Once again I enjoyed riding the Bikes Not Bombs Bike-A-Thon with my kids, Kay and Peter. We rode the family-friendly 10 mile route through Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and Brookline. It felt like the hills were steeper this year, but more likely I’m out of practice, and I borrowed a trailer to carry Kay so that was some extra weight.
Riders, volunteers, and sponsors raised $176,253 for all the good things Bikes Not Bombs does in Boston and international programs in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. You can still contribute by sponsoring us!
Author: Aaron Wallace Title: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Walt Disney World: Magic Kingdom Publication Info: Branford, CT : Intrepid Traveler, [2013] Summary/Review:
This will be the last in the trio of books about Disney theme parks I’ve read recently, but it’s also the best of the bunch. The author takes us on a tour of the Magic Kingdom and fills us in on the history, artistry, and hidden features of each attraction. Wallace knows a lot about the thinking that went behind creating the attractions and offers insight into how people respond to them. He also pairs each attraction with a movie to watch, and not always the most obvious one. Some of the films aren’t even by Disney! This is a great book on how Disney theme parks work as cultural artifacts. Recommended books: The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream by Sam Gennawey, The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World by Susan Veness, Inside the Mouse: Work and Play at Disney World by The Project on Disney Rating: ****
Author: J. D. Vance Title: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Narrator: J. D. Vance Publication Info:Harper Audio, 2016 Summary/Review:
This book is being touted as offering insight into the Trump voter, but I think if you go into the book with that mindset you will be misled. Nevertheless it is an interesting memoir of life for the self-proclaimed “hillbilly” culture of Appalachia. Vance tells the story of his family from rural Kentucky and their migration along the “Hillbilly Highway” to a factory town in Ohio. His community is one of strong family ties, rugged independence, and fierce patriotism. But it is also a place of domestic violence, substance abuse, and extreme poverty. Vance’s beloved grandmother, Mamaw, who primarily raised Vance is a key figure in the book. One of the most interesting political observations in the book is that Mamaw could alternately support right-wing anti-government ideas and social democratic government programs. The contradiction of these seemingly extreme viewpoints is due to the fact the established middle of both Republicans and Democrats have abandoned the ordinary working people. Vance’s story is not typical for an Appalachian person as he joins the Marines, studies at Ohio State, gets a law degree at Yale, and now works at an investment firm in Silicon Valley. A lot of Vance’s book is the story of how he “got out” and doesn’t reflect the perspectives of those unable to “get out” or those for whom “getting out” is not an option to be desired. With those caveats in mind, this is a good slice of life of part of our country and our people who are too often overlooked.
This is the second book in the Baseball Card Adventure in which Joe Stoshack uses his power to travel through time using baseball cards to meet Jackie Robinson. As an added wrinkle to the story, he initially arrives in 1947 as an African-American boy and directly experiences the racial animus of New York at that time. I felt that Jackie Robinson’s character in this novel was one-dimensional, too much of a heroic martyr, although the book does offer some nice glimpses of his family life. Meanwhile, it seems too flippant that Stosh is traveling to meet Robinson merely to write a Black History Month report for his school, and spends much of the novel trying to gather rare baseball cards to bring to the future. The lesson of the book is how to stand up to bullies without resorting to anger, which Stosh applies in his own youth baseball games, but seems to miss out on the heart of the Jackie Robinson story in the process.
Author: Dan Gutman Title: Ted & me: A Baseball Card Adventure Publication Info: New York : Harper, c2012. Summary/Review:
Joe Stoshack is a kid who can travel in time by touching baseball cards which take him to the time and place of the player in the photo. In this installment of the series, the FBI learns of his ability and send an agent to convince him to go back in time to warn Franklin Roosevelt of the Pearl Harbor attack and prevent the United States entry into World War II. The person to help Stosh on this mission is Red Sox slugger Ted Williams, an appropriately patriotic figure who gave up five seasons of his career to serve in WWII and the Korean War. The characterization of Williams is well done since it captures a person who could be alternately an abrasive jerk and good-humored and generous. Williams is also impulsive enough to take Stosh under his wing, and after finishing up the season in Philadelphia ensuring his .406 batting average, takes Stosh on a road trip. There are a few stops along the way which I won’t spoil, but add to the characterization of Williams and his bond with Stosh. Obviously, Stosh doesn’t prevent World War II, but it’s interesting to see some of the historic detail through his eyes, including a frightening encounter at an America First rally with supporters of Charles Lindbergh, something you wouldn’t expect to see in a children’s book. It’s a good adventure for kids who are fans of baseball and American history.
