Album Review: Sleepless by Kate Rusby

     Kate Rusby has a magical talent: she breaths new air into traditional tunes, but endows her own compositions with a timelessness so perfect as to blur the line between old and new.
     Sleepless, the second album from South Yorkshire native Rusby, is a melancholy-sweet collection of folk from the British isles.  Songs range from the sassy, original jig 'The Cobbler's Daughter" to the slightly creepy traditional aire, "The Unquiet Grave."  Rusby's voice is one-of-a-kind, soft, quiet and almost husky.  Her piano and guitar accompaniments complement her arrangements without being simplistic.
     Is there anything bad I can say about this album?  Is it overproduced or overly simplistic?  No.  Too long?  Too short?  No.  Obnoxious guest artists?  Again, no.  This flawless album is a gem in the world of folk.

Pros:
*Beautiful voice
*Beautiful music
*Nice variety of songs

Cons:
*A murder by an over protective mother
*A ghost
*A cow stalker
*A duke with a twisted sense of humor
*A drunk tinker (the butt of the aforementioned duke's prank)
*A maid who learns, too late, that her lover is already married
[Basically, it's English folk: just what you'd expect.]

Album Review: Illuminations by Josh Groban

I will not lie: I am a Josh Groban fan.  I own Awake, Closer, Josh Groban and the "best" songs from Noel, and Josh's live album.  As soon as I discovered a new album in the works early in 2010, I found myself constantly checking Josh's website for details.  Illuminations was released without much to-do on November 15, 2010.  So, naturally, I bought it...November 15. And it has already been well listened to.

Obviously, I'm pleased with the new album.  But, lyrically and musically, how does it stand up to Josh's earlier releases?  Does this album stand alone?  Or am I being seduced by Josh's rich, lyrical voice?

Illuminations will be enjoyed by long time fans of classical/pop crossover, and will hopefully attract some new listeners as well.  Those who complained that Josh only produces "sweet and corny love songs" will find Illuminations a bit more down to earth.  Long time fans will be pleased that Josh's voice still shines in four different languages, and the thirteen songs will leave listeners satisfied but not overwhelmed.  The instrumentation seems simultaneously grander and more raw.  Do I like it?  Yes, I do.  Will you?  I don't know, but this might help:

Song Break Down:

1) The Wandering Kind (Prelude)  An instrumental piece is an interesting way for a vocal artist to start an album.  Even so, it's one of my favorite tracks.  Piano driven in the beginning, it dissolves into a pretty little piece that reeks of romantic melancholy.  Good noveling music.

2) The Bells of New York City  Pretty, romantic, sad...hey, sounds like The Wandering Kind!  Not much to it lyrically, but the music is beautiful.  Every time this song starts, I think it's something by Phillip Glass.  According to my mother (who is also a Groban fan), it's a disguised Christmas song.

3) Galileo (Someone Like You)  Unfortunately, I don't like this song at all.  The lyrics aren't really there and don't seem to match the music.  Sorry, Josh, but this one's a dud.

4) L'Ora Dell'Addio  Slow and a little sad, this song show's Groban's voice nicely.  Some parts feel like lyrically cramming.  

5) Hidden Away  Please don't keep your love hidden away.  A sweet song requesting a girl to show her love, instead of hiding it.  This song reminds me of You Are Loved

6) Au Jardin Des Sans-Puorquoi  It's French.  Nothing else, good or bad, sticks out about this song.

7) Higher Window  One Amazon.com reviewer complained that this song "sounded religious".  It does, but it's subtle and I can't decide what religion it's referring to.

8) If I Walk Away A "poppier" tune than some on this album.

9) Love Only Knows  Another pop influenced song.

10) Voce Existe Em Mim  Possibly the coolest non-English song I've ever heard (it's in Portuguese, if you were curious).  I love it.  Go listen to it.

11) War At Home  Sad but encouraging without sappiness.  This is one of my favorites.  Two ambiguous uses of the word "hell".

12) London Hymn  Composed of a creepy choir.  Moody and pretty, but lacks depth because, well, it lacks lyrics.

