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Archive for the ‘First Second :01’ Category

Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland–Spill Zone: The Broken Vow (2018)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Alex Puvilland, Aliens, Alternate Reality, Australia, Death, Demons, Environmentalism, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Huh?, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Nightmares, Scott Westerfeld, Supernatural, Surreal, Technology, Threats, Yuck! on March 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Live from Gizzfest (December 1, 2018).

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are such a big deal in their native Australia, that they have created their own festival called, naturally, Gizzfest.  It began in 2015 as a touring festival with a dozen or so bands.  2018’s festival was only one day (in Melbourne) and some kind soul recorded it and posted the KGATLW set online.

The set lasted for about an hour and 40 minutes and touched on nearly every release.  It even included a few never before played live tracks from Eyes Like the Sky!

The recording quality isn’t great and you can hear a lot of people talking through the set.  It sounds like it might be pretty far away from the speakers as well.  Having said that, the music isn’t hard to hear (it’s not like it was recorded at a low level) it’s just not very clean.  Having said THAT, it’s not like KGATLW are an especially clean band, since they are often shrouded in fuzz, echo, distortion and more.

The songs are not chronologically played.  In fact, they start right in the middle with I’m in Your Mind Fuzz.  They play the first two tracks, “I’m in Your Mind” and “I’m Not in Your Mind” seamlessly together, including the nifty solos throughout “Not.”

But they do not play the third song (which segues on the album).  Rather, they jump right to Murder of the Universe with “The Balrog.”  It’s an intense start to the show and after a little breather they play the far slower and very delightful “Stressin'” from Oddments.  Unfortunately, the recording is very quiet and more muddy for this song.  Not sure what happened there.

But things get much louder very quickly, as they jump to their then newest album Gumboot Soup.  They play only one song from the record, the totally rocking “The Great Chain of Being.”  To much celebration, they jump into Polygonswannaland’s “Crumbling Castle.”  All the elements are there and they sound great playing it (even if the audio quality isn’t great).  The song segues perfectly into the album’s final track, “The Fourth Colour.”

After all of that rocking, they slow things down but stick with Polygondwannaland with the groovy “Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet” which segues into the middle section of that albums’s “Castle in the Air.”

Ambrose gets to the mic to say they’re gonna to do some silly stuff now.

“Dead-Beat” goes all the way back to their first EP, Willoughby’s Beach.  The really dumb lyrics “pull my finger and punch my face” are so much clearer here than on the album.  I wish I could hear if people are singing along.  Then they play a track from their first album 12 Bar Bruise “Cut Throat Boogie.”  This one is sung by Ambrose and features lots of his wailing harmonica.  Ambrose gets another lead vocal on another old-school one, Float Along–Fill Your Lung‘s “Let Me Mend the Past.”  It’s a respite of slower rock n roll with some nice piano accompaniment.

They play a surprising “Tezeta” from Mild High Club.  It’s slow and groovy with nice clear sound, although I can’t hear if there are any groovy backing vocals or not.

After these slower moments the band roars back with a wild “Rattlesnake” from Flying Microtonal Banana which whips the crowd into a sing-along frenzy.

And then they pause to introduce their special guest: Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s dad, Broderick Smith, writer and narrator of the Eyes Like the Sky album. Broderick does a great recitation and the band plays these rarely played Western songs perfectly: “Eyes Like the Sky,” “The Year of Our Lord” and “The Raid.”

They jump in with the opening to the jazzy wonderfulness of Quarters‘ “The River,” but they only play about 3 minutes of it, because as the band is quieting down during the slow bit (down down down) with the falsetto “a river” backing vocals, Stu starts singing the lyrics to “Wah Wah.”  For a few beats, the “a river” backing vocals continue, which is pretty cool.  “Wah Wah” rips louder and louder and as the song starts feedbacking out, the super fast drums of “Road Train” begin.  For this is the Nonagon Infinity portion of the show.    “Road Train” is the last song on Nonagon infinity so its fun that they do some nonagon infinity chants and then continue with “Robot Stop,” the first song of the infinite loop album.   It’s full of that spiraling guitar and wild harmonica solos.  But rather than seguing into the next song on the record they jump to the super catchy “Gamma Knife.”

The concert more or less ends with “Some Context,” the 46 second riff that’s a transitional piece on Murder.  That’s how they ended the show when I saw them.  It’s a great riff, too.  But they weren’t quite ready to end the show.

After some quiet, they began their 16 minute epic “Head On/Pill”  This version is certainly slower than the record, but it is still trippy.  It’s still got those soaring riffs and chanted vocals.  Things quiet down to almost a whisper around three minutes in, but by 4 minutes, the whole band kicks in for a truly rocking jam.  After nine minutes, they start a medley that begins with a rather quiet “Alter Me” which is more of a jam than the song.  Some more jamming leads to the opening of “Am I in Heaven?”  They end more or less with “Cellophane” which everyone can chant along to.

