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Archive for the ‘YA Books’ Category

Tyra Banks–Modelland (2011) [prepub excerpt]

Posted in Cocteau Twins, Contests, Dead Can Dance, Dystopia, Excerpt, Funny (strange), Humiliation, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Tyra Banks, YA Books on July 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BRENDAN PERRY-Live at KEXP, July 26, 2011 (2011).

Brendan Perry was the mastermind behind Dead Can Dance, one of the more influential bands on the 4AD label.  I really haven’t listened to them in ages (goth is so 1990s), but I was delighted to see that Robin Guthrie and Brendan Perry performed a live set at KEXP.

There’s an interview explaining what Perry has been up to since his last solo album (in 1999)–he has a new one from 2010 that was just released in the States.  He explains a lot about his early musical career and his interests (and living in New Zealand).  But the magic really comes when he starts singing.  And sadly his set has only two songs: “Song to the Siren” and “The Carnival is Over.”

Indeed, I had forgotten what a great, resonant voice Perry has.  It is instantly recognizable and brought me back to Dead Can Dance immediately.  “Song to the Siren” is a Tim Buckley cover, which he (and others) recorded for This Mortal Coil’s It’ll End in Tears album.  This version has Robin Guthrie on guitar. 

The other song, “The Carnival is Over” is a Dead Can Dance song (from Into the Labyrinth).  This song is piano and strings and is immediately recognizable as a Dead Can Dance song.  I admit it’s not as moving as the Tim Buckley song but that would be hard to accomplish (what is it about Guthrie’s echo pedal that is so amazing?).  Nevertheless, it’s a great reunion and wonderful to hear his voice again.

[READ:  July 19, 2011] Modelland

When I was at BEA, there was a lengthy line forming at one of the publisher’s tables.  I found out that it was for Tyra Banks, who was making a “surprise” appearance.  I certainly wasn’t going to wait for her, but after a few minutes, I heard people saying that she would be coming momentarily.  So I hung out and when she arrived with her entourage, I snapped a few pictures and left.

A few days ago, my former co-worker Sandy came to work and left me a [signed!] copy of this excerpt (she had waited for Tyra and got her autograph).  I really had no intention of reading the book, but I was delighted to have a copy of it.  In the interest of embarrassing full disclosure, Sarah and I watch ANTM.  However, in our defense, we FF just about every time someone speaks.  We basically like it for the photo shoots and the final pictures.  But we both feel that Tyra is a looney-tunes egomaniac. 

But seeing the book on our table made me have to read it. 

So how good could this book possible be, especially when the main character is named (seriously) Tookie de la Crème (and her sister is named Myrracle).  Oh and holy cow Tyra’s own introduction says that this is the first book in a trilogy!  Good grief.  

The summary of the story is:

Welcome to Modelland, where every girl dreams of the beauty and glamour of the Land on the top of the mountain. Every girl but one.

Right.

Well, surprise, surpise…the story is actually quite interesting. (more…)

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Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)

Posted in Beck, Broken Social Scene, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Dan the Automator, Death, Graphic Novel, Kid Koala, Metric, Michael Cera, Nigel Godrich, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sex Bob-omb, Technology, Video Games, Violence, YA Books on January 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: December 17, 2010] Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

I was delighted to finally get to see Scott Pilgrim vs the World on DVD. And man, it did not disappoint.  I love Michael Cera, so even though he’s not who I pictured as Scott Pilgrim, he played the character quite wonderfully (although he was within the realm of the “Michael Cera” character, he had an air of the sinister about him which was quite captivating).

The movie did  great job at capturing the hyper real video game quality of the books (I love all the little extra details which were not cute comic book details (like the phones printing RIIIIIIIIING) but simply part of the world they lived in.

I thought that the compression of this long (but not too long) series was wonderfully done.  Although I missed some aspects of the book, I thought it was all handled very well.  Plus, I liked the increased presence of the awesome Wallace and I really liked the way they adjusted the Knives storyline so that it could conclude at the same time as Ramona’s.  That’s very different from the final book, and, while I think the book’s version is more elegant (and fitting a longer story), for the movie, that truncation worked very well and allowed for a fantastic conclusion.  The end was great thanks to the introduction of the cool video game that Scott and Knives play early in the movie–a game which was made up for the movie.

