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Archive for the ‘Sloan’ Category

Roberto Bolaño–“Mexican Manifesto” (New Yorker, April 22, 2013)

Posted in Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Laura Healy, Masturbation, Mikal Cronin, New Yorker, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Short Story, Sloan, Surreal, Translation on May 3, 2013| 1 Comment »

CV1_TNY_04_22_13Pearson.inddSOUNDTRACK: MIKAL CRONIN-MCII (2013).

mciiMikal Cronin has a very pleasant middle range voice—conventionally good.  Indeed, there’s nothing especially unique about this record.  But it is a great summer pop album.  Lots of great big choruses that are fun to sing along to.  And, Cronin is a talented multi-instumentalist.  I believe he plays everything on the record, although I’m not sure about that.

The album is 37 minutes.  The first song, “Weight” has a simple melody and is incredibly catchy. There’s a nice falsetto before the big loud guitar chorus kicks  in.  “Shout It Out” is another great pop song—big fuzzy guitars and a wonderfully catchy melody.   And I love how it gets mildly chaotic at the end.  “Am I Wrong” is a straightforward rocker, with more big crunchy guitars.  There’s a fun fiddly keyboard solo (with lots of flubs, which is kind of endearing).  This song (and several others) remind me of Sloan.

“See It My Way” has a shambolic feel to it, I can do without the oddball sax solo, but there’s something so oddball about it that I think it works in the end.  “Peace of Mind” has a nice harmony vocal on it that gives this simple song a fuller sound.    There’s an unexpected violin solo in here.  “Change” opens with a real grungy loud guitar which is quickly replaced by a  speedy drum over a simple, catchy verse.  And a speedy chorus.  There’s an interesting middle section with another violin solo (and some unusual squeaky violin noises as well).  “I’m Done Running From You” is a fun fast bit of pop with a rocking guitar solo.  And “Don’t Let Me Go” is a slow ballady type song (as much as one can be on a rocking record like this).  “Turn Away” brings the rock back, although “Piano Mantra” ends the disc with a solo piano intro.  But the song builds and builds into a rollicking violin-fueled conclusion.

I’d never heard of Mikal Cronin before, and when i first started listening to the disc I thought it was an okay pop punk album.  But the more I listened to it, the more I enjoyed it.  It’s still as simple pop punk album but it’s done so very well.  I’m going to have to check out his debut as well.

[READ: May 2, 2013] “Mexican Manifesto”

I love that stories from Roberto Bolaño keep popping up.  I realize that most of these have been published in Spanish somewhere, but it seems like even if we know that his next book is going to be all poetry (Unknown  University coming out in June), somehow there’s at least one short story in it (I assume it comes from here, where else would it have come from?).  So, since it seems like there’s a new Bolaño book out every six months, I assume that barrage will come to an end now.

Unknown University is, as far as I can tell, the last thing that will be translated by Bolaño.  Wikipedia suggests that there are four other titles that could be translated: A Lumpen Novella (which he completed but which has not been translated), Diorama, an unfinished novel, something being called Part 6 of 2666 (who knows what that means) and an early book that he cowrote Advice from a Morrison Disciple to a Joyce Fanatic which I would really like to read–the title is so intriguing–but who knows is it will ever find a translator.

But that’s got nothing to do with this short story.  This short story is about a couple who frequent steam baths. The narrator is the man, and the woman, Laura, I the more adventurous of the two.  She is the one who encourages them to go to the baths in the first place and, while he also thinks it is wonderful, it is she who wants them to explore as many different baths in the city as possible. (more…)

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Three: “Just Desserts” (2010)

Posted in Food, Graphic Novel, John Layman, Marriage Trouble, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rob Guillory, Sex, Sloan, The Doors, Violence, Yuck! on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-The Double Cross (2011).

Sloan never fail to make enjoyable punky pop songs.  Surely it has something to do with having four songwriters in the band (which must minimize clunkers).  I can never decide who my favorite songwriter of the group is as they all do fairly varied work.

“Follow the Leader” is a fast rocker (with a very cool guitar solo bit and a nice acoustic break in the middle).  While “The Answer Was You” is a bouncy piano-based song that starts out fast and then settles into one of the more recognizable Sloan voices (I wish I knew who was who–even after twenty years I have never quite determined who was singing what).  This song also has a great third part, minor keys and very dramatic structure.  It’s the first of several songs that hover around the 2 minute mark, as well.

