legion – The Bookish Mutant

Sunday Songs: 9/21/25

Posted on September 21, 2025 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

Since I’ve been gone for a little while, here are the graphics for the weeks I was absent, because I am nothing if not a creature who lives for making little graphics:

8/24/25:

8/31/25:

9/7/25:

9/14/25:

This week: you’ve been fooled. This is just a front for me yapping about Alien: Earth! BLAH! IT’S ME, THE ALIEN! I’M GONNA GETCHA! I’M THE ALIEN!!

(but really, minor spoilers ahead.)

Enjoy this week’s songs!

SUNDAY SONGS: 9/21/25

“Killer Crane” – TV on the Radio

You guys…Alien: Earth, right???? Oh my god??? Admittedly, the last two episodes have faltered, but I’d say the first five episodes made me remember why I love Noah Hawley so much. Toss him into another franchise and genre, and he adapts to the environment as swiftly as a frog tossed from the land into a freshwater pond. His take on Alien has sprawled into Fargo’s riddled dialogue and character building and Legion’s avant-garde aesthetics, yet easily stays true to Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon’s visions. No notes on the acting (Timothy Olyphant is top tier, Wendy and the Lost Boys are eerily good at playing children in adult bodies, and Babou Ceesay is both a worthy successor to Malvo AND a compelling character on his own). It’s…pushing my limits as far as body horror, for sure (had to knit in silence for an hour after episode 2), but that’s Alien for you.

But one of the more minor aspects of the prospect of new Noah Hawley content that got me going was the needle drops. I joked with my family that I couldn’t wait for the inevitable, devastating Lisa Hannigan cover song to come into the soundtrack, and while that hasn’t happened, I’m more desperate than ever to see this man’s playlist, because my god. For me, nothing’s come close to the pair of needle drops in episode 1 (though “Ocean Size” at the end of episode 4 comes close)—my brother, who has much more metalhead street cred than me, said that “you know Noah Hawley’s a real one because he included ‘E5150’ with ‘The Mob Rules.’”

But “Killer Crane?” Even though it wasn’t a TV on the Radio song that I was initially familiar with, I was instantly just giddy. The whole episode made me giddy, to be honest—with a few minor flaws, it felt like such a stunning, comprehensive intro to the show. GOD!! I already knew that Hawley was a fellow fan after he used “Quartz” in the trailer for season 3 of Legion, but I’m just happy to see it shine in a full-fledged show. I still think it’s one of my favorite needle drops in the show so far. It’s amongst one of the many spectacularly-shot scenes throughout the episode: soon after Marcy’s consciousness is transferred into Wendy’s robot body, we see her performing superhuman cliff-diving feats in the idyllic jungle paradise of Neverland. As a scene, it’s just so luscious with the visual metaphor of Wendy leaping off of a literal precipice, paired with the mental precipice of her transition into a new body. Paired with the glimmering, dewy production of “Killer Crane,” it makes for a perfect scene, as does these lyrics: “Her grace’s glide/Across the sea/Across creation/And over time/Her gracious life/Escapes its station.” But the song belies something much more somber; it was written as a tribute to Gerard Smith, their original bassist, who died of lung cancer nine days after the release of Nine Types of Light at the age of 36. Given the hybrid’s consciousnesses, taken from terminally ill children, it’s a grim, apt introduction for their states of being: “Sunshine, I saw you through the hanging vine/A memory of what was mine fading away.” It’s a bittersweet ode to the simultaneous beauty and impermanence of life; the final line of “I could leave suddenly unafraid” could mean both how death could come at any moment for anyone, or leaving the constantly fearful state of mind that comes with grappling with the transience of all things. Damn you, Noah Hawley!! These needle drops are too good, leave some for the rest of us!!

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

The Arrival of Someday – Jen Malone – grappling with imminent death and soaking up life while one can forms the emotional core of this novel.

“Leaning Against the Wall” – Wolf Alice

I confess that I haven’t been following Wolf Alice too closely, but if my dear friend’s assessment is worth anything (which it obviously is), they’re still going strong. They released a fourth album, The Clearing, in late August. From the snippets I’ve heard, they’ve certainly polished up their sound, but it’s no less candid beneath the sheen. Their indie pop is as hooky as ever. But I can’t shake the feeling that they’re deliberately just making music for Heartstopper at this point. I mean…c’mon. When that moment kicks in at 1:11? Specifically engineered for a shot of Nick and Charlie gazing longingly into each other’s eyes under a string of fairy lights. But as an earnest, bubbly indie love song, “Leaning Against the Wall” perfectly captures that balance of wanting to run and tell everybody about love, but relishing the private moments in tucked-away corners the most. And as a closing track for The Clearing, it eases the listener into a gentle, artfully rearranged outro that leaves you with lingering butterflies in the stomach.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

Heartstopper, vol. 1 – Alice Oseman – see above.

“Soft Sounds from Another Planet” – Japanese Breakfast

So…Japanese Breakfast! One of the highlights of my brief hiatus was seeing Japanese Breakfast with a wonderful, dear friend of mine. For an artist touring for an album called For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), I couldn’t have imagined a more joyful show—even without the amazing lighting team, Michelle Zauner and co. truly lit up the room, from the sweeping, romantic new songs to the ecstatic rendition of “Everybody Wants To Love You” with the help of Ginger Root. The sets? Truly a spectacle. The setlist? A perfect balance of her whole career. And Zauner just seemed like such a comforting, joyful presence—concerts are always enhanced when the artist actually feels like they want to be there. She played a deep cut solely because she overheard somebody humming it before the show, and that should give you an idea of her presence. And yes, I fucking lost it when she whipped out the gong for “Paprika.” 100% the highlight of my night.

So without further ado, let’s talk about…a song that wasn’t even on the setlist. Oopsie. Either way, the setlist from the show inspired me to dig into more songs from Soft Sounds from Another Planet, an album with one of the best album titles in Japanese Breakfast’s career (though For Melancholy Brunettes is probably tied for the title). Zauner was initially going to make a sci-fi concept album, and though this vision never came to fruition, the atmosphere remains; the album is shrouded in shoegazey, drifting instrumentals that airily swirl around you (see: “Jimmy Fallon Big!”). With a hushed, dreamy tone, Zauner yearns into a starry abyss, longing for an escape: “In search of a soft sound from another planet/In search of a quiet place to put this to rest/Striving for goodness while the cruel men win…” Ow…yeah. If that hasn’t been what life has been like for me since I was a teenager. I don’t have all the answers, but as far as I know, all you can do is look to people like Zauner: make art, spread joy.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

The Library of Broken Worlds – Alaya Dawn Johnson – “That’s not the way to hurt me/I’ll show you the way to hurt me/In search of a soft sound from another planet/In search of a quiet place to lay this to rest/Striving for goodness while the cruel men win…”

“How Could I Have Known” – Big Thief

This just in: I’m a total Big Thief poser. Well, maybe not since I’ve actually listened to a full album now, but Double Infinity did turn out to be the first album of theirs that I listened to it in full. There’s something so comforting about it; though it has its weak moments here and there, at its best, it feels like the caress of a warm, woolen sweater, secure and fuzzy. It’s got the feel of Christmas music, but not in the way that you might think; not in the sense of the actual structure of most Christmas songs, but in way that the harmonization feels warm, like the feeling of being curled up by the fire as night fades into he falling snow in late December. “Incomprehensible” remains the pinnacle of the album for me (but how can you top “Incomprehensible,” really?), but the tearjerking closing track comes close.

Talking to my brother and his girlfriend (both much more dedicated fans than me…bigger thieves, if you will) about the album made me realize something about songwriting that’s very contradictory to me, specifically. They were lamenting that some of Adrianne Lenker’s more poetic language had gotten lost in the more plainly spoken lyrics on Double Infinity, and having heard an album like songs, I would honestly agree. If this series has proven anything to you all, it’s that I am an absolute sucker for some good ol’ poetic lyricism. Yet sometimes, things are best said so plainly, affirmations or words of comfort. I can think of ways that the themes of “How Could I Have Known” have been sung more poetically—Wilco’s “Say You Love Me” comes to mind. But sometimes words as simply stated as these can be just as impactful: “They say time is the fourth dimension/They say everything lives and dies/But our love will live forever/Though today we said goodbye.” For me, it’s all in the delivery. Lenker and co. have readily embraced their Grateful Dead jam band era, and honestly, it really isn’t a complaint. The mixing makes it so that the instruments sound truly harmonious, warm and blurred at the edges like snow melting into dirt. The harmonies of the singers themselves not only mesh together beautifully, but they’re just ever so slightly out of sync that it feels like “How Could I Have Known” is being sung around a campfire. And that tight-knit feeling of togetherness is all the better for a song about gratitude for the small, improbable miracles that stacked up that allowed us to meet the people we love.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

The Last Gifts of the Universe – Riley August – “And they say time’s the fourth dimension/They say everything lives and dies/But our love will live forever/Though, today, we said goodbye…”

“Strange Brew” (Cream cover) – Noah Hawley & Jeff Russo

“Strange brew/killing what’s inside of you” that would be the water bottle full of alien ticks ❤

And I thought that Legion meant that we were done with Noah Hawley and Jeff Russo making deeply eerie covers of ’60s-’70s songs…no devastating Lisa Hannigan cover yet, but “if you don’t watch out/it’ll stick to you” really does kinda sum up the entire Alien franchise. As always, Noah Hawley continues to impress me by not just being an accomplished author/television writer, but also by having genuinely great pipes…they put too much talent in that man!! I’ve reached my Alien: Earth yap quota for the week, but god, what a great theme song, complete with some subtle creaky spaceship sounds.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

Eartheater – Dolores Reyes – “She’s a witch of trouble in electric blue/In her own mad mind, she’s in love with you/With you/Now, what you gonna do?/Strange brew/Killing what’s inside of you…”

Since this post consists entirely of songs, consider all of them to be today’s song.

That’s it for this week’s Sunday Songs! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

WondLa (Apple TV+) – Series review

Posted on July 18, 2024 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!