It’s basically a career spanning set in which they play songs from all of their fourteen releases (in FIVE YEARS), except for their folky Paper Mâché Dream Balloon.

Although the sound quality isn’t great, this is a fantastic show in front of a very happy hometown crowd.  When I saw them back in 2018 they focused primarily on the five albums they had released the year before with six songs from Murder of the Universe, 4 from Polygondwannaland, and 3 each  from Gumboot Soup and Flying Microtonal Banana.  I love that they can play such diverse sets–playing new songs for people who haven’t heard any of them and then playing a whole career’s worth for the locals.

How their sets can stay under two hours when they have that much music is still a mystery.  And yet no one leaves disappointed.

[READ: March 1, 2019] Spill Zone 2

I enjoyed Book 1 but I really didn’t like this part.  For some reason I thought this book had at least three parts.  But it seems that it has ended with book two which makes it all the more disappointing.

I didn’t even find the art to be evocative or charming.  It just felt kind of ugly an over the top.

As the book opens Addison goes to her art dealer and gets a million dollars. Of course she went to the buyer directly, cutting out the sketchy middleman.  And he is not happy about that, so he goes to the North Koreans with some information about Addison and her pictures.  Of course they have no time for bit players like him.

Meanwhile back in North Korea, Don Jae had entered the Spill Zone there and was having visions about the one in America.  He knew he had to go there.  He winds up visting the art buyer.  He gives her some of the radioactive dust so she can truly see what’s going on in the pictures she’s buying. (more…)

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Gigi D.G.–Cucumber Quest 4: The Flower Kingdom (2018)

Posted in Adventure, Bake Life!, Bandits, Children's Books, End of the World, Fantasy, Fashion, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Gigi D.G., Graphic Novel, Magic, Music, Nightmares, Parenting, Punisher Pumice, Rabbits, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Zaytoven on March 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ZAYTOVEN-Tiny Desk Concert #828 (February 28, 2019).

I saw Zaytoven on the Gucci Mane Tiny Desk Concert and thought he was a good performer.  I didn’t expect that he woul det his own show.  So I wasn’t expecting all that much, but man, this is awesome.  And then I read why this show is the way it is:

Last month, Zaytoven arrived at Bob Boilen’s desk with a full band in tow with the intent of backing up his Atlanta friend and collaborator Future, who had dropped his latest album, The Wzrd, earlier that day. The plan was to translate the bass-heavy trap sound Zaytoven helped originate to real instruments with Neil Garrard on guitar, Bernard “TreWay” Lambert on drums, DJ Spinz and Elena on flute (for what would’ve been a live version of “Mask Off”).

So instead, we get this beautiful instrumental collection.  There’s three tracks that are kind of jazzy, but not exactly.  They’re pretty melodies with some great solo work from the electric guitar and lots and lots of flute.   The drums from Bernard “TreWay” Lambert are a mix of traditional and electric (with great sounds) and some nifty scratching from DJ Spinz.

Track one “Lay Up” has a ripping distortion-filled guitar solo from Neil Garrard.  But man, the real killer is the flute work.  It’s so effortlessly beautiful the way it floats around the song.  Elena Pinderhughes is just dynamite on this song and every one.

Introducing “Peacoat,” he says it feels it like jazz.  He also says he still plays the organ in church on Sundays and that he wants all of his songs to have soul.

“I wasn’t even allowed to listen to this type of music, let alone to be producing it,” he told me a little over a year ago in the church outside Atlanta where he plays organ every Sunday morning. He was remembering how conflicted he’d once felt as a young producer who’d grown up in the church to be playing his trade for street artists like future trap god Gucci Mane (who Zaytoven would later back on keys during his first visit to the Tiny Desk). “To be the godfather of the sound, it was almost embarrassing for me, like, ‘Hold on, bruh. This ain’t really how I was brought up. This ain’t really what I do.’ I’m a guy that’s in the church and I try to lead people more so that way.”

There’s some pretty piano and keyboards form Zaytoven on this song, and I like the subtle scratching throughout.

The final song “Mo Reala” is also great.  He says it’s got a church vibe.  It was his first single from the album with Future saying real things.  He’d ben producing since 2004, but Future helped him refine his piano work and his beats.  In addition to the great song itself, the flute and guitar solos are fantastic.  And again, I love the drums and scratching too.

I listened to the track with Future’s vocals on it and I didn’t like it half as much.

Zaytoven, if you read this, you should absolutely get this band together and record these songs just like this as instrumentals.  They are dynamite!  And no one is releasing music like this right now.  Get on it, man!

