Libre Tenebrae

THE SIXSMITHS in "Reign in Hell"

2009-11-25T22:52:44Z

Recess sure is a good time for philosophy.

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=302

NME's Top 10 Albums of the 2000s

2009-11-22T23:44:31Z

Via

, New Music Express has published their Top 10 Albums of the 2000s. As Def points out, the 2000s aren't yet over, and... I've discussed my loathing of music journalists several times before, so I figure I need to comment.

This is NME's list:

1. The Strokes - Is This It
2. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
3. Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
6. PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral
8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
9. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows

I own a few f those albums. The Radiohead, the PJ Harvey. the Arctic Monkeys, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't own that particular Libertines or Arcade Fire album but I do have some of their stuff. I even have a Strokes album. Not a bad list, artist-wise, but it certainly has a bit of a smarmy hipster aftertaste. I'm surprised the Killers and Vampire Weekend didn't make it on there--I guess they had to make room for perrenial list-makers Radiohead and for dark horse Primal Scream. And of course, the White Stripes are far too popular to get a look in now.

Just about everything on that NME list fits into the indie/alternative/postpunk bracket, which I guess shouldn't surprise me... but I have broader tastes than that. FEVER TO TELL is the only one of those that'd go on my list, although the STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA was a close call. Course I'm not the sort of person who makes and orders these kind of lists, but I'll have a stab. My list is unordered.

-FEVER TO TELL, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Rock and fucking roll, FEVER TO TELL is all drums and guitar and Karen O, who is a unique instrument all by herself despite her many imitators. Killer lyrics and asses kicked.

-ORPHANS, Tom Waits
This 3 disk monolith beats out Waits' BLOOD MONEY by sheer weight. I like the first disk the best, as you might have guessed, but this is huge and dark and amazing.

-DOOMSDAY MACHINE, Arch Enemy
Razor sharp guitars from the Amott brothers, brutal vocals from Angela Gossow, this is for me the bet album to come out of the Gothenburg Metal scene. It's melodic death metal displaying classical virtuosity without the pretentious pomp that other bands from the region have displayed (and which Arch Enemy themselves adopted on their following album.)

-HERE COMES THAT WEIRD CHILL, Mark Lanegan
It was a tough choice between this EP and the BUBBLE GUM album which followed it (and includes some key tracks from the EP), but that album lacks the key tracks "Skeletal History" and "Wish You Well". The comparison to Tom Waits is obvious, but Lanegan's lurching, baritone blues-rock with a preponderance of songs about alcohol abuse and apocalypse is more conventional and less humorous than Waits' variety. Lanegan smoother and harder and to my mind quite musically distinct. The EP is full of killer guests from the Desert Sessions scene, but none of them play their regular instruments, putting everything just slightly off kilter. Marvellous.

-RATED R, Queens of the Stone Age
Swaggering psychedelic rock from this motley group of Kyuss alumni. Ferocious and oddly funky, this one was an instant winner. My favourite track is the non-single "Better Living Through Chemistry".

-TOXICITY, System of a Down
You'd forgotten the Amernian metallers already, hadn't you? But they're still good. If they still exist. They still haven't decided if they've split up or not. Anyway. The political polemic was a little bit half-assed, but this is the nu metal band that actually did introduce something new to the genre, and they used it to monstrous effect. Huge.

-GOOD NEWS FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BAD NEWS, Modest Mouse
Well, if I was gonna choose a hipster band it was going to have to be one with a pedigree, and who is better pedigreed a hipster than Johnny Marr? Well written, unique, agile, distinctive, agile, moody, and just plain odd, this band brings brains and class, rather than the usual sentimental hand-wringing.

-THE SPELL, Black Hearts Procession
If Black Sabbath was an indie rock band, they would be the Black Hearts Procession. To downbeat to be metal, the BHP wails its way through some wonderfully atmospheric, occult-tinged songs of doom and despair. Lots of strings and odd instruments in super-clean arrangements, none of the usual studio fakery.

-SWEAT TEA, Buddy Guy
This is where Buddy steps up and crowns himself the king of the blues. Blistering.

-THE BLACKENING, Machine Head
Straight up, finest cut, blue ribbon, choice-grade original god damn METAL.

Honorable Mentions:

PJ Harvey and Tool don't need any further coverage, but I reckon these two could stand a mention:

-PASSOVER, the Black Angels
Take the classic Creedence track "Run Through the Jungle" and turn it into a strutting psych-rock concept album and then turn it up loud. Pick up your feet and let's go.

