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Archive for the ‘Translators’ Category

Enrique Vila-Matas–Bartleby & Co. (2000) [translated 2004]

Posted in All Songs Considered, Biography, Books about writers, Death, Enrique Vila-Matas, Frank Zappa, Herman Melville, Jonathan Dunne, Mike Patton, Mr. Bungle, Os Mutantes, Roberto Bolaño on April 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

bartelbySOUNDTRACK: OS MUTANTES-” Picadilly Willie” (2013).

Iosmut enjoyed this album so much (thanks NPR for the stream) that I had to talk about this song and how radically different it was from yesterday’s track.  “Picadilly Willie” is this wonderful old-sounding rock song.  It’s got a very classic rock riff, but there’s something slightly off-kilter which makes it sounds more like Frank Zappa classic than radio classic.  And when the vocals come in (with a sinister laugh) it sounds more like Mr Bungle than anything else (I wouldn’t be surprised if Mike Patton was a fan of Os Mutantes).

The song ends with what sounds to me like Middle Eastern sitar music and echoed chants of “Bra-zil!”

And these are just two of the styles of music on this wonderfully wild and diverse CD.  I can’t wait for its release.

[READ: April 22, 2013] Bartelby & Co.

I read about this book in the Bolaño interview book.  Vila-Matas was one of many authors that Bolaño highly recommended–this book in particular.  And, it was one of the few books on that extensive list that has been translated into English.

This book follows in the rich tradition of books that are more or less lists about people and not really novels at all. (This seems like a peculiarly Latin American pastime, at least in my experience, as there are nearly a half dozen books that seem to do this, including several by Bolaño).

The key to this book is in the title: Bartelby.  The narrator is a hunchbacked loner, and he decides to catalog all of the instances of writers who have in the grand tradition of Herman Melville’s Bartelby the Scrivener said “no, I would prefer not to” write anymore.  And so this book becomes a series of notes without a text.  The glorious list includes many famous and not so famous writers (the most famous being Salinger) who whether famous or not, decided to write no more.  And thus we have 86 “sections” in which the narrator writes about writers who stopped writing.  For most of the he gives their reason for no longer writing, for others he simply likes talking about how they stopped writing or what their circumstances were before they stopped. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–The Last Interview & Other Conversations (2009)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Biography, Bomb, Book Reviews, Books about writers, Capital, Carlos Fuentes, Carmen Boullosa, Eliseo Alvarez, Funny (ha ha), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gogol Bordello, Hector Soto, Jorge Luis Borges, Kurt Vonnegut, Marcela Valdes, Margaret Carson, Mario Vargas Llosa, Matias Bravo, Monica Maristain, Octavio Paz, Os Mutantes, Pablo Neruda, Playboy, Roberto Bolaño, The Nation, Tom Waits, Turia on April 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

bolano

SOUNDTRACK: OS MUTANTES-“Fool Metal Jack” (2013).

Iosmut have known about Os Mutantes for years.  I never knew anything about them (and never really understood their name–although now that I have been working with Brazilian books at work I realize that their name is Portuguese for The Mutants (it was the Os that always threw me off).  I had no idea that a) they’d been around since the 60s and were part of the psychedelic scene or b) that they were still around (after some breakups and with a largely new lineup) or c) that they sang in English (which they do on several songs on this album) or d) that their new album kicked so much ass.

The album is called Fool Metal Jack and it is a fantastic mixture of fast heavy rock, Brazilian traditional sounds, what I assume are Native Brazilian chants and a heavy dose of weirdness.  All wrapped up in an anti-war stance, like on this track “Fool Metal Jack.”

A creepy, distorted  bassline introduces this song which sounds like the guy from Gogol Bordello singing a Tom Waits march.  It’s about a soldier in the middle of a war.  The bridge means more voices come in, bringing in an even more disorienting sound.  And the chorus chanted “Yes.  No More War” completes the song.  By the time the wailing guitar solo comes in the chants of “This is the war of hell” have even more impact.

