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Archive for the ‘Pink Floyd’ Category

McSweeney’s #4 [Timothy McSweeney’s Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying] (Late Winter, 2000)

Posted in 19th Century, Amy Fusselman, Ben Miller, Christopher P. Riley-Zaleniev, Colin Meloy, Corporate skewering, Dee Dee Myers, Denis Johnson, Digression, Dreams, Edgar Allan Poe, Essays, Fables, Flash Fiction, Franz Kafka, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, J. Robert Lennon, Johannes Vermeer, Jonathan Lethem, Joshua Bearman, Joshuah Bearman, Jules Verne, Katherine Anne Porter, Lawrence Weschler, LGBTQ, Lydia Davis, Marcy Dermansky, Margaret Keane, McSweeney's, Meta, Orson Welles, Paul Collins, Paul Debraski, Paul Maliszewski, Pink Floyd, Postmoderism, Rachel Cohen, Rick Moody, Sarah Vowell, Sean Wilsey, Sheila Heti, Sherwood Anderson, Short Story, The Decemberists, The Smiths, Vladimir Nabokov, Walter Keane, Wikipedia, Willa Cather, Wislawa Szymborska on May 29, 2009| 5 Comments »

scan0014SOUNDTRACK: COLIN MELOY-Colin Meloy Sings Live! (2008).

colinColin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the Decemberists.  This is a recording of Meloy’s solo acoustic tour from 2006.  The recording is from several venues on the tour, although it is mixed as if it were one concert.

Meloy is a great frontman, and this translates perfectly into the solo atmosphere.  He is completely at ease, telling stories, bantering with the crowd, and generally having a very good time.

The set list includes some popular Decemberists songs as well as a track from Meloy’s first band Tarkio (whom I have never heard, but figure I’ll get their CD someday).  Meloy also adds a couple of covers, as well as snippets of songs added to his own (Pink Floyd’s “Fearless” gets a couple of bars, as well as a verse from The Smiths’ “Ask.”)

This disc is not going to win anyone over to the Decemberists, as Meloy’s distinctive voice is a love it or hate it deal.  However, if you’re on the fence about them, hearing these songs solo can only convince you of what great songs they are.  The Decemberists add a lot of arrangements to their songs.  You get a lot of interesting and unusual instruments.  Which I like a great deal.  But to hear that these songs sound great with just an acoustic guitar is testament to Meloy’s songwriting.

The intimacy of the venues also really lets these songs shine.

[READ: May 29, 2009] McSweeney’s #4

This is the first time that McSweeney’s showed that it might be something a little different. #4 came, not as paperback book, but as a box full of 14 small, stapled booklets. Each book (save two, and more on those later) contains a complete story or non-fiction piece.

There is something strangely liberating about reading the stories in this format. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to finish a book and put it down, so having 14 makes it seem like I’ve accomplished a lot.
This was also the first issue that I’m certain I didn’t read when it originally came out, for whatever reason. So, it’s all new to me.

DIGRESSION: When I was looking up publications for my Wikipedia page about McSweeney’s publications, I kept encountering records for these individual booklets.  This was rather confusing as I couldn’t find any other records or ISBNs for these booklets.  Rest assured they are all collected here. (more…)

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Frank Buckland–Curious Men: Being a Collection of Freaks, Frauds, and Fine Fellows. Gathered by an Eminent Victorian (1830-1838) [THE COLLINS LIBRARY No. 6 (2008)]

Posted in 19th Century, Dip-in Books, Frank Buckland, Freaks, Funny (strange), Led Zeppelin, McSweeney's, Oddities, Paul Collins, Pink Floyd, Short Books, The Collins Library, The Flaming Lips on January 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

curiousSOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Telepathic Surgery (1989).

telepathicAlthough the overall sound of the Lips on this disc isn’t that much different, the band sounds more accomplished. Rather than just banging out songs in a garage, this one sounds like a bunch of guys banging out songs in a studio and then experimenting the hell out of them.  In fact, the experimentation often takes over the quality of the song itself.  Wikipedia states that this album was originally going to be released as a thirty minute sound collage, although that was modified to what we now have, and that makes some sense.  This experimentation will certainly pay off in later years as the Lips hone their studio skills.

Even though the experiments tend to overshadow the songs, the compositions are more intricate, the playing is more precise (even though it is still somewhat sloppy sounding) and they sound like a real band.

