POP CULTURE
Index CDs
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MUSIC, BOOKS, GAMES, COMICS, MOVIES, DVDS, TV AND MORE Michot’s Melody Makers, Blood Moon (Sinking City Records)
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Well this is cool. Tagged as a Louisiana-French fiddle band, this trio spews forth grungy, centuryold Acadian fiddle blues songs as well as some that stem from the cobwebbed halls of pre-accordion Creole-Celtic-Afro-French. That’s a lot to take in, but the upshot is that the band plays what we critics call “world music,” stuff that’s off the U.S.-pop-culture grid even if it’s antique American stuff really. Along with a few of their own tunes, you’ll find here some recently unearthed Cajun and Creole tunes, some adorned with samples; it’s quite unique. Singer/fiddler/leader Louis Michot was part of Grammy winners Lost Bayou Ramblers in the past, and he’s teamed up with a couple of drum-pad guys and Mark Bingham on electric guitar. Nope, there’s no accordion here, but keep in mind that some of these relics come from before the invention of that instrument; this isn’t meant to evoke memories of your drunken trip to New Orleans. No, it’s 100 times better: leadoff song “Two-Step de Ste Marie” is an instantly hypnotic, rhythmic exercise with toasty Elephant Man-style outbursts embedded in oddly modern techno drum beats. The even more lively “Grand Marais” sounds like Joe Walsh leading a primaltrance charge. You’ll love this, seriously. A — Eric W. Seager
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Sunny and Gabe, Peace of Cake (self-released)
• Michot’s Melody Makers, Blood Moon A • Sunny and Gabe, Peace of Cake A+ BOOKS
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• Lake Success A • Book Report Includes listings for lectures, author events, book clubs, writers’ workshops and other literary events. To let us know about your book or event,
events, library events and more listed, send information to listings@ hippopress.com. FILM
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• A Star is Born A• Venom C+ Looking for more book, film and pop culture events? Check out Hippo Scout, available via the Apple App Store, Google Play or hipposcout.com.
Hailing from the same area of Virginia as Pharrell, Timbaland and Missy Elliott, this genre-less wetwork collaboration is a genre-less affair whose most defining feature is singer Sunny’s thick slatherings of emotion over whatever they try. Reggaeton would seem to be part of the plan, as heard on this LP’s opening track, “Peace of Cake,” but not in any “dance up, drinkers!” sense; when Sunny sings “The beaches are empty,” you can really see it. Like a Sade from Hell, “Hadouken” launches into a bizarre but fascinating bossa nova shuffle in which Sunny tries lazy, mellow Dido on for size. “Remix to Signals” sounds like just that, a little diva-bling-pop, a little sunbathing vibe, and a lot — maybe too much — of fritzed noise and radio talk show/ TV randomness. Actually, I shouldn’t say that; it’s what I’d tell any band to try: If you’re going to add samples, go all the way. A+ — Eric W. Seager
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Restaurant Ship Sunset Dinner Cruise 2 Hour Narrated Cruise Departing @ 5:30pm Wed, Fri, Sat, & Sunday through October 14th
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PLAYLIST A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases • OK, I win, bingo, everybody has to drink! That’s right, yo, it’s an official Hannukwaanmas album from a bona fide rawk superstar, coming out before all you people have even set up your gross Halloween goblins in your front yard! Don’t you freakin’ hate that? Well I don’t, because it’s something to talk about in a post-good-music world. Eric Clapton’s Happy Xmas is on the way for Oct. 12, and there will be Christmas songs on it, old standards like “White Christmas” and whatnot, but he also includes a track called “Jingle Bells (In Memory of Avicii).” Avicii is the DJ who struggled with drugs and alcohol before he died by suicide. The internet is all ablaze with conspiracy theories and various stupid talk, because it’s the internet, like people are asking in annoying, whiny Urkel voices, “Ehhh, how did Clapton know Avicii? #FakeNews!” There is a two-part answer to that, of course: “It doesn’t matter, and shut up, internet, just this once.” • How about some new rock ’n’ roll music from Graham Parker? Most baby boomers know Parker as “Yeah, I’ve heard of him, but I couldn’t name one of his songs,” whilst millennials, always proud to appear clueless about things that don’t have any connection to Super Mario and Yoshi, know him as “Who?” OK, picture an imposter Jimmy Buffett trying to do ska-dub, and it sounds like your uncle doing karaoke in the shower — yeah, that’s Parker’s 1970s hit “Don’t Ask Me Questions.” His new LP is Cloud Symbols, and it features the song “Bathtub Gin,” a joke song that sounds like Randy Newman, who was relevant once. Can I stop talking about this yet? • Feels like I just talked about Elvis Costello, but actually the last time was in May of last year — funny how your brain tends to get confused about bands you don’t really care about. But did you know there’s a music-oriented kids’ show on Amazon Prime called Pete the Cat, and Elvis and his real-life jazz-singer wife, Diana Krall, play the kitty’s parents? That’s kind of cool, and Diana Krall is awesome, so I now have a positive attitude going into this new Elvis Costello & The Imposters LP, Look Now. The single that shows up in the YouTube list is a little ditty he likes to call “Unwanted Number,” a mid-tempo rocker that would be Warren Zevon-ish if it were a little more awesome. Not that it’s bad. It’s OK, like it’s well-written and stuff, even if the core melody is kind of dumb. It would have been a huge hit in 1921, because there were no electric guitar effects in 1921. • Unless all 11 million YouTube plays of Kurt Vile’s 2015 song “Pretty Pimpin” were clicked by bots, which I doubt, because it’s a pretty cool hit of Beck-rock (that goes on too long) (oh shut up, it’s completely awesome), he’s doing pretty OK. Bottle It In, his new LP, on the other hand, features the single “Backasswards,” which is just “Pretty Pimpin’” without the addictive Lynyrd Skynyrd ingredients and it goes on for nine minutes, which in this song’s case is an epic fail. Ah well. — Eric W. Seager
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VISIT US AT SUNAPEE HARBOR. RESERVE ONLINE AT SUNAPEECRUISES.COM | 603-938-6465 HIPPO | OCTOBER 11 - 17, 2018 | PAGE 42
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