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Archive for the ‘Yuck!’ Category

T. Coraghessan Boyle–“Thirteen Hundred Rats” (New Yorker, July 7 & 14, 2008)

Posted in Chris Thile, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Nickel Creek, Rats, Sara Watkins, Snakes, T. Coraghessan Boyle, T.C. Boyle, Tiny Desk Concert, Yuck! on August 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

july7 SOUNDTRACK: NICKEL CREEK-Tiny Desk Concert #385 (August 26, 2014).

nickelI have listened to this Tiny Desk Concert so many times I can’t believe I never posted about it. This was my first exposure to Chris Thile, and in the two years since I watched this I have become a huge fan of his (and of singer Sara Watkins).

“Destination” was probably my favorite song from 2014 and is still amazingly catchy.  Nickel Creek’s harmonies are superb-lead by Sara and accompaniment by the other three, this song speeds along at a great clip with all kinds of fun instrumentation.

In addition to Thile on mandolin and Sara on violin, there’s Sean Watkins on guitar and Mark Schatz on upright bass.

I liked the way the players shifted positions to let Chris sing lead on “Rest of My Life.”  He introduced this song by saying, “this is the first day that I will be singing with my new braces.  I am 12 years old.”  With his new singing impediment he says this song is “Sung not as a its hungover protagonist but by its be-brace-ed protagonist.”   The melody is done on guitar and upright bass with Thile’s mandolin playing most of the higher notes and occasional grace notes from Watkins’ violin.  There’s also a delightful “lullaby” sounding  section in the middle.

“21s of May” is sung by Sean.  He introduces this jaunty song with “Remember when the rapture almost happened three years ago?”  May 21st was supposed to be judgement day so he thought he should write one more song and so he did.  He plays a great lead guitar melody on this song with great harmonies.

At the end of the song Thile bangs the gong and then asks if they want one more short song.  Then he admits that its longer than the other three.  It’s an instrumental song called “Elephant in the Corn.”  When the crowd cheers, Sean says it’s “Huge in Washington DC.”

I love that Chris and Sean get some fast solo and then Sara take as really slow violin leads that leads to a cool bass slide.  The song picks up again with Thile playing some amazingly fast mandolin licks.  And just when you think it’s all over, there’s a coda tacked on as well–and not just a “this is the end coda” either.

Nickel Creek has been around forever, and I’m only bummed that it took me until 2014 to actually hear them.

[READ: February 26, 2016] “Thirteen Hundred Rats”

Somehow I didn’t expect the title of this story to be taken literally.  And yet, it most certainly was.

I really enjoyed the way this story was constructed.  It is told by a man who is somewhat proud of himself.  He talks about the small village that they live in–a small village of 50 or so houses created by industrialist B.P. Newhouse (who hoped it would be a model of utopian living).  The narrator and his wife live there although they tend to travel the world now that they are older.

He tells the story of a village resident named Gerard.  He and Gerard had been friends and had congratulated themselves on not having any children.  Gerard’s wife had recently died and Gerard took it hard.  He wasn’t eating, wasn’t going out.  And people began to worry about him.

Villagers suggested that he should get a pet.  Even the narrator’s wife suggested it.  So the narrator trudged down to Gerard’s house, with his two dogs in tow to talk to Gerard. (more…)

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Annie Proulx–-“Them Old Cowboy Songs” (New Yorker, May 5, 2008)

Posted in Annie Proulx, Babies, Death, Highasakite, New Yorker, Saintseneca, Sex, Short Story, The Decemberists, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, Yuck! on August 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

may5SOUNDTRACK: SAINTSENECA-Tiny Desk Concert #377 (July 29, 2014).

saintsenecaLike Highasakite, Saintesenca is another band who plays instruments that are unusual (and whose Tiny Desk Concert is way too short).  But before the music started, I was fascinated by the hair of the band.  Zac Little’s head is partially shaved and his beard is unshaven, but he also has an incredible mustache.  It’s so thick I couldn’t see his mouth moving when he started singing!  There’s also the co-lead singer, Maryn Jones’ hair which is equally fascinating.

