SOUNDTRACK: FRANK FAIRFIELD-Tiny Desk Concert #445 (May 29, 2015).
Frank Fairfield and friends Tom Marion (who plays mandolin on the third song) and Zac Sokolow (on guitar) play old-timey music (marches, polkas and mountain tunes). Fairfield plays banjo and plucked cello (and apparently fiddle, although not here).
The first song “Tres Piedras” is an upbeat instrumental. The second song “I Ain’t A Goin’ To Weep No More” was written by Harry von Tilser whose brother wrote “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
The final song “Campanile De Venecia/Sharpshooters March” has an overwhelming Italian feel (that mandolin, I gather). I like that Fairfield yells “take it, Tom” so that Marion will play a lengthy mandolin solo on the for the final song. There’s also a “traditional” Italian melody in the song that I know more from cartoons than elsewhere.
The songs feel like they leaped out of a 78 record (even Fairfield’s voice seems suitably “old” on “Weep” (although it appears that they were up playing late last night so he may not quite be up to par).
This was a fun Tiny Desk by an artist I’d never encounter anywhere else.
[READ: January 21, 2015] Nursery Rhyme Comics
This is a collection of Nursery Rhymes as drawn primarily by First Second artists.
The 50 nursery rhymes includes here are the traditional rhymes which remain unchanged. So this was an opportunity for these artists to draw interesting visuals to accompany the traditional stories. Some artists stayed traditional, while others went in a totally new direction.
It was fun to see that while I knew most of the nursery rhymes, there were quite a few that I didn’t know.
I always wanted to get a collection of nursery rhymes for my kids when they were younger, and I feel like I never got one that would have been as satisfying as this one. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: MADISEN WARD AND THE MAMA BEAR-Tiny Desk Concert #444 (May 26, 2015).
I love that Mama Bear is actually Madisen Ward’s mother, Ruth. They play some really wonderful roots music.
Madisen has a powerful soulful voice and Mama Bear’s harmonies are excellent–ranging from deep to high pitched.
And their joint harmonies on second song, “Sorrows and Woes” (especially the final note) are really amazing.
Mama Bear also adds some great licks to some of the songs (Madisen plays leads on “Silent Movies” while mama Bear plays the main riff on “Daisy Jane.”
Between songs, Madisen has some funny banter. I laughed when he said that he was now going to retire since he has played the Tiny Desk. And Mama Bear talks about how excited she is that their new record is on yellow vinyl.
The songs are delightful folk songs (with “Daisy Jane” being the boppiest of the lot with some delightful “ooh hoos” at the end). I’d never heard of them before, but I wish them a lot of success.
[READ: February 11, 2014] The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Hot-Air Baboons
I saw this book in the library and was delighted to have another Flying Beaver Brothers book to read (I also just saw online that there is a sixth book too!).
Poor Beaver Island is under attack yet again (my kids were surprised to see that there were so many beavers on the island with them, and I admit I didn’t realize there were quite so many either).
The threat this time is a group of baboons who are melting the snow off of the skiing mountain (beaver island really has it all!). When Ace and Bub finally get caught up to speed with what’s happening, the baboons (Pete, Kyle and Ringo) hilariously get mad about having to repeat the whole story that they told everyone earlier. There is a helpful chart with Proboscis and Baboon listed as types of monkeys and buffoon as not a type of monkey. Continue Reading »
I was a huge Rush fan back in the day. In fact, to last night’s show Sarah wore my Rush shirt that I bought in, oh, 1983 or so. Despite my huge love of Rush I actually hadn’t seen them many times live. I missed several opportunities in college (stupid work ethic) but finally got to see them on the Presto tour. Whether it was April 20 or April 25, it was definitely 1990 and most likely at the Brendan Byrne Arena (R.I.P.).
I feel like I may have seen them on one more tour before seeing them again (possibly three times, I have 3 stubs) in 2002. The problem with seeing them a lot in one tour is that they tend to keep the set list the same in every show (there’s some variation below). And I remember thinking i didn’t need to see them again after that.
