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Archive for the ‘Violence’ Category

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.–Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)

Posted in Canadian Music, Death, Funny (ha ha), Hitler, Homer, Kurt Vonnegut, Marriage Trouble, Play (Drama), Sexism, The Cars, Violence, Wolf Parade on July 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WOLF PARADE-Expo 86 (2010).

Wolf Parade is a strange band, no doubt. Both singers can craft super catchy songs, but they like to layer them with odd sounds and lots of song parts making the songs more challenging (and better in the long run).

“Cloud Shadow on the Mountain” starts the disc off with drums and an eccentric voice.  And the lyrics? “I was asleep in a hammock/I was dreaming that I was a web/I was a dream-catcher hanging in the window of a minivan/Parked by the water’s edge./I’d say that I was all alone.”

The song has some loud guitars, some great guitars riffs and (the most notable feature on the album) retro sounding keyboards.  On this song the keys play an alternate melody that compliments the song very well.  There’s some heavy rocking sections and a slowed down drums and vocals section.  It’s fairly exhausting how much is in this one song.  By the end, he’s repeating “you will never be born as a scorpion.”

“Palm Road” is a more straightforward and catchy song, although it’s certainly offbeat.  “What Did My Lover Say” opens with a cool guitar riff an counterpointed keyboards.  As with most of the songs on this record headphones or at least good stereo speakers really make a difference.  The rest of the album is hard to speak of in different terms because each song is unusual with angular guitars and interesting vocals.  The keyboards also provide unsettling atmospherics.   None of the songs are easy to sing along to, until one day the shifts in melody and phrasing sink in and it all sounds wonderful.

What I find notable about these songs is that they are all long (most are around 5 minutes) and they feel long–not in a dragging out way (although maybe “In the Direction of the Moon” drags) but in a–so much has been going on, this song must be really long kind of way.

Some other highlights include “Ghost Pressure” with its great keyboard riff (that feels not unlike The Cars).  Speaking of The Cars, the keyboards on “Oh You, Old Thing” have the great spacey Cars sound from the 80s.  “Pobody’s Nerfect” melds the catchiness that the guys are capable of with just the right mix of unexpectedness.  And the closing song “Cave-O-Sapien” seems to combine all of the best qualities of the above songs in to one–a great riff, catchy “oh oh ohs,” and bizarre lyrics, “I had a dream of a gorilla.”

This album is definitely not for everyone, but multiple listen reap big rewards.

[READ: July 8, 2012] Happy Birthday, Wanda June

I have been chugging along nicely through Kurt Vonnegut’s oeuvre.  My plan was to read all of his novels and then read his short stories.  And then maybe read his plays (I wasn’t sure about that last bit).  But as I mentioned yesterday, reading a simple play can be a delight (and can be a very quick read, too).

Vonnegut opens the book with a prologue about how and when he wrote the book.  It was originally a play called Penelope, and he thought it was terrible.  Fifteen years later he kept the basic idea and rewrote it as Happy Birthday, Wanda June.  And the idea is straight out of Homer.  In the Odyssey, Penelope is Ulysses’ long-suffering wife.  When Ulysses came home from his travels some twenty years later, he was feted as a hero and the world (well, his world) rejoiced (except for Penelope’s suitors, of course).

So in this play, Harold Ryan is a loud, manly hunter and soldier, ready and happy to kill anything in his way.  He has been on an expedition for eight years–his plane went down and he  is presumed dead–even Mutual of Omaha thinks so.  His wife, Penelope Ryan believes him to be dead and has been entertaining two suitors–Dr Norbert Woodly, a pacifistic doctor and Herb Shuttle, a vacuum cleaner salesman.  The only person who doesn’t presume him dead is their son Paul Ryan, who bristles not only at the thought of his father being dead, but even more so at these wimpy suitors.  Although Paul is too young to ever have rally known his father (he’s 12), he keeps hopes alive that his father will return one day.