And there’s also their instruments.  On the album, they play: banjo, baglama, bulbul, balalaika, bowed banjo, baritone ukulele, bass and bouzouki as well as a stomp box.  For the first song, “Happy Alone,” In this set there is a baglamas (played by Jones), while Little plays a Paul McCartney style bass.  There’s also drums and electric and acoustic guitars.

And their music is fantastic “Happy Alone” has a kind of Decemberists vibe.  There’s a great chorus (and two acoustic guitars accompanying).  The melody is catchy but by the time it comes around a second or third time, it’s a total ear worm.

Between songs they talk about the stompbox.  It’s a roughly 2’x2′ plywood floorboard meant for pounding the beat. The blurb says that “at a show just before this Tiny Desk Concert… Little put his boot right through that floorboard.”  There’s a hole in the box which Jones seems concerned about falling through.  The box also explains why Jones and Little both seem so outrageously tall at this show.

On “Fed Up with Hunger” Little plays a four-stringed guitar (I wish they would say what all of these instrument are).  He plays some wonderfully elaborate chords on it.  Jones sings lead in a very high-pitched delicate voice.  There’s an electric guitar added for the chorus but for the most part this is a stripped down song with some lovely harmonies in the end section.

The final song “Blood Bath” has three distinct parts and it is awesome.  Jones plays bass, Little plays acoustic and the other acoustic guitarist  plays a tiny triangular instrument (a balalaika?).  Little sings in a kind of broken falsetto.  After the first slow verse the whole band kicks in and the song really takes off.  But soon after, the whole band seems to deconstruct the song, playing a few seconds of utter noise before coming back in and following it with a really fast rocking and equally catchy section.  It’s pretty awesome.

I’m going to have to look for more from them.

[READ: May 5, 2008] “Them Old Cowboy Songs”

I was looking through older stories and saw that I had not finished a story by Proulx which was written in a June issue of the New Yorker in this ame year.  How did she ever get two stories within a month of each other?  (And they’re both really really long, too).

This story is dark. Very dark and brutal.  It is set in 1885 and looks at a young couple trying to make it out in the wilderness

Archie is a sixteen year old who lies and says he is 21 to try to get better jobs.  He works a cowboy in Dakota Territory.  In addition to being a hard worker, he is a consummate singer with a golden voice.  He marries a young girl (14), named Rose whose parents don’t approve of him or of her getting married at 14, and they settle in.  The narrator notes: “There is no happiness like that of a young couple in a little house they have built themselves in a place of beauty and solitude.” (more…)

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George Saunders–“Who Are All These Trump Supporters” (New Yorker, July 11 & 18, 2016)

Posted in Consumerism, Corporate skewering, donald tRUMP, Dystopia, Essays, Fears, George Saunders, Greed, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Humiliation, Lydia Loveless, Lydia Lunch, New Yorker, Poverty, Religion, The Byrds, The Knitters, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, X, Yuck! on July 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

CoverStory-KadirNelson-ADayattheBeach3-879x1200-1467305948SOUNDTRACK: LYDIA LOVELESS-Tiny Desk Concert #369 (July 1, 2014).

lovelssI want Lydia Loveless to be a punk singer–Her name is like a combination of Lydia Lunch and a last name that conjures up an asskicking punk.

But not the country singer that Loveless is (even if she is ass-kicking herself). Loveless is a new breed of alt-country which is pretty explicit with noticeably rocking guitar solos.  But her voice is so twangy it’s hard to not call it country (and in fact it’s a bit too much for me to take sometimes).

“Head” features this rather memorable chorus “Don’t stop getting undressed /Don’t stop giving me head.”  It seems especially surprising since Loveless looks like she’s about 12 (she was 23 at the time of this recording).  The buzzy solo is lengthy and more or less runs throughout the song.  Although at some point when Loveless takes her own solo the whole sound seems to fade out and get a little anemic.

Her band is fun with her bassist being very tall and having very long hair playing a very tall upright bass.  And then there’s another guy playing guitar and lap steel.