Of course, after seeing them last night and today listening to the Clockwork Angels tour CD I am really kicking myself for not going to that tour because there is some really interesting stuff (and a string section) which would have been pretty cool to see. But that’s okay because the show last night was so good that it satisfied all my Rush needs–a great send off (presumably) to a great band.
Sarah had never seen Rush before (and in fact once actively disliked them, and may still). But she was won over by the show.
I haven’t been to a big arena show (except for Kiss) in a long time, so I kind of forgot what we’d be getting. And wow did we get a lot–flash pots, fire, lasers, explosions, video screen (even a possible marriage proposal in front of us). And, at any Rush show… lots of air drumming (including from myself).
I had been deliberately avoiding any spoilers from the set list. I didn’t want to have any expectations. And I have to say, if I had made an ideal set lit, (which I thought about doing), they would have hit quite a number of them. (Thanks Rush fans for not spoiling things for me). And thus, below is a whole bunch of spoilers [consider yourself warned]. But one spoiler you must read–do not leave during the encore, there’s more to the show when the music is done. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: JASON VIEAUX AND YOLANDA KONDONASSIS-Tiny Desk Concert #443 (May 22, 2015).
Typically, the Tiny Desk doesn’t have performers back after they have played once. But occasional exceptions are made, like when performers who played solo come back as a duo. Like this.
Jason Vieuax was one of the first 20 people to play the Tiny Desk and Yolanda Kondonassis played back in 2010. And here they are touring as a duo, which really helps to accentuate both of their skills. And their music is beautiful together.
Vieuax is an amazing classical guitarist. And Kondonassis plays an amazing harp that is more about singular notes than trills and “heavenly” sounds. And in these songs, they work together doing harmony runs and fills–both instruments are lead instruments.
Apparently there aren’t very many pieces written for the combination of harp and guitar. Kondonassis explains the origins of the Hovhaness piece (which gives some lovely context).
Vieaux explains the origins of the two movements of the Piejo suite.
The first piece is sweet, while the second one is a little more aggressive (but still lovely). And the third one features some cool riffs and chords (especially on guitar) and percussion done on the instruments.
The three songs they play are
Gary Schocker: “Elysian” (from Hypnotized)
Alan Hovhaness: Fuga: Allegro – Andante grazioso, Canon: Allegro (from Sonata for Harp and Guitar, “Spirit of Trees”)
Máximo Diego Pujol: Vals, Candombe (from Suite mágica)
The pieces are familiar and yet quite different. And 456+it is much fun to watch their fingers fly around their instruments.
[READ: January 24, 2015] Tommysaurus Rex
I brought this book home for Clark to read. I wasnt going to read it myself but then I saw that I had read a book by TenNapel before and liked it.
But I did not care for this one. Perhaps it was because it was marketed in my library as a kids book but I thought it was just too violent or something–the story turned me off.
Perhaps it was just that the story opens with the main character’s dog getting hit by a car and dying. I mean, who needs that? And the cover looks so fun, too. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: YOUNG FATHERS-Tiny Desk Concert #442 (May 19, 2015).
Young Fathers may have the shortest Tiny Desk Concert ever. It’s only 4 minutes long. I know that these are edited down from the full show, but wow.
Young Fathers evidently sing a kind of hip-hop, but in these two songs they don’t really rap very much and are more soulful. The members met in Edinburgh but are from distant exotic locales like Ghana and, um, Maryland.
Something must have happened with their technology. As the blurb says, “Full-on drums and electronics weren’t going to happen on this day.” So they chose a simpler path.
They sing two songs virtually a capella. I don’t know any of the members’ names, but there’s one singer for “Am I Not Your Boy” (the guy in the photo above). He has a soulful voice (more or less R&B) and there’s a simple keyboard backdrop.
On “Only Child” there are three vocalists, each taking a turn with a verse. It is surprising that the man who sounds Jamaican (the first singer) is white. The final vocalist raps, and then all three harmonize very nicely over the final chorus.
Bob Boilen raved about them when he saw them live. I’m not all that impressed, as they sound like any other R&B band to me, but a four-minute sampler isn’t all that much to go on.
[READ: February 12, 2015] Prime Baby
I’ve enjoyed just about everything that Gene Luen Yang has done. But I had no idea that a) he wrote a serialized comic strip and b) that it appeared from 2008-2009 in the New York Times Magazine!
