SOUNDTRACK: THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN-“No One’s Saying Nothing” (2013).
I thought I knew The Dismemberment Plan, but I must have them confused with someone else, because this song doesn’t sound anything like what a band called The Dismemberment Plan ought to sound like (which is noisy and chaotic and probably death metal). This song has big vocals, organ and piano. Nevertheless, it is rather raucous and is quite fun (and has what sounds like a drill sound effect in the beginning and middle).
Lyrically, the song is odd–“If you press the space bar enough, cocaine comes out. I really like this computer.”
But it has a very fun devil-may-care, throw in everything attitude that I really like it. The entire album was streaming on NPR, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them–including their back catalog work, to see if they ever sounded like what I thought they sounded like.
[READ: October 1, 2013] One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses
I was excited to get this book because I thought the title was quite intriguing (and the crazy way the cover is cut out was also interesting).
There are four “stories” in the book. The first three are about twenty pages each while the fourth is over 100 and is comprised of the titular 100 apocalypses (I didn’t count them).
“Eyes of Dogs”
This story contained marginalia (which is sort of like footnotes but not attached to anything specific). In this story a solider meets a witch and she tells him how to get money—climb down a hole and encounter three dogs. He must wink at the first, blink at the second and hold his eyes closed for the third. The story seems to be going along sensibly like a fairy tale but then it grows introspective and stops. I was disappointed in this one.
“Madmen”
This story was utterly bizarre and yet by the middle of the story the bizarreness was explained and by the end I enjoyed it very much. The premise of this story is that when children grow old they are given a madman to take care of (it is told matter of factly which makes you have to wonder if madman is code for something else. When boys reach a certain age and when girl;s have their first period (which is an unfair division of genders) they get to go to the asylum and pick which madman (or woman) they want to bring home and care for. The bulk of the story is at the asylum with the girl “interviewing” the candidates and her mother being mad at her choices. Ultimately the story turns onto a nice moment between the girl and her dad, who may or may not have married his own madman. As I said very weird, but satisfying.
“Godzilla versus the Smog Monster”
This was the most “real” of the four stories and it was my favorite. A fourteen year old boy is watching “Godzilla vs the Smog Monster.” He found the unlabelled video of it in his father’s sweatshirt drawer and assumed it was porn. He’s bummed that it turns out to be this Godzilla movie. In a parallel story, when the boy goes to school his class is watching live footage of California burning—and this burning is uncontainable. The whole state is slowly engulfed in flames. This fire, which seems to be some kind of attack obviously changes the minds of everyone in the story, including Sara, a girl who Peter thinks is pretty but who never talks to him. But when she crashes her car in front of his house, he helps her and they go for a ride to a cave. Images of the smog monster crop up in interesting ways. Things get weird and less tangible, but because the beginning was so real it made the ending okay.
“A Hundred Apocalypses”
So this selection disappointed me because it proved to be 100 (I assume) flash fiction pieces. And I have more or less come down against flash fiction these days. Especially the kinds of stories that make an interesting “sketch” but aren’t really stories The other problem is that all 100 seemed to be about “apocalypses” which is a useless words when tossed around so much and which loses all meaning when there are 100 that seem to be about actual apocalypses. Or something. I also just learned that apocalypse means un-covering or revelation, not really the end of the world, but whatever.
There were probably 6 out of the hundred that I really enjoyed. Sadly, I didn’t mark them and I don’t remember which ones they were. The rest were okay or worse.
I am ready for flash fiction to go away. And I fear that my beloved McSweeney’s is one of the prime generators of the genre, so perhaps they could knock it off for a bit.
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)
SOUNDTRACK: JIM GUTHRIE-Tiny Desk Concert #294 (August 10, 2013).
I was unfamiliar with Guthrie before this set and I almost didn’t play it because of his mustache–he just looks so country to me. But then I read that he and his band drove 9 hours from Ontario just to do the show (which is 11 minutes long, so that’s pretty crazy). But the set is really good.
The three songs come from Guthrie’s new album Takes Time (his first solo album in ten years). And I was hooked…not right from the start, but 15 seconds into “The Difference a Day makes” when the guitar plays the chorus riff. There is something so… Canadian about the melody line. It reminds me of Neil Young, Sloan, Rheostatics, even Kathleen Edwards, all of these great Canadian songwriters who play with slightly different melodies. The fact that he sings “doubt” and “out” with an Ontario accent solidifies it. It’s one of my favorite mellow songs of the year. “Before & After” sounds a bit like Barenaked Ladies mellow song, like something written by Kevin Hearn. I tend to not like the Hearn songs, but I thin kit’s that I don’t like Hearn’s voice, because I like this song quite a lot.