This stomping song was a great introduction to this band who I now need to explore further.

[READ: April 18. 2013] The Last Interview

I enjoyed Kurt Vonnegut’s “Last Interview” and since I had always intended to read Bolaño’s I was delighted to see that our library had it.  Bolaño is a fascinating interview subject because you never really know what he is going to say.  There are even serious questions about the veracity of his life story which many people believe he fabricated for more dramatic effect.

But the one thing that is absolutely consistent about Bolaño is that he always praises writers whom he respects (and will trash those he doesn’t, although that seems to come more from the interviewer’s  instigation (not that he needs a lot).    So the last interview that he did is the one from Mexican Playboy which has been collected in Between Parentheses.  But the other three are earlier and, it seems, a little more “truthful” or at least less naughty-seeming.

What’s fascinating about this book is that the introduction by Marcela Valdes (“Alone Among the Ghosts”) is over 30 pages long!  The article originally appeared in The Nation on Dec 8, 2008 (read it here).  As such it’s not an introduction to this book, it’s introduction for English readers to Bolaño circa 2666.  And it’s a great read.  It is primarily about 2666, which Valdes has read many times.  She goes into interesting depth about the story but mostly she relates it to Bolaño’s own experiences while writing the book.  It focuses especially on his research about the real murders.  His interest was genuine and he sought help from a reporter who was doing genuinely decent work (ie. not accepting the word of the state about what was going on).

Bolaño has said he wished he was a detective rather than a writer, which explains The Savage Detectives and Woes of the True Policeman.  But Valdes also points out how almost all of his shorter novels have some kind of detective work involved–seeking someone who is lost or hiding.  The article was really great and is worth a read for anyone interested in Bolaño, whether you have read him or not. (more…)

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Moto Hagio–The Heart of Thomas (1974) [translated 2012]

Posted in All Songs Considered, Big Books, Chelsea Light Moving, Death, Graphic Novel, John Donne, LGBTQ, Manga, Matt Thorn, Moto Hagio, Set at School, Thurston Moore on April 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

heartSOUNDTRACK: CHELSEA LIGHT MOVING-“The Ecstasy” (2013).

clmWhen Chelsea Light Moving played at KEXP, they went out for a break before playing live on air.  One of the DJs had a chocolate bar.  And Thurston was inspired.  According to the NPR [page:

The Sonic Youth veteran and his bandmates in Chelsea Light Moving had been jamming off-air in the KEXP studios. When they stepped outside to get some fresh air, KEXP’s DJ Sharlese followed, offering them some of her chocolate bar. At first, Moore politely declined, but as the candy got eaten away, piece by piece, a poem (John Donne’s “The Ecstasy”) was revealed underneath, printed on the candy wrapper.

“Can I have that?” he asked, and the next thing we knew, he was sprinting back into the studio, taping the tattered wrapper to a mic stand, and belting out his own version of the poem against discordant guitar chords.

The music is great.  It works perfectly with the meter of Donne’s poem and, the way Thurston delivers it, it sounds like he could have written it.  There’s some great screaming guitars, a very cool discordant chord or two and wailing solo.  I really enjoyed that Thurston doesn’t play guitar through much of the song (he leaves that to the other guitarist), he just comes in when some wildness is needed.  Awesome.

It’s a great song and hard to believe it was tossed off so easily.

Check it out here.

The lyrics are indeed from Donne’s poem, which begins:

WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A pregnant bank swell’d up, to rest
The violet’s reclining head,
Sat we two, one another’s best.

[You can read the rest here].

[READ: April 14, 2013] The Heart of Thomas

I brought this home from work because Sarah loves boarding school books.  But this is a manga book, and it is set up to be read right to left.  Sarah admitted that she can’t easily get her mind to work that way.  Which I understand. So I gave it a go.  I found it rough going, but after about 20 pages it became pretty natural.

