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Archive for the ‘The Believer’ Category

Charles Burns–Black Hole (2005)

Posted in Altoids, Bad Company, Black Mountain, Black Sabbath, Canadian Music, Charles Burns, Dungen, Fleetwood Mac, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Heavy Metal, Jefferson Airplane, Set at School, The Believer, YA Books, Yuck! on November 10, 2008| 1 Comment »

black-holeSOUNDTRACK: BLACK MOUNTAIN–In the Future (2008).

black-mountainAn ironically titled disc, surely.  Black Mountain is a Vancouver-based band that specializes in 70’s era psychedelia with a heavy dose of Black Sabbath.  Yet, like Dungen or other bands that tread this “revivalist” style, they don’t mimic the sound..they definitely sound contemporary, but the vibes of the 70s are constant.

Black Mountain features two singers: Stephen McBean and Amanda Webber.  Webber’s voice in particular harkens back to an amalgamation of Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, Nancy Wilson and the collective voice of Fleetwood Mac. McBean sounds like several singers of the era too.

“Stormy High” opens the album with the best Black Sabbath riff that Sabbath never wrote.  It sounds like something straight out of Sabotage.  “Angels” slows things down into a kind of Bad Company vibe, complete with trippy 70s keyboards in the middle of the song.  “Wucan” sounds more contemporary (the vocals in particular remind me of something, but I can’t place it) and “Stay Free” is a nice acoustic ballad.  “Queens Will Play” gives Webber the spotlight and the song in particular sounds like a wonderfully creepy take on Fleetwood Mac.

Although some of the songs are longish (6-8 minute), most of them are fairly brief.  Except, of course, for the 16 minute “Bright Lights”.  I think it’s fair to say that 8 minutes could be cut off of this song and it would still be great.  The middle riff-tastic part is really fantastic, but the opening and the noodley keyboard solo could easily be lopped off.

The disc also came with a bonus disc of 3 songs.  Each one adds to the mythos of this fascinating band.  I’m curious about their debut release as well.

[READ: November 8, 2008] Black Hole

My friend Andrew loaned me this book.  I had recently read an interview with Charles Burns in The Believer (and more abou that in a moment), which excerpted this book.  It looked really good, but then I promptly forgot about it.  And Andrew filled in the gap for me.

Charles Burns’ work appears in astonishingly diverse places.  I know him mostly because he is the cover heavy-metalartist for The Believer, (his interview in that magazine is pretty great) and his been since its inception. But I also know him from the early 80s when he was an artist with Heavy Metal magazine–when I did a search for this magazine, this was one of the results, and I distinctly remember it being in my magazine collection (gosh, some 25 years ago?). (more…)

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Nick Hornby–Slam (2007)

Posted in Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Nick Hornby, Pregnancy, R.E.M., Set at School, Skateboarding, The Believer, Tony Hawk, U2, YA Books on August 22, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REM-Accelerate (2008).

I was thinking about the parallel careers of R.E.M. and U2 the other day.  The both started at around the same time: R.E.M. on an indie label and U2 on a major.  R.E.M. was a college band loved by critics but not really a big seller.  U2 had some huge hits in their early days and slowly grew to be college darlings too.  Then in 1987, they both hit it big time: R.E.M.’s Document had “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and “One I Love” and of course, U2’s The Joshua Tree was the hugest album in the world.

R.E.M. and U2 became the hugest bands of the 1990s, selling millions of copies of records, becoming the biggest most famous people in the world (well, the singers did anyhow).  And then in the 2000’s, something happened.  U2 became even bigger and R.E.M. sort of drifted.  And their records got critically panned.  Even if they had a hit or two, overall the records received very bad reviews.

I didn’t even bother picking up R.E.M.’s previous record (and I guess no one else did either…its their ONLY record not to go at least gold (and that includes their early IRS label stuff).  So, who held out any hope for a new R.E.M. album?

