SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013).
NPR was steaming this album for a while. Now they’re giving away this song.
Typhoon is yet another band that has a crazy amount of people in it (between 12 and fourteen) and they have a vast array of instruments in play at any one time (Horns, violins, xylophones, electric guitars and mandolins for example).
At the same time, Singer Kyle Morton’s vocals are distinctive enough and are used like an instrument as well as to deliver lyrics. This gives them quite a unique sound.
The song opens with an array of horns slowly building to a simple guitar melody. The verses are somewhat quiet with occasional punctuations of band (and great backing vocals). But as the song progresses, more instruments kick in (horns adding a melody line). I really like the way the end of the song shifts direction totally, bringing in a complex instrumental section with interesting time shifts and even better backing vocals..
I enjoyed the whole album while it was streaming. And while I can’t say that this song stands out more than the other songs, (I think “Artificial Light” is probably the best,) it represents the sound of the band pretty well.
[READ: September 2013] Lucky Peach Issue 8
I haven’t been reviewing Lucky Peach issues in their entirety because they are mostly about food and cooking and recipes and I don’t really have anything to say about that (I enjoy the articles a lot, but I don’t need to comment on them).
But I wanted to bring special attention to this issue because of the way it is presented. This is the Gender Issue. It has two covers (see the “female” cover tomorrow) and the magazine must be flipped over to read the different genders.
It’s not often that I think of food and gender as being connected, but there are some really interesting articles in here that talk about not only food itself, but about the people who prepare it. Like the fact that most big name chefs are men even though cooking has traditionally been “women’s work.”
The women’s side of the magazine has these interesting articles: (more…)
I know Reggie Watts from Comedy Bang Bang, but his name sounds familiar, like he’s been around for a long time. And he has, although not in ways that I am familiar. He’s been in a million bands (none of which I’ve heard of) and done a number of short films and concerts (prominently as of 2004). Interestingly he was born in Germany to French and American parents. And, yes, he lived his early life in Montana.
In his early bands, Reggie sang (he has a beautiful voice). In recent years he has become sillier, doing improv and a lot of looped vocals. he also has a lot of funny comedic lyrics. But not all of them. In this Tiny Desk concert, Reggie does three songs (with funny intros). The first one “Song #4” is a “proper” song.
The other two are improved. The middle one, about NPR is very funny (if you know your NPR). In all of the songs he samples his voice creating bass lines and whatnot (he does amazing beat box work). The set is really impressive that one guy can make so much beautiful music.
Although normally I enjoy just listening to the Tiny Desk shows, this is one that demands watching, just to see how he does it all.
[READ: September 6, 2013] “Motherhood”
Manguso writes about being a mother and how sleep deprivation as a new mom is actually somewhat enjoyable (I suppose she means in retrospect). She doesn’t say anything all that new about being a mom and the experiences of waking up at the slightest sound (or lack of sound) from your children. Although of course it’s original to everyone when it is their child.
And she does make some interesting observations about how when the baby is first-born you rush to help him or her at the first cry but as they get older you feel even more protective of them. I also enjoyed the idea that maternal love is in no way a softening or weakening force but is actually a courageous act–sacrificing yourself for someone else. (more…)
By my count there are fourteen people in Mother Falcon (the notes say 17 but I couldn’t see them all)–that’s a lot of people in a Tiny Desk concert. And they all play an instrument. I count trumpet, bassoon, three saxophones, three violins, two cellos, an upright bass, accordion, guitar and mandolin (the mandolin player is the lead singer (and a cello player too).
Despite the orchestral set up, the songs are short pop songs but with a lot of, well, orchestration. The songs have gorgeous instrumental sections, especially in “Marigold” where the riff is powerful and made all the more dynamic by the woodwinds.
“Marfa” has vocals by the female lead (who plays guitar–I don’t see any band member names on the NPR site). The strings really dominate here and remind me of the way The Dambuilders used strings–even though there is no heavy guitar. The strings feel like they are playing rock songs rather than being used as background for a rock song. “Dirty Summer” is a sing-along track with no real words–lots of oh ohs.
Watching one of the members climb on the desk to sing louder was pretty fun. It was also cool hearing how excited they were to be on the Tiny Desk. Check it out.
They sound really great and, although I have to suspect that they must be more dynamic live than on record–how could they not be?