13) Straight to You Other than some lyrics-not-matching-the-music problems, this is a wonderful song.  It also has a few phrases that might make Christians uncomfortable (Heaven has denied us it's kingdom/

The saints are drunk and howling at the moon/ And the chariots of angels are colliding).

Book Review: Reckless by Cornelia Funke

German author Cornelia Funke has quite the resume:  The bestselling Inkheart trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath), The Thief Lord, and two movies based on her books, just for starters.  Her newest novel, Reckless, the first in a series, was released mid-2010.
When he was younger, Jacob Reckless discovered a portal in his father's office.  Over the next ten years he spent more and more time in the mirror world and less in the real world.  One day, his younger brother Will follows him through the mirror and is fatally wounded.  (Fatally, in this case, refers to turning into a stone monster.)  Even though he has seen little of his brother over the past few years, Jacob is determines to reverse the damage and send Will and his girlfriend, Clara, back through the mirror.
Put plainly: Funke's latest novel shines.  The mirror world is dark and rich.  The three "normal" characters are realistic and driven.  Funke gives us just enough description to flesh out her world, leaving the rest of the imagining to us.  The plot parallels Jacob's one-track mind, pushing relentlessly toward the end.  Instead of leaving us worn out or bored, the urgency pushes us through the 300+ page book at, well, reckless speeds.

Pros:

*Amazing world building

*Believable, honest characters

*Eloquent story telling

*Intriguing pictures that add to the story

Cons:

*Some implied sex (mentioned so that young readers would probably not catch it)

*Some mild language

*Some violence.  Main kill often and characters nearly die.

*Some dishonest dealings.

*Could be a bit dark or intense for young readers.

Steampowered Stories [Album Review]

Some time ago in a city run solely on steam...

"Gather round now, everyone hear,
Hear of incredible things
We'll tell you the stories of people we've met
And creatures with clockwork and springs!"

The Cog is Dead is a steampunk band. Under the premise of a time-traveling band from the 1890s, the musical quartet manages to embrace all of the charm and themes of steampunk (romanticism of the Victorian era mixed with mechanics, clockwork, and "modern ingenuity") as well as a variety of different musical themes, ranging from a nineteen-twenties swing to reggae to a pop-rock feeling.

1. Steam Powered Stories (Intro)
The first track on this album is, as the title suggests, an introduction. Setting the premise of a radio show, the Cog is Dead sets the feeling for the entire album; whimsical, and in the words of Monty Python, "something completely different" with bright electric guitar and lyrics that just kind of throw you for a loop.

2. Blood, Sweat, and Tears
"Some time ago in a city run solely on steam..."

The second track on the album is a dark contrast to the first, which promises a cheerful listen.

This is one of those growing ever-so-rare "tell a story" songs that describes the power plants of steam-powered stories. After describing the conditions and job that the workers have, the song begins to tell the unfortunate tale of Frederick Worthington, who "clocked into work, and went to his station not knowing the danger that lurked".

Accordion is a fantastic stand-in for a pipe organ, equally as creepy, and brilliant sounding trumpets accompany the accordion wonderfully.

3. Loverboy
"Oh, loverboy, that woman's heart is not a toy..."

Why, yes, it IS one of those songs! You know the type; girl falls for guy, guy fools around, girl leaves guy, guy is heartbroken. Except old-timey and a tiny bit goofy.

I can't tell if its a banjo or a guitar; whatever it is, it adds extreme lyrical/musical dissonance; the song is about heartbreak and, as they put it, "running around", but the music is extremely upbeat and generally fun to listen to.

The old-timey radio voice saying "loverboy" intermittently towards the end, however, is a lovely touch. The Cog is Dead gets brownie points for that one.

4. The Copper War
The third track of the album feels very much like a Western movie. Starting off with a fast guitar and a whistled melody, the song is like its predecessor and tells the story of copper in a Western town. Not really much else to say; the lead singer does get a wonderful, rich, Southern sound out of his voice, though.

