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Everything Else / Re: masochism.
« on: October 25, 2009, 05:28:23 PM »
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAand it just occurred to me that I should probably have a photo gallery feature in there too... Maybe I'l ljust go back to bed.
A lot of people describe Scalzi’s Old Man's War novels as military science fiction, but I would classify its sequel Zoë’s Tale as a space opera. It’s a story about, well, Zoë, a teenage girl whose parents are invited to take leadership roles in building a colony on a new planet. Zoë is an enthusiastic member of the group sent to colonize Roanoke, despite the risks—and the risks are considerable even before the political machinations of greater powers boil to the surface. Continue reading Zoë’s Tale
Review by Silk
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Once upon a time, Eddie Argos promised not to sing about the things he likes to sing about. “No more songs about sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll,” he blustered on 2006’s Bang Bang Rock & Roll. “It’s boooring.” Context helps: He was ribbing The Velvet Underground for glamorizing all of the above. Or he was kidding, because Argos almost exclusively writes songs about sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll; he just never sounds glamorous.
That’s especially true on Art Brut’s Frank Black-produced third album, in which hangovers, blackouts, and regrettable hookups populate a good chunk of Argos’ hilarious, blurted narratives. (Sample nerd-satisfying zinger: “I fought the floor and the floor won.”) If those sound like traditional Art Brut fascinations, look closer: Argos has shifted his focus from thrill-seeking to its consequences—and more pointedly, its motives. That’s almost what he did on 2007’s It’s A Bit Complicated¸ but then he seemed more interested in generalizing about his awkward, reckless life than understanding it or making it all that humorous. And while it’s misleading to call an album “mature” when it plunders rock history for riffs and features an ode to comic books, Argos has done some growing up. The flipside of debauchery is a classic brew of loneliness, insecurity, mortality, and hope—all of which, Argos increasingly realizes, can be pretty funny.
Nashville three-bothers-and-a-cousin outfit Kings Of Leon was originally pegged as the “Southern Strokes,” but with the growth of their sound, the new handle seems to be the “Southern U2.” Whether or not you consider that an upgrade doesn’t really matter, because KOL’s 2008 album Only By The Night and lead single “Sex On Fire” blasted out of the gates; the band has since earned a headlining spot at Lollapalooza and made promises of a more blues-influenced, slide-guitar anchored album on the way.