The Consumption

Oh, what the hell. Rounding off the #MoNM in a decidedly half-assed form:

Day 27: Duffy and the Doubters’ Scriptural Supplies

Tiny songs from the Ladyhawk frontman. With most of the tunes clocking in at less than 2 minutes, Duffy’s solo debut(?) is over practically before it starts, and the lo-fi production only adds to the off-the-cuff feel. Its fun, but lacks the emotional impact of Ladyhawk or the I-didn’t-know-he-could-do-that glee of his Gigi guest spot.

Day 28: The Suntanama’s Self-Titled

Not blown away by this one. Alt-country and weirdo folk on the usually super-reliable Drag City, and musically it’s mostly there, but the vocals are in a mumbly growl that’s practically indecipherable, and not in that intriguing sort of way. Maybe I’ll come around on it eventually, but I didn’t make it past side A this time around.

Day 29: Automelodi’s Self-Titled

A decent synth-pop workout from Montreal, mixing a solid amount of Kraftwork and French pop into a fairly minimal framework. It feels like the kind of music that should be played at Vicious Circle, if they didn’t have the odd habit of dropping pop-punk instead of the light industrial the place is so clearly designed for. (Apologies if they’ve updated their playlist, I haven’t been there in a while.)

Day 30: Semi-cheat — Grinderman and Armen Ra live at the Commodore

OK, I’ve been slacking in my new music duties for the last few days, so I’m going to include this concert, despite the fact that it’s clearly not an album, and it clearly didn’t happen today. But, since I had never heard Armen Ra before, and haven’t heard the new Grinderman yet, I’m saying it’s in on a technicality.

Ra was a very pleasant surprise, playing elegant and sombre classical pieces on the theremin, an instrument that’s next to impossible to play with any sort of melodicism. So, his takes on pieces like “Ave Maria” are at the very least incredibly technically impressive. The theremin being what it is, there was also a bit of a retro-futurist lounge vibe to it, like this is what someone from 1954 thought people would be listening to while eating at space-restaurants in the year 2000 (which, I guess, was somewhat accurate on this particular night).

Grinderman, well… What can you say about Nick Cave? He commands the stage with a presence that borders on religious. He’s got an intensity that you can’t take your eyes off of. And his band is as loud as a motherfucker, with Warren Ellis making ungodly noises on a selection of eccentric electric instruments. It was a rock show the way rock shows should be, and was capped with a 1/2 hour encore. Worth the round-trip to Vancouver, in other words. Maybe I should get the album…

And, a new project:

Because I came so close to finishing my MoNM, I’ve decided to take on another daily project for December. So, in between writing my final papers, marking other people’s final papers and prepping for Christmas, I’ll be spending a few minutes each day writing about something awesome from 2010. A great album or song, a movie that blew me away, an article that struck me as particularly relevant, a board game that ate up way too much time… Something worthwhile that I think more people should check out, and that I haven’t written about yet.

But, I’m still undecided whether I should limit it to stuff that came out this year or just stuff that I first heard about/got around to this year. So, my first ever blog poll. For anyone that stuck around to read this far, that is.