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Archive for the ‘Superheroes’ Category

Paul Pope, JT Petty & David Rubin–Battling Boy: The Rise of Aurora West (2014)

Posted in Bob Mould, Cheap Trick, David Rubin, First Second :01, Foo Fighters, Graphic Novel, JT Petty, Kaki King, Pat Smear, Paul Pope, Superheroes on June 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

auroraSOUNDTRACK: FOO FIGHTERS-Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007).

330px-Foos-ESPGIt would seem that after recording the split acoustic and rocking In Your Honor and then touring a lot of acoustic music that the Foos were ready to make an album that combined both of these dynamics into one disc.  For many of the songs it means acoustic openings and super heavy end sections.  But some, particularity at the end of the album are completely acoustic.

Of course having said that, the album opens with a great heavy classic Grohl song, “The Pretender.”  A fantastic opener with the great chorus of “what if I say you’re not like the others.”  The next song, “Let It Die” opens with a real acoustic opening–not just mellow electric guitars but full on acoustic guitars (which Grohl has clearly become quite proficient at).  The switch to the really heavy chorus (not until almost 3 minutes into the song) is pretty intense–they pack everything into one song.

“Erase/Replace” is another great song–there’s an interesting twisting riff and an awesome chorus.  There’s some very nice contrasting with the smoother sections and even a cool guitar solo (there’s not too many solos in early Foos songs).  “Long Road to Ruin” is one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs–the chorus pushes all my yes buttons with the way it speeds up and has and the staccato stops in the middle of the chorus.  Fantastic.

“Come Alive” is another song with a slow mellow acoustic opening.  It builds slowly over 5 minutes to a noisy end.  “Stranger Things Have Happened” is the first fully acoustic song on the album that stays acoustic–there’s nothing heavy in it.  It’s got a classic Unplugged type of feel with two acoustic guitars playing off of each other, and a soloing section that has several pause click click resume moments.

“Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)” has a great riff and very poppy verses. It sounds like earlier Foo Fighters songs and reminds me of Cheap Trick with the “stop, stop” backing vocals.  There’s also several different sections which hearkens back to earlier songs.

And from this point on the album mellows out but in different ways.  “Summer’s End” has a folky jam band feel (even though it’s not acoustic.  It’s got a such a wonderful chorus.  It’s the first of three songs to feature Grohl on piano!  Taylor Hawkins plays piano on it too.  “Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners” is a 2 minute instrumental written by Grohl.  There’s some lovely finger picking in the song and you can hear that Grohl has really developed his guitar playing.  Kaki King plays rhythm guitar on this song which is surprising as she is such a much better guitarist than he is.

“Statues” is a piano ballad (played by Grohl).  It feels totally classic rock, with the sound of the opening guitar solo and the chord progression.  “But, Honestly” is fast acoustic song.  The melody and backing vocals remind me a lot of Bob Mould’s style of song writing.  The song feels like it’s just going to stay in a mellow vein, but this song really ramps up at around 3 minutes with some simple but cool riffing and a big growling end.

The final song, Home,” is a pretty piano ballad (Grohl on piano and vocals) with strings.  It’s almost cheesy but avoid that trap.  It doesn’t have a  big chorus, and is rather understated.  It also provides the album with its title.

This is a really complex album that works to all of the band’s strengths and even lets them explore different styles a bit. Guests on the album include Rami Jaffee and Drew Hester from the live shows as well as Pat Smear (who is a sometimes member of the band, but only plays on one song here).

[READ: January 26, 2015] The Rise of Aurora West

I really enjoyed Paul Pope’s Battling Boy, but I didn’t really like the art work. So here’s the second book in the series with a different artist (and no color)–perfect!

I enjoy this David Rubin’s art a lot more because of his much cleaner page–it’s far easier to understand what’s happening here.  But at the same time I don’t really like the way he renders faces.  For instance, on the very first page, the bottom right image of Aurora–it’s really hard to tell what she is thinking in that image–is she angry or what (and her face seems kind of oddly misshapen).  And that is fairly consistent throughout–the eyes are too big or something?  I found it distracting but it didn’t really hinder my enjoyment of this story.

