Sunday, February 25, 2007
TTC Not Liable For C.H.U.D. Attacks
This'll be the first time I've ever ridden the subway just for fun.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Swan Song
What kind of meany kills swans? Beyond bizarre. And in Owen Sound too! Might have to rethink the summer holiday...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Records In Review: Bloc Party--A Weekend In The City
Third attempt at writing this. I hate second-album reviews, I do!
In many ways, A Weekend In The City is your typical second album. The instrumentalism is more restrained and contained, the production more polished (the toms don't sound like damp suitcases, and the drums in general aren't wrung through the phaser so much), and the influences worn less on-sleeve. Speaking of influences, the usual suspects are present, albeit with the dubby P.I.L. thang dialled back appreciably, and my ears can detect a smidgen of stadium-era P. Furs on a track or two ("I Still Remember"), which isn't surprising given that Weekend's a record that speaks much more to an arena environment than did its predecessor. More space and sweep, less grunt, scratch and skronk. About half of the record I'd describe as Coldplay for people who have a pulse.
I can't say I'm particularly enamoured of the bigged-up sound. To each his own, perhaps, but one of the things I found most interesting about Silent Alarm was the juxtaposition of the occasional emo/grandiose tendency with an attitude toward arrangement that often surprised you with sonic contrasts between sections (see "Pioneers" below) and between tracks--particularly helpful with a band like BP who aren't really "about" the finer details of songcraft. Here, a lot of that's been ironed out. The emphasis on Weekend is on less detail-driven quiet/loud/louder sectional contrasts, some of which aren't exactly subtle in their execution ("Hunting For Witches," "SRXT"). SA left itself more sonic wiggle room at the micro-level and thus avoided sounding like slush.
If Silent Alarm had a slight emo tendency, its successor has a full-blown melodramatic one that's only barely reined in. The episodic "Uniform" is a case in point and while the individual bits of it are pretty good, the whole is long-winded and not entirely convincing. I never paid much attention to the lyrics on SA, beyond twigging to a few overt political commentaries, but holy crap, Weekend sees singer Kele Okereke morphing into Morrissey v. 2.0 (the upgrade capable of throwing a couple of punches before getting beaten up). A fair amount of languor, and a hell of a lot of insecurity-borne yearning. And I can only ingest so much yearning before my body cries out for a Hives-flavoured palate cleanser. This is stuff that takes itself very seriously indeed. Too seriously.
Objectively, the material's at least as consistent as that of Silent Alarm (which admittedly ran out of gas in the last third). As with the latter, the best stuff is in the middle of the running order. Of the songs in the more reflective and atmospheric vein, "On" and "Kreuzberg" are the best, the former being particularly pretty. "Sunday" is all right but sounds too much like "Kreuzberg," from which it's only separated by one song. "I Still Remember" is currently my favourite track, very simply structured, with a simple but effective vocal melody, and a good fit with the bigger-stage production style without sounding bombastic. "Waiting For The 7.18" is also very good, and probably the most successful example of the aforementioned loud/soft contrast thing. Single "The Prayer" is pretty good and catchy, but certainly is bombastic, sounding as it does like overproduced Killing Joke. You can probably intuit from my language that I don't think there's as much a-list material on offer here as on SA.
I've dithered over this album much more than I usually do, and frankly, if someone came to me with a substantially dissenting opinion I'm not sure I'd put up much of an argument. Some of it's indeed a matter of taste. All I know is, a year and a half later and I'm still listening to Silent Alarm, and after two weeks I've already grown weary of about half of this one. Recommendation: I report, you decide.