It’s been a while since I’ve done any sort of movie or TV review, but this is as good an occasion as any. In 2021, it was announced that Skydance Animation would be adapting Tony DiTerlizzi’s WondLa trilogy; in April, after years of delays, we got our first look. From the get-go, it looked startlingly different from the original novel’s aesthetic language and illustration style. As it turns out, that wasn’t the only change that they made to these books.

After such a disappointing prospect, I vowed to tell myself that WondLa was a piece of media entirely separate from DiTerlizzi’s magical sci-fi world. Now that I’ve watched the show, keeping that mentality was easier than I thought—WondLa barely resembles its source material, but none of the changes made any logical sense. It’s all but left behind what made the original trilogy so memorable, and the result is a Disney mimic with hardly any heart or soul.

Enjoy this TV review!

WONDLA – TV REVIEW

Streaming on: Apple TV+

Release date: June 28, 2024 (all episodes available)

WARNING: This review contains major spoilers for both the TV adaptation and the book series, so tread lightly!

Before I get into my disappointment vomit, I will say that there are a handful of aspects about WondLa that I genuinely enjoyed. The 3D, Disney-style animation isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s objectively good animation, and it shows most vibrantly though the backgrounds; although Orbona isn’t as alien as it could have been, the tiny fibers and leaves of each wandering tree and the architectural details of the buildings in Lacus and Solas were rendered beautifully. Joy Ngiaw’s score, although a bit generic in places, had moments of sounding appropriately epic and adventurous—very clearly John Williams-inspired in places. I’ll get to the squishy curse later, but there were a handful of alien species that were translated well from book to screen; Besteel is almost exactly how he looks in the book, and although some of their costumes left…something to be desired, the Arsians (Zin, Loroc, and Darius) were faithfully animated as well. I suppose the latter wasn’t much of a hurdle for Skydance, who seems to favor soft, squishy designs, but given how many other designs they bungled, it’s worth noting. It’s something that clearly took a lot of hard work and dedication to produce, and I’d be at fault if I didn’t acknowledge the labor that went into producing this show. At no point here do I want to disparage the hard work of the animators or the voice cast—this is just the opinion of one person, after all!

Now.

To give you an idea of what my fundamental issue with WondLa is, take a look at this side-by-side comparison of Tony DiTerlizzi’s original artwork with Skydance’s animated adaptation:

I’m still in physical pain when I look at the two next to each other. For the rest of this review, go ahead and call me Kurt Cobain, because hey! Wait! I’ve got a new complaint! Buckle up.

The main issue with Apple TV+’s WondLa is that it fundamentally denies the weirdness of the original books. Not only does everything look smooth, clean, and approachable, it’s Disneyfied in such a way that it loses sight of the core of the story—navigating an alien world, and forming bonds with beings that first frightened you. Even in the supposedly alien Orbona, everything is bright, cheery, and the kind of squishy that’s only useful for marketable plushies; the aliens only look alien insofar as they’re bluish and feathery. Even the Halcyonus couldn’t escape the curse of Disney hyper-masculinity and -femininity, where the women are skinny as rakes and have massive eyes, while the men are built like refrigerators and have tiny eyes. All of the futuristic human elements have lost their retro charm—Sanctuary 573 is now what would happen if you translated white room syndrome into an entire building. (Perfect conditions to raise a child, amirite?) Nowhere does this journey feel strange—you’re just hammered over the head with how Eva is supposed to think that it’s strange, time and time again.

Having The Search for WondLa 3D animated in this style was a fundamental mistake in adapting it. A lot of the more unique elements required a much larger budget to bring to life, and as a result, none of the original designs retain the vibrance that they had in the books. I love that they made Eva Nine mixed-race (WOOOO) and the reasoning behind it is in line with DiTerlizzi’s original vision for the story, but just because she’s a woman of color doesn’t mean that her design has to be sad and boring! Young girls of color deserve role models that haven’t had all of their defining traits stripped away for budget reasons! The budget was why her signature braids were lost, but even then, they could have added the bright colors in her utilitunic. Muthr now looks like a Playmobil figure with exceedingly rudimentary facial expressions (and having her fatal injury be nothing but a massive dent destroyed any of the emotional impact of her death), and Otto…looks nothing like the water bear that he supposedly evolved from. (Why is he furry? Why is his tail so bulbous?? Why is Otto?) Rovender looks…decent, compared to them, but the front-facing predator eyes still ick me out. It’s just not right. My gripes with the Halcyonus have already been stated, the one Mirthian we see looks like a weasel (and not the slightest bit smiley), and Queen Ojo now has gravity-defying lashes, very faint versions of her signature makeup, and a generic, human-looking tiara…for some reason.

Apparently the show experienced budget cuts and changes in leadership during its production, but that’s the only excuse I can think of for how rushed this storyline felt. Even from an objective stance, fitting almost 500 pages’ worth of material into a 7-episode show with less than half an hour’s runtime per episode is just mind-boggling. Predictably, everything gets the juice squeezed out of it as a result, rendering any kind of character development rushed and inorganic. The first episode alone is just an excruciatingly long training montage, complete with the entire theme song for Beeboo and Company—excuse me, Meego and Friends—instead of…y’know, exposition that wasn’t dump-trucked down the viewer’s throat. I can almost give it slack for being a children’s show, but the book never had that problem, despite being for the same target audience. All of the explanations of Eva’s childhood that took up almost an entire episode only took a handful of chapters in The Search for WondLa. The fact that it was geared towards a younger audience makes Eva Nine’s Percy Jackson-style aging up from 12 to 16 even more illogical—if it’s so clearly for children, why make her a teenager?

Which brings me to what I felt was the most offensive aspect of WondLa: the handling of the characters. Such a compressed time frame left zero room for not just character development, but expanding any of the characters beyond a single base trait.

This show turned Eva Nine (Jeanine Mason) into an adorkable Disney princess. Gone is the inquisitive, sensitive 12-year-old she once was, and in her place is the exact same character I’ve seen in at least 10 different Disney movies—clumsy, socially inept (and not even in a way that makes sense for the “raised in a bunker by a robot” plot), and teenage in ways that speak more to stereotypes about teenagers rather than the truths of girlhood that the books touched on. She’s so quirky! Look at her, she can talk to animals, but has no idea how to talk to humans! Teehee! Admittedly, one change that I did genuinely find funny was that one of the first thing she does upon realizing that she can telepathically communicate with animals is get into an animal’s mind to rig this universe’s equivalent of a horse race. That, at least, felt like something the Eva Nine I know would do at age 12.

Rovender Kitt (Gary Anthony Williams), everybody’s favorite blue father figure, got boiled down to a single character trait—and not even one that defines him in the novels. He’s gruff, he’s got a dry sense of humor, and in the beginning, he’s prickly—as you would be, if you were suddenly in charge of a feral twelve-year-old who confidently tells you that she can talk to animals. But WondLa just made him downright mean—again, a consequence of the terrible pacing, but he stays surly and outright hostile to Eva and Muthr for the glut of the series, until we’re lead to believe that absence has made the heart grow fonder, and he automatically does a 180 and becomes a part of their family. Rovender, who becomes a role model to Eva, was all but reduced to someone who would gladly sell her and Muthr off for parts…until he magically isn’t, to advance the plot. Muthr (Teri Hatcher) had a similar treatment; at least the overprotectiveness that they reduced her too wasn’t necessarily a mischaracterization like Rovender, but never once do we see her internal struggles with obeying her programming versus obeying the foreign laws of the natural world—and coming to love them. Another victim of this god-awful pacing…almost all of said scenes where she experiences these changes were cut from the book. However, it is a sweet, full-circle moment that Hatcher gets to voice Muthr here after being the voice of all three audiobooks. She’s got lots of experience with voicing mothers as well, what with being both the real mother and Other Mother in Coraline. (“Don’t you DARE disobey me, Eva Nine!”)

Besteel (Chiké Okonkwo), at least, was faithful in both design and personality; his design looked appropriately menacing, as was his vocal presence. He appropriately felt like a bully, but one with the hunger for power and strength to bring whomever he wanted to their knees. On the other hand, Otto (Brad Garrett)…where do I begin? His design already looks unbelievably cursed (to quote an Instagram commenter, “they done JJ the Jet Plane’d Otto”), but the way they adapted his telepathic communication made me want to throw my laptop across the room. In the novels, Eva Nine only hears his voice in one to two word sentence fragments, like how you’d imagine your pet speaking to you. It’s cute, but never oversaturated with attempts to be cutesy. This version of Otto has been butchered into the corniest, Secret Life of Pets, cutesy mess—he speaks in full sentences now, but they all sound like “sorry, I ate the yummy fish!” or “you better get us out of here before dinner-stick man gets here!” (Also…my guy’s an herbivore, why would he concern himself with yummy fish anyway?)

Such inconsistencies also translated to the side characters as well. Loroc (Navid Negahban) could have been perfect casting—Loroc does eventually look like the alien version of The Devil With the Yellow Eyes from Legion, after all—but the script makes his lines painfully corny and his design equally laughable. Zin (Maz Jobrani) was merged with his sniveling taxidermist, and all of his scientific wisdom and curiosity was flattened into a pushover who just wanted to dissect Eva and be done with it. Queen Ojo (Sarah Hollis) had a character change that was almost understandable; having her bond with Eva and indicate early on the pressure she’s facing as a young royal could have been charming, if not for, again, how corny the script was. Cadmus Pryde (Alan Tudyk) was a notable cameo, but his lines sounded rushed, even when he comes in at the big reveal at the end of the final episode. (Plus…why does he look like the Chris Pine character in Wish?) Again: I’d say none of the voice actors are at fault, but the terrible script most certainly is.

WondLa experienced a multitude of changes to the storyline as well as the designs; sometimes, tweaking the plot or characters in an adaptation can lead to a more meaningful version of the original (see: Fantastic Mr. Fox and How to Train Your Dragon). Tony DiTerlizzi’s apparent willingness for the writers to interpret WondLa as they see fit is almost refreshing—we writers cling tightly to our stories, so I suppose that it’s good for him to be so open-minded about this adaptation, and easier for the show runners to work with. That being said, almost all of the changes I could think of made no sense.

