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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Michael Winter–”Billy Bennett” (The Walrus, July /August 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Death, Demons, Drinking, Drugs, Michael Winter, Said the Whale, The Walrus on June 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SAID THE WHALE-“Gentleman” (2009).

This song starts out simply enough, a folky bouncey song.  It’s an almost harmless song, almost easily forgotten.  And yet there’s something about it that raises it above songs that typically sound like this.  Enough, that is to make me want to listen to it again.

When I investigated the Said the Whale page on CBC Radio 3, I learned that they’re from Vancouver.  But more importantly I learned that they have a number of songs with great titles.

Delightfully, “Wanting like Varuna” lives up to its title.  It’s evidently on their 2009 Christmas EP.  It’s a wild rollicking song with an awesomely catchy chorus, “everybody wants: they want, they want, they want, they waaant.”  And about half way through, the song switches directions completely: a new time signature, from a slow pop song to a wild syncopated jazzy motif.

That song appears to be an anomaly as the third song I chose was their most popular on the station: “This City’s a Mess.”  It starts again as a slow folky number.  But it gradually gets louder and more chaotic.  It’s very catchy, and also more interesting than “Gentleman.”

I’m not sure I’d set out to listen to them, but I enjoyed hearing the songs.

[READ: June 15, 2010] “Billy Bennett”

These stories continue to get darker and darker.  What does this say about Canadian writers, or people’s opinions of their homeland?

Billy Bennett is a ne’er do well.  He has a criminal record, several smashed cars in his recent past and a drinking problem. (more…)

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Geek Monthly Magazine has folded

Posted in Geek Monthly, Kick-Ass, The Big Bang Theory on June 26, 2010| 4 Comments »

This magazine will self destruct

I recently realized that I had not received an issue of Geek Monthly for a while.  I assumed my subscription had lapsed (it does that).  But when I went to their web site,well, let’s just say don’t bother.

The folding has been confirmed by Blog Magazine.  And I’m embarrassed to see that they folded in January.  Really?  It took me 6 months to notice?  Well, even though I adored the magazine, I always took it to be more sporadic than its monthly title suggested. (more…)

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Stephen Marche–”A Few Acres of Snow” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Galaxie 500 (Canadian band), Short Story, Sloan, Stephen Marche, The Walrus on June 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GALAXIE 500-“Big Bang” (2006).

When I saw this band come up on CBC Radio 3, I thought, I didn’t know that Galaxie 500 were Canadian.  Well, they’re not.  At least the early 90’s band Galaxie 500 aren’t.  But THIS Galaxie 500 are from Montreal.

Now, I understand that there are a lot of bands with the same name.  It’s prettyinevitable as there’s only so many permutations of common words.  But “Galaxie 500?”  How could they not know there was another band with that name, especially as seminal an act as Galaxie 500 was?  So, what is their name?  A tribute?  I just don’t get it.

And so I was prepared to hate this band on principle. But then I heard the song.  It’s noisy, crazy, brash and ballsy.  It’s not exactly punk, it’s sort of a garage band with sound effects (in many places it sounds like the more raucous Sloan songs).

They also sing in French (which means they have more right to the spelling of Galaxie than the previous incarnation of the band).  Even though “Big Bang” comes from the top album Le Temps au Point Mort, I really enjoy this lower album cover more (and the songs from it (which you can hear on the band’s website) are also great.  As is the video (available there, too).

[READ: June 15, 2010] “A Few Acres of Snow”

This story starts out in reality and slowly shifts into a  more fanciful realm.  As it opens, a man arrives at a cabin. His intention is to write a book called One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Paintings To See Before You Die (I love the conceit of this, a sort of lazy man’s guide to touring the world).

He is isolated (which is what he wants), with no phone or contact with the outside word (or his family).  And then it starts snowing.  It snows harder and harder and plies up to his windows.  And then it goes higher still. (more…)

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Heather O Neill–“Riff-Raff” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Adventure, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Heather O'Neill, James Brown, Kid Koala, The Slew, The Walrus, Travel, Violence on June 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE SLEW “100%” (2009).

The Slew is the latest band created by DJ Kid Koala. Koala is a fantastic turntablist, and this group uses his scratching and sampling to excellent effect.  The lineup includes drums, bass, keyboards and six turntables!

It’s an insane hodge-podge of music.  And it’s very fun.  I’ve no idea how many samples are in here (James Brown seems to be all over the song) or even if any of the “riffs” in the song are original or from other records, but I enjoyed this very much.

I’ve enjoyed just about everything Kid Koala has done, and this is no exception.  I’m glad to see he’s still being so creative.

There are three five tracks available on CBC Radio 3.  And they’re all fun.

