December 22, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: KISS-KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol. 1: 1974-1977 DVD (2006).
I have just received a used copy of this DVD set and I’m delighted with it. It made me wonder why I never got it in the first place. And a little investigation led me to this realization: Kiss released this (and two other) box sets with a different bonus disc depending on which location you bought it from. So, if you wanted all three bonus discs you had to get three complete sets. I knew that Gene Simmons was a money grubbing guy, I mean he admits it in every interview he does. But I can’t get over that he tries to screw over his fans so much. I mean, only die hard fans will care about the bonus discs, so the most die hard will track down all three sets to get these various shows. Thanks for all your support, Kiss Army! What a jerk.
So, obviously, I’m not tracking down all the bonus discs, although it’s somewhat hard to decide which bonus disc to get. (Actually, I ordered Volume 2 used and I don’t think there was a bonus disc at all. Whoops).
But on to the set. I have only watched disc 1 so far. But I have to say that I’m thrilled to see Kiss in full concert mode right from the start. Gene always said that he wanted to put on an amazing show. And they did, right from the start. Full makeup (which is certainly silly, but it was very different back then). Pyrotechnics, Gene spitting blood and breathing fire, even Peter’s drum set rising in the air. They also had this fun synchronization on stage: all three of them rocking left right left (or sometimes Ace going right left right) they must have spent a lot of time practicing). That’s quite a show 30 years ago.
Some funny things: The story is that Gene has a super long tongue. I had no idea it was out of his mouth so much in the show. When he sings a line, he flicks his tongue after every verse. When he’s not singing it’s pretty much always flapping around. Frankly, it’s pretty weird. Paul shakes his head back and forth constantly while singing. It’s like a hyperactive primping.
On the plus side: I had more or less forgotten that Kiss was actually a band. They are such a commodity, that I tend to overlook the actual music-playing part these days. So it’s cool to see them actually playing guitar and bass (and to hear Gene screw up from time to time). There’s a great spot in the final show of disc 1 where Gene actually sings the wrong words to a song. Its the third encore and he clearly thinks he’s playing “Rock and Roll All Nite” instead of “Let Me Go, Rock n Roll.” I’m delighted that they left it in! And it’s nice to see Peter and Ace actually having fun on stage. Ace sits on the drum riser and Peter pokes him with a drumstick. Like a bunch of kids rather than a corporation!
It was also great to see Kiss in their heyday in Michigan, being treated as rock gods. As a super fan back at the time, I would have probably peed my pants at the opportunity to see them that close (of course I was 8, but you know).
Sarah commented, how many time are they going to play “Firehouse” a song she’d never heard before. (The answer is 6).
A couple minor quibbles: I can’t believe that Paul has been saying the exact same between-song banter for the past 30 years! I’m also surprised during the early shows that they end a vocal line early (this is most obvious in “She” when they both sing the line “She’s so co-old” but they sing it like “She’s so co–” and they back off. It’s just weird. Oh, and when they first started playing, Peter was a maniac, singing really loud and often off key with all kinds of screaming. He almost ruins “”Black Diamond” in the early shows. Later on, he calms down a bit and sounds great again.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the discs in the series, to see what they change, if anything, during the Love Gun years.
[READ: January 18, 2009] “Peckerwood”
I actually read this because I thought it was by Harlan Ellison. I didn’t realize this was Invisible Man Ralph Ellison.
And I have to say I was rather disappointed in this story. Of course, now, re-reading the opening blurb, I see that this is an excerpt from a soon to be published posthumous novel. So that makes a LOT more sense. Continue Reading »
Posted in Consumerism, Greed, Harper's, Kiss, Racism, Ralph Ellison, Sex, Short Story, Yuck! | 2 Comments »
December 20, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: SONG OF THE SILENT LAND (2004).
This is a compilation from Constellation Records. It features mostly unreleased tracks and turns out to be a great sampler for both the fan of the label and the novice.
Since the label never had any “hits” per se, they couldn’t really release a “greatest hits” collection. But they went the extra mile by selecting rare tracks rather than just a songs from their albums,.