[READ: September 6, 2013] “Herbal Remedies”
Curtis is a holistic nutritionist. I was a little concerned that this whole essay was going to be about prescribing alternative medicines to people to help them sleep (that’s only part of the article–and sadly there’s no quick suggestions either). Actually, I’m normally all for herbals, but I’ve been watching Doc Martin lately and, man, he really rails into the herbalist on that show. I’m generally torn about herbal remedies–I absolutely believe in science, but I have no faith in corporations. So I believe scientists find cures for things and then corporations mess with them and make us need more than we do. And I also feel like old herbal remedies probably work to an extent and yet they have also not been scientifically proven. What’s a skeptic to do?
Anyhow, the switch comes when Curtis admits that while her patients can’t sleep, she has no problems with it. Except that she doesn’t want to sleep, she hates it. She even slept with the light on (until her business associate warned that it ruins your “kidney jing.)”
She talks about what it’s like to sleep in different men’s beds. I liked the descriptions–the way each bed and each man makes her feel a different way in the bed–like a princess, or someone who wakes up several times a night so she can cuddle again or, like a safe and secure person who can sleep uninterrupted all night long. (more…)
I had seen the cover of this book in the library almost every time I went in. I loved it but I wasn’t sure if the book was too old for the kids (it’s rated 8 and up, but it turns out there’s nothing too intense that my 5 year old didn’t love it too (she didn’t get it all, but she liked it). Angleberger is best known for the Origami Yoda series–I haven’t read it and frankly without knowing anything about it, the entire concept of the series baffles me. But I enjoyed this book so much that I may have to dive into the folded paper series too.
This audio book was read by Jonathan Todd Ross and Jessica Almasy. And while I liked Almasy, I really enjoyed Ross’s two sections–there was something about is style that really appealed to me.
This is the simple (albeit complicated) story of a boy whose friend buys a fake mustache. In the town of Hairsprinkle, young Caspar lives with his parents who believe in wholesomeness—in other words, they don’t have a TV. Nor do they believe in an allowance—material goods are not so good. But every year Caspar’s aunt gives him a couple hundred dollars to by something frivolous. And this year, Caspar has his sites set on a man-about-town suit. Not just any cheap suit, but a very nice tailored, man-about-town suit (this phrase, repeated throughout the beginning of the book cracked me up. I’m sure my kids didn’t know what it meant but it made me laugh every time it was used). After buying the suit, he went to the Heidelberg Novelty Store to buy the Heidelberg Handlebar #7—a glorious fake mustache which is made from real human mustache hair (ew). With suit and mustache, Caspar looked like a short man-about-town. And the citizens of Hairsprinkle were impressed
The main character and narrator of the story is Lenny Flemm, Jr. Lenny is something of a loser and his only real friend is Caspar. Turns out that he himself is responsible for giving Caspar the extra ten dollars that he needed to get that mustache (they had raised the price). When Lenny goes shopping with Caspar, he is excited not to buy a suit or a mustache but to buy a sticky grabber hand (for $1). The lady at the desk, Sven, is hilarious (and Ross’ voice for her is dynamite).
That night a bank is robbed—by a short man in a man-about-town suit. And the next day Caspar gives Lenny his money back, with a lot of interest. Then another bank is robbed. And then another. The next time Lenny visits Caspar’s room, there are stacks of gold bars against the wall. Lenny decides to call the police, but they don’t believe him—Caspar is a boy, they are looking for a man. But now that Caspar knows that Lenny is onto him, he tries to make trouble for Lenny.
But before Lenny can prepare for this, there is a new player in town—Fako Mustacho—a man who plans to save the town, the country, the world, from itself. Fako Musatcho is a short man with a glorious mustache and a suit—not a man-about-town suit, mind you, but a different kind of suit. And it seems that whenever Fako speaks, people automatically listen–including the mayor who agrees to step down because she can’t catch the bank robber. Except for Lenny who seems to be the only one who can see that Fako is really Caspar. So, what is a kid with no friends supposed to do?
Call for help from Jodie O’Rodeo, of course. Jodie is the star of the now cancelled kids show The Jodie O’Rodeo Showdeo. On the show she sang and did trick riding stunts. Turns out that she can really do them (the stunts, not the singing) and she also knows that Fako Mustacho is a kid wearing a mustache. By the middle of the book, when Part 2 opens, we hear Jodie’s side of things (in the audio book this is where Jessica Almasy takes over). Interestingly Jodie and Lenny meet because Lenny is dressed like Jodie O’Rodeo (long story). Lenny always thought she was cute (and was embarrassed to say so) but the show has been off the air for a few years and Jodie is really cute now. And she still has her horse, Soymilk. And she wants to help Lenny save the world! (And she thinks Lenny is cute, even though it’s weird because he is dressed like her).