This story looks at the early life of Aurora West, the daughter of Acropolis superhero Haggard West (so Battling Boy does not appear in it at all). (more…)

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Paul Pope–Battling Boy (2013)

Posted in Dave Grohl, First Second :01, Foo Fighters, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Paul Pope, Petra Haden, Superheroes, Violence on June 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

battlingSOUNDTRACK: FOO FIGHTERS-Skin and Bones (2006).

330px-FFSkinBonesI totally missed this album when it came out.  Although since I prefer the heavier Foo Fighters songs, it’s not like I was queuing up to buy an acoustic show from them anyhow.

Nevertheless, someone had uploaded the first half of the DVD (part 2 never made it online) so that was my first exposure to this collection.  Comparing the DVD to the CD, I imagine I prefer the DVD because I really enjoy the silliness and banter (I do love banter) that Grohl brings in the live show (which seems like it may have been edited out of the CD).

The songs do sound good in the acoustic format.  Unlike many shows, these song are not stripped down.  In fact they are build up with eight people in the band, including Petra Haden on violin and Drew Hester on percussion.

I really enjoyed Grohl’s banter with the audience.  And I really enjoyed the end of “See You” (about where the first part cuts off) where everyone plays solos.  Grohl laughs at his inability to solo and then encourages Hester to do a percussion solo.  I really laughed how silly Grohl is (reminding me a lot of Jack Black) yelling at Hester for the various things he tries–no, I don’t like that do something else.  And even asking if he paid money for one of his little blocks.

Maybe one of these days I’ll see if the edited CD version is as enjoyable.

[READ: January 15, 2015] Battling Boy

Paul Pope is a famous graphic novel artist.  I’d heard of him and seen some of his work although I never knew exactly which stuff was his.

And as it turns out I really don’t care for his artistic style all that much.  It is quite distinctive, but it is very dark and kind of “sloppy/ugly” and I find it very unsettling to look at.  This book also has a very “superhero” look, which I have recently discovered I don’t like in general.

Which is quite a shame because this story is really interesting.

Set in the city of Acropolis, there are monsters everywhere (these monsters wander around with purple hoods on).  They seem to be after young children especially, so the kids are naturally afraid to even go get their soccer ball when it rolls into dark alley.  But when the monsters strike, Harggard West is there to save them. (more…)

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C. Montgomery Burns’ Handbook of World Domination [The Vault of Simpsonology Series] (2014)

Posted in Adam Arcuragi, Batman, Corporate skewering, Graphic Novel, Mad Magazine, The Simpsons, Tiny Desk Concert on May 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

burnsSOUNDTRACK: ADAM ARCURAGI-Tiny Desk Concert #42 (January 10, 2010).

adamI had never heard of Arcuragi before this show and in the five years since I haven’t heard of him elsewhere.  Bob introduces the show by raving about Adam’s voice.

But I don’t really think there’s anything special about his voice.  It’s a good decent string voice, but nothing notably unique about it or anything.  So it was a bit of a set up for a let down.  Which is  shame because Arcuragi and his mates sing three delightful songs.

“She Comes to Me” features acoustic and electric guitars and mandolin.  “Steal People’s Medicine” uses the electric guitar a a slide guitar, which sounds remarkably different from the first song (no mandolin either).  “Bottom of the River” which switches the mandolin for a tambourine is the most fun of the three songs.  It’s a bit more upbeat, there’s some good harmonies and the crowd even starts clapping along.  And Adam does wail a few notes showing that his voice is better than I suggested.

Watch it here.

[READ: April 7, 2015] Handbook of World Domination

I was unaware of The Vault of Simpsonology Series.  This is the third book in the series, the other two being from Homer and Bart with future books from Lisa, Grandpa and Bartman.  I’m also not exactly sure why our library received this book,   But it’s a fun little addition to all things Simpson.

The book is 64 pages about 6 inches square and it is chock full of insights into Mr Burns.

On the first page is an envelope with a poster.  Given the incompleteness of the back, I assume that all the books have similar posters with which you would make one giant poster.

The introduction (by Mr Burns) explains that he just wants to entertain with this volume–not to give away secrets.   So we get Burns’ bucket list (#29–keep a meal down completely; 17- Buy the EPA and rename it the Environment Profit Administration) and Secrets to Burns’ long life (a bizarre medical contraption involving syringes, a small devil and a drooling baby). (more…)

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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space 2 (2001) [translated 2006]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Joann Sfar, Kevin Hearn, Outer Space, Pirates, Rheostatics, Sasha Watson, Superheroes, The Beatles, Translation, tagged on March 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sardineSOUNDTRACK: CENTENNIAL SECONDARY SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE-The Story of Harmelodia (2000).