5. Aimee
"A girl sweet and pure like no other
With dreams just as big as the sea..."

"Aimee" is the song from a man, in love with a mechanic, to Aimee, who is away, exploring the ocean in her submarine. The song begins with a strong, loud organ, and suddenly switches to piano and slowly crescendoes to the chorus, which brings in the rest of the band.

The lyrics are adorable, sad, and most definitely steampunk, in all of its glory. (Really, how often do you hear a song about a girl practically in love with her machinery?)

An electric guitar solo comes in just before the end and somehow keeps the charm and feeling of the rest of the song. Finally wrapping up with just the lead singer and his piano, the song is definitely one of my favorites on the album.

6. Let Me Be Your Man
"Honey, I've known you for quite a while
My heart gets all a-flutter every time I see your smile
Darlin', won't you let me hold your hand
And say that I can be your man!"

Track six is an adorable nineteen-twenties style song, complete with the banjo-sounding guitar and adorable lyrics, a wonderful contrast and follow-up to "Aimee". It tells the story of a man madly in love, willing to do whatever it takes to be with his dream girl.

Jeez, so many adorable love songs on this album, its so easy to forget sometimes that its steampunk.


7. Mechanical Menagerie
A song with a pop feel to it, "Mechanical Menagerie" starts off sounding more like a Barenaked Ladies song than a steampunk piece of music. The typical "ooh-ooh-ooh-ing" and four guitar chords repeated over and over again start off the song.

Describing a "mechanical menagerie", a plethora of robots and clockwork animals created and put on display by a man in London, the song seems to fit the "radio show" feeling set by the first track on the album, almost like an advertisement for the Mechanical Menagerie. All in all, an adorable song.

WARNING: This song is an earworm! One listen and you'll be rockin' out to it all day in your head. Don't say we didn't warn you.


8. The Depths Below
"There's an ancient legend, an oceanic tale
An underwater monster not a fish and not a whale..."

Ahh, at last, the steampunk train rolls on! The "The Depths Below" is one of those legends that old sailors might have told to each other set to a creepy piece of music, begun with bells, like those on a xylophone.

Telling the story of something that "isn't quite a creature and isn't quite machine," it describes a mighty sea monster that, so far, has never let any ship survive its wrath.

9. Time Machine
Another sad love song telling the story of a man whose lover is dying of a currently incurable disease. Her boyfriend (perhaps husband, the song doesn't ever specify) is so distraught by the idea of losing her that he builds a mighty time machine to go to the future and retrieve a cure so that she'll live and be able to stay with him.

This song follows a steampunk timeline; diseases (consumption and the like) had no cure or treatment during the Victorian era. (Another steampunk band, the Clockwork Quartet, wrote a song about a woman who had such a disease and whose husband went mad trying to find a cure for it; more on that, perhaps in a later post.)

The song begins with a plucked guitar and violins playing pizzicato, shortly joined by a cello before the lead singer begins.

I'm telling you now, this song is a bit of a tear jerker. Have a box of tissues at the hand, ladies and gentlemen.

10. The Inventor's Daughter
"I once knew a girl with a heart of gold
To legs of silver and arms of chrome
The prettiest girl I ever knew,
I loved each rivet, bolt, and screw"

A bright contrast to "Time Machine", this next song is about a man who falls in love with a robot girl, referred to as the daughter of an inventor. Its the story of how they met and fell in love and decided to elope, before getting dragged back to the Inventor's house, where he locks his daughter away from her lover.

The song is whimsical, starting up with whistles and a cheery, lighthearted melody. A bright guitar solo in the middle manages to keep the charm and fun mood of the song.

Suddenly, at the end of the song, we hear a special news bulletin, informing us of...

11. The Death of the Cog
The band takes on a suddenly dark, grim tone with "The Death of the Cog", from whence their name comes. (Or was it their name that spawned the song...? Hm, who can say?)

The song is directed at one Mr. Hamilton, inventor of the digital clock. The storyteller, supposedly the band's lead singer "John Sprocket", an English clockmaker, is stricken with grief and is furious with Hamilton for causing the "death of the cog".

