SOUNDTRACK: KISS “God of Thunder” (country version from MTV Unplugged) (1996).
In my post about Kiss Unplugged, I mentioned that there are videos online of the entire uncut show. There’s also a video of this–a country version of “God of Thunder”
Three things: One, it’s weird how hokey Gene gets at the end–for a demon he’s quite goofy. And two, it’s amazing how good this song sounds when turned into a country song. On the Kiss covers album Kiss My Ass, I was surprised how much I liked Garth Brook’s rendition of “Hard Luck Woman and now I see that maybe all great Kiss songs are just country songs at heart. And three, it absolutely does not sound like Gene singing–he does an impressive falsetto.
[READ: September 18, 2013] “Victory”
This is a simple story of infidelity. The fact that the characters have such similar names bothered me a bit, but it wasn’t terribly confusing. Lin Hong (the woman) finds a key which her husband Li Hanlin has secreted away in a drawer. He is away on business, and she tries to figure out what the key is for. Eventually she realizes it is for a drawer at his office. I actually would have preferred that the story was mostly about the searching, which I think would have been more interesting.
When she opens the drawer she finds evidence of his infidelity—photo and letters from a woman named Qingqing. One of the letters includes a phone number. So she calls it. She tells Qingqing to leave her husband alone and that she has ruined their marriage. But Qingqing says that they wouldn’t have gone any further anyway and that she’s not really interested in Lin.
Li calls some of his friends but they deny any awareness of an affair. Finally, she calls one of her fiends to complain and the friend gives some advice about how she should behave when Lin gets back. (more…)
After Angel Rat, original bassist Blacky left the band. That’s never a good sign. After the tour for this album, original singer Snake left the band. That’s an even worse sign. I still can’t quite figure out exactly why Snake left (personal problems) but he went on to form the band Union Made. For a very detailed history of the band, check out this very cool timeline at Voivod dot net.
The Outer Limits got a pretty big release. I have an original copy that came with 3D glasses and all of the illustrations in 3D. But I was a little disappointed in Angel Rat and I don’t think I gave The Outer Limits much of a chance. It was no Nothingface. But the band was always morphing. Since Angel Rat went very commercial, this album brought things back into the prog realm (with a 17(!) minute song) but also had a lot of commercial songs.
The album opens with “Fix My Heart” which starts out much heavier than anything on Angel Rat. It’s also got some metal guitar pyrotechnics (squeaks and harmonics). Snake’s voice isn’t quite as pretty as on Angel Rat either—he growls a bit, but maintains his nicer voice overall. Nevertheless, “Fix My Heart” is a pretty commercial enterprise (as the title might even suggest). There’s some good “spacey” guitars sounds which bode will for the sci-fi angle of the album (and there’s some cool effects that reward headphone use). “Moonbeam Rider” starts with a very classic rock sounding riff and then morphs into a kind of pretty, mellow verse. But the interstitial guitar is all speed. It’s a nice mix of fast and slow. This song features some interesting bass work—nothing fancy but for the slow parts it is actually keeping the beat instead of the drums. The bassist was a studio musician for this album. There’s also what sounds like a bong during the pre-guitar solo section (the solo is fairly traditional).
“Le Pont Noir” is a mellow, slow guitar song with a very cool delay effect and Snake’s whispered vocals. The bridge gets heavy with a wonderfully weird Piggy guitar riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Then the band’s second Pink Floyd cover appears. This time it’s the even more obscure “The Nile Song.” They have rather heavied this one up with crunching guitars and Snake’s distance screaming filling in the void (although in fairness the original vocals are also screamed). It’s not as dynamic or exciting as “Astronomy Domine,” but it’s still a cool cover. “The Lost Machine” starts off heavy with Away’s double cymbal work (a noisy splash and a fast ride cymbal). Then Piggy’s guitars have a slight delay on them which makes the opening chords sound especially odd. The bridge is a place for Piggy to show off some more weird spacey chords and some very cool guitar riffs. There’s even a spoken word narrator in the middle of the song that explains the “mission” “Time Warp” opens with a very bright and up beat sounding verse. But it quickly disintegrates into (intentional) musical chaos as the narrator gets lost in space.
This all leads up to the 17 minute “Jack Luminous.” If anyone doubted their prog rock leanings, this should dispel that immediate. 17 minutes, multiple parts, a sci-fi epic, it is prog (but heavy prog) at its finest. There are some incredibly catchy parts as well as some less catchy parts, and sections seem to change every two minutes or so. The slow down at 10 minutes is very cool—different guitar effects and the suspenseful bass line. There’s repeated sections as well, which means if you like some guitar line (the spacey part near the end) it comes back! It’s not quite as dynamic as say 2112, but it’s a very successful sci-fi epic.
“Wrong Way Street” returns to the normal and more conventional. The bass that opens the song sounds great and the chords are fairly conventional–the chorus is even really catchy. “We Are Not Alone” is a break-neck metal song, The drums are super fast, the guitars are relentless and the chorus even has an echoed “Hey!” that gets you to sing along. The song also features a cool slow, almost jazzy bass and drum section that lets Piggy throw some soloing in before returning to the fast paced verses.
