Fighting a Nation of Beastly Mystic Rodentia
CD in Play: Mogwai, Mr. Beast
Musical Bliss
Mrs. Bak gave me a gift card from A&B Sound at Christmas. I didn't use it right away because I had known that the FLips would be releasing an album in April. I forgot about the Flips album until Geosomin posted on her blog about it, after which I found the card. The point being, I now have At War With The Mystics for myself. I really do like the album. Very solid and I would have to say that I think ...Mystics is a much stronger album than either Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots or The Soft Bulletin. There is a four song stretch that really gets me - Mr. Ambulence Driver, Haven't Got a Clue, The W.A.N.D. and (of course) Pompeii am Götterdämmerung. Great album, I highly recommend it.
Another album, I was looking forward to but promptly forgot about was Mr. Beast by Mogwai. Thanks to the gift card I was able to pick that up as well. It is the same old Mogwai for the most part, but I do think that Mr. Beast is a slightly different animal than either Rock Action and Happy Songs for Happy People. The later albums really seem more like seperated conjoined twins, very similar in style, tone and structure and eefect. Mr. Beast is certainly by the same band, that could not be mistaken, but they have moved on. The album also includes a few straight forward vocal tunes, an oddity on any Mogwai recording. I picked up the limited edition album for the deluxe packaging and the 40 minute documentary DVD on the making of the album. (I have yet to watch it)
And because I am working again, I went to Audiopile on Commercial and picked up a copy of The Nation of Ulysses' 13 Point Plan to Destroy America recorded way back in 1991. Discord label mates of the better known Fugazi, The Nation is largely unknown to most people but their influence on the music scene has been pretty profound. Bands like At the Drive In, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fatal Flying Guilloteens and especially The Hives, International Noise Conspiracy and Refused (whose groundbreaking Shape of Punk to Come is a little less groundbreaking if you have heard Plays Pretty for Baby) all owe something to The Nation of Ulysses in terms of their sound or the way their political content is expressed. 13 Point Plan... isn't as strong as 1992's Plays Pretty for Baby, but it was a solid buy at $10.00. A little juvenille in many ways, but fun.
Rodentia
I look out my front door and see a fat grey squirrel bounding across the grass and think, "I really wish I some hazelnuts to give you."
I am walking through the parkade at work and see a a fat grey rat scurrying along the base of a wall and think, "Man, I wish I either had a gun or some poison."
Note: squirrels do not seem to like brasil nuts or macadamia nuts. Rats do not like guns, though I have not yet put this to the test.
Moving
I will be moving in with a friend and his family for a couple of months until I can secure other accomodations. I'll still have internet access, but probably even less time given the commute to work. (Slurrey... *erm* Surrey)
Reading Railroad
This post has nothing to do with railroads whatsoever. It does have to do with reading. I was also able to pick up two books very cheaply, Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Orwell is a favourite writer of mine but I started with Fight Club first. Only a third of the way in, but I am surprised at how faithful the film has actually been to the book.
Musical Bliss
Mrs. Bak gave me a gift card from A&B Sound at Christmas. I didn't use it right away because I had known that the FLips would be releasing an album in April. I forgot about the Flips album until Geosomin posted on her blog about it, after which I found the card. The point being, I now have At War With The Mystics for myself. I really do like the album. Very solid and I would have to say that I think ...Mystics is a much stronger album than either Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots or The Soft Bulletin. There is a four song stretch that really gets me - Mr. Ambulence Driver, Haven't Got a Clue, The W.A.N.D. and (of course) Pompeii am Götterdämmerung. Great album, I highly recommend it.
Another album, I was looking forward to but promptly forgot about was Mr. Beast by Mogwai. Thanks to the gift card I was able to pick that up as well. It is the same old Mogwai for the most part, but I do think that Mr. Beast is a slightly different animal than either Rock Action and Happy Songs for Happy People. The later albums really seem more like seperated conjoined twins, very similar in style, tone and structure and eefect. Mr. Beast is certainly by the same band, that could not be mistaken, but they have moved on. The album also includes a few straight forward vocal tunes, an oddity on any Mogwai recording. I picked up the limited edition album for the deluxe packaging and the 40 minute documentary DVD on the making of the album. (I have yet to watch it)
And because I am working again, I went to Audiopile on Commercial and picked up a copy of The Nation of Ulysses' 13 Point Plan to Destroy America recorded way back in 1991. Discord label mates of the better known Fugazi, The Nation is largely unknown to most people but their influence on the music scene has been pretty profound. Bands like At the Drive In, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fatal Flying Guilloteens and especially The Hives, International Noise Conspiracy and Refused (whose groundbreaking Shape of Punk to Come is a little less groundbreaking if you have heard Plays Pretty for Baby) all owe something to The Nation of Ulysses in terms of their sound or the way their political content is expressed. 13 Point Plan... isn't as strong as 1992's Plays Pretty for Baby, but it was a solid buy at $10.00. A little juvenille in many ways, but fun.
Rodentia
I look out my front door and see a fat grey squirrel bounding across the grass and think, "I really wish I some hazelnuts to give you."
I am walking through the parkade at work and see a a fat grey rat scurrying along the base of a wall and think, "Man, I wish I either had a gun or some poison."
Note: squirrels do not seem to like brasil nuts or macadamia nuts. Rats do not like guns, though I have not yet put this to the test.
Moving
I will be moving in with a friend and his family for a couple of months until I can secure other accomodations. I'll still have internet access, but probably even less time given the commute to work. (Slurrey... *erm* Surrey)
Reading Railroad
This post has nothing to do with railroads whatsoever. It does have to do with reading. I was also able to pick up two books very cheaply, Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Orwell is a favourite writer of mine but I started with Fight Club first. Only a third of the way in, but I am surprised at how faithful the film has actually been to the book.
posted by Magnus at 18:33
2 Comments:
Oh, c'mon, have some compassion for the beastly rat!
I am glad to see you getting back into a creatively, artistically mode of writing, however.
You are moving in with several people again. Shades of the past you told me about earlier? Goodness, I hope you can get your own place very soon. Anyway, more in an email, whenever I get around to that! If I am in the habit of talking to people in person, I usually talk to them in person and not by email (and blogging is almost like this, except not as private), if I talk by email, I talk to them by email. I have emailed you in the past, but goodness, I can't remember the last time I sent an email and not a googlechat or a blog message or a phone call to someone!
Have pity for the poor rat! I saw several in Hong Kong as I sat from three o'clock in the morning to six o'clock. They are giant, quick things...and intelligent. They knew to be cautious of me. I shooed them away when they were trying to reach the other side from where I was sitting. I felt a kinship with them (being a zodiac rat). In Chinese astrology, rats and dogs get along. Thus, Sharon and I, I guess. But rats and horses don't get along.
Those dirty rats killed my brother.
As for the change of address, I will be moving in with my friend Gavin and Maria and their three children. They made the offer a while back and it really is a good time to accept. Getting my own place in Vancouver is goingto be close to impossible on my wages.
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