I’m also thrilled to finally know how to pronounced Sex Bob-omb and I’m also thrilled to hear how much they rocked (Beck did most of the band music and über-god Nigel Godrich made the score for the rest of the film. Other great bands on the soundtrack include Metric, Broken Social Scene, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala.  I sort of ignored the soundtrack when it came out but I think i may have to go check it out now.

So in the movie, Scott must battle Ramona’s seven evil exes to win her love.  As for the seven evil exes themselves, they were all fun (and nicely diverse).  I enjoyed seeing Ann Veal (her?) working with George Michael Bluth again and Jason Schwartzman was simply terrific as the evil Gideon.  Also terrific was Satya Bhabha as the over-the-top first evil ex and Chris Evans as the bad-ass actor boyfriend.  I was only bummed that the Katayanagi brothers were given kind of short shrift (but hey you can only have so many characters).  The fight scenes were really well executed and fun.

The only weakness I would say in the film is that I thought Ramona was a little flat.  It was hard to know just what was so compelling about her for Scott (aside from the act that she was in his mind-portal all that time).  The book gives more details that show their relationship build, but the movie left that out.  I’ve never seen her in anything else, so I don’t know whose fault that was.  This compromises the ending a little bit because the decision between Knives and Ramona is actually kind of difficult (where it really shouldn’t be).  And yet, I thought the ending was really well done, with Ellen Wong really stealing the show).

The DVD itself is pretty awesome and there are a ton of special features.  Although Scott Pilgrim vs the Bloopers was a major let-down.  The movie is so understated that none of the bloopers are over-the-top hilarious.  However, the trivia track that you can play during the movie (I watched about ten minutes of it) was very interesting.  I especially enjoyed reading how parts of the movie that were finished before the book actually made their way into the book because O’Malley liked them so much.

I’m also thrilled that they filmed the movie in Toronto.  The trivia track points out all kinds of interesting locations.  From The Torontoist:

The first thing Wright did when he met O’Malley here in 2005 was visit all the real-life locations.”Pretty much everything that was in the book, we shot the same place Bryan had drawn,” he says.

A perfect example is the house in which Scott and his pal Wallace live. In reality, O’Malley lived at 27 Alberta Avenue, though he thinly disguised it as “Albert Avenue.”

As any true fan knows, however, the drawings in the book are actually at number 65, down the street. So, that’s where they shot, turning the garage door into the apartment door.

And there’s plenty more details in that article.  Like that those romantic and perilous stairs are real stairs on Baldwin St.  (I love crap like that).

It’s a really enjoyable romp of a film, unjustly ignored in the theaters.  And perhaps best of all…in no way is it setting itself up for a sequel!  A movie that just ends….how novel!

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DC Pierson–The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To (2010) [prepub]

Posted in Adventure, Books about writers, Boredom, Corporate skewering, DC Pierson, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Huh?, Humiliation, Marriage Trouble, Phish, Set at School, Sex, Supernatural, Technology, Virginity (Loss of), YA Books on September 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-LivePhish 11.14.95 University of Central Florida Arena, Orlando FL (1995).

I have a number of these LivePhish discs.  They are universally solid releases (all from soundboards, I believe, which, have they really been recording all of their shows since like forever?).  And it’s fun to hear Phish totally jam out on a few of their more meandering songs.

One of the most interesting aspects of the series is that they almost always throw in a cover song (on Halloween, they cover an entire album by another band).

I haven’t really mentioned any of these releases because there’s usually not much to say about them: you either like Phish live or you don’t.  But this one is notable for being particularly odd.

They do an a cappella song in the first set–typically if they do an a capella track it is as an encore or the intro of the second set, but this one is right there in the beginning.

The end of the set also had the only instance (of the shows that I have) where Trey explains the audience chess match.  Many of the recordings open up set two with an audience chess move.  In this case, Trey explains that they have been playing chess with the audience at each show.  Phish is white, the audience is black and anyone who wants to just has to go to the Greenpeace booth to play a move…I have no idea how they would choose who gets to play the final decision.

There’s some other odd things in the show. “The Divided Sky” features one of the prettiest solos that Trey plays.  In this show there is a very long pause between the end of the first half of the solo and the beginning of the second.  The crowd cheers quite a bit during the pause, but we the listeners, have no idea what happened.

