Brian James's Blog, page 28

Series of Unfortunate Events (The Wide Window)

Avoiding the advice of Lemony Snicket and the words of the theme song, I did not look away. I continue to view the miserable circumstances of the Baudelaire orphans and the endless pursuit of the ruthless Count Olaf as he seeks to dispose of them and get his hands on the fortune they are set to inherit. Last night, I watched the two part adaptation of the third book, The Wide Window.
Admittedly, this was my least favorite episode so far, but I still really enjoyed. The sets in this one were spectacular and reminded me of The City of Lost Children. The sailor themed costumes also nodded back to that film, which is one of my favorites. 
Aunt Josephine was never my favorite caregiver as I find her more frustrating than some of the others. She was played a bit over dramatically, but somehow it still worked. It was also at this point in the book series where Mr. Poe started to get on my nerves. WHY CAN'T ANYONE DO RIGHT BY THESE CHILDREN! But therein lies the joy for child audiences. They are the superior characters.
The Baudelaire siblings however really grew up in this episode, become far more active, brave, and confident. Neil Patrick Harris was brilliant once again as Captain Sham. All in all, it was another great episode and lays the groundwork for some of the action that is to come.

Series of Unfortunate Events (The Reptiel Room)

As I wrote yesterday, I'm continuing to make my way through the Netflix adaptation of Series of Unfortunate Events. Yesterday, I finished the two-part episode of the second book, The Reptile Room. This episode was fantastic, and even more Wes Anderson inspired than the previous one.
The Baudelaires, having escaped the care of the evil Count Olaf are placed in the care of Uncle Monty, as their parents had requested in their will. Naturally on guard, the siblings are reluctant to accept this eccentric new caregiver but find that he's as warm and kind as he seems. 
It doesn't take long for a poorly disguised Count Olaf to find them and begin to work a new elaborate evil plot to secure their fortune. One of the things that I love about this series, both the books and the show, is how the adults are basically clueless to things that should be so obvious, which is one of the facts of childhood from the perspective of children. This really comes through in these episodes.
Another great part of this episode is the elaboration on the bigger story of the secret organization, V.F.D.  The weaving of this aspect of the books into the show is so wonderfully done.
The acting continues to be a strength. Aasif Mandvi is brilliant as Monty, and Neil Patrick Harris shows his range as he takes on the first of Olaf's many disguises.

Series of Unfortunate Event (A Bad Beginning)

With some free time this week, I decided to dive into the Netflix interpretation of the great Lemony Snickett books. When these books came out, I devoured the first six or seven before abandoning it because it got even a little too depressing for me, someone who loves depressing art. I did watch the movie when it came out fourteen years ago, and while I found it entertaining, it was disappointing, as would be expected when you try to cram so much material into one film. So I was intrigued to see how it would play out in longer serial television format.
The first two episodes cover the first novel. I will admit that I nearly gave up on it after the first episode, because it was so horribly dark. The Baudelaire siblings live through the most abusive situation in this book and it's a little difficult to adjust to the twisted humor of the story. But thankfully, by the second episode, they were able to figure out how to portray the lighter, loving aspects of the story in a way that made it much more enjoyable to watch. 
The cast of this show is phenomenal. Neil Patrick Harris is practically mesmerizing and the kids are perfect. The look of the show is like something out of a Wes Anderson film and very effectively captures the mood of the stories. 
I love how the show has the meta element of being aware of itself. Along these lines, the addition of Lemony Snickett as a character and a framer of the story is brilliantly done. This show once again proves that television is currently the better format to capture the complexities and breadth of series publishing.

Weekend Music Roundup!

Welcome to the first Roundup of the new year! As the first releases begin to trickle out, I'm always excited to see what another year of music will bring. In the meantime, there's still mountains of music from years before that needs to be heard and digested. I still have a bunch of music from last year that I hadn't had a chance to properly hear. I'll be sharing some of those in the coming weeks, as well as discoveries from before that. Enjoy.
Welles - Red Trees and White Trashes: The debut full length album from the California native is very enjoyable indie rock that has throwbacks to the 00's and even late '90s with garage rock and grunge influences that sound inspired by the music coming out during the last decade. This was one of those albums that I knew I liked upon first listen, and then come to really like on second listen. "Seventeen" and "9.8" are two of the best songs I've heard in a long time. 
The Decemberists - Traveling On: This new EP follows the Portland bands wonderful full length album released earlier in the year. These songs were tracks that didn't make the cut, but are no less wonderful than what was included. The title track is amazing, but fans will certainly love every song on here. Once again, they affirm themselves as one of the best bands of the century so far.