It also belies the idea (put forth by me as well as many others) that Constellation had “a sound.” While they have branched further afield since this collection was released, even prior to this you can see a lot of diversity. From the epic instrumentals of Godspeed You Black Emperor, to the noise structures of Exhaust, to the sort of spoken word of 1-Speed Bike to the viola/bass duet of HangedUp. This compilation contains one track from pretty much every artist on their roster from the (then) new artist Elizabeth Anka Vajagic to early bands Sofa.
The Do Make Say Think track, “Winter Hymn Winter Hymn Winter Hymn” is described as a condensation of the album of that name into 5 minutes, and I believe it is). Many of the other artists’ tracks are remixed. But the remixes aren’t dance remixes or dub versions, they are just remixed, usually by Efrim or one of the other Hotel2Tango individuals.
If you’re a fan of the label, hunt down this disc. If you’re not familiar with the artists, this is a great place to start. The bands’ tracks, even the remixes are representative of the bands. So, you get a good sense of Exhaust, 1-Speed Bike, Fly Pan Am and HangedUp. Although the real selling point is the live track by Godspeed You Black Emperor. It’s not one of their “real” songs per se (as it is just an outro) but it’s a nice indicator of their live show (which was one of the best live shows I’ve seen).
[READ: December 18, 2009] Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro
I’m not sure how this book ended up in my house. I was looking at a pile of graphic novels and there was this one. I hadn’t really noticed it before and Sarah didn’t know anything about it, so…who knows. Anyhow, I decided to just go ahead and read it. It turned out to be my very first manga (awwww). And it took me a few pages to understand the style at all.
Manga primer: First off it’s written right to left (so at first I wasn’t even sure where to start the book, as this one starts without a real “start”). Then I realized that the 4-panel style means you read all four columns down on the right and then all four columns down on the left. And, just to complete the culture shock, you read the speech balloons on the right of the panel before the ones on the left. After about twenty or so pages it grew easier, and by the end it wasn’t an issue anymore. But wow!
Oh, and for a little more confusion, there are occasional full color pages thrown in, but they aren’t chapter breaks or any special pages, they just seem to be in color.
So, anyhow, on to the story. Continue Reading »
Posted in 1-Speed Bike, Canadian Music, Death, Do Make Say Think, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Fly Pan Am, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Graphic Novel, HangedUp, Manga, Satoko Kiyuduki, Sofa, Supernatural, Vampires | Leave a Comment »
December 19, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: Future Soundtrack for America (2004).
This CD came with the McSweeney’s Future Dictionary for America. It was released on Barsuk Records (home of Death Cab for Cutie and other great bands) and it was compiled by Spike Jonze and one of the Johns from They Might Be Giants.
This is a solid compilation of indie rock tracks. At the time of the release most of the songs were rare or hard to find (since then I’ve seen a number of these tracks elsewhere).
TMBG obviously include a piece (a rendition of the old political song “Tippicanoe and Tyler Too”). Other featured artists include: OK Go, David Byrne, Jimmy Eat World (covering Guided by Voices), Mike Doughty (with a song called Move On, that I have to wonder if it was written for this compilation as proceeds went to MoveOn.org), Ben Kweller (great song title: “Jerry Falwell Destroyed the Earth”), Blink 182 (with the only song I know by them, “I Miss You” that reminds me When in Rome’s The Promise“), the much missed Sleater-Kinney, a remix by R.E.M., a great track from Nada Surf, a live piano version of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” from The Flaming Lips, a staggering song by Laura Cantrell (who I only know from her work with TMBG, this song is a cover of a John Prine song), Tom Waits’ amazingly powerful and very emotional “Day After Tomorrow,” and a rocking piece from Elliott Smith.
Proceeds for the disc went to MoveOn.org in an attempt to raise money to defeat Bush in the 2004 election. We know how that turned out. But, as that is not relevant anymore, if you like your indie music good, this is a wholly worthy collection.
[READ: December 17, 2009] Maintenance Volume 1
Now this is a comic that I can get into. And I’m already delighted to see that there are two more volumes out.
The premise of the comic is that the two guys on the cover, Doug and Manny, work as maintenance men for TerroMax, Inc., the world’s biggest and best evil science think tank! Their work is sometimes scary, often disgusting and always interesting.