-BLOOD MOUNTAIN, Mastodon
The music journos in my local broadsheet, The Age, love to use the word 'hirsute', but there's no better band to apply it to than Mastodon. A forward-looking metal band who are versed int he breadth and depth of all of those who came before them, and manage to cite those influences without sounding like copycats or teenagers who forgot to take their ritalyn.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "All That Glitters"

2009-11-18T22:27:40Z

The saga continues:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=299

Book Reviews

2009-11-14T02:32:32Z

Reviews of some of the books I've read in the last few months:

STAND ON ZANZIBAR, John Brunner
This monstrous, multimedia book deserves its reputation as a science fiction classic.

Written in 1968, STAND explores an overcrowded and increasingly corporate world through the eyes of a very large cast of disparate characters, some of whom intersect with the main story in only the most tangential of ways. Brunner's intent is mainly sociological, and he goes everywhere through these pages: the upper classes, the lower and criminal classes, the military, the corporate world. Initially starting out in an en-domed New York, the book follows threads about eugenics, colonialism, technology and anthropology out to two fictional countries, one in South East Asia and one in Africa, making detours through old Europe and Latin America.

Not all of Brunner's predictions are correct, of course. Information technology and AI has gone the opposite way to the direction that he speculated. Popular entertainment and fashions have become simpler and more backwards-looking, rather than moving to the avant garde he foresaw--likewise, the various Western governments are a lot more bolder when it comes to eugenics and fertility than our own have turned out to be. But, by an large, his predictions about corporatism and the world economy are uncanny. And of course the quotes from the work of in-text sociologist Chad Mulligan work are priceless.

My only beef with the book is that, despite the extremely liberal politics it espouses, there are no positive female characters. The women in this book are mostly either bit parts, never POV characters: betraying 'shiggys', objects of lust, or brood mothers. If they do have power and influence they are portrayed as montrous: GT, the half-cyborged old harridan who owns the world's largest corporation; Guinevere Steel, the megalomaniacal fashion maven; Olive Almiero, the baby broker--none of these characters are at all likeable. The male characters are also flawed, but they demonstrate good intentions or integrity. Not so the women.

MATTER, Iain M. Banks
Another iconoclastic and subversive epic science fiction action/intrigue novel with sociopolitical innards by one of my favourites, good old Banks. MATTER is full the cosmic scale imagination that somehow feels scientifically plausible with only a minimum to tech-babble. One of the pleasures of reading Banks' Culture books is that, while the stories are unconnected, there is a throughline in which you can see his galactic civilization (specifically, the human/AI empire called the Cuture) evolving and advancing in status through the hierarchy of Involved species. They are clearly much more advanced here than in CONSIDER PHLEBAS, the earliest book in the sequence.

There is some great stuff in this one, including the philosophical position espoused by the character Xyde Hyrlis from which the book takes its title, but for once the saga sprawls a bit too far: MATTER is a very large book that could have done with a lot of pruning.

Not Banks' best work, but worth your patience--especially if you are a fan.

THE STEEL REMAINS, Richard Morgan
Richard Morgan has definitely set out to kick over a few genre tropes in this book.

A fantasy epic that picks up ten years after winning the Big War with the Alien Menace (the Scaled Folk and their dragons), the trio of heroes are scattered far and wide. Ringil, the gay knight-aristocrat, has settled into a sulking existence way out in the boondocks, where he makes his living telling war stories in the pub and sneering at the yokels. Egar, the steppe barbarian, has bartered his own war hero status for leadership of his tribe and is having a midlife crisis. Archeth, the half-cast engineer abandoned by her own people, is a disliked and drug-addicted advisor in the Emperor's treacherous court. Various events drive the three of them reluctantly to the confront a new menace--and when I say reluctantly, I mean it. They are driven to trouble by circumstance and coincidence, rather than a desire to do what i right. In Egar's case it literally takes divine intervention to get him into position.

Full of interesting characters, violence that's much more realistically depicted than one expects in this genre and an overt dislike of authority (Morgan in particular has an axe to grind with religious establishments), this book is a fun and fast read that stops to challenge your preconceptions about what is going on as often as it can. But the plot is a bit thin and the end of the story isn't satisfying; most of questions that Morgan poses are unresolved and unanswered. Perhaps that's a bit unfair; I know there is at least one sequel in the works and I assume that this was planned from the outset, but... this book is all first act and I really think the book needed to be bigger, Still, I'll be there for the sequel.

