I have casually seen The xx on a few shows and I’m intrigued by them. I’ve never really given their albums any time though, so I can’t say anything much about them.
However, I really enjoy the sound they get live (which is funny since in the article below they talk about how much of a perfectionist Jamie, the studio tech guy, is about the recordings).
This set from KEXP (KEXP always has great audio quality) contains four songs “Fiction” “Reunion” “Sunset” and “Angels.” And I have to say the band sounds amazing. So close, so clean, so intimate. Oliver’s voice is right there, whispering in your ears, and Romy’s guitars sound gorgeous–gentle vibrato, chiming chords; her voice is also beautiful.
The thing that throws me about The xx is how spare their music is. Sometimes it’s almost like there’s no music at all. And I keep thinking of reasons why I wouldn’t enjoy such simple music (it’s usually not my thing). Or that it should only be experienced in a dark room by yourself. But the melodies are so beautiful that I think they’ve made a convert of me. I really adore these songs. And I must have heard “Angels” somewhere because it is completely familiar.
I wonder if they sound this good on record. You can watch the show here:
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #5
Grantland continues to impress me with articles about sports that I don’t care about. They style that the writers have (and the humor they impart) is wonderful. And it goes to show that if you are passionate about something you can make it interesting to anyone. So, even if I don’t know who some of the people who they’re talking about are, I can still enjoy what they say about them. Plus, their entertainment coverage is really fun, too.
BILL SIMMONS-“Battle of the Olympic Heavyweights”
I really enjoyed this article which compares Olympic swimming and gymnastics to see which one “wins” in this battle for TV coverage and the hearts of Olympic fans (hint: it’s gymnastics, but Simmon’s categories are very good).
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“The Death’s Head of Wimbledon”
Phillips tries to cover Wimbledon and finds it very difficult to manage because it is all designed for TV, not in person coverage.
REMBERT BROWNE-“I Feel Like a Free Man”
The amazing decision of Frank Ocean to come out and how little it impacted his career. (more…)
This was the final song that NPR played in their summer new music collection. It was a band that Bob didn’t know, but he liked the song and then saw them live and put the song here.
It opens very simply, quietly with beautiful harmonies over a simple synth. After about 45 seconds, the drums and horns (!) kick in and the backing harmony vocals take on more of a choral sound (AHHHH!) that punctuates rather than accompanies the vocals.
The main riff stems from that horn—a bass saxophone? And yet during the verses, everything resorts to that pretty, mellow sound.
It’s a very interesting mix of musics, and it reminds me of some of the more experimental bands of the 1990s. I’ll bet they would be fun to see live. And I’d like to hear more from this album.
[READ: June 20, 2013] McSweeney’s #38
And with this book, I have now read all of the McSweeney’s issues (except that Mammoth Treasury which I will get to, probably by the end of the year). This one was a great collection of fiction and non-fiction, it also had an inserted comic. The book itself was paperback, with a nice, textured cover and a cool design for the numbers. In looking for a picture I learned that it came in two colors (the yellow that I received and a black cover with white lines).
It continues with the later issues’ less frivolous style (in that there’s nothing weird about the book) and throughout, the quality of the work is great. I really enjoyed this book. It opens with letters and contains color pictures, too.
SOUNDTRACK: PINKISH BLACK-“Razed to the Ground” (2013).
After playing No Age, Lars Gottrich came in to show what real heaviness is with a new song from Pinkish Black. Unlike most of Lars’ songs, this was neither death- nor speed- metal. Rather it has a very 80s goth sound. But it’s more Birthday Party than Sisters of Mercy.
There’s no guitars, just loud drums (with a lot of cymbals), a pulsing bass keyboard riff and some spacey high keyboard notes thrown along the top of the song. There are elements that I liked about the story. However, the synths in the solo give it a very cheesy horror movie feel and I have to admit that although I like a lot of bands from the era, this feels like a pale imitation.
[READ: June 20, 2013] “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Whisperer in Darkness”
Both of these stories appeared in Michel Houellebecq’s H.P. Lovecraft book, but I wanted to treat them separately for ease of searching and discovery.