“Unkind” is a simple guitar based song and man is it catchy, with a chorus that sticks with you.  “Shadow of Love” is a great fast rocker and even at only 2 minutes long it has several great parts.  “She’s Slowing Down Again” has some great bah bahs and a strong chorus.  “Green Gardens, Cold Montreal” actually slows things down, with a gentle acoustic ballad.  But it’s followed by one of their screaming punk tracks, “It’s Plain to See,” simply put, it’s two minutes of adrenaline.

The album changes somewhat with “Your Daddy Will Do,” a catchy disco song.  Yes, disco.  How else do you explain those keyboards riffs?  And man is it catchy.  “I Gotta Know” may be the stupidest song they’ve recorded yet.  How many times is the phrase “I gotta know” repeated in 82 seconds?  Still, you can’t deny how catchy it is.  “Beverly Terrace” returns to that cool pizzicato piano that they do so well.

“Traces” is the longest song (almost 5 minutes) and is one of the longer Sloan songs in general.  It feels like  an old classic rock song for many reasons (including Doors-y keyboards), and yet it doesn’t feel retro at all.  Neat trick, that.  The disc ends with “Laying So Low,” a piano ballad with a great catchy melody.  It slows the album to a nice ending.

12 songs in 33 minutes.  Multiple genres, multiple styles, multiple singers.  All of it wonderful.  Just an other typical Sloan album. Great jobs guys, here’s to twenty more years.

One word to yeprock records, though.  If you offer “free bonus” songs for purchasing their album, I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that the four bonus songs should not be one song each from their previous records.

[READ: December 29, 2011] Chew: Volume Three

We were quite excited to get this book–we were on the Hold list forever at the library.  So I’m surprised to see it came out back in 2010!  I assumed it was much newer than that.  I guess there’s a Volume Four out already (yes it came out, and they have just published issue 22 in single issues).  Volume three covers issues 10-15.

This mini-arc, as they call it, isn’t so much of an arc as a continuation of the awesome story line.

For those in the dark, read the first two posts.  But in a nutshell, Tony Chu is a Cibopath, which means that anything he tastes he knows the entire history of, be it vegetable, meat (ew) or, since he is a cop, human (bleagh, but hey it’s a comic book, right?).  His partner, John, is part machine now, having been practically blown up and then put back together.  And, as we start Chapter One (Issue #11), Tony is out on his first date with Amelia Mintz (alright, they got together!).  Amelia Mintz is a Saboscrivner which means she can write about food so wonderfully that you can literally taste it. (more…)

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Junot Díaz–“The Money” (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

Posted in AV Club, Billy Idol, Canadian Music, Essays, Gary Numan, Junot Díaz, Memoirs, New Yorker, Sloan on July 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-“Cars” (2011).

When Sloan went to the A.V. Club to record their cover, they were disappointed by the selection.  Of course, that’s the game, so suck it up Sloan.  But they decided to do Gary Numan’s “Cars.”

Now, I feel compelled  to say that Gary Numan’s “Cars” may be my least favorite song of all time (it’s very close to Billy Idol’s “Eyes without a Face”).  I understand that “Cars” was “groundbreaking” or whatever.  But gah, it is boring and monotonous and just awful (and I say that while admitting that I like Phillip Glass, so i know from monotonous).  While I will admit that the riff is pretty great, everything about the song, from the performance to its endlessness (it’s like 8 minutes long, right?) drives me nuts.

And that may be why I love this cover so much.  It keeps the riff but it adds music to it.  All of that horrible “one guy with a cheap keyboard” sound is taken away.  It’s replaced by a great full-sounding band bringing live joy to the song.  I love that the whiny keyboard is replaced by a guitar and that the drummer rocks the hell out of the ending.  I mean really rocks the hell out of it.  Well done, Sloan.  You’ve been a favorite for years, and you’ve now redeemed my most hated song.  I think Billy Idol just peaked on my list.

You can watch it here.

[READ: July 20, 2011] “The Money”

Junot Díaz’ story in the New Yorker’s Fiction Issue is also a Starting Out piece.  This story is about how his mother always sent money home to her family.  No matter how little money they had, she would always scrimp and save and stash away until she had a few hundred dollars to send every six moths or so.

From Diaz’ other work, we assume that he was not a model citizen as a youth, but even he knew not to tamper with his mother’s money.  (Stealing from her purse was one thing, but the wrath of stealing from the “to be sent money” was unfathomable).