HELL'S ANGELS, Hunter S. Thompson
One of Thompson's earlier forays into gonzo journalism, so this one, unlike his later work, is heavier on the latter part of the equation. Thompson did immerse himself in the Angels beyond the point of objectivity, but he's less of a stylist here and he presents He's clearly put in a lot of stringent research: there's a lot more meta-analysis of the media phenomenon than there are flights of speculative fancy. Insightful and gritty and annoying, but a gripping read nonetheless as Thompson debunks the myths and explains the legend. He leads us more or less earnestly through a series of anticlimaxes until we feel sympathy, even pity for the subjects... then he describes the beating he received that ended his association with the Angels once and for all.

THE HOT KID, Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard's Depression-era gangster drama set in Oklahoma brings all the good stuff you expect from the master: the leanest, lightest prose holding together a story that is almost completely dialogue-driven. I love Leonard's books because they skew so heavily towards character: there's no red herrings or whodunnit turns, because he writes from the point of view of characters on all sides of the story. Because of this you hardly notice the the plotlines, which are rambly and natural. There's never question of plausibility or motivation; you really can't prise Leonard's work apart and divideg it up into writing school constructs.

This one is a pretty simple story: US Marshal Carlos Webster, the Hot Kid of Oklahoma, is in pursuit of rich-kid turned -psychopathic-outlaw Jack Belmont. Belmont and Webster get just about equal time as their conflict leads them to tangle with the Kansas City mob, oil companies, former hookers an the KKK. A number of supporting characters and bit characters get a fair bit of play as well: both Webster and Belmont's fathers are important players.

Although Leonard is best known for writing contemporary crime stories set in Detroit or Florida, he has, throughout his very long career, made frequent and memorable excursions to places as diverse as LA, Cuba, and Israel. Leonard started out writing westerns bewfore switching to crime, so the HOT KID is a sort of a halfway point for him and it's interesting to see those genres coexisting here. This book also has more gunplay than I recall seeing from Leonard in recent years, but it still doesn't feel like he's going for an action piece. Highly recommended.

My read pile is, as always, growing, rather than shrinking, but next time I expect I will review some books by China Mieville, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman and... well, who knows?

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Beverly Hells 90210"

2009-11-11T22:47:25Z

Ever wonder what the vicar's sermon sounds like in a Church of Satan?

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=296

-- JF

Change Up

2009-11-09T09:20:13Z

I've just finished writing the last chapter of the SIXSMITHS graphic novel (as opposed to the webcomic, which is of course still ongoing). It's a first draft, and there may well be some further tinkering and reorganizing, but the main construction work is done.

I've also completed a short story I had due and the script for another short that I had promised an artist and, for the first time in about six months, I do not have any pressing deadlines.Sitting at my desk this evening I find myself in the half-remembered position where I have no pressing deadlines and I can actually choose what I will start working on next.

It's going to be prose for a while. I have a half-completed horror story called "Metemppsychosis" that I'm dying to finish, then finally get back to the final draft of FAERIE APOCALYPSE, which I haven't had time to look at since March.

I don't think that I have the same kind of work routine as most of my peers. I write about 50/50 prose and comics, but at any given time I tend to be focused on one medium over another. This is entirely driven by what is due and what is ripening: I have a couple of quite big comics projects falling ripe (SIXSMITHS, DEUCE and perhaps even CERBERUS), but I am way ahead of the artists in terms of script.

Sometimes my work schedule gets disrupted by art. I am a writer and that is how I think of myself, but I do the odd bit of drawing every now and again and when I have a piece due that throws everything else into chaos. I need lots of intensive hours to draw, I can't multitask it the way that I do writing. It's worse on the even rarer occasions where I have to ink. I do really enjoy the process (otherwise I wouldn't do it), but the truth is that I am almost never satisfied with the results. I have improved to the point where completing a story does not bring the bitter sting of disappointment it used to, but it's more relief that I feel than anything else. It certainly doesn't compare to the rush I get when I receive something gorgeous from my ~~art slaves~~ collaborating illustrators.

So that's me right now. I'll be taking it a bit easier for a little while. My main efforts will go to something new and fresh and discrete (the short story), which I can easily put down for whatever edits or redrafts or fixes come up. I have some pitch documents to hone. I have some other new projects I want to get stuck into next year and I need to tidy up the desk a bit before then.

I should also be blogging a bit more regularly, hopefulyl with news and certainly with more reviews, opinions and random cynical commentary. Otherwise, I will be sitting in my jockey shorts playing BRUTAL LEGEND.

-- JF

In the New York Times

2009-11-08T02:36:23Z

Last year Steve sevenredblurs Mangold and I co-wrote a story that was published in BAD-ASS FAERIES 2.

