SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING-Tiny Desk Concert #354 (May 5, 2014).
I heard about Public Service Broadcasting via NPR and I loved their song “Spitfire,” a rocking instrumental with interesting samples scattered throughout. Well, it turns out that live, the rock just as hard. Even though there’s only two of them. There’s J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitar, banjo and electronics and Wrigglesworth on drums. The samples come from British public-service films from roughly the 1940s through the 1960s.
Watching this video, I was stunned at just how much Willgoose is doing, and just how much noise these two guys can make. There’s even a video going on behind them. The only problem here was that the samples were not loud enough.
“Signal 30” opens with samples and samples and then a rocking guitar and solid drums. It amazing watching Willgoose do some many different things while playing the guitar. The change of tone at the middle of the song is great and I love watching him just bang the guitar to keep the notes going (while he is playing the keyboard).
After the song, there is a sample of “Thank you very much” in an arch British voice (the duo don’t speak during the show). “Spitfire” also sounds great hear–the song is surprisingly complex for an instrumental, and for what seems like it might be a novelty band, the song is really solid. After this song, Willgoose had to fetch something and the talking sample said “talk amongst yourselves!” The final track “Everest” has a very catchy riff and some really great drumming. But I love most watching Willgoose play the guitar with one hand and play a solo on the keyboard with the other.
This is definitely a band to check out live.
[READ: June 4, 2014] King of the Flies 1. Hallorave
Hallorave is a dark, violent, sexual comic series written by Pirus and drawn by Mezzo. Both artists are French and have worked together before. This book was translated by Helge Dascher and John Kadlecek (and it was translated very well–I didn’t realize it wasn’t American until they started talking about Euros sometime in the middle of the book.
So this is actually a series of short stories narrated by different people. They seem unrelated, but after a couple of stories, you see the connections. And there proves to be a core collection of characters all living in this suburb (the location is really irrelevant).
The first story starts with Eric (who proves to be the main protagonist) drinking, reading magazines and sitting on a couch on the (dried up and dead) lawn of his mother’s house. He is also jealous of his best friend Damien because he is very hot for Damien’s girlfriend Sal.
That first story introduces us to a visual that will run through the book: Eric sitting with a giant fly head on. The three are going to a Hallorave for Halloween. Eric is King of the Flies, Sal has a giant cat’s head on and Damien is a skeleton. By the end of the party, they are all high (you can seem them feeding each other drugs in the picture below). Eric pledged his love to Sal in front of Damien, and Damien is in a foul mood. He gets in a fight with some other party goers. By the end of the short story, Eric and Sal are having sex (with their costume heads on) and Damien has been hit by a car and killed. That’s the kind of stories we’re getting here. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 