Sic Transit Sic Alps

The lo-fi SF outfit known as Sic Alps have called it quits, but for those who enjoy that acid Beatles wrapped in scuzz kind of sound, fear not. Sic Alps main man Mike Donovan has taken his show solo, with the inchoate but still rather lovely WOT? out mid-October on Drag City. One or two listens in, I am liking as much as I ever liked Sic Alps, maybe a little more. Anyway, see for yourself.



In other news, we watched the riveting but not quite classic Frenzy last night, the next to last of Alfred Hitchcock's films, shot in 1972 and really, a bit giddy with its wrongly accused hothead, its florid, suave villain, its necktie strangled girls and its fixation on the horrors of classic French cooking. One interesting thing about the film is how it wasn't. Michael Caine was supposed to be the killer but turned away the script in nausea. Helen Mirren was initially considered for one of the victims, didn't do it, and regretted it for life. (Maybe why she jumped on Hitchcock?) I wish there were more Hitchcock on Netflix, just this one and The Lady Vanishes and if we want more, we'll have to pay for it.

Also, of interest to no one, I like my shiny purple running shoes. I did a 10-mile run this morning in them, first time in ages I've run over eight, and I had next to no pain, just a twinge on the worst uphill. (I could probably run 15 if I could find one with no hills.) So for the first time in several years, a voice is whispering "marathon" in my ear again, not this fall, certainly, and probably not in the spring, but maybe next fall if I can get the training going.

Shark Fucks

I've got this new Sic Alps 7", always a fun thing, but the best thing about it, in my opinion, is that it covers the Tronics' wonderfully nonsensical, anarchic "Shark Fucks."





Couple of notes on Mother's Day...Saturday I got noticed from the NH State Goverment that my son's totally unsubsidsized but state-pooled health insurance was being cancelled as of August 31st. I hope that these tea party bastards someday need something from Sean's generation and that they get screwed as painfully and senselessly as they have done to the young people.

Also, in a more upbeat and pleasant vein, we had some very nice, unhurried time together this weekend, watched the new Almodovar movie (very creepy), some hoops, and saw the Feelies (that was just me and Bill, Sean is way too beat on Fridays to go out late), who were amazing. I also got about half of the flower garden weeded and repotted my tomato plants.

Sic Alps

I’ve got a review of the two-disc, 22-song Napa Asylum from Sic Alps today at Blurt. I said:

Like U.S. EZ, Napa Asylum feels raw and unfinished, its songs sketched in broad magic marker strokes, rather than carefully shaded and cross-hatched. There's a liminal quality to many of these tracks, as if we are catching them in the act of turning into songs rather than as finished works. That makes prolonged listening somewhat difficult and tiring, as you are continually asked to fill in the blanks between what's on the disc and what a given track might become. However, it also opens up a limitless sense of possibility. These songs are portals into a freakishly lighted, semi-surreal experience that never quite accords with what you expect.

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“Do You Want to Give $$$”
Also, I did speak with Cave Singers’ drummer last night, and given that it’s only 250 words, I think it will be okay. I should, perhaps, not have lost my shit in public. Sorry.

I’ve got a couple more records that I’ve been listening to and probably can’t review. I’m going to try to write about at least briefly about them later today, if I can get some stuff done.

So cold, yikes.