POP CULTURE
Index CDs
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• Lioness, Pride & Joy A • Gang of Four, Happy Now A BOOKS
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• Good Riddance B • 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, email asykeny@hippopress. com. To get author events, library events and more listed, send information to listings@hippopress.com. FILM
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• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World B• Fighting With My Family? B Looking for more book, film and pop culture events? Check out Hippo Scout, available via the Apple App Store, Google Play or hipposcout.com.
36 PLAYLIST A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases
MUSIC, BOOKS, GAMES, COMICS, MOVIES, DVDS, TV AND MORE Lioness, Pride & Joy (Posi-Tone Records)
Timed for release on International Women’s Day (March 8), this is in fact a jazz record featuring an all-female cast, with three sax players in the sextet. Curated by Posi-Tone chief Marc Free as the 20-year-old label’s third release of the year, it’s not the most aggressive thing I’ve heard, but it certainly is as playful as advertised. All the songs were written by women, including Carla Bley’s understated “Ida Lupino,” which moves along in its lonely-sax-on-the-citybridgeway; its tempo is the best match for the relative sparseness present on the whole album, not that the latter third doesn’t build to the fireworks one would expect. Speaking of explosive pieces, the lively, spidery “Down for the Count,” written by the band’s baritone saxophonist (and I’d assume de facto leader), Lauren Sevian, is an instant classic based on Coltrane’s “Countdown,” and undoubtedly the most ambitious jam on board. Not for nothing, but yep, this crew can play. A — Eric W. Saeger Gang of Four, Happy Now (Pledge Music)
It’s argued that this Leeds, U.K.-based band invented postpunk, and it’s almost true, so if you’re in an indie band, you need to get clued in to these guys about 10 years ago. At 60, guitarist Andy Gill is still involved, thus it’s still officially Gang of Four, and the adjective “angular” is an essential component of any review, but this isn’t like Pink-era Wire (who actually did invent post-punk), more like ’90’s Wire. But whatever, who cares who invented the genre this decade so desperately needs, this is awesome stuff, beginning with “Toreador,” a sneakily sexy track that sounds like a cross between INXS and, well, Gang of Four. “Alpha Male” nods at Trent Reznor while bursting with old-school dance appeal. Lots of carefree “la la la” segues on this one; it’s as though they’ve given up on humanity but not on themselves as a band. Or maybe not, with regard to the former; “Ivanka – My Name’s On It” delivers its (spoiler) anti-Donald message with some pretty filthy noise-IDM. A — Eric W. Saeger
• I still think of Queensrÿche as the Creed of ’80s hard-rock, but so many people like them that I have to hide my true feelings, like a person with a hidden Voldemort face I can’t allow anyone to see. The Verdict, due out March 1, is their 16th full-length, but wait, fans, bummer, old singer Geoff Tate was bought out, so he’s not on here, and neither is the band’s original guitar dude Chris DeGarmo, of course, because he bagged the group in 1998. DeGarmo also wrote all the good songs, which may be one reason why they’re not a Top 40 band that gets played on your local bling-hop station between Disney product Ariana Grande and whomever she’s throwing shade at this week, Cardi B’s mom or Drake or whatever. The moral is that like so many other ’80s-metal bands, the ‘Rÿche is a musical K-Mart, ready to go out of business any minute, tossing everything against the wall, I’d imagine, not that I’ve kept abreast of Q Rÿche doings; I can’t even imagine what they’re doing now, maybe metalized Sha Na Na covers, but we’ll all know in a second, as I visit the stupid YouTube so you don’t have to. Right, here’s a top cut from this barnburner, called “Man the Machine.” It starts out by ripping off Metallica’s “Creeping Death.” The lyrics make no sense, of course, like, what does “Dissent is a cry for the dead!” even mean, OK, let’s continue. • Shrimp on the barbie, my little croc hunters, let’s see what Australian psychedelic rock band Pond is cooking for March 1, when their eighth album, Tasmania, “drops” or whatever I’m supposed to call it in order to sound like I’m “with it” or “hip” or whatever. The LP is said to comprise bummer meditations on how hopeless the world is right now, which is something I bet a lot of other bands had thought of, you know? Wow, the single “Daisy” is really cool, like a cross between Sigur Ros and Bryan Adams if you can believe that. I could grow to like this band if I had any hope remaining for rock music. • Hawksley Workman is a fedora-topped Canadian who has fused glam and cabaret-rock nicely enough that his songs have backgrounded TV shows like Scrubs and Queer as Folk; as well, in 2013 he formed a B-list superband with the guy from Hot Hot Heat and someone from Lamblifter, which lasted about 15 minutes. Anyway, shut up, he’s OK, and his new album, Median Age Wasteland, is on trucks right now headed to your Walmarts and things, and it includes the tune “Lazy,” a soaring, powerful, yelly, slow power-rock joint of sorts, sort of like middle-years U2 I’d say. It won’t make you barf, I guarantee it. • Gary Clark, Jr. is our second stupid-hat-wearer for today, a blues rocker who’s young and cool enough that old stegosauruses like Eric Clapton and Sheryl Crow and all those people let him play with them on their royal, gold-trimmed stages. This Land is his new record, and the title track is a swear-filled, hip-hop-infused, Jimi Hendrix-ish, anti-racist rant that’s definitely got some awesomeness to it. — Eric W. Saeger
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HIPPO | FEBRUARY 28 - MARCH 6, 2019 | PAGE 36
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