I was intrigued by the name of this band, but I was so disappointed to find out that they were another soul/blues band fronted by a woman who sounds like Bonnie Raitt. Between Bonnie Raitt’s new album, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lake Street Dive and now this band there’s just too much of this music that is basically the same. And then there’s the song titles: “Sugar” “Catch Me if You Can” and “Mama Said.”
I also had to laugh at the men in the band each one of the six has a beard. And I got a big kick out of the harmonica player who looks like he’s trying to be bad ass, but it’s really hard to look like a bad ass when you are blowing harmonica. And the lead singer does all of those bluesy things that drive me nuts—”sing it with me, “can you play that thing for your mama, now,” etc.
Having gotten that out of the way, the band is really quite good. The sax player has some great solos and the trumpet player sounds good too. And, while I mocked the harmonica player, he is really good—especially on the second and third songs where he plays an electric harmonica and really wails (he is also the brother of the lead singer). Speaking of the lead singer, her voice is great. She’s a tiny little thing but man can she belt out notes. And she’s got the great ability to “sing” mmm hmmms and have them be really loud—a good bluesy front woman. The lead guitarist is really good too whether he’s playing with a slide or doing some lengthy solos, the band really rocks. Frankly you’d have to be a corpse not to tap your foot along to the rhythm or smile at this skinny redhead belting out these notes.
But I would never be able to tell them apart from the other bands I mentioned earlier.
[READ: June 10, 2016] “Choking Victim”
This was the second story in a row that I found hard to believe (and which I didn’t understand the title of).
Karen is in her mid-thirties and has recently had a baby. She is depressed and doesn’t understand why everything is so different in her life.
The thing that I couldn’t quite get in this story was whether or not all of the people who gave her dirty looks (and there a lot) were in her head or in reality. I simply don’t believe that so many people would give her a dirty look just as she walks down the street: “When she pushed her baby through the park in a bulky red stroller, people watched her with curiosity and pity.”
Her husband was away for two weeks and she had a hard time with the baby. It was especially disconcerting to Karen because at six months old her baby wasn’t really talking–hardly even babbling. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: RAGA ROCKERS-“Slakt” [“Slaughter”] (1988), “Hun er Fri” [“She is Free”] (1988) and “Noen å hate” [“Someone to hate”] (1990).
Karl Ove mentions many bands in his books. Raga Rockers appeared twice in this one. I can’t find a ton about them online, because they never really made it beyond Norway, but the Google translated version of their website says:
Raga Rockers is an ingenious rock ‘n roll band that has existed since 1982.
Today the band consists of: Michael Krohn (vocals, lyrics), Hugo Alvar Stein (keyboards / guitar), Eivind Staxrud (guitar), Arne Sæther (keys), Livio Aiello (bass) and Jan Kristiansen (drums).
The band came out of the punk community in the early eighties, but became such a “poppy” large parts of the Norwegian people have founded acquaintance with them. Songs like “She is free” and “Someone to hate” is almost singalong classics! Their greatest triumph came perhaps in 1999 when they played for thousands of ecstatic Norwegians at the yellow stage at Roskilde Festival. (Reviews of the show by Dagbladet (which Karl Ove wrote for) and Dagsavisen–both are in English.
Despite their punk roots and the rather violent song titles, the songs are almost poppy–heavy guitars but simple chords and a singer who doesn’t sound angry at all. In fact, if I didn’t read about their punk roots, I’d swear these songs are kinda goofy.
“Slakt” is a simple song, opening with a 4/4 drum and splashes of guitar. The middle is a bluesy riff with a chorus of “ah ha ha” The lead singer’s voice is mostly kind of deep–not quite what I expected from the heavy guitars.
“Hun Er Fri” is quite different from the others songs. It’s only 90 seconds long and features a piano. The chords are still simple the piano may be playing single notes in fact). The lyrics are pretty much nonstop and kind of fast. It seems like a silly pop trifle and I can see why it’s popular among their fans. The first time I listened to it, I was surprised it ended when it did. This bootleg live version is certainly fun.