And then there is the extra long rendition of “Stash.”  It’s broken into three sections.  The first one features a fun audience response guitar solo.  And in this instance, he plays it in a much more staccato style.  The middle one features a bizarre percussion type solo.  And the third features a rendition of “Dog Faced Boy” which is not sung to the appropriate music, rather, the keyboards just play simple, unrelated chords while Trey sings.

Set two ends with a wonderful rendition of “You Enjoy Myself” that ends in their bizarro screaming and grunting.  You’ll get funny looks listening to that loudly.

So this set is a good one, and it stands out as unique among the others for being so darn bizarre.

[READ: June 27, 2010] The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To

I’m always bummed to read a prepub after it gets published.  Sigh.

Sarah told me that I’d love this book and she was correct.  It’s about a misfit high school boy who draws pictures and draws them really well.  Despite this talent, he is not lauded by the cool kids in his class (the kid who draws licensed characters holding joints is lauded by the cool kids).

He’s also kind of defensive about his drawing, because he gets tired of people asking him what he’s drawing.  Especially when they think that he’s just doodling.  But then one day Eric Lederer asks him what he’s drawing.  He and Eric have never talked.  In fact, he doesn’t think anyone talks to Eric.  Eric’s THAT kind of weird.

And what our narrator realizes is especially weird about Eric is that he is standing really really still: “No one stands this awkwardly sure of themselves except characters in my drawings staring straight ahead with their arms at their sides” (8).  And with that awesome detail I fell in love with the book. (more…)

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BEA 2010

Posted in Comic Strips, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Gordon Korman, Graphic Novel, Martin Amis, Mo Willems, Project Runway, Tim Gunn, YA Books on May 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Thursday I went to BEA–Book Expo America.  I wasn’t all that thrilled to go this year as last year was kind of a drag (and publishers were stingy).  But this year I had a very good time.

By the time I got there it was already 11.  But I was thrilled to see that at that moment Mo Willems (we own all of his books, and my kids are huge fans of Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie) was signing posters for his new book.  He signed a poster for Clark (only one per person, sorry Tabitha).  And then over the course of the day I managed to lose the poster (sorry Clark). (more…)

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Scott Teplin, Mac Barnett & Eli Horowitz–The Clock Without a Face: A Gus Twintig Mystery (2010)

Posted in Adam Rex, Adventure, Art, Children's Books, Chuck BB, Collecting, Contests, Eli Horowitz, Mac Barnett, McSweeney's, Mystery, Puzzles, Rheostatics, Scott Teplin, Short Books, Smarty Pants, The Beatles, Travel, YA Books on May 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: My Volkwagen Jetta hates The Beatles.

Lately, I have been playing some Beatles discs in my car.  And my Jetta clearly hates them.

First it was Please Please Me, when the entire CD player shut off mid-song.  It had lost all power.  I had to bang on it for about 5 minutes before it came back on.

The player played other discs fine after that.  Then, last night I played A Hard Day’s Night and half way through the disc it shut itself off again.  This time I was able to power it back on, but it wouldn’t play the disc anymore.  I ejected it and put in a new disc which worked fine.  When I put A Hard Day’s Night back in, same spot on the disc (“Can’t Buy Me Love”), and the player was totally off: no power at all.

A bit more pounding on the face and it came back on, and today played a Rheostatics disc with no trouble.  I guess I’ll not be listening to The Beatles in the car again.  Is it because the Beatles recorded versions of their songs in German but they weren’t included on the disc?

[READ: May 8, 2010] The Clock Without a Face

This review is about my first read of this book.  When I get to the end you’ll realize why there will have to be a second read and updated review.

This is an amusing tale.  And also a confounding (and evidently very real–see the bottom paragraph!–) mystery. (more…)

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Kim Dong Hwa–The Color of Heaven (2003/2009)

Posted in 19th Century, Alex Lifeson, Boredom, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Geddy Lee, Graphic Novel, Kim Dong Hwa, Manhwa, Marriage (Happy), Nature, Neil Peart, Romance, Rush, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Trilogy, YA Books on March 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-A Farewell to Kings (1977).

Although I recently said that Caress of Steel is one of my favorite Rush albums, I’m really torn between a number of their albums from the 1970s.  I’ve loved A Farewell to Kings since the time I got it: it’s over the top, and it showcases all of the band’s strengths.