On Sunday, June 4, I will be riding with my kids Kay and Peter in the Bikes Not Bombs Bike-A-Thon! The Bike-A-Thon is always a fun event and it raise money for a terrific cause. This will be our fifth time participating.
Based in Boston not far from where we live, Bikes Not Bombs serves two great purposes. First they collect and renovate bicycles to ship to developing communities in Central America, the Carribean and Africa. These bicycles help people meet crucial transportation needs with an easily maintained and environmentally friendly vehicle. Secondly, they help youth right here in Boston learn skills such as urban bike riding and bicycle repair that contributes to building their confidence and leadership skills. Please help us in our efforts by making a generous donation!
On my latest visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, I visited three special exhibitions of art by three very different artists: Henri Matisse, Robert McCloskey, and Sandro Botticelli.
The Matisse exhibit paired many objects from his studio featured in his art with the art that captured the moods, shapes, and colors of those objects. The McCloskey exhibit is small but features delightful studies and sketched of illustrations for books such as Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, and Burt Dow: Deep Water Man. The Botticelli exhibit brings together many works of art rarely seen outside of Europe while in charming parochial way also celebrating “Boston Botticelli” by bringing in works from the MFA, Gardner Museum, and Harvard Art Museums. The exhibit also includes works by Filippo Lippi (Botticelli’s teacher) and Filippino Lippi (Filippo’s son and Botticelli’s student).
Here are some of my favorite works.
Bouquet of flowers in a chocolate pot, 1902
A nude sculpture in front of four studies of a nude
Three sculptures: Head of Jeanette I, Head of Jeanette III, and Head of Jeanette V
Odalisque on a Turkish Chair, 1928
Interior with Egyptian Curtain, 1943
Mimosa, 1949-51
Sal and bear cub (studies for Blueberries of Sal), about 1948
Study for Make Way for Ducklings
Virgin and Child (Madonna of the Book), about 1478-80
Minerva and the Centaur, about 1482
Christ Crucified, about 1488
Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, about 1500
Author: John Crossan Title: God and empire : Jesus against Rome, then and now Publication Info: [San Francisco] : HarperSanFrancisco, c2007.
Previously Read by the Same Author: Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography Summary/Review:
This is a complex but fascinating book that I muddled through over the course of Lent this year. The basic thesis of this book is that Jesus Christ taught a radical message contrary to the idea of empire, whether the Roman empire of Christ’s time or the American empire today. Pax Romana created peace through the enforcement of Roman military strength but the Kingdom of God is a true peace built on justice and equality. Thus the violence of “civilized” humanity if challenged by Christ’s non-violence. This is a book worthy of a contemplative reread. Favorite Passages:
As the greatest pre-industrial and territorial empire—just as we are the greatest post-industrial and commercial empire—Rome was the expression, no more and no less, of the normalcy of civilization’s violence, first-century style. Usually we use the term “civilization” for everything that is good about our humanity—for example, poetry and drama, music and dance, art and architecture, image and narrative. Correspondingly, to call individuals or groups, places or actions, “uncivilized” is normally a calculated insult. So I need to explain very clearly what I mean in this book by the “brutal normalcy of civilization.” The point I wish to emphasize is that imperialism is not just a here-and-there, now-and-then, sporadic event in human history, but that civilization itself, as I am using that term, has always been imperial—that is, empire is the normalcy of civilization’s violence. It is, of course, always possible to oppose this empire in favor of that one, to oppose yours in favor of ours. But if you oppose empire-as-such, you are taking on what has been the normalcy of civilization’s brutality for at least the last six thousand years.
As everyone knows, civilization began immediately with fratricide: the murder of one brother by another. But the story is more detailed than that. “Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground” (4:2), and “when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him” (4:8). That inaugural fratricide was the murder of a shepherd by a farmer on his own farm. That is the first act in the invention of human civilization—the farmer displacing the shepherd—and God does not punish the farmer but only marks him forever as the future of a lost past. There is no counterviolence from God—not even the appropriate divine vengeance when, as God says, “your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” (4:10).