These two songs came from their 1988 album Forbudte følelser [Prohibited feelings]
“Noen å hate” has a bit more of a metal sound, but is essentially the same kind of heavy rock with simple chord progressions. There’s a good solo at the end. A black metal band called Vreid has done a cover of this song (which really only sounds different because the Vreid singer is more growly).
This song comes from their 1990 album Rock n’ Roll Party.
And yes, they are still around. They took a hiatus in the 2000s but came back with three albums 2007’s Übermensch, 2010’s Shit Happens and 2013’s Faktor X.
[READ: May 1, 2016] My Struggle Book Five
I realized as I read this fifth book that I should have been keeping a vague sense of the timeline of these books. Specifically, because he opens this book with this: “The fourteen years I lived in Bergen from 1988 to 2002 are long gone.” So if he was born in 1968, this book covers roughly ages 19-33.
So my general outline for the other volumes:
Book Five: 1988-2002 (19-33)
Book Four: 1987 (18)
Book Three: 1968-1981 (1-13)
Book Two: 2008 (40) (with flashbacks to meeting his second wife in 2003 or so)
Book One: 2008 (40) (with flashbacks to his father’s death in 1998 or so)
What era could Book Six possibly be about?
We’ll find out next year in what is said to be the 1,200 page final volume.
So as I mentioned above, Karl Ove talks about the fourteen years he lived in Bergen. And it made me laugh that he says:
The fourteen years I lived in Bergen, from 1988 to 2002, are long gone, no traces of them are left, other than as incidents a few people might remember, a flash of recollection here, a flash of recollection there, and of course whatever exists in my own memory of that time. But there is surprisingly little.
And then he proceeds to write 600+ pages about that time. (more…)
Gaby Moreno surprised me in this set. Her first song “No Regrets,” begins like a gentle bossa nova sung in Spanish. The song switches to English about midway through, but it retains that lovely bossa nova feel. Morena’s voice is lovely and clear. She plays guitar and sings and is accompanied by Adam Levy, also on guitar.
So far, so good.
The second song, “Ave Que Emigra” begins as a gentle ballad, but quickly morphs into a kind of upbeat folk song also sung in Spanish (Moreno is from Guatemala). It is a lovely song with some beautiful oooohs.
It’s the third song the surprised me.
“Sing Me Life” opens in a much darker vein–rough strummed guitars and a blues solo from Levy. Even Moreno’s voice has gotten deeper and bluesier. The song is sung in English and although she sounds like herself, she also sounds really different–not exactly angrier, but less sweet, more intense. The “Hey hey hey’s” are a far cry from the sweet “ooooohs” of the previous song. Levy plays a nice bluesy solo on this song as well.
Moreno has a great deal of diversity in her set and she handles it all really well.
[READ: October 20, 2015] The Spoils
I have enjoyed Eisenberg’s writing in the past. But this was the first full play I had read by him (he has two others). It is very funny (and surprisingly vulgar).
There are five characters. Ben (played by Eisenberg when it was performed) owns the apartment where the action is set. He is the son of a wealthy man, going to college for “film” and basically enjoying himself as much as he can. He drinks, he smokes pot and he picks on his roommate (who might just be his only friend). His language is shockingly vulgar, dropping curses left and right.
His roommate is Kalyan (who in the performance was played by Kunal Nayyar (from The Big Bang Theory). Kalyan is from Nepal. He has come to NYU to study business and has even written book about economic conditions in Nepal. Kalyan is a bit dorky (he loves PowerPoint, which is used to great comic effect throughout the story). And he is trying to win over Reshma.
Reshma is Indian, but she has lived in the States all of her life, so she is really American. She has high hopes for Kalyan, but it seems she fears he might not live up to his potential.
In the opening scene Kalyan is showing her a PowerPoint and being incredibly sweet to her. When Ben walks in he is all crass and vulgar—funny but very unlikable. He essentially makes Reshma leave (although as soon as he shows up we know she wants to leave anyhow) and then begins his tale. (more…)
Promtomartyr’s Under Color of Official Right has been one of my favorite albums of the last few years. Joe Casey’s vocals are more or less spoken (and angry) while the music is propulsive and rocking. Sometimes punk, sometimes something else entirely. It’s a weird pairing but it worked wonderfully.
