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Archive for the ‘Yuck!’ Category

Malachai Nicolle & Ethan Nicolle–Axe Cop: Volume 1 (2010)

Posted in Archer, Axe Cop, Children's Books, Cold Blue Mountain, Death, Ethan Nicolle, Graphic Novel, Kevin Murphy, Malachai Nicolle, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Nick Offerman, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk Contest, Violence, Yuck! on February 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

axw1SOUNDTRACK: COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN-“White North” (Tiny Desk Contest Runner-Up 2015).

cbm Last week, a Tiny Desk Contest winner was announced. This week, All Songs Considered posted ten runners up that they especially liked.  And I want to draw extra attention to a couple of them.

I know very little about these bands, and I seriously hope that the guys from Cold Blue Mountain look like this when they play all the time.

This may be the best set up and reveal of a joke that actually contains an awesome song.  The video is 4 and a half minutes long, but the music doesn’t start for nearly a minute and a half as the set up proceeds.

When the music starts it is heavy, like really heavy, but beyond heavy there’s a great riff mixed into the music on the second guitar–it’s a great sound.

But the “joke” isn’t over, since at 2 minutes the music stops for 20 seconds until the next reveal comes in.  It’s pretty awesome.

My only gripe is that I don’t like the vocals (growly cookie monster type)–they work pretty well with the music, but it’s not something I want to listen to, which is shame since the song really really rocks.

And the video is awesome.

[READ: February 15, 2015] Axe Cop Vol. 1

After watching Archer on FX the other week I saw a few minutes of an animated show called Axe Cop which looked weird and silly and starred Nick Offerman as Axe Cop.  I only watched a few minutes of it and then went to bed.  A few days later I was in the library and saw four volumes of Axe Cop books.  Well, I had to check that out right away.

And here’s what I learned.  Axe Cop is a web comic that was drawn by Ethan Nicolle.  But the best part is that Axe Cop was written by Ethan’s younger brother who was 5 at the time.  That’s right, five.  So Axe Cop comes from the delightfully twisted imagination of a (rather precocious in my opinion) five year old.

This book collects the beginning web comics, including the first slew of Ask Axe Cop, perhaps my favorite feature of the comic.  It also has a forward by Mystery Science Theater 3000’s Kevin Murphy!

In the beginning, there was Axe Cop.  No, in the beginning Ethan tells about how he was visiting his younger brother over a Christmas break and they started playing with action figures and what not.  And one of the guys was a firefighter with an axe.  Malachai didn’t want to play fireman, so he called this guy Axe cop.  Ethan decided to make a comic out of it and it all started from there. (more…)

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The Oatmeal–5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (and other useful guides) (2011)

Posted in Drinking, Esquivel, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Katamari Damacy, Seinfeld, The Oatmeal, Video Games, Violence, Wendy Carlos, Yuck! on February 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

oatmealSOUNDTRACK: KATAMARI DAMACY SOUNDTRACK (2004).

katamari In the xkcd post from yesterday Munroe made a joke about driving to Katamari Damacy.  I didn’t know what that was (well, I figured it was a video game, of course). It turns out to be a puzzle type game for PS2.  Since we have a Wii, I’ll never get to play it.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the groovy soundtrack.

The soundtrack to this game incorporates real, interesting music instead of an 8-bit-sounding theme (it won awards back in 2004).  And it is really wild and fun.

I’m focusing on the first two tracks, because there’s just too much to deal with here, but the whole things is trippy and interesting (and most songs are over 3 minutes).

“Nanana Katamari” is the opening song.  It’s upbeat and bouncy, with a simple Nanana vocal line (with some mild beatboxing in between).  It introduced the melody that runs throughout the disc (in various permutations).  After the first few lines, an 8-bit synth line comes in, making it seem like it’s a typical video game soundtrack.  But this is just the intro–and it lasts for just under 90 seconds.  But when “Katamari on the Rock” opens, with some weird glitchy sounds and drums, you have no idea what you’re in for.  Soon, the music turns The music is jazzy and boppy with a kind of Esquivelish “wha??” feeling.  There’s singing, there’s big flourishes and little comments (yea!) and it just sounds fantastic.  I can’t even imagine how this works in the game.

