I'm Back...Again

So I'm sure me vowing to actually begin posting on a consistent basis sounds like a hollow promise, but I can now say that I feel a need to write something that isn't for school once in awhile. I'll try to update this thing once a week, controlling of course for the amount of time school and work will allow.

I've reviewed a pair of albums hoping to get the ball rolling. Forgive my blatant copying of the Cat Fancy Style.


Mitch Hedberg - Do You Believe in Gosh?



The comic community was leveled a stunning loss when Mitch Hedberg died of a drug overdose in his hotel room. Mitch was well known for his delirious and rambling style, marked by strange syllable emphasis, varying sentence flow, and probable inebriation. His observational humor was the apparent work of psychedelic drugs, yet Mitch seemed to be able to delve one layer deeper, possessing an acute sense of perception even though he was tripping balls.

Even though Mitch passed on in March of 2005, we were treated this year to his first posthumous release. Do You Believe In Gosh? is not a complete album. Before his death, Mitch was refining material for a new CD, and this set has some notable flaws. Mitch spends a good chunk of time testing jokes, some of which fail. This is not to say the album is bad, Hedberg fans will be pleased to find the comedian in his best form, for the most part.

Something that really stands out on this album is Mitch's use of improv. When a joke is successful, he really likes to feel it out, and see how much he can get away with. Furthermore, this album is now my favorite example of a performer dealing with one of the comedian's greatest nightmares, the "Helpful Heckler". The Helpful Heckler is different than the normal Heckler, the guy who yells things from the audience simply because he can. This guy wants to be part of the show. He for some reason believes that he has just as much to contribute as the person on stage, and so he'll essentially yell jokes that play off whatever the comedian just said. These people are a disease to the performing the art; the audience should never make an attempt to steal the show. Mitch deals with this guy perfectly, and turns it into an extremely successful bit that runs for about 5 minutes, all around some poor bastard named Phil who can't keep his mouth shut.

The album is short, but if you enjoy off-the-wall observations, and an excellent inside glimpse of the stoner's perspective, or if you already enjoy Mitch's body of work, than I strongly recommend giving Do You Believe In Gosh? a listen.

Favorite Tracks: "Hotels and Bed", "Phil", "The Vacuumist"



Metronomy - Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)



This album came out way back in 2006, and I discovered them a little less than a year ago. However, their new album just dropped, and I figured I should review their first one first to give it some context.

Metronomy is a one man show orchestrated by Joesph Mount, an English rock and roll drummer turned producer. Metronomy is his electronica project, and has proven to be his most successful. Using an outdated computer he inherited from his father, Mount began to experiment with electronic music. He began recording and remixing other bands, and eventually amassed enough original material for his first release. The result is fantastic, and a major breakthrough for music, period. I hate techno. I find it trite, repetetive, uninspired, and really freakin' annoying. Pip Paine is none of these things. Mount experiments with real recorded instruments (remixed of course) layered over synth, over-dubbing, and synthetically produced beats. The result is an eclectic take on electronic music. Mount manages to produce impressively complex music, and develops riffs that stem from sounds of all types, even percussive noises he makes with his mouth (it isn't beat boxing, it's something...else).

One track stands out from all the rest, simply because it relies on actual instrumentation and not mixing. Track seven, Trick of Treatz is the only track on which Mount actually sings, albeit heavily filtered and warped. The track's instrumentation uses two basses, a drum machine, and Mount's vocals; nothing more. The basses provide alternating syncopating rhythms, that combine into something unlike anything I've ever heard.

This is a fantastic listen, and I highly recommend it to anyone that finds themselves even vaguely intrigued. Metronomy has released zero albums in the U.S., so the only place to find this one is on iTunes. Their second album, which I'll review tomorrow, wasn't even available online, so I had to import it from the UK. More tomorrow.

Favorite Tracks: "Black Eye/Burnt Thumb", "Trick or Treatz", "New Toy"

George Carlin, Born May 12th, 1937, Died June 22nd, 2008.

Perhaps the greatest comedian to grace the stage, 71 year old George Carlin passed away last Sunday. Carlin was by far my favorite comedian, and news of his passing was much more saddening than I could have anticipated.

I purchased my first George Carlin CD in the 8th grade when I was 14 years old. It was titled "Back In Town", his 17th album, and hardly a way to get into George Carlin. I had never heard a person sound so angry and vulgar trying to make people laugh. These were things that usually turned me off from comedy. But for some reason I loved it. This man was much more than a comedian. While his routines were filled with wit and humor, his material worked on a deeper level and gave him the means to plead with society, attempting to steer humanity away from its' destructive future.

George was always an interesting character. He was raised a Roman Catholic youth in a part of New York he called "White Harlem". Rebellious from the get go, Carlin dropped out of school when he was in the 9th grade. He jumped from job to job, and was eventually discharged from the air force for being "unproductive". It wasn't until the 1960's that Carlin started becoming popular. He was a heralded disc jockey, and soon was performing stand up acts, and finally made appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. He began to popularize the characters he created in his acts, such as Al Sleet, the "Hippy-Dippy" weatherman, and eventually released his debut album, Take Offs and Put Ons in 1967.

Carlin did more than stand-up comedy. He was the very first host on Saturday Night Live. He even made his way to the silver screen, but his appearances in film are few and far between, and even still usually consisted of smaller parts in bad movies (Jersey Girl anyone?). A few notable performances include Rufus, from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as the Fillmore, patriotic Humvee from Cars. Perhaps his most surprising accomplishment was his stint on Shining Time Station with Thomas the Tank Engine. I loved the show, and as a child became a George Carlin fan before I even knew who he was.

I was fortunate enough to see Carlin on his last tour, the Parade of Useless Bullshit, and now look back on that night as one of the greatest shows I've ever been too, and probably will ever go to. His show was unorthodox and entertaining. He performed in Benaroya Hall, which is also home to the Seattle Symphony. Hardly the location for a stand-up comedian. Also, rather than have a comedian open for him, he chose a musical opening act; an elderly gospel singer, who was able to fill the hall with his natural voice alone. The entire show preceded this way. He didn't perform sketches, or focused jokes. He simply talked, said what was on his mind. It was more a conversation than a performance.

At the end of his career, Carlin had released 23 albums, and had recorded 14 HBO specials. Comedy Central ranked him as the 2nd best comedian of all time, and his persona has become a centerpiece of American culture. On stage, Carlin took on the role of Noah, and constructed an Ark of sanity hoping to save humanity from drowning in its' own stupid. He is irreplaceable, and leaves a gaping void in the world he left behind. Here's looking at you George.

So...

I needed my own blog. The Panel Repairmen is fun and stuff, but I needed a place to post my own thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Expect to see movie, music, and game reviews a la Cat Fancy, as well accounts of events I deem important. More later.