I hadn’t heard their new album yet–I am a little afraid that they’re going to mess with the perfection of their second album–but as soon as I saw they did a Tiny Desk Concert I had to check it out.
“Singer” Joe Casey stands at the front. He wears a suit and sunglasses (evidently he has some stage fright issues) and he barely moves. And then there’s the rest of the guys–each wearing all black, looking like the backing band for someone else entirely (the bassist has super long blond hair). And yet, man, do they play great together.
The band plays three songs. The first two are from their new album. “Why Does It Shake?” has a cool interesting bass line and sharp, occasional guitar chords along with drums that are mostly played along the rim. The song unexpectedly slows down for a middle section. And all along, Casey asks his tough, threatening lyrics. The song is over 4 and a half minutes, perhaps one of their longest tracks.
The second song, “”Devil In His Youth” is a fast propulsive song with a great catchy riff that leads to the simple spoken chorus of “the devil in his youth.” This song is much more familiar in terms of Protomartyr songs and is only two and a half minutes long.
The final song comes from their debut album, No Passion All Technique (which is hard to get and which I’ve never heard). The song doesn’t sound drastically different from the others, but you can hear a different tone, perhaps a little less abrasive?
Naturally for a curmudgeonly band, they don’t play anything from the album I love, but this set is really good nonetheless. And yes, it may be time to investigate the new album.
[READ: October 28, 2015] Super Mutant Magic Academy
I saw this book when we were visiting Toronto and I wrote down the title to check it out. I didn’t know anything about it, and didn’t realize that I knew the work of Jillian Tamaki from several great graphic novels
I also had no idea that this was actually a long in progress webcomic that Tamaki has put into book form.
And finally, I didn’t expect it to be a series of one page funny strips that tell an overarching story. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-Ottawa Bluesfest Ottawa, ON (July 5, 2008).
This brief set at the Ottawa Bluesfest was for a Six Shooter Records showcase. As such it is short (about 30 minutes). By the end there are tons of guests playing with him, which is fun.
He opens with three solo acoustic songs: “I’ll Never Tear You Apart” which sounds great and “Something in Those Woods” which would appear on his third album The Ghost of Danny Gross the following year. When the song ends, he says he is still “working on it.” The third song “The Underbrush” will also appear on Danny.
Then the band comes in: Ford Pier, Greg Smith and Doots (Steven Pitkin) on drums. Someone in the band says that Martin looks great, the treatments really paid off to which Martin replies “What?” incredulously.
The rocking “My Sweet Relief” segues nicely into the rocking “That’s What You Get for Having Fun.” Interestingly, Martin seems to forget the words, so they play an entirely instrumental verse (complete with a solo) before resuming the song.
The final song is a great version of “Shaved Head,” with a full cast of Six Shooter Records players in the guest list: Luke Doucet, Paul LaPlante, Christine Fellows, Justin Rutledge, NQ Arbuckle, Casey Laforet and Mark Sasso as well as a few others whose names I missed.
It’s a great fun show and a great quality recording.
[READ: July 1, 2015] A Bright Moon for Fools
I found this book at work and was intrigued by it. Not by its title or cover, which is dreadful, but because on the edge of the pages was printed Up on two legs, man! I love a book that plays with convention so I decided to check it out. Then on the front is a blurb from Michael Palin(!) which says “Very funny, very unpleasant and very moving.” And this is a very apt blurb for this book. It is quite funny, it is very unpleasant and it is also rather moving.
The story is about a man named Harry Christmas. Christmas is a scoundrel. He is mid-fifties but appears much older–fat, drunk and be-mustached. He fancies that he looks fantastic, but no one is fooled.
Christmas suffers no fools. He expounds vociferously about any slight (especially slights against common courtesy–for although he is belligerent, he does believe in common courtesy). He hates all of the vulgar inanities of modern life, which he calls, “The Rot.” He hates people who use air quotes, he hates people who listen to walkmen (or whatever other technological marvel is out there), he hates people who want to sit and talk to him while he is eating, and worst yet he hates those who assume that because he is British, he loves football. None of these hatreds seems that unreasonable to me, but since Harry is a big drunken man, his belligerence moves past justifiable and into the realm of scary.