Then one week when they go on vacation they return to see that their house has been robbed!  Some of Junot’s things were taken as well as the money.  The Money!   (more…)

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Grace O’Connell–“Noisemakers” (The Walrus, June 2011)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Funky Web Sites, Grace O'Connell, Marriage Trouble, Short Story, Sloan, The Walrus on June 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CBC Radio 3’s Sloan 20 Anniversary Podcast (2011).

2011 sees the 20th anniversary of Halifax’s Sloan.  I’ve liked Sloan since their first single, “Underwhelmed” broke through American radio (more like MTV’s 120 Minutes, I suppose) eighteen years ago.  The band’s profile faded in the US since then, but they have been producing steadily great albums over all of these years.

CDC Radio 3 has created a twenty year best of Sloan Podcast.  (And the band has all of their songs streaming online as well).

The Podcast has brief shoutouts from a bunch of fans (famous and non-) and a favorite selection from each of their nine albums (“Underwhelmed” is not included).  There were even a couple of tracks that I wasn’t familiar with (some seriously buried tracks from those early records).

Perhaps the funniest moment for me comes when the DJ admits that he didn’t know “Delivering Maybes” from Between the Bridges.  I was listening to that album just yesterday, and that’s one of my favorite tracks on the disc.  But really, they have so many great songs, it’s hard to choose.

Twenty years.  Good on ya, Sloan.  Looking forward to the new record The Double Cross.

[READ: June 2, 2011] “Noisemakers”

This story has a suprise appearance by a foley artist.  I love foley artists and am totally fascinated by them and would secretly love to be one.  So, even though the foley artist is almost drowned, I liked this story quite a bit.

It opens with Peter and his wife, Sarah, riding a boat in a lake. There’s some tension between them, but everything changes when she has to quickly turn the boat to avoid hitting something in the water.  It turns out to be a body.

The body happens to be of Lucy (the foley artist) who was Peter’s ex girlfriend.  Sarah hates Lucy (there is some background given about them and how Lucy seems to have been involved with Peter since he got married–but I feel like the given details are too vague to justify his current wife’s hatred of Lucy).  Sarah believes that Lucy being here is some kind of connection to Peter, but realilstically, they are quite far from their cabin, and she is floating in a lake…. (more…)

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Eveything’s Gone Green (2006) [movie written by Douglas Coupland]

Posted in Black Mountain, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Douglas Coupland, Drugs, FemBots, Jason Collett, JPod, Sloan on August 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

[WATCHED: August 26, 2010] Everything’s Gone Green

I’m including this film because it was written by Douglas Coupland (and he’s one of those writers that I read a lot).

Everything’s Gone Green is a story of suburban life in Vancouver.  As the film opens the main character gets dumped by his girlfriend and loses his job.  And he hasn’t won the lottery (this sequence with his family is hilarious).  However, calling the BC Win line (is this what you do when you win the lottery?) gets him a job at the BC lottery.  [This entire job and company absolutely fascinated me.  It was an excellent location for a film].

From there the movie settled into Douglas Coupland territory: scenes from Vancouver, working in a cubicle, scenes from Vancouver, unattainable love, scenes from Vancouver, the Asian community of BC, and more scenes from Vancouver.

We had recently watched the TV series of JPod (based on his book).  Steph Song from JPod is in this film (and it’s nice to see her with a different type of character).  But what’s surprising (or maybe it’s not?) is how much of this film he recycled into JPod (or actually, they seem to be written concurrently, so I’m not sure which came first). (more…)

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Wells Tower–“Meltdown” (Outside Magazine, April 2008)

Posted in Adventure, CBC Radio 3, Essays, Sloan, The Guthries, Travel, Wells Tower on July 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE GUTHRIES-“Coax Me” (2009).

I don’t know The Guthries, but I’m a huge Sloan fan.  This cover of “Coax Me” comes from a Sloan tribute album that I didn’t know existed called Take It In: A Tribute To Sloan. It turns out The Guthries released two albums in 1999/2000 and then broke up.  They reunited for this tribute.

It’s tough when a band that you’ve never heard of releases a cover of a song you particularly like.  Now, I love cover versions of songs, but I like a band to add something interesting to the cover.  I haven’t listened to any other Guthries songs, but this cover sounds enough like the original that I wouldn’t have really known it was a cover but for a few slight differences   Browsing through The Guthries CBC Radio 3 playlist, lets me know that they are a very country band.  It’s surprising how untwangy their cover is, then.  Even though I don’t like real country, I might have enjoyed the cover more if it had some more twang to it (just to make it interesting).

