Brian James's Blog, page 4

Under My Wings

Under My Wings

A

promise

of 

peace

as far as

the shadow of 

my wings can spread

and that all

imaginative 

sins of self-exploration

will be 

           forever

                     blessed.

 

Weekend Music Roundup

 

The weekend has arrived and as promised, I'm sharing my thoughts on a couple of new albums that I'd been looking forward to, as well as some older albums that I've that picked up over the past several weeks. The first two albums here are releases from two of my favorite artists of the past ten years and both live up to expectations. There's also a few nice discoveries and some things I'd been looking for. Hopefully there's something here that will make you all want to go exploring. Enjoy.

Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over the Country Club: The newest album from the queen of broken hearts is another sun soaked saga of sorrow. Her last album had been my favorite of the year it was released (as had Ultraviolence). So needless to say, my expectations for a new Lana album are always pretty high. I admit that upon first listen, I wasn't sure how I felt. There were certainly songs I loved, but I wasn't sure how I felt about the entire thing. On second listen, I fell in love a little bit and realized this one had the potential to grow on me the way NFR did. Now many listens in, I really love this album.

Ryley Walker - Course in Fable: This is the first solo album in a few years from the prolific songwriter who has done a bunch of collaborations recently, but not an album of his own until this. I've been a big fan since first hearing Primrose Green when it came out and have eagerly listened to each release since. I saw him play a few years ago and he was brilliant. He plays a free folk style rooted deep in Americana and has this 70s vibe to his music that speaks to my childhood. This is yet another solid addition to his incredible catalog. 

American Pleasure Club - Tour Tape: This mixtape comp was released in 2018 by the Baltimore indie band. It had been sitting in my folder of albums to listen to for ages and I finally got around to giving it a listen. This lo-fi indie pop, and the lo-fi aspect of it is what makes it interesting, lending a neo-psych sound to what otherwise would be pretty standard indie. There's a decent amount of mixtape montages on here, but the songs "All I Ever Wanted," "Attitude Pt. 2," "But Not Enough to Sleep Tonight," and "Together in the Big Black Car" are standouts. 

Swans - Feel Good Now: This live album was recorded in 1987 on the NYC bands' European tour. Their albums from this period are much more abrasive than their more well-known work of the past two decades, but the essence is the same. It straddles the line between experimental no-wave and post-rock. The intensity of this band is one of the things that attracts me, and is one of the reasons they've become one of the bands that I've fallen in love with over the past year. It's one of the elements of fate when you encounter a sound that illuminates your thoughts. It's all about finding something at the right time and place. 

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Shyga! the Sunlight Mound: This is the fourth album by the band from the Perth. This is heavy psych meets garage rock, and a pleasant surprise in my world. This is fast pace psychedellic rock as opposed to the slower heavier brand that dominates the genre. It definitely reminds me of King Gizzard in that way, but this is definitely less polished. I personally like the raw elements. "Sawtooth Monkfish," "Tally-Ho," "Mr. Prism," and "The Tale of Gurney Gridman" are personal favorites.

Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers - Bustin' Loose: The 1979 debut from D.C. go-go funk band is an album that had been on my wishlist for a long time. I learned about these guys from Wale who sampled them pretty heavily. This is soulful funk at it's best. Definitely a great party album, if we ever get back to a time when parties are a thing.

 

Fiction Friday (130)

 

The creation of a Teen book club at my library has propelled me into my deepest exploration of YA literature in a couple of years. For the next selection, I chose a contemporary fiction, and one of the more celebrated books of last year. Written in verse, this was a very compelling novel and one I'm glad I read.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo(Haper, 2020)

Camino and Yahaira are sisters. One lives in NYC and the other lives in the Dominican Republic. They are both seventeen and both unaware that the other exists until tragedy strikes at the heart of both of their lives, killing the father they shared.

Though we often like to believe we can take secrets to our grave, life rarely works out that way, and secrets tend to be revealed once a person dies. Papi's secrets are of the later variety. In New York, Yahaira has known of his father's other wife for almost a year, but never said anything. After her father dies in a plane crash, she discovers that everyone else already knew the secret...and that there was more to it. As she grapples with a need to meet the sister she never knew, Camino struggles with how she is going to survive without the finical support her father provided. 