And yet, he is a funny and enjoyable protagonist to be sure. Well, except that he has stolen the life savings from his previous girlfriend and has fled London for Venezuela. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-The Hudson, Hamilton, ON (January 28, 2006).
After the flurry of solo activity, the Rheos released their final album and toured and then broke up. Dave Bidini said that Tim Vesely wanted to quit in January 2006. Who knows exactly when that was made clear or how this solo show from Martin came about.
It’s only 29 minutes long. When he comes out someone asks where he came from. So who knows what’s going on.
The recording is too loud and feels kind of harsh. But he says “I’m gonna try some songs on you.”
I think the entire set is him solo although it sounds like there may be an extra guitar on “My Sweet Relief” and “I’ll Never Tear You Apart.” He doesn’t mention anyone though, so maybe he’s just awesome.
There’s only 7 songs “Digital Beach” (an unusual Rheos cover by itself). Then six songs from his debut album. “World In A Wall” which is great (but again, kind of harsh sounding), “Waterstriders (The Bridge)” “My Sweet Relief” “I’ll Never Tear You Apart,” a rocking “That’s How They Do It In Warsaw” and “Wetbrain.”
It’s a brief show with very little chatter, but it’s interesting to hear him do many of these songs solo. Given that he tends to play songs from newer albums I can’t help but wonder if this was actually an older concert.
[READ: June 15, 2015] Bleachers in the Sun
Every now and then a big pile of short plays comes to my desk. The ones that sound interesting I’ll give a read–it usually doesn’t take too long.
This one is about 4 eleven year old girls (in the play the performers are adults).
The blurb on the back says “Why would adults go to see a play about eleven-year-olds? Possibly because none of us ever really stop being eleven. [This play] holds a mirror up to grown ups to darkly illuminate the world of modern adolescent girls, which is just like ours, only amplified.”
Okay, well, yes it sort of does that, But the mirror was so dark that I found the play less than illuminating. (more…)
Karl Ove mentions many bands in this book, but the deLillos are the only Norwegian band that he plays. They sing in Norwegian and play sprightly, jangly guitar pop–they would fit in very well with some of the lighter alt bands from the late 80s and early 90s.
I have no idea what they’re singing about (well, the title translates to “love” so I guess I know what they are singing about.
The singer has a high, delicate voice and there’s some interesting harmonies. I really like the way the song transitions from verse to chorus with the picked guitar notes–very catchy.
It comes from their second album, Før var det morsomt med sne (Beforeit was funin the snow), which along with their first was quite popular and was reissued with a bonus disc in the 90s. Having said that I see that Amazon has one copy of the disc and no album cover listed. Worse yet, I can’t find many other songs online (Spotify lists the album, but I can’t get it to play).
Sorry, deLillos (even searching for you gives us more Don DeLillo than you guys).
[READ: June 24, 2014] My Struggle Book Four
I started including the British edition page numbers because at my work we received both editions of the book, and I received the British one first so I grabbed it and started reading. I noticed the page numbers were quite different (the British book is taller and the print is quite bigger, although this doesn’t explain why the previous books have fewer pages).
I had been interested in the differences between editions from the get go. I had enjoyed the American editions, but I enjoyed reading this British edition more (bigger print?). But when I noticed on one of the pages that the word “realise” was spelled as I typed it, it made me wonder if the American edition changed that to the American spelling. [Actually, I see that Don Bartlett lives in Virginia, so perhaps he translates it into American first]. While I wasn’t about to go into a deep inspection of the topic, when I saw the American edition on a shelf at work, I had to do a little comparison.
And what I found out was that even though Don Bartlett is the (amazing) translator for both editions, someone (perhaps Bartlett himself?) is translating the American into British (or vice versa). I looked at a couple of pages and noticed these changes from British to American:
BRITISH EDITION = AMERICAN EDITION
Pack it in, now = Give it up, now
roll-up = rollie [about hand rolled cigarettes]
looked daggers at = gave her a dirty look
a complete prat = completely useless
is that possible? = really?
to cook and wash up = cooking and doing the dishes
I had got = I’d gotten
had penned = had written
and yes, realised = realized.