The anthology was mentioned in a recent New York Times article about the renewed popularity of modern fairytales in the bookstore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Marler-t.html?_r=1

Check out the article! The book has just been reprinted (now under the banner of a different publisher, Mundania Press). Steve and I are in volume 2: http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Bad-Ass+Faeries+2:+Just+Plain+Bad

Amazon have sold out of the prior (Mariette Publishing) edition of the book and the new one does not appear to be available there yet, but you can purchase it from the publisher's website at the link above. It's also available as a PDF ebook.

UPDATE: The new edition of BAF2 is now on amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Ass-Faeries-Just-Plain-Bad/dp/1606592068/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257863145&sr=1-3

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Tattoo You"

2009-11-04T22:19:18Z

Guest writer Jen Breach takes a third turn behind the wheel:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=293

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW now available on Amazon.com

2009-11-04T05:16:47Z

The new KAGEMONO book is now up on Amazon.com from the following link:

http://www.amazon.com/Kagemono-Tooth-Claw-Jason-Franks/dp/0980516730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257311138&sr=8-1

Price is $12 USD. Australian buyers who have paypal accounts are probably better off ordering in $AUD through the Blackglass Press website from this link:

http://www.blackglasspress.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=6&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=25&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

I should have the books in Melbourne CBD comic stores by the end of the week.

Cheers,

-- JF

DEUCE cover concept

2009-11-03T11:13:36Z

Cover concept for a GN called DEUCE I am working on with Nic Hunter.

-- JF

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-10-30T22:45:35Z

The Sixsmiths family wishes you a happy halloween:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=290

Hail Satan!

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "The Big Bounce"

2009-10-28T22:04:42Z

This week's installment is a little bouncier than usual. Make with clicky:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=287

--JF

In the Barrio

2009-10-26T04:26:53Z

Dear Powderfinger,

Boys, I've never been a huge fan, but I like a couple of your songs and I always sort of respected you for being the mainstays mainstays of domestic Aussie indie rock. You've never been exported well; aside from brief appearance on the MI:2 soundtrack the local bands that have gone on to crack the US have been always of the bigger and dumber variety: ~~Blink 182~~ The Living End, the Vines, Jet, Wolfmother. I don't wanna call you boys soft, but, like your music, you fellas have always been the sensitive types who've stayed home to look after Mum. I've never doubted yoru credibility before, but I'm afraid I gotta call you on this new one.

See, I caught the video for your new song, All of the Dreamers, on TV over the weekend and... well, where to begin? Ok, let's start witht he first line:

"But when you come down to the barrio. Get a feel of the peoples scenario."

I'm really sorry, but that is just fucking terrible. Yes, it rhymes, but really? This from the same 'acclaimed songwriters' who penned My Kinda Scene? But it's worse than that. See, based on the video clip, I'm pretty sure that you don't know what a 'barrio' is. (Hint: Downtown Melbourne isn't it). The Melbourne CBD is as much the barrio as P!nk is a rockstar.

Now, okay, I know there's almost no Hispanic people in Australia to put you wise, but I still have to call you on it. And fellas, I'm as happy as anyone to see the return of flannel and stubble, but the waxed eyebrows are ruining the effect. It's all getting a bit boy-band for my taste.

Pull up your socks and wash behind your ears, chaps. I expect better.

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Hot for Teacher"

2009-10-21T23:05:23Z

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=283

Armageddon

2009-10-21T10:07:07Z

I'm just about recovered from the Armageddon expo now, just in time for the book launch tomorrow night.

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW arrived the day before the show, thanks entirely to the heroic efforts of Baden Kirgan of Jeffries Printing.

I showed up on Friday to set up and then worked the whole con, 8 til 8 on Saturday and 8 til 6 on Sunday, on the verge of exhaustion and sporting the worst haircut I've had in about 10 years.

Traffic seemed light this year and volume-wise I sold less books than I have in a long time... but the new KAGEMONO sold as well as any new book I've brought to a show and I did manage to walk away with a profit (if you don't count the money I spent buying other comics). I shared a table with Bobby N, a local creator who is developing a firm reputation as the secret weapon of the Melbourne indie scene. (Check out Bobby's con report, which is, as usual, much more detailed than my own and contains photos: http://bobbynsblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/normal.html).

Caught up with a bunch of other locals at the show, including Trev Wood, Colin Wilson, Tom Taylor, John Retallick, Matt Emery, Brendan Halyday, Luke Pickett, Andrew Fulton, Avi Bernshaw, Paul Bedford, Henry Pop, James Andre, Chris Sequeira, Ben Stenbeck and Ben 'BMB' Byrne. I actually managed to speak to some of the guests: Nicola Scott and Greg Rucka, both of whom were charming and supportive despite me being a graceless noob trying to foist his work on his betters. Lovely people; it was an absolute pleasure to speak to some pros whose work I've really enjoyed on my own home turf.

