronic music strategies, technologies, histories and sensibilities come into play, in very diverse ways, with each of these debut records – making them stand out a little differently in the context of the Constellation catalogue perhaps, but also informing one another and making a lot of sense to our ears as an album trio (somewhat in the spirit of our Musique Fragile series).

This is the first of those three.

Off World is a collaborative project featuring Sandro Perri. As the Constellation site reminds us:

Over the past couple of years, Perri has been letting us in on a fascinating treasure chest of strange and enchanting collaborative sound recordings – rich in deconstructed melody, interplay between acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and pointillist and aleatory composition techniques. … Off World 1 is alien electronics played humanly, with real-world accents throughout. 1 was conceived almost entirely during a 2-day session in London: a meeting orchestrated by producer Drew Brown between himself, Perri, Susumu Mukai and M J Silver after learning that Perri was a huge fan of both Mukai and Silver’s work. A bounty of raw material featuring mostly vintage synthesizers – EMS Synthi, Syntorchestra, Prophet 5 – was later abetted by violin, banjo, harpsichord, guitar and piano. The result is genuinely exploratory and peculiar sui generis instrumental electronic music that sounds like it could have issued from any time in the past 40-50 years. Off World resists easy categorization: not ambient “easy listening”, not strictly “improvised”, not “retro” – but eccentrically absorbing and soothingly mischievous as it charts its own sonic trails.

There are 7 songs on the disc and they are all variants on a kind of electronic/alien sound.  “Primitive Streak” has trippy synth lines and a slightly quavery “solo” over a simple drum beat.  “Old Brain” has a kind of staccato guitar part that plays through quickly.  It is later matched by “New Brain” which explores the same rhythms in a different way.

“No Host” is 80 seconds long  full of simple almost otherworldly synths (it reminds me of Close Encounters). “Extraction” has some loud ominous chords that surge and the recede.  “Choral Hatch” sounds both underwater and other worldly.

The final song, “Wonder Farm” sounds unlike the other songs because it is full of these snapping drum sounds–seemingly at odd intervals and not playing any rhythm (it sounds like fireworks going off).  The music also has hints of Japanese music but it seems overshadowed by the crashes.

Of the three I like this one best because of its varied sounds.

[READ: March 31, 2016] Sardine in Outer Space 3

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.

This time the inner flap says “No Grownups Allowed (Unless they’re pirates or space adventurers),” and I found that I enjoyed book 3 quite a bit more than the first two books. Perhaps it is because I have read a few more First Second books by Sfar and have grown used to his style and humor.  Or perhaps the stories have just gotten better. (more…)

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James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost–Adventures in Cartooning: Characters in Action (2013)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Acting, Adventure, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Aliens, Andrew Arnold, Art, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Film & TV, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Horses, How to, James Sturm, Lianne La Havas, Magic, Series, Sketches, Tiny Desk Concert on November 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: action LIANNE LA HAVAS-Tiny Desk Concert #475 (October 2, 2015).

lianneLianne La Havas has a lovely, soulful voice. I didn’t think I knew her at all, although her song “What You Don’t Do” sounds really familiar. The chorus is a bouncy “It’s what you don’t do…it’s what you don’t say.”  But it’s the fast pre-chorus “I know what I got / and I know where were going / You don’t need to show it / I already know it all” that is really catchy.

I feel like the original is big and orchestrated.  But for this Tiny Desk it’s just her and a backing singer accompanied by a pianist who also sings backing vocals.

For song two “Unstoppable,” Lianne straps on a guitar and when she finally speaks–she has British accent!  “Unstoppable” is a gentle song with a cyclical guitar riff playing through the gentle pianos while all three voices soar.

It’s amazing how British she sounds after the second song–remarkable because of how unaccented her singing voice is.

On “Forget,” she plays guitar and there’s no other instrumentation.  This song sounds quite different from the others–the scratchy guitar isn’t really louder than the other songs, just much faster and more intense.  The real hook though comes in the chorus when all three sing a big loud “Forget!” in a memorable melody.

La Havas’ music veers towards R&B but never falls into the trappings of the genre.  She has some rock elements sand soul elements and her delivery is just charming.