After my long history with Lovecraft and after reading Houellebecq’s book, I anticipated being blown away by these stories. And so, with my expectations so high, I was naturally disappointed. I was especially disappointed with how normal these stories seemed. Houellebecq made me think the stories were practically non-narrative in form—that they eschewed all manner of conventional storytelling. That his writing was so weird that no one would publish it. But in these two stories everything seems completely normal. Psychologically these stories are different, but aside from content, they are fairly conventional stories.
Maybe they aren’t mind blowing because they were written nearly 100 years ago and the entire world has changed drastically since then. It may also be because I have read all of the derivatives of Lovecraft enough that there’s nothing new in his work. And it may also be that in the past 80 years, we have thought of things that are much scarier than these, in part because of Lovecraft himself. Or maybe I would have been into them a lot more had I read them when I was a teenager.
I’ve been hearing a lot about No Age lately, but I don’t really know much about them. I keep thinking they are a different, older band (although I can’t think of which one for some reason). Anyhow, this new song from their new album is a simple, propulsive rocker. It starts out with some echoing guitar notes until the fast, fast bass comes in.
It’s followed by some quickly strummed guitars and low sung, almost chanted vocals.
The song feels like it builds speed throughout, although I don’t think it actually does. I didn’t realize that there were only two guys in the band—and that explains their limited musical sound. But unlike a number of other two person bands that I’ve really enjoyed as of late, this song feels a little flat. There is some appeal to it, but overall I want a little bit more.
[READ: June 16, 2013] H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
I have been “into” H.P. Lovecraft for about thirty years. Interestingly, I had never read anything by him in that time. I got into him via Dungeons and Dragons which had a whole selection of monsters from the Cthulhu mythos. And then Metallica did a song called “The Call of Cthulhu” and even though I bought several of his paperback collections and proudly displayed them, I never read them. When McSweeney’s imprint Believer Books published this little title by the practically Lovecraftianly named Michel Houellebecq, I was excited to read it, too (because at this time I had assumed that I had actually read some Lovecraft). But like my Lovecraft books, it languished on the shelf.
Until now.
I decided that it was time to finish off some of those McSweeney’s books that have been sitting on my shelf for years. And this was on the top of my list. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: STONE GOSSARD-“I Need Something Different” (2013).
Stone Gossard is the rhythm guitarist for Pearl jam. He’s also one of their major songwriters. He has one or two songs that he sings with the band. This is a solo effort which indicates that he might be a heavier influence on the band.
Stone Gossard last released a solo album 12 years ago. There’s a new Pearl Jam album in progress and Stone’s other band Brad put out an album not too long ago, so why not release a solo album?
I don’t know how much Gossard does on this song, but I rather imagine he plays everything (the solo is fine but not amazing and the drums are solid but don’t really standout). And while that sounds dismissive, it’s not meant to be. Gossard creates a solid sound of simple rock.
The guitars are loud and bouncy. Stone’s voice is rough and workmanlike—there’s a reason he’s not a lead singer. But his voice works great for this aggressive slice of rock.
The riff is continuous and non stop, while he sings I need something different. And then at the mid way part the keyboards start—perhaps this is the something different. The keys break the propulsion with a poppiness that you wouldn’t expect in the song.
Then the song returns to its original style. It’s not a terribly original song, but it would be a fun bar anthem.
[READ: June 10, 2013] Speak, Commentary
When this book first came out I was pretty delighted. What a funny concept—overblown writers and political pundits do DVD commentary about films they had nothing to do with. It seemed like it would be very funny indeed.
And here’s the thing. It is. For a few pages. But each one of these things feels as long as the actual movie they are commenting on. Alexander and Bissell have done their research—they know what these figures will say. And say. And say.
As I said the premise is awesome, check out these wonderful combinations:
NOAM CHOMSKY & HOWARD ZINN on The Fellowship of the Ring
ANN COULTER & DINESH D’SOUZA on Aliens
TERRY DWIBBLE & STEVEN McCRAY on Start Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
JERRY FALWELL & PAT ROBERTSON on Planet of the Apes (1968)
WILLIAM BENNETT & DICK CHENEY on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
[Terry Dwibble & Steven McCray are (presumably) fictional characters—die hard Trekkies who are thrilled to be able to add this commentary and, frankly, this is the best one of these pieces.]