There’s lots of theories about what happened to Voivod after this album. The success they had achieved earlier was now gone and the band seemed like they couldn’t decide to be metal or prog or is they should go for more pop music. The problem of course is that they were too weird to get mainstream acceptance anyway.
So Snake left and then there were only two original members. The next step would be a drastic one.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #7
This issue seemed to come hot on the heels of #6. But I enjoyed it just as much. A few notes: no Jeremy Lin in this issue. Lots of LeBron James, three articles about soccer! And a few pop culture moments that I had forgotten about.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-“The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament JUST. GOT. REAL.
Leonard Cooper didn’t know the final Jeopardy answer but he still won and he made a hilarious joke at the end (in cartoon format);
BILL SIMMONS-“Daring to Ask the PED Question”
Simmons talks a lot about PED’s in this forum. Of course, to me PED is my initials. For him (and sports fans) it is performance enhancing drugs. He asks why sports doesn’t do more about it. There are so many people who do it that every time we see someone who might be doing it or who suddenly has a good season, we assume they are doing them too. It would be a service to the players and the fans to have rigorous testing or none at all.
CHRIS RYAN AND ROBERT MAYS-“The NFL Coaches Family Portrait By the Numbers”
A silly analysis of a photo of NFL coaches.
WESLEY MORRIS-“Jodie Foster’s Big Night”
What exactly did Jodie Foster say at the Golden Globes? (This was in January and everybody talked about it and now it’s September and I’ve completely forgotten about it—funny ephemera of pop culture).
JONATHAN ABRAMS-“Out of Africa”
A serious look at trying to bring basketball to Africa. How the culture and language problems make it very difficult to establish any real cohesion in the diverse country. But there are a few examples of boys coming from Africa and benefiting from host families and then heading back to help those who love basketball back home. The main focus is on a 15-year-old Alexis Wangmene who came to the States (and left his family!) to try to gain an education and basketball skills. It’s a heartfelt story.
MOLLY LAMBERT-“Modern Love”
About the show Catfish which just goes to show we can sink even lower as a culture.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN-“Mental Health Protocol”
About Royce White again. Last time there was a lengthy look at him. Now we get to hear that he thinks that everyone has some kind of mental health issue.
ANDY GREENWALD-“Eat Bray Love”
How cooking shows have gone from educational to crazy and annoying. He dislikes Top Chef and the new Anthony Bourdain show The Taste (which he says is awful) but he likes a decent show called Chopped.
ZACH LOWE-“The Fragile Science of Basketball Chemistry”
Sure the Heat were great this year, but it’s the way they evolved as a team, creating chemistry, that is so impressive.
RAFE BARTHOLOMEW-“The Pariah”
Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in a disputed judges call. Instead of rising to fame, he has been avoided like the plague.
BILL SIMMONS-“The All-Manti Te’o Mailbag
Remember that crazy story about the football guy with the dead girlfriend who turned out to be fake? I never really understood the story and while they spend a lot of time talking and theorizing about it I still don’t get it. Did they ever find out the truth about it?
CHRIS BROWN-“Speak My Language”
When you play for the Patriots, you learn their way of doing things—it is simple and efficient, a streamlined version of what other coaches try to do.
KIRK GOLDSBERRY-“The Evolution of LeBron James”
Using diagrams, we see how much of a different player James is in just the last few years with The Heat. This article has made me want to watch James in a game while he is at his peak. So, Heat vs Bulls at the end of October, you’re on my schedule.
SEAN McINDOE-“The Non-Hater’s Guide to the NHL”
Even people who hate everyone in the NHL (which is everyone) can agree that there are some players who are universally admired: Martin Brodeur, Pavel Satsyuk. Teemu Selanne, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Elias (Devils get two!), Ryan Smyth, Steve Sullivan, Saku Koivu, Henrik Lundqvist.
ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“God Needs a Hobby”
A look at Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown. Harmon seems like he might be a crazy alcoholic, but he’s also pretty darn funny.
MARK TITUS-“Duke’s Ignominious Son”
Everybody hates Christian Laettner, but that’s only because he’s pretty and he made The Shot
MARK LISANTI-“Three Days in Austin”
Dealing with the craziness of the South by Southwest film festival. Sounds awful.
HUA HSU-“The Alien Has Landed”
Soccer legend Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford
BILL SIMMONS-“The Greatest Action Franchise That Ever Was”
Live blogging the Fast and Furious 6 trailer. I admit I may have to see these films after reading this.
ZACH LOWE-“Lights, Camera, Revolution”
There’s some kind of new technology that will change the NBA forever. I pretty much don’t care.
TESS LYNCH-“Nostalgia Bites”
Watching old Real World episodes shows how much things have changed in reality TV, but also how much certain behaviors are not new.
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“Maradona, Then and Now”
Maradona was an amazing kid—at 15 he was remarkable at his ball control. Now at 52 he’s a crazy loon. What exactly happened in between?