What I like about the play is that it maintains Vonnegut’s voice right from the start.  It opens with a speech from Penelope:

My name is Penelope Ryan.  This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing–and those who don’t. (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Deadeye Dick (1982)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Bea Sandler, Bombs, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Death, Food, Funny (ha ha), Futility, Hitler, Kurt Vonnegut, LGBTQ, Marcella Hazan, Marriage Trouble, Morality, Play (Drama), Short Books, Six Organs of Admittance, Utopia, Violence on June 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE-“Even If You Knew” (2012).

Lars from NPR’s All Things Considered picked this as his summer music preview song.  I don’t know a thing about Six Organs of Admittance, but their discussion of this song makes it seem like this is atypical for the band (which has a massive output).  Evidently they’re usually more droney sounding. But man, this song is pummeling and wonderful.

It’s seven minutes long and opens with a simple, plodding heavy bass riff.  The vocals are kind of whispered and strained.  But then comes the guitar solo–a raging piece of distortion that complements the bass.  And that’s just the first three minutes.

The second half of the song features a quieter section–the bass is quieter, while the guitar noodles around and the vocals play over the rhythm.  The song slowly builds again, and by the last minute or so there’s another fierce guitar solo. Until the song is exhausted by the final distorted notes.

This is some beautiful noise.  And, no I have no idea what the band’s name means.

[READ: June 27, 2012] Deadeye Dick

Deadeye Dick is the last Vonnegut book that I was completely unfamiliar with.  I had no idea what it would be about.  So I didn’t realize until very late in the book, and then I looked online and confirmed that this book is set in the same location as Breakfast of Champions, Midland City, Ohio.  Indeed, some of the same characters appear in this book as appeared in that book.  But more about that later.

Vonnegut is not known for his happy books.  Misanthropy is pretty rampant in his pages.  But this book is one of his bleakest books yet.  The story concerns the Waltz family–Rudy (the protagonist) and his brother Felix are the only children of Otto and Emma Waltz.  Pretty early in the story we learn that Rudy is a double murderer.  Yipes!

As with most Vonnegut stories, this one is told in a convoluted and non-linear fashion.  He foreshadows (and really just casually mentions) a lot of crazy things that are going to happen in the book.  Like the fact that Midland City is going to be devastated by a neutron bomb.  In fact, his preface (like with many of his prefaces) tells us a lot about what’s in the book and who the characters are based on and the fact that there is a neutron bomb (but the reality of a neutron bomb is different from what he says).  There is something about knowing this information ahead of time that impacts the way you read the story.  Whether you think maybe he’s not telling the truth about what will happen (can the narrator really be a double murderer?) or maybe somehow the foreshadowing makes it even worse when it actually happens–the revelations are perhaps more deliberate.  But the style–a recursive style in which he says what happens and then he goes back and fills in the details, makes the events that much more powerful.

The funny thing about this story is that a lot happens to the characters in the beginning of the story and then not too much happens to them after that.  But that early stuff is pretty exciting and it has an impact all the way through. (more…)

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Colson Whitehead–“A Psychotronic Childhood: The B-movies did it” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Alien, Colson Whitehead, Death, Demon Seed, Demons, Dystopia, End of the World, Essays, Fangoria, Fears, Food of the Gods, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Marriage (Happy), Mother's Day, MST3K, My Bloody Valentine, New Yorker, Oddities, Prom Night, Regimen, Rosemary's Baby, Sci-fi, Sex, Sexism, Silent Night Evil Night, Skraeckoedlan, Slumber Party Massacre, Terror Train, The Birthday Party, The Devil's Run, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?, The Shining, The Virgin Prunes, Vampires, Violence, Yuck!, Zombies on June 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: INVISIBLE GUY BLOG (2012).

Jonas from Invisible Guy contacted me about a project he’s working on.  I’m not quite the right fit for it, but I had to check out his site to see what he was all about.  As his About page explains; “This blog is generally a platform for unknown bands to get promoted and interviewed.”  That’s pretty awesome in itself.  But as I browsed the site, I saw that in his post Invisible Guy recommends: 80s Post-Punk – 1982 (Part II) he includes not only The Birthday Party but also The Virgin Prunes.  Much respect there (especially for someone who wasn’t alive when those records came out!).