Told in verse from alternating perspectives, this is a novel of family betrayal, healing, and ultimately forgiveness. The language is careful and striking at times, bringing both girls to life as it shares their hopes and dreams and anxieties. One thing that I found interesting and telling was there there are no redeemable male characters in this novel. As a male reader, it was eye opening to see that this is a reality for many women and girls. It was also uplifting to see how the female characters in the story come together to support each other without the need of a male character.

Silent Explorers

 

Silent Explorers

Every you & every me, sitting in a tree.

K - I - S - S -I - N - G                   

                                         games now broadcast on screen for the whole world to see.                     

Spy on your neighbors,

Spy on your friends,      

             Never allow their secrets                          

                            to belong to them.

Weekend Music Roundup

 

The weekend is here and the Roundup is back. I took last weekend off for the holiday...had to get prepared for the Easter Bunny's visit. I've been listening to a ton of new releases recently now that the year is a quarter of the way through. Some really cool albums have come out and I'll be sharing them over the coming weeks. There have also been some quality re-issues and lost classics that I've been into. Hopefully there's something here to interest you. Enjoy.

Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay - Outsider: Taking the words of Henry Darger's cult masterpiece "In the Realms of the Unreal" and setting them to music sounds like an impossible task to do successfully. At least that was my thought when I first heard about this project the French musician was embarking on. Then I heard a song and knew exactly how wrong I was. Musically it would fall under chamber pop and indie folk, but so brilliantly crafted to fit words. An extraordinary beautiful album. 

Death From Above - Is 4 Lovers: The first album in three years and half years from Toronto noise rock band is their fourth, and third since re-forming in 2014 after a 10 year hiatus. This is a band that has never made a bad album in my opinion, and this continues that trend. It should also be said that this doesn't tread any new ground, just drums and guitar and melodic aggression. It follows their formula, which is alright by me, and I'm guessing it will be alright by their fans.

Red Krayola - The Parable of Arable Land: The 1967 debut from the Houston experimental psych rock band was re-released in Mono on vinyl about a decade ago. On a recent trip to the local shop with my kiddo, she picked it out for me because of the cover and asked "Do you want this one?" I most definitely did as this one of the early albums from the band I was missing, and having now heard it, I can say it's the best of them. The free form freak out serves them well, feels a bit like 13th Floor Elevators meets The Residents with the attitude of the first Stooges album. There's just enough attention to melody to make it a very listenable album for its genre. "War Sucks" and "Former Reflections Enduring Doubt" are total standouts.

Nikki Sudden - The Bible Belt: Released in 1983, this was one of the first solo albums from the Swell Maps underground icon. While Nikki would go on to have quite a prolific career, he is rarely talked about in the mainstream. His work usually veers toward punk blues infused with jangle pop. This album leans much farther to the jangle sound, a few years before that sound would sweep the UK. At times it sounds like Happy Mondays before there was a Happy Mondays. A reissue features other version of album tracks and some non-album tracks. 

Lucero - When You Found Me: Formed in the late-90s in Memphis, these guys have been one of the top alt-country bands of last two decades. Released in January, this is their first album in three years. This has a real radio friendly feel with arena sized bar tunes. This was an okay album for me, one that leaned too heavily into country rock. The title track was by far my favorite.

 

 

 

Fiction Friday (129)

 

Technically, this post should be titled Non-Fiction Friday, but as I never real nonfiction (as a general rule), I kept the title because this is my Book Review template. This was a book that the Library Book Club had chosen, and I fully expected to skip this one, but decided to give a chance and see how I felt about a non-fiction book after having not read one for some time. Also, it was narrative non-fiction which is always more appealing to me.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester(Harper, 1998)

Though there was an army of people responsible for the daunting task of creating the Oxford English Dictionary in Victorian times, this is the story of two of the most important, and intriguing, figures. The tale begins with a murder committed by an American army doctor in the slums of London and details his unlikely journey to becoming one of the most valuable volunteers to contribute to this monumental undertaking...from his rooms of a hospital for the criminally insane.

This extremely well-written and well-researched story was extremely compelling. Not only does it delve into the fascinating lives of Dr. Minor and Professor James Murry and their unlikely friendship, it also tells the story of trying to quantify and contain an unwieldy language into an authoritative document.

The Day of Worrisome SynergyA habit of learned behavior ...

 The Day of Worrisome Synergy

A habit of learned behavior  accelerates when self-created . . 

and evolutionary war instincts take hold inside

                                                              Magic Creatures.

New Holy wars are born in the conflict . . in which

Angels arrive and Angels die.