The Heart of Thomas is an early example of Shōjo manga (少女漫画) which is manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 (shōjo), literally “little female”. Shōjo manga covers many subjects with a strong focus on human and romantic relationships and emotions.   Shōjo manga does not comprise a style or a genre per se, but rather indicates a target demographic.  shōnen-ai.  The stories were published mostly in magazines targeted at girls–which had a huge audience.  And that is where The Heart of Thomas was originally published in 1974.

The Heart of Thomas is a fascinating story—it’s set in a German boys boarding school (written by a Japanese woman!). The story opens with the death of a character named Thomas.  He falls off a bridge and the story is predicated upon wondering whether he jumped or he fell.  There are a lot of clues that he committed suicide because of his unrequited love for Juli, the prefect of boys at the school.  Juli is quite different from the other boys, he has dark hair and Greek features, he is not golden haired and blue eyed like so many of the other boys.  This makes him stand out.  Indeed, he even stands out in his own home, where he lives with his mother and grandmother.  His grandmother is disgusted by his coloring and believes him to have impure genes (yikes!).  She even tells him as much!  But Juli is a serious student and a hard worker, with no time for nonsense from his grandmother or his classmates.  He also has no time for farce.

The farce refers to a game that Thomas and Ante created in which they would both vie for Juli’s love.  Thomas pursued this heavily but was never successful.  And that may be why he killed himself (if indeed he did). (more…)

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Yasmina Khadra–Cousin K (2003) [translated 2013]

Posted in Africa, Alyson Waters, Death, Donald Nicholson-Smith, Foals, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Military, Short Books, Translation, Unreliable narrator, Yasmina Khadra on April 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

cousinkSOUNDTRACK: FOALS-“Inhaler” (2013).

foalsinhalerI really really liked Foals debut album.  It was weird and off-kilter and was one of my favorite albums of that year.  I had heard that their follow-up was very different, less weird, more conventional, and I have yet to hear it (narrow-minded, I know).  But then I heard that their new album was really great.  “Inhaler” was the first song I heard.

Man, do I love it. The song opens kind of funky with some noisy echoed guitars.  After a few verses the bridge comes in and the big excitement of the song comes when he gets to the chorus, “I can’t get enough SPACE!”  It’s not so much that he yells “space,” which he does, it’s more the way the whole song explodes with a new exciting riff and it just seems to get bigger and bigger. It blows me away every time.

After the first chorus we drop right back to that falsettoed slow verse delivery.  And the song slowly builds back up again.  The length of the bridge as you anticipate the big chorus is just excruciatingly wonderful.

[READ: April 5, 2013] Cousin K

I found this book when I was cataloging it at my job.  I don’t know what grabbed me about it (there’s nothing special about the cover).  I think it may have been the French Voices label in the corner (and its brevity).  I thought, hey why not read a contemporary French novella for something different.

Well, to my surprise, that is not what I got.  Indeed, nothing in this book is as it seems.

Yasminia Khadra is a pseudonym for Mohammed Moulesshoul.  He chose the name to avoid military censorship (that’s all the book says, I don’t really understand what that means).  Moulesshoul was born in the Algerian Sahara.  He is now retired from the military and is living in France.

But so, instead of this being a story from a French woman, the story is actually from a Male Algerian.  Which doesn’t really matter in the long run, but I assumed that the narrator was a girl (based on the “author = narrator” theory that is an easy shortcut in fiction.  This was really only confusing because the narrator is unnamed for quite a while in the book.

But what a book.  In just 80 some pages, Khadra turns in a  fascinating psychological picture of neglect and psychological abuse.  But it is such an elliptical book that there are almost as many questions as there are answers.  It is this elliptical style which provides some of the confusion, but a lot of the interesting structure of the story. (more…)

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Karl Ove Knausgaard–“Limhansfältet” (Harper’s, April 2013)

Posted in Biography, Don Bartlett, Excerpt, Foreign Books, Harper's, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Soccer, The Afghan Whigs, Translation on March 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

HarpersaprilSOUNDTRACK: THE AFGHAN WHIGS-“I’m Her Slave” (Live at the Bowery Ballroom 2012).

whigs

 I really liked some of The Afghan Whigs’s songs back in the 90s.  There was other stuff I didn’t love by them–when they were on, they were amazing.  Of course, I feel like the Whigs were pretty much all the work of Greg Dulli–charismatic frontman with the intriguing voice.