[READ: February 26, 2019] Cucumber Quest 4

Reading book 4 means that I am now caught up with the books that are currently out.  And that is terrible, because the series suddenly got really intense and really emotional.  And who knows how long I’ll have to wait until the next book!

When I first started this series, which is kind of a spoof on hero quests, I enjoyed it.  It made me laugh and had lots of funny and absurd twists.  I never expected to get so invested in the story of the Nightmare Knight and his explanation for why he is such a bad guy.

But back to our heroes.

When they arrive in the Flower Kingdom, they are given the terrible news that the Kingdom does not have a Princess (our heroes need Princesses to sign a sword as art of their quest). What will they do? (more…)

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Boya Sun and Kate Reed Petty–Chasma Knights (2018)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Boya Sun, Children's Books, Dio, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Humiliation, Kate Reed Petty, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Toys on March 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-“Neon Knights” (1980).

There was no way I could read this book about Plasma Knights, Oxygen Knights and, yes, Neon Knights, and not think of this song.

This was the lead off track to the first Black Sabbath album in which Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne.   It is a great song and a huge testament to Dio’s ability to revive a flagging band.

It’s really catchy, too.  Geezer Butler’s thumping bass riff opens before Tony Iommi’s chords add a nice rhythmic juxtaposition.  And with Dio’s voice you can hear that Black Sabbath sounds rejuvenated.

Dio’s crooning goes really well with the fast chords and propulsive beat.

This is a great song from a great album.  Although it’s hard to say that the Dio era of Black Sabbath was better than the Ozzy years, the two Dio albums are really fantastic.

[READ: February 27, 2019] Chasma Knights

Although this book was satisfying in the end, I thought it was kind of weirdly unsatisfying overall.

Perhaps it’s because there no real context to the story aside from a rhymed poem that introduces it.  It tells us that if you catalyze toys your powers grow.  And everyone loves to do it except Neon Knights, because they can’t catalyze anything–they don’t have the power.  Aside from that there is no explanation of the setting or the people or anything.

Weird huh? (more…)

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Alex Alice–Castle in the Stars: The Moon-King: Book Two (2015) [translated 2018]

Posted in Charles, End of the World, Explorers, Fantasy, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Hot Air Balloons, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Leah Senior, Magic, Murder, NaturalReader, Owen Smith, Robots, Sci-fi, Science, Supernatural, Translation, Travel, UK, Unfinished series, YA Books, Yuck! on February 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Murder of the Universe (2017)

Every KGATLW album is different.  Including this one.  Murder of the Universe is their second album of 2017.  It is narrative concept album split into three separate stories, each containing elements of spoken word to carry a narrative. The first two chapters feature Leah Senior’s narration, while NaturalReader’s “UK, Charles” text-to-speech application narrates the final chapter.  And it totally rocks.  There’s great riff, distorted guitars and harmonicas and lots of whooping vocals.

There are, essentially three stories on this disc.  The first chapter, The Tale of the Altered Beast, is about a human who stumbles on a mystical human/beast hybrid.  The narration is quite long and deadpan and tells a fairly complex story, which starts:

As soon as the dust settles, you can see
A new world in place of where the old one had been
Your skin is crawling with dry, crusted mud
And your naked feet are wet in a pool of blood
And the whistle of the wind in your ears is so loud
That your memories have blown up in a mushroom cloud
And as your eyes accommodate
There appears by the meadow
A brute like a bear with a long, dark shadow
And you violently shake over what you have seen
As you remember the tale of the Altered Beast

Nearly each of the nine tracks has narration interspersed with singing.  There’s a lot of repeated sections, but more as a thematic choice rather than as repetition.  The titles of the songs are indicative of this: Altered Beast I, II, III and IV and Alter Me I, II and III.  But those parts are not simply repeats.  Rather, they allude to each other with repeated riffs and words.  But even though parts are repeated there are plenty of original riffs throughout.

The third part of “Alter Me” has a cool 80’s sci-fi keyboard sound, which works perfectly before the noisy harmonica returns.

The “Altered Beast” story is the longest part of the story at 19 minutes.  And the final “Altered Beast” part has a very nifty fast section that I believe is in 11/4.

The last track “Life/Death” is very different–keyboard-fueled and almost poppy sounding, this final minute of the story is not a happy one.

The second chapter, The Lord of Lightning vs. Balrog, focuses on a battle between the forces of light of darkness.   And the segue between the two, called “Some Context” references “People-Vultures” from Nonagon Infinity.

It opens with guitarist Joey Walker’s Mongolian throat singing behind the narration on some of the tracks.  This adds an extra sense of ominousness to the story.

So the main story is a battle between The Lord of Lightning and Balrog and  they each get a song:

When the songs proper start, “The Lord of Lightning’s” theme is somewhat proggy with all kinds of ostinato (to use a term form the narration).  In addition to keyboard parts and some heavy rocking parts, there’s a callback to the chorus of “Nonagon Infinity.”  The music for this chapter is very complicated with fits and starts and various drum lines.

