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Archive for the ‘Les Claypool’ Category

Jaime Joyce–“Picnic in the Yard” (New Yorker, November 3, 2014)

Posted in Essays, Food, Jaime Joyce, Les Claypool, New Yorker, Oysterhead, Phish, Primus, Prison, Set at School, Stewart Copeland, Trey Anastasio on January 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nov3SOUNDTRACK: OYSTERHEAD-The Grand Pecking Order (2001).

oysterheadThis is a really fun album.  Despite the three big personalities here–Trey Anastasio, Steward Copeland, Les Claypool, they work so well together.  Some songs feel like Phish songs (Trey has a song or two that is just him), some feel like Les songs (ditto for Claypool), but you never feel like they are trying to outdo each other.  And of course Stewart Copeland plays his great drums all the way through.

Les and Trey share vocals on “Little Face” which features Phish sound effects and some great Les wild bass.  “Oz is Ever Floating” has jam feel–lots of soloing.  Unlike some of Les’ projects though, on many of the songs, like this one, his bass fits right in.  And the vocal harmonies from all three sound great in the chorus.

“Mr. Oysterhead” is a fun song with Les’ wild bass sounds.  This one feels kind of Primus like but with very different guitar sounds coming along.  This even has a big ol’ bass solo.  “Shadow of a Man is very Primus sounding–it was written entirely by Claypool and is primarily bass with some smattering of (wicked) guitars).  While “Radon Balloon” is a pretty acoustic number from Trey.  He sings gently (and if Les’ bass is there, it’s very subtle).

“Army’s on Ecstasy” has Les’ more cartoony voices, but some interesting jazz guitars and drums.  “Rubberneck Lions” is a fantastic song, one of the most Phish like songs on the disc (even if Les sings the first verse–it’s the chorus that screams Phish).  It’s got a rocking ending with great drums.  “Polka Dot Rose” has some fun group vocals at the end of the song.

“Birthday Boys” is another very Phish seeming song–very Trey influenced–some great guitar picking and subtle work from the other two guys.  It has a great chorus.  “Wield the Spade” seems like a goofy song that might be short (Trey repeating a few words as the song opens), but it proves to be one of the longer songs on the disc.  I gather it is about Ceausescu, and has Stewart Copeland doing all the lead vocal talking/shouting).

“Pseudo Suicide” has a big wild Primusy bass riff.  There’s a great jamming section in the middle, when Trey takes over vocals.  “Grand Pecking Order” is kind of a goofy Primus stomp while “Owner of the World” is a kind of catchy sing along to end this disc.

 There’s some really good songs on this disc and it works for fans of Phish and Primus.

[READ: January 20, 2014] “Picnic in the Yard”

This week’s issue of the New Yorker was its semi-annual food issue.  As such there were four food-related essays by writers who I’ve written about before.  The section was called “Rations.”

The final was by Jaime Joyce (there’s a name with literary aspirations, eh?).  The three essays so far have talked about food in medical school, the army and college. This one is about food in prison. (more…)

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Jess Row–“The Empties” (New Yorker, November 3, 2014)

Posted in Dystopia, End of the World, Faith No More, Fears, Fred Durst, Jess Row, Les Claypool, Martina Topley-Bird, Matt Stone, New Yorker, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Short Story, South Park, Stewart Copeland, Tom Morello, Tom Waits on January 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nov3SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-Antipop (1999).

This wasantipop the final album that Primus made before going on hiatus (ostensibly breaking up, but they did reunite a few years later).  I have distinct memories of buying this album and listening to it on the way home in the car.  I remember liking the songs but having the very distinct feeling that it didn’t really sound anything like Primus.  And that is still the case.

This album has a whole mess of guest producers and guitarists and critics seem to think that every song feels very different.  But I disagree.  It feels like a very heavy Les Claypool solo project.

About the album Claypool has said: “Antipop was the most difficult record we ever made, because there was a lot of tension between the three of us, and there was some doubt at the label as to whether we knew what the hell we were doing anymore… Primus sort of imploded.”  In the Primus book, Larry says that a few times he wondered why he was even there since there were so many other guitarists.  I noted that even though there were other guitarists, there were no extra bassists or drummers present, which is kind of shitty.

Producers include Fred Durst (!), Jim Martin (from Faith No More), Stewart Copeland (!), Matt Stone (!) and Tom Morello (from Rage Against the Machine) and Tom Waits.