There are three stories in this volume. In the first one, the guys encounter a ManShark. In the second, they are sent back in time to the cavemen era (where they learn that a scientist has already visited them) and in the third, a minor character from the first story comes back to play a large role in an alien invasion. Continue Reading »
Posted in Ben Kweller, Blink 182, David Byrne, Elliott Smith, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Guided By Voices, Jim Massey, Jimmy Eat World, John Prine, Laura Cantrell, M. Doughty, Mad Scientists, McSweeney's, Nada Surf, OK Go, R.E.M., Research, Robbi Rodriguez, Sleater-Kinney, Technology, The Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, Tom Waits, When in Rome, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »
December 18, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabotage (1975).
Sabotage seems to be somewhat forgotten (maybe because of the creepy cover art 0f Ozzy in a kimono and fascinating platform shoes, Bill Ward in red tights with a codpiece (and visible underwear on the back cover), and Geezer and Tony’s mustaches).
But this album rocks pretty hard and heavy.
“Hole in the Sky” is a sort of spastic rocker with Ozzy screaming vocals over the top of the rocking track.
“Don’t Start (Too Late)” is the by now obligatory acoustic guitar piece. But this one is different, for it has some really wild and unpredictable aspects to it.
“Symptom of the Universe” is another classic Sabbath track, a blistering heavy fast riff with the wonderful Ozzy-screamed: “Yeaaaaaahs!” It then surprises you by going into an extended acoustic guitar workout for a minute and a half at the end.
“Megalomania” is a slow ponderous piece. Unlike the psychedelic tracks from the previous records, this one moves along with a solid back beat. It also has a great bridge (“Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone?”). They definitely had fun with the effects (echoing vocals, etc.) on this one. And, like their prog rock forebears, this song segues into another rhythm altogether when we get the wonderfully fast rock segment. And the humorous point where the music pauses and Ozzy shouts “Suck me!”
“Thrill of it All” is a pretty good rocker, which after a pretty simple opening morphs into a slow, surprisingly keyboard-fueled insanely catchy coda. “Supertzar” is a wonderfully creepy instrumental. It runs 3 minutes and is all minor-keys and creepy Exorcist-like choirs. When the song breaks and the bizzaro Iommi riff is joined by the choir, you can’t help but wonder why no horror film has used this as its intro music.
“Am I Going Insane (Radio)” is a very catchy keyboardy track. It clearly has crossover potential (although the lyrics are wonderfully bizarre). But it ends with totally creepy laughing and then wailing. “The Writ” ends the album. It’s another solid rocker and it ends with an acoustic coda with Ozzy’s plaintive vocals riding over the top.
Sabotage has some truly excellent moments. It’s just hard to fathom the amount of prog-rock tendencies they’ve been throwing onto their last few discs (we’ll say Rick Wakeman had something to do with it).
Black Sabbath made two more albums before Ozzy left. I haven’t listened to either one of them in probably fifteen years. And my recollection of them is that they’re both pretty lousy. Maybe one of these days I’ll see if they prove me wrong.
[READ: December 16, 2009] McSweeney’s #7
This was the first McSweeney’s edition that I didn’t buy new. My subscription ran out after Issue #6 and I never saw #7 in the stores. So, I recently had to resort to a used copy.
This issue came packaged with a cardboard cover, wrapped with a large elastic band.
Inside you get several small volumes each with its own story (this style hearkens back to McSweeney’s #4, but the presentation is quite different). 7 of the 9 booklets feature an artistic cover that relates to the story but is done by another artist (not sure if they were done FOR the story or not). I have scanned all of the covers. You can click on each one to see a larger picture.
The booklets range from 16 to 100 pages, but most are around 30 pages. They are almost all fiction, except for the excerpt from William T. Vollman’s 3,500 page Rising Up and Rising Down and the essays that accompany the Allan Seager short story. Continue Reading »
Posted in A.M. Homes, Adventure, Allan Seager, Ann Cummins, Apocalypse Now, Big Books, Books about writers, Cancer as plot device, Chris Ware, Courtney Eldridge, Death, Drinking, Elizabeth Kairys, End of the World, Eric White, Esquire, Food, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Heidi Julavits, History, Humiliation, J.T. Leroy, Joan Fry, John Warner, Katherine Streeter, Magic, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Melinda Beck, Michael Chabon, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Steven Connelly, The Future, Threats, Tim Bower, Violence, War, William T. Vollmann, Yuck! | Leave a Comment »
December 17, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer July/August 2009 Music Issue Compilation CD: “Fantastic and Spectacular” (2009).
