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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Margaret Atwood–“Warlords” (The Walrus, March 2005)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Flash Fiction, Margaret Atwood, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Violence, War on March 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Music @Work (2000).

I tend to dismiss this Hip record for two reasons: the cover is pathetic and I don’t like the title.  Of course, the title track is catchy as anything, and, in reality, the whole record stands up quite well.

Music @Work rocks harder than Phantom Power did, although clearly The Hip are in a new mode of music making–no longer lengthy emotive tracks, now the make shorter, poppier tracks that explore what would have to be called their gentler side.  “Stay” is a very simple acoustic guitar track with maybe a bit of keyboards, but Downie’s voice is mixed so high it’s practically like a spoken word track (only catchy).

There’s a lot of songs that, while not brilliant, are catchy and very toe tapping like “The Completists.”  As I described their earlier stuff, this disc is above average rock, and this is a more adult-alternative rock than their earlier raw rock.    But there are a few louder rocking songs too: “Freak Turbulence” is a fast rocker  that comes in at under 3 minutes.  “Train Overnight” is a return to a somewhat rawer sound and “Wild Mountain Honey” has a great opening riff and some unexpected stops and starts.

Despite my negative thoughts about this record, listening to it again made me realize just how good it is.

[READ: February 15, 2011] “Warlords”

This story continues with The Walrus‘ flash fictions.  Again, I don’t see this story as being in the tradition of Flash Fiction so much as just being a very short story.  Of course, as with any good flash fiction, this story packs a ton of information in to a half a page.

The story is all about Warlords.  Duh.  But rather than looking at the warlord himself, Atwood looks at the people who live under a warlord.  Those who can work for him or those (women, bankers, writers) who will never be able to.  She then peels away the layers of the warlord’s minions until we reach the inner circle.

And what happens to the inner circle when a warlord is deposed?  Is that guy sweeping garbage a former member? (more…)

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William T. Vollmann–“Homeless in Sacramento” (Harper’s, March 2011)

Posted in Essays, Harper's, Homelessness, Sharon Van Etten, William T. Vollmann on March 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SHARON VAN ETTEN-Epic (2010).

Sharon Van Etten caught my attention with the song “Don’t Do It,” which I love.  The rest of this album doesn’t have the intensity of that song, but rather, it gets under your skin with some great songs and interesting and subtle textures.

There’s only seven songs (running time just over 30 minutes), so “epic” is kind of a joke.  But she packs a lot into these songs.  The opening two songs are about 3 minutes each, and they are great alt-folk songs, especially “Peace Signs.”  They are sparse but effective.

“Save Yourself” adds more instrumentation, including a slide guitar.  But it’s the harmonies that really make the song great.  “DsharpG” is a cooly brooding song that never wears out its 6 minute length.   And “One Day” also has major potential to be a hit.

Of course for me the highlight is still “Don’t Do It” which gives me goosebumps with each listen.

What’s really impressive about the disc is how on the surface it seems like a simple folk album and yet every song has subtly different sounds and textures to makes this a really complex recording.

[READ: February 16, 2011] “Homeless in Sacramento”

Vollmann wrote a lengthy piece about death in the November issue of Harper’s.  Now, four months later, he’s back with an 18 page (!) article about homelessness. Now, normally I wouldn’t read an article about homelessness, because, well, because its a major bummer, but also because there isn’t anything that I can do about it and it doesn’t seem like there’s much new to say about it.

But I decided recently that I was going to try to read Vollmann whenever I encountered him, since it was unlikely that I’d ever go back and read his vast output.  So, here I am.

Vollmann does, in fact, manage to say something new about the homeless.  He begins by explaining that the house he bought had a vacant lot next to it.  And he has been tacitly encouraging homeless people to sleep there when they need to.  He has learned to like many of them and he finds that the frequent users have become “friends”–as much as you can in that situation. (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–“Backbone” (New Yorker, March 7, 2011)

Posted in Boredom, Damon Albarn, David Foster Wallace, Funny (strange), Low, New Yorker, Yuck! on March 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOW-“Try to Sleep” (2011)

This was NPR’s song of the day for March 2.  I don’t really know Low all that well.  I know they play very slow music (which I’m typically not a fan of –slow music, not Low specifically).

I think I have been kind of frightened off of Low as being so soporific that it would make me sad.  But this song is a delight.  It’s not particularly slow and there’s a very cheery bell motif that pecks out the gorgeous melody.

