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Diana Krall has done more than anyone else in recent years to keep Jazz relevant and popular even amongst non-aficionados. A true crossover artist, the Canadian chanteuse has sold millions of her albums and won Grammys for her work. She is now 42 years old and the mother of seven month old twins whom she had with her rock star husband, Elvis Costello. I have been a fan since her “Love Scenes” album in the late nineties and now own her entire discography. But it was only last week that I finally got to see her live. And unlike other concerts that I go to, for this one, I purchased the pricey tickets to get up close and personal with Krall. It was worth every penny.

The concert was at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, a venue that was the perfect sounding board for her voice and piano. She gave a rousing performance with her quartet: Anthony Wilson on guitar, Robert Hurst on bass, and ;a href=”http://wm08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aifrxqt5ldse”>Jeff Hamilton on drums. Krall was very generous to her (amazing) band in giving them time to perform many solos throughout the 100 minute show. Krall has a reputation of being reserved and “difficult” but none of that was on display on this night. There were humorous interludes about her life in small town Canada, her kids and Costello.The songs she performed were from her inspirations such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Oscar Peterson, and of course, Nat King Cole, to whom she dedicated an entire album (”All for You“). She was given a standing ovation at the end by a packed and mesmerized audience and she came back for one encore. Catch her in concert if you can even if you are not into Jazz that much.

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The band in question is The Bravery, and am guessing they were not expecting this review. For example:

Every Word Is a Knife in My Ear”, an utterly unsexy, castrated version of “Take Me Out”, wouldn’t even be plausible as a sticker on a goth teenager’s bookbag– let alone as a relatable relationship grievance

After reading this review you can’t possibly not feel compelled to listen to the album. Luckily the album is available for listening on their website (I was worried I’d have had to pay for it). I heard the first song Believe, and can’t say I found it that bad. But then I went and listened to track 5 Bad Sun, my God!, quite annoying song - couldn’t stand the cheapness of it, especially the whistling. Then I went back and listened to one of the track mentioned in the review “Every Word is a Knife in My Ear” - Geez! - it is true, the track is terrrible - not sure about the lyrics, I wasn’t paying close attention. I got it. It’s bad.

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Burial is one of those albums that you have to listen over and over. I have listened it to it a couple of times only, but it is clear that needs more. And this is not your commuter type music, you need headphones. Many layers of details in each track. Some are very dark, others very sad, and mostly weird (no doubt).

This is Burial’s first album, the guy spent about 5 years making it and apparently made it to many many top 10s for music critics (I say apparently because I have not bothered looking). I did go to pitchfork and found this article. As if the album itself wasn’t complex enough, try to follow up the review. One thing the reviewer and I agree, “U Hurt me” is fantastic!

Enjoy

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I recently finished reading Innocence After the Long Goodbye. This novel belongs to the Ghost in the Shell franchise. I haven’t made my mind yet to whether I like it or not. It is written by Masaki Yamada, quite known in Japan.

The novel follows Batou in his search of his lost dog, but really is about the search for the human soul in a world where humans have lost the essence of being and are subsumed more and more into the emptiness of the technology that surrounds them. Bit philosophical isn’t it? so I took it for what is worth. There are irrefutable points in the book about where we are heading with the lack of human interaction. We should not forget that the story does happen in a world where robots are more than common, where most humans have an e-brain and such, so the arguments play well in this futuristic world.

I am not a fan of the story telling in the book. At least the translation, even if accurate, doesn’t seem to hook you in the story itself. The side stories are actually quite good and inventive. They are all interconnected with the main plot so none feel superfluous, which is a very good thing. I wish there were more about some of them. I don’t remember if any of them are followed upon in the Innocence movie, should watch it again soon.

Much to my disappointment the Major doesn’t appear, though she is mentioned constantly by Batou.

All in all I enjoyed it, and I think it does play well with the rest of the franchise.

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This is a new seven issue comic series from Vertigo. Written by Mike Carey and art by Jock. The team behind Crossing Midnite, which I have heard many good things but haven’t read yet. So far two issues out and looks very promising.

It seems that the plot revolves around the idea of that things are not quite as they seem. Most people have its own agenda and nobody is really friends with anybody (especially at the party age). Certain sense of desolation and hopelessness surrounds the characters.

Thus far the characters are a group of roommates/friends that though share the party don’t necessarily care too much about each other. The first issue presents us the very compromised characters of these so-called friends, the climax is a party in which the group gets heavily intoxicated with an unknown drug. Starting from this point a member of the group materializes for the first time, he had been mentioned before but only shows after this drug party. His appearance is explained in the second issue, and we learn thereafter that this new character is actually a non-character that doesn’t seem to really exist but that somehow binds all other characters and gives them a sense of reality and truthfulness. The story seems to be building quite nicely and I am looking forward to the third issue coming soon.

Not a fan of the art. Initially I was put off by the color selection, I think is quite in sync with the mood of the story. Sometimes the male characters are hard to distinguish from frame to frame.

Hope the next issue isn’t a disappointment and it keeps improving.

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