Sandman Volume 9: All of the Feels...

I recently finished the 9th volume of Sandman. For those of you with a good memory, I mentioned the Sandman series in my blog post defending the medium of comic books. I wanted to come back to it now because Volume 9 was without a doubt one of the greatest reading experiences I've had.
The series follows the adventures of Dream, one of the endless along with Despair, Destiny, Death, Delirium (formerly Delight), Destruction and Desire (yes, the D thing is on purpose). Each controls the realm that they are named after. So, when you dream, you visit the realm Dream, known as The Dreaming. There isn't really a central plot to all of the volumes, simply a collection of stories related to the character of Dream. As a result, the stories tend to be rather abstract, sometimes heavily featuring Dream and sometimes pushing him off to the side. All through it though, Neil Gaiman has created significant attachment to this character of Dream. That, I think, really is Neil Gaiman's genius. He is able to tell a great story because he is able to create amazing characters. The interesting thing is that he never really explains in depth his characters. He leaves a lot of his character mysterious, which really makes them that much more engaging and interesting. Humans in general don't really like everything to be spelled out for them, on a deep level. Thinking and analyzing satisfy us and so the most engaging books are those that make us think are the ones that last. Need proof, just look at Hamlet.

The Walking Feels

Many of us have at least heard of "The Walking Dead" series. The comic books are pretty popular, and the show is practically ubiquitous nowadays. I, however, have been heavily involved in another aspect of the series: the video game. Now before you make any assumptions, it's not what you think. You're not running around capping zombies in the head with an AK, or anything ridiculous like that. Similar to the comic book, and from what I've heard the TV series, the game focuses more on the relationships and the choices made by the characters. The big catch is that very often, YOU are making the decisions. The worst part is, most of them are timed. Every once in a while, they make you choose whose life to save, but most often the choices are social. Who do you give rations to? In the middle of an argument, who do you side with?

Perhaps a little more background. You play as Lee Everett, a man on his way to prison for murdering the man who slept with his wife when the zombies came. After stumbling through the forest along the highway, you come upon Clementine, a young girl whose parents were in Savannah when the apocalypse started. You adventure onward with Clementine, struggling to stay alive.
The interesting thing about this game is that none of the choices are even remotely black and white. Every argument has two valid sides, every conflict has consequences both obvious and unseen. This creates a very real test of morality that shows an almost embarrassingly large amount about the person playing. More than that though, it creates real genuine feelings and emotions throughout the game. Losing a member of my group felt like losing a family member (obviously on a much smaller scale, but still). To link to a previous blog post of Chris Hodge's, I feel that this power to create simulated relationships as well as mimic real life decisions to the point that I actually feel bad about actions I've taken or things I've said is what makes video games truly art, not pretty visuals.

Minor Update:
I just finished a couple of nights ago. I actually cried. What I realized is that because the decisions Lee was making were really MY decisions, I was able to identify with him and relate to him in a significantly stronger way than any book or movie would have been able to.

Closer Than We Appear

After Vundabar found my review of their EP, another local band, "Closer Than We Appear" asked me to review two singles they released at a concert this Saturday, 11/3. The two singles are called "Our Old Ways" and "Don't Ever Be Content".
Closer Than We Appear is composed of Gabe Goodman (Guitar & Vocals), Jack Duff (Bass guitar), Max DiRado (Guitar) and Ben Garman (Drums). A little bit more indie rock, and they'd be an Arcade Fire clone. A little bit poppier, and they'd be a Modest Mouse clone. A little bit more punk, and they'd remind me a lot of mewithoutYou. A little bit more classic rock, and I'd be having deja vu of U2. But they manage to walk the line between all four, and create a very unique and pleasing sound. That's not to say I don't have criticisms, but I do ultimately like these two tracks.
As far as complaints go, they're mostly nitpicks. The tracks sometimes felt a bit flat, without much change in intensity. I don't expect every song to have me on my feet, but as the tracks are often somewhat upbeat, there were times where I felt they could have done with a breakdown of some sort, something to break up the repetition and create some excitement. A big way to help this would be to add some space in the melodies and rhythm instruments. Sometimes the most powerful choice musically is to not play. Now, that's not to say that these tracks are bad, but within the context of an full length album, or even an EP, I would expect these two tracks to be among the more relaxed tracks, broken up perhaps by something more bold.
Other than that I don't really have much. I would have liked more bass, drums and rhythm guitar in the mix, but that's getting really specific. The recordings could use a bit more energy and passion, especially after having heard them done very energetically live. I think my final complaint is that the two tracks do sound somewhat similar, in a very broad way. That's not a bad thing for just two tracks but it could be a problem if it lasted across an entire album. On a full length release, I think it would be good to see them push boundaries a bit, try writing some songs that are more influenced by genres that don't typically show themselves in their music.
After listening to these two tracks, I am certainly excited to see where Closer Than We Appear is going. While certainly not flawless, I think they demonstrate a strong base that, with a little experimentation, could really become a versatile and interesting group to listen to.
Check out their Bandcamp (http://closerthanweappear.bandcamp.com) if you're interested. "Our Old Ways" and "Don't Ever Be Content" should be up for free download soon.