I think that Jesus started by accepting John’s theology of God’s imminence but, precisely because of what happened to John, changed from that to a theology of God’s presence. John expected God’s advent, but Antipas’s cavalry came instead. John was executed, and God still did not come as an avenging presence. Maybe, thought Jesus, that was not how God acted because that is not how God is. Jesus’s own proclamation therefore insisted that the Kingdom of God was not imminent but present; it was already here below upon this earth, and however it was to be consummated in the future, it was a present-already and not just an imminent-future reality. Jesus could hardly have made such a spectacular claim without immediately appending another one to it. You can speak forever about the future-imminence of the Kingdom, but unless you are foolish enough to give a precise date, you can hardly be proved right or wrong. We are but waiting for God to act; apart from preparatory faith, hope, and prayer, there is no more we can do. When God acts, it will be, presumably, like a flash of divine lightning beyond all categories of time and place. But to claim an already-present Kingdom demands some evidence, and the only such that Jesus could have offered is this: it is not that we are waiting for God, but that God is waiting for us. The present Kingdom is a collaborative eschaton between the human and divine worlds. The Great Divine Cleanup is an interactive process with a present beginning in time and a future (short or long?) consummation. Would it happen without God? No. Would it happen without believers? No. To see the presence of the Kingdom of God, said Jesus, come, see how we live, and then live likewise.
It is certainly correct, therefore, to call Jesus’s death—or in fact the death of any martyr—a sacrifice, but substitution and suffering are not the point of sacrifice. Substitutionary atonement is bad as theoretical Christian theology just as suicidal terrorism is bad as practical Islamic theology. Jesus died because of our sins, or from our sins, but that should never be misread as for our sins. In Jesus, the radicality of God became incarnate, and the normalcy of civilization’s brutal violence (our sins, or better, Our Sin) executed him. Jesus’s execution asks us to face the truth that, across human evolution, injustice has been created and maintained by violence while justice has been opposed and avoided by violence. That warning, if heeded, can be salvation.
It is the age-old normalcy of civilization’s violent injustice that is weakness and foolishness with God, and it is God’s nonviolent justice that is weakness and foolishness for civilization’s violent normalcy.
To turn the nonviolent resistance of the slaughtered Jesus into the violent warfare of the slaughtering Jesus is, for me as a Christian, to libel the body of Jesus and to blaspheme the soul of Christ.
Author: Carrie Brownstein Title: Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl Narrator: Carrie Brownstein Publication Info: Penguin Audio (2015) Summary/Review:
I know Carrie Brownstein as a sometimes music critic on NPR’s All Songs Considered (as well as her work on Portlandia – a show I find only moderately funny) so I knew that her memoir of her life and work with the band Sleater-Kinney would be an interesting work. Brownstein explores the effect of her childhood in which her mother suffered anorexia, her father repressed homosexuality, and Brownstein herself seeks to entertain as way of transforming the sadness around her. A lot of this books is about identity and the Brownstein analyzes her own search for identity in raw detail. The music of Sleater-Kinney is similar in its naked emotion and self-expression and Brownstein details the autobiographical detail that went into that songs. Sleater-Kinney also had to deal with the typecasting and prejudice of being an all-woman band, when Brownstein wants people to recognize them as simply a great rock band. Brownstein also relates her own struggles touring with the band that resulted in anxiety and physical illness. This a very honest and introspective addition to the rock memoir oeuvre.
Author: Susan Veness Title: The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World Publication Info: Avon, Massachusetts : Adams Media, [2015] Summary/Review:
Having read The Disneyland Storyby Sam Gennawey, it was natural to follow up by reading a book about Walt Disney World. Unfortunately, this is less history and more of a guidebook listing various details and features you can find at the Disney parks in Florida. There’s an expectation that the reader is carrying the book while touring Walt Disney World with lots of “look around X to find a special surprise” that doesn’t help if one is reading the book at home. Nevertheless, this book is an entertaining diversion.
Recommended books: Inside the Mouse by The Project on Disney and The Disneyland Storyby Sam Gennawey Rating: **
Author: Mark Twain Title: The Prince and the Pauper Narrator: Kenneth Jay Publication Info: Naxos AudioBooks , 2001 Summary/Review:
I remember enjoying this book as a child (although I can’t remember what age) and since my son is interested in Mark Twain, we listened to the audiobook on a recent road trip. It was a little bit more complicated than I remembered, and frankly we both had trouble following parts of the story, but perhaps that is a challenge of audiobooks compared with print. The basic story is well-known in which the poor and abused Tom Canty meets Prince Edward and discovering they resemble one another, swap clothing. Through a comedy of errors, they are separated and end up with Tom unwillingly becoming king and the prince having to live life at the very bottom of society. All works out in the end, and Twain is probably too kind on Edward VI’s actual legacy as king, but the book delves into some of the gritty realities of impoverished masses and the court intrigues of the elites.