“The Moon and the Prince” is also glitchy sounding, but with some fun spoken (Japanese?) words and a fun beat.  There’s also tracks called “Katamari Mambo” and “Last Samba” showing a vast diversity in musical styles.  And, this being a (Japanese) video game, there’s also some really weird things like the 3 minute “You Are Smart” which is just a synthetic robot saying the title words over and over on top of an electronic riff.  Or “Katamari March Damacy” which sounds like a Wendy Carlos synth song with electronic voices.  Or “Wanda Wanda” which is mostly people saying Wandubadubaduba over and over with some really weird and cool synth music accompanying it.  And yet “A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic” opens with the drums of a classic jazz song (the one that Woody Allen uses all the time) and even seems to reference “It Don’t Mean a Thing.”  The Japanese female singer could be singing in Japanese or just scatting, but it doesn’t matter because it sounds great.

There’s even a pretty love song (sung in English) called “Que Sera Sera (not that song, no).  I saw someone on a forum say that he wanted to play it at his upcoming wedding (wonder how that worked out).  It opens with a pretty piano melody and some nonsense syllables before the lyrics come in:

I know you love me
I wanna wad you up into my life
Let’s roll up to be a single star in the sky

I hear you calling me
I wanna wad you up into my life
Let’s lump up to make a single star in the sky
To you, to you

The fact that on different tracks, the singers sing in both Japanese and highly accented English adds an incredible quirkiness to the mix.  As does “Cherry Blossom Color Season” which is sung by children.  The penultimate song “Katamari Love” song is probably a cheesy pop metal song but since it’s sung in Japanese (which means I don’t have to know what the lyrics are) and has a total ROCK STAR feel, I love it.

It’s a fascinating soundtrack, one that was not intended to be listened to with out the game (I assume) and yet one which works quite well on its own.  And opens up some interesting cultural mash ups.

[READ: February 11, 2015] 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth

This weekend is all about old(ish) books of things compiled from the internet which you can already find for free online.

I love The Oatmeal.  Or, as I found out when reading this book, I love the Oatmeal when people send me their favorite jokes.  Because The Oatmeal has some simply outstanding jokes, but there are a lot of jokes in this book that I thought were just okay–not as hilarious as his best stuff.  Which makes me a judgmental jerk, and I acknowledge that.  But the titular joke about punching dolphins is so poor compared to the rest that aside from the shock value, I can’t imagine why it would be chosen for the title.

The best The Oatmeal jokes are linguistic and/or angry.  But there is a whole side category of surprising informative cartoons about various subjects: beer, coffee, cheese (disgusting and true) and many other subjects. (more…)

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Eight: “Family Recipes” (2014)

Posted in Chastity Belt, Food, Food Luv, Graphic Novel, John Layman, Rob Guillory, Sex, Violence, Yuck! on February 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

chew8SOUNDTRACK: CHASTITY BELT-“Dude” (2012) and “Seattle Party” (2013).

chasdudeThe Dude EP is 3 songs recorded after the first EP and with some dudes in the rhythm section.  On this record: Julia Shapiro, Lydia Lund, Peter Richards, Andrew Hall.

The record sounds a bit less trebly, which I like.  And there are loud backing vocals which is interesting (especially on “Pony Tail”: “cut it off cut it off” and “Alines” : “put your tentacles inside me.”

You’ve got a long pony tail and you look like my mom (another verse: you look like Steven Segall and the great rhyme: you look like Thomas Jefferson/Jennifer Aniston).  “Aliens” has a fun riff and an interesting guitar sound.  “Cadaver” sounds really full, with Shaprio’s voice fitting right in to the more bass driven sound.

chas seattle“Seattle Party” is a single from their debut full length No Regerts, which I’m only including here to show the album cover.  It’s something of a maturation (using the term loosely) musically–with a slow, unshouted chorus, although I don’t think it’s the most likely single on the album.

