MadBastard
01-11-2007, 01:43 PM
Phonogram is, to say the least, esoteric. However, if you are looking for something cryptic and fun, a mystery to solve, then you’ve come to the right place.
Phonogram revolves around the music stylings of Brit Pop, the nineties music that centered around bands such as Oasis, Blur and Elastica. While to many Americans Brit Pop may have been a peripheral music style, in the UK it was an incredibly popular movement that created is own dramatic, incestuous subculture. Men and women who were there still argue about what it meant to this day. The book takes this as its stage and props, mixing it with an interesting brand of mysticism to create a strange metaphor for the rise and fall of the music genre to which it pays homage.
That’s where David Kohl comes in; protagonist and prick, the type of hipster magi that would instantly get into a fistfight with John Constantine and then share a smoke with him afterward. He is a phonomancer, a magician who relies on music for his magic. David, for reasons not covered in this issue, has been sent by a higher power to discover what is happening to his patron Britannia, the Goddess of Britpop. In a not too heavy handed metaphor, David discovers that something is distorting everyone’s memories of that music’s heyday. This is urgent to David as his power and personality are all rooted in this era. To put a stop to this change, he performs a spell that transports him into the never-where that is the memorial consensus of that era.
The fourth issue of Phonogram takes place within that illusionary land. It is a psychedelic story filled with odd symbolism. More interesting than the obscure bits of musical history, though, is the psychology behind the story. Namely, the power of memory; how memories affect us, change over time and ultimately make us who we are.
The art in Phonomancer is high quality black and white. It is simple and clean, managing to convey some very tricky imagery without a great deal of splash. For much of this imagery, though, the art relies on the readers’ knowledge of Brit Pop.
Be warned that issue #4 is dense with references to the Brit Pop period, which can be viewed as an interesting test of the readers’ musical trivia knowledge, a cultural mystery to be solved, or just annoyingly obscure. It may be the only book in recent memory that requires a glossary in the back. It may also be the only book in recent memory that the quality of the book makes reading the glossary worth it.
Bottom Line: If you’ve kept up with previous issues, don’t miss this one. If not, you might be better off trying to scrap up issues 1 – 3 before diving in.
http://madbastard.hypersites.com.
Phonogram revolves around the music stylings of Brit Pop, the nineties music that centered around bands such as Oasis, Blur and Elastica. While to many Americans Brit Pop may have been a peripheral music style, in the UK it was an incredibly popular movement that created is own dramatic, incestuous subculture. Men and women who were there still argue about what it meant to this day. The book takes this as its stage and props, mixing it with an interesting brand of mysticism to create a strange metaphor for the rise and fall of the music genre to which it pays homage.
That’s where David Kohl comes in; protagonist and prick, the type of hipster magi that would instantly get into a fistfight with John Constantine and then share a smoke with him afterward. He is a phonomancer, a magician who relies on music for his magic. David, for reasons not covered in this issue, has been sent by a higher power to discover what is happening to his patron Britannia, the Goddess of Britpop. In a not too heavy handed metaphor, David discovers that something is distorting everyone’s memories of that music’s heyday. This is urgent to David as his power and personality are all rooted in this era. To put a stop to this change, he performs a spell that transports him into the never-where that is the memorial consensus of that era.
The fourth issue of Phonogram takes place within that illusionary land. It is a psychedelic story filled with odd symbolism. More interesting than the obscure bits of musical history, though, is the psychology behind the story. Namely, the power of memory; how memories affect us, change over time and ultimately make us who we are.
The art in Phonomancer is high quality black and white. It is simple and clean, managing to convey some very tricky imagery without a great deal of splash. For much of this imagery, though, the art relies on the readers’ knowledge of Brit Pop.
Be warned that issue #4 is dense with references to the Brit Pop period, which can be viewed as an interesting test of the readers’ musical trivia knowledge, a cultural mystery to be solved, or just annoyingly obscure. It may be the only book in recent memory that requires a glossary in the back. It may also be the only book in recent memory that the quality of the book makes reading the glossary worth it.
Bottom Line: If you’ve kept up with previous issues, don’t miss this one. If not, you might be better off trying to scrap up issues 1 – 3 before diving in.
http://madbastard.hypersites.com.