Go by Jonsi: The Music of Spring

Is this real paint or Photoshop?

Even if you're not already a fan of Jonsi via Sigur Ros I highly recommend giving at least some of these breathtakingly beautiful songs a listen. Whether it be a fast paced, sometimes frenetic song like Go Do, the breakneck craziness of Animal Arithmetic or a mellow emotional song like Grow Till Tall or Tornado each song seems to almost fly by as the ethereal qualities begin to overwhelm the listener. It's so good and so enjoyable that it makes one want to rush outside and breathe in all the wild growth of spring before it melts into summer.

There have always been naysayers who claim that a solo album from a front man of an already successful band will inevitably be watered down, weaker or only a slightly tweaked version of the original bands' music. And that's a valid critique, but not in this case. Yes, he sings in his haunting falsetto a lot, just like he does with Sigur Ros. And yes, the music is very good. But the similarities really end there. Go features much faster rhythms, heavier synthesizers, a lot more orchestral work,  less guitar and one other glaring difference between Go and the music of Sigur Ros.

Jonsi sings more than a little of the lyrics in English. It's English sung with a heavy, but not overpowering, Icelandic accent, granted. But it's beautiful and can be understood once the listener has gotten over the newness of the album and has learned how to listen to his pronunciations. I don't find it unpleasant at all to not always know exactly what he's singing about. In fact, it adds to the over all aesthetic, to the air of mystery and otherworldly quality. That said, the lyrics are beautiful so it's not a bad idea to look them up.

From Go Do:

Tie strings to clouds
Make your own lake - Let it flow
Throw seeds to sprout
Make your own break - Let them grow

And from Animal Arithmetic:

Every time, everyone, everything's full of life
Everyday, everywhere, people are so alive

I see you in the trees
I see you're colourful
I see you in the breeze
You're spiritful

Personally, I've officially recognized Go as the soundtrack of my springtime. In fact, I've become rather obsessed by it! Never before in my life have I been so eager for the warmth and growth of spring and this album encapsulates all the glory, wonder, beauty and sometimes heady pace of springtime. It's as if the spring flowers and awakening animals and I are racing at a feverish pace and this album is the music we are making.

I wanted to imbed the video for Go Do but YouTubers don't seem to want to share it and the Jonsi site features a huge video player that uglies up my template. So, go here to see the first fascinating video from Go.

Secret Lives of Women: Occult

If you've never watched the WE (Women's Entertainment) show Secret Lives of Women you should really give it a try as it's a fascinating look at lifestyles that most people don't know much about. They've done episodes on body modification, polygamists cults, plastic surgery addicts, phobias, BDSMers, cutters and many other so-called "minority" groups.

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at the treatment witchcraft and Wicca received from their recent episode that dealt with women in the occult. There were three women featured on this episode: a Wiccan witch, a Satanic witch and a self-proclaimed vampire. (I say "self-proclaimed" because I'm not sure I buy the whole otherkin philosophy. I'm not saying it's BS, I'm just saying I don't understand it even though I've read about it on more than one occasion. I just can't quite get my head wrapped around it.)

The Wiccan witch featured in the episodes was, of course, from California and had the immense good fortune to practice at a local and beautiful Goddess temple. (I'm so jealous! If there was something like that around here it would be burned to the ground before it was even used!) The pentagram, directions and elements were clearly explained as was the ideals of "perfect love and perfect trust". Also stressed was the reverence for nature and the feminine. A group ritual was highlighted as was a small, personal money spell which I thought was interesting as it entailed burning a check.

The treatment of the Satanic witch was pretty good too. That said, I'm not an expert on Satanism so I could be wrong. A fairly decent explanation of the principles was featured that included the idea of not wasting one's love on someone who doesn't deserve it. Also filmed was a Satanic witchcraft ritual which struck me as being very similar to other forms of witchcraft rituals, especially the use of the bell and the sword.

The segments about the vampires and otherkins was somewhat lacking as it didn't clearly explain the difference between, for instance, a psi-vampire and a sanguine vampire. There was, however, an effort made to stress that only willing donors are bled and only sterile, single-use blades are used to draw blood. Also included was a bit about wood alcohol and play fire which, while interesting, seemed kinda weird being attached to the vampire segments. Again, I'm not very knowledgeable about vampirism and otherkin so I could be wrong but I thought the presentation of the lifestyle was pretty good.

Overall, I'd say the treatment of the occult by Secret Lives of Women was the best I've ever seen on TV. It wasn't sensationalized, it wasn't flashy and filled with cheesy graphics or Vincent Price-like scary narration. There wasn't a lot of flashing lights, images of smoky, moonlit deals with the devil or stupid sound effects like wolves howling or banshees screaming. It was just a good, honest and straightforward look at three women involved with the occult. If you have the chance I recommend catching it on WE.

In These Hills

A couple days ago Billy commented that my blog had an interesting title. So I decided to explain it a little. The phrase is actually inspired by Vance Randolph. The actual line that inspired my blog title is a pretty dark one, in reference to the bad blood that once upon a time would erupt involving accusations of witchcraft. It runs: "Things happen in these hills which are never mentioned in the newspapers, never reported to the sheriff at the county seat." After reading through his "Ozark Magic and Folklore" and "Pissing in the Snow and other Ozark Folktales", which include all kinds of interesting and sometimes bawdy tales, the phrase "things happen in these hills" made more sense as "magic in these hills". For those of you who aren't into Ozarks folklore, which I imagine is just about everyone but me, Vance Randolph single-handedly managed to preserve much of the folklore, superstitions, folk songs and magic of the Ozarks. And while he sometimes looked down on what he recorded in his books the information is priceless as much, but not all, of those old ideas are gone. Randolph's book are an invaluable source of lore for someone like me, someone trying to recapture the magic of the hills of my homeland. As Randolph says: "Wherever railroads and highways penetrate, wherever newspapers and movies and radios are introduced, the people gradually lose their distinctive local traits and assume the drab color which characterizes conventional Americans elsewhere...A great body of folk belief dies very slowly, and I suspect that some vestiges of backwoods superstition will be with us for a long time to come." And he was right. Most of the old ways are gone but I, and hopefully a few others, are trying to breathe life into the old traditions and practices.

Hallmark: "The Good Witch"

The Good Witch starring Catherine Bell from JAG as the title character turned out to be, like so many things regarding witchcraft, an over-hyped bit of fluff. Yes, the title character was something of an herbalist and proponent of aromatherapy. And she liked masks, crystals, Celtic jewelry and always had a broom handy and candles burning. Aside from that, the only thing she had in common with real-life witches was that her witchy store was vandalized and many of her neighbors sought to run her out of town. I was, to say the least, disappointed in the original film from Hallmark. It was geared toward a family friendly crowd and I can understand that. But I found much of it trite and downright silly in its oversimplification. The antagonist, wife to the mayor and head of a local citizens group, was a very transparent and unoriginal villain with textbook tunnel vision. The only truly interesting thing about the entire film was that said villain was played by Catherine Disher of Forever Knight fame. It was good to see her on the screen again, even though her role was lousy. But she made the best of it, as did all the actors. Bell's character never came right out and said she was a witch but the word was thrown at her enough in the form of an insult to make me wonder if Hallmark would take a stand. Instead, they wimped out and left things in an ambiguous state, which is understandable I guess, if frustrating. It is Hallmark, after all, not exactly an alternative network. And even though I wish the film had gone further I do grudgingly applaud Hallmark for taking this small step in an effort to promote understanding and tolerance. It wasn't great, nor horrible, just okay.