SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Washing Machine (1995).
After the short blasts and diverse collection fo songs on Experimental Jet Set Trash and No Star, Washing Machine sounds like almost a different band. For although there are a few shorter pieces here, they also give us the 9 minute title track and the, brace yourself, almost 20 minute “The Diamond Sea.”
Perhaps the most amazing thing about “The Diamond Sea” is that the first 5 or so minutes are probably the catchiest song they’ve ever recorded. It’s a gentle, meandering piece with great chord changes and some of Thurston’s most delicate singing to date. There’s an edited version available which basically just lops off the last 12 or 13 minutes, but keeps the first chunk (including the controlled chaos of the feedback solo) intact. Those last 13 minutes are where SY gets to open up and experiment. It’s all sounds and washes and textures. There very little in the way of feedback squalls, and yet it’s not conventional song structure either. It’s very cool.
The other lengthy song is “Washing Machine” one of their weirdest songs in recent memory with Kim going downtown to buy her”baby a soda-pop.” She talks in a sort of New Yawk accent, exaggerated and almost silly as they discuss washing machines. Actually, I take that back, their weirdest song (for Sonic Youth) is clearly “Little Trouble Girl” as it is a straight up tribute to/mockery of doo-wop songs (with main vocals done by the Pixies’ own Kim Deal).
Two Thurston songs, “Junkie’s Promise” and “No Queen Blues” give him some great lyrics done in a catchy fashion (even is “No Queen” revels in its own dissonance).
But none of the songs are “singles” per se. Even the catchiest among them have portions that are designed to keep casual listeners at bay. Although “Unwind,” another delicate song could easily meet the most sensitive listener’s needs.
But it’s “The Diamond Sea” that points the direction SY would be heading for in the next few years: longer, more abstract pieces.
[READ: August 8, 2009] How We Are Hungry
I really enjoyed Dave Eggers’ first book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. And, obviously, I’ve been a fan of McSweeney’s for years. So, why did it take me this long to read his collection of short stories? I have no idea.
They were really fantastic.
But before getting to them, I want to address the look of this book. I have often commented on the quality of the books that McSweeney’s publishes. But it seems like especially for Egger’s books, they pull out all he stops (and, sure, he’s allowed, it is his company). This book is beautiful. It has an embossed leather (faux?) cover of a gryphon on it. It also comes with a page ribbon and an elastic to keep it closed. It truly is a beautiful book.
But onto the stories.
The collection is a mix of lengthy pieces and very short ones (dare I say flash fiction?). I was looking at some reviews online and it seems that many people don’t like the “gimmicky” short stories (which I suppose the flash fiction ones fall into).
And flash fiction is definitely a tricky thing. Obviously you don’t get depth of character (how could you in a two page story?) so to criticize a story for that is sort of beyond the point. But with the flash fiction stories, you can pack a lot of emotion into just a few short paragraphs. Whether or not you care about the character is sort of beside the point. For me, if the flash fiction pieces are gripping, well, that’s enough. One in particular though, “On Wanting to Get Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home” I found particularly relatable.
But it turns out that length seems to be Egger’s greatest asset, for as the stories get longer they get better and better.
It opens with “Another” a story about a young American who goes to Egypt. He overcomes stereotypes and fears of getting ripped off when he takes a camel ride to several pyramids. While that is a simplistic plot outline, the character development is striking, especially between two characters who have barely a few words between of the same language.
In “The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water,” a woman who knows better takes a vacation with a man named Hand. She is fairly certain she will sleep with him, even though she knows nothing long-term will come from it. But the surroundings of her vacation, including the wild animals affect her more than her companion.
“Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance” is a story about the difficult responsibilities of friendship. It takes a surprisingly dark turn at the end, but you can completely understand the main character’s concerns.
“Quiet” sees the narrator traveling to Edinburgh where he meets a former business partner of his. He had a major crush on her when they worked together (just the two of them and two other guys). After spending a short period of time together he realizes the foolishness of the trip and he attempts to escape from her presence. There’s quite a lot that goes on in this story, and, once again, it turns very dark (uncomfortably dark, actually).
“Your Mother and I” is a brief, funny piece in which Eggers can talk about ways he would like to see the world changed in simplistic but humorous fashion. It’s also a nice respite from the darker pieces.
“Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone” is more of an exercise than a story–as the title states, it is just notes. What’s interesting about this technique, in which the “author” makes corrections as he goes along, is how economical the writing can be…by just sketching out the scenes, he can get the point across quickly. I’m also not sure if the story idea itself would warrant a full story. I wouldn’t want to read more “Notes” pieces, but one was interesting.
“Up the Mountain, Coming Down Slowly” is the longest story in the book (about 60 pages) and it concerns a young woman’s attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro (with a tour group). We follow this woman through all of the difficulties and successes. We watch her deal with psychological issues as well as the physical difficulties around her. I was totally gripped by this story, and didn’t want to put it down. The “surprise” at the end is disconcerting, and adds an angle that I’m not certain was necessary to the story. Although it does complicate her achievements and makes the whole experience more poignant. It’s a real powerhouse piece.
The most controversial piece in the book is “There Are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself.” The piece made me smile. I won’t say anything else about it. Just do a Google search and you’ll see what the controversy is. This piece is not in the paperback edition.
The last piece, “After I was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned” reminds me of the letters to CEOs that appeared in McSweeney’s #4 . Although Eggers didn’t write those (as far as I know) they also concerned a fast dog, who really enjoys how fast he can run.
And so, while not every story will blow your mind, like a good album, this book has epic masterpieces, a couple of catchy singles, and maybe some filler. But as a whole it works very well. And really, its the masterpieces that will stick with you and make you feel good about the whole book.
- “Another”
- “What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust,” originally published in The Guardian
- “The Only Meaning of the Oil-wet Water,” originally published in Zoetrope All-Story
- “On Wanting to Have Three Walls up Before She Gets Home,” originally published in The Guardian
- “Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance,” originally published in The New Yorker in a slightly different form as “Measuring the Jump”
- “She Waits, Seething, Blooming,” originally published in The Guardian
- “Quiet”
- “Your Mother and I,” originally published in h2s04
- “Naveed,” originally published in The Guardian
- “Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone,” originally published in another form in Ninth Letter
- “About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her,” originally published in The Guardian
- “Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly,” originally published in McSweeney’s #10
- “There Are Some Things He Should Keep to Himself”
- “When They Learned to Yelp”
- “After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned,” originally published in Speaking with the Angel
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