ANDY GREENWALD-“From Big to Small, From Movie to TV”
Why not make Men in Black into a TV show—with some other film recommendations.
AMOS BARSHAD-“How Soccer Explains Israel”
I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found it very interesting. An Israeli soccer team has signed two Muslim players and it has caused incredible animosity and even arson. How this look at a team is like a microcosm of the whole Israeli situation.
LOUISA THOMS-“Back to School”
Missy Franklin won a ton of medals in the Olympics. And then she went back to high school. What’s it like to be on her team at Regis Jesuit?
WESLEY MORRIS-“Run, Frank, Run”
Frank Ocean apparently wasn’t as huge as I thought he was.
MALCOLM GLADWELL AND CHUCK KLOSTERMAN–“The Lies He Told”
More about Manti Te’o. This discussion was a bit more helpful about what happened and how crazy it is.
CHRIS RYAN AND REMBERT BROWNE-“A List of Possible Reasons for Rob Gronkowski’s Arm Infection”
Hypothetical humor.
JORDAN CONN-“The Invisible Man”
Marc Gasol is extremely respected by scouts and agents, but the fans all think of him as Pau Gasol’s chubby little brother.
REMBERT BROWNE-“French Quarter Lessons”
While in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Browne decided to go to a bunch of used bookstores. This is very funny and enjoyable.
JAY CASPIAN KANG-“Fiercely Disputed”
Mike Tyson’s one man show is weird and strangely affecting.
KATIE BAKER-“Do Svidanya to All That”
Several NHL players went to Russia’s KHL during the lockout. And some don’t want to come back.
CHRIS RYAN-“The All-Star Circus”
NBA All-Star weekend is a crazy circus (and sounds worse than the above SXSW festival).
CHUCK KLOSETRMAN AND ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“The Nobituary”
There was a serious rumor that David Bowie was on death’s door. Klosterman and Pappademas imagine writing his obituary.
DAVID SHOEMAKER-“Glenn Beck vs. WWE”
The WWE has always had racists as part of the act. What happens when some goons start acting like the Tea Party?
DAVID JACOBY-“The Pure Heart Meets The Bachelor”
Jacoby’s grandmother watches The Bachelor and he feels badly for her.
STEVEN HYDEN-“Is This It?”
The Strokes’ fifth album had just come out [really?]. It could be their last, but Hyden thinks their last two have been quite good.
BILL SIMMONS-“The Heat in Hindsight”
The Miami Heat came close to breaking the longest winning streak in the NBA. Simmons looks at the fallout and who “wins” and “loses” in the effort.
CHARLES P. PIERCE-“Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”
I had no idea that Charlie Pierce was a Canadiens fan!
KATIE BAKER-“The Ethics of a Family Plan”
Is it ethical to pretend that you are married to your roommate to get a family discount a ta gym? Hell yes.
EMILY YOSHIDA-“A Dark Force”
J.J. Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars films. Why, when sci-fi is so multifaceted and so different is everything coming down to J.J. Abrams?
SEAN FENNESSEY-“The Case Against Justin Timberlake”
Timberlakes’s previous album was amazing. Then he took years off to make (bad) film and (good) TV. His star would only continue to rise if he stopped making music and only hinted that he would make another album. But the release of his new album (which isn’t that good) can only hurt him.
BRYAN CURTIS-“Waiting for Bettman”
While many New Yorker’s didn’t care about the NHL strike, Canadian writers camped out waiting for Bettman to announce the strike was over.
WESLEY MORRIS-“30 Rock Landed on Us” 30 Rock was many things, but it dealt with racial issues (at least between blacks and whites) better than any show.
RANY JAZAYERLI-“Fall of the Evil Empire”
The New York Yankees look like they won’t make the playoff this year (this was written in March and as of my writing this they have a slim chance at getting the wild card slot). It will be the firs time in a while, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s the start of a new drought for the Evil Empire.
BILL BARNWELL-“The Master Raven”
Ozzie Davis knows how to pick players for the Baltimore Ravens.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-The Best Chappelle’s Show Sketches of All Time”
Done as a series of cartoons (by Parker); Browne picks his eight favorites:
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Prince
Wayne Brady’s Show
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James
Black Bush (especially now that Obama is president)
Clayton Bigsby: Black White Supremacist
Making the Band (P. Diddy)
The Racial Draft (Tiger Woods Now 100% Black)
The Niggar Family (uncomfortable and hilarious no matter how many times you watch it).
Once again, there’s another great issue of Grantland. Once again, I wish they would follow up on some of their speculative stories. But it’s fun to have a time capsule of events that occurred just a few months ago and yet which I have totally forgotten about.
And here’s the cover of The Outer Limits in non 3D style (which I haven’t see before)
Chastity Belt are notorious for their band photo. And the fact that their album is called No Regerts (sic). By rights they should play ugly abrasive punk or something weird and edgy and probably a little scary.
So imagine the surprise when “Black Sail” opens and sounds like a Guster song–simple chords with a very catchy melody (it reminds me of a rawer version of “Architects and Engineers”).