But the bulk of his site is full of really obscure bands (lots of bands that I’ve never heard of).  He interviews band members (sometimes in Swedish!) and has quite an impressive list of publications that he’s worked for.

So head on over to Invsible Guy for a wonderful collection of punk and hardcore music as well as some iconic (and really obscure) new wave and post-punk tunes.  He’s also got some great stuff on death metal too.  Not bad for a site that’s only a few months old.  Invisible Guy has a lot of samples and videos as well as a bunch of streaming music from unreleased or just-released albums (like this demo from the Swedish band Regimen called Välkommen hem).

And here’s a video for the Swedish stoner metal band Skraeckoedlan.  The song is “Apple Trees” and no you can’t understsnad the words because they are in Swedish.  I love that.

It’s a great site.

[READ: June 15, 2012] “A Psychotronic Childhood”

The more I read Colson Whitehead, the more I like him, not just as a writer, but as a “person” (the person he presents to us anyhow.  Although I met him briefly at a convention and he was super friendly and very nice).  This essay shows that he and I occupied some of the same headspace when we were kids (we were born in the same year)—watching sci-fi and horror movies on Channel 7 & 11 after school and on the weekends.  Of course, I didn’t really get into horror movies until much later them him (his first time was when his parents took him to  a horror film in the theater at the age of 5).  FIVE!

These early horror movies really shaped his outlook.  He lists about 70 movies in this article, of which I have seen at least half (although more from MST3K than actually sitting through them unaccompanied) and his summaries about them (four or five parenthetical words) are apt and often hilarious:

  • Food of the Gods (giant chickens rain pecking doom on a small island)
  • Alien (an outbreak of tummy trouble among space miners)
  • Demon Seed (rom-com about a horny computer that wants to impregnate Julie Christie)
  • The Devil’s Run (A negligible and mind-numbing film, notable only for the utter ineptitude of its attempt to cash in on the brief occult-movie fad that followed Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.

The Devil’s Run is the first movie he saw, back in 1975, in the theater.  He says that there was something good in it, that it really captured the element of terror when your loved one turns on you.  And he tapped into this for his novel Zone One.

Then he reflects back on 1981, when his family bought a VCR and he and his brother would head to Crazy Eddie (remember Crazy Eddie?) to rent 5 movies for the weekend (I didn’t even know they rented movies!).  The movies were inevitably 4 horror movies and one mainstream film.  And the family would gather by the TV and watch together.  How wholesome!  Except when you read what they were watching (I can’t IMAGINE my family watching these together when I was a kid–even now, Sarah hates horror films).   This is getting into the era of Friday the 13ths and Halloweens as well as classics like Terror Train, Prom Night, Slumber Party Massacre, Silent Night, Evil Night, Mother’s Day and My Bloody Valentine (“not even the holidays, hallmark or otherwise were safe”). (more…)

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Andrew Chambliss–“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In Space No One Can Hear You Slay” (Free Comic Book Day 2012)

Posted in Adventure, Alien, All Songs Considered, Andrew Chambliss, Aubrey Plaza, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Culture Shock, Fantasy, Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes, Graphic Novel, Parks and Recreation, Pugwash, Short Story, Supernatural, Surreal, Violence, Yuck!, Zombies on June 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FATHER JOHN MISTY-“Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings” (2012).

This song is also on the list of NPR’s Top 50 songs of the year (so far).  It comes so far out of left field in terms of who the guy is and the way the music sounds that I can’t believe it made it to  their list.

Father John Misty is comprised of former Fleet Foxes dude J. Tillman.  I was bummed that the Foxes were not the original lineup anymore (although Tillman says he didn’t really want to be part of someone else’s vision, so that’s cool).  And if this is Tillman’s vision that  makes sense.

This is a simple guitar and drums kind of song;  There’s a ton of reverb (on the vocals, the guitars and especially the drums).  It has an incredibly retro feel.  It reminds me of someone like Pugwash, although it sounds nothing like them, really.  It feels like an older song (aside from the reverb, the guitar sounds very clean) and then the lyrics kick in: “Jesus Christ girl, what are people going to think”  And the song is all about death and cemeteries (“Someone’s gotta help me dig”).