While the interstitials in the first chapter were done with an interesting guitar riff, the interstitials in this part come with a fast rumbling bass line.  “Balrog” has a lot of chanting befits a KGATLW song.

The war comes to a head in the Floating Fire which has more throat singing and a martial beat and its aftermath “The Acrid Corpse” … but which one is the corpse?

The third and final chapter, Han-Tyumi & The Murder of the Universe, is about a cyborg in a digital world who gains consciousness and decides to strive only for what a cyborg cannot do: vomit and die.  How very King Gizzard.  There’s a lot about vomit in this song. Maybe it was just fun hearing the robotic voice say vomit?

He decides to create a creature dubbed the “Soy-Protein Munt Machine” whose only purpose is to vomit. When the creature rejects his love, Han-Tyumi decides to merge with the machine, which causes it to lose control. This machine explodes and infinitely expels vomit, which eventually engulfs the entire universe: and so the universe is murdered.

It opens with keyboard swirls, like the opening credits a sci-fi soap opera

This is a much heavier bunch of songs, like the thumping (with extra drums) on “Digital Black.”  Over a futuristic keyboard section Han-Tyumi recites his problem:

I am bereft of two human things
Two things that a cyborg can never do
Two things that I strive for
Two things between myself and mankind
Death
And
To vomit

This story is bonkers.  But it totally rocks and it leads to the really catchy song (which they played live when I saw them called, what else, “Vomit Coffin.”  The final song is a tour de force of instrumental power while HanTyumi talks of vomiting and getting bigger and bigger until he destroys the universe.  Gross and hilarious and totally rocking.  Destroying the Universe never sounded so good.

[READ: February 28, 2019] Castle in the Stars 2

This gorgeous graphic novel was originally published in French and was translated by Anne and Owen Smith.

Part two continues with the beautiful look of his book.  I am really fascinated at the way these characters can look at time cartoonish and at times almost photo-realistic (in soft focus).

At the end of the last book our team escaped from certain danger by jumping aboard an aethership.  The crew is Seraphin (whose mother has been lost in the aether when she took a ship there and never returned), Seraphim’s father as well as Seraphim’s friend Sophie (a girl!) and her half-brother Hans (the very cartoony looking character). They are joined by King Ludwig whom we are told at the begiinning of the story just wanted to leave everything behind. (more…)

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Gigi D.G.–Cucumber Quest 3: The Melody Kingdom (2018)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Adventure, Bandits, Crabs, End of the World, Fantasy, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Gigi D.G., Graphic Novel, Magic, Music, Nightmares, Parenting, Rabbits, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Witches, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on February 25, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NATALIE PRASS-Tiny Desk Concert #827 (February 25, 2019).

I know Natalie Prass because “Short Court Style” was absolutely ubiquitous.  WXPN overplayed this song to death this summer.  At first I didn’t think much of it and then it clicked and I loved it.  The bassline is fantastic and the vocals are just amazing.  I was genuinely surprised to find out that Natalie Prass was white, because she sounded so soulful.

I genuinely had no idea who she was, so I was surprised that the accolades were so effusive and people spoke of her as if she were a legend.  Well, this is only her second album, but it really struck a nerve.

Full disclosure: We here at NPR Music have decreed Natalie Prass something of a patron saint for roséwave — our groove-laden, pink drink-soaked soundtrack for the summer. So, when the Richmond, Va. artist arrived at the Tiny Desk, it was a cause for celebration, especially amid the January blues that seemed to permeate the NPR Music office. Decked out in matching, cobalt blue outfits (with a matching keyboard stand to boot), Prass and her backing band, comprised of Eric Slick: drums; Alan Parker: guitar; Jacob Ungerleider: keys; and Brandon Lane: bass, seemed to bring a warm breeze in with them.

“Oh My” opens with a thumping bass.  When the picture appears, everyone is wearing electric blue.  The song is very funky and Natalie does a great job with her little interjections of “No,” “hey,” “oh ho ho ho” and the titular “Oh My.”  There’s a funky bass solo midsong.  And throughout, Natalie is just so cool.

I didn’t really get a sense of the lyrics so I was surprised to read this:

There’s a sly political bent to Prass’ 2018 album, The Future and the Past. Ahead of its release, she said she actually had a different album nearly finished, but scrapped a huge chunk of it after [trump’s] election, which in turn led her to make this album instead. She highlights this mission statement on the album opener — and first song she performed at the desk — “Oh My.” It’s a track that speaks pointedly about the abject feeling of horror and exhaustion that seeps in when you tune into the news cycle, with bleak lyrics set against bright, dance-y music.