After the globe-spanning CD in last year’s issue, the 2009 Believer CD returns to the dominant musical style of the first few. This disc is a collection of unreleased, acoustic songs from the editors’ favorite singer-songwriters.
And, wow, check out the bands that are represented here: Sam Phillips, The Clean, The Waterboys, Lloyd Cole, Young Marble Giants, The English Beat, Lisa Germano, Unrest, Suddenly, Tammy!, The Lilac Time and Mary Margaret O’Hara. It’s an amazing collection of artists who agreed to release these songs only to this Believer compilation.
The liner notes ask a few questions of each artist so you get a nice peek into their working styles. And for a few of them you find out what they’ve been up to for the last few years. Although, sadly Mary Margaret O’Hara (sister of actress Catherine O’Hara!) only mentions that you can get a copy of her only released album Miss America directly from her. And since I thin it’s a great album, I’ll pass along her email for ordering purposes only: m2oh8 @ hotmail.com.
So, what do we get in this collection? Sam Phillips provides a fantastic drum-heavy, 90 second song. Robert Scott’s song is a delightful, simple acoustic track. I’ve always liked The Waterboys, but Mike Scott tends to go on and on, and this track is no exception. It’s very very catchy but it’s over 10 minutes long! The consistently excellent Lloyd Cole doesn’t disappoint. Phil Wilson’s poppy number is very good.
I’m surprised that I don’t have any Young Marble Giants in my collection, and Stuart Moxham’s song here makes me want to see what I’m missing. I swore that Dave Wakeling of The English Beat was Bob Mould on this song, but as soon as I saw who he was I recognized that English Beat voice in a more intimate setting.
Mark Robinson of Unrest also records as Cotton Candy, and this absurdly poppy ditty (the only duet on the disc) provides the title of the disc and one of the truly happiest moments. Except, of course, for Beth Sorrentino from Suddenly, Tammy! whose song “Such a Beautiful Day” is absolutely wonderful. And if it is any indication of the greatness of Suddenly , Tammy! then their absence from the msuicial scene is a real shame.
Stephen Duffy who records as Tin Tin and The Lilac Time writes songs that are instantly memorable and catchy as anything. This one is no exception. And the Mary Margaret O’Hara song is not quite as out there as you might expect from her, but it’s really quite good. I wonder what she has been up to for decades now.
There’s a secret bonus track from a brand new New Zealand band called Haunted Love. When this issue went to print they were about to release their first EP, and this track doesn’t even appear on that (it’s THAT secret!). It’s a great song and I hope good things come to them. It is also not acoustic, but everyone can break their own rules once in a while right?
This is another string compilation from The Believer. The track listing is here.
[READ: December 16, 2009] “Diary of an Interesting Year”
So this story is, indeed, a diary. It is written in several entrees. And, as we learn from the first entry, the diary itself was a gift to the writer from G. for her 30th birthday. And, although we don’t learn it from the first entry, we quickly discover that global warming predictions were accurate and, basically the earth as we know it is no more.
But what I liked about the writing was that it revealed this global catastrophe somewhat subtly.
Continue Reading »
Posted in Death, Demons, Drinking, End of the World, Food, Lilac Time, Lisa Germano, Lloyd Cole, Mary Margaret O'Hara, New Yorker, Pregnancy, Sam Phillips, Sex, Short Story, Stephen Duffy, Suddenly, Tammy!, The Believer, The Clean, The English Beat, The Future, The Waterboys, Threats, Tin Tin, Unrest, Violence, Young Marble Giants | Leave a Comment »
December 16, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer July/August 2008 Music Issue Compilation CD: The Volatile But Symbiotic Relationship of Mabel and Anabel (2008).
The previous Believer CD expanded the palette of music by introducing a lot of hard-edged bands. But this CD smashes any complaints about one-dimensionality. It is designed around a concept of “world” music which they have designated as MABEL (Musicians of American, British, or [Western] European Lineage) and ANABEL (Artists Not of American, British, or [Western] European Lineage).