The vocals are very nice harmony between the male voice (which reminds me a bit of lower register Damon Albarn–in fact the song gives of kind of an Albarn vibe) and the high-register female vocals.   It’s a really beautiful song.

In fact, this song has really changed my opinion of Low, and I may have to check out more by them.

[READ: March 2, 2011] “Backbone”

This is an excerpt from DFW’s forthcoming posthumous novel The Pale King.  Wallaceheads have already heard and/or read a variant on this piece which DFW read aloud at the Lannan Foundation.

I was reluctant to read this piece for a couple of reasons:  The Pale King is coming out in a little over a month.  I have read/listened to this particular piece not terribly long ago.  And, I didn’t love it all that much.

Well, it turns out that much like any draft or work in progress, with a bit of tweaking and editing, the passage can be made very strong and quite enjoyable.  This finalized version also intercuts a lot more information about other characters than was in the original version, making it a far more compelling piece of fiction in toto. (more…)

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Classic Albums: Rush–2112 • Moving Pictures (2010)

Posted in Airlines, Ayn Rand, Barenaked Ladies, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Cars, Concept Albums, Dreams, Drugs, Foo Fighters, Funny (ha ha), Rolling Stone, Rush, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Samuel R. Delaney, Travel on February 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: January 3, 2011] Classic Albums: Rush–2112 • Moving Pictures

Sarah got me this disc for Christmas.  Thank you, Sarah!

This DVD is from the Classic Albums series.  The series is shown on VH1 in the states and BBC (and other places) elsewhere).  There’s been about 35 episodes of the series, with Rush being one of the few bands to have two albums for the show (which is an honor, but which also cuts down on the content for each album by half…boo!).

The show is an hour, and there’s almost an hour of bonus footage on the DVD  (which die-hard fans will enjoy more than the actual show).

The main show itself looks at the creation of these two classic albums.  There are interviews with the band members as well as many people associated with the band (and a couple completely random musicians).  We get their manager Ray Daniels and the producer for these albums Terry Brown (his segments are my favorite because he gets behind the mixing console and plays around with the songs).  We also get Cliff Burnstein (the guy with the crazy hair) who was instrumental in getting Rush publicity. (more…)

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Jonathan Goldstein–“Samson and Delilah” (The Walrus, October 2004)

Posted in Anachronisms, Bible, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Death, Fables, Funny (ha ha), Jonathan Goldstein, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Violence on February 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TRAGICALLY HIP-Phantom Power (1998).

The last couple of Hip albums were pretty intense, and it seems like the live album seems to cured them of their need for raucousness. And so Phantom Power follows with a much less intense collection of songs.

The first three songs are somewhat loud and rocking, but they lack any of the twists and turns that the previous records had.  Rather they are pretty straightforward rock tracks.  “Poets” is catchy and fun to sing along to, with a good guitar intro.  And “Something On” is similarly rocking.  But after that the disc changes.

There’s a lot more folk and acoustic guitars here.  It’s an unexpected direction, especially when you figure that their first albums were so raw sounding.  In some ways that makes the album disappointing.

But what they have removed in intensity they have made up in subtler ways.  Take the cool harmonies on “Membership.”  I’ve always found their backing harmonies to be slightly off, usually in an interesting way, but the harmonies are perfected on this song, where they are more of an echo of Downie’s vocals which add a new sound to the song.

There’s a really fun rocking song about hockey (among other things) in “Fireworks,” although for all of its speed, it’s a very poppy track–there’s very little bass evident on the track (or most of the disc).  And it speeds along just as catchy as can be.

I have to wonder if “Vapour Trails” had any influence on Rush’s decision to name their comeback album Vapor Trails.  Probably not, but it’s fun to think about (and it is probably the heaviest song on this disc).

But “Bobcaygeon” is the obvious highlight (although it’s even better live)–the bridge into the chorus is sublime.  It’s one of their more mellow tracks, but there are cool twists and turns throughout.  Second is “Escape is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man” an uptempo but by no means rocking number that propels itself along on a simple riff and engaging lyrics.

I tend to forget about this album because it is not so intense, but listening to it again, I’m reminded not to overlook this album, even if it’s not a hit-worthy as some of their others.

[READ: February 8, 2011] “Samson and Delilah”

This story is a retelling of the Samson and Delilah biblical story.  I knew the original story pretty well, but I didn’t know that Samson was blinded (which he was).

