April Album Reviews

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Absolutely Love & Adore:

The Raconteurs “Consolers of the Lonely” – Another rocking album from a great band. Can Jack White write a bad song or produce a bad album? Not so far! “Old Enough” and “Top Yourself” are my faves. If you get the chance to see them live, I highly recommend it.

Joe Purdy “You Can Tell Georgia” – There’s nothing unexpected here, but it’s all good: lovely lyrics, pretty arrangements, melancholy but not super sad. I mean, except for “Ode to a Sad Clown”. “Can’t Get It Right Today” is also great, even if it is on a commercial.

Meg Hutchinson “Come Up Full” – This album has been on repeat since I bought it, at least once a day, I swear. Can’t get enough. Listen to “Ready” “Home” and “Come Up Full”, then come tell me how you love it.

Joseph Arthur “Crazy Rain” (EP) – Digital, dark, dirty, scratchy. Magnificent.

Joseph Arthur “Could We Survive” (EP) – Very different than Crazy Rain. Choral, thick, harmonic. Insistent.

Fleet Foxes “Sun Giant” (EP) – Gorgeous. Layered. I might actually love this EP more than the full album. CSNY harmonies, but without that country/folk twinge. I’ve heard it called freak folk (?) but somehow I missed out on ever knowing about that genre. Whatevah! I’d call it “Alternapop” myself, ha ha ha ha. (If you like Sea Wolf or even Shearwater, I think you’d like this too.)

Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):

  • “Buildings & Mountains” The Republic Tigers
  • “She Loves Everybody” Chester French
  • “Roadway Hymn” La Rocca
  • “Dust” Augustana
  • “Everywhere” (Paul Devro blend…) Fleetwood Mac
  • “Tick of Time” The Kooks
  • “Heart of Mine” Peter Salett (old! from a fave flick: “Keeping the Faith”)
  • “Fighter Girl” Mason Jennings
  • “New Soul” (Yael Naim cover) Tristan Prettyman
  • “Rise” Will Dailey

Other Albums I Liked:

  • The Magic Numbers “Undecided” (EP) – Always love their harmonies.
  • Duke Special “Songs from the Deep Forest” – Very theatrical and dramatic. Seems like it should be the soundtrack to something. Unusual.
  • Jason Anderson “The Hopeful and the Unafraid” – Has a very Springsteen/Jesse Malin vibe to it. My faves are the last two “The Post Office” and “The Half of It” that are really, really reminding me of someone else but I just can’t put my finger on it. Morrissey? maybe? Listen and tell me who you hear, it’s on the tip of my tongue…
  • Girlyman “Remember Who I Am” and “Something Different Now” (Live) – I’m really into the live album, it really captures their energy.
  • The Submarines “Honeysuckle Weeks” – Boy/girl vocals. Poppy, electronic. Kinda ’80s feelin.
  • She & Him “Volume One” – This one really grows on you if you give it a chance. Has some very fun, rollicking songs (“This Is Not a Test”) and I’m really into Zoey’s voice. LOVE the Beatles cover.
  • The Weepies “Hideaway” – Aw, so sweet and melodic. As with Joe Purdy, you know beforehand what you’re getting. But if it’s what you like, you’ll be happy.
  • Madonna “Hard Candy” – I know it’s cool to harsh on Madonna these days. I guess I’m just not that cool!!! I really like the upbeat dancy rhythms on this album. And the lyrics? Are SUCH a great contrast to the music. It kinda sounds like a breakup album, and you know I’m in a permanent state of breakup. “Miles Away”, “She’s Not Me” and “Incredible” are my faves. Despite what you may have heard, the JT songs are actually not the best ones, to me!

Not really for me / but maybe for you!:

Colin Meloy Sings Live! – I love a lot of these songs in their Decemberists arrangements. But I’m just not into it here. All very “one note”: every song sung with exact same level of intensity, same volume on both vocals and guitar, same earnestness. No ups/downs/louds/softs. Kinda boring. (These same songs on Decemberists albums? Not boring at all!)

Counting Crows “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings” – I like some of the (faster) songs. But it’s a bit much and the second half really drags. On the other hand, it’s their best stuff in years. And I like the live versions I heard on Fuel/Friends a few months before this came out (a lot better).

Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin “Pershing” – I like it the few times I’ve had it on..but I’ve barely listened to it. Too much else going on. It’s on my to-do list. 😉

Best of May

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The best movie I saw in May was Iron Man and it was fucking awesome and definitely the best movie I’ve seen this year (not that I’ve seen many) and it’s so good that even the second time around when you go to a crap ass neighborhood theater and the projector breaks and you have to watch the middle 20 minutes in two-minute increments, it’s STILL brilliant. Are you coming to Chicago? I’d be happy to go to it again!

The best books I read in May were the one-two punch of Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs. Magical and mysterious and yet so human and irresistibly attractive. If only I could have jumped into these books and become an auxiliary character (Another “cousin” for Ward? A romantic interest for Oreg?)… She ranks right up there with Elizabeth A. Lynn as my favorite current fantasy writers.

The best gig I went to in May was probably a tie between the Long Blondes (for actual “best”) and Crowded House (for playing some of my all-time most beloved songs).

My favorite tunes in May….Honestly, I was soooo busy watching BSG over and over (see below), I really didn’t do much listening in May. Which would be why I’m now working on listening to all the many many albums I bought but did not listen to in April, May and (thus far in) June all at once. Doh!

Random personal highlights: MDS&W, not the greatest, but I did get to see my peeps. I watched like* every episode of Battlestar Galactica. Twice. (Or more, depending on how much I loved the episode and how much screen time my Future Husband had ha ha ha ha ha.) I went to visit my nephews. Met my newest cousin! And I got many back/shoulder massages at physical therapy (but see lowlights as well).

Lowlights? Physical therapy: a) the need for it, b) the stretching and lifting and pulling, ow, ow, ow, c) the ice. Hate the ice!! Had to skip a concert (Avett Brothers). Continuing buttloads of stress at the secondary browsing location.
*like used purely for valley girl emphasis, and not to approximate any less than ALL.

À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…

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Eating: Bing cherries. Yum! (1 cup = about 85 calories. Not bad!)

Making: Trying to finish the second sock of a pair started…a million months ago. Before I move on to finishing up Kysa’s Friendship Star quilt, since I finished Ame’s yesterday! Woot!

Reading: Just finished “Life Class” by Pat Barker (very good) and have moved on to “Lush Life” by Richard Price. It’s good. But then again, what book of his isn’t.

Watching: Just watched season 1 of Burn Notice on Hulu (Dear Hulu, how ’bout you try to get Everwood, seasons 1-4? Thanks!). Eh. I don’t like the lead at all, I hate that everything he says in the voiceovers is in his smarmy, self-satisified tone of voice. But I’d love to be skinny, strong and sassy, like Gabrielle Anwar. So there’s that. Since the insanely stupid Sci Fi channel is not going to show the rest of BSG season 4 until fucking next fucking year, I have to find something to watch this summer, before I die of fucking boredom. So I figured if I’m going to be stuck watching season 2 of Burn Notice, I might as well have watched season 1 first.

Listening: Listening to lots of Joseph Arthur (man of many recent EPs) and still obsessing over Meg Hutchinson‘s latest, as well as some singles from Tristan Prettyman and this very theatrical, dramatic album “Songs from the Deep Forest” by Duke Special that I picked up one day after reading Largeheartedboy’s blog where he linked to an interview of someone who recommended this (Paul Weller? maybe?) but I can’t remember who or where. It has a similar tone/feel to the soundtrack to “Spring Awakening” or the Buffy musical episode “Once More with Feeling“.

In Concert: Sea Wolf

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This show was sooooooooooooo good. Dramatic and intense and thick and layered. Cascades of sound. LOVED it. I listened to almost nothing but this album all of December and most of January; I was so happy to hear it live.

Other than the 6’2″ dude in front of us wiping out (passed out? fell? who knows?) — and causing me to fear for my safety in my summer dress up chunky high sandals (like if he falls any closer to me, I might break an ankle trying to get out of his way!) — and then being carried out by his friends in a big commotion it was a great night.