“Verlaine Shot Rimbaud” has a title that begs for an awesome song.  It’s not an epic masterpiece or anything.  In fact its closer to a pop song, The slide guitar and Loveless’ heavy accent on the chorus place it firmly in the country camp.

“Mile High” has a fun folk riff.  It sounds a lot like The Byrds and the chorus is super catchy.  If I could get her to sing less twangy I would love this song much like I love the punk country of X, or at least the Knitters.

[READ: December 29, 2010] “Who are All These Trump Supporters”

[This essay in the New Yorker also came under the heading “Trump Days.”]

So the title of the essay is a question I myself have been asking as I watch the hatred and vitriol bubble over during the convention.

If there was anyone I wanted to write this piece it would be George Saunders and he is actually the only reason I read it in the first place (I plan to read all of his contributions to the New Yorker eventually, but I’m glad to have read this one when it was timely–I hope it will be utterly irrelevant by the time I get to the rest of his works).  He self identifies as a liberal (although he was a conservative who loved Ayn Rand way back in the Reagan era).  He is a thoughtful and not prone to anger–a perfect foil for the crowd.  And he’s got a great way with words.

So great in fact that I’m just going to be quoting him a lot.  I could have pulled more excellent quotes from the essay, but really you should read the whole thing. (more…)

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Glenn Eichler & Joe Infurnari–Mush! Sled Dogs with Issues (2011)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Advice, Brandy Clark, Dogs, First Second :01, Glenn Eichler, Graphic Novel, Greed, Joe Infurnari, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfunny, Violence, Yuck! on July 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

muashSOUNDTRACK: BRANDY CLARK-Tiny Desk Concert #542 (June 20, 2016).

brandyCountry is pretty much the only genre I really don’t like, and, sadly for me, the genre seems to be seeping over into areas that I like (such as what happened in the alt-country movement in the 90s).  The one saving grace, (and actually major draw), of a lot of this new country is that the songwriters are exploring new lyrical territory.  And in particular, the women are writing sassy, funny, ass-kicking songs.

Brandy Clark (in black leather pants no less) has written for many other singers and finally decided to do her own stuff.

The entire lyric of “Daughter” is hilarious.  It’s an awesome revenge fantasy which, as the blurb suggests, “knows that fate is likely to do more damage to a cad than a key would ever do to his car’s glossy paint job.”

It’s got the great chorus:

I hope you have a daughter and I hope that she’s a fox / Daddy’s little girl just as sweet as she is hot / she can’t help to love them boys who love to love and leave them just like her father / Yes karma’s a bitch so I hope you have a daughter.

The second song is a sentimental song about her dead father.  The melody is very pretty, but I don’t need to hear songs like this.

But it’s back to the funny with the really sassy “Girl Next Door.”  It takes to task another cheating man:

If you want the girl next store then go next door… [much faster] and go right now and don’t look back and don’t turn around don’t call me when you get bored, yeah if you want the girl next door then go next door.

It’s a genius line and I really like the tone of her voice in this song (less twangy and more angry).  It could make me like country more.

[READ: April 1, 2016] Mush!

The title of this book promised a very funny story.  I really didn’t expect the “issues” to be quite so existential.

This book is broken into 10 chapters, with the first one opening on a man and his sled dogs mushing across the frozen tundra (actually Alaska).  We are introduced to The Boss and his Mate and the six dogs (from the dog’s perspective).  And then we see the dogs talking to each other. The crux of their conversation is that they are bored and wish they were running.  The lead dog, Dolly, loves to run, although she is unsure is she is qualified to lead the other dogs.

For some reason Buddy has a really big nose and is rather dumb.