Once the two begin working together, hijinx ensue and the story gets very exciting indeed. Whereas Lenny is a man of words, Jodie is all about action, and there is a ton of it (most of it very funny indeed). By the time they free themselves from Fako Mustacho’s henchmen, Fako has the whole world hypnotized and, since it is an election year, he has them all hypnotized to vote for him as the President of the Unites States. It’s going to take nerves of steel, great horsemanship and perhaps a sticky grabber hand to stop the plans that are afoot (including the other plan to assassinate Fako should he become president—don’t forget, he is only Caspar in a fake mustache).
This story was so funny. It is riddled with absurdities and hilarious asides. The situations are preposterously simple and yet also dangerous. All throughout there were wonderful jokes, hilariously silly set ups (they fall into a vat of oozing slime) and preposterously funny foolishness—who doesn’t love when no one can see the bad guy but one kid?
I enjoyed this book so much I insisted that the kids only listen to it when I was in the car. And it did not disappoint.
As I said earlier I loved Ross’ reading. He was very very funny (and reminded me at times of John Hodgman’s deadpan delivery–absurdity always works best in deadpan). And his pronunciation of Fako Mustacho made me laugh every single time. Jessica Almasy’s reading was also really good (I don’t want to give the wrong impression). It’s just very different—Jodie’s story is more exciting than Lenny’s while it is still funny, it’s not as absurdly funny as Lenny’s (although Almasy does a great job with the different character voices as well).
Here’s trailer for the book (ha). I feel compelled to point out that the “its” in the trailer should have an apostrophe, but at least they didn’t put one in where it didn’t belong, which is so much more common. I also didn’t realize the book had illustrations (that’s the trouble with audio books).
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I am sold on Angleberger and am not only preparing to read the Origami Yoda books, but I can’t wait to get the audio for Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset. The fact that it also has a crazy subtitle means I like it already.
Incidentally, Angleberger has also written under the pseudonym Sam Riddleberger and I hear that his The Qwikpick Adventure Society is quite enjoyable too.
SOUNDTRACK: TAVI GEVINSON-“Heart of Gold” and “Heart” (2013).
Both of these songs were recorded for the release of the film Cadaver (see below). Neither song appears in the film, although Gevinson herself is the main character. I admit to being awed and repulsed by Gevinson [insert standard issue comments about fashion, young fame and blogging here]. But I am glad she’s using her fame to write feminist theory instead of fashion anymore. And I enjoyed her article in The Believer recently.
As for the film, she does a very good job as the voice in the movie. But let’s hope she doesn’t pursue her singing career any further.
She has the kind of flat delivery that Zooey Deschanel does, but Deschaenl’s voice has a gravitas that Gevinson doesn’t (sure, you can say she’s only 16 or whatever, but there are tons of teenagers who can sing amazingly). Her take on “Heart of Gold” is fine. She enunciates very clearly, but there’s very little passion in the song. Her take on Pet Shop Boys’ “Heart” (a song I know very well, but didn’t know that was the title) is a little better. Primarily because she takes the very discoy song and turns it into a slow acoustic number. The instrumentation is a little bland (not her fault) but she puts moments of excitement into the singing. In both cases I’d much rather hear the original, and in fact I am going to listen to the Pet Shop Boys version right now.
And before you yell at me for picking on a teenager, she is far more successful than I will ever be, so just assume this is all sour grapes.
[READ: August 31, 2013] Cadaver
This book came across my desk and I was intrigued because it was a comic book about cadavers. It’s shaped like a comic strip book (reminding me of early Far Side books) and it turns out to be a comic book adaptation of a short film which was originally a poem. In the introduction, Jonah Ansell explains that his (baby) sister was going off to medical school so he wrote her a (funny) poem. Eventually, the poem was turned into an animated short film. And after being made into a short film it was made into this book.
The story is told in rhyme and is quite funny, until it gets rather touching. In the introduction, Ansell also explains that there was more to the story than medial school–it’s about love and loss and cynicism vs romanticism. Not bad for a 7 minute film.
An unnamed med student is handed a scalpel by the scary professor. She is told to make the first incision into the cadaver. She does so, but as she removes the heart (nicely shaped like a cartoon heart), the cadaver sits up and says that he needs it back. The student’s partner passes out. The man says he’s not read to die, he has a heart to give someone. (more…)
Dimension Hatröss takes the advances from Killing Technology and moves them even further into craftsmanship and prog excellence. In the Killing Technology band photo and in this one, Blacky had shaved part of his head—which was pretty outrageous for a metal band in the late 80s. It’s just a small visual showing how the band was different from other metal bands.
