Weekend Music Roundup

I realized the other day that this will probably be the last roundup before I get together my year end list....and then I realized, with much dismay, that I would also need to make my best of the decade list. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was sitting in a corporate cubical in SoHo putting together my best of the decade for the '90s. Time flies. 

So, here it is, the last weekly grab bag of my musical tastes before somewhat more structured lists appear for the high holidays.

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More: I really enjoyed the two 2008 EPs released by this indie bluegrass band from London but worried this subsequent full length might get a little repetitive because both EPs, while very good, felt very much the same. Though this album maintains many of the characteristics, there's definitely an expansion here. The songs are moodier and more spacious. Solid addition to the new British indie folk movement. 

Lee Fields & The Expressions - My World: I've been loving this album of late. Lee Fields has that old deep soul voice that at times make this album feel like your listening to some artifact from the early '70s, if it weren't for the expert inclusion of hip-hop and house beats that effectively update the sound, giving a new and familiar feel at the same time. 

Magic Lantern - High Beams: Psychedelic drone rock from the L.A. area...always a soft spot in my musical tastes. High Beams doesn't stray far from the formula followed by a lot of these new stoner bands, but it does a fair enough job of it. A bit too much like a lot of other things to stand out, but if that's your genre, you should definitely turn the high beams on for a listen or two. I know I have. 

Diplo & Santogold - Top Ranking: This one had been on my wishlist for quite some time. Essentially a remix album, but not in the traditional sense in that there is also a ton of new material. Basically, Santogold's debut is the skeleton for this dub album, beats and lyrics are used and reworked and reshaped into a record that ranges from hip-hop to dancehall. The result is kind of uneven. There are some amazing tracks and a lot of not-so amazing tracks which all left me feeling like it was a bit of mess. The good tracks though...pure gold. 

Golden Animals - Free Your Mind and Win a Pony: More psychedelic rock from Cali, but this one is more blues inspired. It grooves. It rocks. It's fabulous. 

Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations: This 1980 British metal gem was recommended to me by a friend recently and I'd never heard of it. Though, upon listening, I recognized some songs right away from early Metallica covers. This album has to be one of the earliest thrash metal albums, but it's also very transitional. While developing a lot of elements that won't be heard widespread for another 6 years or so, it also has the very heavy blues feel of Black Sabbath and the frantic garage punk of Radio Birdman. The combination is pretty awesome.

South San Gabriel - The Carlton Chronicles: This is one of those bands that I ignored for a long time because its name. Yes, I'm guilty of that. If the band name seems uninteresting or gives me some association that I don't care for, I tend to be dismissive. Horrible, but hey, I'm human. But I also tend to go back at some point and get over those blocks. In this case, it was a win for me because this is stellar album. Very much in the indie quasi-country folkish sphere as Palace, Okkervil River, Midlake and others, this is beautiful album.

Blind Willie Johnson - The Soul of a Man: I've had this for a few months and though I was familiar with some Blind Willie (and blown away by it, hence the acquisition of this), I wasn't terribly excited by this collection at first. This week, I decided to give it another listen after "John the Revelator" came up in my ipod shuffle not too long ago (one of the aforementioned songs that blew me away). This time I knew what to expect and was in the mood for these acoustic gospel blues that sound as if they recorded in a tin shed circa 1923. Blind Willie's gravel voice is the voice of a ghost come to warn of the other side. Unbelievable. And now, right up there with Blind Lemon Jefferson in my book.

How A Story Grows

When writing a novel, there's always a little uncertainty in my mind as to how much should I plan out and how much do I allow the story to find its own path. 

Having no path beforehand tends to make a story fizzle out after 50 or 100 pages and then there's no where to go, because you had nowhere in mind to begin with.

An extremely detailed outline to start a book can suck all the life out the writing as you becoming a quasi-computer programmer plugging in words to get from point A to point B. 

Finding the right balance is something I think writers learn over time and through  lots of mistakes. 