It’s interesting to see these strips presented in one strip per page format. But far more interesting is the very strange direction that this story goes in.
It begins with the main character, a boy named Thaddeus K. Fong. He is a reasonably selfish young man with a penchant for saying things to get him in trouble. (He calls himself a martyr for truth). And then his parents have a baby. And his whole life is upended.
The baby girl only says the word, “ga.” His parents say that everyone develops in their own time, but he is not convinced. And one day, when he learns about prime numbers in math class, he realizes that his sister only says “ga” in increments of prime numbers. That is kind of interesting, but even more interesting is when his math teacher says that NASA has theorized that if aliens were to make contact with us it would be through prime numbers. Continue Reading »
Camané is a Portuguese Fado singer. The NPR blurb says that fado, “which means “fate” in Portuguese, emerged from the gritty barrios and docks of Lisbon in the early 19th century and has evolved in fascinating ways. Think of it as the Portuguese blues.”
The songs are sung in Portuguese and I don’t know a word of what’s he’s saying, but as the blurb continues: “[The songs] flow with an ineffable mix of longing, loss and melancholy, framed in resignation. It’s a kind of glad-to-be-unhappy feeling the Portuguese and Brazilians call saudade.”
The most interesting part of this to me was what I thought was a bouzouki but which I see is actually a Portuguese guitar–12 steel strings, played in very fast runs. While Camané’s voice is clearly the focus (and it is amazing), José Manuel Neto’s Portuguese Guitar is pretty darn awesome. And the accompaniment by Carlos Manuel Proença on guitar is lovely too.
[READ: January 7, 2015] Kampung Boy
This book was written (and drawn) in 1979. First Second books had it translated and published in 2006.
This is the story of a boy growing up Muslim in rural Malaysia in the 1950s. Evidently it was serialized in Malaysia back in 1979 (it does feel kind of episodic, but it holds together very well).
It is a charming story of a simple life in the village that is slowly being changed by progress.
It starts with Kampung Boy’s birth and the simple way he was born (midwifed by his grandmother for which she was paid $15) and how he slowly grew from a baby into a naked toddler running around the village. His aunt worked at the local rubber factory (his parents owned the rubber plantation) where they removed latex rubber from the rubber trees. Continue Reading »
I knew Bellows from NPR playing one of their songs. They are a new band with one album out. Their Tiny Desk Concert is really short (under 10 minutes) but they do play 3 songs.
I’m curious if they are stripped down for this or if they typically sound this soft and simple.
The opening song “Sacred Heart” is propelled by a very simple synth riff and bass notes (the lefty bassist plays a right handed bass upside down, which is interesting to see). Perhaps the most compelling thing about Bellows is the harmony voices (and the drummer’s hair).
Lead singer Oliver Kalb has a voice that I wouldn’t call powerful, but it is rather distinctive (and perhaps a bit unusual). The songs work best when the unnamed keyboardist (female) and bassist (male, deep voice) all sing together, like in “Hello Morning.”
The final song, “White Sheet” is the one I knew from NPR. It sounds just as good here. It is easily the best of the three songs, probably because the keyboardist does more than sing harmony. (And the ah ah ah ah section, combined with the deep breathing section is very catchy too).
I think it may be the simplicity of the melodies that makes the songs so effective–they do stay with you. And they definitely leave me wanting to hear more.
[READ: January 5, 2015] Stick Dog Chases a Pizza
I didn’t know there was a third Stick Dog book out. It is pretty samey compared to the first two (but since I haven’t looked at a Stick Dog book in a while, it was okay). In the first book, the dogs were after a hamburger. In the second it was a hot dog. In this book they are after a pizza.
The book opens with the dogs all laughing at Karen (the dachshund) trying to catch her tail. When that is over (Stick Dog doesn’t like that they are teasing her even if it is funny), he suggests that they go the park and play Frisbee. There is plenty of funniness as the dogs ignore him but pretend they were paying attention. And then they all come back with what they think is a Frisbee (the results range from bottle caps to flat tires (the poor bike rider) to cardboard discs.