Then we jump inside the house and see some intense friction.  The man of the house is a loner, a rebel, Dottie.  He hates society and doesn’t even like going into the city to get supplies.  His mate, meanwhile, loves him and wants to be with him–she knows the risks and troubles of doing it off the grid, but she also likes to go into town from time to time.  And she misses apricots.  Frankly, he is such a dick that I can’t imagine why she stays with him. (more…)

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Jean-David Morvan, Séverine Tréfouël, Robert Capa–Omaha Beach on D-Day (2014) [translation 2015]

Posted in Death, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edward Gauvin, Ernest Hemingway, First Second :01, Gender, Graphic Novel, History, Jean-David Morvan, LGBTQ, Life, Mashrou' Leila, Robert Capa, Séverine Tréfouël, Tiny Desk Concert, مشروع ليلى, Violence, War, World War II, Yuck! on July 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

maha SOUNDTRACK: MASHROU’ LEILA-Tiny Desk Concert #543 (June 24, 2016).

mashrouMashrou’ Leila is a band from Beirut.  And because I love this kind of thing, here is their name in Arabic script: مشروع ليلى

They are on their second ever tour in the U.S.  They sing in Arabic but their music is full of rock and indeed dance motifs.

There are five members of the band: singer and lyricist Hamed Sinno, violinist Haig Papazian, keyboardist and guitarist Firas Abou Fakher, Ibrahim Badr on bass and drummer Carl Gerges.  And the band make up is rather diverse:

Sinno is openly gay, and Mashrou’ Leila is well acquainted with the targeting of LGBT people. The band has faced condemnation, bans and threats in its home region, including some from both Christian and Muslim sources, for what it calls “our political and religious beliefs and endorsement of gender equality and sexual freedom.” And yet, when Mashrou’ Leila performs in the U.S., its members are often tasked with representing the Middle East as a whole, being still one of the few Arab rock bands to book a North American tour.

Their set took place on the morning after the dead club murders in Orlando (June 12), and since the band has had direct experience with this, they modified their intended set list.

I want their music to speak for itself, because it’s really good.  But since it’s sun in Arabic, some context helps

“Maghawir” (Commandos), is a song Sinno wrote in response to two nightclub shootings in Beirut. In the Beirut incidents, which took place within a week of each other, two of the young victims were out celebrating their respective birthdays. “Maghawir” is a checklist of sorts about how to spend a birthday clubbing in the band’s home city, but also a running commentary about machismo and the idea that big guns make big men.

It begins with a low menacing bass (keyboard) note and some occasional bass (guitar) notes until the echoed violin plays some singularly eerie notes.  Sinno’s voice is really interesting–operatic, intense and not really sounding like he’s singing in Arabic exactly.  He has rock vocal stylings down very well, and the guttural sound of Arabic aids the song really well.  I’m really magnetized by his singing.  And the lyrics:

“All the boys become men / Soldiers in the capital of the night,” Sinno sings. “Shoop, shoop, shot you down … We were just all together, painting the town / Where’d you disappear?” It was a terrible, and terribly fitting, response to the Florida shootings.

For the second song, “Kalaam” (S/He),Sinnos says it’s about the way “language and gender work in nationalism.  In Arabic, words are feminine or masculine and it’s about being in between while trying to pick someone up at a bar.”

Sinno dives deep into the relationships between language and gender, and how language shapes perception and identity: “They wrote the country’s borders upon my body, upon your body / In flesh-ligatured word / My word upon your word, as my body upon your body / Flesh-conjugated words.”

There’s interesting percussion in this song.  And more of that eerie echoed violin.  But it’s when the chorus kicks in and there’s a great bass line (which comes out of nowhere) that the song really comes to life.  There’s a cool middle section in which the keyboards play a sprinkling piano sound and there some plucked violins.  All along the song is catchy but a little sinister at the same time.

The final song, “Djin,” is based on Joseph Campbell’s archetypes.  Sinno describes the comparison between Christian and Dionysian mythologies but it’s also about just about “getting really messed up at a bar.”

“Djin,” is a perfect distillation of that linguistic playfulness. In pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic theology and texts, a djin (or jinn) is a supernatural creature; but here, Sinno also means gin, as in the alcoholic drink. “Liver baptized in gin,” Sinno sings, “I dance to ward off the djin.”

It has a great funky beat and dance quality.  The way the chorus comes in with the simple backing vocals is great.

There’s some pretty heady stuff in their lyrics, and that works on the level of their band name as well:

The most common translation of “Mashrou’ Leila” is “The Night Project,” which tips to the group’s beginnings back in 2008 in sessions at the American University of Beirut. But Leila is also the name of the protagonist in one of Arabic literature’s most famous tales, the tragic love story of Leila and Majnun, a couple somewhat akin to Romeo and Juliet. Considering Mashrou’ Leila’s hyper-literary bent, it’s hard not to hear that evocation.