I wasn’t sure about the song when I first listened, but then I couldn’t stop replaying it.  Yes the song is very simple–chord structures are pretty basic, but it feels so raw that it’s hard to stop listening–especially when the song starts to pick up more…instruments, and vocals, before it ends.

There’s a video for the song (in which Aubrey Plaza (from Parks and Rec) goes batshit crazy).  And the video version is a bit longer (a lengthy coda is added on).  Well, hell, here it is:

I will definitely have to hear more from this album.

[READ: June 23, 2012] “In Space No One Can Hear You Slay”

As I mentioned yesterday, The Guild was backed with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic for Free Comic Book Day.  I loved Buffy the show.  I loved Buffy the comics.  I loved the idea that Joss was keeping the series alive in the comic books.  And then somehow I fell behind in the series.  I haven’t really read much of Season 8 (some day…some day). So there was a little bit of a context issue for me here (very minor, but still there).

True context is kind of unnecessary here (except that I don’t know what Spike and Buffy are doing together–their past relationships are so complex, who knows where they may wind up).  Anyhow, as I said context is irrelevant because this issue takes place in…outer space.  That’s right, Spike suggest that Buffy go on a space vacation to see a nebula explode (what?).  Massive cerebral cortex confusion aside, this one-off does indeed see Buffy on a spaceship.  (more…)

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Felicia Day–The Guild: Beach’d (Free Comic Book Day 2012)

Posted in Adam Rex, Adventure, All Songs Considered, Beach House, Death, Fantasy, Felicia Day (author), Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jonathan Case, Short Books, Technology, The Guild, Video Games, Violence on June 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BEACH HOUSE-“Myth” (2012).

I‘ve really been enjoying the previous Beach House record.  And in the meantime, he has released a brand new one.  “Myth” was selected as one of the best songs of the year by the folks at NPR, and it’s hard to disagree with them.

It’s not groundbreaking for Beach House (or anyone, really)–nice keyboards and guitars melodies, soaring vocals, a shimmering effect.  But like any band that hits its stride, Beach House makes a simple and beautiful song seem effortless.  How he hits some of those notes I’ll never know.  (Well, because he is actually a woman, duh).

You can see the NPR list here.  Or listen to the song (no video) here.

[READ: June 22, 2012] The Guild: Beach’d

My friend told me that the free comic book day was featuring a Buffy and a Guild together.  I misunderstood and thought that the two worlds would be intertwining.  No such luck. Rather, it was a split issue with one half being taken up by The Guild and the other half by Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Which is still pretty awesome.

The members of Codex’s guild are lost for a place to gather now that Cheesybeards has burnt down.  Of course,  they are squabbling big time about it.  Codex doesn’t understand what the fuss is–just pick someplace. Tink just suggests that they never meet face to face again.  Ever.  But everyone else has some suggestions about where to go.

And when tensions flare up, they decide to battle it out.  Bladez proves the most formidable foe, killing most of his teammates.  The battle is awesome (I’m not sure what this does to their lives in the game, actually).  And he is pretty psyched that his spot–a strip club–will be there new permanent meeting place. (more…)

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Jennifer Egan–“Black Box” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Chuck, Fears, Jack White, Jennifer Egan, New Yorker, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, Spies, Technology, The Future, The White Stripes, Threats, Violence on June 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JACK WHITE-“Sixteen Saltines” (2012).

I really liked the first White Stripes album.  After that things were just a little too samey to me.  So I pretty much stopped listening to him.  This new album is all the rage (as is everything he does), and this is a song that NPR picked as one of their favorites of the year so far.

And as with everything Jack White does, it’s immediately fun.  It’s also simple as anything, with a raw and aggressive sound–just like everything else he does.  I usually don’t mind when an artist plays the same stuff over and over, I mean it’s called a signature after all, but for some reason it bugs me with him.  Or maybe I just don’t like him as a “person.”

Anyhow, I can’t deny that this song is fun (the vocals done in a kind of R&B vein (sounding like Michael Jackson a bit?) and the addition of keyboards half way through are a nice touch.  But I can’t say that I’ll remember the song much after it’s over.