When they disbanded or broke up or whatever, I didn’t mind so much.  But they have reunited recently and my friend Joe posted this video from last year’s tour.  I don’t really know this song that well (although I do have the Congregation album i was more of a Gentlemen fan), but it sounds great.  And apparently this is one of the songs they were trotting out (they played it on Fallon, but the video has been taken down).

Dulli’s voice still has that wonderful quality and the band sounds tight and loud here.  Seems like a good reunion.

[READ: March 19, 2013] “Limhansfältet”

This excerpt comes from Knausgaard’s (also spelled Knausgård’s) second volume of his six-volume autobiographical novel (wow!).  I have no idea who the guy is or why we’d want to read it.  Evidently Knausgård is quite famous in his native Norway.  Don Bartlett translated this from the Norwegian.

So this excerpt shows a very short time in the writer’s life (knowing it’ autobiographical makes it different somehow).  The writer is married, a father of four three (although evidently now, he is divorced and his first wife is mad to her portrayal in the books).  The first few paragraphs just kind of talk about what’s going on around him (but it is more compelling than that sounds somehow).  I liked the scene where he is sitting so still in the garden that a hedgehog crept past him (but then I like hedgehogs).  But the crux of the action occurs at Limhansfältet, a grassy area outside of town where men gather every Sunday to play football.  They have gathered since the 60s and the men range from 18 to 80.

On this one occasion his family came with him. They watched for a bit but then wandered off.  And they missed him get injured.  Injured so badly that he had to go to the hospital. (more…)

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Truus Matti–Mister Orange (2011) [translated 2012]

Posted in Art, Children's Books, Foreign Books, Historical Fiction, Laura Watkinson, Marriage (Happy), Michael Chabon, Muse, Piet Mondrian, Queen, Short Books, Translation, Truus Maffi, U2 on March 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

mister orangeSOUNDTRACK: MUSE-The 2nd Law (2012).

2ndlawMuse are over the top.  No question about it.  And that’s why I like them so much.

So when the new album opens with crunchy guitars that give way to keyboards that sounds not unlike a Bond movie, it’s not really surprising.  The first verse is fairly mellow, building until Matt Bellamy hits some crazy high notes and the heavy bass guitar kicks in.  But unlike some previous albums, this one is not all heavy heavy guitar rock.  There’s some electronic elements as well.  Especially on the single “Madness” (which was debated about on the alt rock station I listen to, wondering if it was too dance-oriented).  The song uses a dub format for repeating the Muhmuhmuhmuhmuh madness, but the verses are so catchy it’s hard to resist.  It also has a major Queen feel (a common complaint about them, although it’s not like Queen are still making music).  For Muse, this song is kind of understated until the big verse at the end when Bellamy can really soar.  “Panic Station  has a big thumping bass and drum along with some screams that sound out of an 80s metal band but there are horns that give it a dancey feel–always a contradictory outfit, Muse.

“Prelude” sounds indeed like a prelude to what proves to be “Survival” it is big and anthemic (as Muse tends to be).  It is uplifting and, as one may recall, it was the official song of the 2012 London Olympic Games (which is fitting it’s all about winning).

“Follow Me” slows things down a bit in the beginning, but it of course comes back with lots of bombast (this is Muse after all) but there’s also elements of electronica (is that  dubstep sound?) and backing vocals that remind me a lot of U2.  “Animals” has a kind of slinky bass line that wends its way through the song’s guitar solos.  By the end of the song it has grown much heavier with shouting crowds and a furious double bass drums.