Guthrie has a delicate but strong voice–I can’t imagine him screaming, but he conveys a lot. Especially in the final song, the more mellow (and minor key) “Like a Lake.” I’ve heard Tiny Desk shows that go on for five or six songs. I wish that Bob and Robin had let them play for ten more minutes. Now I’m off to find his records. Check it out.
[READ: September 10, 2013] 3 book reviews
Tom Bissell reviewed three new books in the August 2013 issue of Harper’s. I like Bissell in general and since I’ll probably wind up writing about these when they get collected anyway, why not jump the gun here. Especially when there’s three good-sounding books like these.
The first is Peter Orner’s Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge. I know Orner from McSweeney’s mostly, where I’ve read a few of his things But one of the stories that Bissell mentions from this short story collection sounds familiar and yet it doesn’t seem to be something I’ve read. Hmmm. Well anyhow, he says that Orner’s previous book (with a title that Bissell assumes he had to fight to keep–The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo) was a great piece of fiction about Africa, and that his previous collection Esther Stories was also very solid.
This book is a little stranger—bundled into 4 sections, it includes more than fifty “stories” and is all of 200 pages. (Sounds like just the kind of thing I can get into). Bissell suggests that the stories have a layer of remove, like someone telling a story about someone telling a story. Or, if they were about a bank robbery, the story would actually be about someone describing having once met the guy who sold the robbers their ski masks. But the real selling point for me was this pithy description of the collection: imagine Brief Interviews with Hideous Men written by Alice Munro. That sounds hard to pass up. (more…)
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…)
SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013).
NPR was steaming this album for a while. Now they’re giving away this song.
Typhoon is yet another band that has a crazy amount of people in it (between 12 and fourteen) and they have a vast array of instruments in play at any one time (Horns, violins, xylophones, electric guitars and mandolins for example).
At the same time, Singer Kyle Morton’s vocals are distinctive enough and are used like an instrument as well as to deliver lyrics. This gives them quite a unique sound.
The song opens with an array of horns slowly building to a simple guitar melody. The verses are somewhat quiet with occasional punctuations of band (and great backing vocals). But as the song progresses, more instruments kick in (horns adding a melody line). I really like the way the end of the song shifts direction totally, bringing in a complex instrumental section with interesting time shifts and even better backing vocals..
I enjoyed the whole album while it was streaming. And while I can’t say that this song stands out more than the other songs, (I think “Artificial Light” is probably the best,) it represents the sound of the band pretty well.
[READ: September 2013] Lucky Peach Issue 8
I haven’t been reviewing Lucky Peach issues in their entirety because they are mostly about food and cooking and recipes and I don’t really have anything to say about that (I enjoy the articles a lot, but I don’t need to comment on them).
But I wanted to bring special attention to this issue because of the way it is presented. This is the Gender Issue. It has two covers (see the “female” cover tomorrow) and the magazine must be flipped over to read the different genders.
It’s not often that I think of food and gender as being connected, but there are some really interesting articles in here that talk about not only food itself, but about the people who prepare it. Like the fact that most big name chefs are men even though cooking has traditionally been “women’s work.”
The women’s side of the magazine has these interesting articles: (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…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE OCTOPUS PROJECT-“Sharpteeth” (2013).
The Octopus Project play largely instrumentals, but this track has vocals. It begins with a very synthy keyboard sound–very retro. But it soon grows huge with big swirling sounds and a ton of other instruments.
I’m not sure why they do so many instrumentals because their vocals–male and female playing at odds with each other–work wonderfully together. They’re kind of a talkie singing which works well in this song.
Bob Boilen says one of the musicians is a great theremin player. I assume that that’s what the solo is although it doesn’t have the eerieness of a theremin–perhaps that’s just the production?
By the middle of the solo, the whole band kicks in and it is a noisy cacophony but with a pretty melody still going on. It’s a very cool song, and I’m bummed that I’ve never heard of them before (they’ve been around over a decade).
[READ: August 20, 2013] The Boss
This is the fifth book in the McSweeney’s poetry series.
I don’t know Chang’s poetry (although I have apparently read it in The Believer) and two things struck me. She really sticks to her theme and she likes playing with words.
What I found initially very exciting but then a little exhausting (perhaps her poetry is better taken in small doses) was the play on words.
To my dismay, my friend Lar recently informed me of a terrible thing that is happening to Phish’s LivePhish series of CDs. This series came out from 2000-2002 and consisted of 20 CD sets of full concerts. The “nifty” thing about them was that they were packed in plastic sleeves (4 discs to a sleeve) which had three holes in them so you could store them in a binder (the LivePhish binder with secret pocket for your stash).
Well, it turns out that whatever material they used in the plastic sleeves leeched out of the sleeves and onto the CDs. For many CDs, it left a goopy residue that wiped off with a little effort. But on other CDs, the goop actually ate through the paint and, apparently (although I don’t know how) through the music. When you look at the discs there are clear “holes” in the paint, so you can see right through the disc. When you play the discs, it ate away at the music as well.