I think part of the problem with the book is the sequencing. The first piece is incredibly dry. I recall reading this when I first got it. I don’t know if I read all the way through Chomsky and Zinn. And I know I didn’t make it through all of the second one (Coulter and D’Souza)—my d0g eared page failure still lingers to this day.
Killers picks up right where Iron Maiden left off–indeed many of these songs were written at the same time as the first album. The difference is new guitarist Adrian Smith.
It opens with the great (but simple) instrumental “Ides of March” which segues into the blistering “Wrathchild.” And it’s on this song that you can tell some of the rawness has been removed from the recording. The guitars sound a wee bit more polished.
And you can tell the band are getting a bit more symphonic with the bass harmonics that intro the wonderful “Murders in the Rue Morgue” a song that feels long but actually isn’t. It has several parts that all seem to signal the end until Clive Burrs drums come pounding in to restart the song. Very cool. “Another Life” is another fast punky song, and while I like it, it is probably one of the weaker songs on the album. But that’s okay because it is followed by one of Maidens greatest instrumentals–“Genghis Khan” which has beautiful symphonic soaring solos over a cool propulsive beat.
“Innocent Exile” opens with another great noisy slappy bass riff that only Harris was doing at the time. “Killers” is a classic track: fast and yet complex, with a very cool riff. “Twilight Zone” sees Di’Anno reaching for higher more operatic notes. He makes it, but you can just tell that the band needs more from their vocalist. “Prodigal Son” opens with a pretty acoustic guitar intro. I used to like this song quite a bit (whatever Lamia is), but I can see that it’s actually quite long and meandering (maybe this one is more like “War Pigs”). It’s pretty but could probably be a bit shorter. “Purgatory” sounds like track off the first album–fast raw and punky with screaming riffs. “Drifter” ends the disc with a cool bass line and some more thrashing. It’s a solid ending for an album that overall works pretty well, but which kind of shows that the band had to either do something big on the next album or get stuck in a rut.
[READ: June 1, 2013] McSweeney’s #43
And with this issue I am almost all caught up with my McSweeney’s. More impressively, I read this one only a few days after receiving it!
This issues comes with two small books. And each book has a very cool fold-out/die cut cover (which is rather hard to close and which I was sure would get caught and therefore ripped on something but which hasn’t yet). The first is a standard collection of letters and stories and the second is a collection of fiction from South Sudan. Jointly they are a great collection of fiction and nonfiction, another solid effort from McSweeney’s.
Steve Harris was on That Metal Show recently. Harris is the bassist and primary songwriter for Iron Maiden and has been since their first album in 1980. When I was in high school Iron Maiden was my favorite band hands down. I had all their albums, I had all their singles, all their hard to find British vinyl 12 inch singles, even a few pictures discs. Wonder if they’re valuable?
Every album was an epic event for me–I even played “Rime of the Ancient Mariner “off of Powerslave to my English class (not telling anyone it was 13 minutes long).
And then, after Somewhere in Time, I just stopped listening to them. Almost full stop. I did manage to get the first four albums on CD, but the break was pretty striking. I actually didn’t know that they’d had personnel changes in the ensuing years. I’d vaguely heard that Bruce Dickinson left, and that others followed, but I don’t think I quite realized that they were back to their big lineup these days.
Anyhow, Harris was so earnest and cool that I had to go check out some of their new stuff. Which was okay. I’d need more time to digest, but then I had to listen to the first albums again.
And wow I had forgotten how much the first Iron Maiden album melds punk and prog rock into a wild metal hybrid. There’s so much rawness in the sound and Paul Di’Anno’s vocals, not to mention the speed of some of the tracks. And yet there’s also some epic time changes and starts and stops and the elaborate multipart Phantom of the Opera…. Wow.
The opening chords of “Prowler” are brutal. But what’s surprising is how the second song “Remember Tomorrow” is a lengthy song that has many ballad-like qualities, some very slow moody sections–although of course each chorus rages with a great heavy riff and a blistering solo. On the first two albums Paul Di’Anno was the singer. He had a fine voice (it was no Bruce Dickinson, but it was fine). What’s funny is that Bruce does the screams in “Remember Tomorrow” so much better in the live version that I forgot Paul’s vocals were a little anemic here.