[READ: January 25, 2015] Chew: Volume Eight

Book Eight of the series (the last one I have until book nine comes out later this year) reminds us that even when people die in fiction they can still come back–especially with a supernatural story like this.  Well, come back is not the right phrase.  Show up again is more suited. Because in this book Tony Chu is able to imbibe a (revolting) concoction and speak to a dearly departed deceased person.

But before we even get to that we see how it was possible.

We also meet Tony and Toni’s baby sister Sage.  Sage also has food related “gifts” but she hates hers.  Sage is Cipropanthropatic–she can see the memories of anyone who is sitting near her if they are eating the same thing–so she goes to great lengths to try to avoid eating what others may also be eating.  It turns out that Sage has just discovered that the person eating next to her is a murderer and also the head of a crime family.

Chapter two introduces us to Ken Keebler, the eroscibopctaros, who can take pictures of food which arouse sexual desires in the viewer.  This all ties in with people in jail reading Food Luv magazine (ha).  Currently in that same jail is Mason and that’s when we realize that someone whom we thought was on Tony’s side is actually working with Mason.   And their escape plan involves Ray Jack Montero–the man behind the ban on chickens

In chapter four, Tony’s daughter Olive–an even more powerful Cibopath than her father helps to get on the case.

In chapter five we get to see the fascinating thing that Tony eats.  It has psychotropic powers as well which makes this whole chapter trippy and hilarious.  When Tony sprouts rabbit ears, that’s just the beginning.  And when the final page shows Olive screaming “Holy Shit…cool” you know something big is coming for book nine.

I can’t wait

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Seven : “Bad Apples” (2013)

Posted in Chastity Belt, Food, Graphic Novel, John Layman, Marriage Trouble, Rob Guillory, Sex, Violence, Yuck! on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

chew7SOUNDTRACK: CHASTITY BELT-Fuck Chastity Belt (2012).

chasThis is the worst music you will ever hear.
Chastity Belt is the worst band to ever exist.

So says the Chastity Belt band camp site for this EP.  Which also states that: The album was produced by Peter Richards. Peter Richards is deaf in one ear.
The cover photo was taken by William Newman-Wise. William Newman-Wise is blind in one eye.

Chastity Belt are not the worst band I have ever heard, not by a long shot.  But they sure do love to provoke, like their band photo (see below).  And the fact that is you try to look them up online, you will find many many images that you don’t want to see (not their band photo).

This four song EP is pretty representative off their full length album–intertwining guitars, catchy (if not vulgar) choruses, and a lead singer’s voice that soars above the music (and reminds me a bit of Grace Slick, although not exactly).  The band comes from Walla Walla Washington.  That and the cover photo reminds one of the Pacific Northwest riot grrrl scene, and there is so me of that slightly abrasive and yet still catchy feel to their music.

The biggest difference seems to be that although their lyrics are feminist and take-no-shit, there is still some humor in the lyrics too.  Not that the original riot grrrl scenes wasn’t funny, but it was much more intense, and unlike to include lines like: “God damn, that boy is hot damn, he makes me so stupid crazy and drunk.”

Of the four songs, I like them all, but the second, Dodge Ram is the least exciting for me, although I do like the “lead” guitar line that runs through the track (perhaps 4 minutes is too long for the song?).  “God Damn” is a great lead off track a simple guitar riff played slowly with an air of sloppiness that may be more of the recording sound (which is a bit staticky).  The segue into chorus really pretty.

On a far more serious tone is “A Bloody Spiral of Unyielding Fury” which is not a super fast belligerent death metal song, in fact it starts with a rather sweet high-pitched guitar melody.  But then lyrically, the chorus of “he wants me dead but I don’t want to die” informs the rather scary song about a guy with a knife (yet always with that rather happy guitar riff).

