Music

Werewolf Wednesday: Nu Yang’s lycanthropic playlist

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Nu Yang is author of “A Good Mate is Hard to Find,” one of the fresh new tales of female lycanthropy in Wolf Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny. The anthology was published this summer by Hic Dragones.

Nu’s atmospheric, visceral tale starts off with a rash of murders causing grief for the local werewolf — but not in ways you would expect. It turns out finding an appropriate and worthy mate is even tougher for werewolves than regular folks, which means the old “it’s not you, it’s me” conversation is more than just awkward for the supernatural creatures among us.

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Metal Monday: Ozzy Osbourne’s Down to Earth

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Down to Earth (Ozzy Osbourne album)

Again, Ozzy demonstrates why he has outlasted most of his ’80s-era metal peers, as well as more recent initiates of the heavy rock genre.

Teaming up with guitarist Zakk Wylde, who first added his pyrotechnics to Ozzy’s on 1988’s No Rest For the Wicked, the collaboration proves as fertile as ever on Down to Earth.

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Middle-earth music: The Two Towers

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The score for The Two Towers, part two of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, accomplishes a difficult task: augmenting the action of the “middle.”

There are some lovely swirls as Shore conjures forth themes for the stern but beautiful people of Rohan with help from a Norwegian hardanger.

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Middle-earth music: The Fellowship of the Ring

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Beginning with a stirring choral piece sung in one of Tolkien’s Elvish languages, Howard Shore immerses the listener in Middle-earth. Rather than composing themes for each of the characters, as per John Williams leitmotifs, Shore adds atmosphere to a story already rich in history.

It’s just as well he eschews character-specific creations; at nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien’s cast was just getting started. The film’s score isn’t monolithic by any means.

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Metal Monday: Iron Maiden’s Rock in Rio

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Note: I don’t think anyone’s asking anymore why we need another Iron Maiden album, given their output and touring since this review of Rock in Rio was originally published — but given the band’s high standard for live albums set with Live After Death, you might wonder whether Rock in Rio is worth it. Short answer: yes.

You could be excused for asking, “Why do we need another Iron Maiden album?” If you’re actually interested in an answer, listen to Rock in Rio.

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The unofficial Middle-earth soundtrack

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Leonard Nimoy

Longtime readers of J.R.R. Tolkien know he had a deep fondness for poetry and song.  Apart from his own compositions chronicling the early history of Middle-earth (such as The Lays of Beleriand), he filled both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with poetry, composed or recited, as it were, by the characters as part of the story. It added a richness and depth to the imagined peoples of his fantasy world that is rarely matched or emulated.

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