Other than select phrases, every word is exactly the same. So somebody goes through the books and changes them to British english idioms and spellings. That’s fascinating.
I also see that this is the first book I had not read an excerpt from first. Not that it would have made any difference as to whether I read the fourth one. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
So book four is set in Håfjord, a town in Northern Norway near Finnsnes (a five hour flight away–okay I had no idea Norway was so big!). Karl Ove is 18 and has decided to become a grade school teacher there for one year. The tax breaks are great if you teach, and he plans to teach and write his masterpieces and then get out. He has no interest in teaching, but the town is small (most grades are 3-7 students), so he figures it can’t be too hard.
As in most of Karl Ove’s books, the stories jump around and flash back and do not stay all in this one time, but it is largely set in this locale.
My first thought was that I have never read a story with as much semen (both nocturnal emission and premature ejaculation) in my life. It is a strange take away from the book, but there it is. Karl Ove is 18 and really wants to have sex for the first time. About 3/4 of the way through the book he reveals that he never masturbated (it just never occurred to him, apparently, and at 18 he’s too old to start–what!?). As such, he seems to have wet dreams every night. And every time he gets near a woman, he has an orgasm too soon. He is horny all the time–it’s a bit disconcerting.
And since I mentioned that, I don’t know if Karl Ove’s life is typical of Norway, but I am shocked by the number of women who take their clothes off around him (he may have never had sex, but he was about to on at least a half-dozen occasions). And he says that all through school (from around age 13 and up) it was common place for the boys to lift up the girls’ shirts and kiss and or fondle their breasts. It is mind-boggling to me. And the 16 year olds all seem to be having sex all the time–this may be skewed from Karl Ove’s perspective, but that’s what I now believe happens in Norway.
But while sex is the main theme of the book–sex, sex sex, there is more to it.
Karl Ove’s parents have split up and his father has started drinking in earnest. The dad has remarried and has just had a baby. Incidentally, I was also shocked to read that Karl Ove’s father, who is an abusive stodgy old man who is cranky and mean and abusive and all the stuff that we read about in the other volumes was only 43 at the time that Karl Ove was 18. So the old man who I pictured as a gray-haired curmudgeon in this book is actually younger than me. Great.
In Håfjord, Karl Ove is teaching kids who range from age 13 to 16. It’s disconcerting to read about him thinking lustful thoughts about his students, until he reminds us that for most of the students, he is only 2 years older than them. I am pleased to say that he behaves himself (except in his mind) with all of the students. There’s even a really interesting flash forward to eleven years later when he runs into two of them again.
He proves to be a pretty decent teacher it seems. The kids mostly like him (the girls all think he is hot) and he is young and tries to make it fun (he himself hated school and everything about it). He even seems to help out an awkward boy (although that is never resolved). We see him teaching, trying to interact with the kids and generally being a pretty good guy.
Until the booze comes out.
For in addition to semen, this book is chock full of alcohol. Before graduating from gymnas (high school), Karl Ove basically stopped caring about anything. He spent most of his time drunk. It is astonishing the amount of drinking he does–it’s practically like an Amish Rumspringa how crazy he goes. But even in this retrospective look, he talks about how much he likes it, how it loosens him up and makes him less nervous.
But really he just spends most of his time drunk, hungover or sick. He even got into the hash scene for a while. He was living with his mom at the time and she was appalled at the way he acted–especially when he threw a party which trashed their house. She even kicked him out for a time.
He seemed to be over the drink in Håfjord, but it turns out that there’s precious little else to do except drink up there, especially when it grows dark for most of the day. So there is much drinking–he only misses class once or twice because of it but he comes very close a lot.
The irony that he is appalled at his father’s drinking, while drinking so much himself, is apparently lost on him.