But the cardboard disc has red stuff and white stuff on it and it tastes delicious. I have to say I am surprise that they never tasted pizza before (all dogs root through garbage and grab pizza boxes at some pint right?). Continue Reading »
Eskmo is a guy from Iceland (Brendan Angelides). He plays electronic music.
His music is pretty and rather mellow. What makes this Tiny Desk so enjoyable is the objects he uses to makes sounds with.
He loops a lot of noises (something that I love) as they build to really add textures to the song. But the things he uses for sounds are awesome. In the first song (“Blue and Gray” about 4 minutes), he crinkles a water bottle to make a percussion sound.
Before the second song “Can’t Taste” (which is about 8 minutes), he asks the audience to bring up random objects for him to play with. So he gets a set of keys that he uses as a chime sound. He opens a can of seltzer for percussion. He plays a metal water bottle. And then he also takes things from the shelves behind him, like the shelves themselves and even a Paul McCartney bobble head.
The music itself is almost an afterthought, as the melody is pretty but he doesn’t really do a lot to lot–he just has a ton of fun playing with the items around (he gets a big smile with the bobble head).
This is a show that works much better visually than audibly, so watch it here.
[READ: April 10, 2015] Peanuts Every Sunday 1956-1960
Fantagraphics has been releasing volumes of Peanuts daily comic strips. They are looking to do 50 years of strips in 25 books! (they are up to 1990). And now they have begun releasing the Sunday color strips in their own volumes.
This book picks up where the last one left off. And of course, Snoopy is still the star. There’s some very funny jokes with snoopy–like the one where he tries to fly—there’s something wonderful about Snoopy being insecure (and clumsy).
Linus can’t let go of his blanket (July 1956). And in an early baseball one, the blanket actually causes him trouble (instead of later ones where it is a benefit).
Pigpen gets a strip devoted to himself in July 1956 and then there’s a very funny one about sand in his shoe in 1958.
Lucy yells to make the kites fall out of the tree. And the first full acknowledgment of her pulling football away comes in December of 1956.
I also enjoy how violent the cartoons were. Like this exchange between Linus and Lucy:
Linus: Give it to me or I’ll slug ya.
Lucy: Mom, Linus says he’s gonna slug me.
Mom: Linus that’s no way to talk.
Linus: Well, that’s the way they talk on TV if they can talk that what, why can’t I?
Mom: That’s just one of those things I can’t explain.
Lucy: Listen dope. If you slug me I’ll slug you right back.
Linus: Never mind Mom, it’s just been explained to me in language that I understand.
There’s some really great one liners coming in now too. Lucy: I feel torn between the desire to create and the desire to destroy.
There almost isn’t as much Charlie Brown in this book. Although he is certainly there. In June 1957 he realizes that he won’t ever be president.
And the gang all starts to look pretty much as we know them at this point (except Snoopy still).
There’s lots of funny strips (visual mostly) of Snoopy chasing Linus to try to get his blanket (a joke that recurred for years).
And there’s a very meta joke of Lucy wearing one of CB’s shirts
Sally Brown, CB’s sister is born around August 1959 and CB gains a pencil pal. The following week Aug 16 1959 is a great sibling rivalry with Lucy and Linus. And there’s a wonderful strip where Sally and Snoopy gang up on Linus Oct 25 1959.
The Snoopy jokes are very funny with him (still) walking on all fours and wishing to be a bird or pretending to be a mountain lion.
The 1960 new years strip in which Lucy gives Linus the resolutions he should work on is hilarious.
Later Linus gets so mad at Lucy that “she hath caused me to rend my garment” is one of the funnier punch lines I’ve seen.
The great pumpkin makes its first mention on October 23 1960.
The Snoopy/Linus rivalry is really wonderful throughout with Snoopy trying to steal Linus’ blanket and then later getting into boxing matches—this is the classic Peanuts. Some of these jokes have now been around for ages (the boxing glove on the nose). And Snoopy is starting to look a lot more like his familiar self (although not exactly the same yet).
It’s a great collection, once again. And it looks amazing.