Well, the good news came when I put on Accelerate.  After the initial guitar lick, the bass kicked in and Sarah said “Is that R.E.M.?” Now THAT’s a good sign.  And it is.  This album is the closest they’ve come to classic R.E.M. in a long time.  I’ve concluded that the defining characteristic of R.E.M. is not Michael Stipe, it is Mike Mills.  It’s his basslines and his glorious backing vocals that make a song stand up and say R.E.M.  And, they’re usually the most interesting parts of the songs.  (His “It’s time I had some time alone” is such a great counterpoint to “It’s the End of the World…” that the song wouldn’t be half as good without it.)  This is not to say that Mike Mills should be the lead singer or be placed more prominently, (he shouldn’t, he’s like a great supporting actor who would be too much if he was the lead), but his contributions make them even better.

And Accelerate is full of Mills, in ways that I feel have been absent in recent years.  His high bass notes, his great backing vocals, it’s like the R.E.M. of old.  Except that it isn’t.  The difference here is that Peter Buck has not returned to the reverby, picked-guitar of old.  He’s got more of the aggressive style of playing that he’s used on Monster and New Adventures… so what you get is a classic R.E.M. updated for the 21st century.

Another thing that is great about this record is its length.  At just over 30 minutes, it’s one of R.E.M.’s shortest releases.  And, after some of the bloated discs they put out lately, it’s a great change of pace–because really nothing overstays its welcome like too much R.E.M.  I mean Reveal has some good songs on it, but after six or seven tracks you can’t believe there are still six more to go.  But on Accelerate, none of the songs overstay its welcome; many of them could go on even longer (always the sign of a good song)–5 of them are under three minutes long!

But enough bashing R.E.M.  Accelerate is a short blast of rocking pop.  In fact, the first 3 songs are the best songs I’ve heard from R.E.M. in years. (more…)

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Paul Theroux–“Twenty-Two Stories” (Harper’s, April 2008)

Posted in Bathory, Black Sabbath, Digression, Eagles of Death Metal, Flash Fiction, Harper's, John Zorn, Led Zeppelin, Mastodon, Paul Theroux, Queens of the Stone Age, Short Story, The Believer, The Mars Volta, The Sword, Venom on July 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MASTODON-Blood Mountain (2006).

As I was in a metal/Black Sabbath kick, and Mastodon is always mentioned as a fantastic metal band, I figured I’d give them a try. As with The Sword, I saw no resemblance to Black Sabbath, and at first I was afraid it was just another sludgy death metal record.

[DIGRESSION]: I just read a great article in The Believer about the USBM (United States Black Metal) scene, and how it compares to the black metal in Norway and other European countries where the bands take the music seriously enough to burn churches and such. The article was really interesting. I knew some of the bands that he talked about, but the only ones I had heard were the “grandfathers” of the genre, like Venom and Bathory. Any of the new bands that he focused on, if I’d heard of them at all, I certainly hadn’t heard them. Regardless, it was a great read, and really got me hankering for a band like Mastodon, even though they’re not really in the genre at all.

Anyway, after two listens, I really got into the Mastodon album. I don’t know anything about their previous releases (except that they are heavy), but Blood Mountain is all over the map. It is a fascinating mix of thrash metal, hardcore, beautiful melodies, prog rock, and total chaos. In fact, the song “Bladecatcher,” is three and a half minutes of total insanity. I haven’t heard anything lie it since John Zorn’s Naked City. There’s a beautiful melody which progresses into a screaming guitar riff, which morphs into a headbanging thrash part which basically just unravels into a noisy spasm, wherein the high-pitched noises might be voices, or might by keyboards, or might just be the machine melting. (more…)

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Tom Perrotta–The Abstinence Teacher (2007)

Posted in Election, Guns n' Roses, Marriage Trouble, Nick Hornby, Pearl Jam, Politicians, Religion, Set at School, Set in New Jersey!, Singles, The Believer, Tom Perotta, Tom Petty on January 23, 2008| Leave a Comment »

abstinence.jpgSOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Live at the Gorge 05/06 (2007).

gorge.jpgPROLOGUE: When Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction came out, it galvanized the three friends I had with the most disparate musical tastes. I knew an indie rock guy, a metalhead, and an industrial/goth guy, and all three of them loved Appetite for Destruction. It was the only record that they all agreed on. I thought the same would happen with Pearl Jam’s Ten. But, the goth guy didn’t think it was dark and sleazy enough (like GnR) and the indie guy found it too commercial. And, actually, I only talk to one of the three of them these days anyhow.