The opener “A Farewell to Kings” features a wonderful classical guitar intro that morphs into a heavy rocking masterpiece.  There’s time changes galore and it’s all over in just about 5 minutes.

It’s followed by “Xanadu,” one of Rush’s all time great epics.  Tubular bells, cool guitar effects, Rush’s first great use of keyboards-as-effects, even a cowbell solo all open this song with sufficient grandeur for what’s to come.  A slow vocal intro leads to a super fast exploration of Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan.”  Whenever people wondered why Neil’s drumset was so big or why Alex (and Geddy) had doublenecked guitars, they needed only listen to this to be amazed that three men could play it all.  11 minutes long and not a wasted second.

One of Rush’s biggest hits and perennial favorite “Closer to the Heart” comes next and it still sounds pretty fresh all these years later.  “Cinderella Man” is an overlooked track on this disc, but it showcases Rush’s drift away from the individualism vs state of 2112, and move toward the individualism of doing what’s right for all: “he held up his riches to challenge the hungry.”  It also features a blistering solo from Alex.  “Madrigal” is a very short acoustic song, quite a departure for the time but a nice delicate track before….

“Cygnus X-1.”  The other epic on this disc.  And right from the start you know you’re in new territory here.  A fully distorted voice, bells echoing like they are floating at sea (or in outer space), all kinds of build-up lead to a noisy bass line coming from far away in the depths of space.  And after 2 and a half minutes of build up, the whole band kicks in with this off kilter heavy rocker.  It’s basically the story of a space ship flying into a black hole. It also features some of Geddy’s most screechy vocals.  I wish I could remember the exact quote, but my friend Joe’s bandmate had a wonderfully derogatory description of the end of this song.

But aside from the end, the main body is great.  From the 5 minute mark, the song is a catchy, driving song as the Rocinante flies through the galaxy.  From the 7 minute mark, the song is seemingly caught in the black hole, as the song drifts about, compressing the song into a manic session of fast fast fast riffs and Geddy’s tortured screams.  It’s pretty intense, and guaranteed to alienate as many people as it wins.

The album features so much experimentation, and it’s wonderful to see a band with so much creative energy release a disc with so many fantastic moments.  Very few records take risks like this anymore.

[READ: March 21, 2010] The Color of Heaven

This final book of the Kim Dog Hwa’s trilogy is a wonderful conclusion to this sweet story.  If you’ve read my previous two posts about these books, you know that this is the story of, Ehwa, a young woman as she matures in rural Korea several generations ago.  By this third book, she has turned 17 and has met the love of her life.  Sadly for her, Duksam has had to leave suddenly.  At the end of book two, he set sail in part because he was fleeing an angry mob, but also in an attempt to make money as a fisherman so that he can save up for his beloved Ehwa. (more…)

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Kim Dong Hwa–The Color of Water (2009)

Posted in 19th Century, Blue Öyster Cult, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Graphic Novel, Kim Dong Hwa, Manhwa, Nature, Romance, Trilogy, YA Books on March 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE OYSTER CULT-Club Ninja (1986).

My roommate Glen is the only person that I know who not only owned this record but also played it a lot.  No doubt it was his relentless playing of this disc that now leads me to think of it rather fondly, even if it is pretty poorly regarded as far as BOC discs go.

It has a very poppy/80’s metal feel to it, there’s no denying.  Some of the songs are beautiful keyboard-rich tracks (“Perfect Water” which is close to cheesey but I don’t think ever crosses the line), some of them are pummeling 80s metal with chanted choruses “Make Rock Not War” (boom), and “Beat ‘Em Up” (which is as delightfully silly as it sounds).

It also featured a song that could have been a hit called “Dancing in the Ruins.”  The less bombastic metal songs are also quite catchy, like “Shadow Warrior.”  And the final song, “Madness to the Method” reminds me of one of their 70s songs, “The Marshall Plan” as it’s complete with spoken word sections and seems to be about rocking out.

I suppose compared to their 70s heyday, this falls a little short, but as an 80s metal album it’s quite solid.

[READ: March 12, 2010] The Color of Water

This is the second part of Kim Dong Hwa’s trilogy of the maturation of Ehwa (a character loosely based on his mother).  It is beautiful, engaging and very very real.

Ehwa is growing up in rural Korea. Her father died many years ago, so it is just her and her mother living together.  Her mother owns the local tavern, and for much of the day Ehwa is free to roam around and learn things from her friends.