The other main preoccupation with Karl Ove is music. He talks a lot about his great taste in music (he reminds me of me–a little insufferable). Back when he was in gymnas, he spent a lot of time discussing his favorite bands and favorite songs. He got a job (at 16) writing reviews for a local paper (holy crap, jealous!) and then later gets a job writing a column for another paper. For the previous book I listed a lot of the bands he mentioned, and I wish I had written them down for this one. U2 features prominently (this is 1987, so I’m guessing Joshua Tree), but also Talking Heads, a Scottish post-punk/new wave band The Associates and their album Sulk which he describes as “an utterly insane LP.” he and his brother really like The Church and Simple Minds (before they got so commercial). He also has a whole thread in which he makes connections with albums:
Briano Eno, for example, started in Roxy Music, released solo records, produced U2 and worked with Jon Hassell, David Byrne, David Bowie, and Robert Fripp; Robert Fripp played on Bowie’s Scary Monsters; Bowie produced Lou Reed, who came from Velvet Underground, and Iggy Pop, who came from the Stooges, while David Byrne was in Talking Heads, who on their best record, Remain in Light, used the guitarist Adrian Belew, who in turn played on several of Bowie’s records and was his favorite live guitarist for years. (64).
He also specifically raves about “The Great Curve” from the Talking Heads album, and of course, he raves about the first Led Zeppelin album as well.
Music is a huge part of his life (and he dresses accordingly too). It’s unclear whether the kids think this is awesome or not, but he may be a bit too much for some of the locals. The locals are mostly fishermen (which makes sense), and Karl Ove is a bit intimidated that he is so wimpy compared to them–one of the women even teases him about his tiny arms.
But his main focus is writing. He writes a few shorts stories (to my knowledge he has never published any of them). We see some excerpts and they seem fine–he fancies himself Hemingway. But he also mentions a bunch of Norwegian authors (I love when he does that). Sadly again, not too many of them have been translated into English. [I really hope that some mega fan creates a database of all of the bands and authors he mentions]. He also talks briefly about his first novel which alludes to his time teaching here. I happened to read a small summary of said novel (Out of the World) and feared that it spoiled what was going to happen. But, in fact there does appear to be a difference between his fiction and non-fiction.
The book moves very quickly–from party to party, from failed sexual attempt to the next, even from his staying up all night long trying to write. And most of the time he comes off as kind of a dick–he is also very self-critical, which somehow tempers that dickishness.
As with the other books I cannot figure out exactly why I am so addicted to his writing. I brought the book home on Thursday night and finished it (all 548 pages of it) Monday night. This really completes the picture of himself as he moved from childhood to adulthood and really lays the foundation for whatever is to come next. Early in the book he talks about the books that he loved at that age, books that talk about the move from childhood to adulthood. And thus, this book becomes something of a bildungsroman as well. Although whether or not Karl Ove actually grew up at the end of this book will have to wait until volume 5 (which I have to assume is still another year away as there is no information about it online at all!).
For ease of searching, I include: Hafjord, For var det morsomt med sne.
Back 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…)
This collection is a mixed bag for me. I love a bunch of the songs but dislike a number of others. It starts out poor but picks up by the end.
EARTHA KITT-“Santa Baby” I hate this song in general, and dislike this version (but less than some others). NANCY WILSON-“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” a slower version than I like for this song, but it’s fine. LOU RAWLS-“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” I’m mixed about this version as I don’t really like his delivery so much. BENNY GOODMAN-“Winter Weather” I like Benny although I don’t always love his vocalists. Peggy Lee is cool, but I’m less thrilled by Art Lund’s verse. ELLA FITZGERALD-“Frosty the Snowman” The first verse is so unexpected (like a prelude that I’ve never heard anywhere else). I like Ella’s version quite a lot. NAT “KING” COLE-“All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)” Because Nat is awesome, I like his version of this song (which I dislike in general), but Nat can make anything sound good.
BING CROSBY-“Winter Wonderland” Now we’re talking. Bing makes everything alright. JOHNNY MERCER AND THE PIED PIPERS-“Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” This is a weird version that I’m not really familiar with. They add some weird verses and call and response. Like the opening “fat man’s coming fat mans coming” (which sounds like it was on a Bugs Bunny cartoon and is pretty naughty in my book). I especially enjoy the way the lyrics gets even more threatening as the song goes on. HOLLY COLE TRIO-“I’d Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus” I’ve never really thought too much about this song but I like it. DEAN MARTIN-“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” a classic version, excellent. LENA HORNE-“Jingle All the Way” She has fun with this and plays around with conventions, I think it’s cool. PEGGY LEE-“Happy Holiday” Peggy is back. I like it even if it is a little stiff.