“Explorers” is a ballad that grows and retracts.  “Big Freeze” has another big chorus. It’s followed by “Save Me,” a gentle ballad with harmonies.  Then “Liquid Freeze” picks up the pace a bit.  This is all leading to “The 2nd Law: Unsustainable” which is my favorite weirdo song in ages.  It is so crazy over the top and audacious that I love it.  It opens with crazy strings and a fast talking jittery computer voice.  And when she reaches the word “unsustainable,” the song goes absolutely bonkers, with crazy sound effects–I would assume most people hate this track, but I think it is very cool.  The final track “The 2nd Law: Isolated System” is a kind of denouement for the whole album–a piano ballad of 5 minutes that has a bit of a dance feel to it.

I can’t get over how much I enjoy this record.  It’s definitely not as heavy as past muse records, but it has some great experimentation and Bellamy absolutely knows a great melody.

[READ: March 8, 2013] Mister Orange

I was walking past the New shelves in the library and this book caught my eye (who says placement isn’t important?).  Something about the title and the cover design was really appealing.  I looked at the blurb–it’s about an American kid during WWII.  I wasn’t really sure I wanted to read that, but then there was a line about an artist and comic books.  I immediately thought about The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay which is also about comics in the 1940s (although this book is NOTHING like that one at all), and I decided to grab it.  Besides it was only 150 pages.

Well, I never would have guessed that the book is a historical fiction novel about Piet Mondrian, one of my favorite artists of all time.

So the story is about a boy, Linus, and his family living in New York City in 1943.  His oldest brother, Albie has volunteered for the war.  His mother is disappointed in him as she believes that all war is wrong and that nothing good every comes from war.  She is so disappointed, in fact, that she does not hang the blue star that all families with soldiers are given to hang in their windows.  Linus wonders if she is not proud of her son for fighting for what he believes in, but his mother says “Flags are for celebrating, and there is nothing to celebrate about war.”  She doesn’t even let him go to the parade for the departing soldiers.

When Albie leaves, the rest of the family is stuck waiting for word from him.  But life goes on at home and with Albie gone, that means that everyone moves up in responsibility (and shoes get handed down).  Simon (now the oldest at home and a sullen teenager) takes on Albie’s work at the newspaper, Linus picks up Simon’s grocery delivery route (their family owns a grocer’s shop) as well as Simon’s shoes, which are way too big, and Max takes over looking after the youngest children: Sis and Willy.  For the most part we follow Linus as he learns the new route and learns a bit more about the city. (more…)

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Christa Wold–“So Who Could I Tell the Story To” (Harper’s, March 2013)

Posted in Christa Wold, Damion Searls, Deftones, Excerpt, Fears, Harper's, Pink Floyd, Spies, Technology, Tool, Translation on February 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Harpersmaerch13SOUNDTRACK: DEFTONES-White Pony (2000).

Iwhitepony had forgotten how much I loved this album when it came out.  It’s been a while since I listened to it but it still sounds great.  I remembered thinking Around the Fur was the album that blew me away but it proved to be White Pony.  I have the “limited edition” red cover for whatever that’s worth (not much really, although I did get a bonus song).  This album really explores their more alternative side, with quiet guitars and very non-metal sounding songs including some trip-hop drums on a track.  But there are three or four really heavy songs showing they’re not giving up their heavy roots by any means.  It’s a really accomplished and complex album and is definitely a high point in alt-rock.

The album starts with “Fieticeira” which has a cool alt guitar sound (Stephen Carpenter really displays an amazing range on this album) and some lurching verses.  The choruses get big and loud (in the way that the Foo Fighters do now), although there is a weird noisy section that keeps it from being a totally polished track.  “Digital Bath” is a dark creepy song where the guitars are nearly as menacing as Chino Moreno’s whispered voice.  The drums are actually the loudest instrument and you can hear how intricate the Deftones drumming can be.  I haven’t mentioned the other members in the other two write ups and shame on me.  Abe Cunningham’s drumming is great–far beyond most metal drummers.  But when the bridge kicks in the song lifts up and by the chorus it’s a big vocalled song.  “Elite” shows that the Deftones haven’t given up their heavy side–it’s a loud screaming distorted fast thrasher.  It never lets up and by the end the voice is distorted almost beyond human sounds.  “RX Bath” is one of my favorite songs on the disc.  It’s slow but with a cool slinky bass (Chi Cheng, always outstanding).  “Street Carp” is a short song–with loud guitars for the verses and a creepy slow chorus that I’ve always loved: “Here’s my new address…six six four oh I forget.”