This second part of the trilogy focuses on Ehwa’s budding sexual maturity.  She learns  more and more about what her mother and the “picture man” are feeling when he arrives at their house.  She learns, through her friend Bongsoon, what it feels like to experience individual pleasure.  She also learns what it feels like to fall heavily for someone when she meets the handsome and strong Duksam. (more…)

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Chris Schweizer–Crogan’s March (2009)

Posted in Adventure, Blue Öyster Cult, Chris Schweizer, Death, Graphic Novel, History, Kansas, Travel, Violence, War, YA Books on March 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Agents of Fortune (1976).

After the release of their first official live album On Your Feet or On Your Knees, it’s unsurprising that the band would put a concert photo on the back cover of this disc (On Your Feet…was their first Top 40 disc).

What is surprising is the piano fueled second track “True Confessions” which is as delicate as the title suggests  (Eric Bloom even hits a falsetto note AND there’s a saxophone solo(!)).  Combine this with  “Debbie Denise” a tender (!) song about lost love (!) and you have quite a tender an un-heavy metal album.

Of course, the disc opens with “This Ain’t the Summer of Love” which is certainly a strong heavy track.  But that’s mostly it.  There’s a lot more piano/keyboard on “E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)” although the guitars definitely come to the fore during the wailing solos.  And then, frequent contributor Patti Smith gets a vocal inclusion “The Revenge of Vera Gemini” (her voice works quite well with the spooky psychedelia of the band).  “Sinful Love” is an almost disco-ey dance track (the falsetto backing vocals are weird, to say the least!).

The later songs on the disc sound like 70s rock.  There’s rather little heavy metal involved at all.  In fact, “Tenderloin” comes close to sounding like Kansas.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just kind of a shock coming from these heavy metal pioneers.

Oh, and I almost forgot, it also contains the biggest BOC song in the universe, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.”  [When my friend Lar saw a BOC Greatest Hits disc he asked if it was just this song 12 times).  Of course, you probably know the song, but if you haven’t heard in a long time, it sounds even better than you remember.  I have to assume that that track alone absolved the band of all the mellow tracks on this disc.

The bonus tracks on the remastered edition include a truly bizarro version of “Fire of Unknown Origin” and a demo of “Reaper.”

[READ: February 22, 2010] Crogan’s March

I enjoyed the first book in this series so much that I couldn’t wait for number two.  And how lucky for me that it was already available!

The premise of this series is that the Crogan family (who live in contemporary America) are a fairly normal family: happily married, two young kids who squabble a lot, etc.  This family aspect of the story bookends the main body of action (their father tells them a story about one of their ancestors to prove a point or make an argument).

In this case, a fight between the boys is summed up by their dad: “Some people believe that everyone should be given the freedom to make their own choice and others that everyone should be held to the same moral standards.”  So, let’s hear the story of Peter Crogan, member of the French Foreign Legion circa 1912.

When I was a kid, the foreign legion was this sort of mythical entity.  The phrase, “run away and join the foreign legion” seemed to be bandied about a lot as a means of escape.  I don’t know why it was, or why it seems to no longer be, but suffice it to say that I haven’t thought about the foreign legion in twenty years.

So, this story about a legionnaire was a welcome surprise from the get go. (more…)

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Lars Brown–North World: Other Sagas (2009)

Posted in Adventure, Blue Öyster Cult, Death, Demons, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gods, Graphic Novel, Lars Brown, Magic, Oni Press, Short Story, Supernatural, Violence, YA Books on March 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Secret Treaties (1974).

With Secret Treaties, BOC moved into the stratosphere.  The first three tracks are outstanding. “Career of Evil,” again cowritten by Patti Smith, sets the tone: heavier, louder, more guitars and yet, no less of Allen Lanier’s piano.  “Dominance and Submission” is an absolutely classic heavy metal song (and live, it gets absurdly long).

“ME 262” is another of their heavy boogie songs (complete with “dit dit dit’s” in backing vocals (and the sound of bombs dropping!).  While “Cagey Cretins” features more ooh’s and backing vocals, which belie the sinister guitar riff.