Three words for you: epic accordion solo.

12. I Want Only You
Hey, look, another mood change! "I Want Only You" is a reggae love song, from the storyteller to a Victorian girl, who's said to have a charming combination of a parasol and goggles.

The aforementioned lyrics, folks, is what steampunk is all about.

Bob Marley-esque, as one might expect. Not my favorite track, but a definite earworm (beware the earworm!) so watch out!

13. A Letter to Michelle
This is the final part of the radio show premise, excluding the reprise/outro of "Steam Powered Stories".

Track 13 tells the story of an airship pilot attacked by pirates and writing home to his wife about his fate. A beautiful song, certainly a bit of a tear-jerker. (Hope you didn't put away the tissues just yet.)

14. Steam Powered Stories (Reprise)
A lovely little wrapping up of the whole album, keeping with the theme of a radio show. Very much like its counterpart, the intro.

BONUS TRACK:
Giiiiiiirl.... It's a '90's R&B song..."
Yes, there is a reason why the band skipped this genre.

SO...
All in all, a charming, fun debut CD with a different style. And epic album artwork. Definitely a fantastic (rare) concept album, surprisingly clean and appropriate for listeners of all ages, a definite plus. If you have the chance, check out their website here.

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

     Religious symbolism expert Robert Langdon is urgently summoned to the Louvre to investigate a bizare murder.  The grandaughter of the deceased knows that it is a sting operation and Langdon is the prime suspect.  Sophie and Robert run through Paris and London, unravelling clues while staying ahead of the authorities.     
There are very few people in America who haven't heard of Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.  The "conspiracy thriller" is based on the premise that the Church (meaning the Catholic church) has surpressed critical, non-Biblical facts about the life of Christ.
     If you claim that Jesus was married and had a child, you will get flack no matter how many copies you sell.
The Da Vinci Code is a well-spun mystery (I hesitate to call it a thriller) that makes big claims backed up with almost completely phony research.  Even liberal reviewers gave Brown a hard time.  When attacked by historians, Brown affirmed that every thing in the book was fact.
     I've gotten different opinions from Christian who have read the book or seen the movie.  Some feel threatened, but Brown's dull axe, if you will, is only a threat to those unwilling to research.  The majority of Christians I've talked to enjoyed the story and left the theology.
     The final word?  Read if you are willing to do some extra research.  If you decide to read or watch The DaVinci Code, add The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and Cracking the DaVinci Code (or a similar book) to your home library.

Pros:

*Exciting plot

*Believable dialougue

*Decent prose style (those who bash Brown's style have had the luxury of never reading truly ban prose)

*Clues and riddles actually solveable by real people

Cons:

*Religious sexual content (the worst is at the end of chapter 74)

*Language (not horrible; probably one mild every other chapter)

*Mild alchohol

*Heavily unbiblical theology and world views

*Occasional clunky language (once again, it's not as bad as many negative reviews make out.

*Evil Albino trope is getting old

Fullmetal Alchemist [Hagane no Renkenjitsushi]

Humankind cannot gain anything without first sacrificing something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

It's like that myth about the hero. He made wings out of wax so he could fly...
But when he got too close to the sun...
To God...
The wax melted and he crashed to the ground.

In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth.

Look at me, Rose! This is what happens when you use alchemy on humans... This is what happens to sinners who trespass in God's domain!

Alchemy is the science of deconstructing, analyzing, and reconstructing matter; essentially, turning one thing into something else. The practice that makes you feel like you're magic. It can even turn lead into gold. However, alchemy is not an all-powerful art. One cannot make something out of nothing. Alchemy is a science and so must follow certain laws and rules, the most important being "Equivalent Exchange". To obtain, something of equal value is paid in retrobution. There is a taboo among alchemists, and that is human transmutation. It is forbidden. For what could equal the value of a human soul?