Yesterday, I was at one of these pivotal moments in my new novel. I was finishing a scene and as I was coming to the close of it, realized that was the last scene I had really sketched out and I started to panic a little wondering where I was supposed to go next. Sure, I have dozens of scenes that I know I need to write, it's not like I was blank. But the sequence of those scenes and how the lead into and affect others is critical. 

After I finished the chapter I had been writing, I contemplated and frustrated and then finally, was illuminated. Yesterday in the late afternoon was one of those rare moments where everything came together in my mind. Suddenly the path ahead was clear. Though to be sure, I always allow for a few detours along the way.

Children Gather Round...

Yesterday, I posted a quote from myself...a quote I live by. 

I thought today I'd post another such nugget of wisdom that I also live by:

CHEATING 

is a part of

WINNING!

This mantra has led to a forever ban on me ever being the banker in a game of Monopoly. I can live with that.

The Definition of Truth

As long as you believe it to be true,

it may as well be the truth.

The Collector

I have a theory that all writers are hoarders and collectors. Go into any writer's workspace and I bet you are sure find some kind of collection. Books would certainly be the most obvious. In a game of Family Feud, it would have to be the number one answer on the board. Music would probably be high up there two. I'm certainly guilty of both. 

Another collection that sprawls through my workspace is my toy collection. Action figures mostly. The shelves above my writing desk are reserved for some of my favorites (pictured above). Basically, if my collections weren't so obsessively organized, I would be a few small steps away from the old lady living in some trailer full of trash and stacks of newspapers filled with news that hasn't mattered in decades. But it's not my fault. Collecting is simply part of the fabric of being a writer.

Writers collect all sorts of intangible things. Bits of conversations. Habits we've observed others doing. Faces of strangers that strike us as interesting. We collect all of these things and use them to make our stories  and our characters come to life. Just as reporters collect facts to give a better picture of the truth, writer's collect snippets to give a better picture of their fiction.

Yesterday's Collected Piece comes from the old lady in the Post Office who mumbled her way through the purchase of one book of stamps for 10 minutes without regard to the growing line behind her because she wanted a Holiday Collection of which the Post Office did not have. That's not the piece though...what made it into the collection was when she turned around and I saw that she was much older than the dyed black hair suggested from the back. But it was the bright lipstick that caught my attention and I wondered why it is old ladies wear such an abundance of bright red lipstick to compensate for lips that have gone thin. It's like a man with a hairpiece...it only exaggerates what you're trying to hide. 

Odds are, there will be an older lady with bright lipstick in the novel I'm working on because that's really what writing is...a mosaic of thoughts and images collected over time and placed into a story. 

Weekend Music Roundup

I'm back in the glut of new music this week and I like it. Some great finds over the long weekend and some disappointments. Some things I've wanted for some time and others I didn't know existed. All in all...a lot to be thankful for as is always the case with music.

Karen O and The Kids - Where the Wild Things Are: I bought this because I remembered really enjoying the music while watching the film. This is one of those rare soundtracks that when removed from the film is still an amazing listen. Karen O sounds fantastic and the kid choir mixes well. The songs are dreamy and frantic and beautiful. I wish the last Yeah Yeah Yeahs album sounded more like this than that horrible '80s disco that it did resemble. I love this album.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Doomsday EP: I've had this for weeks and have been loving it for weeks, but realized I neglected to include it in the roundup before. Now, I fully admit to being biased as Elvis Perkins is probably my favorite songwriter to emerge in the last five years, but this is a great EP. It's a departure from the two albums, a little more fun and loose but equally as beautiful. Stay, Zombie, Stay and the slow version of Doomsday are incredible. 

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park: Lucero plays alt country rock and when they are on, they are better than anyone. That Much Further West is one of my favorite southern rock albums of all time. This album is not nearly that good, but it's decent. I found it to be up and down. Some songs were great and others were kind of same-same. This album was more on par with Nobody's Darling. Worthwhile if you like the band or the genre, but if you are unfamiliar, then I definitely recommend That Much Further West. 