A multitude of characters or topics are renamed (ex. Beeboo and Company to Meego and Friends, Dynastes Corporation to Dynasty Corporation) for reasons that don’t even advance the plot. Darius, who was notably dead in the first book, replaces the role of Arius, only for her to prove a momentary obstacle and not deliver the prophecy to Eva that’s so integral to the plot later on. (I guess that explains the flattening of Zin’s character—if there’s no mark on Eva’s wrist for him to see, then why would he be sympathetic?) Loroc, who does not make an appearance until the second book, has already waltzed into the narrative, albeit in a similar role. And at the end of the show, it’s not Hailey in his battered Bijou who comes to find Eva, but…Cadmus? Why?? But along the way, it seemed like the writers were trying to signal that yes, this is the book you know and love, don’t worry! Here’s a spiderfish! You remember those guys, right? [Points at something that looks like a salamander] What struck me wasn’t necessarily that the plot had changed—that was inevitable—but that none of the changes made any narrative sense—characters and events were just thrown around with no sense of how their roles shape the series. (Also, gotta love the wholly unsubtle shoehorning of references to Skydance’s most recent and very mediocre-looking movie Luck...it felt like a commercial…)

However, I will say, among the many switches and swaps that were made, the role of Caruncle (John Ratzenberger) made sense. His voice (which I recognized without knowing his name…seems like he’s been in every Pixar movie since the dawn of time?) fit with Caruncle’s sleazy character, and although he’s embodying the version of Caruncle that we don’t see until book three, it made sense to have him here to bait Eva. At his core, he’s still slimy, deceptive, and not knowledgeable at all about what he’s selling, so it made sense.

Also, because I couldn’t let this slide: there’s a whole sequence where Eva is being playfully interrogated by two alien children, who ask if she really has ten toes…which results in a sequence where they focus on a teenage girl’s feet for an…uncomfortably long time. Just…why? Was Quentin Tarantino involved in this script? Jesus Christ…

But one change made me realize just how little the writers seemed to understand about the heart of the story, and it sums up how warped of an adaptation WondLa really is. In a climactic moment where Eva finds a replica of her WondLa—a corroded copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—in the ruins of the New York Public Library, she lines it up with an untarnished copy. Here she is, having found her guiding vision of family and wholeness, and this is her response:

“It’s just a book?”

…

Nothing is sacred, is it?

My only comfort comes from my dear friend, who is an avid Percy Jackson fan: someday, a decade or so down the line, maybe we’ll have a more faithful adaptation. One can only hope. You might be asking me, Madeline, why are you so concerned about pacing and writing and all that? It’s a kid’s show! Here’s my answer: just because a piece of media is for a younger audience doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be high quality and well-written. It can be done, and has been done many times! In book form, that was what The Search for WondLa was! Remember when I mentioned Fantastic Mr. Fox and How to Train Your Dragon! You can drastically change a children’s story and stay true to its message and emotional core! It’s not like these things aren’t possible.

For the fundamental understanding of what made the WondLa trilogy so impactful and unique—and the emotional duress it put me through—1 star.

Today’s song:

That’s it for this TV review! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Sunday Songs

Sunday Songs: 1/14/24

Posted on January 14, 2024 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

I…whoops, well, I forgot to mention this last week, but I’ve been writing Sunday Songs for a year now! This experience has given me a ton of room to learn about both myself and how I write about music (lesson #1: I should not write these posts in a single day), but I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I have been. And I think the book pairings make it more fun, so I hope you’re all getting something out of them as well.

TRIGGER WARNING: one of these songs addresses abortion, so if you find this triggering, skip through the section on “Bellyache.”

Enjoy this week’s songs!

SUNDAY SONGS: 1/14/24

“The Girl Who Fell to Earth” – Gaz Coombes

To begin this post: shoutout to a) musician parents who create the most beautiful pieces of music in honor of their children (David Bowie set an unattainable precedent for that kind of thing, as he regularly did, but it doesn’t negate everything else), and b) parents who wholeheartedly support their neurodivergent children. The latter is a low bar, but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t reach it. So thank you firstly to my wonderful parents, and also thank you to Gaz Coombes.

I’m in the opinion that Gaz Coombes is severely under-appreciated; I’m guessing a lot of people mostly remember him from Supergrass, and what they remember of Supergrass is “Alright,” which, of course. It’s a fantastic song. (Also proof that the Clueless soundtrack was nothing but bangers.) But there was so much creativity and joy that was branded into the rest of Supergrass’ career, and that extended far beyond to Coombes’ more recent solo career. I’m still newish to it, but even from a handful of songs heard over the course of a decade or so, it’s clear that he just cannot stop making incredible songs, whether it’s a one-off covers album with fellow Supergrass bandmate Danny Goffey (maybe all that creativity was reserved for the music, because…man, there’s something weirdly uncomfortable about naming your band the Hotrats…) or the solo albums he’s steadily been putting out since the early 2010’s. They aren’t all hits, but when Coombes hits it just right, it feels like a call to arms, even if it’s lyrically different. There’s always a chugging, purely rock rush, an instantly swelling gravitas he brings to his best works, whether its the echoing call of “Long Live the Strange” or the instantly palpable urgency of “Detroit.”

“The Girl Who Fell to Earth” captured in my heart like the latter two songs, but not necessarily in the same way. There’s no assault of rushing guitars and choir on this one, and that’s not what it needs. It’s much quieter, and deeply tender that hit a note that I wasn’t expecting it to hit when I saw the title and my lizard brain went “oooooh ehehehehe space” and clicked on it on a whim. It scratches a highly specific, primal itch that not a lot of songs manage well. It’s one thing to make a song about being an outsider and making a song that caters to outsiders—I eat those up regularly, mark my words. But songs about loving an outsider—giving them care and appreciating them in spite of what others see as flaws—claw into my heart more deeply that I’d care to admit. No, it’s fine. I’ll admit it. I am not only deeply weird and proud of it, but also deeply sentimental. I walked into this song like Wile E. Coyote walking straight off a cliff, hovering in midair, and then dropping to the unfathomable, unforgiving depths below, only to come up with a comically large bruise on my head. (“Oh, look! There’s a large triangle of Swiss cheese in the vicinity! Surely there will be no strings attached…wait, where’d the sun go—”) There’s a reason I played “Beautiful Freak” by Eels into oblivion when I was in middle school. I wasn’t subtle. (Neither was my habit of watching Hellboy II: The Golden Army about once a month.) As much as later middle school me tried to fashion myself as somebody who wasn’t reliant on anybody (it was easier to do that when I had mostly shitty friends), I feel like a fundamental part of being an outsider is wanting to see yourself elsewhere—enough that it doesn’t become mainstream again, but enough to know that you’re not alone in this incomprehensible mess of a world that wasn’t made for us. I was a softie at heart, and that has never changed. It doesn’t matter what kind of love it is—we do want to be loved, in the end, somehow. And it’s made even more precious when you grow up and think that the world will never love you back. Every kind of love can be applied to this song, similarly to “Beautiful Freak”—it’s a universal arm around the shoulder to anyone who has ever felt othered, a clarion of warm acceptance towards the complexities of being on the fringes. (This song was apparently featured in a show called Modern Love, so they seem to have taken it the romantic way.) But knowing that Gaz Coombes wrote this about his autistic daughter makes the tenderness in my heart balloon even more than the initial emotion of that first listen. It gives me hope, to say the least, that there are people out there who are wholeheartedly accepting neurodivergent children in a world that still highly stigmatizes autism, among other conditions. Not that I ever thought that Gaz Coombes was horrible before this, but I respect him so much more not just because “The Girl Who Fell To Earth” exists, but also that he’s giving his daughter the childhood she deserves.

To all the girls who fell to Earth: you’re not alone.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron, #1) – Ashley Poston – off topic, but it’s crazy to see how much Ashley Poston has taken off in the past few years! This will always be my favorite book of hers, but I’m so glad to see that she’s finally getting the acclaim she deserves.

Some sort of sci-fi romance was always going to be the pairing for this song, but the minute I heard “warrior child”…yup. Step right up.

“Rocket’s Tail” – Kate Bush

If you told me to guess the artist of a song that’s unexpectedly emotionally soul-vibrating but was literally just inspired by a cat, I’d immediately guess that Kate Bush had made it. She doesn’t always hit it for me, but when she does, I just about collapse. Of course she just saw her cat being a silly little creature and decided to squeeze the most primal emotion out of it. Just for kicks and giggles, y’know?

Just like she made the grooviest song about getting transformed into a kite against your will (at age 19, no less), she somehow got one of the only (mostly) a capella songs that makes me really feel things from “I’ve got a cat named Rocket and he’s cute lol,” basically. Like most of her songs, what’s on the surface isn’t necessarily what matters; it would have been 100% on brand for her to intentionally write a song about strapping a canister of gunpowder to your back and becoming one with the rocket, but what Rocket the cat apparently inspired her was the fleeting joy in spontaneity—to her, ”there’s nothing wrong with being right here at this moment, and just enjoying this moment to its absolute fullest, and if that’s it, that’s ok, you know. And it’s kind of using the idea of a rocket that’s so exciting for maybe 3 seconds and then it’s gone.” That alone would have made for an excellent song, but there’s nothing like the chorus that opens the song—the harrowing, wavering harmonies of Trio Bulgaria, for whom Kate Bush partially wrote the song to showcase their voices, transport me back to some early, Pleistocene state. I feel like I’ve been summoned to hoist up my spear and join my clan to take down a mammoth, or something. Bush just generates that effect with many of her harmonies—the songs that I love most of hers are the ones that tap into the urge to drop everything, grow my hair long, and sprint through the woods in a flowing, white dress. (see: not to be That Pretentious Music Person, but my favorite song of hers, the B-Side “Burning Bridge.”) The harmonies she concocts, whether or not it’s her singing, are incredibly effective on that front. I would’ve bought into all of this song if it was all that it was, but of course, Kate Bush, being Kate Bush, knew that the only thing better than “Rocket’s Tail” was “Rocket’s Tail” with the most glorious guitar solo kicking in right at the moment the rocket launches. Performed by Dave Gilmour, no less. That’s how you make a song.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

The Deep Sky – Yume Kitasei – the pure, emotional resonance of “Rocket’s Tail” lends itself to this song—can’t you imagine this song playing between vignettes of Asuka’s crisis on Earth and the launch into space?