Author: A.A. Milne Title: Winnie the Pooh Narrator: Peter Dennis Publication Info: Blackstone Audio, Inc., 2005 Summary/Review:
I listened to this audiobook on a recent road trip with my children. It had been a long time since I read Milne’s book with many viewings of Disney’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in the intervening years. The surprising thing for me is just how much of the dialogue for the film is taken right from the book. Of course there are many differences as well. Rabbit seems to be a meaner character and by the time he plotted to have Kanga and Roo removed from The Hundred Acre Woods, I figured he was the type who voted for Brexit.
The kids enjoyed listening to this book and there was much laughter. I especially enjoy Milne’s playful narration that has the seemingly omniscient narrator interacting with a child presumably listening to him reading, much as a parent may when making up stories using a child’s toys. And Peter Dennis’ audiobook narration is delightful. A forever classic in any format! Rating: *****
Author: Matthew Desmond Title: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Narrator: Dion Graham Publication Info: Penguin Random House, 2016 Summary/Review:
Using the methods of ethnography, Matthew Desmond lives among the poor in Milwaukee’s most distressed urban neighborhood and in a trailer park on Milwaukee’s outskirts. The product of this research is a book filled with dialogue and everyday vignettes which reads like a novel, but illustrates the very real dilemmas of America’s working poor facing eviction from their homes. Once rare, eviction is now so common in the United States that entire industries have emerged to profit off moving and storing the property of evicted tenants. And that is only scraping the surface of the wealth created by managing the properties in the poorest neighborhoods.
Desmond provides a glimpse into the lives of both tenants and landlords, often providing a sympathetic portrait of people trying their best under tenuous conditions. Yet there are no angels here. Tenants steal, vandalize, or just flake out on paying rent, while landlords fail to provide even basic upkeep of their properties and taken advantage of their position of power to exploit their tenants. In a lot of ways both tenants and landlords are in the same boat, victims of a larger repressive system that enslaves them both. One scene that illustrates this is when after a contentious faceoff in court, a tenant asks her landlord for a ride home.
This book is an eye-opening glimpse into the realities of far too many Americans suffering under a system built into our law. Desmond concludes with suggestions on how to reform the broken system to be more fair to both tenants and landlords. This is definitely a must read book. Favorite Passages:
“If incarceration had come to define the lives of men from impoverished black neighborhoods, eviction was shaping the lives of women. Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out.”
Recommended books: The New Jim Crowby Michelle Alexander, Nobodyby Marc Lamont Hill, and Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston Rating: ****1/2
Author: Jeff Kinney Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Publication Info: Amulet Books, 2007
Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Publication Info: Amulet Books, 2011
Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel Publication Info: Amulet Books, 2012
Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down Publication Info: Amulet Books, 2016 Summary/Review:
I started reading these books with my 9-year-old son and then more surprisingly my 5-year-old daughter took an interest. So I dove deep in Wimpy Kid books for a while. The books are purported to be the journal of middle-schooler Greg Heffley complete with hand-drawn illustrations. The books are generally a series of humorous events as Greg gets himself into various scrapes. While depicted as an unpopular weakling and thus a sympathetic character, Greg can also be arrogant and insensitive to others. In short, a typical teenager. Greg frequently is embarrassed by/tries to change his nerdy friend Rowley to help him fit in, although the irony is that Rowley by being cluelessly unreflective of himself, ends up more popular. These are funny books that occasionally touch upon more serious issues (dating, puberty, honesty, responsibility, etc.). I expect I’ll end up reading more.
Author: Bernard Sanders Title: Our revolution : a future to believe in Publication Info: New York : Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, 2016. Summary/Review:
This memoir/political treatise starts with a short background of Sanders’ life and then a more detailed account of the 2016 election campaign. It’s still pretty remarkable how in a short time a little known Senator from a small state was able to bring together so many people and win 23 primary elections, get millions of votes in other primaries, and win nearly half of the elected delegates. Although the 2016 election ended in the triumph of evil, there’s a lot of inspiration of reading this story of what can be done when bringing together a movement based on equality, progressive values, and social democracy. The second part of the book diagnoses the political ills of America and what can be done to heal them. It’s preaching to the choir for me, but a handy guide that I hope will be relied on in the coming years.