So overall, this is a pretty solid collection of “classic” songs. I would have picked a few different versions, but it’s solid.
[READ: December 7, 2014] Ball Peen Hammer
My experience with First Second books has been very positive. The stories tend to focus on people who may not ft in, and who may not get a voice in every day society. They’re usually pretty satisfying and/or positive. Either that or they were children’s books that were largely funny.
So imagine my surprise upon reading Ball Peen Hammer and discovering a violent, nasty story about a dystopian future in which there is really no hope of redemption for anyone. It is dark dark dark.
The story is pretty simple (although it is told in a convoluted way so you don’t really know what’s going on for much of the book). (more…)
I had never heard of Muckaferguson. Okay, that is not true, as I see I made a post about them because of the They Might be Giants song “John Lee Supertaster.” Because the real John Lee is a indeed a supertaster and was in the band Muckaferguson. (And John Flansburgh of TMBG produced this album). So there. But I still hadn’t heard them until now.
This song comes from that album.
The album is a flurry of genres and styles, and amid all of this, we get this old school beat box rap (sorta early Beastie Boysish). And I like it because it is quite funny. And since it’s only a minute and a half long, I’ll put all the lyrics, because I can’t pick a favorite line:
my name is mc speller and i like to spell…s p e l l spells spell. mc speller and i love to spell…q u e u e spells queue.
he’s a maniac, ya’ll. here comes the heart attack, yo. chris likes food. andy like atari. i like the work of john baldessari. my rhymes are fresh and my moves are hard. i play the plastic guitar like baudrillard.
my name is mc speller and i like to spell…d a d spells dad. mc speller and i love to spell…r h o n g spells wrong.
i’m mc scared of bees, ya’ll cause you know that i’m scared of bees, ya’ll. when i see a bee i run because by definition i’m scared of bees.
yo, i’m comin’ to you straight out of sutton in suburban south london. white, middle class, educated 20 something. i got me degree in pure mathematics. i don’t like to rap i’m just being sarcastic.
r i g h t spells right, mc speller’s gonna spell all night, talkin’ about. n i g h t spells night, mc speller spells everything right
Despite the kid friendly nature of some of some of these songs, the album as a whole is definitely not kid friendly (I mean, look at the cover and, frankly the band’s name). The song “I Wanna Get…” is all about getting, well, F’d up, so be mindful. But many of the songs are delightfully witty.
John Lee, incidentally, is also responsible for the show Wonder Showzen, so if you know the show, you get a sense of the kind of mischief he makes.
[READ: August 9, 2014] My Homework Ate My Homework
Regardless of how I felt about Guinea Dog 1 and 2 (overall I liked them quite a bit), it was impossible not to snap up a book with a title like this. Especially when the book is about a ferret. (The cover is by the same artist as the Guinea Dog books, which led me to assume the style was similar, which it was).
This book is about 10-year-old Zaritza (the unusual name is never explained). She is… dramatic. And is a fan of dramatic…. pauses. She is incredibly excited to be playing Calamity Jane in the upcoming traveling theater production of Calamity Jane. She has watched the film dozens of times and has her “Calam” down perfectly.
The problem is that if she doesn’t bring her grades up she’s won’t be allowed to do extra curricular activities. Like drama. She is not the best student, so rather than actually doing her work, she decides to do some extra credit. Like bringing the classroom pet Ferret home for the weekend. She hates the ferret. She hates its smell, she hates its look. Hates it. But she needs the credit. And so it comes home. And then she forgets to close the cage door and the ferret gets out.
Panic!
While the ferret is out, and they are trying to catch it, Zaritza hears something–gnawing. And that’s when her homework ate her homework. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: SISTER SPARROW & THE DIRTY BIRDS-Tiny Desk Concert #525 (April 25, 2016).
I was intrigued by the name of this band, but I was so disappointed to find out that they were another soul/blues band fronted by a woman who sounds like Bonnie Raitt. Between Bonnie Raitt’s new album, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lake Street Dive and now this band there’s just too much of this music that is basically the same. And then there’s the song titles: “Sugar” “Catch Me if You Can” and “Mama Said.”
I Just Read About That... 