The one thing I don’t like about the record is the rather tinny sound of it.  There is bass, but it’s not very loud, and the two guitars are certainly turned up in the mix (and play mostly the high strings).  Having said that, “James Dean” (which also appears on their full length) has a much fuller sound, bigger chords and some of the most straightforward lyrics yet (all in Julia Shapiro’s keening voice)

chastityYou’re a slut
I’m a whore
we’ve fucked everyone before
Oh boy, when I fuck you
you make me feel like a prostitute
yeah, when you fuck me
I make you feel just like James Dean

You can check the EP out on their bandcamp site.

On this recording, Chastity Belt was On this record: Julia Shapiro, Lydia Lund, Annie Truscott, and Gretchen Grimm.

[READ: January 21, 2015] Chew: Volume Seven

After the horrible events at the end of Book Six, Book Seven was a chance for Revenge!

Tony Chu has not taken the event of book six lightly, and he is ready to get the bastard–the “vampire”–who has caused such distress to his family.  In fact, things are so serious that Tony (and Colby) have been reinstated to the FDA (and their boss doesn’t seem to mind).

And remember the high priestesss from the church of the super ova? (I had forgotten about her, but she’s back with all those writings in the sky and whatnot).  Well, she is looking to cause a lot of trouble.

But not everyone is happy that Colby has been transferred back. His former boss at the USDA is terribly sad to see her bed partner go. Of course, Colby’s new boss (who was his old boss) is suddenly also quite keen on having him back…I love how that is resolved with a nod and wink from the authors several chapters later. (more…)

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Six: “Space Cakes” (2012)

Posted in Alvvays, Canadian Music, Food, Graphic Novel, John Layman, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Marriage Trouble, NASA, Rob Guillory, Sex, The Decemberists, Violence, Yuck! on February 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

chew6SOUNDTRACK: ALVVAYS-Live at KEXP (December 2, 2014).

alvvays I’ve been enjoying the Alvvays album quite a lot.  They will be opening for The Decemberists this summer, so this was a good way to hear what they sound like live.

The band (pronounced Always) is from Canada and they play four songs and have a little chat.

The four songs are all on their debut album and while none of them are mind blowingly original, they scratch an itch that I have for poppy 90 s alt rock (female singer division).

Molly Rankin has a delicate voice that blends in beautiful with the washes of music (guitars and keyboards).  They remind me a bit of Lush, although less rocking.  There’s a bit more angst and yearning in her voice and lyrics.

Their hit is “Archie, Marry Me” but I find the other three songs, “Ones Who Love You,” “Dives” and “Party Police” to be just as catchy and delightful.  In fact I think the best song in this set may be “Party Police.”  The only real downside to this set is that they don’t have a live drummer.  No idea why, and it doesn’t really detract from the performance, it just makes it a but flatter than it might be.  I assume they’ll have a live drummer when I see them this summer.

[READ: January 22, 2015] Chew: Volume Six

Volume Six brings a very exciting return and a devastating loss to this awesome series.

The good news first: POYO!

The book opens with Toni (Antoinelle), Tony Chu’s sister in bed with Paneer, a man who is in love with her.  She, of course, needs to bite him to see what his future holds (which rather freaks him out).  Toni is (like her brother), cibovoyant and can read the future of everything she eats.

Toni is asked by her other brother Chow to help with a case.  A guy has out-bid him for a painting and he fears that the guy is just going to destroy the masterpiece.  As an agent of NASA surely Toni agrees she must help.  It turns out the artist is a sabopictor–his paintings taste delicious.  Of course it turns out that Chow has an ulterior motive–the guy has also stolen his cookbook, that’s all he cares about–he doesn’t care about the painting at all.  Toni is annoyed, but always happy to see her brother.

