Galactus, Devouring Planets, and Other S**t

Holy s**t, what a weekend. It was such a crazy weekend that I’m just now writing about it on Tuesday. I haven’t posted since last Friday, and that’s really unusual for a guy like me that feels the need to blog everyday.

I picked up some musical goodness in the form of Dr. Dog’s B-Room and Ty Segall’s Sleeper. When I got home there was a package waiting for me on the porch from Polyvinyl. Inside was the delightful new record from Of Montreal, Lousy With Sylvianbriar. As I expected, Dr. Dog made another great album. It’s filled with all of their staples; incredible harmonies, scrappy pop hooks, Philly soul, and even some country twang all done up in their special way. The thing is, I think my ears may be getting weird these days as they’re not as drawn to Dr. Dog like they used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Dr. Dog. It’s just that six years ago I could listen to them anytime. I was in the mood for Dr. Dog all the time. But lately, I’m finding I need something a little more dense. Something you have to work at to love. I know, I’m a f*****g idiot. I admit it. But it’s just the way these nearly 40 year old ears have aged I suppose. By all means, check the record out. It’s their best sounding record yet. They built their own studio space, and within that space is a room they call the “B-Room”. It’s the room where they all get together and hash out tunes. It’s the creative center to the Dr. Dog doghouse, if you will.

I listened to Ty Segall’s Sleeper next. Everyone is so in awe of this guy I’ve wondered why I can’t get into him. I’ve tried many times over the last couple years to get into his records, but I just can’t(It’s me Ty, not you.) So my local brick and mortar got his latest album in(not to be confused with his OTHER latest album FUZZ), and I thought I’d bite the bullet and give it a shot. Well, I’m not a newly converted disciple of Mr. Segall, I can say that. But, I really enjoyed the album. It’s mostly acoustic and mostly about the death of this dad, so it’s more of a melancholy affair, but never a downer. “She Don’t Care” is a stunner(and possibly about his mother’s indifference to his father). It’s not a record I see myself throwing on a whole lot, but I certainly don’t regret the purchase. Segall is a super talented guy and a prolific songwriter. I will check out Goodbye Bread next. Why? I like the title.

Of Montreal’s Lousy With Sylvianbriar is yet another genre hopper for Mr. Kevin Barnes. This time, he’s delving into 60s rock n’ roll, ala The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Lots of pedal steel and Mick Jagger posturing going on, and it’s pretty damn great. This is a good fit for Kevin Barnes, who has run the gamut of styles since Of Montreal’s beginnings back in 1997. Frome twee pop, to Beatles, to lo fi electronic, to 70’s funk, and even avante garde classical. If Barnes has heard it, he’s probably aped it. The thing is, he’s one talented mo fo. He’s like the Prince of indie rock. He can play anything. So his decision to get back to nitty gritty rock n’ roll was an odd one, but one that is a welcome listen. I’m absolutely loving this album. I hope he sticks in this genre for a while.

Saturday was the big day. What day you ask? Well the day I took my son to Chimp’s Comix and bought him Galactus, devourer of planets. Galactus was a toy that my son(and I)have been eyeing for months at the comic book store. You see, the owner has a glass case of “vintage” toys he’s selling. A lot of the ones he has(Star Wars and Transformers)are ones that I have in my basement that were mine when I was a kid. My son is heavily into superheroes, and especially X-Men and The Fantastic Four. Well, this Galactus was a toy that was only available through purchasing other action figures. Once you’d buy one, you’d get a piece of Galactus. After buying several figures you’d finally have all the pieces to create the mighty Galactus. Since you couldn’t just buy him as a whole, he’s a “collector’s item”. His price was waaay more than I’d ever normally spend on a toy on a whim. But, in a moment of weakness  I had the urge to splurge on my son. He was and is thrilled to say the least. Saturday night we went shopping for shoes in Fort Wayne. That was as fun as shopping at a mall can be.

Sunday was spent feeling sick. My oldest daughter and I were going to go see Insidious: Chapter 2, but I just wasn’t feeling the whole movie thang. Ended up watching ‘Dr. Who’ and then the series finale of ‘Fringe’ on Netflix.

I stayed home Monday. My MIL had a fractured hip(long story), so she had surgery Friday. Well Monday she was supposed to be released to a nursing home for rehab. My wife had to be in the hospital first thing that morning, and of course we had terrible fog which resulted in a 2-hour fog delay. I stayed home so I could get the kids on the bus and my wife could get to the hospital early. I tooled around the house a bit and decided I wanted to rearrange my vinyl cabinets and get a new feng shui groove going on. So I did that, but it required long RCA cables that I would run under the floor through the basement so I could connect the turntable to the receiver. I grabbed those and an Atoms For Peace 12 in single. My vinyl nook is complete, as am I.

Damn, that was a long post. I even left certain things out(like the alien abduction, purchase of a Schnauzer Farm in the country, a serious gastro-intestinal issue-causing meal, and some sort of fire at the mall we were at). Maybe I’ll talk about those another time. Yes, another time.