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Joyce Carol Oates–“Suicide by Fitness Center” (Harper’s, June 2008)

July 17, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Do You Trust Your Friends (2007).

Stars released Set Yourself on Fire in 2005. It was a surprisingly good and catchy pop album from a band I hadn’t heard of before. It was lyrically downbeat, and yet the choruses were sweeping and grand. A great paradox of a record that I liked very much.

Well, they gave the master tapes to a whole bunch of their Canadian band friends and had them remix or redo the songs. This collection is interesting in that the collective work is very strong and everybody makes a remix that is fresh and interesting. I didn’t know too many of the bands before hand (only The Dears) so the sound was pretty new to me. The Dears do an interesting thing with their track: they split their song into two songs, since the original had two distinctive parts. It’s a fun thing to hear.

Most of the roster comes from the Arts & Crafts label, so that may give you an idea of the sound; they include some dance remixes, some indie rock remixes and some straight ahead pop ones. Obviously, the original is better if only for the overall continuity, but this is an interesting and enjoyable listen in and of itself.

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Suicide by Fitness Center”

Joyce Carol Oates must talk in her sleep, and she must have a dictation service that records all of it. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Music, Funny (strange), Harper's, Joyce Carol Oates, Short Story, Stars, Supernatural, The Dears | Leave a Comment »

Simon Rich–“Animal Tales” (New Yorker, June 30, 2008)

July 17, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM-Sound of Silver (2007).

When this album came out it was hyped as a great dance record. I ordered it on Amazon, but there was some kind of problem (I ordered the import by mistake) and it wasn’t going to be shipped for months. So, I ordered their first album instead (and reviewed it way back when). I finally got this one, and even though I liked quite a few of the songs, I’m not sure that I’d need another LCD record. But we’ll see.

As for this one. The songs are typically dance in style (lots of repeated beats, perfect for dancing, and quite long…7 or 8 minutes). So, really it’s the lyrics that you want to listen for. And for the most part they are surprisingly good. I’ll mention this first as an example and an exception: the title song’s entire lyrics are “Sound of silver, talk to me, makes you want to feel like a teenager, until you remember the feelings of a real live emotional teenager. Then you think again.” Pretty funny stuff. And yet it’s 7 minutes of the same thing over and over. Phew.

“North American Scum” on the other hand, has great, funny, diverse lyrics. And, “All My Friends” is another single-worthy song. “Watch the Tapes” has a fun shouted chorus of “read all the pamphlets and watch the tapes.”  Depending on your mood and/or your current situation, the repetition is either fun to sing along to or tedious. Let’s hope it catches you in the right mood.

I’m saving the last song for its own review, as it is so different. “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” is a beautiful piano ballad sung with a mournful, cracking voice. It lists valid complaints about the state of New York City these days. The lyrics are here. It’s a weird song to end a dance disk with, but it’s really great and ratchets the whole proceedings up to a new plateau.

[READ: June 31, 2008] “Animal Tales”

I loved Simon Rich’s Ant Farm. He does comedy in short burst that never overstay their welcome. This piece is a really fun, short collection. It is about how animals see the world. He could have easily included 100s of animals, and who knows maybe he will, or maybe he exahusted the topic. In this one he has three animals: Continue Reading »

Posted in Funny (ha ha), LCD Soundsystem, New Yorker, Simon Rich, Smarty Pants | Leave a Comment »

Alex Stone–“The Magic Olympics: with tricks explained!” (Harper’s, July 2008)

July 16, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: JENS LEKMAN-Night Fall Over Kortedala (2007)

My friend Eugenie introduced me to Jens. She put a song on a mix CD for me, and I really liked it. I picked up his EP collection Oh You’re So Silent, Jens. And he just released Night Falls last year.

Jens’ voice is unique. He’s got a Swedish accent, and his sing-speaks quite softly, so some of the words are quite heavily accented. And, his songs are quite fantastic. The lyrics are bizarre and wonderful. While his songs aren’t funny, per se, there are a number of lines that are just hilarious, even on multiple listens. In the past his songs were more or less acoustic affairs. On this one, he expands somewhat with some brass on a few tracks, some hip-hop flavorings and well, just about everything else.