“Bellyache” – Echobelly

Ever since my Blur Breakdown™️ back in mid-2021, I’ve been grasping at all of the Britpop I can get my hands on. (Well…not all the Britpop. Not to be That Blur Fan™️, but every Oasis song I’ve hear just make me seethingly angry. Also, I can’t shake the gut feeling that both Noel and Liam Gallagher look like they’d call me every applicable slur without hesitation.) Granted, Blur has mostly dominated my extended Britpop Breakdown™️, but I’ve dabbled in a fair bit of Pulp (probably concerning how many times I listened to “TV Movie” back in 2022) and Suede, and I’ve been neck-deep in Supergrass and Super Furry Animals since I was old enough to comprehend music as a concept. Part of what most agree defined the genre was social commentary—specifically on British life, as the name suggests, but for at least until it became more of a tabloid battle of the bands mess, that was the foundation that albums like Parklife (AAAAAAAAAAAALL THE PEOPLE) and songs like “Common People” (I haven’t seen Saltburn yet but I’ve heard about the Pulp joke…genius) were built upon. But even though said commentary was appropriately potent and often as clever as can be, there’s only so much you can do with it in a genre that was fronted by mostly white men. I’ve yet to get into the more women-fronted faces of Britpop (Elastica and Sleeper and such), but Echobelly caught my eye not just because it was women-fronted; again, in a sea of mostly white men, here was a band fronted by Indian-born Sonya Madan, and featuring Debbie Smith—a Black woman—as one of the band’s guitarists.

And even from the sparse handful of songs I’ve sampled from them, it’s already clear that Madan succeeded in her mission to highlight the areas of social commentary and topics that not just Britpop, but much of mainstream music in general, rarely shed light on. Not only that, but many of them weren’t just lyrically clever, but clever enough that they’re not immediately evident on the first listen. A first go-around at “Bellyache” seems like something about a relationship gone sour—the chorus’ repetition of “What do I care/what do I care now that it’s over” could easily point in that direction. Much of the instrumentation points to that kind of embittered bite—the clean guitars are undeniable, but all cloaked in a layer of scratchiness and grime that makes it feel as grainy and obscured as the background of Everyone’s Got One (an album title that was partially created to make the acronym “E.G.O.”). But Madan specifically wrote this song about a friend getting an abortion—the lyrics hit me right in the face the minute that I found that out, but it speaks to Madan’s songwriting ability; not only was this a pretty taboo subject to address at the time, especially as one of EGO‘s lead singles, but it transformed such a deeply traumatic experience into something that could fly under the radar when needed, but still retained the emotional weight needed to address it. Just because it’s not immediately evident doesn’t mean that it doesn’t portray the trauma of both Madan and her anonymous friend. It’s obvious that there’s no easy way to write about this subject, but personally, Madan’s method is as tactful a way that I can think of.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Iain Reid – although the trauma itself is different from the song, this novel crafts a similar sense of unease and discomfort—and addresses trauma in a similarly clever way.

“Beehive” – Mark Lanegan Band

This is the last song I’d pick for a coming of age movie, but I just have such a vivid memory attached to it from when I was in middle school. I was with all the girls in my class at a friend’s house before the graduation dance, at the end of 7th grade. We were all having snacks in her backyard. It was probably mid-May, warm with the promise of summer. And I was on her swing set, swinging as high as I could, and all that was going through my head was this song. Not a firecracker summer yet, but pretty close. The manicured grass was damp and glowing with the light of the afternoon fading into evening. Middle school as it was, everything felt greener.

Even though “Beehive” has been coming back to me in waves since that moment when I was 13, I’d never seen the music video until then. I almost wish I hadn’t seen it, since the image that I have in my head of it is so clear; it feels like there should be gray walls in a dilapidated house, blinds being rattled in the wind from freezing wind, household objects flying like a tornado around a crouching, shadowed figure, and speakers crackling with lightning, like the song says. Basically like this scene from Legion. But the trailer park vampire couple fits in their own way. Let’s hope that they get back home before the sun comes up. Stay safe, y’all.

Somehow, I’ve mostly appreciated Mark Lanegan through his solo work—I distantly know about his work with the Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, but most of what I hold closest is from more recent albums like this. I always think of how strange it is that I felt the sadness that I did when he passed back in 2022—in the grand scheme of things, I really only know a handful of his songs, and yet the ones I do know have etched themselves so distinctly in the musical map of my lifetime, even in the most fleeting of memories (see also: “Carnival”). They weren’t necessarily the kind that helped me through dark times or lifted me up in the bright ones, but they were just so clear that they were uniquely there, like the kind of painting you see at an art museum that hangs itself up in your brain the minute you lay eyes on it. (It was also late February when I heard the news, freezing and slushy, and we were driving home from the airport, so part of the miserable air can probably be attributed to February™️ and the sensory hell of the Denver Airport. Neither are pleasant.) “Beehive” just has such a specific atmosphere to it that I can’t attach to any other song. Even if the background of the minimalist Gargoyle album art wasn’t that shade of light gray, it would instantly call to mind that roiling, warmish shade of gray of the sky brewing up a storm above a beach with churning waves carving fingerprints onto the shore. I remember it like I remember being in Boca Grande some years back, watching storm clouds churn into themselves above the graying ocean through the window of a hotel room. Lanegan’s gravelly, raw-throated rasp buzzes just like the bee’s nest in his head, making the imagery of “lightning coming out of the speaker” and “press[ing] my body against the window/In an electric storm” uncommonly vivid in my head. It’s a song worth dragging your chair up to listen to, no matter your experience with Mark Lanegan.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

The Ones We’re Meant to Find – Joan He – not a lot of songs have the combination of sounding like a summer storm and crackling electricity at the same time. Not a lot of books pull off both either, but this one does.

“Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” – Arctic Monkeys

I sit at my laptop, pasting the link to this song into this post. I change into a tennis skirt, docs, and a striped top. You suddenly see the world with a slightly grainy filter. You can’t place the color, but something has shifted. Only two words come to mind: “Tumblr” and “aesthetic.”

I leave.

…AND A BOOK TO GO WITH IT:

Stars and Smoke – Marie Lu – similar atmosphere of nightlife, late-night calls, and romance.

Since this post consists entirely of songs, consider all of them to be today’s song.

That’s it for this week’s Sunday Songs! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Sunday Songs

Sunday Songs: 8/13/23

Posted on August 13, 2023 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

Since I’ve been making these Sunday Songs graphics for just over a year and writing about them for about half that time, I’ve noticed that there’s inevitably at least one light blue week per month. Different shades of blue, but there’s always at least one, and it’s always pale. Like this one. Or this one? Either way, here’s the court-ordered blue period for August. Bon appetit.

Enjoy this week’s songs!

SUNDAY SONGS: 8/13/23

“1 Billion Dogs” – Jay Som

I listened to Everybody Works entirely on a whim, just to have something shorter to have as a soundtrack while I rearranged the bulletin board in my room. But I should’ve predicted that any given Jay Som record—much less this one—would be so much more than that. Perfect summer album, I have to say. Go listen to Everybody Works, guys.

Everybody Works is an album of many faces, from the chugging indie rock of “Take It” (which works way too perfectly with boygenius’ “Satanist“—can somebody with the ability to make mashups make this a reality?? please?? makes sense, seeing that she’s the bassist for boygenius’ touring band), the pop hooks of “The Bus Song” (BUT I LIKE THE BUS!), and the fever dream atmosphere of “(Bedhead).” But never once does it feel inconsistent or lacking cohesion—if I had to pick them from a crowd, all of these varied songs would still feel distinctly Jay Som. But amidst all of that, aside from the two tracks I already remembered from the album (“The Bus Song” and “Baybee”), “1 Billion Dogs” was an immediate standout. The title alone would have caught my eye on any other record, but strangely, even though it has nothing to do with dogs, much less billions of them, it has that feel to it. It fits. “1 Billion Dogs” is a song with an immediate urgency; even with Melina Duterte’s reserved voice almost melting into the instruments, it’s a song that grabs you by the shirt collar, then invites you to jump around and dance. But even the crashing rhythm guitars, steady bass, and just-so off-kilter riffs can’t take away from the electronic haze that never lifts from Duterte’s music. It’s a uniquely Jay Som flavor to me: dreamlike and fuzzy, like it’s cloaked in multicolored static.

“Evicted” – Wilco

September is shaping up to be a heavy hitter as far as albums go. I’ve already talked about tracks from Shakey Graves’ Movie of the Week and Mitski’s The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, but I haven’t yet talked about the new Wilco, with their new album Cousin coming out on September 29! And only about a year and a half removed from their last double album, Cruel Country…Jeff Tweedy is just cranking ’em out, huh?

Tweedy and co. have advertised the upcoming Cousin as their art-pop/rock album. Wilco has always had a penchant for the experimental, but I feel like when they’ve previously advertised their albums as a certain genre, it doesn’t always fit the label. Take Cruel Country—”country” was literally in the name, but it felt like more of a folkier side of Wilco than anything, which, given their roots, wasn’t much of a stretch. Rather, as Tweedy said in his Starship Casual newsletter, “Cruel Country was our idea of country music and a lot of people went, ‘Huh?! this doesn’t sound like Colt Steed!’ (or some other plausible sounding country mega-star name).” So I’ll have to go into this album knowing that it’s Wilco’s idea of art-pop—and that’s certainly promising. And maybe I was screwing myself over when I saw “art rock” and immediately went into this song thinking it was gonna be “Art of Almost” 2. It isn’t. Even as much as I love Wilco, I feel like even that would be hard to reproduce. That’s not to say that “Evicted” is a bad song in any way—if there’s anything that Wilco has been in the last 10 years or so, it’s consistent. Regardless of our personal definitions of where this song fits into, “Evicted” is proof that Wilco’s ability to feel relevant and rock-solid will likely never fade. With its timeless guitars and the gently ethereal backing vocals and Nels Cline’s quietly glittering riffs rising like plumes of dust in the background, it’s a deceptively simple song—much like the Trojan Horse that Tweedy compared his definition of bubblegum pop to. And if I’ve learned anything from Cruel Country, it’s that I can’t judge an album by its first single. I’d be lying if I said that “Evicted” wasn’t an earworm. Jeff tweedy is true to his word.