[READ: July 8, 2016] Adventures in Cartooning Characters in Action

This is the fourth and (presumably) final book in the AIC series is called Characters in Action!  And as you see on the cover, the man screaming Action is a film director.  So this book is gong to take us on flights of (even more) fancy.

The book starts with the knight riding his faithful horse, Edward.  A fly goes by.  Sigh, it’s boring.

But as he rides off, he runs into a band of scoundrels–a viking, a wicked wizard an evil owl and an evil king and they are all there to do… evil!  And as they are talking about how evil they are, the real king (in rags) comes and says that he is the king.  The fake king says he looks like a beggar, then a real beggar says that the king is not a real beggar.  And then a big strong-looking knight looks at our favorite knight and says the he is no knight, either.  Egads, what is happening? (more…)

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James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost–Adventures in Cartooning Christmas Special (2012)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold, Art, Christmas, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Horses, How to, James Sturm, My bubba, Series, Sketches, Tiny Desk Concert, Video Games on November 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

xmasSOUNDTRACK: OH PEP!-Tiny Desk Concert #479 (October 16, 2015).

ohpepOh Pep! is a four piece from Melbourne, Australia.  As My Bubba was named for its two members, Oh Pep! derives its Oh from Olivia Hally (vocals, guitar) and its Pep! from Pepita Emmerichs (violin, mandolin).

“The Race” is indeed about a race: “You started skipping in a running race.”  It’s a fast upbeat song–almost punky but for the fact that they are playing acoustic guitar and plucked violin (the violin really adds some great sound to this song).  I love her  fast delivery and that delivery that reminds me in some way of The Smiths.  I love the ending of four quick drum hits.

When the first song ends, they are adorably star struck.  They say that they saw Bob in front row of the crowd at the showcase and were glad “he was someone important.”  They’ve watched tons of Tiny Desk shows online an are excited to be there.

“Doctor Doctor” is pretty straightforward folky rock song, but the plucked violin (held like a guitar) works as a great accent.  The melody is familiar and you can almost hear it in the lyrics: “I went to the psychic and the psychic said he wanted to, but it’s up to you….”  I love the repeated refrain: “I know what I want and it’s not what I need.”  Even better is midway through the song when the unexpected bowed violin kicks in–and the fact that it is a little wavery and not a “clean, sharp” sounding solo really works as the song propels toward the end.

As Oh tunes her guitar she says it doesn’t know where it is: They were in Australia, then Halifax.  It was hot in Louisiana and now it’s raining–her guitar won’t stay in tune.

For the third song “Tea, Milk & Honey,” Pepe plays the mandolin.   The song starts with just guitar and voice and seems likes that’s all it will be because this section lasts pretty long–two and a half minutes of the total 5 and a half).  When the bass and mandolin eventually come in, the song really blossoms.  The chorus of “tea, milk and honey never satisfied me” is clever and fun.   Another surprising moment comes near the end when there’s a violin solo and the sound of the violin is almost like a flute-like.  It’s very cool.

Oh Pep! is a fun band that I’d like to hear more from.

[READ: July 7, 2016] Adventures in Cartooning Christmas Special

What series would be complete without a Christmas special?

This Christmas story is even told in rhyme!:  “Santa is grumbling that traditions are crumbling.” Quality toys are a thing of the past.  But the elf points out that kids don’t want old-fashioned gifts–all the elves do is “write code and upload.”

I rather enjoy that the premise of this books is that video games and TV are bad (but not really).  The point is that books and drawing are pretty awesome and great uses of your imagination.

Santa imagines a comic book which will be exciting for kids and then *poof* here comes the Magical Cartooning Elf.  He says they’ll make an exciting, outrageous comic. And *poof* here is the knight (who is mad that everyone is speaking n rhyme). (more…)

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Charles M. Schulz–The Complete Peanuts: 1987-1988: The Definitive Collection of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip masterpiece: Dailies & Sundays (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Angst, Baseball, Basketball, Beau Geste, Bill Mauldin, Birds, Bobby Hull, Boredom, Butterflies, Cats, Charles Schulz, Citizen Kane, Comic Strips, Dogs, Doonesbury, Doug Hennig, Etiquette, Fantagraphics, Fantasy, Football, Funny (ha ha), Gary Trudeau, Gina Chavez, Golf, Gordie Howe, Halloween, Hockey, Humiliation, Jealousy, Letters, Math, Peanuts, Regrets, Religion, Romance, Sexism, Summer Camp, Technology, Tennis, The Bible, The Future, Thomas Hardy, Tiny Desk Concert, Wayne Gretzky, World War I on November 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1987  SOUNDTRACK: GINA CHAVEZ-Tiny Desk Concert #472 (September 22, 2015 ).

ginaChavez’ voice is poppy but a little deep, almost muscular which I rather like. Or perhaps its just confidence, the blurb notes “the intense openness and warmth of her performances.”