Cover-CSSMT-HarmelodiaAs mentioned in yesterday’s post.  The Centennial Secondary School and Choir released their version of The Story of Harmelodia. This CD (which to the best of my knowledge is no longer available for purchase anywhere) is newly available from the Rheostaticslive website.  While the (very cool) cover is there, there’s no information about the musicians.

The disc is about 35 minutes long and it recreates most of the music from the original CD.  For reasons which I’m sure have to do with rights, they do not include “Monkeybird” (everyone’s favorite song) and the songs about the Wingophone.  Those songs were all written by Kevin Hearn. I’d be very surprised if Hearn didn’t give them the rights to the songs, so there must be something else at play.

They also do not include the narration.  This of course makes the story a lot less clear–although at this point I feel like the songs are just fun and sweet, even if they story is lost.

The school’s version is quite good.  The band sounds great (with a whole host of instruments).  While the opening music on the first track sounds a bit high school bandish (perhaps because it so spare) as soon as the choir kicks in it really ratchets up the quality of the music.  And it stays high throughout.

The choir is outstanding, and the variety of instruments (I can hear all the brass, an autoharp, synths (there’s some fun spacey keyboard sounds on “I am Drummstein”) and some electric guitars) makes for a really compelling collection of songs.

One of the biggest difference is that many of the songs have horns playing the main melodies. “Invisible Stairs” has a flute as the lead instrument.  It’s very pretty and I like that it plays the “twinkle twinkle” melody as a counterpoint to the proper melody. It’s a very pretty version.  I also love the way “The Music Room” came out.  And the mostly instrumental “The Sky Dreamed” sounds really lovely.

I don’t know how many lead singers there are (or what their names are, although judging by the concert, I assume it is the same kids).  The female lead as featured on “Home Again” is great.  I like the male lead a little less.  He sounds a but too stiff to me.  Although I do like that on many songs he gives his own reading of the material.

The final song, “Song of the Garden,” sounds terrific.  I love the way the two singers harmonize and the way they place a cool horns section (which reminds me of The Beatles) as the song trails out.

I am of course curious why the couldn’t release those missing songs.  But I’m more impressed that the school (presumably with different people) performed a stage version of the show in 2004 which was played live in several places.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space 2

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.

This time the inner flap says “No Grownups Allowed (Unless they’re pirates or space adventurers),” and I found that I enjoyed book 2 quite a bit more than book 1. Perhaps the jokes just appealed to me a bit more–there were a number that I thought were very funny.

I enjoyed the double cross (well they pretty much all have a double cross) in The Brainwashing Machine.  But I really got a kick out of The Cha-Cha Fly.  When the fly bites you, you get stupid dance songs stuck in your head.  Nice premise–even funnier that the flies are named Britney, Christina, Justin and Clay. (more…)

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James Kochalka–Superfuckers (2010)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Christmas Album, Death, Drugs, End of the World, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, James Kochalka, Jealousy, Poo, Revenge, Sufjan Stevens, Superheroes, Supernatural, Unlikable main character, Violence, Yuck! on December 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

superSOUNDTRACK: SUFJAN STEVENS Christmas Infinity Voyage: Songs for Christmas Vol. 8 (2008).

sufjan 8Back in 2008, a Vol. VIII of Sufjan’s Christmas recordings was leaked on the internet.  It was called Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage-Songs for Christmas Vol. VIII and I talked about it here.  When his official release came out volume 8 was similar yet different from the leaked one.  The song tracks were almost identical, but the versions (and lengths) were rather different.