However, Paul sounds perfect for the rawness of “Running Free” a wonderfully propulsive song with classic Harris bass and very simple metal chugga chugga riffs. And this has one of the first real dual guitar solos–with both players doing almost the same riff (and later Harris joining in on bass).
“Phantom of the Opera” is the band’s first attempt at an epic multi-secton kinda-prog song. It opens with a memorable, if slightly idiosyncratic riff and some wonderfully fast guitars/bass. There’s a great slow bit that morphs into an awesome instrumental soloing section with bass and twin guitars playing a wonderful melody.
“Transylvania” is an instrumental that is challenging but probably not one of the best metal instrumentals out there, although again when Dennis Stratton and Dave Murray play in synch solos it’s awesome. This track segues into “Strange World” a surprisingly trippy song (with effects that seem like keyboards but which aren’t). It’s slow in a “War Pigs” kind of way, but it doesn’t entirely break up the album, because there are other slow bits on the disc. It is a little out of place though.
Especially when “Sanctuary” blasts forth. True, it wasn’t originally on the album (in the UK), but man, blistering punk or what! “Charlotte the Harlot” was always one of my favorite songs (it taught me what a harlot was after all), it’s quite proggy, with a lot of stuttered guitar work and a middle section that features some loud and complex bass. The disc ends with the by now almost immortal “Iron Maiden.” A great raw riff opens the song, a harmony guitar partners it and the band blasts forth. Who even knows what the lyrics area about, the song just moves and moves–There’s even a great chaotic bass/drum break in the middle. And listening to the guitar noises in the solos at the end. Amazing. It’s quite the debut.
[READ: June 7, 2013] McSweeney’s #42
I have made it a point of (possibly misguided) pride that I have read every word in every McSweeney’s issue. But this issue has brought that to an end. As the title states, there are twelve stories in the book. But there are also sixty-one authors writing in eighteen languages. And there’s the rub. One of my greatest (possibly misguided) shames is that I don’t speak any other languages. Well, I studied Spanish and German, I know a few dozen words in French and I can read the Greek alphabet, but none of these would help me read any of these stories. So, at least half of this book I didn’t read.
But that’s kind of the point. The purpose of this book is to make a “telephone” type game out of these stories. Stories are translated from one language to another and then re-translated back into English. The translators were mostly writers rather than translators and while some of them knew the second language, many of them resorted to Google Translate or other resources to “read” the story. Some people read the story once and then rewrote it entirely, other people tried to be as faithful as possible to the original. And so what you get are twelve stories, some told three times in English. Some versions are very similar and others are wildly divergent.
I normally write about the stories in the issues, but that seems sort of beside the point as the original stories were already published and were selected for various reasons (and we don’t even see any of the original stories). The point here is the translation(s). So, in a far less thorough than usual way, I’ll list the contents below. (more…)
I received this CD free when it came out (radio station perk), and I listened to it a few times, but not really all that much. I never really thought that much about it because I didn’t really like the cover–it looked too babyish. It’s been a while since I listened to it and I am delighted at what a good, solid, Talking Heads-ish album this is (with David Byrne, you never know exactly what you’ll get from a record, but this is poppy).
“Now I’m Your Mom” opens with an early 90s funky electronic bass and some crazy guitar sounds. But as soon as the bridge kicks in, the song is pure Byrne/Talking Heads. And that world music style chorus means that this song could have been huge (even if it is about a transvestite or transgendered person–I didn’t listen that carefully). However, the extended section at the end makes the song feel a little long. “Girls on My Mind” is a strange (but good) song from start to finish—a weird cheesy synth sound pervades the song, and yet once again, it’s very Byrne—especially the crazy singing of the chorus.
“Something Ain’t Right” opens with an odd chant but then turns very conventional—with choral voices giving big oohs. “She’s Mad” opens as a kind of sinister song. And yet, after some verses about her being mad, the chorus is as bright as anything else on the record—a very schizophrenic song. “Hanging Upside Down” has a very commercial Talking Heads Feel, like “Stay Up Late.”