For “Short Court Style” (I always assumed it was called “Round and Round”), she brings out her backing singers, Angelica Garcia and Kenneka Cook: vocals.  Everything sounds fantastic here live.  She seems so free and easy singing this song, it’s a delight to watch her.  And those funky bass lines are great.

Before closing with “Hot for the Mountain,” Prass tells the NPR office that “the song’s a little off the beaten path, but, I don’t know, it’s my favorite.” “We’ll take you on / We can take you on,” Prass, Garcia and Cook sing in unison, a refrain that resounds emphatically. Her vision was clear: If you want to overcome the times, find strength in numbers.

I don’t see what’s so odd about it.  It doesn’t have a big hook like the other two songs, but there is a sing along chorus.

[READ: January 31, 2019] Cucumber Quest 3

Book three opens as our heroes arrive at Trebleopolis which is celebrating its birthday (clowns are everywhere).  And no one celebrates louder than Queen Cymbal.  She reveals that Princess Piano is going to perform a concert.  All our heroes want is the Princess’ signature on their sword (she has signed weirder things), but they are told they have to wait until after the show.  (It’s 110 minutes long…that’s like MORE than an hour).

But as the curtain opens, it’s not Princess Piano, but Noisemaker who comes out.  Noisemaster is a hiphop DJ who is not only annoying but quite evil.  For he is one of Nightmare Knight’s Disaster Masters and our heroes’ next conquest.  Nightmare Knight makes an early appearance and is not playin’ with Noisemaster’s shtick: “I cannot believe you are still acting like this…  I am being exceedingly ‘real’ Noisematser.”   He ends, I will allow you this chance to prove yourself  Do not waste it.

Noisemaster’s plan is to destroy the whole city if the noise machine hits 100%.  And with Piano’s loud voice that should be no problem.

We learn that the Melody Kingdom was divided by two kings King Treble and King Bass. They fought and had to be separated by a wall which the Oracle created.   The two sides have not seen each other in decades.  The wall, named Mezzo is very chill and tells them exactly the kind of convoluted quest they need to go on to get the key to open the doors in the wall.  Of course Almond and Carrot are right on that quest and they take off. (more…)

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Emily Tetri–Tiger vs. Nightmare (2018)

Posted in Children's Books, Emily Tetri, First Second :01, Nightmares, The Pedrito Martinez Group, Tigers on February 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE PEDRITO MARTINEZ GROUP-Tiny Desk Concert #826 (February 20, 2019).

I don’t really know what Afro-Cuban music is, exactly.  I can’t tell if it’s a catch-all phrase for a number of different kinds of music or if it’s a very specific kind of music that I haven’t leaned the nuances off.  Whatever the case, I really like this set/song from Pedrito Martinez.

Martinez’ band features a bassist (Sebastian Natal) who keeps the groove going, a keyboard player ( Issac Delgado Jr–who I actually  thought was a horn section for a second) and two percussionists: SJhair Sala (who plays bongos and cowbell, mostly) and Pedrito Martinez who sings lead and plays, frankly, astonishing congas.

Something happens when you get a chance to see Afro-Cuban percussionist Pedrito Martinez perform. First of all, his smile radiates. It’s hard to imagine someone happier than he is to make music in front of people; and as we saw during his turn behind Bob Boilen’s desk, he mesmerizes with this almost otherworldly talent on congas. His hands can be a blur because they move so quickly. To the untrained eye, it’s hard to see exactly what he is doing to draw out the sounds he does from his drums. I even know a little about playing hand drums and it still doesn’t make it easier to fathom his remarkable talent.

He plays only one song, “Tuvé Una Revelación” which runs fifteen minutes and is full of

 twists and turns and unexpected stops that resolve into grooves so ferocious it’s hard to resist moving your entire body in appreciation.

The main riff is a great groove which hits some occasional prog-rock riffs that settle down quickly.  After five and a half-minutes, it seems like the song stops–but it’s just a pause while the song ramps up again.  The middle of the song has a lengthy keyboard solo (sounding like a piano not horns now).  It’s jazzy and works very well in the middle of the song.  Midway through the solo, Pedrito gets up and starts dancing behind his kit, which is a little unusual.

In addition to being surrounded by four congas, he has a snare drum and cymbals (everything hit with his hands).  He has a hi-hat (which he uses his foot for, but also smacks with his hand) and he is sitting on a box drum, which you can watch him occasionally smack for extra snare.

This particular performance at the Tiny Desk is highlighted by a stunning, unaccompanied conga solo that dazzled both neophytes and long-time fans of Afro-Cuban music.