Two brothers, naiive and innocent, choose to challenge this law. In an attempt to resurrect their dead mother, Edward and Alphonse Elric learn the reason why human transmutation is forbidden. Alphonse, only nine years old, looses his body. Edward, the elder by a year, looses his left leg. Desperate, he sacrifices his right arm to bind his younger brother's soul to a suit of armor. Fitted with steel prosthesis called "automail" to replace his missing limbs, Edward and his brother journey to the capital city of Central, where 12-year-old Edward takes the State Alchemist's exam and becomes the youngest member of the military in the history of the military dictatorship of Amestris, earning himself the rank of Major, the title of Fullmetal Alchemist and Hero of the People, and Flame Alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang as his superior officer, one of the few men who knows the secret of their failed transmutation.

Fast forward three years. Edward is now fifteen years old, loud and obnoxious, with gaudy taste and the mouth of a sailor, but is still a prodigy and genius. We learn that he is searching for the Philosopher's Stone, a fabled object which is said to give alchemists the power to bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange, in order to return his Alphonse's body, as well as his own limbs (after all, automail has a lot of problems). While searching for this fabled stone, Edward and Alphonse meet all manner of people, including the doting father and crazed Lieutenant-Colonel Maes Hughes, the muscular and over-emotional Major Alex Louis Armstrong, "trigger-happy" Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, a mysterious serial killer called Scar, Twelfth Son of the Emperor of Xing, Ling Yao and his entourage, as well as an androgynous being named Envy, a deranged former state alchemist named Zolf J. Kimblee, and many others.

Finding the Philosopher's Stone, the Elrics soon realize, is the least of their problems. The two deal with love and loss, worrying over the life of their childhood friend Winry, who happens to be Edward's automail mechanic, Alphonse's "humanity", dealing with their estranged father, who left them when they were small, and the fate of their entire nation.

This unique fantasy is a manga, or a type of art-meets-literature sort of comic from Japan. Hiromu Arakawa's art is fantastic, her characters are unique and believable, the story is littered with witty moments, and the plotline is riveting and wonderfully complex. Arakawa's world, set in a post-industrial revolution-styled nation (rather similar to an eastern European nation, like Germany) is a balance of fantasy and reality, of history and modern culture, humor and drama, and mystery galore. Arakawa-sensei's whole idea of alchemy surpassing Newton's Laws is unique and clever and she brings a whole new light to the dead practice of alchemy.

Pros:
-brotherly love
-fast-paced plot
-Mustang's gloves
-Garfiel
-the Homunculi
-the relationships between characters
-Winry's wrench
-the art
-well-developed characters
-Alphonse and his kittens
-the age-old good vs. evil dilemma
-Edward
-witty humor
-action
-love
-the idea that "revenge only leads to more revenge" and should not be a justification for anything

Cons:
-language (nothing too bad, but enough to constitute a "rated T for teen" sticker)
-merciless slaughter
-some light sexual content
-war
-violence
-lots of character death

Other FMA Merch and Stuff:
-Fullmetal Alchemist (52-episode 2003 television series)
-Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa (2005 film based off of 2003 television series)
-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (64-episode 2009-2010 television series)
-FMA: Brotherhood Untitled Movie Project (film to follow up FMA: Brotherhood)
-various Original Video Animations (side stories to go with the series)
-FMA spin-off novels

Series Review: The Red Pyramid

When the Percy Jackson series came to a close with The Last Olympian, many readers were left despondent.  With no promise as to whether they would ever see Percy again (which they will), young fans were thrilled with the release of The Red Pyramid, the first book in The Kane Chronicles.  Does it live up to their expectations of tensely woven action, witty (if unrealistic) dialogue, and a fantastic world-within-a-world?
In a word: Yes.

The Red Pyramid  begins with Carter and Sadie Kane's father blowing up the Rosetta stone and promptly being kidnapped by supernatural forces.  (Read the first chapter here.)  What follows is the wonderful but chaotic romp that usually occurs when gods and humans meet.  Because of the subject material (children connected to the gods through a hidden past, unusual powers, saving the world on a schedule, etc) it feels much like the Percy Jackson books.  Riordan does not, however, plagiarize his own material.  The Red Pyramid is a story all to its self.