After listening to samples of other songs, I won’t bother with anything else by The Guthries.  The tribute album is made up of a bunch of up and coming bands so I don’t think I’ll bother with that one either.

[READ: June 25, 2010] “Meltdown”

Before I even begin this review, I have to say that Outdoor Magazine has one of the worst websites for reading articles.  Each “page” is a few inches long, which is fine. However, there is no “view all” page, so you can’t see the whole thing in one long swoop.  Okay that’s not the end of the world, but when you click their printer friendly version, not only does it not print the entire article, it prints the one page–the text is very small and the page includes all the other website ephemera with it.  Then when you click the next page, it opens up the previous main window, where you then have to reclick the Print icon to get it to print just that page.  If you return to the same print window that you already have open, even if it says it has moved to page three, you’re still printing page two. Dreadful!

Hot on the heels of “Own Goal” someone had recommended this Wells Tower piece as a better nonfiction essay.  And I have to agree.  I assume it is because the subject is a) personal to him and b) interesting to me. (more…)

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Madeleine Thien–”Su Na, Bird” (The Walrus, July/Aug 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, End of the World, Huron, Madeleine Thien, Nature, Neil Young, Short Story, Sloan, The Walrus, Thin Lizzy on June 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: HURON-“Corktown” (2010).

Huron‘s “Corktown” opens with a guitar riff that sounds like classic 70s rock (hello Thin Lizzy!).  But when the song kicks in for good, the verses are a light, jangly pop.  It makes for a really interesting mix of styles and it works really well.

Some of the other tracks include the screaming rock of “Big Dig” (which has chord progressions of Neil Young but sounds nothing like Neil Young).  It also features some wonderfully stupid fat bass sounds as the song nears its conclusion.  “Bloodfire” has another great guitar solo.  And the vocalist sounds an awful lot like one of the guys from Sloan (who knew Sloan could be so influential?)

Thanks CBC Radio 3 for introducing me to this great band.

[READ: June 15, 2010] “Sun Na, Bird”

This final piece is at the same time the bleakest and yet most hopeful story of the group.

It is the near future and in this suburban Canadian town, all the humans have fled, with no intention of returning (the TV is still on in the house where the story takes place). (more…)

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Stephen Marche–”A Few Acres of Snow” (The Walrus, July/August 2010)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Galaxie 500 (Canadian band), Short Story, Sloan, Stephen Marche, The Walrus on June 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GALAXIE 500-“Big Bang” (2006).

When I saw this band come up on CBC Radio 3, I thought, I didn’t know that Galaxie 500 were Canadian.  Well, they’re not.  At least the early 90’s band Galaxie 500 aren’t.  But THIS Galaxie 500 are from Montreal.

Now, I understand that there are a lot of bands with the same name.  It’s prettyinevitable as there’s only so many permutations of common words.  But “Galaxie 500?”  How could they not know there was another band with that name, especially as seminal an act as Galaxie 500 was?  So, what is their name?  A tribute?  I just don’t get it.

And so I was prepared to hate this band on principle. But then I heard the song.  It’s noisy, crazy, brash and ballsy.  It’s not exactly punk, it’s sort of a garage band with sound effects (in many places it sounds like the more raucous Sloan songs).

They also sing in French (which means they have more right to the spelling of Galaxie than the previous incarnation of the band).  Even though “Big Bang” comes from the top album Le Temps au Point Mort, I really enjoy this lower album cover more (and the songs from it (which you can hear on the band’s website) are also great.  As is the video (available there, too).

[READ: June 15, 2010] “A Few Acres of Snow”

This story starts out in reality and slowly shifts into a  more fanciful realm.  As it opens, a man arrives at a cabin. His intention is to write a book called One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Paintings To See Before You Die (I love the conceit of this, a sort of lazy man’s guide to touring the world).

He is isolated (which is what he wants), with no phone or contact with the outside word (or his family).  And then it starts snowing.  It snows harder and harder and plies up to his windows.  And then it goes higher still. (more…)

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Lisa Moore–“Water Eveywhere, 1982” (The Walrus, June 2009)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, History, Lisa Moore, Marriage (Happy), Moxy Fruvous, Short Story, Sloan, The Walrus, Weezer, Wikipedia on June 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

walrus juneSOUNDTRACK: MOXY FRÜVOUS-Thornhill (1999).

thornhillThe final “proper” Moxy Früvous disc is something of a return to the days of Wood (see, the cover art isn’t silly at all, and it’s a photo not a drawing). It’s not as dire and claustrophobic as Wood but it also doesn’t really have too many silly moments.