P.S. Good review here, even if I disagree with the conclusions.
mp3: Bloc Party--"Hunting For Witches" (from A Weekend In The City)
mp3: Bloc Party--"Waiting For The 7.18" (from A Weekend In The City)
mp3: Bloc Party--"This Modern Love"(from Silent Alarm)
mp3: Bloc Party--"Pioneers" (from Silent Alarm)
In many ways, A Weekend In The City is your typical second album. The instrumentalism is more restrained and contained, the production more polished (the toms don't sound like damp suitcases, and the drums in general aren't wrung through the phaser so much), and the influences worn less on-sleeve. Speaking of influences, the usual suspects are present, albeit with the dubby P.I.L. thang dialled back appreciably, and my ears can detect a smidgen of stadium-era P. Furs on a track or two ("I Still Remember"), which isn't surprising given that Weekend's a record that speaks much more to an arena environment than did its predecessor. More space and sweep, less grunt, scratch and skronk. About half of the record I'd describe as Coldplay for people who have a pulse.
I can't say I'm particularly enamoured of the bigged-up sound. To each his own, perhaps, but one of the things I found most interesting about Silent Alarm was the juxtaposition of the occasional emo/grandiose tendency with an attitude toward arrangement that often surprised you with sonic contrasts between sections (see "Pioneers" below) and between tracks--particularly helpful with a band like BP who aren't really "about" the finer details of songcraft. Here, a lot of that's been ironed out. The emphasis on Weekend is on less detail-driven quiet/loud/louder sectional contrasts, some of which aren't exactly subtle in their execution ("Hunting For Witches," "SRXT"). SA left itself more sonic wiggle room at the micro-level and thus avoided sounding like slush.
If Silent Alarm had a slight emo tendency, its successor has a full-blown melodramatic one that's only barely reined in. The episodic "Uniform" is a case in point and while the individual bits of it are pretty good, the whole is long-winded and not entirely convincing. I never paid much attention to the lyrics on SA, beyond twigging to a few overt political commentaries, but holy crap, Weekend sees singer Kele Okereke morphing into Morrissey v. 2.0 (the upgrade capable of throwing a couple of punches before getting beaten up). A fair amount of languor, and a hell of a lot of insecurity-borne yearning. And I can only ingest so much yearning before my body cries out for a Hives-flavoured palate cleanser. This is stuff that takes itself very seriously indeed. Too seriously.
Objectively, the material's at least as consistent as that of Silent Alarm (which admittedly ran out of gas in the last third). As with the latter, the best stuff is in the middle of the running order. Of the songs in the more reflective and atmospheric vein, "On" and "Kreuzberg" are the best, the former being particularly pretty. "Sunday" is all right but sounds too much like "Kreuzberg," from which it's only separated by one song. "I Still Remember" is currently my favourite track, very simply structured, with a simple but effective vocal melody, and a good fit with the bigger-stage production style without sounding bombastic. "Waiting For The 7.18" is also very good, and probably the most successful example of the aforementioned loud/soft contrast thing. Single "The Prayer" is pretty good and catchy, but certainly is bombastic, sounding as it does like overproduced Killing Joke. You can probably intuit from my language that I don't think there's as much a-list material on offer here as on SA.
I've dithered over this album much more than I usually do, and frankly, if someone came to me with a substantially dissenting opinion I'm not sure I'd put up much of an argument. Some of it's indeed a matter of taste. All I know is, a year and a half later and I'm still listening to Silent Alarm, and after two weeks I've already grown weary of about half of this one. Recommendation: I report, you decide.
P.S. Good review here, even if I disagree with the conclusions.
mp3: Bloc Party--"Hunting For Witches" (from A Weekend In The City)
mp3: Bloc Party--"Waiting For The 7.18" (from A Weekend In The City)
mp3: Bloc Party--"This Modern Love"(from Silent Alarm)
mp3: Bloc Party--"Pioneers" (from Silent Alarm)
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
It's A Decision I'll Make With My Family
Oh, look: Roger Clemens says there's a small chance he'll come back this year. Just like last year. And the year before. And once more for luck. Perhaps we'll be fortunate enough to get another farewell tour, or at least a couple of "last start" standing ovations.
Brett Favre, it seems, is definitely coming back. A decisive fellow--good to see.
If Favre or Clemens issued a press release and nobody published it, would they immediately cease to exist?
For Hall of Fame talent sans Hall of Fame ego, turn to pitcher Greg Maddux.