I hope they get some airplay in the States. Sadly their album is only available as an import, but it is downloadable at a reasonable price.

[READ: June 10, 2016] Omaha Beach on D-Day

Nobody picks up this book for fun.  I mean, look at that title. You know this isn’t going to be a laugh.  But it is an amazing book and I think  perhaps the title does it a bit of a disservice.

This book is not exactly about the massacre that was Omaha Beach on D-Day.  It is about that certainly, but the book is really about Robert Capa, the photographer who took the most iconic photos of Omaha Beach on D-Day.  This book is far more of a biography of him than an account of the war.  And in typical First Second fashion, they have made a gorgeous book full of photorealistic drawings that really exemplify the work that the book describes.

The book opens in Jan of 1944 with Capa carrying bottles of champagne amid the burned out wreckage of war.  He is bringing the celebratory drink to his fellow reporters who have been hiding out for a few days. Capa says he is leaving for London. (more…)

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Danica Novgorodoff–The Undertaking of Lily Chen (2014)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Barry Douglas, Death, First Second :01, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Marriage Trouble, Planxty, Sexism, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unlikable main character, Violence, YA Books, Yuck! on June 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

lilychen SOUNDTRACK: BARRY DOUGLAS-Tiny Desk Concert #537 (June 3, 2016).

barryBarry Douglas is a “classical” pianist from Ireland.  I’ve put classical in quotes because although what he plays is classical in sound, the music actually comes from Celtic tradition rather than the classical canon.

“The Coolin” (An Chúileann) translates to “The Fair-Haired Girl” and dates to around 1641.  His arrangement has a very baroque feel (he is actually a classical pianist, too), which gives the traditional song a more regal air.

He follows that lovely delicate song with “Planxty Dylan.”  Planxty is an Irish dance.  He says that harpists would travel around Ireland and people would look after them.  The harpist would then thank the homeowner by writing a song named after the home where they stayed.  This romp of a dance (at only about 1 minute long) was dedicated to the house of Dylan.

From playing a planxty to the band Planxty.  Douglas has arranged the Planxty song “Raggle Taggle Gypsy” for solo piano.  It has been around since the 18th century.  Planxty made it more famous as a vocal song (which I know) but Douglas’ piano version has a lot of fun with the melody as well.  The melody is also known as “Black Jack Davy.”

“My Lagan Love” is about the River Lagan in Donegal (there are actually four Lagan Rivers in Ireland).  The melody and poem were written by unknown persons.  Douglas arranged this without words in an attempt to make it more timeless.  I know the original and this is a really lovely in this instrumental version.

I can say that I was pleasantly surprised to hear this was the kind of solo music that Douglas was going to play.

[READ: April 2, 2016] The Undertaking of Lily Chen

The whole premise behind this story is disturbing and apparently true.

Novgorodoff includes a section of an article from 2007 which says that parts of rural China have seen the rise of “ghost marriages.” In this situation, when an unmarried an dies, his parents procure the body of a woman, hold a wedding and then bury them together.  This has led to a black market in corpse brides.  EW!

This story explores that revolting concept. (more…)

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Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, Boaz Lavie–The Divine (2015)

Posted in Asaf Hanuka, Boaz Lavie, Daymé Arocena, Death, Dragons, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Myths, Supernatural, Tiny Desk Concert, Tomer Hanuka, Violence, Yuck! on June 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

divibne SOUNDTRACK: DAYMÉ AROCENA-Tiny Desk Concert #531 (May 13, 2016).

daymeDaymé Arocena is a Cuban singer with a powerful voice and a great sense of fun.

“Madres” opens the set. This may be the first song I’ve ever heard that uses a rain stick (or box in this case) as a prominent source of percussion.  After a minute and a half of beautiful a capella singing (in Spanish, I believe) the six-string bass comes in with a very unusual syncopated riff.  And then comes the staccato piano–it has a very jazz feel.  After a minute of this, the song settles into a groove and gets really catchy. The music is very jazzy (the piano especially) with some really complex bass lines.