It starts around nine minutes.  At first he is accompanied by some melody, but then he just takes off.   And indeed, his hands (and his elbow, which he taps in there) are a blur.  When he plays his solo, it’s musical as well as percussive, as his congas are tuned and he even plays a melody.  The thing he does near the end where it certainly appears that he’s somehow using his thumbs and fingers alternately while barely moving his hands is amazing.

It’s pretty awesome.

[READ: February 23, 2019] Tiger vs. Nightmare

I love the setting of this story. It’s futuristic–the cars are actually little planes.

But it’s not relevant because pretty much the entire story takes place inside.  I think it’s just a need a neat detail.

The illustration style is also fascinating,  It’s water-color for the background (and maybe the foregrounds as well).  But the outlines and shading and lines seem almost like crayon–they’re so simple and un-detailed.  It’s kind of a sloppy fun child-like style

Tiger is at dinner and she asks for extras for the monster under her bed.  Her parents concede and then joke with their friends that their little Tiger is always coming up with stories like that. Turns out the monster loves curry and tacos but doesn’t like stew (just like Tiger). (more…)

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John Patrick Green–Kitten Construction Company: Meet the House Kittens (2018)

Posted in Architecture, Cats, Children's Books, First Second :01, Free at Noon, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, John Patrick Green, Kittens, Lily & Madeleine, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on February 22, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LILY & MADELEINE-Free at Noon, World Cafe Live (February 22, 2019).

I was pretty happy to be at my desk for this Free at Noon show today.  After seeing Lily & Madeleine Wednesday night, I was keen to hear them live again.

I was also happy that a lot more people showed up for this show than my bad-weather event.

They played a truncated version of the show that I saw–nine of the fourteen songs.  Can their real set only be five more songs?  They focused entirely on new songs, except their encore, and wound up playing all but two of the new songs.(Circles and Bruises).

The sisters aren’t the most dynamic performers.  They are quiet and somewhat subdued–look to guitarist/cellist Shannon Hayden for the action.  But they more than make up for it with their voices.  Once again Lily & Madeleine sounded great and their harmonies were transcendent.

Their new songs are really great live–the addition of the cello really fleshes out their music beautifully.  And their drummer (who goes by one name and which once again I didn’t understand (Coffee?)) was fantastic.

They played the first three songs as my show.  They skipped the older songs and went right to Analog Love.  I was surprised they played “Supernatural Sadness” right after “Analog Love” because they are very different.  Analog is, as the chorus states, “slow and sweet” whereas “Supernatural” has a much more dancey, almost disco attitude,

They ended the set with “Pachinko” and then the band left so the could play “Go” with just the two of them.

After Helen Leicht came out to thank the band for coming, they did one more song, an encore of “Blue Blades.”  This song sounded amazing when I saw them both because of their voices but also because of the awesomely echoed cello.  And she had that same effect on the song here–it just sounds massive and almost otherworldly.  It’s amazing.

Definitely check them out, they are terrific live (this will no doubt be posted soon enough).

  1. Self Care
  2. Just Do It
  3. Canterbury Girls
  4. Analog Love
  5. Supernatural Sadness
  6. Can’t Help the Way I Feel
  7. Pachinko Song
  8. Go
    encore
  9. Blue Blades

[READ: February 20, 2019] Kitten Construction Company

I loved Green’s previous book Hippopotamister and I was pretty delighted with the premise of Kitten Construction Company.  But I had no idea how funny it would be.

The city of Mewburg (I only wish it was Mewlinburg) is preparing to build a new mayor’s mansion.  The city planner is looking at excellent design plans for the mansion.  As he talks about how wonderful the designs are, he pulls back the paper to reveal Marmalade, an adorable kitten.  He stops what he is doing to marvel at her cuteness.  Marmalade is upset by this.

Even more so when the city planner says they can’t have a cute kitten as an architect–“you’re just too adorable to be taken seriously.”

Marmalade stomps off (cutely) muttering that she went to school and she has a degree.   While she is trying to drown her sorrows in milk, she meets Sampson. a dishwasher who is actually an electrical engineer.  They are sick of not being taken seriously so they decide to start their own firm.  But first Sampson has to finish his shift (which is adorable and hilarious). (more…)

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Mairghread Scott & Robin Robinson–The City on the Other Side (2018)

Posted in Boygenius, Children's Books, Earthquakes, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Lucy Dacus, Mairghread Scott, Mountain Man, Myths, Robin Robinson, Supernatural, Superstitions, Tiny Desk Concert, Valentine's Day on February 13, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LUCY DACUS-“Ma Vie en Rose” (2019).

Lucy Dacus has been on a roll lately.  Her album Historian is fantastic.  She has put on some amazing live shows (I’ll be seeing her again in March), she did some amazing work as 1/3 of boygenius and now she has made a delightful version of “Ma Vie en Rose.”