This retelling is more contemporary (in langauge) and it is somewhat funnier (although it’s obviously not a funny story in the end).  Goldstein has added aspects that make it funny: anachronisms and such.  But he also imbues Samson (and Samson’s father) with characteristics that aren’t in the original. (more…)

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Alice Munro–“Axis” (New Yorker, January 31, 2011 )

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, New Yorker, Pregnancy, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, Virginity (Loss of), tagged on February 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Live at the Bathurst Street Theatre, Toronto ON, April 5, 1997 (1997).

This is the second of two nights that The Rheostatics played at The Bathurst Theatre.  It is also available for free on their live site.

This concert also features a lot on their Double Live album.  There are seven tracks that come from this show: “Feed Yourself,” “Shaved Head,” “Dead is the Drunkest You Can Get,” “Bees,” “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” “Stolen Car,” and “Good Canadian.”

This recording is a lot better (sound wise) that the previous night’s and the band seems a lot more “on.”  And, the band interacts with the audience a lot.  “Feed Yourself” is great and “Mid-Winter” is stunning (both understandably picked for the live album).  There’s an amusing “drum solo” during “Legal Age Life.”  It’s a great set.

Some interesting notes: this is the first time the band has played “Stolen Car” live (and it hadn’t been released yet). It’s the same version as on Double Live, but here you hear a lengthy pause in which “Martin left the lyrics in his bag” and Dave has to entertain the crowd.  “Good Canadian” also on Double Live, was a spontaneous little ditty that Martin made up.  Also, during the show, they encourage people to listen to Nightlines, because it is danger of losing its funding.  Fans will know that Nightlines went off the air not too long after that and the Rheos played the final show (and released an album of it).

Of the two shows, this one is definitely preferred.  And even if you have Double Live, it’s worth downloading this entire show..

[READ: February 7, 2010] “Axis”

Alice Munro has another great, subtle story here.  This one mixes things up a little bit in the storytelling, which I found intriguing and more than a little fun.

It opens with Grace and Avie, two farmers daughters who are at university.  They are studying intellectual subjects, with the hope (let’s be honest) of finding intellectual boys to marry eventually.  They are obviously not sorority material (just look at their coats), but they don’t really want boys who like sorority girls anyhow.

After we follow them for a bit, we narrow the focus to just Grace.  Her boyfriend Hugo is on his way to visit her at the farm (and to meet her parents).  He does not make a very good impression, and he is not to fond of them either.  And, worse yet, they won’t leave them any time to be alone.  Until Grace hatches a plan for them to be alone, which, if you’ve read any fiction, you know won’t turn out too well (but that’s not the climax of the story, don’t worry). (more…)

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Corey Frost–“Summer Plum (Winter Version)” (The Walrus July/August 2004)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Corey Frost, Flash Fiction, Huh?, Postmoderism, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus on February 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Live Between Us (1996).

This show was recorded live November 23, 1996 in Detroit.  It’s kind of odd that these Canadian favorites would record their live album in the U.S.

In the intro to the album Downie thanks The Rheostatics for opening (you can hear the Rheos’ sets from other days on the tour, but not this night, at their Live site).

This concert is a great, strong set of songs, and an excellent way to experience the Hip live.  Downie is practically a loose cannon with his extemporaneous ramblings…he’s funy, weird and clever and he’s a charismatic front man.  And the band sounds great (no overdubs on the disc, and none are needed).

The set list is a wonderful selection of tracks from all five of their albums (none from the first EP).  Two each from the first two, Three from Fully & Day and the first four tracks from Trouble (which is probably why I like the beginning of Trouble so much more than the end).

True, any fan will complain about the lack of certain songs on here (no “38 Years Old,” no “Little Bones” no “Unplucked Gems” no “Hundred Meridian” or “Fifty Mission Cap” no “Fire in the Hole”–wow, that’s a lot of great songs to leave off, shows just how many great songs the Hip have).  But with only 14 songs to choose from, they made a great set list and you don’t even miss those songs until you realize they’re not there.

The audience is very responsive and the band seems to feed off it.  If you’re new to the Hip, this is a great place to start.  It’s sort of like a greatest hits of the early years, but it will leave you wanting more too.

[READ: January 26, 2011] “Summer Plum (Winter Version)”

This was the final of seven stories in The Walrus‘ Summer Reading Issue 2004, and it was the final flash fiction.  This story is a bizarre whirlwind from the get go.

It opens with a belief that shredded coconut can make you fly and ends with a paean to a plum.  In between Keds are glued to a driveway and there’s a lot of repetition of “plump plum plump plum.”

