Sparks From Das Prognosticator
- By Jared Blaut
- Published 06/12/2008
Jared Blaut
Jared Blaut gave 12 years of his life to the NY independent film community, from NYU film, to getting coffee for superstars, to hanging with muppets, to being on the ground floor for the foundation of Focus Features, where he worked with hundreds of film distributors in dozens of countries on the promotion and distribution of Focus-related films. (Rent SESSION 9, people!) Now "retired" to South Florida with his wife and dogs, Jared owns and operates a local community magazine, for which he never, ever writes in the third person.
Remember what I said here about Warren Ellis?
Well ZAMMO and KABLAAM!
Truly I am psychic, if one defines "psychic" as "the ability to predict the obvious and inevitable." However, my geek cred is shredded for I've somehow managed to not read these two properties. I guess it's time for a trip to Tate's.
This all is bringing to mind Sparks' song "I Predict" which mocks the vague predictions of tabloid psychics, ending with the prediction that "this song will fade out." (Spoiler: it does not.) Check it:
To know Sparks is to love them, as the oodles of new wave / geek rock they've inspired in the past 30 years shows. Some of their 70's albums contain the best 80's songs you've never heard. And yes, that makes sense. Like They Might Be Giants? Listen to what they were listening to as kids. Hate They Might Be Giants? So does my wife, and yet she digs Sparks.
Listen to this song about Ron Mael's moustache (Ron writes all of the songs. His brother Russell sings):
The best bit is that Sparks has never gone away. A new album appears every couple of years, thanks largely to their popularity in the U.K. where they just finished up a run of 21 shows in a row - one for each album – leading up to their latest release.
Here's a more recent track:
I'll end this link-heavy fan rant with possibly my favorite of their recent tunes. It's mainly made up of the the same refrain repeated over and over - "My baby's taking me home." But the music goes through a variation of the classic "5 Stages of Grief" and a lot of meaning is wrung out of those five words. Is the singer dying? Being released from prison? Home from Iraq? Who knows?
These tracks are just a taste. Throughout their career they've explored nearly every style of music, and even put out an album entirely dedicated to covering their own songs. There was a terrific greatest hits collection that is sadly now out of print. If you see it used - buy it. But in the meanwhile most everything else is available on iTunes and elsewhere. And you can check out YouTube for a ton of additional clips.
Well ZAMMO and KABLAAM!
Truly I am psychic, if one defines "psychic" as "the ability to predict the obvious and inevitable." However, my geek cred is shredded for I've somehow managed to not read these two properties. I guess it's time for a trip to Tate's.
This all is bringing to mind Sparks' song "I Predict" which mocks the vague predictions of tabloid psychics, ending with the prediction that "this song will fade out." (Spoiler: it does not.) Check it:
To know Sparks is to love them, as the oodles of new wave / geek rock they've inspired in the past 30 years shows. Some of their 70's albums contain the best 80's songs you've never heard. And yes, that makes sense. Like They Might Be Giants? Listen to what they were listening to as kids. Hate They Might Be Giants? So does my wife, and yet she digs Sparks.
Listen to this song about Ron Mael's moustache (Ron writes all of the songs. His brother Russell sings):
Here's a more recent track:
I'll end this link-heavy fan rant with possibly my favorite of their recent tunes. It's mainly made up of the the same refrain repeated over and over - "My baby's taking me home." But the music goes through a variation of the classic "5 Stages of Grief" and a lot of meaning is wrung out of those five words. Is the singer dying? Being released from prison? Home from Iraq? Who knows?
These tracks are just a taste. Throughout their career they've explored nearly every style of music, and even put out an album entirely dedicated to covering their own songs. There was a terrific greatest hits collection that is sadly now out of print. If you see it used - buy it. But in the meanwhile most everything else is available on iTunes and elsewhere. And you can check out YouTube for a ton of additional clips.