[READ: June 16, 2012] “Black Box”

I have been meaning to read Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad for quite some time.  But in the meantime, I’m happy to have read this short story, which I assume is nothing at all like her novels.

“Black Box” is written in a series of small numbered black boxes.  And each box contains a number of statements in the second person.  It’s a striking and unusual way to concoct a story.  I didn’t really think it would be all that intriguing because the tone is so matter of fact and instructional.  But I was thrilled with how much of a story Egan created out of this style.  And, yes, it is a full story.

So Box number one begins: “People rarely look the way you expect them to, even when you’ve seen pictures.”  Then, “The first thirty seconds in a person’s presence are the most important.”  Then, “If you’re having trouble perceiving and projecting, focus on projecting.”  Then, “Necessary ingredients for a successful projection: giggles; bare legs; shyness.”

So, what is this?  instructions?  advice?  quips to live by?  Well, it turns out that they are instructions to a “beauty.”  And this beauty is working for her country, to take down a bad guy.  She is a spy, although not a professional spy, she’s just a beauty doing her country’s work.  The instructions show (in a very unexpected way) how the story unfolds: “‘Shall we swim together toward those rocks?’ may or may not be a question.”  And so, “you” and your Designated Mate swim to an island where sex in inevitable.  “Begin the Dissociation Technique only when physical violation is imminent.”  For indeed, “you” are married, but your husband approves of this mission, for the good of United States and the world.

As the story unfolds, the reader realizes that this is not just a beautiful woman who has been called into the service of he country, but something a little more. “If you are within earshot of his conversation, record it.”  Well, how will she do that one wonders.  “A microphone has been implanted just beyond the first turn of your right ear canal.”

Cool. (more…)

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Brendan Connell–The Architect (2012)

Posted in Artists, Brendan Connell, Death, Decadence, Greed, Mastodon, Religion, Short Books, Supernatural, Surreal, Violence, Yuck! on June 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MASTODON-Crack the Skye (2009).

I’ve really enjoyed Mastodon’s previous records, and this one ranks way up there in intensity and songsmanship. There are 7 songs on the disc, with two over ten minutes long.  “Oblivion” opens with a great minor key chord plucked with single notes and a dropped E.  And when the vocals come in, they highlight the different vocals styles in the band–from a more screamy, almost punk voice to the more melodic/echoey voice of the chorus (kinda like Alice in Chains).  At about 4 minutes the solos play off each other wonderfully, both blistering and then melodic (with almost a Pink Floyd feel at one point).  “Divination” has some amazing guitar play both in the intro and the way the bridge soars with great guitar lines underneath the vocals.  “Quintessence” opens with furious drums and a great prog rock kind of guitar opener.  I love the way the bridge is a gentle (albeit fast) almost trippy section before the chorus bursts in with heavy, heavy chords and chants of “let it go let it go let it go”  It’s the kind of song where the parts work so perfectly together but which wouldn’t seem to.

“The Czar” is a four-part, ten-minute epic.  It opens with a creepy keyboard melody.  The first section is slow and heavy, and when part two comes in the guitars are loud and fast.  Part three has a great riff.  And the end has some gorgeous solos.  It amazes me that ten minutes can pass so quickly. It’s followed by the very heavy (lots of double bass drums) “Ghost of Karelia” the pretty much heaviest song on the record (with a nod to Voivod in the descending guitar solo about three minutes in).  “Crack the Skye” opens dark, but throws in some contradictory keyboard notes that lead to another cool extended guitar riff before jumping into a super heavy death metal verse.  This gives way to some more soaring vocals–the juxtaposition of these two vocalists is amazing.  Imagine the surprise then when the last third of the record has the vocals sounding completely robotic and phased–followed by a mess of guitar solos and concluding with some pretty guitars.

They fade into the final epic, the 13-minute “The Last Baron,” which is one of my favorite metal songs.  It opens with some great guitars and some really cool singing.  The vocals soar, the bass plays a great melody.  There’s a great heavy instrumental section but it keeps returning to the wonderful rising vocal melody line that will get stuck in your head for days.  It’s an amazing end to a great album.