Then the vocals come in and the singer sounds a bit like Jefferson Airplane-era Grace Slick–powerful but kind of slow. It’s a very compelling mix.
Especially when things change in the chorus–a simple, pretty guitar riff leads us into the simple chorus “black sail, strong wind.”
The difference between the image and the music is so striking that i wonder if I’d have been as taken with the music with out the picture. Was this a brilliant strategy or just a really bad idea (it has already made a list of unfortunate band photos). You can decide for yourself, I’m including the picture at the end of the post.
And you can listen to the song on NPR or at their bandcamp site.
[READ: September 12, 2013] “Amaranth”
Amaranth is a 12-year-old girl who goes by the name Merry. She is out driving with her father one night when he gets a call from his business partner. Amaranth pretends to be asleep while her father goes to talk to the man. But rather than a conversation, the partner, Otto, kills her dad. And Amaranth saw the whole thing happen.
Amaranth is devastated. But she is even more devastated when Otto starts coming around. Like a remake of Hamlet, soon Otto and Amaranth’s mother are getting married.
Amaranth wants nothing to do with this; the rest of the story details the ways she rebels against the unpardonable acts.
First she begins starving herself. She eats just enough to survive but her mother hates how thin she is getting. Eventually they send her to a place for girls with eating disorders. She returns plumper, but with a new scheme. This time her rebelliousness gets her put into a special hospital. (more…)
So if you’re Voivod and you have just released a prog rock metal masterpiece, what’s your next step? Hire Terry Brown, famed producer of the early Rush catalog! And then try to go somewhat more commercial. And name your new, commercial album… Angel Rat?
Oh but then—never a good sign—after recording the album, original bassist Blacky left the band. It’s hard to find out exactly why (personal reasons) but he then went on to form The Holy Body Tattoo Dance Society and to create electroacoustic music.
When this album came out I was very disappointed in it—it is so far from the angular prog rock of Nothingface that I assumed the band had utterly sold out. I mean, there’s ballad moments on it, there’s hardly any dissonant chords, and most of the songs are simply verse bridge chorus. The band sounds a lot more commercial (sadly for them, the album tanked). Listening to it now with fresh ears it actually reminds me a lot of Blue Öyster Cult, especially with Snake’s vocals and the chord structures that Piggy presents. And since they used Terry Brown there’s a Rush element as well. Once I divorce the album from what came before I actually like the album quite a bit. The songs are remarkably simple (I feel like Piggy could have been playing all the parts himself at the same time), but there’s still enough interesting weirdness that the songs don’t sound boring. And once you get used to the overproduction and the fact that Snake can sing, there’s some really good stuff here. Conventional but good.
It starts out pretty heavy with a chugging guitar but soon you notice that Snake is actually singing…nicely. His voice sounds polished and good. And then you notice that the guitars are fairly conventional—there’s almost no dissonance. True it is still heavy metal and there’s some slightly obscure chords, but for the most part it’s not all that weird. Even the guitar solo is a fairly conventional speedy solo. And when the chorus comes in it’s actually quite pretty. Speaking of pretty, the band photo is one of the more glammed up moments in Voivod’s career and, without being unfair, they are not a terribly pretty band, so this is kind of a funny picture.
“Clouds in My House” is also quite a pretty song, although admittedly the verses are a little dark (with that squeaking guitar solo sound that was popular around that time in heavy metal). But the chorus is downright upbeat. There’s a cool section in the middle with a noisy (but very simple) bass popping and a guitar solo over the top of it—it reminds me a lot of Rush in sound). “The Prow” is the catchiest thing that Voivod has ever done—great sing-along verses and a big chorus. “Best Regards” has more BÖC simiarlies—the chorus in particular has a very BÖC structure. There’s also a some great bass on it. Again, not the complicated bass of previous album, but a great rumbling sound that works very well as a riff while Piggy solos. “Twin Dummy” is another fast song. This one features some of the stranger lyrics on the album. Away says that he backed off on some of the concepts for this album and let Snake so his own thing. So this song seems to be about ventriloquist dummies with the strange opening lyric “Dummy says…” But the music is fast and furious here—some weird chords and really fast bass. There’s also some keyboards on this track (pipe organ type sounds) that reminds me of Rush from around this period.
Title track “Angel Rat” sees Snake crooning over a very simple guitar ballad intro. It’s almost unthinkable. And yet the band keeps it interesting—especially Blacky’s bass. Again, I don’t know why he left, but his bass is featured nicely on this album anyhow. Blacky opens “Golem” with a powerful (but again simple) bass. There’s an occasional funky note, but it’s a very staccato song. The drums have a strangely pop quality (the way he fills in the gaps). It’s a little unsettling how obvious and catchy it is. And even more unsettling is the solo—which has a very jazz feel. I can’t even really tell what’s going on—is that Piggy or a keyboard? “The Outcast” has probably the most conventional early 90s metal sound (except…is that a harmonica?) Snake even does a falsetto at the end of a verse! Probably the biggest surprise is that the final lines are “everything’s gonna work out.”