I admit I have no idea what this story was supposed to be saying.  It seemed more like a sort of evocative poem, relishing the textures of life.  And yet there’s that whole thing about being glued to the driveway which kind of throws a wrench into that interpretation. (more…)

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Damon Galgut–“An African Sermon” (The Walrus, July/August 2004)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Damon Galgut, Death, Flash Fiction, Morality, Racism, Religion, Short Story, The Kids in the Hall, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Violence, War on February 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »


SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Trouble at the Henhouse (1996).

After the major high of Day for Night, The Hip followed it up with Trouble in the Henhouse.

It opens with “Giftshop” which sounds like it could have come straight from Day for Night.  “Springtime in Vienna” is a marvel.  The opening is quiet with Downie’s almost whispered voice telling a compelling story until it blasts out with a wonderful chorus.  “Ahead by a Century” opens with a catchy acoustic intro.  Again, the harmony vocals add wonders to the verses.

But overall the album feels like the Hip exhausted their angst and anger on Day for Night and have chosen to go with a more mellow sound here.  It almost seems like Day for Lite.  Songs like the final track, “Put It Off” dabble with intensity, but have more atmospherics than powerful guitar and verses.  It’s like the come down after a big party.

The most peculiar song on the disc is “Butts Wigglin” which was used on the Kids in the Hall Brain Candy soundtrack.  It doesn’t really fit on this disc, but it’s such a great song that I understand them not leaving it off.  It’s very silly and musically groovy with  almost no guitars and all keyboards.  It’s a goof, but nice to see the lighter side of the band.

I find Trouble to be really enjoyable in itself, but it kind of pales in comparison to the previous two.  Nevertheless, these three albums are a wonderful trio of discs released by a great Canadian band.

They celebrated this era of the band with a live album the following year.

[READ: January 26, 2011] “An African Sermon”

Of all the stories in this Summer Reading Issue of The Walrus, this one was the most powerful.  (It wasn’t my favorite because it was rather distrubing) but it had a strong impact on me.

The bulk of the stoiry is set on a train in Africa.  Two white men introduce themselves to each other; the older one confides that he hopes no Blacks come into thier car.  Of course a Black does come into thier car and the younger man, who is a preacher, tries to embarass the racist man but immediately shaking the black man’s hand.

The black man is hostile to the young man’s advances, more or less shutting him out entirely.  Indeed, when the young man follows him to the dining car to talk (he is genuinely sympathetic to people, but he’s also very curious about the man and wants to pry a bit) the black man (whose name is Leonard Sagatwa) listens briefly and then, claiming a headche, returns to the cabin  room and goes to sleep.

During the night, the train stops because of a malfunction and it will be some time before it is fixed.  The priest goes out to the landing to find something to occupy himself when Leonard comes down.  He says to the priest that he wants to tell his story.  He wants to tell it once, to a complete stranger so that he can unburden himself and then be done with it.  The priest is tickled to hear the story.

But the story is one of Rwandan genocide:  Hutu vs Tutsi, brothers who turn  against each other; Leonard’s brother turning on him and his family.  Killing family members slowly, cruelly, calling them cockroaches.  It is harrowing and the priest is taken aback by the brutality.

But at the end of the story, the priest is resilient and insists that Leonard can forgive his brother.  Never, says Leonard.

The priest is able to use this story for his very first sermon in Africa.  He pretties up the story somewhat and makes it moral, and it works.  The new congregation accepts him and he feels welcomed to Africa.

When, several months later, the priest sees Leonard again, everything has been turned upside down.  And I’ll just leave it at that.

It is a great story.  Wonderfully powerful.

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Edward Riche–“Questions Surrounding My Disappearance” (The Walrus, July/August 2004)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Edward Riche, Flash Fiction, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, The Tea Party, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus on February 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Day for Night (1995).

This is the first Hip album that I bought.  In fact, I first learned about them when I saw a video for “Nautical Disaster” on Much Music when I lived in Boston.  That was my first exposure to The Hip–and to another cool Canadian band, The Tea Party–and I’ve loved Much Music ever since (even if I can’t get it anymore).

For me, Day for Night takes the greatness of Fully Completely and ramps it up a notch further.  In part this is probably because the album is almost 60 minutes long instead of just 40, but I think the intensity that The Hip found on Fully is fully matured all over this disc.