Neon - Neon: The one and only album from the psychedelic blues band was released in 1971. I picked this up at the local shop a few weeks back based on the cover and some listener ratings. This is nothing too earth-shattering, but it's a good hard rock record. Having never been released on CD and never re-issued on vinyl, it's become one of those obscure albums that dealers like to over-charge for. Luckily my local shop keeps prices reasonable. Definitely worth checking out if you're into heavy blues rock from the era. 
Sleep Party People - Lingering Pt. II: This is the Danish neo-psych band's fifth album and I took a chance on it based on the fact that they used a Mark Ryden image for the cover. This is a bit on the quiet side, as the band title might suggest. It reminds me a bit of MGMT at their lazy moments, but that's not to suggest there isn't something pleasing about the record, it's just kind of background music. Enjoyable, dreamy, and a bit experimental.
Craig Wedren - Adult Desire: The Shudder to Think singer's fourth solo record was released in 2017, and recently re-released in this deluxe edition. I've always been a fan of his work, but missed this one when it came out, so I was glad to catch it this time around. It follows the lo-key style of his other solo work, but infuses glitch pop into the sound and does so very effectively. His work is so subtle that I think it's often overlooked, especially considering how dynamic and different Shudder to Think were in the 90's, but I think that's one of things that makes it special.
Peel Dream Magazine - Modern Meta Physic: The debut album from the New York musician, Joe Stevens, is an experimental lo-fi piece that is interesting, if not altogether absorbing. There's a lot of tape looping here and lots of recorded old television playback and it's all mashed together to create a sonic scrapbook of sorts. Definitely an interesting listen, but nothing particularly new or earth shattering.
T.I.T.S. - Throughout the Ages: The debut album from the San Fran female noise rock band was released as a split with Leopard Leg. Picked up this 2006 noise rock record a few months back for $1 and it's a surprisingly great improvisation of noise rock. With roots in '90s Rrriot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill, Cake-like, and Babes in Toyland, this is record takes that sound and interprets it through darkwave noise rock that reminds me of Queenadreena. Each side of the record contains one track that weaves it's way through a soundscape of pleasant nightmares. I love making discoveries like this.

We All Float On...

The new year has always truly felt like a new year in my life because my birthday falls on the last day of the first week of the calendar change. I've often wonder what significance a new year had on people whose birthday fell much later in the year because it would seem so artificial to me, the cycle of my life having always been tied to Earth's journey around the sun.
Something else that I find interesting is how the journey changes during adulthood. The passage of time becomes one of things that is tracked not by numbers but by experiences. As a parent, the passage of time is something I see in the changes in my daughter more than in myself. It's made me more appreciative of the journey.

Weekend Music Roundup Best of 2018!

As the year winds down, it's time for my annual list of favorite albums from the year that was. This was another amazing year for music, just as every year has been for my entire life. People who say that there is no good music coming out just don't bother trying to find it. It exists. It's there. You just need to open your ears and listen. Here are my favorites in relative order, though nothing is absolute.
Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Wasteland
 Mystic Braves - The Great Unknown

The Decemberists - I'll Be Your Girl

The Good, The Bad, and The Queen - Merrie Land


L.A. Witch - Octubre

Green Seagull - Scarlet Fever
Sleep - The Sciences
Ryley Walker - Deafman Glance

Armand Hammer - Paraffin

Holly Miranda - Mutual Horse

Bill Ryder-Jones - Yawn

Jordaan Mason - Earth to Ursa Major

Ty Segall - Freedom's Goblin

Black Thought - Streams of Thought Vol. 1 and 2

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Something Else


Gorillaz - The Now Now
Richard Swift - The Hex

T. Hardy Morris - Dude, The Obscure

The Growlers - Casual Acquaintences   Emma Ruth Rundle - On Dark Horses

Cat Power - Wanderer

 