Author: Robert Kirkman Title:The Walking Dead Vol. 27: The Whisperer War Publication Info: Image Comics (2017) Summary/Review:
In the repeated plot that occurs about every 4-5 volumes of The Walking Dead, the survivors go to war. Things go wrong, people die, there is infighting, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, Negan is playing a long game, or is truly reformed? It’s a possibly interesting plot.
Author:Lauren Tarshis Title: I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Narrator: P. J. Ochlan Publication Info: Scholastic on Brilliance Audio (2017) Summary/Review:
I listened to this gripping audiobook with my son. It’s based on the real events of a shark attacking and killing 4 people and injuring one on the Jersey Shore, including a more inland attack on the Matawan Creek. The book though is a fictional novel about a 10-year-old boy Chet who is living with his uncle and trying to fit in with the kids in his new community. The story a child just trying to make friends and not succeeding in a series of pranks leading up to the actual shark attacks is actually well-told and relatable. The shark attacks are hard to believe, but as noted, they’re the actual true story!
Author: Sam Gennawey Title: The Disneyland Story Publication Info: Birmingham, AL : Keen Communications, LLC 2014. Summary/Review:
This book caught my eye when I was looking for guide books for our Walt Disney World trip and since I’ve long had a fascination with amusement park history, I decided to read it. The story documents the origins of Disneyland in California from Walt Disney’s fascination with model trains and miniature villages and the desire to give something for fans of Disney films to do when they requested to visit the studios in Burbank. It eventually grew to be the theme park built in an orange grove near the then remote town of Anaheim. Disney’s monomaniacal commitment to building and then tinkering with Disneyland over the last 15 years of his life makes one wonder how he found time to work on the studio’s film and television project. This is doubly true since he was bringing a lot of the talent from the studios to work on Disneyland, becoming the first imagineers. For all the artifice of Disneyland it is fascinating how many real things – from train engines to architectural details – were salvaged to build the park.
The book is basically in two parts. The 1950s and 1960s are more intricately covered with the focus on Disney’s dream and the projects completed and started in his lifetime. From the 1970s to the present, the book is more of a listing of annual changes to the park, and the sense that Disneyland is getting neglected due to the company’s focus on new parks in Florida, Japan, France, and China. The Michael Eisner era seems to be wrapped up in red tape and bad ideas as the company continually fails to expand Disneyland and the initial disappointment of the Disney California Adventure when it finally opens in 2001. This period is also marked by the Disney company seemingly doing everything in their power to avoid ever paying any taxes to the city of Anaheim. Nevertheless, while the book is rightly critical it also celebrates the imagination that went into creating and changing Disneyland and the joyous role it plays in American culture. Favorite Passages:
Disney archivist Dave Smith said, “Disneyland’s true appeal, we admit now, is to adults. Children don’t need it. Their imaginations are enough. For them, Disneyland is only another kind of reality, somewhat less marvelous than their own fantasies.”
According to architect Robert A. M. Stern, “Ironically, Main Street and the very way the theme parks are designed would probably be, much to Walt Disney’s surprise, the actual genius of American Urbanism captured at a time when it had no value to most people, certainly in the architecture and planning profession.”
According to Crump, when he started working on the project, Ken Anderson took him aside and said, “Now you guys remember that when you’re designing anything for Disneyland, you’re the gods! You tell them what you want, and you make sure that they do it your way no matter what!” Then Crump met with Walt, who told him, “You gotta remember that there are electricians, there are plumbers, there’s air conditioning … you’ve got to work around that … they’re just as important as you are.”
At lunch with Walt one day, Ray Bradbury asked, “Walt, why don’t you hire me to come in and help you with ideas to rebuild Tomorrowland?” Walt replied, “Ray, it’s no use … you’re a genius and I’m a genius … after two weeks we’d kill each other!” Bradbury was flattered, “That’s the nicest turndown I’ve ever had, having Walt Disney call me a genius.”
Ray Bradbury recalled a time when Walt told him “Nothing has to die.” He wrote, “Walt was right. Nothing has to die. Just rebuild it. Steamboat America, lost? Carve a river bottom, flood it, and send your Mark Twain paddle wheel down the riverway. Victorian train travel, gone? Nail up a rococo scrimshaw station, steam in the 19th-century locomotive, carry passengers from Civil War territories through African jungles into AD 2000.” Disneyland was a way to live forever.