“Nuage Fractal” at least has a very Voivod title. And the chorus sounds a lot like recent Voivod (except for the solo section). The biggest surprise has to be “Freedoom” which opens with a very pretty guitar ballad sequence. Something that early Voivod would have stomped all over. Snake is whisper-singing and Piggy is playing gently for two whole minutes. Interestingly, once the full band kicks in for the last two minutes, it is one of the heaviest sections on the album. So even when they’re being conventional, they can’t do it for too long. The bass in particular sounds very Geddy Lee to me on this track. The final song “None of the Above” Is another political song—this one about global destruction. The music is surprisingly upbeat for such a topic, but Blacky’s bass is wonderfully deep and rumbling here.
So yes, ever the chameleons, Voivod have made an album that could have sold a lot of copies–except that they’re a little too weird to do so. But it was a good experiment and resulted in some great songs.
[READ: August 15, 2013] Sailor Twain
Sarah got me this book for Christmas. I didn’t read it until right now because it’s fun to stretch out Christmas gifts as long as possible.
This book is a lengthy graphic novel from our friends at First Second. It is complicated and a little confusing (the whole story is a flashback that is sort of explained in the very beginning). It’s also very beautiful.
Except, I might say, for the main character. The background images and the interstitial pages are really beautiful and detailed. But the main character is very cartoony–very two-dimensional with a triangle nose and big circular cartoon eyes. I found this very disconcerting for about a third of the book. Siegel does manage to make him very expressive and uses the big circle eyes to a good drawing benefit through, but the character just looks so–surprised?–all the time that it was hard to not notice him. Of course later on his big eyes come in handy during the darker sequences, but I still found it an odd choice. So too were the really cartoony choices of some of the other main characters–very big, comical noses or fat round faces. It certainly made the characters distinctive, but as I said, I was unsettled by it.
As the story opens, Captain Twain sits in a bar and is approached by Miss Camomille. She asks to speak to him but he says he wants nothing to do with her or his past. She holds out a necklace and says he can have it if he tells her the story. He is shocked to see it and reluctantly agrees. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: WHITEHORSE-Live from Mountain Stage (May 16, 2012).
Whitehorse is opening for Barenaked Ladies on the current leg of their tour (we’re going to see them in October). I hadn’t heard of them. Turns out Whitehorse is the duo of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. They are from Canada, which may be why they are touring with BNL–because they’re not very funny or very upbeat.
They play four songs in this Mountain Stage show. I really like “Killing Time” which has a very alt-country feel—McClelland’s harmony vocals are great on the chorus, which has a very low down dirty feel. I particularly like the lines:
Pimms in the cooler and daughter in the yard Playing California strip croquet
And
Tongue is a sharpened razor Little miss know it some But get her alone she cries I wanna go home Oh, this little piggy plays dumb.
They have some good stories too, like the one about “Emerald Isle” which is about Luke running a marathon in Ireland. His Irish mother, who had never been to Ireland, flew out to meet him at the finish line and his wife, Melissa, flew in from Australia as well. There are more great harmonies in this song which, while mournful has a wonderfully uplifting feel. “Night Owls” is a very slow ballad which, while lyrically interesting, is a little too slow for my tastes.
For the final song, Melissa explains that the two of them had been playing solo and then they got married and still played solo. And then they decided to join forces. “Broken One” was a song that Luke wrote for his ex-girlfriend (and it is mean); Melissa says that she fixed it for Whitehorse. It’s a pretty standard country song with a honky tonk feel. It has a great blow off line: “You gotta have a heart to have a broken one.”
There’s something about Canadian Country music that I like so much more than American country music. I wonder what that is.
[READ: August 24, 2013] Wilderness
I recently stumbled upon this book at the library. I was only vaguely aware that Doyle had written a children’s novel, but there it was on the shelf. This is not a young child’s book, which is kind of a shame. I know my son would love half of the book, but I didn’t think he was ready for the other half.
The two parts of the story are about different members of the same family. The father, Frank, is the same. He married a woman quite young and they had a daughter. When the daughter was about 4 years old, the father and mother realized they could no longer live together. After some fights, the mother left for America. Where she stayed. Gráinne, the daughter, is now 18 and she is a sullen, angry teenager. Her dad is still okay, but most of the time she wants to treat him like he’s not. But he seems okay with that and gives her space. The crux of her story is that her mother has decided to come back after all these years. And Gráinne now has to deal with that.
Her story is a little mature, (especially for my 8 year old son), and she has some pretty harsh things to say about her parents, (which I hope he doesn’t have yet).