“Fire Water” is primarily a capella and percussion (with interesting clicks and shakers and even a guy whispering “ahhh” ). A few bass notes enter near the end, but other wise it is a very stark song.

“Miles Da Millas” is dedicated to a fiend of a friend who died recently.  He loved Tiny Desk Concerts.  Whenever someone mentioned a new band he would say “But do they have a Tiny Desk?”  So this makes Gina feel like she’s made it  This song, a cumbia, is bilingual with the chorus in Spanish.  And her voice is just as strong if not more so in Spanish.   It’s fun when the percussionist yells and whoops and overall it’s a nice groovy song.  It’s a little weird that she hums a trumpet (quite well, admittedly) when there is an actual trumpet player in the band.  They take turns so I guess it’s kind of duet.

When introducing the final song, she says spent 8 months in El Salvador doing mission work teaching English in an all girls’ school.  Things are really bad down there, so she started a college scholarship fund called Niñas Arriba.  This song “Siete-D” is about a wild ride on the 7D bus from Soyapongo to San Salvador.  Soyapongo is the home of the MS13 gang, the place where guide books tell you not to go.

It’s a fun song (sung entirely in Spanish) with a cool “Sube! Hey! ho!” chant.  It’s a bouncy song with some great trumpet work.  There’s even a rap in Spanish

[READ: September 9, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1987-1988

I felt like after the major highs of the last few books, this one fell into a bit of a repetitive pattern.  This is not to say there weren’t memorable moments in the book, but there were a lot of variations on a similar jokes (especially with Spike in the desert–how many different ways can you make a joke about a cactus looking like a person with his arms up?  About fifty, I guess).

But perhaps it seems like things have changed because On 1-11 1987, that heading that has been there for so long–the hand-drawn looking “Peanuts featuring Good Ol’ Charlie Brown” had been replaced by a computer-generated font that just says “Peanuts.”  It also felt like the drawings looked different somehow–thicker lines, somewhat less polished?  And in July of 1988 it seems like Snoopy looks rather different. His ears are much smaller for one thing.  That seems to go away though.  But it’s some time round here or maybe even in a previous book that Schulz started drawing circles for eyes on Snoopy from time to time–mostly to express distress or angry.  But Snoopy is meant to have dots or sixes for eyes–the circles always look weird.  And sometime they look poorly drawn, if I may say so.   Especially on October 12 1988 (he’s supposed to look aggrieved, but they still look sloppy for Schulz).

And then, a huge shock to the system!  The daily strips go from 4 panels to 3.  Three panels!  What gives?  Is it because many of his fourth panels didn’t really have a punchline so much as a commentary on the punchline?  It’s mind blowing!  After thirty some years, he is finally messing with the format! (more…)

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James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost–Adventures in Cartooning: Activity Book (2010)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold, Art, Dragons, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Horses, How to, James Sturm, My bubba, Series, Sketches, Tiny Desk Concert on November 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

activitySOUNDTRACK: MY BUBBA-Tiny Desk Concert #485 (November 6, 2015).

mybubbaMy Bubba are a duo that consists of Sweden’s My Larsdotter and Iceland’s Guðbjörg Tómasdóttir (Bubba).  They sing quiet, delicate songs about Scandinavian things (including knitting).

The set begins with a clapping rhythm as both My and Bubba execute a complex rhythmic clapping (in cool synchronicity) using all parts of their bodies.  They both sing delicately with occasional harmonies.  And the sweet title of the song: “Dogs Laying Around Playing.”

For the second song, “Charm” Bubba plays guitar and My plays an old table harp.  This song is just as delicate as the first.  Somehow that table harp seems to make the song even lighter than the first.