“Teenager” is the biggest surprise  it has a slow acoustic guitars and a kind of trip hop drum beat with glitchy effects.  It’s followed by “Knife Party” a song that opens with flanged guitars until the big chords crash in.  It’s probably their most commercial sounding song yet, except when after the second chorus Rodleen Getsic starts singing a wild vocal solo (like a crazed version of Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky”), some of the notes she hits are inhuman.  “Korea” returns to the heavy dropped D sound with big noisy guitars and screams.  It’s one of their mist abrasive tracks.

“Passenger” is one of two songs that’s over 6 minutes long.  It’s a duet with Maynard from Tool–it’s unusual how their voices are so similar  They don’t sound alike but they have that same wavery tenor and vulnerability   It’s a perfect match.  “Change (In the House of Flies)” starts as a slow slinky song with a big chorus (and a great chorus of Ah ahs which somehow make the song seem even more claustrophobic.  It proves to be surprisingly catchy.  “Pink Maggit” ends the disc proper with a beautifully, agonizingly slow guitar and vocal intro–the guitars are buzzy and slow and sound almost out of tune (but aren’t).  Chino’s voice strains itself before the song proper starts.  I love songs like this when the chorus does one thing and the vocals play a slightly different melody (as if he;s singing a minor note and the guitars are playing a  major note), it’s very cool and a little spine tingly. At seven minutes this is a wonderfully claustrophobic alt rocker.   The album ends with what sounds like a heart beat (again, another Pink Floyd nod).

The red version has a bonus track called “The Boy’s Republic,” a big heavy song that encapsulates a lot of the album down into one track–the great vocal/guitar interplay, swelling chorus and interesting interplay of the instruments.  Even though it’s clearly a bonus song (you don’t have a song that ends with a slow heartbeat and not have it actually end your album), it fits in perfectly with the set and is a real treat.

Even though this album is 13 years old it still sounds fresh and amazing.  It really is a masterpiece.

[READ: February 25, 2013] “So Who Could I Tell the Story To”

According to Harper’s this is an excerpt from City of Angels: Or, the Overcoat of Dr. Freud.  It was translated by Damion Searls.

The excerpt begins in the middle of a question: “–the story that now needed to be told, even though it wasn’t a story at all?”  A very strange opening to be sure, and not as compelling as one might want.  And that was how I felt about this whole thing.  I wanted to be more excited by it but I never was.

There was something confusing about the whole setup.  The narrator is talking to Francesco.  But the narrator is talking about and apparently to “you.”  So there are lots of you’s floating around but we also know she’s talking to someone.  And while it’s all about clandestine behavior, the whole proceeding was confusing. (more…)

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Hergé–Tintin: The Blue Lotus (1936) [translated 1983]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Culture Shock, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Hergé, Kids Corner, Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper, Michael Turner, Racism, The Doubleclicks, Translation, Travel on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

TintinLotusSOUNDTRACK: THE DOUBLECLICKS-“The Internet National Anthem” (2012).

inatThe Doubleclicks are a sister duo from Portland, Oregon.  They are nerdy and fun (perhaps we can think of them as non-accordion, female They Might be Giants?).  Take “The Internet National Anthem”,” a song  with a steady four/four beat, cellos and  a suitably anthemic chorus, that’s all about the internet.

I was introduced to this band from Kid’s Corner, although I feel that perhaps their songs aren’t really for kids (not that they’re inappropriate but they seem more sophisticated than a typical kids song.  Like this song has big words and it is quite funny.  Although in all honesty it’s not laugh out loud funny, just mildly funny.  It’s got the vibe of Garfunkel and Oates, but not the big guffaws.

Check out their albums here .