And it’s amazing to watch Daymé smile big as she sings (and shakes her maracas).  It’s even more amazing to read that she is only 24!

She ends the song by singing a thank you to everyone for being here today, and then thanks President Obama for going to Cuba (this was around March 25, 2016).  Then she is so cute introducing the second song, “Crystal,” written for a boy “the kind of boys you get in your life who give you nothing.”  It opens with jazzy pianos and her powerful voice (singing in English this time). There’s some wild bass soloing in the middle of the song.  The end of the song features her scatting and improvising and making some fascinating vocals sounds.  It’s really fun.

She says that in the 1970s it was obligatory for Cubans to study Russian.  She is only 24 so she never did, but she wrote this groovy song “El Ruso” about that time.  This story is very jazzy with a catchy riff and more cool scatting.  The blurb talks about how since the U.S. has opened up communication with Cuba, that we may be getting more Cuban music here. And that’s no bad thing.

[READ: March 10, 2016] The Divine

This is an ugly story.

It was inspired by the AP photo of 12-year-old Thai warriors smoking cigarettes (see bottom of the post). These twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo, held 800 people hostage in 2000.  They led a group called “God’s Army” and fought the Burmese army.  It was said that the twins  had magical powers.

And that is the basis for this story.

It opens with a very ugly American, Jason.  He is a soldier who describes the joy he received in shooting animals from his helicopter: zebras, parrots, etc. Until he wound up shooting a dragon.  A dragon, man!

We see this soldier trying to convince his coworker Mark (in some kind of science lab) to return to Quanlom–it’s a ton of money for only two weeks’ work.  The ostensible job was to explode volcanoes to try to get the minerals out of the mountains. (more…)

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John Baxter, Joshua Faudem, Koren Shadmi–Mike’s Place: A True Story of Love, Blues and Terror in Tel Aviv (2015)

Posted in #10yearsof01, Blues by the Beach, Bombs, Death, Drinking, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, History, John Baxter, Joshua Faudem, Koren Shadmi, Marwan Barghouti, Monika, Non-fiction, Racism, Religion, Sex, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Violence, War, Yuck! on June 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

mikesplace SOUNDTRACK: MONIKA-Tiny Desk Concert #529 (May 6, 2016).

monikaMonika is a superstar in her native Greece (her full name is Monika Christodoulou).  She is a charming woman with a big voice and a bigger stage presence.  She incorporates theatrical notions in her performance too (the fact that she has a shirt that looks like a mime’s kind of encourages that idea): “throwing” stars, flying, sleeping.

It is hard to believe that the blurb says used to sing sad songs, as she is so fun and bouncy.  But there’s this biographical note:

her recent transition from singer of sad songs to purveyor of upbeat jubilance came after she nearly lost her life in a boat fire; she had to swim eight hours in the dark to safety without food or drinkable water. These days, it’s all about a great band grooving, her joyful voice, and that infectious smile.

Wow.

She sings four songs.  The first, “Yes I Do,” opens with what I assume is a lyric about the then current moment: “24th of March has arrived and I think it’s Thursday?  Washington is beautiful out there but we don’t really care.”  It has a kind of circus opera feel.  And Monika’s voice is a marvel–powerful and beautiful with a good range.

monika2For the second song, “Shake Your Hands” she asks if everyone is ready to dance a little.  She climbs up on the desk and as she sings the slow opening, when she gets to the “I love you” moment, she sings without the mike and is as loud as when she uses it.  Once the song kicks in, it has a big disco beat: wah wah’d guitars and a funky bass line.  She encourages everyone to sing along: “Even if you don’t understand, just repeat, okay.”  The song ends with a very fun extended ending of staccato chords.

“Hand in Hand” has a kind of gospel quality (a big group sing along of the opening lines), although it is a brief, transitional song before “Secret in the Dark” begins.  She straps on a guitar for this final song which has a discoey riff and a fuzzy keyboard sound.  It’s really fun.