The original is swooning and slow, allowing for the words to linger and tickle every inch of the listener’s ear.  But sometimes love isn’t slow and languorous.  Sometime, it hits you hard and runs fast with your heart.

So Lucy has recorded a version with this tempo in mind.  She says

I want someone to listen to this while running at top speed to the doorstep of the person they adore, ready to profess their deep, undying love.

Musically the song is pulsing beat and piano–electric guitar and bass and it is just relentlessly chipper.

She sings the song first in French and then in English in her gorgeous quiet(ish) voice in under 3 minutes–that’s a minute faster than the original which is only in French.

And she released it just in time for Valentine’s Day.

[READ: February 11, 2019] The City on the Other Side

The book begins on the other side of the veil that separates our world from the fairie realm.  It is a very thin but very powerful veil and virtually no one can cross it.

This is a story of fairies and humans.  And how our worlds impact one another.  When we build buildings, the fairies feel the digging and when the fairies had a war, it caused earthquakes,   The massive San Francisco earthquake of 1906?  That was caused by a massive fairie war.  That fairie war started when the Seelie (the creatures who bless brightness–birds, ferns, humans) and the Unseelie (who celebrate darkness-worms, rotting logs etc) couldn’t agree on a ruler.  They are expected to rule the underworld in equal parts–six months at a time.  But recently there had been trouble. The leader of the Unseelie didn’t like the way the Seelie seemed to be taking over (because humans were becoming so powerful) so he captured the Seelie leader’s daughter and waged war.

Back on earth we meet a young girl, Isabelle.  She is the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat who wishes her to be perfect–clean, respectful, and quiet.  In the summertime, she is shunted off to her father–an artist who is more interested in his work than his daughter.  But at least she can relax and play and get dirty.  It is while she is here that she sees a Seelie with a magical necklace. The Seelie is supposed to get that necklace to the kidnapped daughter of the Seelie leader.  But he has been wounded.  Since Isabelle is allowed to cross dimensions he pleads with her to help the Seelie.

While heading into the city with a helpful talking mushroom named Button, Isabelle’s necklace is stolen by…another human?  This young boy is shocked to discover that she is a human.  When he tells his story they agree to work together.

It turns out that the earthquake killed his parents and his discovered a rift between the worlds when the ground opened up.  He was rescued by the now-missing Seelie daughter which granted him the power to cross the veil. But no one has seen the daughter for many years so he–who is not welcomed in Fairlieland and has nothing waiting for him in human land–has become a simple thief.

The thief knows his way around the fairie world and has made something of a name for himself.  But that also means that Unseelie warriors are aware of what he does and where he goes.

How will these two humans find a princess in the fairie realm?  And will they ever even want to go back home?

This story was a little to fast for my liking–everything seems to be very truncated.  Maybe that’s because it’s a children’s book?  And while I am glad that it wasn’t stretched into two books, it just felt like it took on a lot and resolved it all really fast.

I also didn’t love the artwork.  I really didn’t like the fairie characters at all–they seemed hastily drawn and I didn’t really like the main characters all that much either.  The whole book felt like it was done very quickly.

Having said that, it’s a good introduction for kids to know about the Seelie and fairie stories–there are so many they can explore later on.  I did like how the final pages with Button the mushroom (my favorite character) were informative both about the story process and the history of San Francisco and the earthquake.

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Ian Lendler–One Day a Dot (2018)

Posted in Braden Lamb, Children's Books, Evolution, First Second :01, Lau Noah, Miguel de Cervantes, Science, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on February 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LAU NOAH-Tiny Desk Concert #823 (February 11, 2019).

Lua Noah is a Spanish singer/guitarist with a fascinating story.  She sings mostly in Spanish (with subtitles!).

Lau Noah’s journey as a songwriter and guitarist occurred by happenstance. She was born in Reus, Spain barely a few hours drive from Barcelona. She speaks and now sings in Catalan, Spanish, English and sometimes Hebrew. She’d played piano growing up (never guitar) and left Spain for New York City five years ago while in her late teens.

On a visit to Montreal in 2016, Lau hoped to go to a Patrick Watson concert with friends. But the performance sold out and she was left alone in an apartment while her friends went to the show. Then a snowstorm ensued. The apartment had two guitars and, with nothing else to do, she picked one up and began to play. She wrote her first song, “Pequitas,” which means “Little Freckles.”

Her songs are quite short.  “El Jardinero (The Gardener)” is barely 2 minutes long.  She plays complex chords but not in an elaborate way–just making lovely sounds in beautiful patterns.  The speed of her singing is somewhat at odds with the gentle playing, but it all works, as if she needs to get these passionate words out.