[READ: June 14, 2010] “Riff-Raff”

The protagonist of this story is a nineteen year old girl from Montreal.  She is in a horrible relationship with a boy named Leroy.  But near the end of her first year at McGill, she meets an American boy.  They hang out pretty steadily for a few weeks and, when school ends, he invites her to visit him in New Mexico.

There’s so many places this story could have gone.  I guessed a number of them, but I never would have guessed the direction it went. (more…)

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Zsuzsi Gartner–”Say the Names (after Al Purdy)” (The Walrus July/August 2010)

Posted in Books about music, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Funny (strange), Gord Downie, Gordon Lightfoot, Rush, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Young Rival, Zsuzsi Gartner on June 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YOUNG RIVAL-“Got What You Need” (2009).

I was only able to hear this song once.  It’s surprisingly on available on the Young Rival playlist on CBC Radio 3).  Young Rival play a kind of fast, noisy punk and yet the melodies underneath the noise are very poppy.

I also played the track “Authentic” which is similar in style.  I found both songs very catchy, but have to admit that even a few minutes later I couldn’t recall them at all.  I’d say it’s perfect  for radio airplay.

[READ: June 14, 2010] “Say the Names”

This, indeed, is the quintessential Canadian story.  Every line in the piece is taken from a Canadian song, book or movie.  (I only learned that from the introduction to all of the stories. There’s nothing in the story to reveal that.  Although given its fractured nature and the very obviousness of some of the titles, it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out.]

It’s kind of fun to play “spot the lyrics” or what have you.  I knew some, but far fewer than I would have guessed.

As for the story itself, well, it’s a little disjointed. (more…)

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Rawi Hage–“Waiting for God” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Huh?, Olympics, Ramones, Rawi Hage, Religion, Teenage Head, The Walrus on June 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TEENAGE HEAD-“Picture My Face” (1979).

Teenage Head is a punk band in the vein of The Ramones.  If I were younger I probably would have enjoyed this song more.  Not because it’s a punk song (and I’m old) but because it’s so derivative of just about every Ramones-inspired punk song I can think of.

There’s nothing wrong with being derivative per se.  Some of the best bands started out as derivative of something else.  And, frankly when you’re playing three chord punk it’s hard to reinvent the wheel.  But I think these kinds of bands are more for people who don’t have a history of music that is just like this, only better.

Heh, I just looked up this band and found out that this song is from 1979.  Whoops.  So it doesn’t have 30 years of punk holding it up, it still has a whole bunch of Ramones tracks to compare it to.  And, I stand by the suggestion that it’s fun punk, just not terribly original (although perhaps in 1979 it was more original).

[READ: June 14, 2010] “Waiting for God”

This story is set (sort of) at the Vancouver Olympics.  The narrator overhears two men speaking.  One of them is described as “Man in rags” the other is “Man with turnip.”  I understood that much.

I assume this is an homage to Waiting for Godot, an absurd story if ever there was.  And so, this story is also absurd.  Man in rags is discoursing with Man with turnip, but Man with turnip seems to be discoursing with someone else entirely. (more…)

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Lisa Moore–“Mask” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Lisa Moore, Neil Young, New Yorker, Summer, The Walrus, Zeus on June 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ZEUS-“Kindergarten” (2010).

Continuing my march through CBC Radio 3: The radio announcer dude said that this album might make the long list for the Polaris Prize.

Zeus is a Toronto based band that has worked as a backup band for one of the guys from Broken Social Scene.  This is an acoustic guitar/quietly distorted electric guitar track that’s poppy and fairly commercial.

I wasn’t all that inspired by it, until near the end where these wild backing vocals come in (and it gets something of an Arcade Fire vibe).  The second song on Zeus’ page, “Marching Through Your Head” is much more promising.  A catchy bouncy pop track with enough weirdness to keep it interesting.

They do a cover of Genesis’ “That’s All” which is described as “raucous.”  And if you click on the link you’d be hard pressed to disagree with that assessment.

[READ: June 14, 2010] “Mask”

Hot on the heels of the New Yorker Summer Fiction Issue, I received this issue of The Walrus with their own Summer Fiction section called “Canadian Studies.”  This issue features nine authors.  They were all asked to write “the most Canadian story they could think of.”  Now, I’ll start out by saying I’m not Canadian, and I don’t want to suggest that I know what the most Canadian story should be like. At the same time, I read The Walrus, I watch a lot of Canadian TV, so I have a slight grasp of the culture.  So while I know a Canadian story isn’t going to be about igloos and elk, I’m certain that some more subtle stories will be lost on me.

Lisa Moore’s story is first in the collection.  It is quite short.   And I didn’t think it was especially Canadian, although perhaps, given one of my Vancouver friends’ proclivities, it is. (more…)

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Seth–(The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Graphic Novel, Rah Rah, Seth, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus on June 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RAH RAH-“Arrows” (2010).