I was unfamiliar with Vijay Iyer, but I really enjoyed this Tiny Desk Concert. Iyer is a jazz improv artist and composer (although all of these pieces have titles and come from previous albums). The first four (of five) pieces are fast and eccentric, with interesting rhythms both in the drums (by Marcus Gilmore) and the piano. There’s an upright bass too (Stephan Crump) but I feel like he’s not very audible during the early medley.
I really enjoy the kinds of beats (from clicks to snares to cymbals) that Gilmore does. And even if you can’t really hear the bass, it’s really fun to see how into it Crump is, keeping time to something or other.
While the four songs have fairly distinct starting points (and are labelled in the video), they flow pretty seamlessly, which is cool. “Time, Place, Action” slows down just enough that “Questions of Agency” (a more staccato piece) is able to start fresh. And then the opening of “Hood” is quite distinct.
The four songs are
“Diptych”
“Time, Place, Action — Excerpt 1 (Libra)”
“Questions Of Agency”
“Hood”
At around 13:31 “Hood” begins, and I love the staccato playing style and practically morse code drums. It’s a dynamite piece (and you can really hear the bass too). I’m amazed at how different what his left and right hand are doing. And then the shift at 19 minutes, back to that earlier sound is very dramatic. The final minute is tense and dissonant, really building to something big.
The band pauses for applause after nearly 21 straight minutes and then they play the final piece “Time, Place, Action — Excerpt 2 (For Amiri Baraka)” which mellows things out considerably, although is still kind of dissonant.
I don’t listen to a lot of jazz, but this really hit the spot (maybe because his new album is called “Break Stuff”). And if you like this, there’s a 90 minute video of his trio playing on NPR.
[READ: April 10, 2015] Peanuts Every Sunday 1952-1955
Fantagraphics has been releasing volumes of Peanuts daily comic strips. They are looking to do 50 years of strips in 25 books! (they are up to 1990). And now they have begun releasing the Sunday color strips in their own volumes.
The reproductions are absolutely top notch. I’m quite certain they look better here than they ever could have in the papers (the coloring alone looks phenomenal).
Schulz started doing Sunday strips for Peanuts (he hated the name Peanuts by the way, which was assigned him by the syndicate who agreed to publish him) in 1952. And he continued up through his death in 2000. Between black and white and Sunday color strips, he hand wrote, colored and lettered 17,897 comic strips. That is amazing.
And the strip really evolved over the years (for better and worse). These original cartoons are fascinating to see–especially now that the images from Peanuts are so ubiquitous that I doubt I could go an entire week without seeing an image of Snoopy somewhere. So it’s amazing to see Snoopy look so different (and so much more like a real dog) in these early strips. Continue Reading »
After all of the Dave Grohl love I’ve been sending his way, Grohl went and fell off a stage and broke his leg. But, he is so badass (and such a thoughtful musician), that he went to the hospital, got his leg fixed up and went back on stage to finish the set! Holy cow.
This is amazing (and he must have incredible endorphins (or something else) to be able to do this (the video is long because it shows his re-arrival):
Grohl has always been very open about his love of heavy metal–and the liner notes here go into pretty good detail about he bands he grew up listening to. He wanted to create a kind of tribute/dream lineup album of metal vocalists. As far as I can tell he was sitting around and banging away riffs and every time he got one that he liked, he recorded it. He eventually added bass and drums and made demo tapes out of them. Then he contacted some of his favorite metal singers from when he was a kid and asked them to write lyrics and sing.
I assume that Grohl sent the demos that sounded most like the bands to the appropriate singer, because so many of them are spot on for the original bands. The Venom song sounds completely like Venom (Cronos’ bass certainty helps) and it’s one of the best songs here. I don’t know Sepultura that well, but the music fits perfectly with Cavalera’s style. And this song is just fantastic.
The Lemmy song sounds unmistakably Motörhead, again possibly because Lemmy plays bass, but the riff is pure Motörhead. It’s another great song and one that the Foo Fighters have played live.
The song with Mike Dean is very punk, very C.O.C. It’s followed by another punk/metal song from D.R.I. This song also matches perfectly with Brecht’s style of singing on the more metal side of D.R.I..
