A Band & A Book

Today's band review:

The Pitt News page.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's are so, so good
Grade: B+

"Meaningful lyrics and variety in its musical style can make a good album, but hate references to alcohol and body parts can break it.

Not Animal, released by Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s, carries both of the above. The band is one of the few that calls on detailed, realistic situations while still making depression sound gorgeous.

Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s is a different sort of band. The name is lengthy. Founders Richard Edwards and Andy Fry met in a pet store. The list of instruments the two play includes guitar, bells, bass, synthesizer, lap steel, melodica, banjo and percussion. That doesn’t even include the other two members, Emily and Tyler Watkins.

To say each song’s background changes is an understatement. This band gets kudos for its variety and its originality. In addition to a lengthy list of instruments, electric guitar, a harmonica and string instruments appeared.

Overall, the band resembles The Shins and Arcade Fire. Indie-rock bashers, please hold your horses and give this group the reins, because they deserve it.

The 12 album tracks include titles such as “Pages Written on a Wall,” “The Shivers” and “The Ocean (is Bleeding Salt).” Each track offers a different take on music.

“Broadripple is Burning” has a child focus. This one is like a depressing fairy tale. Like, time to drop profanity to the children mentioned at the beginning of the song, right along with a “being wasted” part. Yet, it’s gorgeous and poetic.

“Cold, Kind and Lemon Eyes” is about one drunken family and how the vocalist would go cold just to be left alone. His words, though, sound better than that: “Please don’t drop bombs on me / I beg of thee, just leave me in peace / I’ll have cold, kind, and lemon eyes / Oh lemon eyes. My God!”

“As Tall as Cliffs” is the most popular of the album tracks on iTunes for a reason. It has the relationship-gone-bad feeling, although I don’t remember the last time I heard bad relationships put this way: “You’ll hang like the rest. / We’ll leave a noose on the attorney’s desk / And take to the streets / Chant like an army / And doctor up this disease.”

After the list of slightly depressing songs, it’s odd to hear “Stop crying and start smiling” on the last track of the album.

However, that seems to be the point. Everyone in the songs’ tales is alive despite their problems. The best way to improve a situation is to smile and keep going."

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I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed Margot. While I certainly listen to all music, without really defining modern rap as music the majority of the time, I don't necessarily like what I hear. Margot had a different music style, but their lyrics fascinated me. I liked the mild poetry and deciphering my own meanings from them - when I could hear them; I have a hearing problem that led to a lot of attempts on lyric search engines.

So, yes: they're worth buying and not just downloading.

***
The Amazon page; just in case you want it.

The book I read yesterday, straight through, is titled "Why Girls Are Weird : A Novel"; written by Pamela Ribon, the 2003 book centers around a birthday present writing blog envolving beyond the creator's hand.

It's decently written without any fancy vocabulary that will leave you scrambling for the dictionary every other word. It's a decent topic, and I found it to be a relief from the scientific anthropology textbooks.

The clincher for me, however, was a personal preference. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. The reason is because when the character travels to Pittsburgh - my hometown, and the place I am shivering in right now as I suffer through college - the narrator nailed this city down pat:

"What do you think of Pittsburgh?";

"I think it's f-ing cold. And why can't I find a place to eat?"

Yep, that's us. Not doubt in my mind; it is freezing cold in the winter; chilly for us means 30 degrees. Not to mention everything closes between 9:00 in the evening and midnight.

So - good writing style, decent plot, and personal jokes for the people of Pittsburgh. Maybe a couple for Texas, too. Give it a shot.