This issue of The Walrus features the Summer Reading Issue, which nine short fictions about Canada.  In concert with that I decided to listen to CBC Radio 3 online and review the first songs that I hear in their entirety.

The first band up is Rah Rah.  I’d never heard of them before.  This track arrows is from their just released 2nd CD.  They sound kind of like they are Regina, Sask’s answer to the Arcade Fire.  Rah Rah have 7 members in the band, and they play a sort of energetic poppy punk with lots of backing vocals. (Some of them are screamed, but from a long way away…a very cool effect). The song is catchy and is only punk in the tempo of the track (and the somewhat shambolic nature of the vocals–which is meant as a complement).

I liked the song enough that I had to listen to it again. The riff is super catchy, and the vocals complement it nicely. I liked it enough to check out more of their stuff.  “Fuck NAFTA” is a wonderful song that is surprisingly delicate and catchy for such a belligerent sentiment. Great stuff.

I suspect that I’ll be picking up their album, if I can find it for sale anywhere.

[READ: June 14, 2010] Walrus Summer Reading, featuring Seth

The Walrus’ July/August issue features a summer reading collection.  Nine authors all answering the call “to write the most Canadian story they could think of.”  Over the next week or so I’ll review them all.  But as an introduction, I wanted to mention the artwork of Seth.

Seth is rapidly becoming my favorite artist whom I know very little about.  (more…)

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20 Under 40 (New Yorker, June 14 & 21, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, C.E. Morgan, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, Chris Adrian, Daniel Alarcón, David Bezmozgis, Dinaw Mengestu, Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Safran Foer, Joshua Ferris, Karen Russell, Nell Freudenberger, New Yorker, Nicole Krauss, Philip Meyer, Rivka Galchen, Salvatore Scibona, Sarah Shun-lein Bynum, Short Story, Téa Obreht, Wells Tower, Yiyun Li, ZZ Packer on June 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This week’s New Yorker contains a list of the 20 authors under age 40 that they predict we’ll be talking about for years to come.  Their criteria:

did we want to choose the writers who had already proved themselves or those whom we expected to excel in years to come? A good list, we came to think, should include both.

They have published eight of these authors in the current issue and are publishing the remaining 12 over the next 12 weeks.  I’m particularly excited that they chose to do this now.  Since I’m currently involved in two big book projects, it’s convenient to be able to read a whole bunch of short stories to intersperse between big posts.

I’ve read half of the authors already (likely in The New Yorker and McSweeney‘s).  And have heard of many of the others.   The list is below: (more…)

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Dagoberto Gilb–“please, thank you” (Harper’s, June 2010)

Posted in Dagoberto Gilb, Huh?, Language, New Yorker, Racism, Short Story, The Beatles, Unreliable narrator on May 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES-Help! (1965).

At last, a Beatles album that I knew from start to finish.  And here it is, another soundtrack album.  This disc is the first that starts to really embrace the diversity that The Beatles were capable of.

The title track starts out with the fairly shocking screams of “Help!” but it settles nicely into a poppy Beatles track.  Of course, I’ve yet to see the film of Help, so I don’t know how these songs fit in the movie. But as with A Hard Day’s Night, the first half of the songs were in the movie and the second half were not.  And somehow I’m surprised that “Act Naturally” (one of their funnier songs, even if they didn’t write it themselves) was not in the film.

Their other cover, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” is probably my least favorite track (I just don’t like their cover choices).  But by then, the disc has well proven itself to be fantastic.

This also leads me to my first “huh?” moment with Beatles lyrics.  I have never understood “Ticket to Ride.” “She’s got a ticket to ride and she don’t care.”  Okay.  Why should I care, then?  I suppose the verses reveal more of the story, but from a chorus point of view, that’s a head scratcher.

To me, this is where The Beatles became THE BEATLES.

Oh, and did you know the semaphore doesn’t actually spell “HELP”?  They were going to do that, but the photographer didn’t like the way those semaphore letters looked.  So, he created this arrangement, which spells “NUJV.”

[READ: May 25, 2010] “please, thank you”

This story is written from the point of view of a stroke victim.  Mr Sanchez had a stroke and is hospitalized.  And we see him watching, unable to communicate, frustrated as people–nurses and others–hover around him, asking questions, turning on lights when he’s trying to sleep, and–the nerve–speaking to him in Spanish as if that was why he didn’t answer.

As the story progresses, we watch Mr Sanchez get stronger, go to therapy, feel better about himself and even, kind of, become friendly with the nurses and others who work in the hospital.

The story is basically that simple: regrowth after a stroke.  However, the writing style–the first person narrative–was absolutely compelling.  I enjoyed that the story was from his point of view, so we learned details as he felt they were worth revealing.  I enjoyed slowly learning more about his family.  And I really enjoyed learning why the story was written with no capital letters. (more…)

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