Lekman released a twenty minute DJ track on his website last year. And it’s clear that the mash up qualities of that release influenced his recording sessions for Night Falls. It opens with the orchestral pomp of “And I Remember Every Kiss,” and the catchy, if inscrutable “The Opposite of Hallelujah. ” This leads to the great “A Postcard to Nina” which provides Jens’ loudest moment of a screamed/sung “Oh God, what have I done! I just came here to have some fun.” There is no screaming on the simple, gorgeous “Your Arms Around Me,” even though he cuts of the tip of his finger in it. “Shirin” is all about his haircutter (hence the album cover) and the repeated name makes for a lovely chorus. And, I can’t not talk about the last song “Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo,” one of his most rocking songs (rocking being relative). It has a thrown-together, raucous feel, getting faster as the song moves along. It also has this wonderfully bizarre clarinet/saxophone/something line over the top of it that perfectly recalls an old-timey mournful swing band that you might hear at a church bingo function from thirty years ago. The song is funny and silly, and wholly enjoyable. And I can’t think of another song like it anywhere.

[READ: July 2, 2008] “The Magic Olympics”

There are two reasons why I’m mentioning this article. Continue Reading »

Posted in Alex Stone, Arrested Development, Essays, Harper's, Illusion, Jens Lekman, Magicians, Paul Quarrington, Swedish Music | 5 Comments »

Alice Munro–“Free Radicals” (New Yorker, February 11 & 18, 2008)

July 14, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: SHE & HIM-Volume One (2008).

If you’ve seen Elf, and I’m sure you have, then you know that Zooey Deschanel has a beautiful voice. This record is a collection of her songs, sung by her with instrumentation by M. Ward, whose music I don’t know. The thing I learned about her voice is that it comes across as a very naked sound. It’s a little bit disconcerting in this day of vibrato and AutoTune, to hear someone singing so purely and with no affectation. That was evident in Elf, but it is really brought to the front here, where she sings an a capella track as well as some songs with limited instrumentation.

The bulk of the record is done in a style like 50s & 60s girl groups–The Ronettes, The Shirelles, and the Phil Spector wall of sound style. Her voice is suited perfectly to this kind of material. Even the recording style is very clean–one or two tracks sound like they could be from that era, just recently rediscovered. The rest of the songs have a country feel, a stripped down heartbreaky feel. And once again, her voice sounds great.

The whole collection just seems so sweet and unaffected, it’s almost impossible to believe that it was all written and recorded in 2008.

The only problem for me is that I don’t really like 60s girl groups, and I don’t really like country that much. So, really, I don’t like the CD all that much. I’ve given it a couple of spins, and it definitely overcomes the things that I don’t like about those styles. I even found myself singing two of the songs to myself this morning. It definitely deserves the great press, I just wish it was more my thing.

[READ: July 1, 2008] “Free Radicals”

The second Munro story in two days for me. And many of the elements are in place: idyllic, Canadian life, female protagonist, and a fairly unspeakable horror. Continue Reading »

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Cancer as plot device, Elf, M. Ward, New Yorker, She & Him, Short Story, Threats, Zooey Deschanel | Leave a Comment »

David Goldberg, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg–Superbad: The Drawings (2008)

July 13, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: PAUL F. TOMPKINS-Impersonal (2007).

Since the book had no words, I figured I’d review a record with no music. We heard Paul F. Tompkins on some random NPR show one night during dinner. They played the “Peanut Brittle” skit and Sarah and I were in tears. The kids must have wondered what was going on. We could barely eat; for six minutes we ignored all but Paul.

I tracked down the CD and it is very funny. Tompkins has a wonderful delivery and a way of making asides that keep the joke going longer than it should, but still staying funny. The very premise of the first joke is seeing a goth girl running, which is funny in and of itself, but he takes it in a new direction and turns it back against himself. Some other great tracks include the hilarious “Elegant Balloons” “Genetic Engineering” (house bears!), and the so true it hurts “Letters to Magazines.” Oh, and “Jazz” is also very funny, and I even like jazz.

It is clearly impossible to describe a comedy album without retelling the jokes, but I will say that Sarah and I had both listened to the CD individually, and then on the way back from the airport we listened to it together and were in tears yet again. Now we even get to make a few remarks just to relive the hilarity.

A little research uncovers that Tompkins was a player and writer for Mr Show as well as the Tenacious D series. And, in fact he is bubbling under in many venues. I guess don’t read credits well enough to have remembered him. So, good for him, and thank you NPR.

More research uncovers that this NPR shows was The Sound of Young America. Diligent readers will know that I discovered Simon Rich on this show as well. So I have listened to this show twice and come away with new material both times. I should make this a regular listen. You can hear an interview with Paul here.