While she is visiting Tony in the hospital (from injuries suffered in book 5), Caesar walks in. Caesar used to work with Tony and he is quite certain that he recognizes Toni from somewhere (I loved this ongoing joke and that we keep flashing back to the number of times they met (and even hooked up) in their lives).

Then Toni gets called onto another case, involving mutated chicken frog (chogs) and a gangster named D-bear.Poyo-rules-the-Chew-roost-in-Secret-Agent-O31R1IQP-x-large

Of course the real excitement comes from the interlude which features POYO! the cybernetically enhanced rooster.  He is on a mission to stop Dr Albrecht Regenbigen, a ranapuliva who can recreate the meteorological phenomenon in which animals rain from the sky.

Back in our main story Poyo proves to be a great partner for Colby especially in the story of Judy Heinz-Campbell a victuspeciosian, who can craft a concoction out of food that temporarily changes your appearance (useful for supermodels and supervillains).

The final book shows the unthinkable–a wedding for Toni and Paneer?  Or something much more horrific and unimaginable.

I’m not sure I can forgive this series. Book 7 better bring something happy.

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Five: “Major League Chew” (2011)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Fantastic Negrito, Food, Graphic Novel, John Layman, Marriage Trouble, Rob Guillory, Sex, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk Contest, Violence, Yuck! on February 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

chew5SOUNDTRACK: FANTASTIC NEGRITO-“Lost in a Crowd” (TINY DESK CONTEST WINNER 2015).

negrtitoFantastic Negrito won this year’s Tiny Desk Concert contest.  About 7,000 people submitted entries and Negrito was chosen.

On the surface this song is pretty simple–a basic blues riff and some simple percussion, but man there’s some gritty power and conviction in this performance.  The way he sings “rage” in a late verse is really great.  I also really like the way the chorus is so very different–it really changes the dynamic of the stomping verses.

A couple other things I like about this song: the drums appear to be done on a box, but they sound great and there’s a super cool piercing sound he gets when he claps.  This was a really good song and I’m looking forward to his upcoming Tiny Desk Concert.

[READ: January 19, 2015] Chew: Volume Five

I had been enjoying Chew so much that I’m shocked that I not only forgot about it but forgot about it for over three years!  This is the trouble with annual publications.  I’ve decided to try to find all of the series that I forgot about, so if you can think of something I’ve ignored for a while, let me know.

The good thing is that there have been four more books published since I last read them, so I get to indulge in four whole books rather than just one at at time.

As this book opens we learn that Tony Chu’s boss is super happy because he finally got rid of Tony Chu–his most hated agent.  That’s right Tony Chu is now a traffic cop and his partner, Colby, has been transferred to the USDA–and his partner is a lion.  If this whole USDA/FDA business seems weird, it is, and you need to get caught up on the series and the poultry ban. (more…)

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Raina Telgemeier–Smile (2010)

Posted in Biography, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Parenting, Paul McCartney, Raina Telgemeier, Set at School, Teeth, The Beatles, YA Books, Yuck! on February 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

smileSOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES–Let It Be…Naked (2003).

220px-LetItBeNakedI talked about this once before and mentioned how I was anticipating a huge difference between this version and the original.  But really, most of the changes are quite subtle.  Reading a bit more about it, it seems like McCartney mostly wanted to fix “The Long and Winding Road” and then took the time to tweak little things (he fixes some bum notes for instance).

This seemed like a chance for Paul to take the record back from Phil Spector, although I guess Spector didn’t really do all that much to the album—he really only tweaked four songs: Across The Universe, I Me Mine, Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road.  And so Paul removes Phil’s hand on those–and those are really the most notable changes.  As for the rest of the disc, he took out all the chatting between and silly songs (Dig It and Maggie Mae) and adds “Don’t Le Me Down,” from the rooftop concert.