And bonus: the hilarious byplay between the tattooed, muscle-y lead guitarist (as opposed to lead vocalist) and the skinny, 12-teen bassist. For ex., every time the bassist had to shake the tambourine, the lead guitarist would keep looking over and smirking at him like “Ha ha young’un’, you’re stuck with the tambourine!” I thought I might be imagining the whole thing but then TL leaned over and said “Are you catching the teasing going on up there?” Oh yeah, it made them even cuter.

Today’s Lunch-time Comics Run

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So I’m not quite sure how this happened, but somehow I find myself once again making a weekly run to the comics shop to pick up new books. (This happened once for a year or so in NYC and it was ALL Barbara’s fault, you hear me, girl???? But eventually it went by the wayside.)

  • Local #12, the FINAL issue from Brian Wood – A dude who works at the shop got me totally hooked on this series, so much so that in trying to track down the old issues, he wound up bringing in his own copies for the store to sell to me. Now that’s dedication! Presumably it will be released as a graphic novel/compilation, but if you see the single issues, I’d highly recommend them.

  • Angel: After the Fall #8 – They’re not quite as good as the Buffy Season 8s, but I’m enjoying them. (But like Buffy Season 8, they continue on from the point of the TV series’ end, so no point in reading them if you didn’t watch all the way through.) This month will have two issues released.

  • DMZ “On the Ground” (the graphic novel/compilation of DMZ #s 1-5) – Since I am loving the aforementioned Local so much, I thought I might need to check out other Brian Wood books. So I bought issues #30 and #31 of DMZ last week. Totally intriguing. America’s second civil war has taken place. New Jersey & Inland = the Free States. Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island = The United States of America. Manhattan = The “DMZ“. I liked what I read/saw so far, so now I’m starting from the beginning.

Last week: Buffy Season 8 #15 (I also bought Secret Invasion #3 but that might have been released earlier, can’t remember.)

Next week: Runaways #30

À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…

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Eating: Mixed Berry Chewy Spree. Which I’m sure are sour only to me, and holy crap they’re making my face burn up. Could be allergic to them. Better eat 20 more to make sure.

Making: Still the blindstitching to go on Amy’s quilt and so close to being done w/ an elongated Cloud bolero (ravelry link) although at this point I’m fairly convinced I’ll never wind up wearing the thing. Everyone thinks I should wear it with a tanktop but in what weather conditions do a tank top and a wool lacey vest deal go together?

Reading: “The Farther Shore” by Matthew Eck which is really, really good. Welcome to the new generation of war novelists. Tactile and gritty and completely engrossing.

Watching: Battlestar Galactica (old and new) over and over again. And the one and only season of Standoff on Hulu. DAMN, it still pisses me off they cancelled that show. I love episode 2 possibly the best*, but the end of episode 3 is totally (romantically) awesome (Hello, Band of Horses), and also the ends of episodes 12 and 18, just so you know.

Listening: Listening to lots of Joe Purdy (as I may have mentioned), as well as Sea Wolf after seeing their brilliant show last week, (hmmm, which I thought I had written up but apparently not) and Meg Hutchinson. Have bought tons of new stuff; maybe I’ll start listening to that over the weekend. I mean, if I can be unslackerish enough to roll off the couch and press play. I’ve got big relaxation plans going on over here.

*Am I the only one who loves things the “best” rather than the “most”? Where’d I pick that up? I know one of you is to blame. CCB, was it you?

Patheticness of the Day

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This really pretty, beautifully melodic, lovely song off Joe Purdy’s latest album is TOTALLY MAKING ME CRY. And the worst part is, it’s called “Ode to Sad Clown.” COME ON NOW PEOPLE. It is an ode to a sad clown and the lyrics are totally making me cry. Can you get more pathetic and stereotypic than that? I think I better go to bed.

(Nonetheless, I assure you it is a good song. Regardless of the pathetic person listening to it.)

I used to hear the children play
used to hear the birds sing
one day they just stopped
and I don’t hear them anymore…
I got caught in this whistling wind
doin my best to regret these sins
Lord would you forgive me
if you know I’m gonna do it again
it’s not that I’m not sorry Lord,
it’s just that I’m not strong
Oh ’cause when that woman looks at me
I cant remember right from wrong…