Maddux after winning his 300th:
Maddux never returned to the field after the final out was made. Fans hollered as he worked his way down the hallway to a postgame interview, and Maddux practically pursed his lips to keep from reacting. It took a near mugging by a bunch of teammates at his locker to finally make him smile.
[edit]
After the final out, Cubs fans held up a large "W" banner, and a graphic recognizing Maddux's achievement was shown on the center-field scoreboard. But Maddux never came back onto the field. He didn't feel it would be right to hold a huge celebration in somebody else's ballpark...
Brett Favre, it seems, is definitely coming back. A decisive fellow--good to see.
If Favre or Clemens issued a press release and nobody published it, would they immediately cease to exist?
For Hall of Fame talent sans Hall of Fame ego, turn to pitcher Greg Maddux.
Maddux after winning his 300th:
Maddux never returned to the field after the final out was made. Fans hollered as he worked his way down the hallway to a postgame interview, and Maddux practically pursed his lips to keep from reacting. It took a near mugging by a bunch of teammates at his locker to finally make him smile.
[edit]
After the final out, Cubs fans held up a large "W" banner, and a graphic recognizing Maddux's achievement was shown on the center-field scoreboard. But Maddux never came back onto the field. He didn't feel it would be right to hold a huge celebration in somebody else's ballpark...
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Cold Fingers
Toward Hanlan's Point (more or less), before the big freeze up...
...and on a cloudy day, after the ice and snow...
...and on a sunny day...
...and again.
Birdie oasis.
Are they ticking?
Hanlan's Point ferry.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Worth Every Penny I'm Paying For It
I've been informed that a number of my posted audio file links have been "disappeared." Don't know why. Will look into.
Update (2/18): now the damn things are back up again. I hate technology.
Update (2/18): now the damn things are back up again. I hate technology.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Jays Sign Bill Caudill
For reasons best left to the imagination, I'll be an occasional contributor here:
Drink-Soaked Trotskyite Popinjays For War
Drink-Soaked Trotskyite Popinjays For War
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Wee Redhead
Daniel Cook hits the big time.
For those who don't pay attention to kids' tv, Cook is quite a remarkable kid, mostly because he's so, well, ordinary. As a junior interviewer, he's not easily fazed, but he's also guileless and unpolished--not a "bred" child star or anything like that. You can almost see the wheels spinning in his head when he's asking or responding to questions.
For those who don't pay attention to kids' tv, Cook is quite a remarkable kid, mostly because he's so, well, ordinary. As a junior interviewer, he's not easily fazed, but he's also guileless and unpolished--not a "bred" child star or anything like that. You can almost see the wheels spinning in his head when he's asking or responding to questions.
Monday, February 12, 2007
No Outback Here, Eh
Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots, And Leaves, has an interesting column about the authorial search for authenticity. But she made me cringe when she said this:
...perhaps the main point of interest was that Penney had been suffering agoraphobia while working on the book (set in the 19th Century Canadian outback), so her illness would have prevented her from visiting Canada even if she'd wanted to.
Ms Truss would be well advised to brush up on a little authenticity herself: there ain't no outback here. Call it "up north", the far north, the Arctic, or any number of more colourful terms used to describe the remote parts of Canada, but don't call it the "outback"! Ouch.
...perhaps the main point of interest was that Penney had been suffering agoraphobia while working on the book (set in the 19th Century Canadian outback), so her illness would have prevented her from visiting Canada even if she'd wanted to.
Ms Truss would be well advised to brush up on a little authenticity herself: there ain't no outback here. Call it "up north", the far north, the Arctic, or any number of more colourful terms used to describe the remote parts of Canada, but don't call it the "outback"! Ouch.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Boarded Up
Not that the news comes as a shock or anything, but XTC appear to have ceased trading for all intents and purposes. Damn, blast and bugger.
It Came From The CD Rack
Why can't we all share our pain?
