Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 19, 2012

10

ARTS & ENTERTAIMENT

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 19, 2012 


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS: 


The Book Report

By Jeff Brown

Review By Sean Kayden

BEACH HOUSE 

 Steady artistic growth and progress is essential in today’s music. 
Without it, you’ll remain hanging onto previous laurels and never 
move forward with your own true artistry. For the likes of dream-pop aficionados, Beach 
House, they’ve somehow managed to stay within the margins of their genre of expertise, 
but further expand their dreamy and hauntingly immaculate resonance. The latest album, 
“Bloom”, comes off the heels of their acclaimed 2010 opus, “Teen Dream”, which wowed 
critics and fans alike. “Bloom” dazzles and hypnotizes with its atmospheric haze that 
embodies the ten glorious tracks. The innately organic tone Beach House offers is a marvel 
to become fully immersed with. There is something truly remarkable to the weightlessness 
each track plays off. That’s not to say they 
don’t provide any substance because they do, 
but attempting to discover this kind of utter 
beauty anywhere else may as well be a futile 
task. 

 Darkly layered rhythms and immensely 
personal, “Bloom” takes you on an ethereal 
journey. Composed of stunning melodies and a deep complexity of arrangements, the 
album is a passage to an unearthly reality. Occasionally a track proceeded by another 
track might only offer imperceptible change in style. However, if you listen to each song in 
consecutive order, the awareness to this will mean nothing because the bits and pieces of 
“Bloom” translate to something much greater. The concept of assorted feelings is scattered 
throughout the borders of the record. The lyrics transcend one emotion, but the sound 
lifts you to an even higher cloud of sentiment. Astonishingly, it’s vastly difficult to find 
a fault with any of the ten songs here. Seemingly flawless from start to finish, “Bloom” is 
exactly what it’s named after—a period of time which sparks the utmost exquisiteness and 
imagination. 

 To pinpoint exactly which track stands out the most would be pointless because each 
song here takes you to another world. My favorites though have to be the heaven-like sound 
of “Lazuli” and the lean guitar riffs spotted in “Wild”. In addition, the lyrics of “New Year” 
may not sparkle on page, but are ignited with such passion and are full of life when sung 
from the celestial sound of Victoria LeGrand—“You were getting wiser/It’s better this way/
Faces in the mirror/Memories again/Now look to a feeling/It’s lighter than breath/All you 
ever wanted/Is it getting away?” The real treat with “Bloom” is the voyage from beginning 
to end—one I may add, will stay with you far after your return back. 

Grade: 9.3 out of 10 

Key Tracks: “Myth”, “Wild”, “Lazuli”, “New Year”

THE ART OF INTELLIGENCE: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN THE 
CIA'S CLANDESTINE SERVICE by Henry A. Crumpton 

A legendary CIA spy and counterterrorism expert tells the spellbinding story of his high 
risk, action packed career while illustrating the growing importance of America's intelligence 
officers and their secret missions. For a crucial period, Henry Crumpton led the CIA's 
global covert operations against America's terrorist enemies, including al Qaeda. In the days 
after 9/11, the CIA tasked Crumpton to organize and lead the Afghanistan campaign. With 
Crumpton's strategic initiative and bold leadership, from the battlefield to the Oval Office, 
U.S. and Afghan allies routed al Qaeda and the Taliban in less than ninety days after the 
Twin Towers fell. At the height of combat against the Taliban in late 2001, there were fewer 
than five hundred Americans on the ground in Afghanistan, a dynamic blend of CIA and 
Special Forces. The campaign changed the way America wages war. This book will change 
the way America views the CIA. The Art of Intelligence draws from the full arc of Crumpton's 
espionage and covert action exploits to explain what America's spies do and why their 
service is more valuable than ever. From his early years in Africa, where he recruited and 
ran sources, from loathsome criminals to heroic warriors; to his liaison assignment at the 
FBI, the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, the development of the UAV Predator program, 
and the Afghanistan war; to his later work running all CIA clandestine operations inside the 
United States, he employs enthralling storytelling to teach important lessons about national 
security, but also about duty, honor, and love of country. 

BOY'S LIFE by Robert McCammon

In me are the memories of a boy's life, spent in that realm of enchantments. These are the 
things I want to tell you. Robert McCammon delivers in this award winning masterpiece, a 
novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative 
landscape to touch readers universally. Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait 
of the magical worldview of the young and of innocence lost. Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic 
hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson , a place where monsters swim the river 
deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a 
car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a 
terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes 
are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic 
who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must 
confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown , for his father's sanity and his 
own life hang in the balance. One of my all time favorites!

Artist: Beach House 

Album: Bloom

Label: Sub Pop Records

Release Date: May 15, 2012

SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS:


June Faire 
10 am to 2:30 pm . Saturday . June 2 . 2012 
Under the Auspices of the Daughters of the British Empire in the Western States 
The British Home in California, Ltd. 
647 Manzanita Avenue, Sierra Madre, California 91024 
FREE 
ADMISSION 
Victorian Tea Room . English Bangers . Hot Dogs . Strawberries 
and Ice Cream . Home Baked Goods . Pastries . Savories . Arts . 
Crafts . Bookstall . Tools . Children’s Entertainment! 
$1,000 CASH PRIZE 
Sierra Madre Spring Art Exhibition: HILDA PITTMAN

The City of Sierra Madre Community Services Commission and Arts Advisory Committee is 
pleased to present an art exhibition by Sierra Madre resident Hilda Pittman. 

 The art work is now on display through Friday, June 8 in Sierra Madre City Hall, 232 
W. Sierra Madre Blvd. For more information please call the Sierra Madre Community & 
Personnel Services Department at (626) 355-5278.