[READ: February 8, 2013] The Blue Lotus

This third (technically fifth) Tintin book is the continuation of Cigars of the Pharaoh.  One of the characters from Pharaoh returns in this book, despite the fact that it is set in China.  This book also continues with Hergé’s having it both way in terms of other races.  His drawings are caricaturey and depending on your sensibilities/appreciation for drawing skills/tolerance are either really racist or simply in poor taste (although it does seem to be that the bad characters of other races are the most offensive–the good people are less crazy).

But despite the visual insensitivity, there are several section where Hergé explicitly talks about tolerance and understanding between races.  Like when Tintin saves the young Chinese boy, Chang, who says he thought all white devils were wicked.  Tintin explains that white people believe stupid things about Chinese people too  (eating rotten eggs, tons of unwanted babies in their rivers, etc.).  Chang says “They must be crazy people in your country).  As it turns out (quoting Wikipedia ), “The Blue Lotus is a pivotal work in Hergé’s career, moving away from the stereotype and loosely connected stories and marking a new-found commitment to geographical and cultural accuracy. The book is also amongst the most highly regarded of the entire Tintin series, and was the 18th greatest book on Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century list.”  It’s quite progressive for the 1930s.

The plotlines from the previous book are continued: there is the poison that makes you crazy, the Pharaoh’s logo shows up and there are Indian characters returning as well.  And by the end Thompson and Thompson, the twin policeman who complicate each others sentences and prove to be more bumbling than we originally thought arrive to capture Tintin (although they believe in Tintin’s goodness–they’re only following orders, you see). (more…)

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Bannister & Nykko–The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Four: The Calling (2009) & Book Five: The Parting (2011) [translated 2010/2011]

Posted in Bannister, Boredom, Carol Klio Burrell, Children's Books, Fantasy, Fears, Garbage, Nykko, Short Books, Supernatural on February 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

elsewhere4SOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Not Your Kind of People (2012).

notyourkinddAfter Bleed, I had basically given up on Garbage.  And they had given up as well, so it made the breakup easier.  For seven years they stayed away, but in 2012 the band reunited and released Not Your Kind of People.  I wasn’t planning to get it–two great albums and two very mediocre albums l leave a listener with a tough decision   But I heard good things–a return to form, less dance more rock and I gave in.

And it was a good choice.  The slickness is still there, which makes sense given who we are dealing with, but it feels more powerful than recent albums and, even better, Manson seems angrier which always makes her vocals better.

“Big Bright World” could have been a hit (for a new band) although it’s a little generic.  “Blood for Poppies” returns to that good grungy guitar sound and yet with its “Wo Ho Ohs” it also has pop song trappings.  “Control” is big and loud with some interesting sounds thrown on top.  It’s probably the closest to 2.0  Even the chorus is very old school Garbage, something they seemed to shy away from on the last two albums.

“Not Your Kind of People is a slow ballady type song but it stands above their recent ballads–the song is cleaner and darker, much more interesting.  And given how sweet the backing vocals of the chorus sound, I’m surprised I like it as much I do.  “Felt” has a real “Stupid Girl” feel to it, except for the poppy bridge.  I don’t like the end where she repeats the Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh bit, but that’s just something I dislike about pop music in general.  “I Hate Love” brings in all of the glitches and electronics that the band uses so effectively, and despite the retro-90s feel of that, it really adds to the music.  “Sugar” is a beautiful slow song. The kind that, when they do it well, sounds great.

“Battle in Me”  is almost a great song.  The guitar builds and then stops short–it worked so well on “Supervixen” but sounds just too sterile here–the technology too crisp or something   But “Man on a Wire” does everything right–the guitars, Shirley’s screaming/singing, the rough guitars–it’s a shame this is buried so far down on the album.  “Beloved Freak” is a nice closer although as I complained from “Special” quoting someone else’s song in your song is cool once, but dong it again sounds lazy. So here we get her ending the song with a line from “This Little light of Mine” which doesn’t work and rather than making you smile like it did on Special it makes you go, “Huh?”  Plus as anyone who ever wrote a paper knows, never end with someone else’s words!

