What makes deer tick anyway?

Music

This week I have been listening to 'The black dirt sessions' by Deer Tick a lot, mainly following a very good review in Uncut here.  It is really good, and a blast of classic alt-country but yet shot through with something rougher than many of that ilk (as opposed to elk, as opposed to deer), perhaps largely due to the singer's rasping croak which yet captures a softer side quite wonderfully on songs like the quite brilliant piano eulogy 'Goodbye dear friend', the lovely 'The sad sun' and 'Hand in my hand' which opens on a disarming falsetto after the growls that prowl through the rest of the songs.  Opener 'Choir of angels' sets the scene well, with a fuller sound and a lovely melody, as seen below:

While the following track '20 miles' has not surprisingly drawn comparisons with very early REM, not a bad or shameful reference point:

All in all, a very good album, even if some of the later tracks are a little more noisy and less to my immediate liking. 

I also just downloaded 'Dark night of the soul' by Dangermouse and Sparklehorse, and 'The place we ran from' by Tired Pony, Gary Lightbody's side project.  I have written before of my ambiguous feelings about Snow Patrol, but another positive review in Uncut drew me to this, and it sounds quite good so far.  I think the tinge of American in Snow Patrol has been what has drawn me to some of their stff in the past, so hoped this would be more distilled essence of that.  Among the more notable tracks are 'Point me at lost islands' and 'Get on the road' (with Zooey Daschanel, although it is so reminiscent of 'Set the fire to the third bar' as to be a handy back-up in case that one ever gets lost), while Tom Smith from Editors (another band I have occasionally ruminated ambiguously on, for example here, but there is no denying the man has a class voice) gives 'The good book' a chilling and classy vocal.  I am also interested in Iain Archer who has not appeared much in the press about the album but contributes a low-key Mike Scott vocal to 'I am a landslide'.  'Held in the arms of the world' doesn't wander off the snowy patrolled path, but has a nice chorus and building harmonies, but 'Northwestern skies' with its 'ooh, I'm in a big echoey americana barn' vocal seems a bit too efforty for me.  I found a video clip sort of trailering the album below.



Next I need to listen some more to 'Dark night' and see if my impressions have evolved since I listened to it in its previous online incarnation last year here.


Books

I am continuing to read 'The passage' and am actually really enjoying its second section where it leaps forward 100 years to a Mad Max meets New England pilgrim colony settlement (but surrounded by vampires) vibe, although the 100 year timeslip seems a little stretched, given the amount of relics of the older time which still seem to be workable alongside the crossbows and blades.  As usual, I am parallel processing another (on kindle), this week 'Cyber war' by former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, which scares the crap out of me by explaining patiently how our increasing daily dependence on the web for just about everything could all come crashing down if any of a number of scenarios he outlines in highly readable fashion come to pass.

I found an interview with him on the subject here:

TV and movies

Not much on TV bar the World Cup, but lets' face it, drama like that at the end of the Ghana/Uruguay match (below) is far better, even for a sports footballiterate like me, than most of what screen-writers can come up with.

What I did watch of the World Cup was on Irish RTE television, and their post-match sketch slot, 'Apres match', really outdid themselves last night with their dubbing over several well known and unexpected faces from Irish sports commentary and politics:



In terms of movies, I did watch some taped movies: 'Last chance Harvey' (melodramatic and not particularly believable yet watchable as Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thomson are, for me, both huge watchable in just about anything) and 'Swing Vote' (almost the same comments, substituting in Kevin Costner, another actor I have always had a soft spot for ever since first encountering him in 'The Untouchables', after-shocks of the magnificence of which will always lend him a favourable air in my eyes).  I also saw bits on TV of Jaws and Raider of the Lost Ark on TV, and was struck again by the incredible 'Indianapolis' scene in the former and for the first time by the amazing sky-scapes in the latter, which I never noticed before.

Games

I have spent a few scattered hours playing 'Half-life 2: episode 1' and did not remember from before the wierd opening level (a bit tedious really) but the ensuing scenes in the dark remain very cool and scary. I actually found a trailer for it on-line below:



So, that's it for this week - hope to get to 'Predators' this week, and still waiting to hear the release date for the iPhone and iPad in Ireland, which now look like they may not be July after all.  Steve Jobs, why do you tease me so!