The internet has introduced a huge amount of ANABEL music to MABEL musicians. And this has led to Western musicians experimenting with very different musical styles.
The problem, such as it is, with this disc is that it is comprised almost entirely of ANABEL songs. So, although the disc is designed to show the influences of these artists there’s not a whole lot of tracks that show the western bands using them. (In fairness, you can only do so much with 72 minutes). And yes, there are a number of clearly MABEL artists here: Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors.
However, as an introduction to a few cultures’ worth of music, it’s pretty great. I admit that I don’t love every song on this disc. But after a few listens I’ve really grown to appreciate these tracks from Iran, Jamaica (dancehall), India and Bulgaria.
Some artists that really impressed me were: Googoosh, and her traditional Iranian track from the 70s. Enemble Pirin, a subset of the Le Mysterè des Voix Bulgares (whom I’ve liked for years). And Beat Konducta. It also introduced me to Aceyalone, who I’ve heard of but never listened to. And I really enjoyed the superfast rapping in the start of Busy Signal’s track.
I wouldn’t listen to this disc a lot, but it would be fun to throw a track or two from this on a mix CD and see how well it fit.
The track listing is here.
[READ: December 15, 2009] Shenanigans
I usually really enjoy the slice of life/romancey comics from Oni Press. But I have some major gripes with this one.
The art is pretty cool. I’m intrigued by the fact that the pupils of the characters are white (like L i’l Orphan Annie). I found it very disconcerting at first, but once I got used to it, I rather liked it. And the characters were always very expressive.
It’s the story that I have a problem with. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aceyalone, Animal Collective, Beat Konducta, Busy Signal, Concept Albums, Dirty Projectors, Drinking, Googoosh, Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Ian Shaughnessy, Le Mysterè des Voix Bulgares, Mike Holmes, Oni Press, Romance, Short Books, The Believer, Unlikable main character | Leave a Comment »
December 15, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June/July 2007 Music Issue Compilation CD: Cue the Bugle Turbulent (2007).
The 2007 Believer disc smashes the mold of folkie songs that they have established with the previous discs in the series. The theme for this disc is that there’s no theme, although the liner notes give this amusing story:
one decaffeinated copy editor (“the new guy”) made a suggestion: “The Believer CD should be composed of eight a.m. music/breakfast-substitute jams, like that commercial from a while back with the guy who gets out of bed over and over again while ELO plays over his morning routine. You should tell all of the bands to write/contribute songs worth listening to within three minutes of waking up.”
So, without a theme, they just asked artists for some great songs. There’s one or two tracks written especially for the disc (Sufjan Stevens, Lightning Bolt). There’s a couple B-sides. There are some wildly noisy raucous songs: and three of them come from duos! No Age offers a very noisy blast of feedback. Magik Markers play a super-fast distortion-fueled rocker, and Lightning Bolt play 5 minutes of noise noise noise. Oh, and there’s even a rap (Aesop Rock)!
Tracks 3-7 are just about the 5 best songs in a row on any compilation. Oxford Collapse plays a catchy and wonderfully angular song with “Please Visit Your National Parks.” It’s followed by a song from Sufjan Stevens that sounds NOTHING like Sufjan Stevens, it’s a noisy distorted guitar blast of indie punk. I’m from Barcelona follows with a supremely catchy horn driven song that would be huge on any college campus. Aesop Rock comes next with a fantastic song. I’d heard a lot about Aesop Rock but had never heard him before, and he raps the kind of rap that I like: cerebral and bouncy. This is followed by Reykjavik! with a crazy, noisy surf-guitar type of song. It reminds me of some great college rock from the early 90s.
Of Montreal, a band I’ve been hearing about a lot but who I’ve never heard (and didn’t think sounded like this) plays a wonderfully catchy two minute love song that sounds ironic, but which likely isn’t. The melody is straight out of the Moody Blues’ “Wildest Dreams,” and yet it is still fun and quirky.
There’s a couple instrumentals as well: The Clogs do a cool, mellow instrumental and Explosions in the Sky do one of their typically fantastic emotional tracks. Also on the disc, The Blow contribute a delightfully witty song and Bill Fox, a singer I’d never heard of (but who has a great article about him in the magazine), really impressed me with his Bob Dylan meets Nico delivery. The disc ends with an alternate version of a song by Grizzly Bear.