Tom Morello features quite prominently on the disc, producing and playing on 3 tracks.  And on the songs he’s on, I feel like you can’t even hear Larry (if he’s on them at all).  Morello gets co-writing credit on the songs too, and they feel more like Rage songs than Primus songs–they are very heavy and very metal.  “Electric Uncle Sam” is certainly catchy and rocking.  I rather like it although it feels far more Morello than Claypool.  “Mama Didn’t Raise No Fool” also sounds quite Rage like to me.  There’s certainly Primus elements, but it feels very conventional–it’s again very aggressive with no sign or Ler.  “Power Mad” is Morello’s third song. It’s the least interesting song on the disc.

Matt Stone from South Park produced “Natural Joe.”  It feels quite like Primus–a bit heavier, perhaps tahn usual and with that now ever present slap bass.  The “son of a bitch-a” line seems like it might have had a Matt Stone influence.

Fred Durst produced “Lacquer Head” the album’s only single.  It is really catchy.  Durst says it was his idea for Primus to get more heavy (like in the old days) but this is much heavier than anything they had done.  I have to think that the “Keep on sniffing” section was Durst-influenced as it sounds kind of rap-metally.

“Dirty Drowning Man” was produced by Stewart Copeland and features Martina Topley-Bird on backing vocals.  The opening sounds very Primus, but the chorus is very conventional.  Martina barely registers on backing vocals, which is a shame.

Songs credited to just Primus are “The Antipop” which is also quite heavy and strangely catchy given the sentiments.  Perhaps the most unusual track on the disc is the 8 minute “Eclectic Electric” which has three parts.  The first is slow and quieter with a catchy/creepy verse.  Part 2 is much heavier, while Part 3 revisits part 1.  I do rather like it.  James Hetfield plays on it although I can’t tell where.  “Greet the Sacred Cow” has a funk bass part and a real Primus vibe.  It’s a quite a good song.  “The Ballad of Bodacious” seems like a Primus cover band from music to concept.  The final song they did was “The Final Voyage of the Liquid Sky.”  I love the crazy watery bass that opens the song.  The verses also have a real Primus feel.  And those choruses are unreasonably catchy.

The final song was produced by Tom Waits.  It doesn’t sound like Primus at all. Rather, it sounds like a big ol’ sea shanty  A perfect Tom Waits-ian song.  And it’s a really good song too.  You can definitely feel the Primus vibe though, even if it doesn’t really sound like a Primus song exactly.

There’s a bonus track, which is a cover of their song “The Heckler” from Suck on This.  This version is good (although not quite as good as the original version).  But it shows how far removed the new stuff is from their earliest recordings.  This also means that “Jellikit” is the only song from Suck that has not been played on another record.

So while I can see that many fans of Primus would hate this album, fans of heavy rock from the era should certainly check it out.  Les’ voice is heavier, more metal, and the guitars are pretty conventional.  And I still think there are some good songs here.

[READ: January 16, 2015] “The Empties”

This story is set after the end times (which happened in August 2015).  I enjoyed that in the story two characters argue over whether they are living in dystopian or postapocalyptic time.  The one guy argues that “dystopia means an imaginary place where everything’s exactly wrong and what we’re living in is a postapocalyptic prelapsarian kind of thing.”  Our narrator says they are both wrong because those two words pertain to stories and this is real life.

It has been two years since E.T. (End Times).  Very few people still bother to charge anything on the extant towers.  And most of the weak died in the first winter.  Our survivors are in Vermont which has brutal winters but also have wood burning stoves which she imagines many city folk do not have.

Our narrator has been writing in a journal that she received B.E.T. (Before End Times) and then one day she decides to go to the library (the only building still with a lock) to see if she can use the type writer to write a history of their lives since E.T. began.   The “librarian” is heavily armed and is frisking everyone who leaves–books are valuable commodity.  She says they don’t have any paper but that she is welcome to use the reverse side of her own novel (Shroud of the Hills by Matilda Barnstone copyright 2003) which she sent out to many places but never got a response. (more…)

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Paul La Farge–“Rosendale” (New Yorker, September 29, 2014)

Posted in Drugs, Golems, Henry Rollins, Les Claypool, Limbomaniacs, Mirv, New Yorker, Paul La Farge, Primus, Short Story on January 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

929SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL AND THE HOLY MACKEREL presents High Ball with the Devil (1996).

holy After making Tales from the Punch Bowl, Primus took a brief hiatus (again).  And in that time, Les made a solo album.  And it is a full solo album.  Les plays all of the instruments on the album.  There are some guests, especially on “Holy Mackerel” (the song that feels the most like a full song.  Mirv from Limbomaniacs plays on a few songs and Jay Lane plays drums on a few songs.  Joe Gore plays guitar on 2 songs and Charlie Hunter plays guitar on “Me and Chuck.”  Les is a decent player on the various instruments although the songs with the guests are more robust.

Les said he had a bunch of songs that he felt weren’t quite right for Primus.  And I can see what he means.  Because, while the voice and bass is unmistakably Primus the album doesn’t sound like Primus.

Having said that, “Running the Gauntlet” does sound like a ditty (1:36) that Primus might play between longer songs.  “Holy Mackerel” feels like it could be a Primus song, but not exactly–there’s something slightly different about it.

But really once you get to “Highball with the Devil” the disc takes on more of a solo feel with Les playing in different but established styles–things that just wouldn’t really work within Primus.  “Highball with the Devil” has a fun bass riff and simple guitars.  I really like it and you can see why he didn’t give it to Primus.  “Hendershot” is a kind of surf rock song (Mirv on guitar).  It’s really fun  “Calling Kyle” has some good music to it, but I don’t really like the vocal delivery.

“Rancor” is a faster song (only 1:22) with Les’ crazy vocals.  “Cohibas Esplenditos” features the electric bowed backsaw (from Mirv) and a cool guitar and bass riff.  “Delicate Tendrils” has a very heavy guitar sound and a simple bass riff.  It is the backing sound for a Henry Rollins story.  Rollins is recorded low in the mix, which makes his story sound more like mumbling and is therefore less effective.  The fact that it is the dark and violent Rollins, not the funny Rollins makes it seem too dark for Les, even if the music works for it.

“The Wakening” features Jay Lane on drums and is a simple slap bass funk song.  “Precipitation” and “George E. Porge” are both solid songs.  “El Sobrante Fortnight” is a fun story song with a good funk bass and Mirv’s cool guitars.  The disc ends with “Carolina Rig” which features Les playing one of his interesting riffs over a sample from a fishing show.

Despite the fact that the album cover makes it look like an entirely homemade (and done cheaply) affair, the quality of the recording and of the songs is quite high.  It’s a good way to see what else Les can do.

[READ: January 12, 2015] “Rosendale”

I had read a few things from La Farge before.  And in looking at my post about “Another Life” from 2012 I see that April P (the main character in this story) was a bartender in the previous story.

April P returns in this story as the main character–a girl who had worked as a bartender but has moved to Rosendale to get away from the busy life of Boston and to settle in as April P, writer. She is living with a woman named Dara.  Dara is a potter and, unhappily for April P, she is a very handsy (April P. is convinced that Dara wants her).

April has been writing a novel called The Bar Girl, but since she has moved to Rosendale, she can’t seem to focus on it.  Dara had invited her to work at the ceramics store, but she said no way.  Rather, she began working at a strip joint (her only friend, Jenny, works there and said it was easy money–and it is–it’s like moving around with no clothes on).  Dara greatly disapproves of course.

I loved the way the story was constructed.  After the first section (in which we learned all of the above) the next section begins: “But this is all background information.  The actual story of Rosendale begins on a rainy Monday evening in March.” (more…)

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Greg Prato–Primus: Over the Eletric Grapevine: Insight into Primus and the World of Les Claypool (2014)

Posted in 24-7 Spyz, Books about music, Buzz Osborne, Chuck D, Drinking, Drugs, Eugene Hutz, Fishbone, Geddy Lee, Greg Prato, Hank Williams III, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Limbomaniacs, Matt Stone, Metallica, Mike Watt, Muse, Oysterhead, Possessed, Primus, Sausage, South Park, Stewart Copeland, Tim Alexander, Tom Morello, Tom Waits, Trey Anastasio on January 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

primus bookSOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-Suck on This (1990).

primus suckThis was the disc that introduced me to Primus–it was on a beach vacation with my friends Al, Joe and Rad.  Al made this the soundtrack of the drive and, man, it was weird and crazy and super cool and by the end of that trip I was hooked.