The disc also comes with a DVD that’s all about the recording of the album.   I watched a few minutes and it seemed kind of fun, so I hope to watch it more soon.

[READ: June 17, 2012] The Architect

In the past, Connell’s books have explored all manner of depravity. His books were violent, often sexual and dealt with an otherworldliness that may or may not be internalized. Despite all of this transgressive material, his work was never schlocky, especially his later pieces which show an amazing growth in topics, word choices and imagination.

Connell’s previous books The Life of Polycrates and Metrophilias featured short stories that dealt with all manner of topics.   In Metrophilias, the stories were very short, and it allowed Connell to really explore an idea to its fullest without having to make a “book” about of each one. The short length also allowed him to make the words choices and descriptions more effective.

All of the benefits are reaped in this book, a novella.

Although I enjoyed Connell’s previous longer works, I really loved the way this story started with one idea and stayed with it. Some of his other books are a bit more episodic, which worked for those stories, but in this one, we’re in one place and we are pretty much going to stay there.  And that focus makes this story all the more powerful.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is Connell’s scholarship (both real and fake). For this book is a celebration of Dr Peter Körn (1849-1924), visionary and spiritual scientist. As the story opens, four members of the Körn Society are discussing plans for the new Meeting Place, a central location where all members of the Körn society can gather. They are disgusted by the pedestrian, commercial and rather offensive submissions that they have received for their building—a building that should reflect the spiritual visions of Körn.

Dismayed at the architects who have submitted, one of the members of the Society, Maria Venezuela tells the other three that her nephew Peter De la Tour will soon be arriving with something special.  Peter brings them a book of architecture designs by Herr Nachtmann.  These designs are bizarre and wonderful–organic, amoebic, gravity-defying gorgeous monstrosities–exactly the kind of thing the Society is looking for.  Although one member feels that they are impossible to build, the others are firmly on board.

The challenge then is to find the man. There is some history about the man himself–his genius in and out of school followed by his utter inability to have his work taken seriously by the establishment.  He even had one of his more ingenious ideas stolen by the very teacher who said it was terrible.  And so, when Peter finds him, he is little more than a drunk at the end of the bar.

Yet his ego has never been diminished, and when he is presented to the Society he dismisses their concerns and even tells them that he will not wait for their decision–they have 30 minutes to say yes or he walks.  They agree and he begins working on his masterpiece.

The Society loves the sketch–they know it will be expensive, but Nachtmann promises fast work, effective designs and world-wide acclaim.  Amazingly, he delivers.  He works his men hard.  All through the spring and summer and into the fall, the men work carelessness and the building rises at a phenomenal rate.  Even if it seems to be growing larger than designed. (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 2 (2012)

Posted in Alex Pappademas, American Horror Story, Andy Greenwald, Baseball, Basketball, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Boxing, Brian Phillips, Chad Harbach, Chris Brown, Chris Ryan, Chuck Klosterman, David Jacoby, Don DeLillo, Eric Raskin, Essays, Football, George Domardzki, Grantland, Helium, Hockey, Hua Hsu, Jamie Allen, Jay Caspian Kang, John Brandon, Jon Dolan, Jonah Keri, Jonathan Abrams, Katie Baker, Ken Dryden, LeBron James, Louisa Thomas, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Titus, McSweeney's, Michael Schur, Michael Weinreb, Molly Lambert, Rafe Bartholomew, Roger Federer, Shane Ryan, Sleater-Kinney, Tennis, Tess Lynch, Tom Bissell, Video Games, Violence, Wild Flag on May 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WILD FLAG-Wild Flag (2011).

For reasons unclear to me now, I wasn’t psyched when I heard about this band.  Despite the fact that it was 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney and the force behind Helium joining together, I didn’t jump for joy.  But now that I have listened to the album a million times, I can say that it is one of the best albums not only of that year, but of many years.  Man is it good.

Sleater-Kinney was a great band, they were melodic and tuneful but also abrasive and occasionally off-putting.  Who knew that the majority of the adhesiveness came from Corinne Tucker (well, she was the screamer, admittedly).  It’s pretty clear that Carrie Brownstein is bringing a ton of melody (and a wee bit of amativeness) to the mix.  Mary Timony always included trippy imagery and a weird kind of whispered/loud singing voice.  The tunes are so catchy so strong, so singalongable.