The leaked version of the disc has this track listing:

Angels We Have Heard on High  5:00
Do You See What I See  4:59
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear   :48
Christmas in the Room  4:50
Good King Wenceslas  2:15
Joy to the World  7:49
The Child With the Star on His Head 13:15

And the official version has this track listing

  Angels We Have Heard on High  4:04
Do You Hear What I Hear  9:14
Christmas in the Room  4:32
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear    :48
Good King Wenceslas  4:18
Alphabet St.  1:36
Particle Physics 1:04
Joy to the World  5:25
The Child With the Star on His Head 15:13

So what’s the difference

 

“Angels We Have Heard On High”—The leaked version has a lengthy warbling keyboard introduction and is the real song.  The official version is an original song based on the hymn.  I like the way the opening melody changes expected direction in mid line.  I also enjoyed the “oh ho ho hos.”  This is pretty much the only traditional sounding song on the disc because the rest get pretty unusual electronic treatments

“Do You Hear What I Hear”  The leaked version (with a different title) was autotuned and slow (and only 4 minutes).  The official version is also autotuned, and is filled with electronic percussion. It quickly goes weird and crazy, but I like it.  It’s 9 minutes long and the last five minutes are a crazy freakout of autotuned nonsense.

“Christmas in the Room” is a song about being alone with someone you love for Christmas—pros and cons (although there seems like a lot sadness in the song). The autoharp is pretty though. [The leaked version is a bit louder with electronic music rather than autoharp].

“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” in both version this is a short (less than a minute) electronic version of the traditional song.

“Good King Wenceslas” is also crazy and electronic with lots of strange inserted sounds and lines from other songs.  [The leaked version is only 2 minutes and while still electronic is far less crazy].

“Alphabet St” continues some of the nonsense in Wenceslas—lyrics about being sexy. “Particle Physics” is also 1 minute long of space sounds that merge into

“Joy to the World” is also slightly off-sounding (with lots of different instruments). It starts kind of pretty but goes really wild with the electronics and the autotune and by the end it’s just crazy electronic freakout.

“The Child With the Star on His Head” opens the official version with someone saying “desperately seeking Santa take 3.”  Despite it being super long (in both version) the song itself is really quite pretty.  It’s very Sufjan with great falsetto and an unexpected melody.  The two versions are similar in construct but after the opening few minutes they diverge pretty radically.  At around 5 minutes an electronic sounding, totally fuzzed guitar solo begins and it adds a very strange element to it—a kind of psychedelic outer space sound, which doesn’t quite fit the mood. [Interestingly, in the leaked version, the solo is pretty much the same notes, but it is far less spacey and effects filled.  It has more of a classic rock guitar solo (kind of David Gilmour-ish]. The solo lasts longer in the new version too.   That pretty much accounts for the two minute discrepancy.  The rest of the song plays out mostly the same, although again, the leaked version is kind of pretty and sweet (with la las and a horn solo) while the official release is all electronic and gets crazy here and there.  The end of the song is a denouement–horn based in the leaked and all electronic in the official.

I’m not really sure which release I prefer, because the electronic stuff is really kind of wild and fun (although not very Christmassey).  But the leaked version is really quite nice.

[READ: December 11, 2014] Superfuckers

I know Kochalka mostly from his children’s books, which are weird and warped and really really funny.  Most of them seem to star his son’s head imposed on his weird cartoon style (so funny).

So imagine my surprise to discover a book of his called Superfuckers.

Superfuckers is a “collection” of “issues” of the “series” Superfuckers.

It opens with issue #271 (from 2005).  And within five or six panels, we get every single curse word you can imagine from our “superheroes.”  Indeed, they really don’t “do” anything.  They just sit around and yell at each other (calling everyone gay or slut or some such), get high (on a staggeringly odd number of things) and plot to take over the gang. (more…)

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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space (2000) [translated 2006]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Joann Sfar, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Outer Space, Pirates, Sasha Watson, Sufjan Stevens, Superheroes, Translation on December 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

sardineSOUNDTRACK: SUFJAN STEVENS and HIS UNWITTING COHORTS present I am Santa’s Helper even more songs for Christmas Vol. 7 (2007).

sufjan 7This is the first of Sufjan’s Christmas albums to really deviate from the style of the first six.  First off, there are 24 songs on the disc and second, it is 42 minutes long.  Most of the songs are between 1 and 2 minutes, although there are a couple of longer ones too.  There are a large number of songs that are traditional sounding and which have a beautiful chorale of voices supporting it.  But interspersed with these are some nonsensical tracks that sound mostly like goofy kids songs–out of tune, hastily created, sloppy and a lot of fun (I imagine he recorded these songs with the adults’ children while they were in between takes).  It’s surprising that the songs are interspersed like they are since the serious one are so pretty and the weird ones are so weird.