“Twistin’ in the Wind” has more of those big choruses of voices to “well well well” up the song. “The Cowboy Mambo” has another weird sound that circulates through the song, but it’s got a good beat and a great chorus and it would be fun to dance to. “Monkey man” is a horn-heavy track that opens in a sinister vein once again. “A Million Miles Away” just gets stuck with you and makes you want to sing along. “Somebody” ends the disc with more Latin horns and rhythms. It’s a fun song, and a good ending.
Overall, this is a surprisingly good record. All of the songs are a little long–Byrne songs should really max out around 4 minutes. For that extra time, he either tends to repeat himself or add superfluous codas that drag out the end. But aside from that, this is a real treat, especially for Talking Heads fans.
[READ: May 20 2013] Arboretum
The back of the book describes this as a collection of enigmatic, enchanting mental maps.
And that is kind of what the book is. It is a collection of drawings–tree and branch-style drawings mostly–that endeavor to map relationships. But the subject matter is crazily diverse–oftentimes nonsensical or at the very least unparseable. The good news is that many of the drawings have an explanatory text in the back of the book. I acknowledge that ideally the drawings should make sense without needing an explanation, but the explanations were really useful–they really give you the frame of mind that Byrne was trying to explain through the pictures. (more…)
I’d never heard of Archie Pelago (get it?). This is an instrumental that begins with lots of electronic percussion, creating complex rhythms and beats. It’s funky, but mildly funky. Then after about a minute or so, there’s some music thrown on top–layers of sounds that are interesting. Then comes a weird sax solo–is this suddenly smooth jazz? Then we gets some voices and spoken word, all working to create an instrumental soundscape.
I can see this in a movie, although I wouldn’t choose to listen to it myself.
[READ: May 19, 2013] Bicycles Locked to Poles
I recall when this book came out from McSweeney’s and I remember thinking what a weird idea–a book of pictures of bicycles locked to poles. I thought it sounded … I don’t know… weird. So, when I saw it used for a penny I decided to check it out. And indeed, nearly ten years later it’s still weird.
It is an incredibly audacious book as it is literally just pictures of bicycles locked to poles (and an occasional tree). The book is broken down into four parts, although there is no difference between the parts–it’s just more pictures. And there is no text at all. Except for a chart on the front and back inside cover which shows what pats of the bike were left in the picture (an unusual index which could be useful if you were doing some kind of study of the state of bicycles left to poles, but something which is not terribly useful in this book). Categories include: Frame, fork, front wheel–spokes, steering–grips, comfort–saddle, options–front basket. (more…)
I learned about Trabant from the magazine pictured to the left. It came with McSweeney’s issue #15 and is completely in Icelandic. Trabant are apparently a pretty huge band in Iceland, and they have a lot of songs on YouTube. And many of their songs are very different sounding so I’m not entirely sure what kind of band they actually are.
This song begins with strange clicks and sound effects and then a big throbbing bass. There’s kind of a funky keyboard background and then a slightly off kilter riff.
Then the big guitars kick in and the vocals (which are “if you want a love song”) don’t start until about two minutes in. There’s a break in the middle where the band starts changing Ma Mo Ma Mo Maria and then the singer starts free associating over some wild guitar riffing and more sound effects. It’s a really weird song and I have no idea if this is representative of the band (they did make a video for it so it can’t just be a throwaway, right?).
I’m really intrigued by these guys, and I’m going to have to look for more.
[READ: May 18, 2013] McSweeeny’s bits.
Over the course of my reading the McSweeney’s issues, there were bits and pieces that I missed for one reason or another. I tried to be complete, but sometimes it wasn’t easy. So, with the publication of The Art of McSweeney’s I have now been able to read two things that I missed earlier. And the third is something I didn’t exactly read, although I tried.