Also, can I take Colt Steed as my new stage name?

“Crash” – Lisa Germano

EMERGENCY WEATHER REPORT: we regret to inform you that sad girl fall is scheduled to arrive two months earlier than expected. Hunker down, everybody.

A song that begins with the line “You could say I feel this way/’Cause it’s the way I feel” doesn’t seem terribly memorable at first glance. But that’s the thing. You have to wait. Not even that long of a wait, really. Because it’s followed up with “Or you could say I’m making it up/I want it to be real.” See? Have a little faith in Lisa Germano, in all of her raw, dilapidated-house-with-rusty-nails-lying-everywhere craft.

My introduction to Lisa Germano goes to show, once again, how deeply and wonderfully my dad knows me. Here I was, almost a year ago, when my dad made his annual birthday playlist for me (yep, that’s how cool of a dad he is), and played me “Victoria’s Secret” in the car; Immediately, I was lost in the eerie, spare-and-found-parts, and 90’s (in the best way…I really do love the 90’s) universe of Lisa Germano. (Guys. C’mon. “Victoria’s Secret” has her cat purring in the outro. It’s so good.) I listened to Slide in its entirety a few months later, during what we can actually call sadgirl fall (read: November), and bits and pieces of that record have constantly drifted around me ever since: specters, all of them, but welcome ones. Somehow, though, as much as I played tracks like “Way Below the Radio” and “Reptile,” I forgot about “Crash” until it came on shuffle not long ago. And now that I’ve listened to it more and more (you know it went STRAIGHT to the library playlist), I’m almost ashamed that I let it slip through my fingers, if only temporarily. On further listens, it’s so clear to me that it’s one of the best tracks off the whole album. “Crash” is a song that purposefully droops and lumbers, only faintly held together with fraying twine and half-intended promises. As Germano creates her oft-expressed lyrical landscape of languishing in depression and a lack of motivation (“Wonder why it’s so easy/to be the way I hate”), the instruments sit on the verge of falling apart; they all play in time, but they teeter enough to get the sense that it would only take one sneeze for them to collapse. Germano’s silk-thin voice is a gentle hand that barely caresses you, cool and ghostly, but undeniably present. And it wouldn’t be a Lisa Germano without an uneasy, 40-second piano outro. If there’s anything that she can do, it’s create an atmosphere. Slide was the perfect album to listen to in November, in retrospect; there’s something about this song (and most of her other songs that I’ve heard) that capture the melancholy limbo of that snowless but undeniably wintry chill.

“The Rabbi” – Blur

I’ve been conned. Again. And Damon Albarn is to blame. Twice this year, we’ve gotten albums from projects of his where the album as a whole has been disappointing, but then he comes back with the deluxe edition, and at least one song that would’ve made the original album SO MUCH better. Damon, you sly dog, you pulled a “Captain Chicken” on us AGAIN. (For reference: the other disappointing album happens to be Gorillaz’s Cracker Island.)

I wouldn’t call “The Rabbi” as good as “Captain Chicken,” but then again, it’s hard to replicate the chokehold that the latter had on me for at least 2 months after it came out. But amidst the decent but disappointingly flat expanse that was The Ballad of Darren, this new addition was a breath of fresh air and energy. Equipped with the jangly brightness that Blur has been the master of for 30+ years now, “The Rabbi” is an upbeat spark, and a welcome injection into the album. Graham Coxon’s guitar finally gets its time to shine outside of “St. Charles Square,” but where that recalled the grungy, disillusioned punch of their self-titled record, these joyful riffs feel more youthful, calling back to Parklife and even further back. Like “Barbaric,” the instrumentation of “The Rabbi” is nothing short of upbeat, but cleverly cloaks the underlying disillusionment and melancholy that permeates through the rest of The Ballad of Darren; as Coxon goes off with said jangly guitars, Damon Albarn drawls about how “‘Cause where’s the joy in this self-delusion?/We’re all practitioners of vague illusions/Hieroglyphics and pictures.” Even if I’ve come away from The Ballad slightly sore, at least I have one more song that I can actually nod my head along to and believe that it’s Blur. I refuse to shut up about “St. Charles Square,” though.

“Monkey” (Low cover) – Robert Plant

A reenactment:

The family car. Some time in the early evening. MADELINE and her family are driving on the highway. Robert Plant’s cover of “Monkey” plays over the speakers.

MADELINE: Huh, this song sounds like it could be in Legion.

EITHER MY DAD OR MY BROTHER (I FORGET): That’s because it was in Legion.

The realization hits MADELINE. Cue vine boom.

There have been many such moments in my life. But for all the ones that my brain decides to loop in the odd hours of the morning, at least I got a song out of this one.

Unlike my brother, the world’s biggest Legion fan in the world, I haven’t gone back and rewatched any of it since it came out. I’d rank it as my second favorite TV show, right behind Fargo, but I haven’t gone back to any of it in years, save for the fantastic Superorganism musical number in season 3. I don’t think it would ever be ruined by further rewatches (simply impossible for any Noah Hawley project, the man can do no wrong…okay, Anthem was a lot, but other than that), but it’s been like a beautiful, terrifying insect trapped in amber in my mind—it’s hard to replicate that feeling of sheer confusion, horror, and wonder when I had no idea what was going on with that show. But even with the mounting pile of shows and seasons that I need to catch up on, this song reminds me of Noah Hawley’s unmatched craft—and his unmatched music taste, along with the keen eye of Maggie Phillips, the show’s music supervisor. I can’t find the clip anywhere on the internet for the life of me, but this song is slipped into a chilling scene in season 1, episode 3, where a young David Haller chases after his wayward dog on Halloween night. It’s a scene that stressed me out, even if only for a few minutes’ rewatch—Cary did tell present David to “think of something stressful,” after all. And I can’t think of a better song to illustrate that pit-stomached sense of creeping dread than this. Low’s original version has that feeling of dread, but with an unmistakable urgency; Robert Plant’s version (and yes, it is that Robert Plant) swaps that urgency for a grinding, chugging sound that watches you from the darkest corner of the room. “It’s a suicide/Shut up and drive” would have been a blatantly chilling lyric in any other circumstance, but Plant’s strained, hollow whisper makes the chill up my spine all the more chilly. Patty Griffin’s backing vocals, somehow more audible than Plant’s, seem strangely sinister, even with the lightness of her voice. I can’t help but get a little anxious every time I listen to it—all the more reason that Hawley and Phillips were really onto something when they picked this one.

Since this post consists entirely of songs, consider all of them to be today’s song.

That’s it for this week’s Sunday Songs! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Music

A (Possibly Mutable) List of my Top 10 Favorite Albums

Posted on July 28, 2022 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!

I’ve been meaning to semi-solidify this list (for now) for quite a while, but I think it was looking back through Hundreds & Thousands of Books’ post about her top 10 albums that sparked the idea in me to make a post about it, so thank you!

Even though this blog is primarily about books, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that music has had an equally profound effect on my life. Raised by two music nerds, I grew up listening to tons of Beatles and Bowie, and as I grew older, I began to mark periods of my life by the music I listened to. But there are always certain albums that leave an unmistakable mark on our lives. Some of mine have been steadfast favorites, and others I’ve only discovered in the past few months. All of them, however, have had a profound effect on me, whether it’s just been the experiencing something that’s just so, so good or marking a specific period in my life. So here are, right now, my 10 favorite albums.

Let’s begin, shall we?

🎵THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S TOP 10 FAVORITE ALBUMS🎵

10. Snail Mail – Lush (2018)

The summer of 2018 was a strange one for me—the summer before high school, and the summer I started seriously questioning my sexuality. I have Lush to thank for getting me through a lot of it, with Lindsey Jordan’s soaring guitar riffs and searingly vulnerable lyrics shining through in a debut like no other. Snail Mail is partially what inspired me to pick up the guitar—and I definitely think meeting her at a show that summer when I was a wee bisexual did something to my pubescent brain that I wouldn’t recover from…💀

Favorite Track: “Heat Wave”

9. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World (2001)

I remember hearing tracks like “Sidewalk Serfer Girl” and “(Drawing) Rings Around the World” from when I was about 5, but it wasn’t until this March that I appreciated this masterpiece of an album in its entirety. Something that makes me love a piece of media—be it a book, a movie, an album, or anything else—that much more is that if there’s clear evidence of how much love and care was put into it. And it’s blatantly evident here—Rings Around the World is brimming with creativity, and through all of the genres of music they explore, there isn’t a single miss. There’s something so fully-formed about it, like it just came into the world like Athena bursting forth from the skull of Zeus.

Favorite track: “No Sympathy”

8. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)

This album’s one that’s been a constant in my life; Wilco is one of my dad’s favorite bands, and I’ve been hearing them for so long that they’ve become inextricably linked to my personal history. (Wilco was my first concert, at the age of 8!) But this album in particular is the most special of theirs to me; like Rings Around the World, I’ve been listening to isolated songs from it for years, but the whole album is a true work of art, sonically and lyrically immersive and always emotionally moving and potent.

Favorite track(s): oh, man, this is hard…

I’ve settled on a three-way tie between “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” “Ashes of American Flags,” and “Reservations.”

7. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial (2016)

Another gem from the summer of 2018, this one always brings to mind dozens of fond memories—seeing Car Seat Headrest live (and subsequently tainting all of my concert videos from my off-key scream-singing), repainting my room, going on vacation in Chicago. Car Seat Headrest have been a favorite of mine since around 8th grade, but the more I think about it, the more Teens of Denial in particular stands out as my favorite album—clever, vulnerable, raw, and perfect for 14-year-old me to scream along to.

Favorite track: “Cosmic Hero”

6. The Beatles – The White Album (1968)

I guess I’ve got a theme going with the red and white album covers? I don’t think it holds up later in the list…

As I said earlier, I was undoubtably raised on the Beatles; some of my earliest memories are of hearing songs like “Good Day Sunshine” and “Yellow Submarine” in the car, and I’ve adored them ever since. I’ve flip-flopped between albums for a favorite Beatles album for years, and it feels like it changes with my mood; some days, it was Revolver, other times it was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. But between having some of my favorite Beatles songs of all time and the solace it gave me in the early days of quarantine, The White Album takes the top spot for me—I think “I’m So Tired” is my most played song on my whole iTunes library. (somehow I’ve played it over 2,500 times?? didn’t even know I was capable of such a thing 💀)

Favorite track(s): tie between “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “I’m So Tired”

5. Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)

I fell in love with Spiritualized, as a lot of people seemed to do, after hearing the title track, “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.” Ever since then, they’ve held a truly special place in my heart; I rediscovered them in quarantine, and this album in particular has held a top spot for me ever since. Despite all the abject heartbreak, addiction, and general melancholy present through this album (and all of J. Spaceman’s music), there’s a cosmic, immersive quality to his music that swallows me like a wave with every song. Listening to Spiritualized is more than just music—it’s an experience in and of itself.

Favorite track: “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”

4. Blur – 13 (1999)

Like Super Furry Animals, I’ve been hearing scattered Blur songs throughout my childhood, “Song 2,” “Coffee & TV,” and “Charmless Man” being standouts. But it wasn’t until last summer that I got back into Blur—really into Blur. (You all witnessed the Blurification of this blog last year…) There’s something instantly hooking about their songs—the clever lyrics, the punchy guitars that seem to burst out of your headphones. But 13 is uniquely special to me; it was my musical companion in a strange, transitionary period of my life (the beginning of senior year and being a legal adult…somehow?). Beyond that, it’s so clear that so much time and love went into this record—through every high and low, there’s a consistent resonance that you can feel in your chest. It’s a masterpiece. It’s an album that I’ve come back to ever since when I’ve felt low—there’s a healing quality to it.

Favorite track: “Tender”—also my favorite song of all time, at the moment

3. St. Vincent – St. Vincent (2014)

adding another white album cover to the mix, I guess?

St. Vincent, without a doubt, is responsible for shaping some of my most formative years. Middle school was a weird time for me—I was struggling with friendships, forming my identity, and getting teased for the things I loved so passionately. And here was St. Vincent, this confident, ridiculously talented musician who wielded her guitar like a sword into battle. So you can imagine how I got attached to her. Even if MASSEDUCTION made me lose a little faith in her for a few years, she’ll always remain as a hero of mine, and St. Vincent in particular will always be a daring, fierce masterpiece that sweeps me off my feet every time—and the album that got me through 6th grade.

Favorite track: “Bad Believer” (on the deluxe edition), “Severed Crossed Fingers” (on the original edition)

2. Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)

Yeah, okay. I fully admit that my toxic trait is genuinely enjoying certain kinds of male manipulator music. But Radiohead will always be an immensely special band to me. “The Daily Mail” was my first exposure to them (thanks, Legion!), but OK Computer opened my eyes to something I’d never experienced before—or, something that I’d overlooked before, but now fully appreciate. Like Spiritualized, every Radiohead song is a fleshed-out landscape, an experience that lifts you off your feet, even when the lyrics are unbearably heartbreaking. OK Computer is an album that I wish I could listen to for the first time again—it’s an unforgettable, dystopian masterpiece, and it’s proved itself to stand the test of time.

Favorite track: “Paranoid Android”

David Bowie – Hunky Dory (1971)

I guess there’s a slight pattern on here with tan album covers too?

And here it is: my favorite album of all time.

David Bowie has been a constant companion in my life; one of my earliest memories that I can think of is hearing “Kooks” in the car. He’s been another hero of mine for years—again, he came to me in middle school, at a time when I was an outsider and unsure of myself, and stood as a glaring reminder to be myself—no matter what. This album in particular is, in my opinion, a perfect album; there isn’t a single bad song, and each one is a world of its own, spinning lyrical tales that span from the cosmic to the tender and everything in between. It’s an album I always come back to, and one that I’ll always hold close. Some of the other albums lower on the list may change or switch orders over the course of my life, but I doubt I’ll ever come across something quite as stellar as this.

Favorite track(s): Tie between “Quicksand” and “Life On Mars?”

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you listened to any of these albums, and if so, did you like them? What are some of your favorite albums? Let me know in the comments!

Today’s song:

That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Review Tuesday

Book Review Tuesday (2/9/21) – Before the Fall

Posted on February 9, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

Me? Reviewing non-YA books two weeks in a row? I’m in rare form…

I just have to review this one, though. I’ve been a massive fan of Noah Hawley’s work on television for years; Fargo is my favorite show, and Legion follows very close behind. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out that he’s written several books!

I spent some of my Christmas gift card money for a local bookstore on this one, and man, I’m so glad that I did. I’m not usually one for mystery, but Before the Fall is a slow-burning but visibly intricate novel that I’m sure I’ll never forget.

Enjoy this week’s review!

Image result for before the fall book noah hawley cover

Before the Fall – Noah Hawley

One night in August, an unknown disaster causes a private plane to crash into the ocean with 11 people onboard, including the crew. Most are powerful media giants or their companions, some soon to be convicted of crimes, others on the road to even more fame and fortune. The only exception is that of Scott Burroughs, a struggling painter on his way to New York.

Scott, along with the four-year-old son of a powerful newscaster, are the only survivors.

Now in the midst of a national conspiracy, Scott finds his privacy tumbling down around him as the media attempts to decipher the cause of the plane crash–malfunction, terrorism, or something else entirely?

TW/CW: Plane crash/resulting trauma, loss of loved ones, death(s) (adults and children), substance abuse

[chanting to myself in front of the mirror] “stop talking about Fargo…stop talking about Fargo…STOP TALKING ABOUT FARGO…”

My first 5-star read of 2021, ladies, gentlemen & others! I’ll admit that my expectations were absolutely through-the-roof high, but I’m delighted to say that Before the Fall 110% met them.

This was my first exposure to Noah Hawley’s novels, but I’ve adored his work ever since falling in love with Fargo and Legion. But even though there’s a significant gap between experiencing a TV show and a book, this still felt just as cinematic. It really felt like I was watching an episode of Fargo; the writing did meander a bit and linger on things for too long, but it felt like drifting through plot points as we get more information on the characters. Something that I always value in any good novel is a clear care for even the smallest of details, and Before the Fall was exemplary in that department.

Now, I read fast. It’s a problem, at this point. But it’s not every book that makes me actively think “man, I can’t wait until I have a break so I can pick this up again!” And Before the Fall built up such a suspenseful and gripping story that I found myself looking forward to the times in my day when I could kick back and read it. Hawley’s writing instantly pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the final page. Everything in this novel felt deliberate, placed just so to make for a plot that kept me guessing all the way through.

Normally, writing that tends to ramble bothers me sometimes; it feels like the author’s going off on random tangents that have no pertinence to the central plot. And maybe I’m biased, but Hawley made it work in such a way that I looked forward to all of the little digressions throughout the novel. Throughout Before the Fall, backstory and suspense are built through a series of thorough snapshots–obituaries, days in the lives of the dead passengers, and more. Even Scott’s paintings–the subject matter of which is far more important than I would’ve thought at first–help to make the mystery unravel. (As well as help Scott’s reputation unravel…oops…) Every single character, even the side characters that seldom make an appearance, felt astoundingly authentic, someone you could pass by on the street, so fleshed-out they were.

All in all, a stunning and intricate mystery from one of my favorite creative minds. I’m 100% going to read Hawley’s other novels now. 5 stars!

Before the Fall is a standalone, but Noah Hawley is also the author of The Good Father, A Conspiracy of Tall Men, The Punch, and Other People’s Weddings. He is also the executive producer/writer/director of the TV adaptations of Fargo (FX) and Legion. (FX/Marvel television)

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Monthly Wrap-Ups

January 2021 Wrap-Up 🌨

Posted on January 31, 2021January 31, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hi again, bibliophiles!

I figured this year that monthly wrap-ups would be a fun way to track my reading progress. This is my first stab at it, so we’ll see how it goes…

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

January was…an interesting month? Definitely had its ups and downs, I’d say. The school year started out super stressful and overwhelming, and I had to take a week and a half off blogging. But after getting over that initial hump, the workload started to get more manageable, and it’s stayed that way, for the most part, knock on wood.

As far as writing goes, I finished the initial edits on my first draft of the sci-fi WIP I’ve been steadily chipping away at since November 2019 (or thereabouts). I’ve now started outlining it before moving onto draft two; the filler chapters…why did I write so many filler chapters…

I found a lot of good music though! I’ve been listening to loads of Julien Baker lately (I can’t wait for the new album in February!), and I thoroughly enjoyed getting into the scores for Fargo and Legion. I just got into Lucy Dacus too, and No Burden was a good album, for the most part.

And it’s generally just a relief to have Joe Biden in office. Hey, he’s not perfect, but it’s quite a nice change to not have to worry about my basic human rights being taken away on the daily. 🙂

READING AND BLOGGING

My Goodreads challenge is for 250 books at present (I lowered it in anticipation of schoolwork), and I read 20 books in January! (Not counting a few single-issue comics.) This is the first year where I’ve been paying attention to how many books I’ve actually read in a month, so it’ll be interesting to see how my progress waxes and/or wanes.