The other half of the story concerns her half brothers, and I know my son would love this part. Conveniently, the two stories are easy to demarcate–the ones with the boys are named Chapter 1 etc, the one with Gráinne are named things like The Bedroom, The Bus etc. So I did consider telling him to read just those parts. But maybe I’ll just wait. Anyway, her half brothers, Johnny and Tom, belong to her dad and her stepmom, Sandra. Sandra loves her boys and her husband and even Gráinne–most of the time. But lately Gráinne has been a little much. And Frank has encouraged Sandra to take the boys and go on a trip, just with them. That will let her focus on the boys and give him some time with Gráinne. (more…)
As I said, this album’s art looks much better. And you can hear from the first notes that this album is better produced and is going to be a lot more interesting than the previous two. It’s hard to know just how much of a leap this is from Rrröööaaarrr because that album was so muddy–maybe there were gems of guitar chords under all that noise. Like the previous openings, there’s a sort of prologue to the album. But unlike the previous album’s swirls, this one is beeping with a computer voice announcing “we are connected”
The opening chords are heavy, but man they sound clear—like they weren’t recorded underground. You can also hear all of Piggy’s weird higher notes—he’s playing complicated chords, not just solo notes. And when the chorus of “Killing Technology” rolls around, it offers stop and start rhythms and Snake’s voice even goes up an octave at the end. But the first real indication that Piggy is on to something new comes in the bridge. Underneath the robotic voice, Piggy is playing some really strange-sounding chords. The story is that he had been admiring Robert Fripp’s guitar work and so he added some of those King Crimson-y angular weird chords to his repertoire. And he melds them perfectly with the heavy thrash that the band had been playing.
Lyrically also, this album has moved away from killing and headaches. “Killing Technology” while having “killing” in the title is a very different subject:
The star wars have started up
The new invention is coming out
Making a spider web over the atmosphere
To make them sure that we can’t get out of here
Computers controlling your functions
Seems like we got electronic alienation
Trading children for a new kind of robot
Waiting for the old people to disappear
Quite a departure from Rrröööaaarr’s “Fuck Off and Die”
Stand up, right now, kill
No pleasure, the pain comes down here
No return, don’t look back, there’s no tomorrow
And if you’re a fucker and don’t believe it
I’d say fuck off and die, fuck off and die
“Overreaction” leans more towards the heavier side—Snake screams a bit more—but the subject (nuclear disaster) is thoughtful. Then comes their first truly amazing song: “Tornado.” Not only building like a tornado, this song allows them to talk about violent imagery without resorting to bloodshed. It’s even scientific:
Cumulonimbus storms arrive
Lightning flashes a hundred miles around
Electrical collision course
Creates the elephant trunk
But the best part is the chorus—it’s simple enough (just the word Tornado repeated) but it’s completely catchy and sing-alongable with bright major key chords.
“Forgotten in Space” features some great drumming from Away—he’s really quite underrated both in speed and technique—which explands even more on later albums. “Ravenous Medicine” is another highlight—an interesting series of uncomfortable chords opens this track about scientific research. It’s a pretty fast, heavy song. Although not too complicated except for the occasional breaks as the story progresses.
“Order of the Blackguards” is another fast song, but this one has so many parts that if you don’t like one, just wait a few seconds for the next one. “This is Not an Exercise” ends the disc proper. The middle section has a great heavy riff. But it’s the beginning of the ending sequence which is so perfectly sci-fi that really sets the tone of the album and looks towards the next one. It’s cool to think of Piggy playing these spacey chords on his guitar. And when Blacky’s bass rumbles in to resume the song, it’s quintessential Voivod.
By th way, this disc is a concept album as well. There’s a “Killing Side” (the first three songs) and a “Ravenous Side.” The strange thing about the CD though is that they have added two tracks from their Cockroaches EP which is nice. But they put one song at track 4 (the end of side one). How odd to put a bonus track in the middle of a sequenced album.
The EP came out before the album and it has a slightly different feel from the album proper. Although as a step towards Killing Technology it’s perfectly in sync. “Too Scared to Scream” is heavy and has some interesting time changes—I love the way the song feels like it is crashing to a halt around 3:30. “Cockroaches” feels like more traditional metal. It opens with drums and Piggy playing a typical sounding metal solo. Then the riffing starts and it’s very heavy indeed. Even the staggered section near the end sounds like a mosh section more than the prog time changes that Voivod uses on the album proper. The song ends with Snake screaming as the cockroaches are coming. A good ending to the EP and a pretty good ending to the disc.
The whole album has a very mechanical and robotic feel—the chords that Piggy plays just sound like mechanical failure, it’s very well constructed and foreshadows the music of their future.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #6
Grantland #6 covers from Sept 2012-Dec 2012. Despite the short time frame, this is the largest issue yet. And it maintains all the quality that I’ve come to expect from the book/magazine thing. Which means, I love the writing (especially about people/sports I’m not that interested in). And it also means that the editing is typically crap. In this issue the editing was crap more because they simply forgot to remove mention of hyperlinks. At least I assume that’s why sentences like “See here for ____” are included in any given article. But yes, there are some very simple typos that Word would correct pretty easily.
But beyond that, I really enjoyed this issue. And I’m finding it amusing how much certain people and shows crop up in a given time frame. So this is a four month period and Kobe Bryant still dominates (there will never be an issue without at least one Kobe article). But this time Homeland is the big show (since Breaking Bad has been on hiatus I gather). Basketball remains the favorite sport here (even though they speak of football as being the most popular sport).