Just as issue 1 had a short story by Dave Eggers on its spine! issue #4 (the box of books) had a brief piece by Ben Greenman ringing the contents list of said box. I never noticed it before (indeed I may not have ever read the back of the box before, shame on me). But anyhow, in very tiny print is “More Notes on Revising Last Night’s Dream” by Ben Greenman. And in this brief piece (which is several bullet pointed items–although arranged as a line rather than bullets) there are several ideas about last night’s dream which include “Egg on breakfast plate need not bloom into flowers” and “Cut out part in which Leslie Nielsen meets Trotsky–silly.” And, of course, “More Invisibility.” This is the kind of short silly thing that the first issues published which have more or less been relegated to the McSweeney’s website now. And while I feel the website is a better place for it (and I need to go read the website more), these silly things are certainly missed.
The second missed item is also found thanks to The Art of McSweeney’s. I mentioned in my review of Issue #20 that the story on the cover was completely covered by art. And I wondered why and I wondered if you could find the whole text anywhere. Well, in The Art of McSweeney’s they print the original cover!
I was delighted by this because it did two things–it explained how the cover was made (the 3D art was not “added on,” rather the white section under the art was “Compressed” which is how it came out 3D. Very cool. There’s also a brief breakdown of costs of the issue. But the bulk of the cover story is about how the author (Eggers, I assume) broke up a fight in New York City. A man and his family are walking down the street when a lady bumped into their little girl. The man freaks out because she didn’t apologize and he gets right up in the lady’s face (really, dude?). Eggers is on the phone arranging to meet someone when he says he has to get involved. So he tells the guy to chill out. Things quiet down a bit, but then the woman starts screaming “You got knocked up!” And that’s when Eggers takes a look at her and realizes that she is homeless and crazy and not ever going to apologize. But the screaming gets the mother involved in the fight which starts up again. Things finally settle down with the family acknowledging that the lady doesn’t understand anything. And they all depart. It’s probably the most exciting editor’s note of them all, and yet it was covered up.
My guess is, from what I know about Eggers, that story may have seemed too self-serving to include Or maybe it was just fun to cover up words with a picture.
The final item comes from Issue #15. It is a small magazine called Séð og Heyrt (Seen and Heard). It is a real weekly magazine, although I’m not sure if our version is complete (I assume it’s not since it’s only 16 pages, but who knows how much tabloid you can fill each week in Iceland). It is a pretty typical scandal magazine For some insight into this magazine, check out this post on I love Icelandic Music.
I can’t even begin to guess what half of the articles are about as the pictures are mostly crazy. There seems to be something about an Idol show, there’s a female body builder, something about some wholesome looking people who may be called Icelandic Pearls. And then the centerfold is called Rokkorgia, which should be easily translated. It features half naked pictures of the guys from Trabant. The next page has Love Guru in strange positions with his lady friend and a big headline Bingo I Beinni. The back page has an ad for Krit Paradis Eyjahafsins which appears to be a nice resort. What a fun, odd addition to the Icelandic Issue of McSweeney’s.
Then as I was glancing through I caught something that said That 70s Show. And sure enough, it was a preview of a new episode tonight (is it dubbed into Icelandic??). So even though I played around with translating bits and pieces of the magazine, this was the only one I did fully. So in Icelandic (excluding some accents)
I kvold hefjast syningar a nyrri syrpu um unglingana i Wisconsin. Jackie þarf ad velja a milli Hyde of Kelso. Red er að ba ser eftir hjartaafall og Eric er með samviskubit yfir þvi að vera að fara i burtu i haskola. þokkadísin Estella Warren leikur gestahlutverk i þaettinum
Which Google tells me means:
Tonight begins exhibiting a new series about a teenager in Wisconsin. Jackie has to choose between Hyde of Kelso. Red is ba after a heart function and Eric is guilty not be going away to college. charm diesel Estella Warren plays a role in the show.
Cool huh? What a strange thing to find in a magazine that was not meant for me. But I’m glad I read it because now I know all about Trabant!
For ease of searching, I include, well, I’m only including the magazine, because there’s way too much otherwise: Sed og Heyrt.
SOUNDTRACK: The xx–Live at KEXP (July 25, 2012).
have casually seen The xx on a few shows and I’m intrigued by them. I’ve never really given their albums any time though, so I can’t say anything much about them.
My guess is, from what I know about Eggers, that story may have seemed too self-serving to include Or maybe it was just fun to cover up words with a picture.
I Just Read About That... 