So without further ado, here’s everything…

2 – 2.75 stars:

Haunting the Deep by Adriana Mather: 9780553539547 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books — *Haunting the Deep*

Instant Karma–Marissa Meyer (⭐️⭐️)
I Kissed Alice–Anna Birch (⭐️⭐️)
The Novice–Taran Matharu (⭐️⭐️)
Winterwood–Shea Ernshaw (⭐️⭐️)
Ruinsong–Julia Ember (⭐️⭐️)
Haunting the Deep (How to Hang a Witch, #2)–Adriana Mather (⭐️⭐️.75)

3 – 3.75 stars:

The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves, #2) by Roshani Chokshi — *The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves, #2)*

Be Gay, Do Comics!–Matt Bors et. al. (anthology) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Legendborn–Tracy Deonn (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Cold Falling White (The Nahx Invasions, #2)–G.S. Prendergast (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves, #2)–Roshani Chokshi (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid — *I’m Thinking of Ending Things*

Wilder Girls–Rory Power (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them–Junauda Petrus (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Darius the Great Deserves Better–Adib Khorram (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Henna Wars–Adiba Jaigirdar (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures–Noelle Stevenson (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Iliad–Homer (read for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Punching the Air–Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Lightbringer (Empirium, #3)–Claire Legrand (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)
I’m Thinking of Ending Things–Iain Reid (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25)
Zero Repeat Forever (The Nahx Invasions, #1)–G.S. Prendergast (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Zero Repeat Forever – 4.75 stars, rounded up to 5

Amazon.com: Zero Repeat Forever (1) (The Nahx Invasions) (9781481481854): Prendergast, G. S.: Books

I’m too lazy to list every single post that I’ve made this month (and I think that it’d be rather tedious to go through, anyway), so here are some of my highlights.

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

My review of Among the Beasts and Briars, feat. some fun gifs
A YA Reader’s Guide to Space Opera
My reviews of the Nahx Invasions duology, Zero Repeat Forever and (the rather disappointing) Cold Falling White

POSTS I ENJOYED FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE:

I Believe In You All GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

Phoenix’s glowing review of Cemetery Boys!
Beck’s collection of songs that remind her of her WIPs
Cherelle’s lovely review of These Violent Delights (I haven’t read the book yet, but I have it on hold…her enthusiasm has me excited though!)
Hundreds & Thousands of Books’ soundtrack to Carry On

GOALS FOR FEBRUARY:

Film Animated GIF | Beetlejuice movie, Beetlejuice, Michael keaton beetlejuice

Read more books by Black authors for Black history month! (And make a post about it!)
Listen to & review Little Oblivions (Julien Baker) when it comes out!
Read at least 20 books
Finish my initial outline for my sci-fi WIP?

Since I already posted today, check out today’s weekly update for today’s song.

And that wraps up my January! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Review Tuesday, Books

Book Review Tuesday (1/5/21)–Among the Beasts & Briars

Posted on January 5, 2021January 5, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles! This is my last day before I have to go back to school… so heads up, I’ll probably be posting less frequently in the next few months because of school.

Anyway, this book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. Ashley Poston is one of my favorite authors, and I’ll always hold her Heart of Iron duology close to my heart. And although Among the Beasts & Briars didn’t quite hit the level of wondrousness of that duology, it was still a fantasy like no other that I’ll always cherish.

Enjoy the first book review Tuesday of the year!

Among the Beasts & Briars by Ashley Poston

Among the Beasts & Briars–Ashley Poston

Cerys leads a quiet life in the kingdom of Aloriya, working with her father to tend the royal gardens. But behind her life of peace is a haunted past–as a child, the woods surrounding her kingdom stole her friends and her mother. She has never seen them again since. But by some miracle, the woods left Cerys alone, marked only by traces of magic in her blood.

When the woods invade the coronation of Aloriya’s new queen, Cerys is forced to flee. Joined by a familiar fox who followed close behind her in the gardens and a bear hiding momentous secrets, she must journey to the heart of the woods, where it is said that an isolated town has escaped the curse that took her mother and friends. But the woods hold secrets darker than the three could ever know…

Fantastic Mr Fox Animated GIF | Fantastic mr fox, Fox gif, Mr fox — *Soul of Stars* spoilers without context

TW/CW (from Ashley Poston): Frightening Situations, Secondary Character Death, Trypophobia, Bleeding/Self-Harm (not suicidal), Animal Attack, Blood, Grotesque Transformations

I saw a fox outside my window this morning when I woke up…maybe it was a sign that today was the perfect day to write this review…

I think Among the Beasts & Briars was the last book I read this year, and I honestly can’t think of a better book that I could’ve ended the year on. Ashley Poston’s pulled off another masterpiece, chock-full of lovable characters and lush imagery.

With all of Poston’s novels, what shines the most is usually the characters; I’m delighted to say that Among the Beasts & Briars was no exception! Cerys was such a lovable heroine. I’m always drawn to and relate to characters who don’t possess the typical qualities of traditional heroes/heroines–they’d rather stay on the sidelines, aren’t quite so brave, and are unwillingly forced into strange situations. Like Aurora Rising, I really resonated with the message that you don’t have to be brave or be from a noble background to be the hero of your own story, and Cerys exemplifies that theme in its fullest.

And I can’t talk about characters without talking about Fox! He was such a delightful character, and I loved his development as he grappled with his transformation. There’s no shortage of interesting details in his POV of the shifts between his fox form and the unintentional human form, and he and Cerys had the best chemistry. Vala was also wonderful, and they made for a perfect trio of fantasy misfits. I won’t spoil anything, but Seren was one of my favorites too–REDEMPTION ARCS DONE RIGHT, PEOPLE!

I also loved the fantasy world of Aloriya and the woods. Poston’s prose makes for so much lush imagery, making for a world that’s as lived-in as it is fantastical. My favorite aspect was absolutely the Woodcurse–there was clearly so much time spent creating the mythology around it, and it was simultaneously fascinating and creepy. And Hellboy made me a sucker for all sorts of spooky monsters, and everything that got swallowed by the Woodcurse just made the paranormal part of my heart so happy.

As with most of Poston’s novels, Among the Beasts & Briars was reasonably dark, but at its heart, it had such a resonant warmth to it, a glimmer of hope and joy no matter what. With every novel she writes, it clearly shines through how much she loves crafting stories, and it shines through on every page.

All in all, a fresh and unique addition to Poston’s pantheon of masterful literature. 5 stars!

Among the Beasts & Briars is likely a standalone, but Poston is also the author of the Heart of Iron duology (Heart of Iron and Soul of Stars) and the Once Upon a Con series (Geekerella, The Princess and the Fangirl, and Bookish and the Beast).

Today’s song:

I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the version with the whole cast on the Legion score, but Noah Hawley has such a gorgeous voice…this makes me cry every single time

That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Tags

Schitt’s Creek Book Tag

Posted on January 2, 2021January 2, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Saturday, bibliophiles, and more importantly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎆

This tag’s been *patiently* waiting in a little sticky note on my computer since the beginning of quarantine, so I figured that it would be good to start the year off with a cute book tag. I watched most of Schitt’s Creek in 2019, but I finished up the last season at the very beginning of quarantine, and it’s so consistently funny and feel-good!

I found this tag over at Kayla’s Wordsmithy, and the tag was originally created by Julie @ Pages and Pens and Aimee Reads over on Booktube.

Let’s begin, shall we?

SCHITT’S CREEK BOOK TAG

JOHNNY ROSE: An uplifting book with a good message

Schitt's Creek Johnny GIF | Tell-Tale TV

My first thought was This Time Will Be Different—a beautiful tale of resistance, friendship and family. (Plus, that cover…)

This Time Will Be Different — Misa Sugiura

MOIRA ROSE: An over-the-top character you can’t help but love

Unacceptable Schitts GIF - Unacceptable Schitts Creek - Discover & Share GIFs | Schitts creek, Creek, Funny comedy

Jax from Heart of Iron steals the show in both books in the duology–no shortage of witty quips and HEAPS of sass. He’s the best.

Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron, #1) by Ashley Poston

DAVID ROSE: A book that represents your aesthetic

All The Schitts Creek Gifs You Need - Funny Or Die | Funny comedy, Schitts creek, David meme

Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam perfectly fits the bill for this prompt–a quiet, atmospheric sort of space opera with an interstellar romance woven in.

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden | Avery Hill Publishing

ALEXIS ROSE: Best character growth/arc

Go Alexis GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

I recently finished Among the Beasts and Briars (which was PHENOMENAL, by the way), and I loved Fox’s growth throughout the book. I guess being accidentally transformed into a human against one’s will just does that to the brain.

STEVIE BUDD: A book with a favorite ride or die friendship/group

Emily Hampshire Stevie Budd GIF by Schitt's Creek - Find & Share on GIPHY

I love all of the chaotic space misfits in Ann Aguirre and Rachel Caine’s Honors trilogy, especially in book 3, Honor Lost. They’re all just so distinct in personality and bounce off each other so well, and they’re all just so sweet together.

Amazon.com: Honor Lost (Honors Book 3) eBook: Caine, Rachel, Aguirre, Ann: Kindle Store

TED MULLENS: Favorite book with an animal on the cover

Pop Tv GIF by Schitt's Creek - Find & Share on GIPHY

Definitely not my favorite book, per se, but The Storm Crow has quite a few animals on the cover.

The Storm Crow (The Storm Crow, #1) by Kalyn Josephson

PATRICK BREWER: Ideal love interest

Pop Tv Medication GIF by Schitt's Creek - Find & Share on GIPHY

Aurora Burning. One word: Kal.

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff: 9781524720926 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

COMMUNITY SERVICE: A book you read for school/buddy read/readathon challenge you had low expectations for but ended up being amazing

Amazon.com: All Out of Pretty (9781939547484): Palmer, Ingrid: Books

I read All Out of Pretty for my school’s book club a few years ago, and it blew me away! Difficult to read, for sure, but raw and powerful. I’d highly recommend it.

“EWW, DAVID!”: A book you DNF’d because the content was too much for you

Ew David GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

I wouldn’t say that Infinity Son was “too much” for me, per se, but it was just a steaming mess. I just couldn’t put up with it after about the 25% mark or so.