There’s a pause after the second song where My drinks some tea and Bubba asks if there are any questions?  Bob asks them to tell a scary train story, because My is a locomotive engineer when they are not singing.  She laughs and says “My train hit a wild boar and it made a big bam and then she kept going.”  She hopes her boss isn’t listening.   Then My says she writes a lot of songs while she is driving the train to relieve boredom.  Bubba confirms that on one song on the new album you can hear the train because My recorded herself singing in the train.

“Knitting” is a capella and may have more going on than knitting, but  don’t think so.  The final song, “Ghost Sweat” is a new one. Bubba plays guitar and loops it.  My sings lead and when Bubba comes in with the harmonies, it sounds fantastic.

The music is delicate but not so precious that it will float away.

[READ: July 5, 2016] Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book

The guys from Adventures in Cartooning are back.  This time with a book that encourages the reader to fill in the blanks.  The full title of this release is The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents Adventures in Cartooning: Activity Book.

But unlike most do it yourself books, this one has two functions.  It tells a story that you get to impact and it teaches some of the basics of cartooning as well.

The story focuses on the same gang from the main book–the knight, Edward the horse and the Elf, but there’s much more going on.  As the book opens, we see the moon and sun talking.  The moon is ready to go to bed and he is content because of the bedtime story he heard.  Bu the sun never gets told a bedtime story and she begins to cry.  Poor sun. (more…)

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James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost–Adventures in Cartooning (2009)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold, Art, Dragons, Drawing, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Horses, How to, James Sturm, Series, Sketches, The Wild Reeds, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk Contest on November 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

adventSOUNDTRACK: THE WILD REEDS-Tiny Desk Concert #489 (November 20, 2015).

wildreedsThe Wild Reeds are a five piece band who prominently feature a trio of women with beautiful voices. They had submitted a video for the 2014 Tiny Desk Contest, and they are pretty excited to be at the Tint Desk just a short time later.

The trio change instruments so it’s not easy to say who does what.  And since all three of them have gorgeous voices, you can’t even single one out!  When they sing together it’s even more impressive.

“Where I’m Going” is the great lead-off track (from their 2014 album).  Kinsey Lee sings lead and plays acoustic guitar (and harmonica).  Sharon Silva plays electric guitar and Mackenzie How plays harmonium (and harmonica).  Kinsey has a powerful kind of rocking voice while the other two offer great harmonies.  There’s some moments where all three are singing super loud and it’s really impressive.

The next two songs are new.

Sharon sings lead on “Everything Looks Better In Hindsight” and continues to play a really rocking electric guitar (she really crushes those chords). Kinsey switches to banjo, but also plays harmonium.  Mackenzie also plays electric guitar and this song rocks pretty hard.  Sharon’s voice is a bit smoother until the chorus where she wails.  And the harmonies are again outstanding.  I think it is Mackenzie’s harmonies that really elevate the song.

There are a bassist and drummer (unnamed) who add low end to the first two song (but not the final one).  The trio is the focus, but the rhythm section’s contributions are really good.

Mackenzie sings lead on  “The World We Built”  This is the most mellow of the three songs. She plays electric guitar (the only music in the song) and the other two sing harmonies.

Although their music can veer in the country direction, their voices are so good you can easily look past it.

[READ: July 5, 2016] Adventures in Cartooning

The full title of this release is The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents Adventures in Cartooning: How To Turn You Doodles into Comics.  This is an instructional cartooning book which also tells a fun story.

And I loved it.  I have recently discovered James Sturms’ books, and I love his simple but powerful style.

As it opens “Once upon a time, a princess tried to make a comic.”  The girl says she can’t draw well enough to make a comic But the Magic Cartooning Elf comes to help her.  He says that if she can draw simple stuff, then there is nothing stopping her. (more…)

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James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost–Ogres Awake! (2016)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Alexis Frederick-Frost, Andrew Arnold, Children's Books, Fantasy, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Gnomes, Horses, James Sturm, Kelly Hogan, Neko Case, Short Books, Tiny Desk Concert on October 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

ogresSOUNDTRACK: NEKO CASE-Tiny Desk Concert #316 (October 31, 2013).

nekoI was pretty excited when this show happened, because NPR streamed it live.  But I gather they have since edited it down and there’s no finding that full version.