Portugal. The Man - The Majestic Majesty: A few weeks ago, I falsely reported on this blog that this album was the same as The Satanic Satanist. Thankfully, my friend set me straight, informing me that this is an acoustic version of that album. WHAT? I had to hear it right away and by god, it's unbelievably good. Two songs into it, I replaced The Satanist with The Majesty on my ipod. 5 Stars...easily.

Porcupine Tree - The Incident: I've been into this band for a half a decade now, and though I've always preferred their mid-90's work best (The Sky Moves Sideways is a must have album) I still enjoy their recent prog-metal inspired work. This new album has been much talked about mainly for the 55 minute title track that takes up Disc 1. Personally, I wasn't too blown away with that. It was kind of a mess and something Mars Volta does much better. But surprisingly, I really enjoyed the 4 tracks on Disc 2 that many seem to see as toss-on tracks. This album is a solid OK, but the band is capable of much better. We'll see though. Their albums tend to grow on me.

Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down: This album surprised me in a good way. The missus and I had seen their prior video and weren't thrilled. But she was brave enough to give it a listen at the listening station and we both agreed it seemed worth a shot at its sale price. I really enjoyed it. It's sort of a cross between Okkervil River and Peter, Bjorn, & John. Definitely a little on the pretentious side of folk-pop, but smartly done. 

Dead Confederate - Dead Confederate EP: I've been listening to this band's debut for most of the fall and am still impressed by it. This is the earlier EP that most likely got them their record deal and it's easy to see why. Much less produced, this is one of those sad sounding heavy rock albums and it's fantastic.

Stars - Heart: This early album was the only one I was missing by Stars, a indie-pop band from Canada, so I picked it up. It fits seamlessly in with the rest of the band's catalog. Though Stars is definitely more poppy that I usually go for, I've always liked them. They remind me a little bit of the Smiths, if the Smiths were from North America in 00's. 

Raised by Swans - Codes and Secret Longings: I fully admit to getting this because of the cover (the image is from the film Grave of the Fireflies which is one of the best animated films ever made). The album was a decent moody piece. It's a melancholy shoegazer album that wallows in the darkness...basically, the kind of album I would have loved in college and still appreciate now, though certainly don't love.

The Famous Jug Band - Sunshine Possibilities: A little back story here. I'm one of these people that thinks most any band can be improved if they had someone on the jug. I frequently make this observation, in earnest, while listening to things with the missus. So, she spotted this in the record store and showed it to me. I had to get it, even before I realized that Clive Palmer (of The Incredible String Band and C.O.B.) was in the band. Not surprisingly, it's very much in that line of folk, but also different in many ways as it is indeed a jug band. The result: Brilliant. This is one of those albums that I'd have expected to see all over the freak-folk blog world. It's an absolute must for any fan of '60s avant-folk. I can imagine I'll be listening to this album a lot over the winter...I'm looking forward to it. 

Simply Fantastic

There is not a Wes Anderson movie made that I don't absolutely love. I've been a fan since Bottle Rocket came out (to this day, I still Ca-Cooo to get some one's attention from across a room). I would rate The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic probably in my top 25 favorite movies of all time. Basically, what I'm trying to say is, when I first learned he was doing an animated film adaptation of a novel from one of my favorite children's book writers, I was pretty darn excited. 

The verdict? Well in short, it was the most fun I've had at the movies in a long time. Everything about it was practically perfect. What I loved most about it was that it was very much a Wes Anderson film. It flawlessly fits in with his other films. George Clooney, in his humorous mood, is great fit for Wes Anderson's quirky style. He didn't compromise the artistic style that makes his movies great simply because it was going to be animated. That's the way it should be. 

What makes Fantastic Mr. Fox so much fun is that it's obvious everyone making it is having fun. It doesn't feel labored. And unlike most children's entertainment these days, it doesn't fit some marketing mold that for some reason has been etched in stone. I'm talking about movies like Planet 51 in it's oh-so-obvious jokes and storyline as if there is some list distributed to studios (and let's be honest, children's book publishers as well) that states THIS IS WHAT KIDS LIKE AND NOTHING ELSE. Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of those movies that dispels that myth, showing that kids entertainment doesn't have to pander...it can be different and succeed.

My Grade: FANTASTIC!