The album is a lot of fun, although the middle two tracks: “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory” and “UFO Story”could easily be removed and made a separate EP.   (And yes, I realize that “Hell’s Angels” is a bonus track not on the original LP, but it really messes with the flow when dropped in the middle of the disc).

But back to the beginning.  “Right Now” has a great, weird squeaky opening riff and a fantastic chorus that is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine.” “Chrome Plated Suicide” is a surprisingly poppy song, drenched in distortion to give it anice edge.  “Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon” is subtitled “(Fuck Led Zeppelin)” which is pretty funny since so many of their earlier songs sound so Led Zeppelinish.

There are two super-short pieces that fill up the disc: “Michael Time to Wake Up” is a thirty second feedback squall and “The Spontaneous Combustion of John” is 53 seconds but is an actual song song, with acoustic guitars.  “UFO Story” is in fact a 6 and a half minute spoken word story about UFOs.  It’s a mellow drony piece with a barely audible (presumably stoned) Wayne relating a tale about seeing the same UFOs on two distinct occasions.  The middle two minutes are basically just  guitar squalling feedback, and the  final the two are a pretty piano melody.  “Miracle on 42 Street” isgentle instrumental, with a lot of cool bass, that opens with some fun radio snippets.

The second “side” of the disc is pretty different from the first. It contains a series of rather short, rather simple songs.  The experimentation has also mellowed somewhat.  It’s not as crazy as the first half and, in fact is a return to the acid rock of the first two albums.  “The Last Drop of Morning Dew” is another short song although it’s not silly.  “Shaved Gorilla” begins with a classical sample (which I cannot place), and then turns into a tidy little rocker.  And the disc ends with the wonderfully titled “Begs and Achin,'” a solid distortion filled rocker.

Two bonus tracks come on the disc “Fryin Up” (on Easter Sunday, blowing off everything off on Monday…hee). Doesn’t sound out of place on the disc at all.And “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory” is a 23 minute (!) instrumental freak out. It opens with the roar of motorcycles and includes reversed tape loops and distortion, blessed distortion.  As a track it works pretty well, although, as I said, in the middle of a disc it’s a bit of a distraction.  On the reissue Finally, The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid the song is reduced to 3 minutes, which gives you a taste for it without taking up the bulk of your evening.

Overall, the album is a transitional step, but it’s an important one.  And if you like your music freaky, it’s an enjoyable one, too.

[READ: January 15, 2008] Curious Men

This is a collection of articles originally published in the 1830s.  The subject is, essentially, human oddities.  Buckland was a sort of collector of oddities.  Yet unlike P.T. Barnum, he seems to have befriended, rather than exploited many of the people in question.  In fact, this collection of articles shows him investigating some of these bizarre claims, and seeing if they need to be debunked. (more…)

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Adam Gopnik–“The Real Work” (New Yorker, March 17, 2008)

Posted in Adam Gopnik, Alex Stone, Arrested Development, Bullshit!, Essays, Harper's, Illusion, Led Zeppelin, Magic, Magicians, Matt Pinfield, New Yorker, Paul Quarrington, Penn & Teller, Pink Floyd, Plasmatics, Radio, Set in New Jersey!, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, WRXP 101.9 FM--New York on August 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WRXP, 101.9 FM, New York City (45 days later).

The past two weeks I have been listening to this station more because I have been doing work in the garage (building a chicken coop).  Without going into my neurotic music listening, I’ll just say that I listen to the radio rather than CDs when I do noisy work.  And so, WRXP.

I haven’t listened that much since my last post, but the most dramatic difference to me is that they seem to have real commercials now.  Wal-Mart seemed to be advertised a lot, and there were one or two other name brand items (with effective ads obviously).  They still have all of those weird ads for services rather than products (in fact if you need full term life insurance, just listen in for 20 minutes and you’ll hear that one).  But I guess they must be doing well if the real companies are showing up.

They still play way too many commercials.  But heck, that’s commercial radio for you.

They also seem to rely a lot on a few bands that surprise me: Dave Matthews in particular.  I’m not a big fan of his, so I’m surprised to hear him so much; however, overall I think their selection is quite good.  They seem to be off Pink Floyd and on to Zeppelin now, which, frankly would be a neat idea for this station: pick a classic rock artist that you will overplay for a week, and then move on.   What a cool thing: you could do all kinds of back catalog stuff, and less popular songs and then, just as people got sick of them, switch to someone else, and repeat.  Genius!