 It’s a ramshackle collection with some real highlights.

“Christ The Lord Is Born” pretty piano instrumental under a minute long.
“Christmas Woman” a big song with lots of orchestration (and clocking in at over 5 minuets).  With lots of backing vocals and a crazy sloppy guitar solo. I love it.
“Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light” 1 minute of piano and chorus: traditional and pretty (this is a Bach song).
“Happy Family Christmas” piano and slightly wonky guitar and after the first verse a bunch distorted chaotic nonsense (with someone “singing” a guitar solo).  The first really weirdo song on a Christmas release of his.
“Jingle Bells” Continuing with the weird style, the “dashing through the snow” part is done with a very off guitar melody and kids laughing during the “laughing all the way” part. It’s silly and funny.
“Mysteries Of The Christmas Mist” 2 minutes of piano and other noises (this is one of many short Sufjan originals).
“Lift Up Your Heads Ye Mighty Gates” another pretty choral piece with many voices.
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” crazy nonsense of sloppy silly singing and crazy out of tune guitars.
“Ah Holy Jesus” a slow pretty piano song with chorus
“Behold! The Birth Of Man, The Face Of Glory” a slow piano number, also pretty.
“Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling” raucous and wild, with crazy guitars.  It’s 2 minutes of silly nonsense. It ends with someone saying “let’s do a real song”
“How Shall I Fitly Meet Thee?” pretty piano instrumental with voices.
“Mr. Frosty Man” sloppy guitars and nonsense.
“Make Haste To See The Baby” accordion and piano in a slow sombre song.
“Ah Holy Jesus” (reed organ version) this is the second version of this song.
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” straightforward and pretty with some over-orchestration later in the song
“Morning” pipe organ and flute in a nice instrumental.
“Idumea” the vocal chorale comes back on this sad song.  It is over 3 minutes long and is rather disturbing.
“Eternal Happiness Or Woe” a creepy kind of song with ringing bells and sounds of, well, woe.
“Ah Holy Jesus” [a cappella] the prettiest version on the disc.
“I Am Santa’s Helper” this is a funny song in which the only words are “I am Santa’s helper, you are Santa’s slave.”
“‘Maoz Tzur’ (Rock Of Ages)” a 42 second traditional Jewish hymn done on piano.
“Even The Earth Will Perish And The Universe Give Way” a low bass organ opens this final track on this long and often times weird Christmas disc.

But this is not the weirdest of Sufjan’s Christmas EPs.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.  And I fear that this is one series that I’m really not very interested in finishing.

The inner flap says No Grownups Allowed, so I imagined that the story would be funny and a little naughty.

But really it’s just kind of uninspired.  Sardine is a young girl who works with (or lives with anyhow) the pirate Yellow Shoulder (who is apparently her uncle?) on his outer space pirate ship.  They spend nearly every story (each story is about ten pages) battling the evil (and suitably stupid) Supermuscleman and his evil henchman Doc Krok (a weird orange creature who looks like a walking sweet potato).  There’s also Little Louise, a boy who is Yellow’s..henchman? and may not be all that bright and a cat creature who doesn’t really do much. (more…)

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Michael Chabon–The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Fantasy, Jake Parker, Michael Chabon, Parenting, Ralph's World, Ramones, Short Books, Superheroes on July 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

awesomemanSOUNDTRACK: RALPH’S WORLD-Green Gorilla, Monster & Me (2005).

gorilaI remember being pretty excited about this album because it was Ralph’s newest album after Clark was born.  And it was fun to have a “new” children’s album (they were of course all new to us since we hadn’t bought any children’s music before but the fact that Ralph was still putting new stuff out was good news).

And so it will always be cool (and has a couple of my favorite Ralph songs).  And yet, overall it’s not quite as exciting as some of the other ones.

“Dance Around” is a fun upbeat song that should get everyone moving as each verse gets progressively more energetic.  This would certainly be a favorite.  “Hideaway” sounds like any jangly pop song on the radio—even lyrically it’s not really geared to kids exclusively.  This could have had crossover appeal.  “Red Banana” is a fun song full of absurdities—catchy and wonderful.  “Guitarzan” is a song I never much liked, although this version is a bit more fun than the original.  Nevertheless, it’s so much longer than the better songs, that I get tired of it pretty quickly!  “Me & My Invisible Friend” is  sweet song about having an invisible friend, but I find that I clearly like the more upbeat songs like “Old Red #7” a cool song about making and racing a car.