Still, this is a nice return to creative excitement from the band.  And while it never reaches the majesty of their first two albums it comes close to some of their past glories.

[READ: February 1, 2013] The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Four and Five

After a hiatus, Bannister & Nykko return with what feels like a new version of The Elsewhere Chronicles.  The look of the art is slightly different.  It’s clearly the same artist but the lines and angles look a little different on the characters–just a wee bit harsher.  It’s odd.  But it shows that things are a little different now.

The setting is nine moths after the end of book three.  Max has not spoken to any of the others since the lat book when his mother slapped him. Indeed, he’s been hanging around with his brother and his brother’s friends who are no good (especially to Max).  But Theo and Noah had rescued a bunch of things from Grandpa Gabe’s house.  They stored them safely somewhere before the house was demolished.  Meanwhile, Rebecca has been ill and hasn’t seen any of them.  She believes that the illness was caused in the other world and knows she needs to return there to get better.

Max is having a hard time with his new gang  They don’t respect him at all and he actually hates hanging around with them all.  In fact they just kicked him out of their gang and he is sulking when he believes he sees Rebecca.  Could she really have returned?  He follows her as she goes to her grandpa’s house.  She starts to break down when she sees that it was demolished.  She’s about to despair when and old friend sees her and gives her comfort.

Noah and Theo show her that they have Gabe’s possessions.  And they show her that the have figured out how to use the machine.  So they reactivate the passageway and the three of them return to the other world.  Before we can really see what happens over there, Max heads off to the hiding place.  He also passes through the passageway where he runs into Gabe who (after threatening to kill Max) offers to drive him to where Rebecca and the boys must be.

They arrive just as Rebecca and friends sneak into a cave.  Gabe says that the cave leads to nothing but danger.  And as the book ends, we see that that is true…. (more…)

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Bannister & Nykko–The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Three: The Master of Shadows (2008) [translated 2009]

Posted in Bannister, Carol Klio Burrell, Children's Books, Fantasy, Fears, Nykko, Short Books, Supernatural, The Amoeba People on February 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ElsewhereBk3_C1SOUNDTRACK:  THE AMOEBA PEOPLE-“The Geologists Are Coming” (2012).

geologistThis is, “a special audio poem from The Amoeba People in honor of those hard-working scientists who carry tiny hammers and chip at the crust.”  It’s a very simple rap and drum song about Geologists (of course).  The middle section gives a nice alphabetic breakdown of the letters of the word.

But the best part of the song is clearly the chorus which is very very catchy.

The problems (such as they are) with the song are these: it’s very very short (under two minutes) and it could use some extra kind of musical sound to it–maybe a five minute version with guitars is  in order.  But, even without the guitars, the song is fun to sing along to:

[READ: January 21, 2013] The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Three

Had I known that the series would come to a major halt with book three (and then resume a year later) I would have included Book Three with 1 & 2.  As it stands, Book Three gives what would be a decent but unsatisfying conclusion to the story, although since it ends with The End…? readers may have been not too upset by the conclusion.

The book opens with Rebecca, Max, Noah, and Theo are reunited and taking pictures of themselves in their elsewhere location (although the one just shows them on a beach–not really proof of anything otherworldly (other photos do show otherworldly scenes).  They find a boat and sail across the sea.  But in the process their mynah bird (the one who alerts them to t he presence of danger) is killed by a seagull.

They land in a village where thy are given gifts (we later see a statue that looks a lot like Rebecca o their grounds).  They find their way to a cave where Grandpa Gabe had a lot of his supplies (and which was currently inhabited by a very large and scary creature.  They find a map and instructions about how to jump between worlds.  But that night they are attacked by the Shadow Creatures and even see the Master of Shadows himself.  During the confrontation Doleann returns to assist but Ilvanna, recognizing someone in the shadow spirit, embraces it, which kills her instantly.  Doleann says that Minervale the dragon is about to give birth to two dragons, which will help in their fight against the Master of Shadows.   (more…)

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