There’s a magical aura that surrounds Lau Noah as she sits behind my desk and embraces her guitar with one foot propped unnaturally high on a stool. As melodies pour from the strings, she sings these words in Spanish: “On the verge of the soul, there is a red petal, attached to the skins of mortals.” A few lines later in the song she continues, “a fragile petal that drinks the water of the most cruel stories: children who have never heard a fairytale, lovers who love, dressed in regret.” This is the sort of poetic tale that captured my heart amongst the thousands of entries I watched during the Tiny Desk Contest in 2018. Her song she submitted for the contest is called “La Realidad.”

I love the way in “La Realidad (The Reality)” she returns to a part where she plays a low note that rises and falls while everything else stays the same as she sings.

She says thats she is from Catalonia and was always afraid to sing in Catalan, so she sang mostly in English.  She is very happy to sing the next song “L’Adéu (The Goodbye)” in Catalan.  It has a beautiful melody and sounds very differrent from the other two songs.

She re-tunes her guitar for “La Belleza (The Beauty)” which has a very different fingerpicking style–faster and a bit more intense.  The melody rises and falls both from her fingers and from her voice.  It’s a mesmerizing song.

Before she played her final song, “Red Bird,” (in English) she quoted Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, from his novel Don Quixote: “When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies,” Lau said, reading from her notes. “Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams is madness. And maddest of all: to see life as it is and not as it should be.”

She sounds just as lovely singing in English as she does in her other languages.

[READ: February 11, 2019] One Day a Dot

I don’t normally post about children’s picture books.  But this one has two things going for it.  It’s published by First Second and it’s pretty awesome.

This is, as the cover says, “the story of you, the universe, and everything.”  All in 40 pages.

It begins: One day a dot appeared.  And it was so excited to be there that it burst.

And that is the children’s version explanation of the big bang. (more…)

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Antoine Revoy–Animus (2018)

Posted in Antoine Revoy, Death, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Supernatural, Superstitions, Surreal, Violence on February 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Float Along-Fill Your Lungs (2013).

In 2013, KGATLW released a Western narrative record and this record which opens with a 16 minute psychedelic epic called “Head On/Pill.”  It’s got everything, including a sitar.

There’s a cool, simple riff that lends itself to some groovy jamming.  After 3 and a half minutes the song takes off in a rocking/psychedelic avalanche of sounds.  Around five minutes it settles into a two note sing/play along.  By 7 and a half the sitar is back and the two-note melody has expanded somewhat.  By ten minutes its just bass and drums before the band starts to rebuild the song again.  It’s a very cool exploration of a style that the band hadn’t really toyed with before.  And it would really go on to define one aspect of the band (minus the sitar).

The rest of the album is largely shorter tracks.

“I’m Not a Man Unless I Have a Woman” is a weird little nugget with a soul feel and falsetto vocals.  But with sitar and harmonica.

For the first minute or so of “God is Calling Me Back Home” its sounds kind of goofy and lo-fi.  It’s just a guitar and lots of vocals.  But after a minute, it rocks out with full distortion.  It’s a wild ride for a couple of minute before it degenerates into just feedback and noise by the end.

“30 Past 7” is slower with sitar and a soaring psychedelic feel.   While “Let Me Mend the Past” has a classic Motown sound with piano and falsetto vocals from Ambrose.  Keeping with the jumping around, “Mystery Jack” is a short, fuzzy, garage rock song.  Then comes “Pop In My Step,” which was created by guitarist Cook Craig.  It’s a simple poppy song with fuzzy guitars and a trippy synth.  The middle has a very cool riff that separates the parts.

The disc ends with “Float Along – Full Your Lungs” which returns to the psychedelia.  This song is shorter but even wilder with the sitar and trippy sounds. It’s a fantastic bookend to this wild collection of songs.

[READ February 7, 2019] Animus

This is a creepy story set in Japan.

It opens on a police detective discovering that yet another child has gone missing.  That makes 40.  Luckily the press hasn’t gotten word yet so there’s no general sense of panic, just upset parents and frustrated police.

We cut to two kids in a playground.  A boy playing with a soccer and a girl reading.  It gets dark and the kids are still there.  When the boy kicks his soccer ball, another child, a boy in a mask, shows up and kicks it into the sandpit.  The boy yells at the strange kid and goes for his ball.  But when he steps in the sand, it turns to snakes and the boy runs off.  The girl gets angry at the kid in the mask.  She acts very mature with him and she goes for the ball.  But when she walks in the sand, arms reach out and grab her.  She grabs the ball and flees while the kid in the mask laughs.

The next day the kids return to the park to talk to the weirdo in the mask (in the daytime).  He says that nothing that happened was his fault–it was all the park.  The sand pit shows your greatest fear, the swings show you other people’s dreams and the statues of animals are the ears of the area…they hear everything.  Then he reveals that he was taken from this world a long time ago.  He was buried and never found and now he must haunt this area until he is freed.  His name is Toothless. (more…)

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