Devils always remain the same . . 

    living somewhere out of time.

Weekend Music Roundup

 

The weekend is here, and it appears so it Spring...at least around these parts where the snow has melted, the flowers have bloomed, and the breeze has warmed. This week I've got a few new releases and some recent pick-ups of older albums. It's mostly rock, but with a dash of funk thrown in. Happy exploring and as always, enjoy.

Nik Turner and the Space Falcons - Interstellar Energy: The new album from Hawkwind alum and The Orb's Youth, this bit of space rock/jazz was released last spring. Nik Turner has re-found his 70s style on his recent albums, and this one continues that trend. An immersive piece of space-y soundscrapes that will please any old school fan of the Hawk. "Sygnus," "Solar Probe," and "Space" are personal favorites. 

Bauhaus - In the Flat Field: The groundbreaking 1980 debut from the gothic was an album that was sorely missing from my collection. This is a band that I haven't listened to thoroughly since my youth and I forgot how amazing they are. Along with Christian Death and Joy Division, these guys are the architects of a sound that has always reached into that place of imaginary creation. A deserving classic. 

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators - Living the Dream: Released in 2018, this is the third album that Slash collaborated with Myles Kennedy on and they are truly in-sync on these tunes. The guitarist slips even further into a traditional guitarist role despite the font size of his name on the cover. Myles is the star of this album. He sounds amazing, blending the Seattle metal sound with Slash's L.A. sleaze guitar. This isn't music that I think the youth would respond to, and I say that because this is a great example of Generation X still making art that speaks to their own generation as it matures. I love that about us."My Antidote," "Lost Inside the Girl," "Slow Grind," and "The Great Pretender" are standouts for me. 

Arab Strap - As Days Get Dark: The first proper album in 15 years from the British indietronica band. I first came in contact with this band in the mid-90s, and their blend of spoken word, electronic and experimental indie music was pretty cutting edge. It's been imitated a lot in the past two decades, but they still do it better than most. As the title suggest, this is a bleak album, not that any of their others are exactly uplifting. It's very much a document into the mind of modern humanity.

 

The Telescopes - Songs of Love and Revolution: The 12th album from the UK band that started it's career in latest of the 80s. This is a band that I recently discovered their old music, a fantastic early 90's Spacemen 3 psych noise before developing into one of the pioneering shoegazer bands of the decade. They have remained true to that sound, creating soundscapes that seem to get progressively darker on this album. This is one of those true dead of winter albums. "Strange Waves," "Mesmerised," and "You're Never Alone with Despair" are personal favorite. 

 

Joe Tex - Bumps and Bruises: My introduction to Joe Tex was on the Death Proof soundtrack, which left me much impressed by the Texas soul artist, best known for his rivalry and disputes with James Brown. Released in '77, this album is one of the last before his untimely death five years later. This is definitely more funk than soul, seen through the disco prism. This is a party album, and Joe Tex knew how to party. When I came across this album for $5 at the local shop, I knew it was going to totally be worth $5 bucks.

Fiction Friday (128)

 

I've continued my exploration into new YA fiction and picked up this recent debut from the library. This was not the type of book I typically gravitate towards, but I've been trying to expand my horizons. It helps that I'm a sucker for alien invasions.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow(Inkyard Press, 2020)

Set in the near future, Earth has been conquered by an alien race of beings who look human and run on electricity. Janelle and her family are among the surviving humans, imprisoned in their NYC apartment complex that has been turned into a type of re-education center. But as the aliens prepare a vaccine designed to turn the humans into a shell to be occupied by alien tourists, time is running out. Determined not to loose the stories that make us human, Janelle runs a forbidden library despite the penalty of death if she is caught.

What Janelle doesn't know is that not of the aliens are as cold and unfeeling as they pretend to be, until she meets one named Morris. Brought together by a love of music and stories, the unlikely pair set out on an adventure that might just save humanity.

Told in alternating chapters, this enjoyable debut explores the power of emotions to overcome difficulty and how love can bloom even in the most unusual of circumstances. There were moments when I felt the love story was dragged out a little bit, and moments when I felt it tried too hard to connect the contemporary fiction elements with the sci-fi elements, but overall, I found it quite entertaining and compelling.

Once Upon a Time...

 

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was heaven.

Once upon a time there was not...

Once upon a time they believed there'd be heaven again.

Once upon a time, they did not.