1. Your 2-year-old daughter has banged her head on a table. Do you a) comfort her or b) reach for the ff button?
mp3: They Might Be Giants--"The Guitar" (from Apollo 18)
2. Persist with it, it gets worse:
mp3: Metric--"Handshakes" (from Live It Out)
3. The extra-shouty remix is better:
mp3: Modest Mouse--"Dance Hall" (from Good News For People Who Love Bad News)
4. Chipmunks are not the only sciurids:
mp3: Broken Social Scene--"Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old Girl" (from You Forgot It In People)
* * * * * * * *
...and for dessert...
1. Your 2-year-old daughter has banged her head on a table. Do you a) comfort her or b) reach for the ff button?
mp3: They Might Be Giants--"The Guitar" (from Apollo 18)
2. Persist with it, it gets worse:
mp3: Metric--"Handshakes" (from Live It Out)
3. The extra-shouty remix is better:
mp3: Modest Mouse--"Dance Hall" (from Good News For People Who Love Bad News)
4. Chipmunks are not the only sciurids:
mp3: Broken Social Scene--"Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old Girl" (from You Forgot It In People)
* * * * * * * *
...and for dessert...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Records In Review: The Shins--Wincing The Night Away
The Shins debuting at #2 on the Billboard charts--the world is unfolding very strangely these days. The Arctic Monkeys must be due to conquer North America any minute now.
The Shins are a very easy band to like, due largely to the songwriting and vocal melodic dexterity of mainman James Mercer. Their first two albums were strikingly different. Number one, Oh, Inverted World was a sparse-sounding blend of the Beach Boys and a kind of wry Americana of the type practiced by erstwhile touring mates Modest Mouse, while the follow up, Chutes Too Narrow was unabashedly pop, a swaggeringly confident head- and guitar-first plunge into a mop-top retro style--think The New Pornographers, only less muscular and swingier. Both albums clock in at under 35 minutes, but Inverted World feels 50% longer. Make of that what you will.
Album no. 3, a long long time a-comin', is a further move toward a mainstream pop sound, although in many ways it has more in common personality-wise with the debut disc than with Chutes; songs have a more measured pace, sounds are more spread out and the watery keyboards are back in a more prominent position. On this one even more than on its predecessors, songs are often built around very simple and relaxed traditional rock ("Turn On Me") or kitsch ("Red Rabbits") motifs, and often, as with said two, to great effect. Mercer's voice too sounds more relaxed, though his attractive slightly strangulated upper-register still gets a regular workout.
Regular listeners won't find much to beef about the songwriting here, even if one occasionally gets the feeling that the talented Mercer could write this stuff in his sleep. The arrangements are another matter. A number of the tracks, including some of the catchier ones like the aforementioned "Turn On Me" and the single "Phantom Limb" feature uncharacteristically pedestrian backing, with forgettable guitar and dull drum (machine) parts. The bottom-heavy and slightly muddy production doesn't help matters much either. You don't listen to The Shins for their instrumentalism, really, but the band interplay, particularly on Chutes, is usually seamless. This is the first time I'd describe the group as sounding stiff and studio-bound.
The songs themselves feature a few interesting new twists on the old formula. Opener "Sleeping Lessons" is a three-chord crescendo/instrumental add-on piece that's built up from an arpeggiated keyboard pattern; this is a good one, and structurally dissimilar to anything the band has done before. "Spilt Needles" features a chunky, off-kilter drum rhythm of the kind that you'd expect from someone like Bloc Party (slowed down), plus some abrupt orchestral samples--also very good. "Australia" and "Girl Sailor" are more traditional retro Shins fare; the former is considerably better. "A Comet Appears," too, is familiar, bearing a strong resemblance to the band's first indie-hit "New Slang." "Phantom Limb" and "Turn On Me," despite my misgiving about the presentation, are both excellent examples of Mercer's seemingly effortless melodic facility. As always, it's the melodies that see the songs through.