This is definitely my favorite Believer disc thus far. See the full track listing here.
[READ: Throughout 2009] Schott’s Miscellany 2008
This year’s edition of Schott’s Miscellany is very much like last year’s edition (see that review here). I mean, it is an almanac after all. However, it is a wondrous testament to Schott that even though I read every word of the 2008 edition, I was able to read every word of the 2009 edition and not feel like I was duplicating myself very much.
Obviously the news, facts and events of 2008-09 are different from last year. And since Schott’s writing style is breezy and fun with a hint of sarcasm and amusement thrown in, you don’t get just a list of facts, you get sentences with subtle commentary on the facts. And it’s a fun way to re-live the past year. Plus, the Sci, Tech, Net section discusses science stories that sounded really impressive and important which I can’t believe I didn’t hear about at the time. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aesop Rock, Airlines, Art, Authors, Barack Obama, Ben Schott, Bible, Bill Fox, Bob Dylan, Books about music, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Collecting, Comedians, Consumerism, Contests, Death, Dip-in Books, Drinking, Drugs, Explosions in the Sky, Film & TV, Food, Foreign Books, Games (Non Video), Grizzly Bear, History, Holidays, I'm from Barcelona, Language, LGBTQ, Lightning Bolt, Magik Markers, Military, Morality, Nature, Nico, Of Montreal, Oxford Collapse, Poetry, Prison, Racism, Religion, Reykjavik!, Roger Federer, Sex, Smarty Pants, Sports, Sufjan Stevens, Technology, The Future, Travel, TSA, Violence, War, Word usage | Leave a Comment »
December 12, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2006 Music Issue Compilation CD: Famous Shovels in Twain (2006).
The “theme” behind this year’s CD was live recordings. So all of the songs are live (whether in front of an audience or just live to disc). Like the previous discs, I had only heard a few of the artists on this disc. But unlike previous discs, there is quite a lot of diversity on this one.
In fact, the diversity takes them far afield: Neung Phak is a band from Thailand. They play a fun and crazy call and response rock song (which I assume is sung is Thai). Juana Molina sings in Spanish. And Mamadou Diabate is an astonishing 
soloist on the kora, a 21 stringed instrument (see picture at right). Mixing things up even more are Stephen O’Malley with an electronic manipulation type song and Blood on the Wall with the heaviest track thus far on a Believer compilation.
The rest of the disc consists of solid performances by Calexico (you can hear a train pass by the studio), Jim White, with a charming song sung on the front porch of Flannery O’Connor’s house. Well, maybe the song isn’t charming (although it is catchy), but his attitude towards his guests (captured on tape) certainly is.
Destroyer play one of my favorite songs, “Rubies” in what sounds like a drunken revelry. El Perro del Mar plays an astonishingly upbeat song and, what is probably the real selling point, Feist plays a demo of “Mushaboom.” The demo isn’t really that different from the official version, but you can hear that her voice sounds great in this raw form.
This is definitely the most adventurous disc that The Believer has released. But it’s nice to see they haven’t gone too far away from releasing great alt rock.
You can see the track listing here.
[READ: December 10, 2009] “Breaking Fast”
This very short story was quite enjoyable, but then, as it drew to a close, it confused me. Continue Reading »
Posted in Calexico, Canadian Content, Destroyer, El Perro del Mar, Feist, Food, Jim White, Juana Molina, Mamadou Diabate, Michael Redhill, Neung Phak, Short Story, The Believer, The Walrus | 1 Comment »
December 11, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2005 Music Issue CD (2005).
The second annual Believer CD ups the ante from the first by featuring all previously unreleased songs. And, just to put more of a twist on things, the artists were asked to do covers of songs that they have been listening to lately. There was only one song that I knew the original of (The Constantines’ track), so I can’t say a thing about how well the covers were covered.
This becomes something of a fun rarities mix CD. As with the previous one, there’s not a huge amount of diversity in the musicians, but given the target audience of The Believer, it all seems to make sense.