I assume that if I were a Beatles die hard, I would immediately notice all of the changes on this disc.  But, for a casual listener, here’s what I noticed: “Get Back” is even shorter than the original.  “Dig a Pony” is the same rooftop, although it seems to be mixed better.  “For You Blue” has a bit more acoustic guitar but is otherwise not too different.

“The Long and Winding Road” has the most notable changes.  The strings and chorus are removed.  The dramatic BUH BUH before the chorus is still there–almost more pronounced on the organ.  I like this version more than the original, although I have to say it sounds an awful lot like Wings or McCartney solo in this version.

“Two of Us” doesn’t sound all that different—a little cleaner maybe.  “I’ve Got a Feeling” sounds a bit cleaner too–apparently it is a composite of the two versions from the rooftop concert.  “1 after 909” sounds about the same–a little cleaner and with out the Danny Boy at the end.  This version makes it sounds even more like an “old” song since the rawness of the recording has been removed.

“Don’t Let Me Down” was not on the original.  This version was taken from the rooftop concert.  And it sounds great here.  Strange that it wasn’t included in the first place.  “I Me Mine” removes the chorus and overdubs, and sounds a bit more rocking.  “Across the Universe”–I like this version a lot better.  It’s much cleaner and really lets the music shine, rather than there being so much echo on it.  “Let It Be” is stripped down as well, and the guitar solo sounds a little different.

In general, I like this version better, although I do miss the funny bits a little.  This feels more like a record than a soundtrack to a film.  But again, the changes aren’t that substantial overall.

[READ: January 10, 2015] Smile

I had heard of this book–I’d heard that it was a huge sensation.  Of course it wasn’t really on my radar of books, so I wasn’t really sure what it was about.  I read an interview with Telgemeier recently which made the book sound really interesting so I decided to check it out (and was frankly surprised that there was a copy in the library).

And I really liked the book a lot.  From the little I knew about it, I assumed it was just her life with braces (and from the interview, I gathered that her little sister was really a pain–she apparently is a big presence in the sequel).  Well, the sister is a pain, but that’s mostly in the beginning of the book (the sister is very funny and they tease each other mercilessly).  Yes, the book is about braces, but it ‘s about much more than that.

Oh and it’s also autobiographical, which was pretty obvious.

So, Raina is in 6th grade and she is scheduled to get braces.  She is freaked out about this, of course, because everyone makes fun of people with braces.  (Although they never made fun of me and I understand they don’t anymore, but we’ll see if my kids need them).  Although she has lots of friends, so they should support her. (more…)

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Simon Rich–Spoiled Brats: Stories (2014)

Posted in Fantasy, Fears, Fiona Apple, Funny (ha ha), Guster, Humiliation, Morality, New Yorker, Religion, Sex, Short Story, Simon Rich, The Beatles, Yuck! on February 11, 2015| 2 Comments »

spioiledSOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES-Let It Be (1970).

letOf all the fascinating details about Beatles releases, I don’t think any are more fascinating than the details about Let It Be.  I’m not even close to understanding everything that went on here.  But in a nutshell, it seems that they went into the studio to record an album called Get Back. They were even going to film the whole things.  It got scrapped.  Some members quit the band then rejoined.  And then they recorded Abbey Road.

And then the band did a concert on a rooftop (almost exactly 46 years ago!).  And soon after they broke up. Then some producers decided to release Let It Be as a soundtrack to the documentary made about their recording.  They used some of the material from Get Back and some from the rooftop concert and then Phil Spector got involved and put all kinds of strings on everything and then the album was released in the UK on my first birthday.

There’s lots of snippets of dialogue which seem designed to make it feel like a soundtrack (which it doesn’t).  There’s really short snippets of songs, there’s raw live songs, there’s overproduced string laden songs.  It’s kind of a mess.  But in there are some good songs too.

“Two of Us” is a pretty folkie number that I like quite a lot although I first became familiar with it from a Guster cover (which is pretty fine.  I never quite understood the title of “Dig a Pony,” but it’s a big weird sloppy song. It’s kind of fun to sing along to—especially the falsetto “Beeeecause.”  This song was recorded from their rooftop concert and it feels rawer than some of the other songs.