Since this was over a decade ago and Phish is no longer with Elektra and the collections are long out of print, it looks like fans are simply shit out of luck. I have at least 8 sets that have at least one disc that was eaten away like this.
The shows are available for download at the Phish Dry Goods Store, but then you’re paying $10 for something you already own.
Those sleeves seemed like a great idea, but they clearly weren’t tested for long term durability.
I don’t believe there’s any recourse for this, but if you know of any, do pass it along. I’m sure fans must have the concerts online somewhere too, but that’s not the point. Seeing as how the sets are fetching as much as $300 on eBay (which I’m sure no one is paying), there was the possibility that these would have collector’s value. But clearly not anymore. Major buzzkill.
[READ: July 29, 2013] In My Home There is No More Sorrow
This book came with McSweeney’s 40. It is a book unto itself, hardbound and with its own ISBN, so I didn’t feel compelled to read it right then (especially given that the subject was Rwanda and it didn’t seem like an especially happy book to be reading).
But I decided now I was up for it and so in I dove. And it’s not an especially happy book to be reading.
Bass is a writer with many books to his credits (although I didn’t know him). He was sent to Rwanda on an assignment. I gather that as part of the assignment he was sent to teach a writing workshop to local writers. (The actual purpose of the trip, as far as logistics goes, is a little vague I must say).
At any rate, bass and his family (his wife and teenaged daughter) went to Rwanda for ten days. And the first few days are as harrowing as one might expect. I was familiar with the atrocities in Rwanda, but only insofar as I had heard bits and pieces of the story from the news. I had no idea about the extent of the violence–millions of Tutsis killed by Hutus. Nor the extent of the way the survivors have dealt with the atrocities in the seventeen years since they happened. Which is: they have created shrines to the dead and in many cases have not cleaned up or in any way hidden what happened.
And so , we have churches with blood on the walls where people were murdered (I will spare some of the details of the way the children were killed, but I will certainly never forget it). The family also goes to a shrine where the bodies were exhumed and placed in this area for fuller viewing. And the creepiest thing about this shrine is that the bodies were packed so tightly in the mass grave–with no oxygen and with quicklime poured on them , that they did not really decompose–they were more or less mummified–their skin just sort of shriveled. These bodies are practically like living skeletons, left ion their death poses. That’s another image I will not be able to expunge from my mind any time soon. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: HEY MARSEILLES-Live at the Newport Folk Festival (2013).
For reasons I’m unclear about, the first two songs (at least the first two listed on the NPR web page, (“To Travels & Trunks” and”Gasworks”) ) are not included in the download. But we do get the band’s introduction of themselves. So maybe the NPR list is wrong? Weirder things have happened.
The band drove all the way from Seattle and are pleased to announce that they are the first band to play the Festival (a nice, if insignificant piece of trivia).
Regardless, we get a solid 35 minute set. The band opens with “Heart Beats,” a folky song. Indeed, Hey Marseilles continues the tradition of large bands (6 members at last counting) who play folk music with lots of unexpected(ish) instruments. But the singer sounds quite a bit like Ben Gibbard. Indeed that first song sounds like a less commercial Death Cab for Cutie—you keep expecting a big commercial chorus to come but it doesn’t, and there’s something very satisfying about them not giving it to us.
Although the band does sounds quite a bit like DCFC (both in the voice and the arrangements), their instrumentation brings an unfamiliarity to the songs that makes them so intriguing—like when the accordion pops up put of nowhere in “From a terrace.” Or other songs where strings fill out a song–not in a “look we’re unplugged” sort of way but as natural part of the song. I really enjoyed their songs and may track down their CDs (and their cool scarf).
[READ: July 3, 2013] Mermaid in Chelsea Creek
This was the second YA book that McSweeney’s has released. It is (say it with me) the first book in a trilogy. And I have to say that I really didn’t like the first 100 pages.
There were a number of small things that kept me interested, but for the most part I found the story pretty dreadful. On a personal note I really didn’t like that the Chelsea Creek was not revealed to be in the Boston area until very far into the story. I hated that it was so specific (Chelsea) and yet so generic (which of the dozens of Chelseas was it?). But more importantly I hated that Sophie (the protagonist) and her friend Ella, play the ‘pass-out” game. In the game, one of the girls chokes herself until she passes out. The other girl watches and wakes the first up after about 30 seconds. This is what they do for fun This is their cheap high. And it constitutes a large part of the beginning of the story. So much so that when her mother finds out about it, she tells her doctor. And what made it all the crazier was that her doctor reveals that not only did she play the pass out game as a girl but she is sure her mother did too. And her mother says yes. What the fuck? Oh and her mother is mean and overworked and exhausted and generally always ready to fight with Sophie.