I’d never heard of Monika, but she seems like the kind of pop/dance star that would be really fun to see live.

[READ: April 1, 2016] Mike’s Place

Somehow I missed that word in the subtitle: True.  I didn’t realize that this was a true story until the very end.  The story was really good before I knew that and it makes it even more amazing after I found the truth.

In Tel Aviv, Israel, John Baxter (Jack), a filmmaker has come to cover a story.  He goes into a local bar called Mike’s Place for a meal.  He is greeted warmly and is told that there is live music every night of the week.  They proudly state that Mike’s is a place where people of all stripes comes to congregate and do anything but talk about politics.

It turns out that there are already people making a documentary about the subject who John came to cover (Marwan Barghouti) so Jack  decides to give up. (more…)

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Lewis Trondheim–A.L.I.E.E.E.N. (2006)

Posted in A.L.I.E.E.N., Aliens, AroarA, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Lewis Trondheim, Poo, Silver Mt. Zion, Surreal, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Translation, Unreliable narrator, Violence, YA Books, Yuck! on May 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

alieeenSOUNDTRACK: THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA-Hang On to Each Other EP [CST105] (2014).

Hang_on_to_each_otherI try to go in sequence with a band’s records.  But this release is, inexplicably, a dance remix Ep of a song from the album Horses in the Sky.  The original is basically an a capella song with a harmonium.  Efrim sings the main melody and the chorus sings the repeated refrains.

It’s pretty cool and the spareness of it really resonates.  About four minutes (of 6 and a half), the refrain switches to “any fucking thing you love.”  Then about 5 minutes in he switches to “birds toss precious flowers from the murky skies above” while the chorus starts singing, “Any fucking thing you love.”

This EP features vocals by Ariel Engle of AroarA, and virtually nothing of the original song except the words.

The first side “Any Fucking Thing You Love” is 11 minutes long and is as promised, a dance remix.  And it is a serious, get your butt on the dance floor remix.  No irony, no winking, just butt shaking.

It opens with roars and a boat (ocean liner) whistle and then some dance drums.   Then there’s what sounds like lions roars, a middle-eastern-sounding instrument and screams.  Then the female vocals come in singing “Hang On To Each Other.”   The majority of the song is an instrumental dance section with washes of keyboards and drums.  There’s roaring noises as the beat keeps up the pace.  About 9 minutes in she starts chanting “Any fucking thing you love” and the song continues to dance on until the feedback sounds at the end.

Side two is “Birds Toss Precious Flowers” which opens with that same boat whistle.   Some skittery keyboards come in and out and then a big bass drum starts keeping the beat.  It doesn’t start getting dancey until after about 90 seconds.  That’s when the vocals come in—echoey and very cool.  About four minutes in the music cuts away and it’s just the thudding bass drum and vocals, then the song picks up again  At around 7 minutes the “birds fly” part kicks in.  The song turns really dancey with a vocal solo   The last two minutes are more or less the keyboard winding going through a very slow reverb pedal.

Of the two, I like the second one better as there’s more interesting things going on, but I have to assume that the first is a better club song.

[READ: February 15, 2016] A.L.I.E.E.E.N.

Lewis Trondheim found this book while on vacation.  It is the first collection of extraterrestrial comic strips every discovered.  And Trondheim convinced First Second to publish it [#10yearsof01].

A.L.I.E.E.E.N. stands for Archives of Lost Issues and Earthly Editions of Extraterrestrial Novelties.  (The book was originally published in France with the title A.L.I.E.E.N.)

The book is adorable, with cute and cuddly aliens creatures on a fascinating world.  There’s a blue four-legged guy and a yellow two-legged guy with a long tail and they are frolicking amidst butterfly-looking creatures.  The aliens only speak in alien tongue (I wonder if the characters can be translated or if it is just gibberish).  Then on page two, the blue guy runs into a tree and has both his eyes poked out in pools of blood.