We get The Decemberists (actually Colin Meloy solo) covering Joanna Newsom (who I don’t know but whose song I liked quite a bit). The most interesting track to me was by a band called CocoRosie who I’m totally unfamiliar with. The song is recorded as if it they were using a 19th century recording machine. It sounds so far away and yet it feels modern at the same time. I have no idea what they normally sound like, but I’m certainly intrigued.
There’s a few parings that are practically predestined: The Mountain Goats cover The Silver Jews, The Shins cover The Postal Service and Devandra Banhart covers Antony & the Johnsons. There’s also a track from Wolf Parade, a band I have recently gotten into. Only two bands perform and are covered on the disc: Ida and The Constantines.
It’s an interesting assortment of songs. As with any cover, it’s hard to know if you would like the original artist or if you just enjoy the new artist’s’ interpretation. But a song like “Surprise, AZ” by Richard Buckner is so well written that I don’t think it matters what Cynthia G. Mason’s cover sounds like (which is quite good).
The disc is largely folky/alt-rock, but once again, it’s a good distillation of the genre, and a very enjoyable collection. The track listing is available here.
[READ: December 10, 2009] “Kawabata”
This story had the (in my estimation) fascinating attribute of reading as if it were written a long time ago. The writing was very formal. It also centered around a man and a woman who meet at a bed and breakfast and do little more than walk around town. Since no real clues as to the time it is set are ever given, I could imagine them dressed in nearly turn of the (20th) century garb.
A few things do dispel this fantasy: the use of the word “tits” for one, and the fact that no married woman would have been seen out with a widower while her husband was away. But despite that, I enjoyed the formality of the story. Continue Reading »
Posted in 19th Century, André Alexis, Antony and the Johnsons, Canadian Content, CocoRosie, Colin Meloy, Constantines, Devendra Banhart, Ida, Joanna Newsom, McSweeney's, Postal Service, Richard Buckner, Silver Jews, The Baffler, The Decemberists, The Mountain Goats, The Shins, The Walrus, Wolf Parade |
December 10, 2009 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2004 Music Issue CD (2004).
Every year since 2004, The Believer magazine has published a Music Issue which comes with a CD.
I recently received the 2009 CD, but I thought it might be fun to go back through the previous ones and see what kind of music they put on them since the beginning. I was delighted to see how many bands I like now that I was either introduced to or SHOULD have been introduced to by these discs.
The inaugural issue was a fantastic collection of then-underground alt-rock (the issue also featured interviews with a few of the artists–you can see the Colin Meloy interview here).
The collection contains all previously released songs (I think). But for me it was a great introduction to a number of bands that I didn’t know: The Walkmen, The Mountain Goats, Ted Leo + Pharmacists. It also contained a new release by a band I did know, The Constantines. And, this was my introduction to a band that turned out to be one of my new favorites: Death Cab for Cutie.
There’s a lot of great songs on here, and it would make a great hanging-out-at-a-party-with-friends soundtrack. There’s not a lot of diversity on the disc which is a bit of a bummer (although it’s good for a mellow party). However, the 19 second blast of “You Got the Right” by the Tiny Hawks does break things up a bit.
But with a great collection of songs it would be wrong to complain. For a complete listing (and another review) check out this page.
[READ: December 9, 2009] “The Use of Poetry”
Ian McEwan writes fantastically engaging stories about relatively simple things, oftentimes relationships. And he has these relationships so well sussed out that a simple six-page story like this can pack in a ton of humanity.
In a post some time ago I wrote about how World War II affected Britain much more than it affected the U.S. And, how artists of a certain age have found great drama from the war. This story is no exception. Except that the war veteran is not the main character. But I loved this summary of the main character’s dad, the typical “stoic British man.”
Like many men of his generation, he did not speak of his experiences and he relished the ordinariness of postwar life, its tranquil routines, its tidiness and rising material well-being, and above all, its lack of danger–everything that would later appear stifling to those born in the first years of the peace.
That’s an amazing encapsulation of a generation of men. And it rings very true to me. But what’s more amazing is that that description is not even about the main character Michael, it’s about his dad, Henry. Continue Reading »
Posted in Colin Meloy, Constantines, Death Cab For Cutie, Ian McEwan, New Yorker, Romance, Sex, Short Story, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, The Believer, The Mountain Goats, The Walkmen, TV on the Radio, Universities, War | Leave a Comment »
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »
