SOUNDTRACK: DO MAKE SAY THINK-Other Truths [CST062] (2009).
I’ve always enjoyed Do Make Say Think’s CDs. They play instrumentals that are always intriguing and which never get dull.
But this CD far exceeds anything they have done so far (and they’ve done some great work). There are only four tracks, and they range from 8 to 12 minutes long. Each track is named for a word in the band’s name: Do, Make, Say, Think. And each one is a fully realized mini epic.
“Do” sounds like a gorgeous Mogwai track. While “Make” has wonderfully diverse elements: a cool percussion midsection and a horn-fueled end section that works perfectly with the maniacal drumming. “Say” is another Mogwai-like exploration, although it is nicely complemented by horns. It also ends with a slow jazzy section that works in context but is somewhat unexpected. Finally, “Think” closes the disc with a delightful denouement. It’s the slowest (and shortest) track, and it shows that even slowing down their instrumentals doesn’t make them dull.
It’s a fantastic record from start to finish. This is hands down my favorite Constellation release in quite some time.
[READ: December 2009 – January 13, 2010] McSweeney’s #33.
The ever-evolving McSweeney’s has set out to do the unlikely: they printed Issue #33 as a Sunday Newspaper. It is called The San Francisco Panorama and, indeed, it is just like a huge Sunday newspaper. It has real news in (it is meant to be current as of December 7, 2009). As well as a Sports section, a magazine section and even comics!
[DIGRESSION] I stopped reading newspapers quite some time ago. I worked for one in college and have long been aware that the news is just something to fill the space between ads. I do like newspapers in theory, and certainly hope they don’t all go away but print issues are a dying breed. When I think about the waste that accompanies a newspaper, I’m horrified. Sarah and I even did a Sunday New York Times subscription for a while, but there were half a dozen sections that we would simply discard unopened. And, realistically that’s understandable. Given how long it took me to read all of the Panorama, if you actually tried to read the whole Sunday paper, you’d be finished the following Sunday (or even two Sundays later).
Their lofty goal here was to show what print journalism can still do. And with that I concur heartily. Even if I don’t read the newspaper, the newspapers as entities are worth saving. Because it is pretty much only print journalism that finds real, honest to God, worthy news stories. TV news is a joke. There is virtually nothing of value on network TV. Fox News is beyond a joke. CNBC is sad (although Rachel Maddow is awesome!) and even CNN, the originator of all of this 24 hour news nonsense still can’t fill their airtime with non-sensationalized news.
Obviously, there are some decent internet sites, but for the most part they don’t have the budget to support real news investigation. You either get sensationalized crap like Drudge or rebroadcasts of real news.
So, print is the last bastion of news. And you can see that in journalistic pieces in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Walrus, Prospect and, yes, in newspapers.
But enough. What about THIS newspaper? Oh and unlike other McSweeney’s reviews I’ve done, there is NO WAY that I am writing a thorough comment on everything in here. There’s just way too much. Plus, there are many sections that are just news blurbs. Larger articles and familiar authors will be addressed, however. [UPDATE: January 18]: If, however, like Alia Malek below, you bring it to my attention that I’ve left you out (or gotten something wrong!) drop me a line, and I’ll correct things.
There is in fact a Panorama Information Pamphlet which answers a lot of basic questions, like why, how and how often (just this once, they promise!). There’s also a Numbers section which details the size, scope and cost of making this (it shows that with an initial start up, anyone could make a newspaper if they talked enough about what the readers were interested in). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Journey Volume 1: The Beginning (2009).
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Nightline Sessions (1998).
This is a fascinating document for any Rheostatics fan. I wound up buying it at the same time as Double Live, even though I couldn’t tell exactly what it was because it was really cheap.
SOUNDTRACK: KISS-KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol. 1: 1974-1977 DVD (2006).
I have just received a used copy of this DVD set and I’m delighted with it. It made me wonder why I never got it in the first place. And a little investigation led me to this realization: Kiss released this (and two other) box sets with a different bonus disc depending on which location you bought it from. So, if you wanted all three bonus discs you had to get three complete sets. I knew that Gene Simmons was a money grubbing guy, I mean he admits it in every interview he does. But I can’t get over that he tries to screw over his fans so much. I mean, only die hard fans will care about the bonus discs, so the most die hard will track down all three sets to get these various shows. Thanks for all your support, Kiss Army! What a jerk.
SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabotage (1975).
Sabotage seems to be somewhat forgotten (maybe because of the creepy cover art 0f Ozzy in a kimono and fascinating platform shoes, Bill Ward in red tights with a codpiece (and visible underwear on the back cover), and Geezer and Tony’s mustaches).
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer July/August 2009 Music Issue Compilation CD: “Fantastic and Spectacular” (2009).
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2006 Music Issue Compilation CD: Famous Shovels in Twain (2006).
The “theme” behind this year’s CD was live recordings. So all of the songs are live (whether in front of an audience or just live to disc). Like the previous discs, I had only heard a few of the artists on this disc. But unlike previous discs, there is quite a lot of diversity on this one.
soloist on the kora, a 21 stringed instrument (see picture at right). Mixing things up even more are Stephen O’Malley with an electronic manipulation type song and Blood on the Wall with the heaviest track thus far on a Believer compilation.
Every year since 2004, The Believer magazine has published a Music Issue which comes with a CD.
SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1974).
Henry Rollins, on Think Tank talks about the “el niño” storms from several years back. And he says that el niño means “little boy,” but the damage the storms did means they should have called it something scary and powerful like “The First Four Black Sabbath Albums.” I have to say that leaving out this fifth album is a great disservice to the power of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
This album seems to have directly inspired more bands than any other Sabbath record. There’s the band Masters of Reality (who I’ve never heard) and there’s the 1,000 Homo DJ’s EP and blistering cover for “Supernaut.”
uld be looser and therefore less painful to play. As such, this disc introduces a sort of “classic” Sabbath sludgy sound. But even though this album doesn’t get a the airplay of Paranoid any metal fan knows a few of these songs. “Sweet Leaf,” for instance, is quite well known. It also makes me laugh because it is so clearly pro-drug (after all those anti-drug songs on the first two discs). And of course, it opens with that great echoing cough (which I now assume is from someone toking up).
I Just Read About That... 