I’m usually pretty cynical about celebrities. And, I know well enough that rock stars who say “We love you” and “Hello, Cleveland” are, at best, pandering to us. And yet, there are some who seem sincere enough to be believed.

Eddie Vedder is one of those sincere fellows. Ever since Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster, they seemed to be using their fame and influence for the good of the common man (or at least the common fan). Since then they have donated to various charities, thrown their support behind a (in hindsight, bad) politician (Ralph Nader, a guy whose idealism I supported, but whose reality was less than ideal), and tried their best to muckrake against the current administration. So, when he thanks the audience for letting him share music with them, when he says he’s genuinely glad to be there, and when he acts moved by the show, it all seems genuine. Again, maybe he’s a good actor (although I just watched Singles, for the first time in many years, and Eddie and some of the other PJ guys are in it, and he’s not exactly a scene stealer) but I believe him.

This is all a long set-up to review this recent live collection. It’s a collection of three shows: one set is 3 CDs the other two are 2 CDs each. The first show is from 2005 and the second and third are their tour-ending shows of 2006. All of these shows were performed at The Gorge amphitheater outside of Seattle. From the talking that Eddie does, the Gorge sounds like a great place to see a show, and it sounds like there is camping on the grounds. I only wish they included photos of the show, as I’d love to see it.

The 2005 show starts out with a disc of acoustic songs. The band appears to be in unplugged mode, chilling out before letting ‘er rip in the second half of the show. As with most of their shows, the set list is long and varied. Their shows often clock in at over two hours, with a break at about the midway point. There is a decent selection of tracks from throughout their career, as well as a couple of covers. The notable aspect of this show is that Tom Petty is performing on the following night, and Vedder vows to keep him awake all night. He gets the crowd to chant “Hello Tom, Come down, Tom,” which, sadly Tom never does. But Vedder does a rendition of “I Won’t Back Down.”

The two 2006 shows are back to back two nights in a row. It sounds as if people camped out overnight. And there is some good-natured banter between Vedder and the crowd. What is especially interesting to me about this two-night event is that they play 61 songs over the course of the two nights and the only ones they repeat are “Alive,” “Corduroy,” “Even Flow,” “Given to Fly,” “Life Wasted,” “Severed Hand,” “World Wide Suicide,” and “Yellow Ledbetter.” It’s quite apparent that the band knew there would be lots of folks for both shows and they designed a nicely diverse set list for both nights.

There’s also an interesting shout out to the previous year’s show. On the last night he mentions the Tom Petty taunting from last year, and a large portion of the audience begins the “Hello, Tom. Come down, Tom.” chant.

If you’ve been a big fan of Pearl Jam (as I am) you probably have this. But if you’ve been a mild fan of Pearl Jam over the years, this is a great set to get. You’ll get all of the hits, you’ll get a bunch of songs you’re unfamiliar with, and you’ll get a band playing at its peak. The live renditions of their songs are typically fast and furious. There’s also a lot of room for improvisation. And, it’s a chance to see the lighter side of such a “serious” band. A lot of people used to like Pearl Jam but feel their works since Ten have gone steadily downhill. I disagree, but I think that’s because listening to the live versions of the songs makes you appreciate them even more. So, check it out, it’s well worth it.

[READ: January 8, 2008] The Abstinence Teacher.

My first book finished in 2008! And, I can only hope that this is a good portent for future books this year. Wow, this book was great!

(more…)

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