Anyhow, the other thing I wanted to mention is that the only person with any credibility to ever be on MTV, Matt Pinfield, is a morning DJ on the station.  He and his co-jock do a bit too much DJ banter for my liking, but mostly he’s just a dude who loves music and will tell you more or less fascinating stories about whoever he’s going to play, and then play good stuff.  I heard a fun interview with Supergrass the other morning, which was good.  Pinfield also knows his music enough to ask good questions and still be fun.

Hilariously, he also committed the hilarious gaffe that I used to commit in high school: pronouncing the Police album: “Outlandos DE Amoor” rather than the more accurate Outlandos Damoor (surely he must know that by NOW).  (Like pronouncing the Plasmatics album COOP DE AY-TAT, rather then Coo DAY TAH (I’m guilty of that too).  And, I found out that he grew up in East Brunswick, NJ, merely a few miles from where I now work.  So, Matt, if you ever used the North Brunswick Library, well, you should come back and see how nice we look now.

[READ: August 13, 2008] “The Real Work”

This piece was recommended by two people who commented on my post about Alex Stone in Harper‘s Magazine. They both said that this was a far better, far more appreciative article about magic.  And they were right.  I won’t really compare it to Stone’s except to say that Stone’s piece (whatever his credibility may be) was designed as a suspenseful tale following the events and the winner of “The Magic Olympics.” He also gave away some secrets to some of the tricks he did and saw there.

Gopnik’s piece is more of a loving appreciation for magicians and their work. (more…)

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Corey Sutherland Lewis (The Rey)–Peng (2005)

Posted in Corey Sutherland Lewis (The Rey), Digression, Graphic Novel, Live, NPR/PRI/PBS, Oni Press, Pink Floyd, Sirius Radio, Sports, Supernatural, The Stone Roses, TiVo, WRXP 101.9 FM--New York on June 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK–WRXP, 101.9, New York City

Since I’ve been talking about Sirius radio, I also wanted to mention this excellent station that was just added to our local lineup. WXRP 101.9 used to be smooth jazz. Then when they realized that people like rock, they went to this new format. It is something of a mix of classic rock and alternative (not heavy alternative, but 80s and 90s style alternative music). It is the only place (aside from my CD changer) where you could hear The Stone Roses, Live, and Pink Floyd back to back. I had the radio on the other day while I was working in the garage, and I couldn’t get over how much I enjoyed this station. It was actually a better collection of music than anything on Sirius (whose stations are actually too narrow to do this mix).

Of course, there were commercials…a lot of commercials. We’ve been living commercial free basically since we got TiVo and we listen to NPR radio stations (even 88.5 WXPN Philadelphia, a fantastic radio station in its own right is commercial free). So, it’s always a shock to hear radio commercials (they are just so terrible). What was especially weird about WRXP’s commercials is that there weren’t for the radio staples: cars and beer. All of the commercials seemed to be about debt consolidation, online dating, and free laptops:services rather than products. How weird. So, in a nutshell: great great great radio station guys. I guess I’ll put up with the commercials. (more…)

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Benjamin Percy–“April 20, 2008” (Esquire, May 2008)

Posted in Badly Drawn Boy, Benjamin Percy, Digression, Esquire, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Tanakh, Tindersticks, Tom Waits, Wikipedia on May 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TANAKH-Tanakh (2004) & Ardent Fevers (2006).

Tanakh are part of the whole Montreal subculture that I really like. Even though Jesse Poe, the founder lives and records in Virginia, somehow he got involved with the Quebeckers. They release CDs on the venerable Constellation and Alien8Records labels. They also released two CDs in relatively quick succession. The reason I didn’t give any prelude about the band as a whole is because these two discs are so different that it wouldn’t be worth it.

Tanakh. This is a two disc set. It contains 2 songs. One is about 58 minutes the other is about 28 minutes. Each song is a long (obviously) improvisational piece. There’s about ten people involved in the recording, and while there are some clear traditional instruments involved: guitar, bass, drums) there are also scores and scores of ambient noises, non ambient noises (at one point I’m pretty sure you can hear duct tape being pulled off the roll). And on and on. Whether or not this type of thing is your cup of tea will determine your tolerance for it.