Title list:
Book one: The Red Pyramid
Book two: TBA (release date Spring 2011)
Book three: TBA (release date Spring 2012)



Ups:
A homeschooled character--Finally!
Exciting; non-stop action
Good narrative, no distracting habits on the
     writer's part
No cussing (that I can recall)
No inappropriate sex, drugs, or alchol



Downs:
Oh my G*d's
Flat characters (because Carter and Sophie switch off narrating,
 we don't see in to their heads like we see into Percy's)
Unbelievable dialogue (while amusing it is much to "action hero-ish"
to sound plausible from a twelve year old and fourteen year old.)
"Transcription" narrative device doesn't work.

Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl"

"Stay back, human. You don't know what you're dealing with."

Artemis Fowl is a headstrong, determined young man with a vampire smile and a cutthroat attitude. He's a genius at the head of underground crimes across the globe, having written several papers and novels under various psuedonyms and has accomplished more than any person could ever dream of doing. And to think he's only twelve years old.

Artemis' story begins in a crowded city in Vietnam. Accompanied by his rather large, seemingly brutish bodyguard, known only as Butler, he acquires a copy of something known only as "The Book" from a supposed sprite with a drinking problem and hastily returns to his home in Ireland. From there, he begins decoding the information in this text with one goal in mind: gold. His plan? To kidnap a fairy.

This book, the first of seven in the series, is the start of the tentative truce between genius Artemis Fowl and the Lower Elements Police (LEP). Throughout the course of the series, Artemis finds himself slowly abandoning his criminal ways (albeit very, very slowly...) as he helps Captain Holly Short and the rest of the LEP keep fairies safe from humankind, and save humankind from crazed fairies.

Colfer has done an outstanding job, managing to create a world entirely his own, yet still coexisting with the one we live in. He's created his own language, which can be read at the bottom of each page of the books, and he's succeeded in bringing the age-old fairy idea back entirely as his own. This man deserves a high five and a plate of cookies.

Pros:
-believable characters with very human qualities
-very little romantic side-stories
-magic
-some odd love
-clever humor (including such obscure things as "quarks")
-environmentalist undertones (especially in the last two or three books)

Cons:
-technobabble, and lots of it
-occasional Mary-Sue-esque characters
-mild language (both English and Gnomish)
-slightly unbelievable ratio of criminal and do-gooder in Artemis, though it does even out as the series goes on
-odd love (while its a good thing, its also very, very strange)

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

The world as we know it does not exist.

In fact, it is populated by monsters and magic wielders who work under the noses of modern society-

Wait.

You've heard this before?

Michael Scott, author of the (yet to be finished) Secrets on the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series knows this is an old premise for fantasy. His prescription for reviving this trope involves magicians that actually acknowledge they live in a technical world, pleasantly unique vampires, teens with lives apart from magic wielding, and the ambitious use of every major world mythology.

The plot revolves around fifteen year old twins Sophie and Josh Newman. The book store Josh works at is attacked and burglarized by an unusual man. He leaves the place in chaos and with the book store owner's wife Perry. In the aftermath that follows Sophie and Josh are forced to flee with the store owner, who calls himself Nick Flemming.

The major premise of the story inevitably involves twins with powers that could save or destroy the world. But the world that they live in is so well constructed while operating within our own that it is more believable than, say, the world of Harry Potter. Unlike the aforementioned series, Secrets draws heavily on mythology, and unlike Percy Jackson and its sister books, Scott utilizes nearly every major world mythology. The mish-mash of monsters and gods that results will enthral any myth buff. Even the casual fantasy fan will recognize names and creatures, adding to the fun of this light, adventurous series.

Title list:

The Alchemyst

The Magician

The Sorceress

The Necromancer

The Warlock (to be released in 2011)

The Enchantress (to be released in 2012)

The Ups:

*Characters that use magic but live believably in our world, too

*Little swearing

*No sexual content (unless crushes count)

*No inappropriate drug or alcohol use

*Fast and complex plot

*Generally good dialogue and description

The Downs:

*Juvenile narrative style

*Scattered uses of "Oh my G*d"

*Characters "borrow" things occasionally