Unlike Wood,this disc feels very full, very robust.  My initial response was minor disappointment that it didn’t have many silly moments (except, perhaps “Splatter Splatter”).  And yet, after many listens I’ve concluded that it’s is one of their richest, most complex discs, and it’s very rewarding.

The opening song “Half as Much” is very full and sounds not unlike Canada’s own Sloan.  In fact, the whole disc sounds a bit more like Sloan than any other previous comparisons.  “You Can’t Be too Careful” has great full harmonies (and actually sounds a bit like Weezer (!)).  “I Will Hold On” is another great acoustic power song where they harmonize wonderfully.

“Earthquakes” is a silly rollicking song, (at least as rollicking as this disc can do).  “When She Talks” is almost too delicate for its own good, but the melody is really strong.

Then you get to the crazy song “Splatter Splatter.”  This song rocks. And it’s quite funny, with the noir guitar lines and the horror movie conceit. I want to hear it again and again and again.

“Independence Day” spins out a wonderful chorus after a somewhat uninspiring start.  And the ending track “My Poor Generation” is a great, winning song.  It’s a bit somber, but again, the full chorus redeems it.

Their albums tend to suffer from late-album mellowness.  And even if their songs are strong, the song placement tends to make you ignore those latter tracks.  But the albums are still really good.

Moxy Früvous are often described as a silly band, but their overall output belies that designation.  Rather, they were just a great band.

[READ: June 25, 2009] “Water Everywhere, 1982”

This story was a tough one for me.  It references a real event in Canadian history that I never heard of: the sinking of the Ocean Ranger, in 1982 (this Wikipedia article will fill you in on the history of the ship).

Helens’ husband was aboard the Ocean Ranger.  The story deals with her (in)ability to cope with the news. Not much “happens” in the story but it pays very great attention to grief and how a whole community is affected by tragedy.

The story is available here.

For easier searching I’m also adding this spelling: Moxy Fruvous.

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Ali Riley–“Hag” [excerpt] (The Walrus, May 2008)

Posted in Ali Riley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Creem, Funny (strange), Joni Mitchell, LGBTQ, Sloan, The Walrus on November 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-Parallel Play (2008).

I’ve enjoyed Sloan since my friend Al played me their first single “Underwhelmed” back in the 1990s.  Unlike Al, however, I have enjoyed them ever since.  In fact, a few of their discs rank up as my favorites of all time (Between the Bridges, in particular).

The one thing I have never been able to do, however, is keep track of who is who in the band and who writes/sings which songs.  I think if I were younger and had more free time I’d be all over keeping these things straight.  However, at this point, it’s not worth the effort.  Which is fine, as I can’t decide who is my favorite songwriter anyway.  Just when I’m sure that “Witches Wand” is my favorite track on the record, I remember “All I Am is All I’m Not” or “I’m Not a Kid Anymore” and I give up trying to decide which guy makes me happiest.

What’s interesting about this album is that (at least according to one interview) the four guys wrote and played each one of their songs by themselves.  There are 13 tracks which means they each got 3 songs and someone got a bonus track.  The joke of the title is that, much like 2 year-olds who play next to each other but don’t interact, this album was played by 4 friends who never interacted with each other.

So, you get 4 songwriters, playing the full spectrum of their ideas, but who are all still Sloan, and you get a wildly divergent album that retains the overall sound of the band.  It’s really tremendous.   This album is also under 40 minutes, so you get great hook-filled songs that come in, rock your world, and then leave.  It’s also hard for me to pick a favorite Sloan album at this point, because each one has so many good songs.  Their last album, Never Hear the End of It was a little too long at 70 minutes, but it was still full of fantastic songs (and I guess if you have 4 songwriters each contributing something you’d be hard pressed to create crap).

Sloan are back, and still producing great stuff.  Now, if anyone wants to tell me who is who, that would be terrific.

[READ: October 29, 2008] “Hag”

I didn’t realize this was an excerpt until the very end where it states that you can read an expanded version of the story here.  I thought the story seemed unfinished, so that makes sense.  Anyhow, this story won the 2007 Summer Literary Seminar.

This two page excerpt shows Lance and the narrator hitching a ride to Calgary.  The time is the mid 70s, as noted by Creem Magazine (I used to love that mag!), Joni Mitchell’s Hejira record and vinyl albums lovingly stored in plastic sleeves.  (more…)

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