There’s little moments in each song that are amazing.  The backing vocals (and the pitch shift in the chorus) in “Romance”.  The way “Something Came Over Me” sounds so different from “Romance” (and is clearly a Timony-sung song).  I absolutely love the guitar “solo” that begins each verse and how it stands out but fits in so nicely as a baritone guitar sound (I assume from Carrie?)  “Boom” is just a full-on rocker with some great guitar pyrotechnics and Carrie’s more extreme vocals.  And man is it catchy.

“Glass Tambourine” is a cool trippy psychedelic workout  that’s still catchy and interesting.  “Endless Talk” has a strange British retro vibe.  (Carrie seems to be singing with a kind of punk British voice).  And there’s lot of keyboards.  It’s great that the album has so many different sounds, but still sounds cohesive.  “Short Version” has some great guitar soloing in the front and back.  “Electric Band” is like a perfect pop song–great backing vocals, great poppy solos and a cool video to boot.  “Future Crimes” is another amazing tune, with a keyboard solo!

“Racehorse” is probably my least favorite song on the disc.  It’s got some cool parts and some interesting swagger (and I like the live versions where they really jam) but the album version feels a little dragged out (although the chorus is really hot).  The disc ends with the wonderful “Black Tiles” which could easily be a Helium song, but which still sounds very Wild Flag.

And, I can’t say it enough, Janet Weiss is amazing on drums.  I feel badly because I tend to leave out the keyboardist–because I don’t know who she is or the band that she came from.  But her keyboards play an essential role in the music.  They fill out the spaces that the two guitars don;t always fill.  They even introduce the opening of the album.

If you go back through previous posts you’ll see I’ve mentioned them 3 times already because they have special bond with NPR and three of their concerts are available there.  I can’t wait for more from them.

[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 2

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Grantland #1.  So I was pretty excited to get Grantland #2.  #2 has all of the elements that I loved about #1–non-sports articles about entertainment (video games, music, TV), and sports articles that are short and digestible for a non-sports fan.  This issue also features a number of really long articles about basketball.  I like basketball fine, but I can’t say I paid any attention to the lockout.  Thus, much of this was lost on me. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t know any sports people either.

I may have said this last time, but I will reiterate for Issue #3–for those of us who don’t follow sports, or those of us who may not remember back to September when most of these articles were written, or heck, for people who are going to read this in ten years’ time:  For certain articles, can you give us an epilogue about what happened after the article was written.  If you speculate about  the lockout. Have an epilogue to say about how the lockout turned out.  If you talk about a game 5 of a series and the series didn’t end, have an epilogue that tells us how the series ended.  It doesn’t have to even fit the style of the article, just a few words: so and so ended like this. It can show how prescient the writers were.  And it can help us complete the stories.

So, despite a few articles that I thought were too long, (although probably aren’t if you love basketball) I really enjoyed this issue of Grantland, too. (more…)

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Gravity’s Rainbow–final thoughts

Posted in Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Huh?, Pat Benatar, Sex, The New York Times, Thomas Pynchon, Violence on May 14, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: PET BENATAR-Gravity’s Rainbow (1993).

During the early 80s, I liked Pet Benatar well enough.  Her songs were catchy and easy to sing along to and she was ll over MTV.  So maybe I didn’t “like” her so much as I couldn’t escape her.  It bothered me that she was preposterously skinny, and I didn’t like the way she moved in her videos, but I could still rock out.  Then she did “Hell is for Children” and it rubbed me the wrong way (I was 14 and easily offended).  So I have more or less disliked her ever since—based on nothing really.

When searching for images of Gravity’s Rainbow, well, this one comes up a lot.  I didn’t want to listen to it.  I really didn’t.  But I felt I would be remiss if I left any avenue of GR unturned.  What if it offered some kind of insight?

Well, it doesn’t.  It’s offers 40 minutes of bland arena rock.  There was a drum sound I liked on one of the tracks, but mostly it’s Benatar trying too hard.  Or maybe that’s how she always sings, I don’t know.  The titles suggest that maybe they have something tenuously related to the book.  But they could also just be generic rock angst.  I’m not willing to find out.  Read the book, it’s more enjoyable.