The album opens with a great bass intro on “Grace, Too.”  And with Downie’s intensity in the breakdown it’s an amazing opening to a great disc.  “Yawning or Snarling” has even more intensity, with practically snarled verses and a strangely catchy chorus (and great lyrics).  It’s followed by the blistering rocker “Fire in the Hole” which really captures the anger that seems to be brooding under the surface of this disc.

“Thugs” follows, it’s a catchy, quiet song; I love the chorus: “I do the rolling, you do the detail.”  ANd there’s another great opening , with an unexpected twist for “Inevitability of Death.”  Which is followed by “Scared,” another mellow, minor-chord song which is a great lead in to “An Itch an Hour.”

Normally a disc this long can’t hold the listener’s attention for the whole disc.  But the penultimate song, “Titanic Terrarium,” an atmospheric brooding song with a quirky verse melody draws you in to its claustrophobic subject of life in a biosphere.

The Hip had a minor buzz in America with this album and even played Saturday Night Live, where they shaved a minute off of Nautical Disaster, but keep all five minutes of “Grace Too.” Watch it here:

This is a great album, perennially one of my favorites.  It’s only a shame that it never broke through to U.S. audiences, leaving The Hip as one of Canada’s biggest cult bands (in the U.S.).

[READ: January 26, 2010] “Questions Surrounding My Disappearance”

This was the third flash fiction in this 2004 Summer Reading issue of The Walrus.  And of the four, this was my favorite.  It was weird and kind of silly but underneath it had some real angst.

The story opens with a kind of generic dismissal of the Canadian Film and Television Industry (“who should give a shit who wrote or lit or recorded the sound for a television show or a movie….”).  But nevertheless, he’s not too dismissive of it (“There have been…awards”).

As with the other flash fictions in the issue, the set-up is quite long, but unlike the other stories this sort of casual tone continues throughout the story.  And we learn a bit more and more about the narrator and about his opinions of the CBC.

The title obviously comes into play, as we soon learn that when he was, in fact, missing, very few people seemed to be up in arms about it (including his family).  Perhaps the most surprising aspect being that during the time he was reported missing he was interviewed on the radio (true, it was a program dedicated to the arts, but still). (more…)

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Banana Yoshimoto–“Platanus” (The Walrus, July/August 2004)

Posted in Banana Yoshimoto, Canadian Music, Michael Emmerich, Romance, Sarah Polley, Short Story, The Sweet Hereafter, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Translation, Travel on February 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Fully Completely (1993).

Even thought Road Apples was good, Fully Completely is amazing.  The band has traded in some rawness for textural complexity and yet they haven’t lost the rocking groove of their earlier sound.

This album has some of my favorite Hip songs: “Courage” (the Sarah Polley cover in The Sweet Hereafter is also beautiful in a very different way). “At the Hundredth Meridian” (a title which should tell you that the lyrics of the song aren’t going to be typical rock fodder), and “Fifty Mission Cap.”   “Fifty Mission Cap” is about the fascinating story of Toronto Maple Leaf Bill Barilko, another atypical lyrical concept and an amazing song from start to finish (although, honestly the opening chords make it sound like it’s going to be a lame 80′ metal anthem…maturation as a band made this song brilliant instead).

The duel guitar opening of “Pigeon Camera” is also gorgeous, as are the wonderful vocal harmonies on the bridge.  And the rawness isn’t all gone either.  “Locked in the Trunk of a Car” rocks as hard as anything on Road Apples.  There’s also a mellow folk song in “Wheat Kings.”  It slows the disc down a bit after the intensity of the amazing “Fully Completely,” and “Fifty Mission Cap,” but the last two songs are a string ending to an already great disc.

Even though I think that Fully is an amazing record, I think that mostly it’s preparation for the even more amazing Day for Night which came out two years later.

[READ: January 26, 2011] “Platanus”

Anyone playing along might have noticed that February is Canada month here.  All of the authors this month have been from the Great White North.  This story breaks with that, but I feel that it still counts because it came in a Canadian magazine.  But Banana Yoshimoto is Japanese (no, really!).  With a name like “Banana” (which is a pseudonym), it’s hard to forget this author.  I even bought Kitchen (her first translated book) when it came out (although I haven’t read it yet).

This story is translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich.  It is set in Mexico, specifically in the village of Mendoza.  The narrator (aged 35) and her husband (aged 60) enjoy escaping Tokyo and spending time in this sleepy village.

The story provides some interesting familial background of the two characters (both of their families disapprove of the marriage) and the kinds of things that they get up to in Mendoza.  And really that’s all there is to the story. (more…)

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