“River Flow” is a fun travel song, but “Liesl Echo” is our favorite Ralph’s World song of all time! We even named our cat Liesl Echo. in honor of the song.  Ahhh.  “Monster” is a wonderfully funny song about a “scary” puppy.  It’s on a song like that this Ralph’s details shine.  “Tim the Boy” is actually about a series of kids who are contrary and refuse to change their minds.  The end shows how being so stubborn never works out quite as they wanted.  “I Don’t Wanna” is a great punk song (gentle punk of course, but in the spirit of The Ramones).  It’s all about saying you don’t want things because you have to do some work to get them (I don’t want dessert, I don’t want to watch TV).  It’s very fun to sing along to.

“Tower of Blocks” is about the man on the moon, but it pales in comparison to “Yum! Yuk!” which is just fun to sing a long to and gets very silly by the end.  “Swingset” ends the album in a rather generic way—which reminds me more of the kind of music that Ralph’s adult band plays.   So the highs on this disc are pretty great, but there’s a bunch of songs that don’t really grab me.  This was actually Ralph’s last disc on beloved indie label Minty Fresh before he made the jump to Disney.

[READ: July 21, 2013] The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man

Since I’m a fan of Michael Chabon, I’m including this children’s book since we read it this past week.

I’ve enjoyed most of everything I’ve read by Chabon, and I know he has a connection to the comics world.  So a children’s superhero book seems like an obvious hit.

And it is a clever idea.  Awesome Man talks about all of the things he can do (fights bad guys has cool powers), but also talks about the frustrations of being a super hero.  Awesome man gets mad and wants to break things, and sometimes he needs to sit on his bed and relax to calm down.  So the secret identity is not too hard to figure out.  Indeed, the idea of the narrator imaging a super hero identity is cool and fun.

But if the secret identity is pretty easy to figure out, I guess it is therefore not really astonishing?  And that’s just one thing that’s a little unsatisfying about this story. (more…)

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Stephen King–“Batman and Robin Have an Altercation” (Harper’s, September 2012)

Posted in Batman, Black Sabbath, Earth, Harper's, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, New Yorker, Old Age, Short Story, Stephen King, Violence, Wooden Shjips on November 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WOODEN SHJIPS-Live on KEXP, August 7, 2011 (2011).

A while ago I reviewed an Earth concert and while I felt like I should have liked them, I didn’t like them as much as I anticipated.  Well, Wooden Shjips (no idea what’s up with that “j”) sounds like I would have liked Earth to sound–a bit faster and yet still ponderous   They play with really distorted guitars and heavy bass, but their songs aren’t terribly fast or anything.   The thing that sets them apart is the keyboard–loud droney keyboards that take a kind of lead role and add a weird sort of retro feel to the heavy proceedings.  Indeed, even the voice is fuzzed out and echoey, making the keyboard one of the few clean sounds in the show.

As befits droney metal bands, all of these songs are long.  The first two “Lazy Bones” and “Black Smoke Rise” are over four minutes while the final two “Home” and “Flight” are over 5 and nearly 7 minutes respectively.

Lazy Bones is dominated by a spacey keyboard riff and vocals that are echoed almost into oblivion, reminding me of a kind of mid 70s Black Sabbath (if Ozzy’s voice was deeper).  The riffs on “Home” and Flight” sounds like we’re in for some real classic rock, but again that droney keyboard (which also sounds retro but in a different way) mixes with the heavy distorted guitar in a new way.  I’m intrigued to hear more from them.

Rock out here.

[READ: November 15, 2012] “Batman and Robin Have an Altercation”

I’m always surprised to see a Stephen King story in say Harper’s or the New Yorker.  Not because he’s not good, but because he’s such a famous genre writer (and he certainly doesn’t need the exposure).   I don’t even think of him as a short story writer, really.  I wonder how he gets his stories in these magazines?  Does he get vetted?

Well, this story was really enjoyable and if I hadn’t known it was Stephen King, I never would have guessed.