Honorable Mentions:
Interpol - MarauderThe Vines -  In Miracle LandNas - NasirHockey Dad - Blend InnLucero - Among the GhostsFranz Ferdinand - Always AscendingDeath Valley Girls - Darkness RainsThe Charlatans - Totally EclipsingBasement Revolver - Heavy Eyes

Fiction Friday (74)

On the next to last Friday of the year, I've finished reading another book. This is one that took me quite some time to get through as I tried to savor it's brilliance. At this point in my life, there are fewer and fewer pieces of art that truly amaze me, be it literature, film, music, or otherwise. That isn't to say I've lost my sense of amazement, simply that my experiences have exposed me to the vast underground of forgotten art and there remains very little stones to be unturned. But there are still hidden gems out there and when I find them now, my enthusiasm for the discovery is even greater.
The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen
(New Directions, 1961)

Originally published in 1941, this is a post-modern novel before the term really existed. It's clearly twenty years ahead of it's time and reads like a foundation for books by Burroughs and Pynchon and the French new novel movement of the '50s, though shockingly American in every way.

Set against the backdrop of WWII and the rise of fascism, this surrealist novel examines the war that takes place endless within the psyche, both of the individual and society. It breaks all conventions of plot and narrative structure as it attempts to break open the conventions of novel writing, which Patchen (primarily a poet) seems to hold in low regard.

In many ways, this feels like an accessible Finnagan's Wake in that it is a love of language, a tribute to the written word liberated from the weight of plot and character development. Anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-conventions, this is still a profound novel almost 80 years after it's publication, so I can just imagine the total shock it caused when it debuted.

Um...Nope!

Over the past decade or so, I've seen this annoying little elf pop up here and there. Seeing as how I didn't have children, I paid no attention to it. I thought it was little more than a game. It wasn't until this season that I learned the purpose of this terrible symbol.
So devilish imp is Santa's spy? Parents move it each night so that kids will think it is real? He's watching kids to make sure they are being good and reporting it back to Santa? That's the basic idea from what I can gather, and I think it's terrible. I get you want kids to behave, and Santa is often invoked to coerce children into behaving, but this goes a little too far. 
Given that we live in a society where we know that we are under constant surveillance, both by our government and many corporations, the last thing I want is to normalize this for my child. I don't want her to accept it and I don't want to make into a game. So this is a tradition that I will never take up and will urge all my parenting friends to avoid as well.

Weekend Music Roundup

The weekend is here, the last one before the holiday weekend. And though I really hate posting the Roundup without having posted anything else between the last one, I decided to go ahead as this will be the last one before my year-end roundup. I wanted to get in a bunch of 2018 releases that I recently listened to and threw in a past release that I'd been meaning to include for some time. Enjoy.
Kurt Vile - Bottle It In: With his tenth album. the Philly native and once member of The War on Drugs continues to establish himself as one of the premier folk rock artists of the time. This album doesn't stray from the sound he's created on his previous records. He swaggers through these guitar heavy tracks with confidence and bravado and delivers another quality record. "Rollin with the Flow," "Check Baby," and "Come Again" are personal favorites of mine.  
Black Thought - Streams of Thought Vol. 2: Following the first volume released earlier this year, the Roots man released the second volume of hard hitting rhymes last month. Like the last volume, this gets right down the beginnings of Black Thought's career, using jazz influences and socially conscious lyrics to talk about the world as he sees it. The two EPs combined make for an incredible listen and some of the best hip-hop released this year. 
Ordos - Ordos: The self-released debut from the Swedish stoner metal band is one I sought out after loving their official debut two years ago. As expected, this one is less polished, but the rawness of it actually serves the band well. There's something primal that comes out in these recordings as opposed to the more orchestrated doom of the official release. This six track record is pretty much flawless stoner metal, with "Hounds of Hell," "Crossing Over," and "The Witch" being standouts. 
Electric Citizen - Helltown: The third album from the Ohio heavy psych band falls somewhere between many genres. It's not exactly stoner rock, not exactly power metal, and certainly not what I often think of as heavy psych. There are definite NWOBHM influences that remind me of Iron Maiden. This is a band I'd been meaning to check out since their debut four years ago, but never got around to it until now. "Heart Attack," "Ripper," "The Pawn," and "Mother's Little Reject" are my personal favorites.