“Across the Universe” is a lovely song.  Evidently Lennon didn’t contribute much to Let It Be, so they threw this on to give him more content.  I actually know this more from the Fiona Apple version (which I think is actually better than this processed version). I don’t really care for the strings and echoes feel on this version. “Dig It” is a short piece of nonsense. It was exerted from a lengthy jam but for some reason only this little snippet was included on the record–it sounds odd here.

“Let it Be” is quite a lovely song. I don’t really care for the Phil Spectorisms that were done to it—the strings and choruses seem a bit cheesy.  At the same time, the guitar solo (which is quite good) sounds too raw and harsh for the song.  “Maggie Mae” is a traditional song, another bit of fun nonsense.  I like “I Me Mine,” it’s rather dark and the chorus just rocks out.  “I’ve Got a Feeling”, was also recorded on the roof, so it feels raw.  There’s some great guitars sounds on it. Evidently it was initially two songs, and Lennon’s part (the repeated “everybody” section) was added to it.

“One After 909” sounds so much like an early Beatles song–very traditional rock and roll (which means I don’t really like it).  Although the version is raw sounding (it was also recorded from the rooftop) so that’s kind of cool. Huh, Wikipedia says “the song was written no later than spring 1960 and perhaps as early as 1957, and is one of the first Lennon–McCartney compositions.”   “The Long and Winding Road” is where all the controversy comes from.  McCartney hated what Phil Spector did to his song.  He HATED it.  And I have to agree.  It sounds nothing like the Beatles–it sounds very treacly and almost muzaky.  It feels endless.  At the same time, I’m not even sure if the song is that good–it’s so hard to tell after all these years. I think it kind of rips off the transition in “Hey Jude” which was used to much better effect.

“For You Blue” is a simple blues. I like it better than most of the Beatles’ blues, perhaps because of John’s slide guitar (and the funny comments through the song–which makes it seem like the band actually liked each other).  “Get Back” ends the disc as a fun rollicking romp.  I really like this song, although I’m surprised at how short it seems–I thought there was a lengthy outro.  The end of the song (and the disc) has John asking if they passed the audition–lots of fun going on in this contentious recording session.

So it’s not the best career ending disc, although I guess as a soundtrack it’s pretty good.  I’ve never seen the film, and I’m kind of curious to after having walked through all of these Beatles albums.

[READ: January 19, 2015] Spoiled Brats

I probably read too much Simon Rich too close together, but it’s so hard to resist him.  I’ve said before that I enjoy his shorter pieces the most, but there were some longer ones in this one which were really good as well.

This is the first book where I thought that Rich went a little too dark (although not as dark as Sarah thought he did).  That’s sort of the point of the book, though, to look at people (especially people named Simon Rich) who are horrible human beings.

“Animals” [New Yorker, April 10, 2013] opens from the point of view of a class hamster.  He is tormented by the children in the class and he knows that when Simon Rich is supposed to feed and give them water that their lives might just be over.  The Simon character is hilarious, and it’s nice to see that revenge is sweet.

“Gifted” wonders what if a child isn’t so much gifted as Satanic–how many euphemisms will be used for this one child?

“Semester Abroad” is the diary of a girl who has gone abroad–to another planet.  And how her insensitivity is handled during an intergalactic crisis.  I enjoyed this one a lot. (more…)

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Thomas McGuane–“Motherlode” (New Yorker, September 8, 2014)

Posted in New Yorker, Primus, Sex, Short Story, Thomas McGuane, Violence, Yuck! on January 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

ny98SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-“Me Llamo Mud” (2010).

me llamo mudThis recording is out of chronological sequence, because it is a re-recording of Primus’ hit “My Name is Mud” done in Spanish.