Actually I was immediately hooked when the band opened this live disc with a rough version of Rush’s “YYZ” which then launched into “John the Fisherman.”  What do you make of this band and this weird song?  Stomping bass which is doing all of the lead stuff, with guitars that are just noises and craziness but which really work with what the bass is doing (once you listen a few times, anyway).  The drums are mammoth and very prog rock.  And then there’s Les’ voice–cartoony and unconventional–sometimes deep, sometime really silly, sounds that work perfectly with the storytelling lyrics.

The quality of this recording is pretty poor, although I find that it sounds a bit better on smaller, less “good” stereos, where Ler’s guitars don’t get lost so much in the bass.  Most of these songs have been re-recorded for later albums, so perhaps the newer versions sound cleaner to me.  [Groundhog’s Day, Frizzle Fry, John the Fisherman, Pudding Time and Harold of the Rocks on Frizzle Fry and Tommy the Cat on Sailing the Seas of Cheese].

The best songs on this disc have really catchy parts: “John the Fisherman” (most of it) or the insane fast bass and wild soloing section of “Groundhog’s Day.”  Sometimes it’s just when the noise stops and Les gets a line, like “It’s Just a Matter of Opinion” (in “The Heckler”).  Although the noise there is really catchy too–listen to what Ler is playing during the funky bass section–it’s wild and amazing.

Of course “Tommy the Cat” is a major standout from all three guys.

The only song that doesn’t really work for me is “Pressman” which seems a bit too long without a lot of resolution (although the end is pretty cool).  I often get “Jellikit” (the other song that didn’t make it to a studio album) in my head, whenever I think, Did you like it?  There’s even a drum solo from Herb the Ginseng Drummer in that song

What’s fun is that the audience is totally into it and they know most of the songs–anticipating lyrics and even singing along.  And this is where “We’re Primus and we suck.” comes from.  It was a shocking debut when it came out, and it’s still pretty unusual, although not as unusual as some of their later songs would be.

[READ: January 3, 2015] Primus

As I said above, I’ve been a fan of Primus since near the beginning of their existence.  And yet, for all of my enjoyment of them, I didn’t really know all that much about their origins.  I didn’t know that the original line up was Todd Huth and Jay Lane (guitars and drums), and that the three of them wrote the songs that appear on Suck on This and much of Frizzle Fry.  Ler had to learn these unusual parts (Ler took lessons with Joe Satriani and is much more accomplished than his lack of flashiness indicates) and did so wonderfully. I also didn’t know that Les and Kirk Hammet were in the same class in high school (and that he’s the reason Les picked up a bass in the first place, even though they never formally played together).

The book is constructed as a series of quotes from a vast assortment of people.  The “cast” is two pages long and includes current and former members of the band and management as well as fans like Trey Anastasio, Matthew Bellamy (from Muse), Geddy Lee, Chuck D, Eugene Hutz, Tom Morello, Buzz Osborne, Matt Stone, Mike Watt, Hank Williams III, guys from 24-7 Spyz, Fishbone, Limbomaniacs and even Linda Perry (!).

It opens with Les talking about his high school years.  And what’s amazing is how many people who were involved in Primus are friends from when he was a kid.  If they didn’t play together, they were involved with art or management or something.  We also get the origin story of Bob Cock, which answers many questions.

Les had formed Primate (legal dispute with the band The Primates made them become Primus) with Todd and Jay.  They toured a lot and were gaining a following, but Les was always looking for something more.  He even auditioned for Metallica after Cliff Burton died (Kirk thought it sounded great but I guess James didn’t). (more…)

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Edouard Levé–“Life in Three Houses” (Harper’s, April 2011)

Posted in Buckethead, Death, Edouard Levé, Excerpt, Fishing, Harper's, Jan Steyn, Les Claypool, Oysterhead, Primus, Suicide on May 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-5 Gallons of Diesel (DVD) (2005).

I’ve loved Primus for years.  And if you love Primus, chances are you love Les Claypool.  And Les Claypool has created and released music with all manner of bands since Primus broke up (they have since gotten back together and have planned a new release for July).  I don’t love all of his solo releases, but they all have something to commend them, and he’s made some great, unheralded music during those years.