Chuck Klosertman and Charlie Pierce continue to write thoughtful (sometimes funny) articles. And I like how there is still talk of Jeremy Lin even if Linsanity has gone away somewhat. (more…)
I have always loved this album because of its name (preposterous and complete with umlauts). It also has the classic Voivod song “Fuck Off and Die.” Interestingly, a band that Voivod liked, Venom, released a song “F.O.A.D.” the previous year.
But man, is this album hard to listen to. The production seems even worse than on their debut. And the songs seem faster and a bit harder to understand. Perhaps it was my mood when I re-listened, but songs like “Ripping Headaches” seemed more portentous than fun. And “Slaughter in the Grave” is just light years behind the kind of songs they would write as soon as the next album.
I like to think of these first two Voivod albums as part of a pair. The cover art is kind of similar. But starting with the next album, the cover art would jump ahead in detail and quality. All of Voivod’s art (and apparently the entire concept of The Voivod (you’ll have to look that up) was by Away. He has released a coffee table book (which you can’t get anymore) but a lot of his art is online at his website.
Not many people think too highly of Rrröööaaarrr, and it is safe to say that compared to their next several albums, this one might be best ignored.
[READ: August 29, 2013] Hi, This is Conchita
This is another book that crossed my desk. I recognized…the translator of all people (Hi, Edith Grossman) but not the author. I couldn’t remember why I recognized her name and then I realized she had translated Don Quixote, which is supposed to be an excellent version.
I also liked the cover and the packaging of the book (sometimes that’s all it takes) and since I left the book I was reading back at home, I brought this with me to lunch.
Imagine my surprise when the first story opens with a man calling a phone sex line (in graphic detail). I flipped through the story (which I thought was a bunch of short stories) but is actually a very long story called “Hi, this is Conchita.” In this story, each “chapter” is a phone call and each chapter title is the phone number and time of the call. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: FRANK TURNER-Tiny Desk Concert #287 (July 13, 2013).
NPR introduced me to Frank Turner and I’m pretty delighted that they did. I really enjoyed his set at the Newport Folk Festival. And here’s another live recording (a Tiny Desk Concert).
In this brief set, Frank and mandolin player Matt Nasir (he’s only been playing it for 6 months) blast through 3 of his rockingest folk songs. “Recovery,” “The Way I Tend to Be,” (with a very funny lead story) and a rousing mandolin solo-filled and a (reluctant) NPR audience singalong. of the great “Photosynthesis.” I imagine it was quite loud in their offices that day.
Turner is fantastic live—he’s personable and funny and even more so in this intimate setting. It’s a wonderful set.
This is the final book in the “Barrytown Trilogy” (except for the new one coming out next year). Whereas The Snapper was tied to The Commitments by virtue of it being the same family, The Van is tied to The Snapper because it follows the same guy—Jimmy Rabbitte Sr.
It’s 1990 (a few years after The Snapper because the baby from that book is now talking and mobile) and like many older people in Ireland, Jimmy Sr. has been laid off. The first third of the book looks at life on the dole in Ireland—skimpy Christmas presents and getting handouts from your son. And yet there’s always money for a pint or two—so Jimmy still gets to hang out with his mates at the pub a few nights a week. He also goes out with the baby from time to time and occupies himself in various ways (pitch n putt). There’s a lot of humor and silliness in this section–especially within the family when the twin girls start getting older and even cheekier. And the focal point is the World Cup—because Ireland is actually going to be in it this year—Italia ’90!
And the Jimmy’s mate Bimbo gets laid off. And that’s where the titular van comes in (over 100 pages into the story). Bimbo is crushed to be laid off, but Jimmy is a little pleased. He’s not happy that Bimbo is laid off, but he is happy that he has someone to waste the day with. They go golfing together (and win a prize or two) and they do their best trying to stay happy. But they’ve noticed that the fish and chips van that used to be parked outside of the bar is no longer there. It’s a sad state of affairs when you’re drunk and hungry at midnight and can’t get a fish n chips.
And that’s when their friend Bertie (who can get anything for anyone) comes through on Bimbo’s half serious question–could Bertie get him a chipper van? Bertie finds one—an unholy filthy mess of a thing with no engine. And Bimbo uses his redundancy money, £800, to buy the mess. Jimmy is appalled until Bimbo starts talking about the two of them being partners—working together to makes some money and sell chips to their drunken mates and—even better—to the punters who are enjoying the World Cup! And suddenly it seems like a real idea. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before (2011).
This is a “rarities” collection that was originally to be released as part of their released at the same time greatest hits. I put rarities in quotes because the collection is actually rather disappointing–there are a lot of unreleased tracks, but they are primarily demos of more recent songs which don’t sound all that different from the actual recorded versions. There are a few live tracks (the best thing on here) and one or two otherwise unreleased tracks–but not the unreleased tracks that came on that greatest hits record (Disc One).
“I Don’t Get It Anymore” is the only track on the disc that didn’t get a more formal release elsewhere (except for one obvious exception). It is a slow ballad type song—the kind that BNL had been heading more towards as they matured. It’s a good, solid song and the combination of Page and Robertson makes this song always enjoyable.
“Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!” was released as a B-side (although this is said to be a “Stereo Mix” whatever that means). “Half a Heart” was re-recorded for Are Men.
That leaves some demos and here’s where most of my complaints lie, for two different reasons. “The Old Apartment” is nice to hear but it is an acoustic guitar version done solely by Page. It’s also clearly an early version, because it lacks all of the oomph that makes the final product so good. I know it’s a demo, but some demos are better than other. The other bummer demo parts are actually too close to the final product. “Second Best” eventually appeared on Everything to Everyone, this is a demo version “I Can I Will I Do” is a demo that appeared on Are Me. “Adrift” is a pretty, string-filled version of the song from Are Men. The sad thing is I can’t tell what’s different about them. The final demo “Long While” is a song that never appeared elsewhere (but would likely have appeared on Everything. It sounds finalized and not like a demo and it, along with the first song are nice new tracks for fans.
There’s a remix of “One Week” which has been released already and which is frankly pretty boring. It’s got a few extra lines sampled and a few extra sounds, but otherwise not all that different from the original.
That leaves the lives songs, which, as I said, are a treat. “The Same Thing” is a very enjoyable live version. The strange thing about that live song is that the crowd seems absolutely wild—full of screaming young girls. It sounds a little phony given the BNL shows I’ve been to (were they that huge in 1992/93). But those same cheers are on “Teenage Wasteland” a song which has not been elsewhere. The intro to the song is very funny and the song itself is really good. Shame it didn’t get an official recording.
The final track is the huge highlight though. It’s a faithful cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Shake Your Rump.” It is fun and surprisingly right on. This recording comes from Santa Maria Hilton on 10/13/1994–they played this song a lot during that tour.
Those few highlights aside, this collection a pretty big disappointment. BNL has some great stuff in their archives (including all of their earlier tapes that deserve a proper release). Are the Ladies to mature to release this old stuff? Let’s hope not. It’s been 20 years after all.
[READ: August 7, 2013] “Now Where Did I Leave that Oxygen Tank”
I have been disappointed with a lot of Shouts and Murmurs lately—many feel like a one note joke that goes on and on. And so I’ve gotten to the point where I read the first paragraph, determine if it’s going to be funny and more of ten than not, just skip it. Short, humorous pieces take many shapes, and many people can do wonders in this format (Simon Rich springs to mind because her brings in a dozen different ideas in one piece). Woody Allen is another for very different reasons. He knows how to write short comic pieces that are a story unto themselves and which end up being very satisfying.
And this is a very good one, despite the somewhat unpromising title (and illustration which gives a bit away).
And yet, how’s this for a great opening that is ultimately full of misdirection: “How my wife was able to transmute the ingredients of an award-winning recipe for chocolate brownies into twelve perfect squares of granite was a feat that only medieval alchemists could appreciate.” The man ate the brownie and is in the dentist’s office. Where he reads about patients getting things stitched up in them after surgery (6000 a year the USA Today says).
A lot of writers like to throw in absurdities, but to my ear absurdity either works great or falls flat. Allen’s works great. His protagonist is a playwright. And his complaint is that a critic compared his recent play “to typhus.” Outstanding joke. The playwright has suffered from writer’s block, but now he seizes upon the lost items tidbit and works though a new play. (more…)
I learn about music from the most random places. The other night we were watching the British dramedy Doc Martin (starring Martin Clunes and the wonderfully awful Lucy Punch). Punch’s character was talking to a boy who is interested in her. She mentions Portishead and how great “Glory Biox” is (true) and then they talk about John Martyn’s cover and how it’s even better (not quite).
I’ve heard of Martyn, but only barely. The boy says that he has all of Martyn’s albums (which seems surprising as he has a lot).
I can’t guess too much about Martyn from this cover, but I’ll guess he’s a bluesy guy.
The cover captures the essence of “Glory Box” and then runs it in a totally new direction–low and rumbly (voices and guitars). Interestingly, he shifts the song to the male perspective which makes the entire song have a totally different meaning. Neat trick, that.
I don’t love bluesy music as a rule, but I really like this version. Not enough to get his other music–and I do like the Portishead version better–but it’ still a nice discovery.
[READ: August 1, 2013] “From a Farther Room”
This story starts off pretty sanely and then quickly jumps in the realm of Wha??
As the story opens we meet Robert Childress. He is a married man with children. His family is away for the weekend and his wife has given him her blessing to go out and have fun. He meets Stearns, a bachelor who takes him out eating and drinking and drinking. There is talk of a strip club and lap dances but that idea is nixed. Nevertheless, Childress is very drunk–so much so that he takes a limo home (at what cost?) and then has the bed spins during the night–with the expected result.
So far so normal.
The weirdness comes when he is awoken by his dog. The dog who is nudging some… thing on the floor. Which, when Childress looks more closely, reveals itself to be… alive. Right where he threw up. Did he throw up a living creature? (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: KISS “God of Thunder” (country version from MTV Unplugged) (1996).
In my post about Kiss Unplugged, I mentioned that there are videos online of the entire uncut show. There’s also a video of this–a country version of “God of Thunder”
I Just Read About That... 