But that’s all fine because I don’t know that all that much has been cut out.  And we still have evidence of Neko Case singing in a gorilla suit and Kelly Hogan (of the gorgeous pipes) sings with her eyeball in a bird’s mouth.

Her band plays three songs from her then new album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.

It’s funny that the tone when she arrives is spooky (with a heart beat and whispered comments), but when they begin “Night Still Comes,” it sounds as beautiful as ever.  The music is spare–just keys and drums, but between Neko and Kelly’s vocals, the sound is amazing.

For “Calling Cards” the keyboardist switches to guitar and, delightfully, Kelly Hogan uses the blades from a Garden Weasel as beautiful chimes.  We have the same tiller and they really do sound clear and pretty like that.  It’s also delightful to hear Kelly’s voice coming out of a creepy skeleton creature.

The final song is “the spookiest number”… “it could get stabby.”  Neko says she tried to get a sexy gorilla costume, but they were out.  “Local Girl” features one of the best Kelly Hogan vocal lines: “you know you do all of you shame on you all of you lie.”  I can’t help but think that Neko brings the best out in Kelly.  And of course, Neko’s voice sounds great all the way through the set.

The show is just way too short for how good it is!

Happy Halloween!neko2

[READ: September 8, 2016] Ogres Awake!

I’ve really enjoyed the books in The Adventures in Cartooning series, and that includes the Adventures in Cartooning Jr. Books, like this one.

These books are all short (which makes it hard to write about them without spoiling everything), but they’re a lot of fun and they work hard at helping young kids learn to draw.

The Knight is playing fetch with Edward, his horse.  They hear a rumble and plan to go inside before it rains, but then the Knight notices that Ogres are all around the castle, sleeping.  He knows how much trouble the ogres can cause so he runs to tel the king. (more…)

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Charles M. Schulz–The Complete Peanuts: 1981-1982: The Definitive Collection of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip masterpiece: Dailies & Sundays (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Angst, Anorexia, Baseball, Basketball, Birds, Boredom, Butterflies, Cats, Charles Schulz, Citizen Kane, Comic Strips, Dogs, Doug Hennig, Etiquette, Fantagraphics, Fantasy, Football, For Better of For Worse, Funny (ha ha), Golf, Halloween, Hockey, Humiliation, Ice Skating, Jealousy, Letters, Math, Peanuts, Regrets, Religion, Romance, Sexism, Soccer, Son Little, Summer Camp, Technology, Tennis, The Bible, The Future, The Muppet Show, Tiny Desk Concert, World War I, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on October 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1981 SOUNDTRACK: SON LITTLE-Tiny Desk Concert #496 (December 18, 2015).

sonlittleI know of Son Little, although only vaguely.  WXPN has played his song “The River” quite a lot, although I don’t think I’ve heard anything else.

For this Tiny Desk Concert, he’s really stripped down–just his acoustic guitar, a percussionist (Jabari Exum playing a djembe with accoutrements) and a backing vocalist, his sister Megan Livingston.  His playing is even pretty stripped down–his chords are minimal, almost more like accents for most of the songs (although he does play louder from time to time).

As such, this really celebrates his voice which is strong and almost gospel-like.

He plays three songs. “Lay Down,” is a quiet soulful song with perfectly spare accompaniment.  When it ends, everyone seems adorably shy with Little saying, “just mildly awkward enough.”

“Your Love Will Blow Me Away When My Heart Aches” is a bit bigger–Little sings a bit louder and plays louder chords, but it is still quite minimal.

He ends with “The River” which is certainly stripped down from the radio version.  It opens with some claps and he encourages everyone to clap along although “If you’re like clap challenged then maybe… don’t–you know who you are.”  The song has that bluesy rock feel even in this understated form.  And while I like the original better, this is a great version–that quiet clapping and percussion is really nice.

[READ: July 26, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1981-1982

So far the 1980s see Schulz settling into a few consistent themes in his strips–regular motifs that he mines over and over again.  Although it’s interesting to see how they have morphed over the decades.

Patty is constantly falling asleep in school (and getting D minuses), Snoopy continues to write funny/bad jokes and gets rejection letters about his books (this is usually pretty funny but it’s also surprising as Snoopy is usually the “successful” one); Snoopy also plays a lawyer a lot in these strips.