Amazon.com: Infinity Son (Infinity Cycle) (9780062457820): Silvera, Adam: Books

“LOVE THAT JOURNEY FOR ME”: Best series ender/overall series progression

Amazon.com: TRUEL1F3 (Truelife) (LIFEL1K3) (9781524714000): Kristoff, Jay: Books

TRUEL1F3 was my absolute favorite of the Lifelike trilogy, and such an explosive end to a trilogy like no other.

“EAT GLASS”: An author/series you broke up with

Eat Glass GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

I got through the first four books in the Shatter Me series (definitely hit-or-miss, but book four was great), but then Defy Me came along with all these flat-out RIDICULOUS twists that made no sense at all, so I gave up.

Amazon.com: Defy Me (Shatter Me) (9780062676399): Mafi, Tahereh: Books

“VERY UNINTERESTED IN THAT OPINON”: A popular opinion that you disagree with

David Rose Comedy GIF by Schitt's Creek - Find & Share on GIPHY

Alright, let me just say it out front: I did NOT enjoy The Cruel Prince. The worldbuilding was great and I liked the little illustrations, but none of the characters were likable. At all. And Jude and Cardan’s relationship is all kinds of toxic. (HOW AND WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE LIKE HIM?)

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black

I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE! And if you haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek yet, I highly recommend it!

Pop Tv Catherine Ohara GIF by Schitt's Creek - Find & Share on GIPHY

Today’s song:

Realizing that both the Fargo: Year 4 score AND the long awaited Legion Season 3 score/covers came out recently was the best kind of late Christmas present

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Geeky Stuff, TV

“If I don’t come back, I’m dead or in jail.” (Fargo: Year 4 review)

Posted on December 4, 2020December 4, 2020 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

FXNOW - Watch Full Episodes of FX Shows & Movies — All images in this post credit to FX Networks

Happy Friday, bibliophiles! I suppose that the bibliophile greeting doesn’t *quite* fit for this post, but hey, you probably followed this blog for books, right? Today, we’ve got something a little bit different–but at least I kept my promise, didn’t I? I hinted at doing a review for at least a week prior to today…

At the beginning of quarantine, my brother and my parents had just started binging Fargo. So like so many of us have done with different shows in the last 6 months, I starting doing some serious binge-watching. I’d already been exposed to Noah Hawley’s masterful storytelling through Legion, but Fargo never ceased to wow me. I forgot about it for a few months after finishing up season 3, and then the trailer for season 4 came out in September. I didn’t see it coming, but little did I know that this newest season would be my favorite yet!

Chris Rock Leads the Future in New Fargo Season 4 Teaser

Here’s the special thing about Fargo: each season follows a plot that, chances are, you’ve seen before: murder mysteries in small towns, sibling rivalries escalated to astronomical proportions, dysfunctional crime families; this season, in particular, centers around the politics of rivaling Italian and African-American gangs in 1950s Kansas City, and a mortician’s family who unwillingly gets caught up in the action. But every season, without fail, Noah Hawley spins it into something that you’ve never seen before, be it with the characters, the cinematography, and the plot twists (and there’s a LOT of plot twists). Fargo is all about the unexpected, and season 4 brings the factor of the unknown and unseen up to levels that I haven’t seen since…well, I guess that season 3 ending…(no spoilers.)

And maybe I’m biased for this one. October was one of the hardest months I’ve had in quite a while, and Fargo was, without a doubt, one of the things that kept me going through it. As the season came out, my days started to revolve around the Monday nights that would inevitably bring another episode to fuel me with enough dopamine to keep me going through the rest of the week. But I genuinely believe that this show embodies what storytelling should be–what good TV should be, really. And this season has truly cemented Fargo as my favorite show. (And considering that I don’t readily jump for murder mysteries/historical fiction, that’s definitely saying something. That’s just the power of Noah Hawley, folks…)

Now, TREAD LIGHTLY! This review may contain some minor spoilers, but for your benefit, I’ll try to keep it light on them. But even so, be warned…

Fargo" season 4 has spun a complex, compelling American fable of race and crime | Salon.com

I…can’t really find anything major that I didn’t like about this season, so consider this review a breakdown of most everything that I loved.

THE GREAT:

Characters/casting/acting: With every Fargo season, there’s no shortage of complex characters and masterful actors (for previous seasons, see: Martin Freeman, Bokeem Woodbine, Jean Smart, Ewan McGregor, David Thewlis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, etc.), but season 4 in particular had them in no short supply. I loved all of the (HUGE) main cast and many of the supporting characters, but for one reason or another, this is the first season where I’ve gotten really attached to more than one character. And considering that Fargo is one of those shows that 75%-80% of the main cast is killed off by the time the finale rolls around, it…didn’t go over well with my emotions. But in all seriousness, THESE CHARACTERS!

Let me just digress to talk about my three favorites in this season:

Fargo Season 4 Episode 5 Review: The Birthplace of Civilization | Den of Geek

Doctor Senator (Glynn Turman): let’s be honest, what’s not to like? He consistently has some of the best lines/general dialogue in this season, he’s strategic, he’s clever, and he’s instantly likable. I’ll get more in depth on the morally gray theme of the whole season later on in the review, but leave it to Fargo to make us AGGRESSIVELY sympathize with all manner of mobsters and criminals…anyways, this guy’s the best.

In 'Fargo' Season 4, All the Cops are Bad — Noah Hawley Explains Why | IndieWire — “I am Ethelrida Pearl Smutny. And I am one of a kind.”

Ethelrida Smutny (E’myri Crutchfield): LOVE HER! She’s one of the few characters in this season who’s morally right and seeks to do the right thing, and she is such a lovable character in every way. She’s frequently underestimated by most of the adults in this season, but she shows herself to not only be smart–smarter than them, in some cases–, but compassionate and determined to do the right thing. The world needs more people like Ethelrida.

And last but most definitely not least…

Fargo' Season 4 Character Guide: Who's Who in the New Series — “If I don’t come back, I’m dead or in jail. Do your lessons.”

Patrick “Rabbi” Milligan (Ben Whishaw): [SCREAMS AND CRIES INTO THE VOID]

Out of the three I just mentioned, he’s absolutely my favorite. He’s endured so much tragedy and trauma over the course of his life, but all he wants is for Satchel to have a better life. Again, no shortage of clever and insightful lines, and objectively one of those characters that just needs a big hug and a mug of hot chocolate. Just…just trust me on that one. You’ll see.

FX Postpones Fargo Season 4 After Production Delays Due to Coronavirus | Consequence of Sound — I hate myself for thinking about that “What do you have? A KNIFE! NO!” vine when I saw this scene…

But as far as characters, it doesn’t stop there. Everybody, from Chris Rock (Loy Cannon) to Jason Schwartzman (Josto Fadda) to Jessie Buckley (Oraetta Mayflower) truly shines in season 4. Each character is distinct, complex, and it was an absolute joy to see all of their stories unfold. (Also, it’s worth it just to see Jason Schwartzman just SNAP…that scene of him just pretending to hold a gun and just go “HAGAGAGAGAGHGHAGSDHAGHGHGH” just lives rent-free in my mind now…)

(Plus…THE GAYS WON 2020, EVERYBODY! Can we just talk about how Zelmare and Swanee INVENTED “be gay, do crime?”)

Preview — Fargo Season 4 Episode 8: The Nadir | Tell-Tale TV — [intense sapphic happiness ensues]

Whew, that went on for a while. BUT WAIT–THERE’S MORE, BECAUSE THIS SHOW IS VERY NEARLY FLAWLESS:

Score and soundtrack: At this point, I think it’s just impossible for Jeff Russo to ever make a bad score for a movie or a TV show. Besides all of the remixes of the music from previous seasons, I loved all of the new songs. I particularly liked Odis (Jack Huston)’s theme (somehow it almost sounds like a car alarm? But in a good way) and the Legion-y song with the shootout with Zelmare and Swanee at the train station. And I loved all of the other songs that were slipped in. No spoilers for the context of the Johnny Cash song in the finale, but when I tell you that I SOBBED…
Timely themes: One of the main complaints I’ve seen about this season is that it’s “too woke,” (🙄) which I think is utterly idiotic. This season’s set in 1950, but it’s more timely than ever–there’s discussions of race, police brutality, immigration, and what it means to be an American. And it’s all handled quite well, I think. One thing I’ve always appreciated about the show as a whole is how it depicts the American police system–for the first three seasons, there’s usually 1-2 cops that actually know what they’re doing, but they’re frequently dismissed by a largely unbelieving and sexist police force. This season is the first where we have both of our main cops as largely corrupt, but we still sympathize with one of them (PTSD relating to WWII). Most of the characters are morally gray as well (I mean, most of the main cast are members of separate gangs), and that contrast was also well-done.
That classic, Noah Hawley weirdness: in every season, there’s at least one episode or plot point that’s highly out of the ordinary, and lucky for us, we got that in the form of episode 9. Besides having a whole episode of Rabbi and Satchel after not seeing them for two episodes, there’s an amazing Wizard of Oz theme with the whole episode. I’ll shamelessly admit to thinking about it for a solid WEEK.

Fargo' Season 4, Episode 9 Recap: And a Little Dog, Too - The New York Times

All the Coen Brothers references, of course: Treehorn? The Raising Arizona screaming? Everything that I missed? LOADS OF FUN.

Chris Rock Says Irish Actress Got Best Part on 'Fargo,' Evil Nurse Oraetta — “Ya like pie?”

All in all, this was a masterful show from start to finish. My favorite season out of the four, by far, although I love them all. I’m already rewatching the whole season over again…

MY RATING: ★★★★★

TW/CW: Graphic violence (mostly gunshot wounds, but there’s some parts that definitely made me queasy), racism, xenophobia, police brutality, some brief racist/homophobic/ablelist slurs, poisoning, loss of loved ones, alcoholism/substance abuse

EDIT: Whoooooooa, apparently this is my 500th post! Dang…😳

Today’s song:

I haven’t heard this song in so long…the memories…😭

That’s it for this TV review! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!