The 58 minute piece starts with a two note motif that fades away and returns. It reminds me in some ways of the early 70’s Pink Floyd side-long pieces which start off as songs and then have freak outs in the middle and then return to the motif. The big difference of course is that Tanakh’s freak outs are more noise than music. The 28 minute song had less of that wild improv in the middle, and I think is the more satisfying of the two. Of course, it’s pretty hard for me to listen to a 58 minute song straight through, as my commute is only 30 minutes, so some of the momentum gets lost.

In the past, Tanakh records were a little less willful, and, as it turns out, so they are in the future.

Ardent Fevers. This record is a stunningly beautiful collection of songs. It is so radically different from the self titled album that it’s hard to believe the same people were responsible. The liner notes for this album are from a fan who says he listened to this album and this album alone for several weeks on a long trip, and I can totally see that. I had listened to it a number of times and really enjoyed it. When I re-listened to it the other day I couldn’t believe how good it all sounded. It was as if it had aged well while put away. The melodies seemed stronger, the pieces more catchy, everything about it is great.

But what does it sound like, you ask. Despite the darker nature of the songs, they exude a calming effect somehow. They contain, usually, a nice strong riff, sometimes accompanied by horns, often with a repeated and hard to ignore motif. The songs build and build, yet never reach a fury or even a major crescendo. And despite this, the songs never feel like they are unfinished. They just build in strength until they stop.

Jesse Poe’s voice is a soft, low, almost-speak. Comparisons are not too useful–although he sounds so much like one singer who I just cannot place–but perhaps, like a sweeter Tom Waits, or a less depressed Tindersticks. The overall feeling of the album is kind of dark, yet there are all of these uplifting moments (like the horns or a great surge of acoustic guitars) that lift you out of the gloom. I hate to sound so fawning about this record, and yet I think it’s a really great piece. (more…)

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Terry Pratchett–The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld (2007)

Posted in Adventure, Coheed & Cambria, Dip-in Books, Discworld, Dream Theater, End of the World, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), My Chemical Romance, Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd, Queensrÿche, Rush, Terry Pratchett on March 5, 2008| 2 Comments »

terry.jpgSOUNDTRACK: COHEED & CAMBRIA-Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness (2005).

coheed.jpgFor reasons I’m unclear about, I had the completely wrong perception of what this band would be like. I had read a few things and heard from a few people some differing stories. I decided to check them out based on this input, and I decided, against my anal retentivity, to get Part IV of their five part collection. (This is because it was really cheap on Amazon).

So, given this, I don’t know what C&C sounds like on the first records, and maybe they sounded more like what I assumed they would sound like. And, frankly, given the images that the album comes with, coheed2.jpg one would tend to think that deep dark heavy metal is contained within. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was in for a heavier sort of Dream Theater. The imagery of this collection is very dark/scary/spooky, and I was told many times that the band was quite prog-rockish, often sounding like Rush. Oh, and the singer sounds like a woman.

Imagine my surprise then to play the CD and (ignoring the opening string intro which doesn’t signify anything anymore) hear a whole bunch of relatively short, really pretty, uncomplicated songs. There are a number of tracks on this that could be huge hits. As I listened some more, I realized what I thought the band sounded like…they sounded like Queensryche. In fact, they sound like any number of 80s metal bands. It was really weird and unsettling to have my expectations totally blown.

The first 11 songs are, for the most part, short, uncomplicated songs. They have beautiful melodies, and yet often have very disturbingly violent lyrics. (In what practically sounds like a lullaby–“I’ll do anything for you; kill anyone for you.”) There’s an awful lot of killing and threatening and the like going on here. And, yes, the singer can sound like a woman. Evidently this killing and violence is rampant through the sequence of discs, and there is some kind of “story” that explains it. But I didn’t really read closely enough to decipher it.

It’s not until track 12 the indicatively titled: “Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End” that the prog stuff kicks in. Now we have some seven minute songs, we have some complex riffing going on and an occasional time change. There’s also call backs to earlier sections of the album. This was certainly more of what I was expecting, although, indeed, it’s still not THAT heavy. Some of the tracks so resemble Rush’s proggy heyday. Most unusual for me was that the long meandering guitar solo on the very last song “The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut” sounded like it could have fit perfectly as the long, meandering guitar solo in Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.” Go ahead, listen for it, I’ll give you fifteen minutes.