1981 begins where 1980 left off with Patty loving the story of Hans Brinker.  1981 also has a lengthy section about Valentines Day (a subject that gets more emphasis in some years than others), although this year Sally is the major protagonist (and her Sweet Babboo her object).  1982 also has a Valentine’s Day with Sally–she gets her hand stuck in the Valentine’s Day cards box.

Schulz used to do bible instruction which is why he quotes it so much.  And he occasionally peppers his strips with religious commentary.  There’s a joke about school prayer–Patty has to go up to the board and when her teacher falls ill she shouts “school prayer works, Marcie.”  There’s an amusing joke that Snoopy used to teach Sunday School at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm.

Although the running jokes are funny, I love when he gets a new idea.  Like the a fun twist on the dog ate my homework joke when Snoopy as the WWI pilot steals Sally’s homework claiming it is the enemy’s secret papers and he eats them.

Sometimes Schulz gives a one-off joke that’s just silly and funny like when Woodstock “poofs” a dandelion and it “poofs” him back. (more…)

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Charles M. Schulz–The Complete Peanuts: 1977-1978: The Definitive Collection of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip masterpiece: Dailies & Sundays (2010)

Posted in Adventure, Alec Baldwin, Angst, Baseball, Basketball, Birds, Boredom, Cats, Charles Schulz, Christo, Cocteau Twins, Comic Strips, Dogs, Easter, Etiquette, Explorers, Fantasy, Football, Funny (ha ha), Golf, Halloween, Hillary Clinton, Hockey, Ice Skating, Land Lines, Letters, Mark Twain, Math, Peanuts, Regrets, Religion, Romance, Soccer, Summer Camp, Technology, Tennis, The Bible, The Future, The Muppet Show, Tiny Desk Concert, World War I on September 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1978SOUNDTRACK: LAND LINES-Tiny Desk Concert #494 (December 11, 2015).

landLand Lines are a trio from Denver.  They have a drummer, a synth player and a cellist/lead singer.  Although their music is pretty spare and simple, I find them really compelling.

On “Wreckage,” Martina Grbac plays the cello with her fingers, strumming chords on the neck of the instruments in a way I’ve not seen anyone play before.   Grbac sings quietly and her voice–echoing and effects-laden–reminds me of someone from the 1990s, although I can’t exactly pinpoint it (maybe a Cocteau Twins vibe?  but not quite). James Han plays really interesting chords and textures on the keyboard.  Sometimes he adds melody lines, and other times, like at the end of this song, growing washes of sounds.  Ross Harada’s percussion is also fun for the complex and different sounds he adds to the songs.

“Anniversary” has a similar vibe withe that cello chord playing.  The opening keys play simple echoing notes which add a nice atmosphere to the acoustic chords and percussion.

For the final song, “Fall or Fall,” Grbac plays a rapidly bowed cello (which has such a different sound than the other songs).  The bass is provided by the synth (a good sounding bass).   I love the way her voice contrasts the keyboard chords.  The chord progressions throughout the song are interesting and I really like the unexpected sounds that close out the song.

I’d never heard of Land Lines, but I liked this show enough to listen to it a bunch of times.  I’ll have to check out their other songs as well.

[READ: July 9, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978

I feel like this era is when I would have read Peanuts the most, although I have no recollection of any of these strips.

The covers of the books don’t necessarily depict who will be prominent in the collection, but Peppermint Patty on the front does equal a lot of Patty inside.  While Peppermint Patty continues to do very poorly in school, she does get some witty remarks like “What was the author’s purpose in writing this story?  Maybe he needed the money.”

We see a return of Truffles in January which also introduces Sally calling Linus her Sweet Babboo for the first time.  “I’m not your Sweet Babboo!”  Truffles is very excited to see Linus and vice versa but it kind of ends with unanswered questions because, in one of the first times this surreal gag was introduced, Snoopy flies in as a helicopter–a joke used many more times in the future–to sort of interrupt the whole saga.

Snoopy also pretends to be the Cheshire Cat a few times.

It has been a while since Linus has built anything outstanding (something he used to do a lot as a precocious child).  Well, in Feb 1977 he builds a snowman of Washington crossing the Delaware (to show up Lucy’s George Washington snowman with a little sword). (more…)

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