Lee Dorrian used to sing in a guttural cookie monster growl with Napalm Death, but in Cathedral, he turned to proper singing. I don’t know Cathedral, but the main riff coupled with the twin guitar solo notes from Thayil make a great epic song, especially that mosh section in the middle (I didn’t think Cathedral did mosh but whatever), although at 6 minutes it does go on a bit.
I also don’t know Wino, so I don’t know if this is the kind of thing he sang on, although I do hear a bit of Saint Vitus vibe from it. There’s a really long middle section which is interesting for the backwards guitar solo, and while it’s a little long, when it comes out of that, the heaviness is really great.
Tom Warrior is a fascinating guy with all kinds of tricks up his sleeve, so the weird industrial sound on top of the heavy bass is pretty interesting. There’s no way Grohl could hope to emulate Voivod’s Piggy, so he doesn’t even try. Rather than playing up to Voivod’s proggy style, he goes deeper to the heavier stuff. And, perhaps it’s Snake’s voice, the bridge sounds very Voivod. The chorus is more poppy than what Voivod might do, and yet it’s a great song. Voivod’s Away also designed the album cover.
I loved Trouble when I was in high school, although I don’t really remember them that well now. This songs sounds bit more classic rock than metal (and I recall Trouble being pretty heavy), and yet Wagner’s voice works very well with the style. I just read that Trouble went through a more psychedelic period and the middle section ties in nicely with that, so maybe this is inspired by later period Trouble.
Grohl says he was excited to get King Diamond, and who wouldn’t be. Kim Thayil is back to create a suitable Mercyful riff (although it could never live up to the classic Fate). But the mid section’s doom riffs are right on. The song showcases some of the King’s vocal acrobatics, although not quite as many as I could have used (there are some excellent high-pitched notes in there though).
There’s a bonus track at the end of the disc which features Jack Black doing a suitably funny but accurate metal tribute.
This is a really solid heavy record that lets some classic metal singers back on the scene. There won’t be a second Probot record, but there may not need to be one anyhow. I also like that he picked some slightly more obscure singers rather than the obvious Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson type of singers, even if they would have also been interesting).
“Centuries of Sin” (feat. Cronos of Venom)
“Red War” (feat. Max Cavalera of Sepultura)
“Shake Your Blood” (feat. Lemmy of Motörhead)
“Access Babylon” (feat. Mike Dean of Corrosion of Conformity)
“Silent Spring” (feat. Kurt Brecht of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles)
“Ice Cold Man” (feat. Lee Dorrian of Cathedral and Napalm Death, and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden)
“The Emerald Law” (feat. Wino)
“Big Sky” (feat. Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost)
“Dictatosaurus” (feat. Snake of Voivod)
“My Tortured Soul” (feat. Eric Wagner of Trouble)
“Sweet Dreams” (feat. King Diamond of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden)
“I Am the Warlock” (feat. Jack Black of Tenacious D)
[READ: February 13, 2015] The War at Ellsmere
I’ve enjoyed Hicks’ books in the past–both the ones she’s written and the one’s she’s simply illustrated. In this book she does both which means you get big eyes and the dark hair.
As the book opens we meet Juniper, a girl who has just enrolled in Ellsmere Private School. We meet the headmistress and learn the history of this beautiful school (established in 1810). And then we find out that Juniper is there on a scholarship (merit based) and that Juniper is well aware that she will likely be there to “liven things up for the blue bloods.”
When Juniper meets her new roommate Cassie (who hears her talking to herself), Jun immediately goes on the defensive–until she sees that Cassie is actually quite a nice girl. (Nice, Jun, you just insulted Bambi).
But it’s during the orientation that we meet the real antagonist of the story–Emily, a pretty blonde girl who immediately insults Cassie and calls her “orphan.” When Jun gets involved, it suggests that it will be an interesting year for all of them. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: FRANK FAIRFIELD-Tiny Desk Concert #445 (May 29, 2015).
Frank Fairfield and friends Tom Marion (who plays mandolin on the third song) and Zac Sokolow (on guitar) play old-timey music (marches, polkas and mountain tunes). Fairfield plays banjo and plucked cello (and apparently fiddle, although not here).
I Just Read About That... 