The big surprise for me was just how different the song sounds–it was recorded in a very different way with the instruments sounding much crisper.  The bass in particular is recorded quite differently.  And Brain is on drums instead of Tim Alexander, although I don’t think their styles are very different on this song.  But I love that those seemingly random guitar parts from Ler are played the same (even if they are recorded differently too).

It’s also impressive to hear Les forcing all those Spanish syllables into his fast wordplay.

¿Adonde va el chico de la ciudad?

[READ: January 7, 2015] “Motherlode”

I tend to think of McGuane’s stories as dark, and this one is no exception.

We start by looking at David Jenkins.  He is in a hotel room with his stetson on.  He goes to get some lunch and while he eats, he gets the sense that a man is watching him closely.

As David walks out to his car, Ray, the man who was looking at David, pulls a gun and says that David is going to take them for a drive.  They have an awkward two-hour road trip ahead of them.  Ray uses David’s cell phone to call his girl, whose name is Morsel (I don’t know why that tickled me so much).  After about two hours of driving a man in a small plane lands in front of them on the road and says they’ve missed the turn.  David backs up and heads down the “road” to a small house. (more…)

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Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez–Locke & Key: Volume Six : Alpha & Omega (2014)

Posted in Big Black, Butthole Surfers, Christmas Album, Death, Demons, Fears, Gabriel Rodriguez, Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Happy Flowers, Joe Hill, Record Labels, Revenge, Supernatural, Violence, Yuck! on January 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

locke6 SOUNDTRACK: HAPPY FLOWERS-“All I Got Were Clothes Christmas” (1986).

godsAfter all of this mostly respectful Christmas music, I had to throw in one crazy stupid ugly horribly song.  But that’s mostly because I forgot it existed until I stumbled on it the other day.  The Happy Flowers were a terrible band (seriously).  They were the kind of band that seemed to blossom in the late 1980s which don’t seem to exist anymore (for better or worse).  They were beyond noise, this was just a crazy noisy pile of sound with screamed lyrics that have nothing to do with the music.

I loved them.  But not really, because they were terrible.  But it was fun to know that people not only made music like this but that it could find a record label (and presumably an audience).  I used to enjoy playing their songs on my radio show.

The Happy Flowers were two guys from Charlottesville, VA.  They were in another band (the Landlords) so presumably they could play their instruments, although I don’t know that band at all.  Their stage names were Mr. Horribly Charred Infant, (drums, vocals) and Mr. Anus, (guitar, vocals), so you have a sense of what we’re dealing with here.  And yet you really can’t be prepared for it.

This song is basically just feedback and two adult men screaming about how they wanted to get toys for Christmas but all they got was clothes.  For four minutes.  And it made it onto the above compilation, God’s Favorite Dog, with Big Black and the Butthole Surfers.

If your Christmas didn’t live up to your expectations, perhaps you need to hear this.  Or perhaps not.

[READ: December 29, 2014] Locke & Key 6

I knew I couldn’t hold out until the new year to finish this series.  I was compelled to keep going.  There was nothing I could do to hold back, as if some kind of spirit kept pulling me towards the books.

And the ending did not disappoint.  Well, it did disappoint a little in that so many people ended up dead.  I couldn’t believe how many people who I grew to care about were killed in various ways.

There’s really no time for flashbacks in this book, although we do get occasional look-backs.  We see the Locke kids make up with the friends that they have alienated. We also see that the kids’ mom has been sober for 30 days (this whole series takes place over a much longer time than it seems).

We also see Rufus come to say goodbye to the Locke family. While he is waiting for Bode to come up from the water, Rufus sees Bode’s ghost who tells him that the person in Bode’s body is not him but is actually Scout.  Rufus immediately attacks Bode when he arrives.  This send Rufus to the same institution that Erin Voss is in.  While he’s in there we see him already making plans to escape.  And it turns out that Erin Voss is able to communicate with him (sort of) and she is able to help in her own way. (more…)

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