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Archive for the ‘Hey Marseilles’ Category

Noelle Stevenson–Nimona (2015)

Posted in Graphic Novel, Hey Marseilles, Magic, Supernatural, The Decemberists, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on November 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nimonaSOUNDTRACK: HEY MARSEILLES-Tiny Desk Concert #85 (October 17, 2010).

heymaI knew Hey Marseilles from NPR’s coverage of the 2013 Newport Folk Festival.  But I guess I forgot what they sounded like because I wasn’t expecting this at all.

“Rio” opens with almost flamenco clapping and then the full band–accordion, bowed cello, trumpet, violin and guitar come forth (this must have been chamber music month at the Tiny Desk).  There’s a kind of shanty feel to the song.  The middle section has more clapping (and loud Hey Hey!s) and a trumpet solo (played with a mute).  It is super catchy.

“From a Terrace” starts out slowly, with strings.  It has a bit of a Decembersists feel in the vocal melody.  There’s a middle section with a wheezy accordion solo that transfers to a new section and then another rather jazzy muted trumpet solo.

“To Travels And Trunks” has a beautiful string melody to open.  It is a story song and it flows wonderfully.

[READ: July 25, 2015] Nimona

Sarah brought this book home although she didn’t remember what inspired her to get it.  I liked the look of it and was happy to read it before it had to go back.

The drawing style is quite compelling to me–quite unlike other comic books.  I also loved that the title character was a young girl with crazy hair and a body type that is not, shall we say, sexy and superheroy.  That was quite a nice change of pace.

The one thing I didn’t love about the book was the text.  It was hand written and, dare I admit my age, felt like very small print to me.  It was not an easy on the eyes read.  But maybe that made me focus on it more, because I really got into it.

The story begins in a fairly simple way.  Nimona, a young girl, goes to visit the villain Ballister Blackheart.  She says she is a fan of his work and wants to work with him.  He says no. Then she changes into a shark and he decides that she might be quite useful (I loved that chapter one was two pages).  In Chapter 2 Nimona proves to be a far more ruthless individual than Blackheart–changing his minor evil plans into a plan where the whole village is burnt to the ground.

And then we get a flashback.  In a joust we see Blackheart fighting against a pretty blond man named Ambrosious Goldenloin (the names are awesome).  Blackheart won, but Goldenloin, upon losing, somehow exploded Blackheart’s arm, rendering him incapable of being a knight and thus forcing him into a life of villainy.

And then story proceeds apace with Blackheart being the kind of villain who follows the “rules.”  “Killing solves nothing, Nimona.  It’s vulgar it’s messy.”  But Nimona wants no part of that.  She immediately slays a couple of guards and everyone is shocked.  Then she sets off the self destruct button and is apparently killed.

But of course she isn’t and her reveal is hilarious.  Blackheart wants to know more about her and her incredible powers and she tells a story about rescuing a witch.  Blackheart is dubious (“really, turn the six-year-old into a dragon, that was her idea?”).   The later scene where she shape shifts into him and mocks him “SSCCIEEEENCE” is very funny too–Stevenson gets a comic tone perfectly.

Then we look into the world of Goldenloin and the Institution and it turns out that they are a pretty corrupt organization.  They are working with jaderoot–a poisonous substance which they have banned.  So Blackheart decides to try to use this to his advantage (which involves an apple saleslady named Tabitha).

I loved that although the story seems medieval with knights and dragons, it is set in a slighty futuristic times with phone screen and pagers and such.  They even go to a science expo where a Dr Blitzmeyer has created a fascinating orb which glows of its own power (she is wonderfully clueless).

Since the Institution owns the media, Blackheart is in trouble for things that the Institution has done (the jaderoot).  And soon also the Institution is done with Goldenloin–he is too good for them and his services are no longer needed.  So he is de-knighted.  When Blackheart and Goldenloin briefly meet they have a chance to revisit their joust.

But in the meantime, the Institution has captured Nimona and she is angry (and much more powerful than anyone realized).

I really enjoyed this book a lot.  I loved that Blakcheart was actually a nice guy as a villain–that’s always an enjoyable premise.  I enjoyed the way this story escalated from a simple shape-shifting concept into this apocalyptic setting.  And I really enjoyed the underlying feelings between Blackheart and Goldenloin (whatever they may actually be).  The ending was really rather sweet.

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Michelle Tea–Mermaid in Chelsea Creek (2013)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Ben Gibbard, Birds, Death, Death Cab For Cutie, Fantasy, Funny (strange), Hey Marseilles, Magic, McSweeney's, Michelle Tea, Pigeons, Supernatural, Trilogy, Violence, YA Books on August 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

mermaSOUNDTRACK: HEY MARSEILLES-Live at the Newport Folk Festival (2013). 

heymar 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…)

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