I'm grading this one a couple of notches below its predecessors, owing to the orchestration and production deficiencies, and also because I don't sense the band pushing themselves hard enough. Recommendation: more than enough good stuff to keep Shins listeners happy; for everyone else, not the first port of call.
mp3: The Shins--"Sleeping Lessons" (from Wincing The Night Away)
mp3: The Shins--"Turn On Me" (from Wincing The Night Away)
mp3: The Shins--"So Says I" (from Chutes Too Narrow)
mp3: The Shins--"One By One All Day" (from Oh, Inverted World)
The Shins are a very easy band to like, due largely to the songwriting and vocal melodic dexterity of mainman James Mercer. Their first two albums were strikingly different. Number one, Oh, Inverted World was a sparse-sounding blend of the Beach Boys and a kind of wry Americana of the type practiced by erstwhile touring mates Modest Mouse, while the follow up, Chutes Too Narrow was unabashedly pop, a swaggeringly confident head- and guitar-first plunge into a mop-top retro style--think The New Pornographers, only less muscular and swingier. Both albums clock in at under 35 minutes, but Inverted World feels 50% longer. Make of that what you will.
Album no. 3, a long long time a-comin', is a further move toward a mainstream pop sound, although in many ways it has more in common personality-wise with the debut disc than with Chutes; songs have a more measured pace, sounds are more spread out and the watery keyboards are back in a more prominent position. On this one even more than on its predecessors, songs are often built around very simple and relaxed traditional rock ("Turn On Me") or kitsch ("Red Rabbits") motifs, and often, as with said two, to great effect. Mercer's voice too sounds more relaxed, though his attractive slightly strangulated upper-register still gets a regular workout.
Regular listeners won't find much to beef about the songwriting here, even if one occasionally gets the feeling that the talented Mercer could write this stuff in his sleep. The arrangements are another matter. A number of the tracks, including some of the catchier ones like the aforementioned "Turn On Me" and the single "Phantom Limb" feature uncharacteristically pedestrian backing, with forgettable guitar and dull drum (machine) parts. The bottom-heavy and slightly muddy production doesn't help matters much either. You don't listen to The Shins for their instrumentalism, really, but the band interplay, particularly on Chutes, is usually seamless. This is the first time I'd describe the group as sounding stiff and studio-bound.
The songs themselves feature a few interesting new twists on the old formula. Opener "Sleeping Lessons" is a three-chord crescendo/instrumental add-on piece that's built up from an arpeggiated keyboard pattern; this is a good one, and structurally dissimilar to anything the band has done before. "Spilt Needles" features a chunky, off-kilter drum rhythm of the kind that you'd expect from someone like Bloc Party (slowed down), plus some abrupt orchestral samples--also very good. "Australia" and "Girl Sailor" are more traditional retro Shins fare; the former is considerably better. "A Comet Appears," too, is familiar, bearing a strong resemblance to the band's first indie-hit "New Slang." "Phantom Limb" and "Turn On Me," despite my misgiving about the presentation, are both excellent examples of Mercer's seemingly effortless melodic facility. As always, it's the melodies that see the songs through.
I'm grading this one a couple of notches below its predecessors, owing to the orchestration and production deficiencies, and also because I don't sense the band pushing themselves hard enough. Recommendation: more than enough good stuff to keep Shins listeners happy; for everyone else, not the first port of call.
mp3: The Shins--"Sleeping Lessons" (from Wincing The Night Away)
mp3: The Shins--"Turn On Me" (from Wincing The Night Away)
mp3: The Shins--"So Says I" (from Chutes Too Narrow)
mp3: The Shins--"One By One All Day" (from Oh, Inverted World)
Thursday, February 8, 2007
When You've Nothing Else Write About The Weather
Spare a thought for our UK cousins today.
Just look at that snow in London..
And the cold!
Severe overnight weather warnings have been issued for Wales, the Midlands and southern England.
Temperatures could fall as low as -4C (25F) in Wales and the Midlands. Elsewhere, in south east England and western Scotland, it will be -3C (26F).
S'like being in the 'Peg.
Just look at that snow in London..
And the cold!
Severe overnight weather warnings have been issued for Wales, the Midlands and southern England.
Temperatures could fall as low as -4C (25F) in Wales and the Midlands. Elsewhere, in south east England and western Scotland, it will be -3C (26F).
S'like being in the 'Peg.
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