The first time I listened to this disc, I really didn’t like it because it wasn’t anything like what I expected. On my second and third listens I started to enjoy it a lot more. I started to really groove to the songs. I also subsequently read a description of the album on allmusic to see if I was crazy, and indeed, I was not. They say that the band is very emo in an 80’s metal sort of way. And, I totally agree. They mentioned Queensryche as well (although they say Operation Mindcrime and I say Rage for Order) and as soon as I saw the “emo” tag, I thought about My Chemical Romance as a recent soundalike band.

As for the content of the epic, I have no idea what’s going on. I haven’t been able to read the lyric sheet yet (as I listen in the car) and I know I am coming way in the middle of this whole thing, so I know that I’m missing boatloads of information. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it enough to seek out some other parts just to see what the whole thing is about.

It’s nice when an unexpected surprise turns pleasant.

[DIGRESSION: BACKSTORY:] When I was 12 my sainted Aunt Lil and I used to travel from our little ‘burb of Hawthorne, all the way to the Willowbrook mall in Wayne by bus. A transfer in Paterson was required, and retrospectively, I am amazed that this little old lady traveled all that way, and made an exchange in a fairly “bad” neighborhood all the time. Once in a while I would go with her and we’d make a day of it. My “reward” for going was that I’d get a record or two. (more…)

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Cory Doctorow–“Scroogled” (Radar, October 2007)

Posted in Corporate skewering, Cory Doctorow, Dystopia, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Technology on September 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »

radar_magazine_cover.jpgSOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-Atom Heart Mother (1970).

c834131hbdw.jpgI decided it was time to review an old album, just to mix it up with all the new stuff I’ve been listening to lately. And, so I went deep into the well, and pulled out Atom Heart Mother. Back in high school, we used to sit around and profoundly discuss music and TV, (but not books, see how times have changed!). Anyhow, turns out one of my friends’ brothers was a big Pink Floyd fan (as was I) and so my friend, although not a big Pink Floyd fan himself, knew enough to discuss them.

This album was always my go-to for an amusing conversation because he declared it was SDI–seriously drug influenced, his highest negative rating. I mean, duh, the cover features a cow’s butt! (more…)

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George Saunders–In Persuasion Nation (2006)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Dystopia, Esquire, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Harper's, Luther Wright & The Wrongs, McSweeney's, New Yorker, Pink Floyd, Robson Arms, Sarah Harmer on August 31, 2007| 1 Comment »

persuasion.jpgSOUNDTRACK: LUTHER WRIGHT AND THE WRONGS-Rebuild the Wall (2001).

wright.jpgI first heard Luther Wright on an episode of Robson Arms, a weird, funny show on CTV in Canada. They were playing “Broken Fucking Heart” a fabulous country-punk song. So, I had to find out more about this guy, and it turns out he did a country-punk, but mostly country, version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. It was with much trepidation that I dared into this most unusual of covers, because I don’t really care for country, particularly, shudder, new country. But, wow am I glad I did.

It’s hard to know even where to start, but it is amazing how well the songs translate into a country motif. I’ve loved Pink Floyd’s The Wall ever since it came out. I have very fond memories of reading the lyrics on the record sleeve when I bought it back in 1979, sitting in the back of my mom’s car as she drove myself and my aunt back from the mall. And, I have a fond memory of the resurgence that it had for me in college when evidently every angsty boy in my dorm felt the need to play it ritually.

I was prepared for the worst, but I never had any regrets of this cover version. I’ve even played it to friends who’ve thought it was really good as well. It all sounds like a joke, but the musicianship is top-notch (Sarah Harmer is back with great backing vocals), and the appreciation of the original is evident from the start. I encourage you to track down this album if you like the original. Give Luther some of your cash!

[READ: August 20, 2007] In Persuasion Nation.

This completes my recent spate of books that I read about somewhere, and can’t remember where. I maintain that it was in The Week by a former Simpsons’ writer, but I have to wait about a month before that issue gets online so I can confirm it (boo!). At any rate, I was led to believe that this was going to be a book of funny essays. And, well, it’s not. It skewers contemporary society, and it has moments that are definitely funny in a hmmmm, sort of way, but laugh-out-loud funny this is not. (more…)

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