Recommended books: Inside the Mouse by The Project on Disney, Mouse Tales by David Koenig, and Amusing the Million by John F. Kasson Rating: ****
Author: Bob Boilen Title: Your song changed my life : from Jimmy Page to St. Vincent, Smokey Robinson to Hozier, thirty-five beloved artists on their journey and the music that inspired it Narrator: Bob Boilen Publication Info: New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2016] Summary/Review:
Bob Boilen of NPR’s All Songs Considered interviews about three dozen musical artists, focusing on the music that influences those artists. The subjects are quiet varied in representing different areas of popular music from Jimmy Page to St. Vincent to Smokey Robinson to Iain Mackaye to Phillip Glass to Lucinda Williams. Some of the influences are what you’d expect, but then they’re surprises like Trey Anastassio of Phish citing Leonard Bernstein or Jenny Lewis drawing on hip-hop. Some of the best interviews are with artists I otherwise knew nothing about such as Hozier and Fantastic Negrito. A significant part of this book is also about Boilen’s own experience as a kid first hearing the Beatles, working in a record store, and starting a band. He frequently relates the artists’ experience back to his own and indirectly to the reader’s as we all have our own experiences of being exposed to music. This is a good book for music fans, and even if you don’t read it cover to cover, it’s worth checking out some of the interviews. Recommended books: Talking to girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield, How the Beatles destroyed rock ‘n’ roll by Elijah Wald, and High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Rating: ***
I hear too much infighting about the best way to conduct the resistance, so it’s good to hear this podcast the multiple fronts on which progressives are fighting for our country and our future.
I’ve always enjoyed visiting the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Turns out that the temple is not as old as I thought nor has it been in the Met for as long as I’d imagined either. The stories of why it was built and how it ended up in New York are equally fascinating.
Viewers of nature documentaries expect that everything in the film comes directly from nature, but having microphones in the right place to capture sounds is so difficult and dangerous that most animal sounds are produced by foley artists.
The story of a Louisiana town where many of the residents are descendants of 272 slaves sold to fund Georgetown University.
Albums of the Month
Artist: Charly Bliss Album: Guppy Release Date: April 21, 2017 Favorite Tracks: “Glitter,” “Black Hole,” and “Ruby”
Thoughts: The Brooklyn power pop quartet bring back a mid-90s sound reminiscent of Letters to Cleo and Velocity Girl. Eva Hendricks sings a bit nasally over fuzzed-out guitars and drums with lyrics that aren’t anywhere as sweet as they’re sung. It’s a great throwback but having lived through it all the first time around, I’d prefer something new. Rating: ***
Artist: Future Islands Album: The Far Field Release Date: April 7, 2017 Favorite Tracks: “Beauty of the Road,” “Cave,” and “Shadows”
Thoughts: I was not familiar with the Baltimore-based synthpop outfit, but the reviews of the album were good so I thought I’d give it a shot. The sound is very 80s, reminiscent of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, but Samuel Herring’s vocals overlaying the synths are more growly than romantic. Once again, I’m feeling that I’ve heard this all before. The highlight is the duet with Debbie Harry on “Shadows.” Rating: **1/2
Artist: Alexandra Savior Album: Belladonna of Sadness Release Date: April 7, 2017 Thoughts: This debut from the Portland, OR singer-songwriter features moody crooning over 60’s style jazz-pop. It’s a little bit reminiscent of Fiona Apple, not to mention umpteen singers from the swinging sixties. There’s too much polish on this album and the raw talent Savior has is unable to shine through. Rating: **
Artist: The New Pornographers Album: Whiteout Conditions Release Date: April 7, 2017 Favorite Tracks: “High Ticket Attractions”
Thoughts: I’m a long-time fan of The New Pornographers and I’m disappointed by their latest release. There’s nothing new about it as the reliance on synthesizers seems to just water down their traditional sound rather then expand into new territories. The emotion and variety of previous albums. Perhaps the absence of Dan Bejar contributes to the lack of balance and feeling of incompleteness. Rating: **
Artist: Gorillaz Album: Humans Release Date: April 28, 2017 Favorite Tracks: “Ascension” (feat. Vince Staples),”Momentz” (feat. De La Soul), “Let Me Out” (feat. Mavis Staples and Pusha T), and “We Got the Power” (feat. Jenny Beth)
Thoughts: The band of animated characters is joined by an army of guest artists on this hip-hop, indie pop, electronic dance party album. It’s all over the place and delightfully strange but there’s a little something for everyone. Rating: ***1/2
That’s April! If there’s something I should listen to in May, let me know in the comments.