[READ: June 21, 2008] Superbad: The Drawings

Now this book has nothing to do with the Ben Greenman books I mentioned earlier. This is a collection of 90 some pages of phallohgraphics (ie drawings of penises). If you’ve seen the movie Superbad, and who hasn’t, you’ll know there’s a story about the Seth character drawing penises and getting into trouble. Well, this is the collection of all the penises that the cowriter’s brother David Goldberg drew for the movie.

What can one possibly say about this except that the book is hilarious, childish and totally obscene. From an artistic standpoint, the drawings are first rate. Somehow, he was able to draw penises that look just like McLovin, Seth and Evan. Why on earth would anyone buy this? Beats me. I know I did. I’m sure I’ll peruse it from time to time and then hide it when my kids get old enough to browse the bookshelves.

Posted in Art, Comedy Album, David Goldberg, Evan Goldberg, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paul F. Tompkins, Seth Rogen, Short Books, Smarty Pants, Superbad, The Sound of Young America | Leave a Comment »

George Saunders–“Antiheroes” (New Yorker, June 23, 2008)

July 11, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: BAD RELIGION-The Empire Strikes First (2004).

I’ve been a fan of Bad Religion for ages. And then a few years back they reissued all of their old CDs, and I got BR overload. I didn’t listen to them for a while. Then recently, I decided to check out their newest CD, and was delighted to find that I’d only missed this one in the interim.

So, Bad Religion writes eloquent, fast punk songs. They are typically political, anti-religion, anti-war, anti-Republican. And main lyricist Greg Graffin has a PhD in what is essentially evolutionary biology. So, basically, Graffin is well-read (the lyrics have footnotes!) and knows big words. All of this in a two minute punk song.

And it’s the poppiness that surprises. BR have always given credit to the “oozin ah’s” on the records, and there are always lots of ooh’s and ah’s in the background. The choruses are catchy as all get out. And the songs are over in under three minutes. Actually, it’s when the songs go past 3 minutes that they tend to get into trouble. Fortunately that doesn’t happen too often. I’m not sure why, but the record seems to be lined up almost in order from short to long songs. So you get suckered into these great under two minute songs and then they pile up the long ones at the end. But that’s okay too, as some of the longer ones do add nice complexities to their arrangements.

There’s not a lot one can say about Bad Religion albums from one to another. Either you like the style or you don’t. However, for a bunch of old men, they rock pretty hard and they rock pretty well. And yet for all of their aggression (“Social Suicide” “Atheist Peace” “Sinister Rouge”) they are often uplifting and get you to sing along (“Live Again”). With a little less guitar these might even be chart toppers (perish the thought!).

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Antiheroes”

I recently flew to California. I brought all of the back issues of magazines that have been piling up in my house. For some magazines it was four or five months! I didn’t finish them all but I knocked a good three or four pounds off of my carry on luggage by the time I arrived. Continue Reading »

Posted in Bad Religion, Funny (ha ha), George Saunders, New Yorker, Short Story, Supernatural | Leave a Comment »

Alice Munro–“Deep-Holes” (New Yorker, June 30, 2008)

July 11, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: THE WEAKERTHANS-Reunion Tour (2007).

I have talked about some previous Weakerthans albums, and this is their newest. I also think it’s their best. The sequencing of it is really fantastic. It has some catchy poppy songs followed by some of the quieter, more unusual tracks [“Elegy for Gump Worsley”, a very spare tribute using plucked banjo and little else, followed by “Sun in an Empty Room” a song that gets more catchy with each listen.] It also has a fantastic “single” in “Civil Twilight,” as well as what is without a doubt the best song ever to use curling as a metaphor for a relationship: “Tournament of Hearts.” Everything about “Tournament” is great. It’s catchy and fun, with all kinds of curling going on. And, maybe some folks will look up what a bonspeil is and get interested in the great sport. We also continue the saga of Virtue the Cat from the last album.

Samson continues to write beautiful songs. They all seem so simple and effortless. It lulls you into either singing along or really listening to the lyrics. His lyrics are consistently above average too. He talks about “diabetic moons.” For sheer originality I enjoy the line ” So praise the things I can’t forget…with burgers and a silhouette” for rhyming silhouette, not cigarette (the obvious choice). And how many rock songs start with a line like this: “It had something to do with the rain leeching loamy dirt.”

I’m really quite delighted with this record, and although they seem to wait 4 years to put them out, I’ll be ready for the next one in 2011.

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Deep-Holes”

I have yet to read Munro’s Runaway, but I have now read maybe five of her short stories, and I consistently like them. Runaway is on my bedside, and I’ll get to it eventually. In the meantime, I guess I just have to keep looking in magazines and I’ll have more from her.