It also opens with some interesting sounds—a swirling noise that coalesces into a fantastic solid heavy riff—a confident metal riff that is more sophisticated than most of their output already. And then a cool noisy chord from Piggy lets you know that this album is going to be…different. And so it is, a wonderful mix of metal and prog rock chords (and long songs) all used as the background of a sci-fi story of The Voivod. The dissonance is amazing on the album—Piggy is playing chords that seem like they shouldn’t come from a guitar.
“Tribal Convictions” is a little less harsh than “Experiment” and you can really hear Snake has been honing his singing skills. There’s even multiple tracks of vocals (including a deep voice singing along on this track). And there are so many different sections—and the first that stands out on the album is Piggy’s echoed guitars just before the “who’s the God” section. Or the repeated chords that open the fantastic “Chaosmongers”—sounding for all the world like electronic malfunction. And yet for all of the experimentation, the songs are still heavy—the chorus of this song is very fast and full of Away’s noisy splash cymbal. My favorite parts comes at around 2:15 where Piggy plays these great fast chords and Blacky plays a very cool accompanying bass line. Indeed, Blacky’s bass sounds great on this record. And when that riff repeats later in the song, it’s followed by a great concluding section.
“Technocratic Manipulators” is a fast heavy song—a very traditional sounding metal song until the “that’s not for me” comes in with a huge time change that last… for one measure. I love how the song ends with a repeated section of “I’d rather be…” until the final line, “I’d rather…think.”
Then comes one of my favorite Voivod songs with the awesome title “Macrosolutions to Megaproblems.” It opens with some increasingly dissonant chords, but also features some loud chanted singalong sections followed by a ringing guitar solo that sounds like a siren. All within a few seconds of each other. It also has the thoughtful bridge, “You better shake up your mind, coz if you’re just staying blind, integrity you won’t find.” And another super cool dissonant chord sequence on the high notes of the guitar—I don’t know how Piggy thought of these sequences. Just to top it off, the ending sequence is a series of descending chords, each one odder than the last.
“Brain Scan” has a cool riff at the end of each verse that is actually surprisingly major chord bright—amidst the chaos of the rest of the song (more great bass from Blacky and some crazy sounds of a brain scan—Snake’s voice processed?). “Psychic Vacuum” is one of the songs where I have to wonder how they can switch to different sections so fast. “Cosmic Drama” opens with a distant echoic riff and then nothing but heaviness. And yet it keeps up that sci-fi experimental feel. This is one of the great heavy metal records of the 80s. technically brilliant playing, odd time signatures and yet still some really catchy music.
The CD has an addition of the Batman theme song. It’s a very odd addition and has no place on the record, but I’ve always liked it because it is so weird. (It’s also only 1:45).
[READ: August 29, 2013] “Nirvana”
I was apprehensive about reading this story because I tend to dislike Esquire fiction. But Adam Johnson won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Orphan Master’s Son (which I haven’t even heard of), so I figured this must be better than the male bonding stories that usually appear in Esquire.
And so it was.
This also happens to be the second stories about a virtual reality President that I’ve read in a few days. How about that.
So this story is set in some kind of future. And in this future the President has been assassinated (and has been dead for three months). The story seems like it is set in the near future (so I kept imagining Obama as the dead President and I wonder if others do too). But something is odd, because the protagonist has been whispering to the President (and evidently the President is talking back to him). However, what’s more significant to the narrator is his wife. (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…)
Wikipedia leads me to find things about authors that I don’t know. Some things lead you to unfindable items (see yesterday’s Douglas Coupland post). But this time, the post about Roddy Doyle has led me to a number of things I wouldn’t have otherwise known about,
Like this short film.
New Boy is based on his short story “New Boy.” I read the story a while ago. I remembered the basic premise, but not the details. And I was delighted by this short film. It is about 11 minutes long and it really captures the story very well.
The story is about Joseph, an African refugee, who is starting school in Ireland. He is not the only black student, but he really does stand out. And when the mean boy behind his calls him “Live Aid” you know that things aren’t going to go all that well.
But then we flash back to the boy’s past (in an unnamed African country). We see him in school there and then we see why he is a refugee (there’s nothing explicit either visually or narratively, but a lot is hinted at). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE TEEN IDLES-Minor Disturbance (1981).
The Teen Idles were the first band released on Ian MacKaye’s Dischord Records. And this EP was record 001 (MacKaye was in the band and he made his own label to release the record).
There are eight songs, done in a total of 9 minutes and 20 seconds. The final song is a live track and it reaches 2 minutes mostly because of the introduction and crowd noise. Three songs almost reach 90 seconds long. The rest are under 1 minute.
Interestingly, there are earlier demos of these songs that are a little slower and a little less fastinyourfacescreamedlyricswhat??? Perhaps because I’m old I like the slower ones a little better, but I know that this represents the core of DC Hardcore and I respect that. And you can actually make out the lyrics if you try.
Some themes include being too young to go to shows, people trying to grow old too fast, punk music (“you say we need practice, maybe in a couple of years”), and apparently dissing British punk for selling out. (“There goes your fury out the door, don’t expect our respect anymore”).
The acerbic “Deadhead” even has a slow section (but is still overall less than 90 seconds) in which they parody the Grateful Dead—the song is anti-Dead primarily because of the drugs they espoused (The Teen Idles, like Minor Threat were straight edge). I had to look up Fiorucci to see what “Fiorucci Nightmare” was about (it’s a fashion house).
For an early taste of the DC Hardcore scene, it pretty much starts here.
[READ: August 22, 2013] Hard Art DC 1979
Do you like punk rock? Punk rock from the late 70s? Specifically bands from Washington DC? In particular bands that played at three venues? On four specific dates? That’s the focus of this book.
This is a collection of photographs by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Lucien Perkins. Perkins has been taking pictures for decades, primarily for The Washington Post—covering major events in Russia, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and, in the late 70s, a few DC punk shows.
The book doesn’t say anything about his motive for doing these shows—other than that he was new to the scene and thought it looked interesting. And since Bad Brains are the focus of most of the pictures, I’m certain that race and racism had something to do with his showing up at these events. Especially because the first event was called Rock Against Racism and was held in a public housing area of Washington D.C. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: KISHI BASHI-“Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!” (2013).
I’m still really enjoying Kishi Bashi’s debut album 151a, so it’s a treat to get a new track from him. This one is a 7″ (and apparent digital download).
It doesn’t depart radically from Kishi Bashi’s formula (high vocals, violins and bouncy, exuberant melodies). Although this song just has…more. More instruments, more layers, more everything.
The biggest surprise comes around two minutes in when some of the layers drop out and we get this really cool bass (which reminds me of Paul Simon) that propels the song along. But that’s a fleeting moment amidst the swirling and swelling violins.
Kishi Bashi is one of those artists who seems to release a lot of singles and digital releases and unless they get compiled somewhere, NPR podcasts are the only place I’ll ever hear them. Nonetheless, I’m delighted to get to jam to this one.
[READ: August 19, 2013] The Snapper
When I first got into Roddy Doyle (around 1993), I read all three of the books that are considered the “Barrytown Trilogy” (which I have just learned, thanks Louise, that there’s going to be a fourth) very quickly. Doyle’s writing in these books is very fast and very funny–tons of dialogue that flow easily and wittily.
The Snapper was also made into a film (not as popular as The Commitments, but much funnier–check it out just to see Colm Meaney down a pint). And Doyle’s writing is just as sharp and screenplay-friendly as The Commitments was–which makes it a real joy to read.
Although this is considered part of a “trilogy” there’s very little connection to The Commitments. The family is the same but Jimmy Rabbitte, the protagonist of The Commitments, is a minor character in The Snapper (I’m actually not sure if it is set before or after The Commitments). [Oh and in the movie, the family name had to be changed from Rabbitte to Curley because the company that made The Commitments owns the rights to Rabbitte (Jaysus!)]. This book is about Jimmy’s sister Sharon and, for the most part, their da, Jimmy Sr. [There’s a slew more members of that family–Veronica their mammy, Darren, the twins Tracy and Linda, Les, and of course, Larrygogan, the new pup.
So, what the hell is The Snapper about? Well, “Snapper” is a slang for baby (apparently). And it seems that young Sharon (19) has gotten herself “up the pole” (pregnant). The surprising thing about the story is the family’s reaction. It is largely positive. She won’t say who the father is, and after the family accepts that, things seem largely fine.
Sharon is afraid to tell her friends, but even they, including her best friend Jackie, take it well (especially after a few drinks). So where is the conflict? (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013). 
NPR was steaming this album for a while. Now they’re giving away this song.
I Just Read About That... 