They still haven’t lost their bizarro-ness with the delightfully titled, “Harvester of Eyes.”  But the highlight has got to be “Astronomy” a song so nice they recorded it twice (again in 1988 reworked for the album Imaginos).  It’s long, it tells a story, it has multiple parts, and it’s simply fantastic.

The disc  is totally worth investigating if you like psychedelic heavy metal.

[READ: February 22, 2010] North World: Other Sagas

I’ve enjoyed the North World series since the beginning.  This third volume is a short story collection about characters other than the major dude from the series.  And I have to say it’s engaging, funny and wholly enjoyable. I think it’s the most fun book of the three.

This is not to dismiss the main story line of the series at all.  However, now that the story of Conrad has more or less run its course, it would be kind of sad to keep bringing him back out of retirement (he should save that for like the 12th book or something).  So, this collection fleshes out North World, the city, by  showing other magical characters and the mini adventures they go on.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the premise, North World is a town that’s set in the 21st century. However, in addition to regular folks, it is populated by wizards, warriors, spell casters and sword wielders.  There’s also giant marauding animals (which gives the warriors something to fight).  So you have scenes like a cyclops giving away free kittens at the side of the road.  Or a viking raid in a pizza store.  There’s plenty of combat, plenty of action and plenty of humor.

(more…)

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Chris Schweizer–Crogan’s Vengeance (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Chris Schweizer, Fishing, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Greed, Larry LaLonde, Les Claypool, Oni Press, Pirates, Primus, YA Books on February 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES CLAYPOOL-Of Whales and Woe (2006).

Although I was a little disappointed with Of Fungi and Foe, I enjoyed it enough to want to track down Of Whales and Woe, since it seemed to be generally better received.  What’s interesting about this disc is that it sounds a lot like Primus, except that rather than guitar, other various instruments have been substituted to accompany Les’ bass.  And since one of the instruments is the saxophone, (and there’s no guitar) this album sounds (at times) like beloved Morphine (with a much funkier bass and completely un-sexy vocals).

On the first few listens, when I wasn’t listening very carefully, I really enjoyed the disc.  It reminded me a lot of Primus, although it had a lot of Les’ solo quirks.

However, once I started scrutinizing it a bit more, I found I didn’t enjoy it as much.  The first track, “Back Off Turkey” reminds me of some of the tracks on Fungi: wild and crazy sounding music but the vocals are so muddy it’s impossible to tell what’s up with the song.

On the opposite end from the Fungi-like bass heavy tracks, we have “Iowan Gal” a light -sounding and light-hearted romp about, well, an Iowan Gal. (There’s a lot of fun little quirks in there–Bow ditty bow bow).

And yet there’s some really great tracks on here: “One Better” is an amazing track, highlighting just how great Claypool is as a songwriter and arranger.  This song lasts pretty long but because there’s a lot of different things going on, it never overstays its welcome.

Most of the songs are stories about various bizarro characters.  And although I love Les’ characters, this turns into one of the downfalls of the disc.  In the great tradition of storytelling songs, the songs tend to be verses only with nary a chorus.  And that’s fine because most storytellers use the music as a background to accompany the story.  Les’ music is far too aggressive/innovative/interesting to be  background.  So when you get a great wild bassline, you’re attracted to it.  But when it lasts for 5 minutes with no changes, it’s exhausting.  And trying to listen to lyrics along with it is, well, I think your brain just shuts down (especially when they are recorded low in the mix and are hard to hear).  And so, the album feels a lot longer than it is.

Maybe I miss Ler’s amazing guitars.  I’m still unclear about why Primus has split, especially if Les is writing songs that are not unlike Primus.  Of course, having said all that, there is no denying the awesomeness of Les Claypool.  The funny thing is that even a reigned-in Claypool is still pretty out there.  I think maybe sometime he just goes too far out there.

[READ: February 7, 2010] Crogan’s Vengeance

When Sarah and I went to BEA, we spoke to the Oni Press guy who was praising this book, The Crogan Adventures, as a fantastic series aimed at teens, but really readable for the whole family. The premise is that the Crogan family (and there’s an extensive family tree on the back cover), all led exciting lives.  The stories about these men are being told to the youngest Crogan boy Eric, in present day.

This first book is about Catfoot Crogan, an honest sailor who was more or less forced into a life of piracy in the 1700s.  And the story is fantastic.  There is sailor talk, there is swashbuckling, a terrible storm, even a shark! (more…)

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