I hesitate to say there is something particularly Munro-like about her work, having read only a few stories, but I feel like I know what I’m to expect when I start one: a laid back pace, beautiful detail, and, it seems, a great sadness that looms over the characters.

In this case the sadness is brought on by the “deep holes” of the title. Sally and Alex go on a picnic to celebrate the publication of Alex’s first solo geology paper. They go to a site that figures largely in the work, a site with a caution sign warning of “deep-holes” The deep holes turn out to be, in fact, very large, very deep holes, which, predictably, one of their two boys falls into. Kent, the unlucky boy, is hurt quite badly, but is saved by his father. He and his father had a somewhat contentious relationship before, and this confuses things even more. All of this happens in the first two pages, and there is quite a lot left, so don’t feel that I gave anything away.

The remainder of the story concerns what happens to Kent after the accident. He distances himself from the family, corresponding only occasionally. At the time of the accident, Kent had a baby sister.  As she gets older, she wants to learn more about the brother she never knew.  She is the one who finally uncovers his whereabouts and tells her mom.  When Sally finally encounters him again, the conflict inevitably turns personal. Munro really gets into the mind and spirit of her characters. And, you can really see Sally grow older emotionally over the course of this short story.

Munro continues to impress me with her quiet, beautifully composed stories.

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, The Weakerthans | Leave a Comment »

Dan Martin–All Known Metal Bands (2008)

July 11, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: Metal Shop (radio program 1980’s).

Back in high school, my friend Al and I listened to this syndicated radio show, which always came back from commercials with “MumumumumumuMetal Shop.” The more I listened to the show, the more into metal I got. And, in high school I rebelled against pop music by delving deeply into the metal scene. I had one of those denim covered 3 ring binders with nearly 100 bands inked on it. Whenever I saw a logo in Kerrang or some other place, I added it, even if I never heard the band. It was good fun.

I also liked to find weird heavy bands to shock anyone who cared to listen (which was no one, actually). So, I have some albums from Bathory, and Venom, Cirith Ungol, and Manowar, sweet, ridiculous, Manowar. These bands all predated the really crazy death and black metal scenes. Somehow, even though Venom were “satan worshippers” they were still pretty goofy. I have a great VHS of Slayer and Venom live at Studio 54. It has some interviews with them afterwards, and they’re just a bunch of silly dudes.

My musical tastes have expanded greatly since those days, but after reading the book below, I may have to dust off my Bathory vinyl and see what it sounds like.

[READ: June 30, 2008] All Known Metal Bands.

This is one of those strange books that surfaces from time to time. What you get is a list of some 50,000 names of heavy metal bands. And that’s it. (Well, there’s an epigram and a concluding remarks pages, but otherwise just an alphabetical list of every metal band that Marin could find while surfig the web.)

Probably not worth the $20some but I joined the McSweeney’s 10 for $100 program, so I got this for $10, so I got that going for me.

It is certainly fun to see the names that have been used over the years. He mentions that some names were used by many different bands, and I do rather wish he had put parenthetical notes for how many of each band, or perhaps a country of origin, but what can you do.

UPDATE:  Why you should never post before reading the book: Even better than parentheses, he lists all of the times that a name was used.  So, you get a list that inlcudes Paranoia eight times!  It is actually quite funny, especially when you see some of the really obscure names that have been used multiple times.  So, thank you, Dan Martin, for doing that.  (Country of origin would have been very interesting but would have ruined the flow, admittedly.)

The seling point, such as it is, is the design. The cover is a beautiful dark blue and silver cloth, and the interior pages are all black with silver writing on it (of course). That probably goes some way to explaining the cost.

My interesting side note is that I started to read it last night (and, yes, I’m actually writing about this without having finished it, but COME ON, it’s 50,000 names), and just as I read the first three names, we had a power failure and I was cast into utter darkness. There was none more black.

[Secret devil worship sign].

Posted in Bathory, Books about music, Canadian Music, Cirith Ungol, Dan Martin, Dip-in Books, Funny (strange), Kerrang, Manowar, McSweeney's, Slayer, Venom | Leave a Comment »

Paul Debraski–Complex Sentence (1999/2000)

June 26, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: FOALS-Antidotes (2008).

This CD had been getting a lot of buzz just before I ordered it. And then, the day after I ordered it I saw a review that really trashed the record. Uh oh, I thought.