-- JF

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW now available

2009-10-15T22:36:24Z

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW, the biggest and baddest Blackglass book ever, is now available for purchase through the online store. 10 stories at 84 pages by 14 creators from 5 different countries (or 6 if you count me as a Jaapie).

Purchase multiple copies today!

I'll soon have it available through amazon.com and Melbourne-local comic shops, and I will be selling the book at Armageddon this weekend.

Cheers,

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Black Coffee Blues"

2009-10-14T23:19:53Z

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=280

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW at print

2009-10-13T21:50:18Z

KAGEMONO: TOOTH AND CLAW is now complete and at the printer. (Yes that is a new cover).Fingers crossed, it should be available for purchase at Armageddon this weekend.

And don't forget the book launch on Thursday the 22nd of October 2009 at Loop Bar, Meyers Place, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia.

Be sure to buy multiple copies!

-- JF

THE SILENCE

2009-10-12T23:39:29Z

Haven't heard a lot about Bruce Mutard's new graphic novel, THE SILENCE (Allen and Unwin 2009) in the couple of months since it's been out, but it's a terrific book that deserves attention.

While on a business trip to procure some artwork, gallery manager Choosy and her artist boyfriend Dmitri discover an amazing new artist. As they search for the mysterious artist's identity they are confronted with the age old questions of art versus commerce and the nature of art itself.

If you're looking for exploding monster trucks, this isn't the book for you (see me after class, I have one of those for you). If you're interested in a serious attempt to solve a difficult philosophical question, rendered with staggering aplomb in Mutard's polished, realist style, you need to check it out.

What is perhaps most impressive to me is that Mutard is willing to tackle the big philosophical questions ("What is art?") without resorting to action blockbuster theatrics or ceding the argument to a despairing 'it's all too hard.' He operationalizes the problem with a pair of interesting and well-realized characters and uses them to demonstrate his Zappa-esque conclusion in no uncertain terms. But, over and above all of that, Mutard uses comics to frame the problem in a way that no other medium could have.

This book actually predates Mutard's prior offering, THE SACRIFICE, although it has changed publishers and undergone a substantial reconfiguration since it was first completed. The illustration looks just about as polished as SACRIFICE, although I don't think the dialogue is as natural in the first half. But that's just a quibble. This is a classy and intellectually rigorous book and I'm looking forward to reading it a second time.

It's not available in the direct market, because Allen and Unwin don't play that way, but you can find it in bookstores Australia-wide. It's also available on amazon.com, or you can buy direct from A&U.

-- JF

Once

2009-10-08T07:27:55Z

I once killed a man.

Mmmm…

I guess that’s not strictly true. I’ve killed a lot of men.

Women, too. Children. Even some animals.

Lots of reasons, really. For king and country, yeah. For money. For revenge, for spite, for pleasure.

Now… nowadays it’s just kind of a bad habit, I guess.

So, yeah. Anyway. I once killed a man…

Uh…

…I forget where I was going with this. Can’t have been all that interesting if I’ve forgotten it already, can it?

Anyway, so, where were we?

THE SIXSMITHS in "Britney Speared"

2009-10-07T23:25:02Z

This week's installment:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=278

BOOK LAUNCH

2009-10-05T12:09:03Z

Ladies and gents,

We have a bit of a book launch event coming up and you are all invited:

Blackglass Press, Milk Shadow Studios and Guzumo Comics are hosting party to launch their new books: KAGEMONO vol 2., YUCK! #2, THE GARBAGE TRUCK FAILURES, and EVERYTHING ENDS IN TEARS.

If you like comics, words, pictures, horror movies, music, humour, or just some plain old fashioned drinking then this is the event for you!

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147449494267&ref=nf

http://www.blackglasspress.com
http://www.milkshadowstudios.com
http://www.guzumocomics.com

Your hosts: Jason Franks, James Andre & Matt Emery
Date: Thursday, 22 October 2009
Time: 19:30 - 21:30
Location:
Loop Bar
23 Meyers Place
Melbourne, 3000

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Going Solo"

2009-10-01T04:01:46Z

This week we've reached a whole new level of wrongness.

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=272

-- JF

THE SIXSMITHS in "Diabolus In Musica"

2009-09-23T23:19:53Z

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=269

THE SIXSMITHS in "Unlimited Lives"

2009-09-17T00:11:14Z

Today's strip, by the usual crew of idiots:

http://www.thesixsmiths.com/wordpress/?p=266

-- JF