I imagine that if I had another book with me on vacation I would have put this down and read that one instead. But I pressed on, mostly because when Sophie passed out she saw a mermaid in Chelsea Creek, a filthy sewage filled river. (The fact that Ella is a germophobe is quite funny, especially when Sophie falls into the creek when she passes out). That kept me interested as did Dr Chen (the above doctor). Because the Doctor keeps pigeons on her roof and she has tied flutes to some of their tails so that they make beautiful music when they fly. This scene was so good–so briefly magical–that I forgave the rest of the book and gave it a blank slate. I was bummed when the pigeons went away, but was delighted when they came back a little later, once the magic began for real.
And there is magic aplenty. Especially as Sophie learns more and more about her family and neighborhood. (more…)
Songbook came with an 11 song CD. I’m curious, given the way he speaks so lovingly of the songs in the book how come more bands/labels didn’t want to be included on it. The proceeds went to charity and it would just be more exposure for the artists. There were a lot of songs I didn’t know and would love to have heard (or would love to hear while I was reading). And frankly I see no downside to throwing a track on a compilation which is a collection of someone’s favorite songs. Of course, things were very different in the music world in 2002. Now, someone will just make a playlist on their iPod of theses songs, and post them to Spotify.
PAUL WESTERBERG-“Born for Me.” I’m much more of a fan of Westerberg with the Replacements, as he got a little too polished as a solo guy. But this song has a fun, shambolic quality to it (it doesn’t even sound like Westerberg singing). It wouldn’t be a favorite song of mine, but it is a nice one.
TEENAGE FANCLUB “Your Love is the Place Where I Come From” and “Ain’t That Enough.” I really like Teenage Fanclub a lot. They are one of my favorite jangly pop bands. So these two songs rank pretty high for me. Although I admit to liking their slightly more rocking songs a bit more, “Your Love” is a very pretty ballad and “Ain’t That Enough” is just gorgeous.
THE BIBLE- “Glorybound” Hornby says he knew these guys. It’s an okay song, a little too slick for me and very of its time.
AIMEE MANN-“I’ve Had It” I like Aimee Mann very much. I can’t say that I paid a ton of attention to the lyrics of this song (I didn’t know it was about touring) but I’ve always liked it—the understated yet beautiful melody and chorus are very nice.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT-“One Man Guy” I like Rufus a lot. I don’t own any of his music, but I really like everything I hear from him. His delivery is so louche, it makes me smile every time. This song is actually one his father wrote and sang many years ago (very differently).
ROD STEWART-“Mama You Been on My Mind” Hornby’s essay on Rod Stewart is hilarious. And his defense of early Stewart is wholly believable. I, of course, know Rod from his later, laughable stuff, so I never considered his early work But this track is pretty good.
BADLY DRAWN BOY-“A Minor Incident” Sarah and I love Badly Drawn Boy, and this soundtrack in particular. Hornby’s discussion of how he Damon got to do the soundtrack is very interesting.
BEN FOLDS FIVE-“Smoke” I’ve liked Ben for years now (going to see him in two weeks). This song has always been a favorite both for the lyrics, which are great and because that weird harp-type sound is him playing the strings of his grand piano with a pick.
MARK MULCAHY-“Hey Self Defeater” I don’t know Mulcahy at all. This song has a beautiful wavery guitar and gentle vocals (it’s funny to read about Hornby rocking out when most of this disc is quite mellow).
ANI DIFRANCO-“You Had Time” I was a huge Ani DiFranco fan back in the day, but this song is unknown to me, or should I say unfamiliar to me. It’s on one of her very early albums. Perhaps it’s more that I must have ignored the piano opening, which Hornby pays close attention to and really explains it in a useful way, showing how it is more about a beautiful melody being born from chaos. And now I respect the song a lot more.
[READ: 2002 and July 1, 2013] Songbook
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written this very book in my head…. A list of favorite songs and why they are so important to me? How cool is that. I have no idea how come Hornby got to write it (I know, High Fidelity), but still, what a nice cozy assignment. And to have this book illustrated by Marcel Dzama is even cooler.
This book came out in 2002 after About a Boy (and in the year that About a Boy was being turned into a film). Hornby had recently hooked up with the McSweeney’s gang and began writing for The Believer in 2003.
I had no idea that the book was released in the UK under a different name (31 Songs) or that they also released an accompanying CD (A Selection of Music from 31 Songs) with 18 songs on it (see my comment above about CDs). Although we got fewer songs on the disc in the US, at least ours came with the book. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN-“No One’s Saying Nothing” (2013).
thought I knew The Dismemberment Plan, but I must have them confused with someone else, because this song doesn’t sound anything like what a band called The Dismemberment Plan ought to sound like (which is noisy and chaotic and probably death metal). This song has big vocals, organ and piano. Nevertheless, it is rather raucous and is quite fun (and has what sounds like a drill sound effect in the beginning and middle).
I Just Read About That... 