This DVD covers the years from Sausage through to 2005.  At first I was pretty excited by the DVD.  The set opens with the off the wall video for Sausage’s “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” which is followed by a mercifully short “making of” video.

Then things started to go downhill somewhat.  The rest of the DVD is live, which is fine (Les live is a thing of beauty). It’s just that for many of the videos the quality is terrible.  The audio is also not ideal all the way through (that may have been my setup, but there were certainly songs that were much quieter than others).  Now I accept that there weren’t professional film crews out for Les Claypool’s Holy Mackerel tour, and that these videos are basically bootleg, but it  seems like they may have spruced them up a bit for the DVD.

Things change with the switch to Oysterhead.  I could have watched several songs from Oysterhead and I wonder why they chose only one.  This is a professional quality mix (although it is a little dark) and I have to say that the whole song is stolen by Trey Anastasio’s guitar thing.  It’s a guitar (called the MatterHorn) but during the verses of the song it appears to be a kind of theremin on the reverse side (with a full-sized antler sticking out of the bottom) .  He holds the thing upside down and waves at it to generate noise.  It was bewitching.

But Trey wasn’t the only one with a weird instrument. For the Frog Brigade set(s) on one of the songs, Les plays a “bass” which is just one string (called the Whamola). He hits it with a stick and changes the notes with a movable handle that he raises and lowers.  I’ve never seen anything like that, either.  Most of the Frog Brigade set is outside at a festival.  The lighting is good but the sound is awful.  In one song, the poor guy on percussion is banging away at various things and you simply cannot hear them.  Les also uses a secondary microphone (the Sandman–which has a great story behind it) but its volume is also quite low, which is a shame as you can’t hear him for quite a bit.

When Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains the setting is an odd one (they appear to be on a cruise(?)).  It’s basically two lengthy jams, which is fine.  Buckethead amazes with his skills.  But the Bernie on keyboards, I can’t tell if he was screwing up or messing around during his solos.

There’s two more songs attributed to just Les Claypool, and this version of “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” is especially neat because there is a sitar playing the majority of the riff.

The DVD extras are fun.  There’s a weird set from a band called 3 Guys Name Schmo which is 2 bassists and a drummer.  The other bassist is miked very loud and it’s hard to hear Les (imagine outbassing Les Claypool!).  Then there’s the second official video on the disc for “Buzzards of Green Hill” (very low budget).  This comes with a making of the video video and a making of the audio video.  Both are interesting and brief, giving tidbits of info without overwhelming us.

The final two items come from an actual TV show called Fly Fishing the World.  I don’t fish, so I never knew this show existed.  But sure enough, there’s our Les going to two separate locations and fishing on.  The best part is that they play lots of Primus music between fishing (probably the most Primus music ever played on non-music TV), and they interview him as well (I didn’t know he had such cute kids). Despite my not knowing the show or caring about fishing, I found the whole program enjoyable and fascinating (and they catch and release as well).  It’s well worth the time.

So overall, this is a mixed bag.  There’s not a lot of video of Les’ non-Primus music out there, so in that respect this is great.  I just wish the quality was better.

[READ: March 25, 2011] “Life in Three Houses”

This is an excerpt from Suicide.  The introduction states that days after delivering the manuscript of Suicide, Levé killed himself.  I suspect that that is the main reason that this story was published here.

It opens promisingly and very interestingly in the second person.  The story tells us that you set off to play tennis with your wife, but you backtrack and go into the basement where you shoot yourself.  Your wife finds you moments later but misses the clue you set out for her (that was handled very well).

The rest of the story (and there’s quite a lot) gets confusing.  First off because it stays in the second person (even after death) but it also goes into apparent flashbacks.  Even more confusing is the addition of an I as the narrator.  An I who knows “you” but who was not present for the suicide so how could he have all these details?

The book is being published by Dalkey Archive Press.  It’s possible that the excerpts do an injustice to the full book, but I fear that I will not be reading any more by this author.

It was translated by Jan Steyn.

For ease of searching I include: Leve

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Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010)

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Canadian Music, Christopher Hitchens, Concept Albums, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Geddy Lee, Hockey Night in Canada, Les Claypool, Neil Peart, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, South Park, William Faulkner on July 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: July 11, 2010] Beyond the Lighted Stage

I had heard about this film around the time that I read .  I was pretty excited about it, and then evidently everyone I know went to the TriBeCa Film Festival and saw it (except me).  And then everyone saw it on VH1 (except me), so I bought the DVD instead.

