Saturday, July 28, 2007

In the parlance of our times

Every time I drive past the Zen Center on Highway 1 in Marin County, I ask my passenger, "You know what happens there, don't you?"

"No, what?"

"Nothing."


FMFM: Joe Henry's Civilians (due in stores 9/11/07), which indeed addresses a tearful nation via the wobbly knees of Willie Mays. Henry pretty much knocks this one out of the park. (My full review will appear in the next No Depression.)

Friday, July 20, 2007

More quake

A little more information about this morning's geologic shrug:

∙ I was 17.43 miles from the epicenter
∙ Classified as "weak" in my ZIP code, but "moderate" in the East Bay
∙ My housemate, a much lighter sleeper than I am, did not wake up!

Buns of steel

The Chinese tainted-food scandal now has its Jayson Blair.

Wonder if they'll execute him too.

I feel the sky tumbling down

Yeah, I felt it.

It woke me from a dream in which we -- me and somebody else, can't remember who -- were chasing a rat around the house. I think it was my old house in Baltimore. We didn't know if the rat was in the same room as us; we thought maybe it was behind the dresser. And then everything started creaking. First I thought the rat was scratching behind some furniture... and then I was awake, and fully aware that the furniture was moving. Ten seconds of jiggle, with the mattress going back and forth, but no real shocks. It was over quickly.

I turned on the radio, and heard the KCBS news reporter talking about how most people don't have earthquake insurance because it's too expensive. And then he sort of chuckled and reported that a little quake had just happened, although he didn't feel it down at Battery and Broadway. KCBS always takes phone calls from all over the Bay Area when little tremors roll through -- starting with their own reporters, then going to the general public. It's like the Oakland A's postgame show!

I think I've felt six quakes in eight years. I was dining at Le Soleil with my visiting photographer friend when the last one rolled through in March. She didn't notice it, but I could see the light fixtures swaying and felt my chair go to jelly. Cool.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

National velveteen

About that National record....

I haven't heard any of the National's work prior to Boxer. What enticed me to buy the record was "Fake Empire", the "single" given away as a free download prior to Boxer's release. I liked the initially deceptive three-against-four piano part, the looped horns at the end, the tip-of-the-iceberg lyrics that imply more than they give away, the casual delivery that's mercifully restrained from over-emoting. That, along with reports (widespread in certain circles) that the National were a good band, sent me to the store.

"Fake Empire" is a very good song, and while it's probably the best thing on Boxer, I'm not wholly disappointed with the rest. There are loud moments, barely-there quiet interludes, sonic experiments and straightforward songs, and yet the whole thing holds together. It's one record where I prefer that the singer delivers almost every line exactly the same way, and maybe that's the consistent element that makes the whole album sound like it comes from one place. (He's probably going for a dramatic Joy Division thing, but he comes off a little like like Mark Knopfler sometimes. I'm OK with that, although as a vocalist, Knopfler was a great guitar player.)

There are some very lovely moments that are difficult to pull off; the string arrangement on "Brainy" is one*. Some of the more spartan songs may have been even harder to get right; "Start A War" vaguely reminds me of Greg Brown or one of Dave Alvin's dronier pieces. It would have been very easy for this record to come out something like an Interpol product (the bands share a producer), but where I find that band a little corny and half-baked, the National is somewhat more approachable.

I see that at least one reviewer has pegged Alligator (2005) as a "grower," with "initially off-putting and seemingly obtuse... non sequiturs and stray details [that] proved unpretentiously poetic over time." Boxer may or may not share that characteristic, but I'm not yet convinced that the writing's going to reveal itself as all that deep. Can I possibly be hearing at least three songs expressing distaste for what bankers wear when they go to work? (Hey, man, is this, you know, a concept album?) Two years, and this is what you have to say? Bitching about yuppie clothes?

Its unbroken tension is what makes Boxer work; I think several songs would play nicely on a film soundtrack -- say, in a black-and-white film with a lot of nudity. (Remember when Pete Buck called one of R.E.M.'s outtakes "a movie theme without a movie"?) It's good enough to take seriously, but I'm worried that what you see is all you're going to get, and that it's less a grower than an empty bit of atmosphere.

- - -

*I meant "Squalor Victoria" here, but the bit at the end of "Brainy" is nicely done too.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

#3

More musical musings in my third HuffPo salvo.