SOUNDTRACK: LAND LINES-Tiny Desk Concert #494 (December 11, 2015).
Land Lines are a trio from Denver. They have a drummer, a synth player and a cellist/lead singer. Although their music is pretty spare and simple, I find them really compelling.
On “Wreckage,” Martina Grbac plays the cello with her fingers, strumming chords on the neck of the instruments in a way I’ve not seen anyone play before. Grbac sings quietly and her voice–echoing and effects-laden–reminds me of someone from the 1990s, although I can’t exactly pinpoint it (maybe a Cocteau Twins vibe? but not quite). James Han plays really interesting chords and textures on the keyboard. Sometimes he adds melody lines, and other times, like at the end of this song, growing washes of sounds. Ross Harada’s percussion is also fun for the complex and different sounds he adds to the songs.
“Anniversary” has a similar vibe withe that cello chord playing. The opening keys play simple echoing notes which add a nice atmosphere to the acoustic chords and percussion.
For the final song, “Fall or Fall,” Grbac plays a rapidly bowed cello (which has such a different sound than the other songs). The bass is provided by the synth (a good sounding bass). I love the way her voice contrasts the keyboard chords. The chord progressions throughout the song are interesting and I really like the unexpected sounds that close out the song.
I’d never heard of Land Lines, but I liked this show enough to listen to it a bunch of times. I’ll have to check out their other songs as well.
[READ: July 9, 2016] The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978
I feel like this era is when I would have read Peanuts the most, although I have no recollection of any of these strips.
The covers of the books don’t necessarily depict who will be prominent in the collection, but Peppermint Patty on the front does equal a lot of Patty inside. While Peppermint Patty continues to do very poorly in school, she does get some witty remarks like “What was the author’s purpose in writing this story? Maybe he needed the money.”
We see a return of Truffles in January which also introduces Sally calling Linus her Sweet Babboo for the first time. “I’m not your Sweet Babboo!” Truffles is very excited to see Linus and vice versa but it kind of ends with unanswered questions because, in one of the first times this surreal gag was introduced, Snoopy flies in as a helicopter–a joke used many more times in the future–to sort of interrupt the whole saga.
Snoopy also pretends to be the Cheshire Cat a few times.
It has been a while since Linus has built anything outstanding (something he used to do a lot as a precocious child). Well, in Feb 1977 he builds a snowman of Washington crossing the Delaware (to show up Lucy’s George Washington snowman with a little sword). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 