But then I played it. Aside from the cover, which I can’t stand, there’s nothing I dislike about the disc. Immediately, I thought it sounded like a cross between King Crimson and Gang of Four. And then I heard more sax and had to add X-Ray Spex in for good measure.

The guitar lines as the disc opens sound so much like they could be King Crimson song…and this continues throughout the record…and then when the rhythm guitars come in you think, oh, Gang of Four (or the Futureheads if you must). And then you hear them together and it blows your mind a little bit.

For those of you who live in the twenty first century, the CD probably sounds closest to Modest Mouse: angular guitars, somewhat shouty vocals, but they don’t have the fluidity that Modest Mouse has. Not that that’s a complaint, just an observation. I’ve listened to this CD a bunch of times now, and I don’t dislike anything on it. Each listen brings out someone new that I hear. One of the reviews I read suggested that they used to a more prog rock band, but were giving up that aspect of their music. And yet, if you reference King Crimson, it’s impossible to think you’ve given up prog rock. I don’t know what The Foals describe their music as, and it is totally not for everybody, but I think it’s pretty wonderful.

[WRITTEN: Some time in the late 1990s] Complex Sentence.

In my previous post (Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog) I said that I had written a short story about diagramming sentences. I took some creative writing classes a decade or so ago, when I had a lot of free time. I churned out quite a few stories, and then hit the wall that is job, family and kids. Sadly, I don’t have exact dates for when I wrote these stories (what kind of writer doesn’t keep track of when the stories were written for pity’s sake). But maybe if I can ever hack into more poor old Macintosh and uncover the original files it will give me some idea of their origin.

And so, the critic exposes himself to the critics. Continue Reading »

Posted in Foals, Gang of Four, King Crimson, Modest Mouse, Paul Debraski, Set at School, Set in New Jersey!, The Futureheads, X-Ray Spex | Leave a Comment »

Kitty Burns Florey–Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences (2007)

June 26, 2008 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: PETER, BJORN & JOHN-Writer’s Block (2006).

My friend Eugenie told me about these guys: 3 Swedish songwriters whose names are, indeed Peter, Bjorn and John. This is their 3rd CD and I’m not even sure what I thought they would sound like except that Eugenie has great taste. I think I thought they would be a bit more synth poppy (I guess the Abba connection is pretty strong) but instead, they write wonderfully poppy songs, but they are more folky, or alt-rocky. I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this CD.

All three guys sing. Peter sings most of the songs and he sounds like a combination of John Lennon and Michael Penn…his voice varies quite a bit between songs. Bjorn sings two of the songs. His voice is quite different…deeper and more stark, and it’s quite a nice change from Peter’s (not that there’s anything bad about Peter’s). John sings one song, and his voice is fairly similar to Peter’s. But they all do harmonies, so you hear them all the time.

It took me about three listens to fall in love with this CD. There’s a couple of songs that are immediately gratifying; however, the rest really reward multiple listens. Interestingly, it’s the two Bjorn songs that are immediately catchy. “Amsterdam” and “Let’s Call It Off” (which gets a remix on the album too). “Amsterdam” (interestingly, Guster have a fantastically catchy song called “Amsterdam” which this song is not) has this immediately striking whistle (as in a person whistling) as its opening motif. It is stark and haunting, and will have you whistling it for days. “Young Folks” is a duet with Victoria Bergsman (not sure who she is) and has a deliriously catchy chorus. “The Chills” has this great shh-shh-shh sound that is at once chilly and interesting and reminiscent of The Cure’s “A Forest.” As you might guess, the CD covers some pretty different styles and genres, yet the album is not a mishmash. There’s a consistent PB&J sound that unifies the record and leaves you wanting to hit play again after it’s over.

The Swedish music scene has just been exploding lately…The Hives, Dungen, Jose Gonzales, Jens Lekman and PB&J are all adding to the (sadly seen as one-hit novelties) wonderful Cardigans.

[READ: January 2008] Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog

For Christmas, Sarah’s mom gave her this book, not knowing that she missed the intended target by mere inches. As soon as I saw the book I immediately had to read it. Diagramming sentences was always a guilty pleasure of mine, and I am saddened to hear that kids don’t do it anymore. Continue Reading »

Posted in Abba, Books about writers, Funny (ha ha), Gertrude Stein, Guster, Jens Lekman, José González, Kitty Burns Florey, Marcel Proust, Peter, Bjorn & John, Smarty Pants, Swedish Music, The Cardigans, The Cure, The Hives | Leave a Comment »

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