Death Valley Girls - Darkness Rains: Garage rock bands from L.A. rarely seem to disappoint me, so when I came across this album, the band's third, I wasn't about to skip over it. I'm glad I didn't. This is a blistering garage noise rock album that never really lets up from start to finish. It reminds me of early Yeah Yeah Yeahs with an West Coast psych feel. "More Dead," "Wear Black," "Abre Camino," and "Street Justice" are among my favorites.

Ty Segall - Fudge Sandwich: With his fourth album of the year, I'm left wondering if Ty Segall ever sleeps. This album of covers is another exception piece of lo-fi garage rock with incredible re-workings on songs by Funkadelic, John Lennon, Neil Young, and others. "Slowboat," "Lo Rider," "The Loner," "Class War," and "Isolation" are my personal favorites on this delightful covers record.

Weekend Music Roundup

The weekend has arrived and there are two roundups left before I put together my best of the year list. So I'm trying to listen to a bunch of remaining 2018 albums that I have in the que. This week I bring my thoughts on seven releases from this year, some are in definite consideration for the best of list, others not, but definitely worthy of a listen. Hopefully there's something on here for you to discover before the end of the year. Enjoy.
Bill Ryder-Jones - Yawn: The latest solo record from former member and founding guitarist of The Coral is another beautifully crafted indie singer songwriter album in the style of Nick Drake with shoegaze guitar breaking through every now an again. Over the past decade he has consistently released these quiet wonderful albums, and this might be the best yet. One great line sums up his style for me, when he sings, "there's a fortune to be had in telling everyone your sad." Lots of great songs on here, including "There's Something on Your Mind," "Time Will be the Only Savior," "And Then There's You," and "No One's Trying to Kill You." 
The Good, The Bad, and the Queen - Merrie Land: It's been 11 years since the Damon Albarn project released it's last (and only) album. Of course, he's been busy with Gorillaz, Blur and six million other things he's always doing, but I'm definitely glad this is a project he returned to. Like the s/t debut, this is a record lovely surreal record that blends dark cabaret with elements of art pop to create something poignant and special. "Gun to the Head," "Ribbons," "The Poison Tree," and the title track are my personal favorites. 
She Makes War - Brace for Impact: The fifth album from the London singer songwriter Laura Kidd has a 90's rock feel, with influences from grunge, The Breeders, and rrriot grrrl bands, but fused with a pop rock sensibility that makes it sound current. I definitely enjoyed this record and feel confident that a lot of her favorite artists are also mine. "Devastate Me," "Hold On," "Undone," and "Let Me Down," are personal favorites for me. 
The Myrrors - Borderlands: The sixth album in 10 years from the Arizona psych band is one of those albums the mixes psychedelic folk with drone to create lengthy soundscapes. I listened to this one while driving through the autumn rain and it made a great soundtrack for that experience. It's probably the kind of album that won't get a ton of listens in my world, mostly because it demands some time and attention to fully appreciate the world it creates. Certainly worth exploring if drone psych is your thing. 
Plastic Tears - Angels with Attitude: This glam band from Finland has been around for a long time, but has released only three albums, each nine years apart. This is the newest one, released this year and it reminds me a lot of the only other Finnish glam band that I know, Hanoi Rocks. This is definitely a throwback to 80's glam metal, and it succeeds at times at capturing the best of that genre, though it also falls into some of the traps that represent the aspects of the genre that people despise. Interesting for those who are curious to hear what's happening in the revived world of what is referred to as "hair metal." 
Tina Dickow - Fastland: This is the tenth album from the Danish folk pop artist (also known as Tina Dico). I was first turned on to her work with her 2010 release, four albums ago. She's got an amazing voice that fluctuates easily between pop and folk, as does the music on her albums, enough so that I don't mind the more pop elements that otherwise would not interest me. "Parked Car," "Not Even Close," and "People are Strange" are my personal favorites. 

Weedcamp - Weedcamp: The debut record from the German stoner rock band is six instrumental grooves that kind of get everything right. A lot of times, at least for me, a lot of stoner rock bands kind of get the levels wrong, or go too heavy on the drums, or loose focus...hence the pitfalls hinted at in the genre name. This is nice short album that doesn't stray from what it's best at and I found myself feeling it throughout. You can check it out on their Bandcamp page linked above.