childhood

An Unexpected Journey (Plants and Animals, Waltzed in from the Rumbling review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

What a strange sight to see – When fantasy meets reality and dreams became something more tangible.

We all have dreams. And while sometimes it can be quite therapeutic to take a break from the hard work of the world and think upon what could be.

But what if you were living your dreams right now? That’s what this week’s album review is all about.

 

 

 

Plants and Animals – Waltzed in From the Rumbling
released April 29, 2016
***** 6/10

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Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal. A three piece act that began playing together as children and whom have now released four studio-length albums decades later.

It’s almost the perfect story isn’t it? We all had those sort of dreams as children. Each of us were asked that age-old question of what do you want to be when you grow up? It turns out that Warren Spicer, Matthew Woodley, and Nicolas Basque all got their wish.

And how fitting given that their fourth album heavily features tracks that were given form via a process akin to a playdate. Each member of the trio  meeting up in their studio to play whatever they felt like at each session. This is the effort of P&A stepping back from the limelight after five years of touring and two albums made during that period; this is Plants and Animals setting out to record something real and wrought with emotion.

And it’s incredibly beautiful album to listen to.

All the mistakes, quirks, and cleverness of epiphany all rest inside of each track rather softly, a simple request that you take them in and ponder them over.

The results of childhood friends taking advantage of their shorthand to recognize when something isn’t working and then to push a song in ways unexpected is quite a wondrous thing to hear.

But the problem is that it isn’t entirely accessible at first playthrough or even during a second playthrough. Yes the music is fun and heartfelt and beautiful, but it moves at a variety of paces throughout and it’s shoegazing format is not something that is going to appeal to the majority of the crowd. P&A can’t quite figure out the tone to set on this one and it hurts the album for it.

But I’m willing to bet Plants and Animals aren’t concerned about what the majority thinks. Which is why they are willing feature summer tracks like We Were One, the horns infused Je Voulais te Dire, and the rather ironic Flowers.

Stands out tracks include No Worries Gonna Find Us and We Were One. And if you want to listen to a few of the tracks yourself they’ve already released a couple of singles – 1 2

As other indie bands explore heavy pop mixtures, opportunities to use synthesizers and older sounds, Plants and Animals are on a different journey and one that keeps them ever youthful.

 

 

 

Plants and Animals are fortunate to have the opportunity to live their dreams, and the talent to share with us what dreams can sound like when realized. That is why an album like Waltzed in from the Rumbling is so beautiful to hear. Yes, the melodies are quite lovely, but that conviction and success are sweet as well.

But should you buy this album? I think if you want to try something a little different, than absolutely yes… what dreams may come.

Tim!

Freaks ‘n Geeks (Geekologie)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

It’s wisdom time, it’s wisdom time! Coming right at ya from Edmonton Alberta, Tim is writing about a geekier side of the internet today.

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No, not Video & Arcade Top 10 dear readers. But who here remembers THAT show?!?! If you haven’t seen it before, please do me a favour and take a peek on YouTube. I reacquainted myself with it today for the purposes of this post and was surprised to find that the adult hosts involved with the show were just as embarrassed to be on the show as I was to re-watch it and ruin my childhood in the process.

I mean those kids do not look happy to be there. WTF.

I know that is a trope of our culture now, but seriously, don’t go back and revisit something from your childhood if you haven’t consistently looked after it over the years, it never ends seems to end well for anyone.

Unless it’s been nostaligified and repurposed into something other than what it you’re used to seeing. Know what I mean?

“No Tim, we don’t know what you mean, and everytime you write something like that, we know you are leading up to an idea!”

You guys are so smart, always knowing what I am thinking before I am going to share it. It’s like you are interested in pop culture too. Which I think is a very good thing. Heck, my instagram description states that I am a cultivator of the arts. Visual, theatre, pop… You name it, I love it and live it. But I never leave it. Not unlike a certain website that I’m prone to visit in my spare time occasionally. Haha, spare time.

Have you ever been inspired by something and wanted to emulate it’s qualities for yourself? Well, Geekologie is one of those blogs that I think every dedicated writer of the web needs to visit and take notes from in order to become a better contributor of valid content.

Here is a entry from Wikipedia about the website for your reference dear readers.

Geekologie is a popular geek blog dedicated to the recognition of gadgets and technology. Each article is coupled with humorous commentary about the featured story or item written by the blog’s only author...

Geekologie is updated multiple times a day with articles on gadgets, video games, consumer electronics and popular culture related to games and movies. Gmail, Google’s webmail service, as well as many other RSS readers, has included Geekologie as a default RSS feed, pulling the latest articles which appear at the top of all user’s mailboxes...

Geekologie has been around for almost a decade, a decidely long period of time for anything that exists online. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it is outmoded or irrelevant, because the author of the articles is constantly updating the content to provide us with information from around the web. He/she continues to be an anonymous entity which also adds to the mystery, though there have been several (hundred) indicators that the Geekologie writer is male.

Well a lot in fact, but I don’t want to assume when it comes to anonymity.

So why do I really like this blog and think it is a good one for any writer to look at? Because GW (Geekologie writer) consistently produces content, maintains a certain rhythm in the flow of their posts, and they have trademark writing habits that make the experience unique from other platforms, but provide a sense of familiarity.

For instance, they hate robots, but love dinosaurs in an oddly sexual way. They use phrases like “keep going…” if you want to read the full article, or “hit the jump” if you want to see the attached link, or “one more shot” if there are multiple images to view. And they ALWAYS thanks one of the subscribers or commenter’s at the end of the post with a funny quip. Whether the person(s) thanked is real or imagined, I haven’t quite figured it out, but I expect it and appreciate the humour most of the time.

It reads a bit like a college frat party hooked up with a xcore gamer and a mad scientist, but I think you’ll like it if you haven’t already heard about it. And I’m willing to bet even if you haven’t, you’ve stumbled across an article or two accidentally without realizing.

So hit the jump, and spend some time with some articles that are fresh off the internet and maybe you’ll learn something, and at the very least you’ll laugh. I bet you might pick up a theory or three.

Tim!