Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust: Last Night on Earth / Rogue: Dead GuyWhiskey / Warren Ellis: Freak Angels

Rogue Dead Guy whiskey, the new Lee Ranaldo on vinyl and the first trade of Warren Ellis's Freak Angels. All of these things fit together perfectly!





Rogue Distillery Dead Guy Whiskey
40% Alc/Vol (80 Proof)

There are a lot of similarities between the creation of a good beer and a good whiskey. Malt choice is probably one of the biggest things. While it's only one piece of the puzzle for both beverages it's a pretty big piece. Rogue's flagship Dead Guy Ale is always a crowd pleaser and when I originally laid eyes on this bottle I thought it was a misplaced bomber of the wonderful ale. What threw me was that the bottle was clear, (if you're unaware, beer bottles should not be clear because it lets light in and it messes with the flavor). So upon closer look, I noticed that it wasn't a misplaced bottle but that Rogue has started distilling spirits and the malt bill for their flagship ale is now being used to make whiskey. Needless to say I bought the lone bottle straight away and rejoiced all the way home from the liquor store. 

This is a very young whiskey, only aged for a month, while some whiskeys are aged over 20 years. You will notice it first in the lighter color of the spirit. The charred oak doesn't have the time to darken the whiskey or impart as much flavor or smell. The nose of the whiskey is fairly astringent, it's not altogether unpleasant but you don't get the deep earthy notes you would get with older whiskey. What you do get is the alcohol and a little bit of the sweet scent of the malt. The flavor is sweet upfront with a pretty quick sting and burn. There is a a simple nuttiness and touches of maple syrup when it hits the tongue that is washed away by the alcohol burn at the swallow. This is not a whiskey that will change your life but it is enjoyable. There are some snobs out there that will tell you it's too young and one dimensional. I'll tell you that it's an easy, everyday, enjoy-after-work-without-killing-your-budget whiskey.  
 


Lee Ranaldo & the Dust - Last Night on Earth
(Matador Records)

Lee Ranaldo was my favorite member of Sonic Youth. His songs always struck me for some reason. I can't say whether or not it's because his were the fewest and farthest between so they stood out but I always liked them the best. If you are of a similar disposition then you should have this record, (and the previous one Between The Times & The Tides for that matter). While it is considerably mellower than his work with Sonic Youth, what he is writing with his backing band, The Dust, is more cohesive and just better musically. 

There are still some noisiness and louder bits but they seem to fall in better with the songs as whole than they did in his older works. A lot of the charm of Lee's work with Sonic Youth was the stream of consciousness feel.  These songs seem planned and plotted, like they were built strategically from the ground up rather than in a straight line. The songs benefit from this sort of planning in my opinion. Lee and his band mates seem to create their opportunities to make noise but also build the songs with the interesting guitar tones and changes that downplay the noise and showcase the songwriting while still giving a proper framework for noisy parts to fit into comfortably. There is a great arty poppiness ala Transformer era Lou Reed with a lusher and more modern psychedelic twist. While Lou used different instruments, Lee is making greater and more expansive use of his guitar and effects. You're not gonna get a lot of repeated sing-along choruses but you will get easy and memorable melodies. 

The lyrics are poetic and very personal without being corny or pretentious. He sings about life and people he's known and things he's been though without being obvious. He steeps his lyrics in a fog of mystery that lets you read into them, allowing you to place yourself in his shoes without ever knowing if you're having the same experience. The lyrics are also far from obtuse and weird which would push this into an arty-er realm which would make it less appealing as well. Instead Lee delivers the goods with a beautiful piece of pop psychedelia that will keep you guessing and coming back for more.

The packaging of this record is just as planned out and well executed as the songs. While the vinyl is standard black and isn't anything special to look at the panoramic studio shot on the inside of the gate fold is awesome and the record sleeves are a little stiffer and decorated with artistic band shots and drawn pictures. If you're going to a do a double album and want to make the packaging worth it, this album is a prime example of how to do that.



Freakangels Vol. 1
(Avatar Press)
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Paul Duffield

There have been a shitload of post-apocalyptic/steam-punk stories done in comics and movies and TV over the years. Somehow I don't grow tired of the genre, especially when Warren Ellis is writing the story. The twist on this story is that the world, (or at least England... no one knows how far the destruction actually spread), was flooded by 12 people, (known as the Freakangels), that were born at the exact same time 23 years prior. They all have a psychic link with one another and have certain telekinetic abilities which apparently caused the end of the world. They use the psychic link as a kind of walky-talky system between the 12 of them and it's represented really well.

These 12 individuals, although having similar physical features and all being telepathic, they are all quite different and have their own niche their trying to fill in this new world. I know what you're saying to yourself, cause I probably said the same thing before I decided to take a chance on this book, "oh great a Mad Max version of a teen movie". Well you're wrong. The drama in this first trade is handled in a mature way and it is pretty clear that these "kids" have already come of age. They now spend their time trying to bring civilization and order back to Whitechapel, dealing with intruders, scavenging, fighting with each other and dealing with the consequences of banishing Mark, (one of the 12), from Whitechapel. So I guess the cat's out of the bag there, Mark went rogue, prior to any of the events in the book and by the time you join them, there are only 11 in the group, (although Mark is still alive).  

If you took a closer look at the school portion of X-Men, you might have something that was like the dynamic between the 11 remaining Freakangels. They're all coming to grips with what they are and what they've done in they're own quirky ways and they act very much like a family even though they're not really related. Their personal talents set them apart instead of their powers but some are more mature than others and believe in their responsibility to the people who's lives they've turned upside down and others believe they're demi-gods and should pretty well be allowed to do as they please. This book is about the characters, not the events, action, landscape or any of that. The bits of action are simply catalists for further character development, which is how it should be. The landscape is just where this takes place, we know a post-apacolytic landscape, we've seen it 100 times. Ellis instead, does a great comprehensive study of human nature though the eyes of 11 extraoridnary individuals. He does this without being overly wordy, or preachy or cheese-y. The straight to the point dialog and the changes in tone from one person to another speak volumes, it's just brilliant scripting. 

Paul Duffield's art is anime-esque but the colors are all very muted which fits the landscape and tone of the book. The semi-angular and detailed art allows Duffield to get across all of the emotion that Ellis has written in wonderfully. While some of the characters are very exuberant, more of them are subtle and need the keen artistry to pull the emotion from them and make them three dimensional. Also the fact that he takes 11 characters who are all supposed to have similar physical features and make them all distinguishable from one another is quite a feat. Freakangels Vol. 1 is clinic on character development and artist and writer synergy. It is a story about what happens when everything around you falls apart and you know that you caused it. It's about how you deal with life when life when you're still making sense of yourself. Enjoy.