WHAT?! (more…)

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Brendan Deneen–The Ninth Circle (2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Brendan Deneen, Canadian Music, Circus, Clowns, Constellation Records, Death, Drinking, Elephants, Fire, Freaks, Horses, Lions, Magic, Magicians, Marriage Trouble, Silver Mt. Zion, Thee Silver Mountain Reveries, Threats, Violence, YA Books, Yuck! on May 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

ninthSOUNDTRACK: Thee Silver Mountain Reveries-The “Pretty Little Lightning Paw” E.P. [CST030] (2004).

lightpawAfter three albums, it was time to make an EP under yet another variant of the band’s name.  This is a fun release (which is interesting to say about a band who is typically quite serious).  What made this “fun” is that many of the band members switched instruments for this recording. Violinist Sophie Trudeau plays bass guitar.  Guitarist Ian Ilavsky, usually one of the band’s guitarists, plays drums.

Also when they finished recording, was complete, the EP was played on a boombox and re-recorded from that.  I can’t tell that it was recorded in this way, so who knows if that made any difference.

There are four songs, “More Action! Less Tears!” is the first.  It begins with Aimee shouting “Hello!  Hello!” and then messing up and laughing.  So she begins again, “The name of this song is More Action.  The name of this song is Less Tears.”  It sounds unlike anything that SMtZ have done so far.  The guitar that opens it is distorted and plays a fairly conventional riff while the violins play a suitable melody over the top.  The strings build and the songs oars.

“Microphones in the Trees” opens with a guitar melody that’s quickly joined by the same melody on upright bass.  Efrim begins singing (his voice is distorted and echoed and sounds almost more like an instrument than a voice, although you can hear the lyrics: “microphones in the trees, cameras in the sky.”  The choir starts singing along with him until about three minutes when a wash of noise over takes the song. This lasts for a few minutes and then fades, allowing the words to continue.  About half way into the song a rather shambolic chorus sings “we are the flood.”  The last two minutes or so are simply feedbacky noises wafting around.

“Pretty Little Lightning Paw”is the ten-minute title track.  It opens with bass notes and chimed notes.  The strings follow Efrim’s vocal lines (which sound ragged and quiet).  And then after a minute or so new strings come in, slightly unsettling sounding.  About three minutes in the 4 voice choir begins singing an alternate melody above Efrim’s repeated mantra.  The song continues in this vein for pretty much the rest of the song, only modifying at the end where the sounds and feedback resemble birdsong.

“There’s a River in the Valley Made of Melting Snow” is 5 minutes long and is basically a solo song from Efrim.  He plays guitar, sings and plays “toybox.”  The melody is fairly simple and his voice sounds pretty good–not too shrill.  It may be the most conventional song that SMtZ has recorded.

While this EP doesn’t deviate drastically from the band’s normal sound, it is fun to see them mix things up a bit.   For this recording, the band was

  • Thierry Amar – violin, bass guitar, vocals, pianohandle
  • Ian Ilavsky – drums
  • Efrim Menuck – guitar, piano, organ, vocals, feedback, toybox
  • Jessica Moss – violin, vocals
  • Sophie Trudeau – bass guitar
  • [Beckie Foon is absent]

[READ: May 5, 2016] The Ninth Circle

Brendan and I went to college together.  In fact, I knew Brendan from his submissions to both the newspaper and the literary magazine.  He was a major talent back then (I still remember details from the story he submitted twenty some years ago) and continues to be one now.  He works in comics and has written for Flash Gordon, his own book Scatterbrain and something that I can’t wait to find a copy of: Charlie Sheen: Vatican Assassin Warlock.  Check out his output on Goodreads.

This is his first published novel, I believe. And I was hooked from the first chapter.

The story is about 16-year-old Dan.  His family is a disaster–his brother is obsessively mean to him, his father is an alcoholic, his mother is probably sleeping with someone else, and neither parent gives him the time of day.  For his 16th birthday they take him to the circus, even though he never said he wanted to go to the circus.  His brother promises to get revenge for having to go to this lame spectacle.

Dan’s not even sure that he’s going to like it, but he winds up being mesmerized from the moment he walks in.  The trickster tricks him, the freaks entice him (he finds the bearded lady especially enchanting) and the whole show is truly amazing.  Later that night, while lying in bed thinking about his crappy life, Dan decides to take action. (more…)

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