This film is really fantastic.  Obviously, it helps if you’re a Rush fan, but Geddy and Alex in particular are funny and interesting (even if they think they are boring).  And the film is expertly edited.  They cover 40 years of Rush’s history in 90 minutes.  This leads to a rather cursory look at their history, so the film doesn’t get mired in details, but there are tidbits of fun for die-hards. (more…)

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Chris Schweizer–Crogan’s Vengeance (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Chris Schweizer, Fishing, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Greed, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Oni Press, Pirates, Primus, YA Books on February 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Whales and Woe (2006).

Although I was a little disappointed with Of Fungi and Foe, I enjoyed it enough to want to track down Of Whales and Woe, since it seemed to be generally better received.  What’s interesting about this disc is that it sounds a lot like Primus, except that rather than guitar, other various instruments have been substituted to accompany Les’ bass.  And since one of the instruments is the saxophone, (and there’s no guitar) this album sounds (at times) like beloved Morphine (with a much funkier bass and completely un-sexy vocals).

On the first few listens, when I wasn’t listening very carefully, I really enjoyed the disc.  It reminded me a lot of Primus, although it had a lot of Les’ solo quirks.

However, once I started scrutinizing it a bit more, I found I didn’t enjoy it as much.  The first track, “Back Off Turkey” reminds me of some of the tracks on Fungi: wild and crazy sounding music but the vocals are so muddy it’s impossible to tell what’s up with the song.

On the opposite end from the Fungi-like bass heavy tracks, we have “Iowan Gal” a light -sounding and light-hearted romp about, well, an Iowan Gal. (There’s a lot of fun little quirks in there–Bow ditty bow bow).

And yet there’s some really great tracks on here: “One Better” is an amazing track, highlighting just how great Claypool is as a songwriter and arranger.  This song lasts pretty long but because there’s a lot of different things going on, it never overstays its welcome.

Most of the songs are stories about various bizarro characters.  And although I love Les’ characters, this turns into one of the downfalls of the disc.  In the great tradition of storytelling songs, the songs tend to be verses only with nary a chorus.  And that’s fine because most storytellers use the music as a background to accompany the story.  Les’ music is far too aggressive/innovative/interesting to be  background.  So when you get a great wild bassline, you’re attracted to it.  But when it lasts for 5 minutes with no changes, it’s exhausting.  And trying to listen to lyrics along with it is, well, I think your brain just shuts down (especially when they are recorded low in the mix and are hard to hear).  And so, the album feels a lot longer than it is.

Maybe I miss Ler’s amazing guitars.  I’m still unclear about why Primus has split, especially if Les is writing songs that are not unlike Primus.  Of course, having said all that, there is no denying the awesomeness of Les Claypool.  The funny thing is that even a reigned-in Claypool is still pretty out there.  I think maybe sometime he just goes too far out there.

[READ: February 7, 2010] Crogan’s Vengeance

When Sarah and I went to BEA, we spoke to the Oni Press guy who was praising this book, The Crogan Adventures, as a fantastic series aimed at teens, but really readable for the whole family. The premise is that the Crogan family (and there’s an extensive family tree on the back cover), all led exciting lives.  The stories about these men are being told to the youngest Crogan boy Eric, in present day.

This first book is about Catfoot Crogan, an honest sailor who was more or less forced into a life of piracy in the 1700s.  And the story is fantastic.  There is sailor talk, there is swashbuckling, a terrible storm, even a shark! (more…)

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Peter Kuper–Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico (2009)

Posted in Culture Shock, Foreign Books, History, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Mad Magazine, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars, Nature, Peter Kuper, Pig Hunt, Primus, Violence on February 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Fungi and Foe (2009).

Claypool was asked to score a video game called The Spore Wars and, at around the same time, to score a movie called Pig Hunt.  According to the liner notes of the disc, he used the templates that he made for the scores and fleshed them out to make this album.

This was the first Claypool solo album I’d bought in several years (since 2002’s Purple Onion).  I’d heard “Mushroom Men” on the radio and really liked it, so I decided to get the disc.  And I have to say overall I’m a little disappointed.