The first 3/5 of the story are about Dougie Sanderson and his Pop.  Pop is in an old age home, suffering from Alzheimer’s. They have a routine, which is easy enough for Dougie  to do, even if to his father it’s new every time.  Dougie visits every week, they go Applebee’s, and they come home.  This depends, of course, on how good Pop is doing that day–as long as he’s fairly lucid and isn’t cursing out everyone in sight.

What I appreciated about this story was that Pop has moments of incredible lucidity that can be immediately followed by moments of utter confusion   Like when Pop calls him Reggie (Dougie’s brother who died forty-five years ago in a car accident .  But the moments of lucidity are nice for Dougie–although they’re not encouraging exactly, because most days he guiltily admits that he wishes things would end sooner rather than later.

The Batman and Robin of the title refer to a Halloween costume that Dougie ad Pop wore when Dougie was little.  Indeed, Pop remembers it very well, “Halloween, you dummy.  You were eight, so it was 1959.  You were born in ’51.”  Pop even adds a detail that Dougie didn’t remember: that Norma Forester looked at Dougie and said “trick or treat” and then looked at Pop and said “trick or drink” and offered him a bottle of Shiner’s.  Dougie is silent–amazed at the memory.  Then Pop says “she was the best lovin’ I ever had.”  Dougie doesn’t know whether to believe this or not thinking, “They hurt you….  They may not mean to, but they do….  There’s no governor on them, no way of separating the stuff that’s okay to talk about from the stuff that isn’t.” (more…)

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Jonathan Lethem–“The Only Human Superhero” (Rolling Stone, August 2, 2012)

Posted in Batman, Christopher Nolan, Essays, Jonathan Lethem, Joss Whedon, Political Humor, R.E.M., Spiderman, Superman, The Avengers, The Clique, The X-Men, Voivod on July 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: R.E.M. “Superman” (1986).

Even though R.E.M. is all about Michael Stipe, “Superman” is one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.  I know it’s a cover, and I know the lyrics are kind of dumb, but there’s something about Mills’ singing voice that I love (I often think his backing vocals are the strongest parts of R.E.M. songs).

Stipe didn’t like the song and refused to sing lead.  This gave Mills his debut lead vocal appearance.  You can hear Stipe in the background–he sounds great, too.  A total throwaway song that is awesome.

By the way, the original by The Clique, which I never listened to before, is very strangely clipped in the vocals.  I was sure that the band was not American by the vocal delivery, but apparently they’re from Austin.  Huh.

I know I should have picked Voivod’s cover of “Batman” for this post, but how creepy is that R.E.M. cover?

[READ: July 21, 2012] “The Only Human Superhero”

I have it in my head that I might one day read all of Jonathan Lethem’s works.  Although I’m not all that sure I like him that much. (There’s so many Jonathan’s writing, I can’t keep track of who I like).  He has 18 entries on this blog (although I see that none are for his novels).  Nevertheless, I  must like him pretty well.

Anyhow, this article is a one page thing about Batman The Dark Knight.  This was written before the terrible, horrible, unimaginable tragedy in Colorado, so there is no insensitivity about it. (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Our Hero [#2] (2005)

Posted in Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Kids Corner, Matthew Holm, Mice, Set at School, Short Books, Superheroes, The Amoeba People, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE AMOEBA PEOPLE-“Cosmology, Your Futon and You” (2010).

I found out about The Amoeba People from the Kids Corner Top Ten Songs of 2010 list (this was number one).

The Amoeba People are a fun, weird kids band who write clever, often science-based songs.  This song has a wonderful bass line that opens the song.  There’s suitably weird space sounds (theremin) and a nice choral chorus).

Lyrically it’s a distorted spoken story full of clever word play.  It features a whole lot of facts about outer space (and jokes about futons).   And while you won’t get all the lyrics on the first try, it rewards repeated listens.

You can hear the track here.

[READ: April 16, 2011] Babymouse: Our Hero

This is the second Babymouse book (nope, I’m not reading these in order, which goes against a lot of my neuroses, but I think I can handle it).

As this story opens, Babymouse oversleeps and misses her bus.  And right from the start the fantasy/dream sequence kicks in.  The voices that try to wake her are not her bratty sister, but her adoring fans!  And when she misses the bus, the walk to school is really a trudge through the desert…will she survive???

It’s all quite funny, especially the “voiceover” which she can obviously hear, and with which she argues from time to time. (more…)

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