[MULLED: Week of May 7] Gravity’s Rainbow

After these big, time-consuming novels, I like to take a week and mull.  And, quite often, I’ll read what other people have said about the book to see if I can get everything straight in my head.

I was just reading back to my re-assessment of 2666 at the end of the read—wow, I pondered a lot for that one.  But I find that for Gravity’s Rainbow, I don’t really have a lot to update or think about.  Even though it was difficult in some senses, it doesn’t seem like it was the kind of difficult that could resolve itself after thinking about it.

The thread at Infinite Zombies has been helpful with ideas and opinions, but there also didn’t seem to be any major revelations that made me rethink what I was confused about.

I enjoyed the review of the book in The New York Times, mostly because it was written at the time of the book’s publication.  It offers a few insights that I simply wouldn’t have in 2012. And I believe he even gets a fact or two incorrect. (more…)

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Louise Erdrich–“Nero” (New Yorker, May 7, 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Ani DiFranco, Dogs, Louise Erdrich, New Yorker, Pets, Short Story, Violence on May 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ANI DIFRANCO-“Hearse” (2012).

I used to really like Ani DiFranco.  Back in the 90s, she was a personal hero of independent spirit–self releasing records, gaining a huge fan base (while living in Buffalo(?)), speaking her mind, and basically not kowtowing to the man.  And all along she was making great music–folky yes, but also alternativey, with rebellious, fighting lyrics.

Then at the dawn of 2000, I lost interest in her.  I didn’t enjoy the kind of music she was making anymore.  She seemed to be writing much longer compositions (not a good sign for a girl from the punk side of the tracks.  And her arrangements were growing bigger and bigger.  The occasional funk jam was fine, but once she started really letting her experimental side go, her songs were buried by smooth sounds.  And they were hard to listen to.  Especially since as she started embracing more interesting sonic sounds and textures, she seems to relax her grip on melody.  Her early songs were easy to sing along to but by 2005, mmm, not so much.

The funny thing to think about is that once you stop listening to an artist, you kind of think they must stop making music.  But that’s not the case, most of the time.  So imagine my surprise to see that since the last Ani album I listened to, she has released eight new ones!  This track comes from her most recent album, Which Side Are You On?  I can’t speak to the content of the rest of the album, but this song is a pretty ballad.

It’s a romantic song, even if her metaphors aren’t so pretty and romantic after all (hence the title).  But for some reason this song just doesn’t grab me.  It has all of the elements of Ani DiFranco songs of old, but it doesn’t make me want to sing along.

But the most surprising thing for me is just how different she looks in that picture (from NPR).  It’s not that she looks older or has grown her hair out, she looks completely different.  I don’t see anything of her old self in this photo.  That’s bizarre!

[READ: May 11, 2012] “Nero”

Warning (but not spoiler), there’s a dog death in this story.

This story shows us a world that (I assume) doesn’t exist much anymore.  It’s full of Midwesterners (of German descent) from many years ago when certain things were done a certain way and roles were very strictly defined.

The narrator is a woman and the story is set during her childhood.  She was sent to go live with her grandparents while her mother was having a new baby.  They figured she’d be there a couple weeks so her mother could adjust.  Her grandparents run a butcher shop and market; they live upstairs.  As the story opens, the narrator tells us about Nero, the attack dog who lives in the backyard, but “works” in the store at night.

She also explains How It Is in the house.  Nero is an employee.  He is not treated with kindness.  He is fed scraps and lives outside.  The other dogs who live inside are there to keep the humans feet warm.  The other animals outside are meat, except for the chickens, which provide eggs and then become meat.  That is How It Is.

The story settles on the narrator’s attempts to bond (somewhat) with Nero.  She begins feeding him gingersnaps and saying the word aloud.  And Nero starts to respond to the word.  But Nero is pretty much feral.  And Nero’s man enjoyment in life stems from leaping the (now) seven-foot fence and running down the street to get to the Cocker Spaniel. (more…)

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