Now, I’ve been a Primus fan for years (I even saw them right after Suck on This) so I know what I’m getting with Les.  And yet, maybe I don’t anymore.  The disc is very percussion heavy, with lots of rather long songs.  And although I love long songs, I love long songs that aren’t the same thing for 6 or so minutes.  I also rather miss Claypool’s voice.  He doesn’t sing a lot of these songs in his typical falsetto.  There’s a lot of very deep voiced, rather processed sounding voices here (it works great on the muh muh muh muhshroom men, but not so great elsewhere).  Because when you combine that with the bass and percussion, it’ really hard to hear what he’s on about (and Claypool lyrics are half the fun).

Plus, we know that with Primus’ own brand of weirdness, a little goes a long way.  So, hearing the same bizarro riff for 4 minutes can be trying.

Despite the criticisms, the disc is good in small doses.  The first 4 tracks are all really solid.  But that 5th track, “What would George Martin Do?” just sucks all the life out of the disc.  The same goofy riff for 6 minutes with completely unintelligible lyrics.  Ouch.   But “You Can’t Tell Errol Anything” picks up the pace somewhat with a wonderful Tom Waits-ian soundtrack.  The addition of Eugene Hutz on insane wailing vocals brings a wonderful new level of dementia to the disc.

Throughout the disc there some amazing bass riffs (of course) and some really cool effects thrown onto the bass (and other instruments).  But the overall feel of the disc is just too samey.  I think the music would probably work really well as soundtrack music, but it lacks a little something by itself.

I’m not suggesting that Claypool needs to be more poppy, because that’s hardly it (although he does have an amazing gift for clever hooks), but it’s possible that he needs an editor.  Was that the role Ler played in Primus?  Who will ever know?

[READ: February 5, 2010] Diario de Oaxaca

Wa-HA-Ca (that’s how you pronounce Oaxaca (the first question I had)).

I ordered this book for our Spanish collection without really knowing what it was about.  When it arrived I had a hard time deciding where to catalog it…is it a graphic novel?  a biography?  It’s bilingual so does it even go in the Spanish collection, which has much less circulation than our English collection?  As I flipped though the book, it looked really cool, so I decided to just read it and figure it out for myself.

Peter Kuper is, among other things, the drawer of Mad Magazine’s Spy vs Spy since about 1997.  Sometime in 2006, Kuper decided to go on sabbatical from the politics of George W. Bush.  He and his family packed up and moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for two years.  While he was there, the city experienced a semi-annual teacher’s strike.  However, this particular strike turned bloody when the President of Oaxaca turned his soldiers against the strikers. (more…)

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Roy Blount Jr.–Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Posted in 180-G's, Books about writers, Carl Kasell, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Digression, Dip-in Books, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Les Claypool, Negativland, Peter Sagal, Poetry, Political Humor, Primus, Roberto Bolaño, Roy Blount Jr., Set at School, Set in New Jersey!, Smarty Pants, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, WRSU 88.7 FM--New Brunswick, NJ on May 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

juiceSOUNDTRACK: WRSU 89.7 FM.

wrsuComing straight out of Rutgers University in New Brunswick (my grad school alma mater), this was the first station that I happened upon while I was scanning the lower numbers on the radio station.

The brief set that I heard was amazing.

I heard the end of a song that I didn’t know, but which I found very intriguing. It was followed by Les Claypool’s new track “Mushroom Men” (which was wonderful) and then the 180-Gs doing an a capella rendition of Negativland’s “Christianity is Stupid.” I had heard about this band but never heard one of their recordings.  First, if you’ve never heard Negativland, then you’re missing out.  They are a surreal band of audio collagists, playing with sounds and samples and all kinds of weird things.  To have an a capella rendition of a five minute song, the bulk of which is a spoken loudspeakered voice saying “Christianity is Stupid” goes beyond bizarre into the sublime. I have tuned to this station from time to time and each DJ plays his or her own weird and often wonderful thing. What a great experience.

[READ: May 14, 2009] Alphabet Juice

My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas because she heard about it on NPR and thought I’d like it. And boy was she right.

waitI hadn’t heard of this book, although actually I’m sure I had–but I ignored it.  Roy Blount Jr is on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s news quiz, almost every week.   We love the show because it is funny and it tests your awareness of what’s going on in the world (both serious and ridiculous).  And we try our best to get our kids to let us listen to it each week.  (more…)

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