Girl the Impaler review

Girl The Impaler
Patience Dear Juggernaut
Independently Released, 2011

There’s so much to love on Patience Dear Juggernaut’s debut album, Girl The Impaler. Mining geek cool through the confessional slang of Wes Anderson flicks and JD Salinger’s coming-of-age doldrums, it’s a record that pulls humor from the trickiest situations and tugs at your heartstrings from the zaniest spots. Also not to mention, it boasts songs that straddle in between twee and feverish romanticism, where our boy character shares his romantic encounters with the girls he has dated, and writes funny anecdotes that taught him to be the grown-up he is now. Familiar? Not really.

The main man behind this ribald eccentricity is Wincy Ong, resident guitarist-keyboardist of Us-2 Evil-0 and bassist of the now-defunct garage band, Narda. Wincy takes his cues from the likes of Ben Folds Five and Belle & Sebastian, making quirkiness briefly seem like a good thing again. With a goofy drawl, he wears fictitious mask to diss the ex-girlfriends that left him crying in the wee hours of the day (“You’re So Cool Stephanie,” “Volcanoes”) and makes time to enlist all the sweetest things to say to the woman he loves but can never be his (“Beta Male,” “Art School Lover,” and “Forget About Her”).

Sure, we get a rear-view mirror of 500 Days of Summer vibe on this, a musical equivalent of a dorky Sundance hit whose leads are more often than not, middleclass, art school geeks sobbing to the idea of odd romances. But Wincy’s trademark wit and twee makes for an entertaining gag rather than a shot at pretentious whimsy.

On “Ellen”, he agrees to meet up with his ex-girlfriend for a casual drink, and gets devastated after finding out about the ex’s sexuality. Over sunny melodies, slinky piano chords and jangly guitars, he was bemused at the revelation, and had a change of heart after the ex asks instead for a threesome with another hot girl around. Wincy quips, “And I was feeling really glum, I was reaching for a gun until the girls said, How about a threesome?” It is one of the best moments in the album, together with “Joan,” a track huffed in depressing tone where Wincy plays the boyfriend to the barely legal, manic-depressive Joan, contemplating on loneliness and the struggles of getting out of it.

Lest anyone suspect otherwise, I’m completely certain that Patience Dear Juggernaut’s Girl The Impaler will still be making rounds in my music library for years. It’s an album brimming with hooks and charms, rolling out bits and pieces of why I love music in the first place: the ability to throw out anthems that you’ll sing in the deepest, darkest corners of your existence or for the lack of it, something you won’t be ashamed of humming in your bathrooms while you wait for the sunshine outside to unfurl. And yes, it’s a funny record too that’s honest and deliberate in sending its message across. Who says tongue-in-the-cheek artists have such a shorter shelf-life?

Rating: A-

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

shinmachine:

this song is so honest and awkward it’s amazing. =) try listen.

Sugar Water by Patience Dear Juggernaut

A portrait of me done in the style of Batman:The Animated Series by Cj de Silva.

Stealing Books With My Vise-Like Memory pt.1

One of my New Year’s resolutions this 2012 is to avoid buying books. Much as I prefer books over people, books are painfully expensive and stressfully space-eating. I threw out a pile of books recently. I realized that half of the books in my shelf were bought out of boredom, or if not, the result of impulsive hoards in Booksale Makati Cinema Square during spells of uneventfulness in my life.

So with this item on my list, I have devised a way to keep my passion for reading aflame without breaking the bank and losing scarce shelf space. It’s genius: Read the back cover blurbs and forewords of books that I want, but not buy them.

The other day during my evening stroll in Downtown Vancouver, I stumbled upon this quaint corner bookstore, Book Warehouse, tucked somewhere in Davie St.

Here are some books I stole with my vise-like memory:

Zen In The Art Of Writing | by Ray Bradbury

My favorite book on the art of writing, this is a collection of beautifully written essays by man-child Ray Bradbury. I actually have a yellowed, dog-eared copy of this one that I borrowed from someone and never returned. That copy, though, has been thumbed over to death so I need a spanking new copy. This edition looks fresh. It smells good too.

Hark! A Vagrant | by Kate Beaton

A graphic novel made by a Vancouverite! Being a Canadian at heart, I am truly electrified when I see Canadians shine in the comic book industry. This is a truly a funny book in the style of The Far Side. Kate Beaton’s riff on mystery-solving detectives and Nancy Drew book covers results in soft giggles.

99 Classic TV-Series For People In A Hurry

I love the years-long spell a TV show gives you. Small-screen fiction is an immersion that frankly I prefer more than the oh-so-short feature-length film. Here in graphic novel form are entire TV shows told in six or so panels. The writing is a good blend of snark and economy, perfect for ten minutes of great toilet reading.

How To Shoot A Feature Film For Under $10,000 And Not Go To Jail | Bret Stern

I am a big fan of books about guerilla filmmaking. Tomes like Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without A Crew and Lloyd Kaufman’s Make Your Own Damn Movie! are personal favorites of mine.

The thing I hate about filmmaking is that it is not an immediate art form; it just takes too fucking long to make. But hey, if one can play smart-ass and skip the pain-in-the-ass processes involved, then all is gravy.

I will never get tired of the arcane topic of DIY filmmaking. Hey,it’s nothing less than sticking up one’s middle finger to pretentious art-house crap and glossy Hollywood garbage, with nothing more than family and friends, and loads of common sense.

Sitting down with Ely Buendia on the set of Pupil’s “Sala” music video. This was in 2007.

Because looking at pictures of yourself during the early 2000s is truly cringe-inducing.

Had a Yakisoba Japadog for dinner. Was supposed to swim at the Robert Lee YMCA but old people were doing aquarobics. I must admit, though, this is the weirdest flavor of hotdog ever. Delicious though.

Been studying coloring for comics and balloon lettering. This is an experimental panel.