SOUNDTRACK: ALVVAYS-Live at KEXP (December 2, 2014).
I’ve been enjoying the Alvvays album quite a lot. They will be opening for The Decemberists this summer, so this was a good way to hear what they sound like live.
The band (pronounced Always) is from Canada and they play four songs and have a little chat.
The four songs are all on their debut album and while none of them are mind blowingly original, they scratch an itch that I have for poppy 90 s alt rock (female singer division).
Molly Rankin has a delicate voice that blends in beautiful with the washes of music (guitars and keyboards). They remind me a bit of Lush, although less rocking. There’s a bit more angst and yearning in her voice and lyrics.
Their hit is “Archie, Marry Me” but I find the other three songs, “Ones Who Love You,” “Dives” and “Party Police” to be just as catchy and delightful. In fact I think the best song in this set may be “Party Police.” The only real downside to this set is that they don’t have a live drummer. No idea why, and it doesn’t really detract from the performance, it just makes it a but flatter than it might be. I assume they’ll have a live drummer when I see them this summer.
[READ: January 22, 2015] Chew: Volume Six
Volume Six brings a very exciting return and a devastating loss to this awesome series.
The good news first: POYO!
The book opens with Toni (Antoinelle), Tony Chu’s sister in bed with Paneer, a man who is in love with her. She, of course, needs to bite him to see what his future holds (which rather freaks him out). Toni is (like her brother), cibovoyant and can read the future of everything she eats.
Toni is asked by her other brother Chow to help with a case. A guy has out-bid him for a painting and he fears that the guy is just going to destroy the masterpiece. As an agent of NASA surely Toni agrees she must help. It turns out the artist is a sabopictor–his paintings taste delicious. Of course it turns out that Chow has an ulterior motive–the guy has also stolen his cookbook, that’s all he cares about–he doesn’t care about the painting at all. Toni is annoyed, but always happy to see her brother.
While she is visiting Tony in the hospital (from injuries suffered in book 5), Caesar walks in. Caesar used to work with Tony and he is quite certain that he recognizes Toni from somewhere (I loved this ongoing joke and that we keep flashing back to the number of times they met (and even hooked up) in their lives).
Then Toni gets called onto another case, involving mutated chicken frog (chogs) and a gangster named D-bear.
Of course the real excitement comes from the interlude which features POYO! the cybernetically enhanced rooster. He is on a mission to stop Dr Albrecht Regenbigen, a ranapuliva who can recreate the meteorological phenomenon in which animals rain from the sky.
Back in our main story Poyo proves to be a great partner for Colby especially in the story of Judy Heinz-Campbell a victuspeciosian, who can craft a concoction out of food that temporarily changes your appearance (useful for supermodels and supervillains).
The final book shows the unthinkable–a wedding for Toni and Paneer? Or something much more horrific and unimaginable.
I’m not sure I can forgive this series. Book 7 better bring something happy.