I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LAND OF KUSH-Against the Day [CST058] (2008).

Land of Kush is a huge orchestra created by Sam Shalibi.  Shalibi is a maniac of independent releases, creating everything from orchestral pieces to solo records all with his unique blend of middle eastern tinged music (featuring his oud playing).

This album is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day, a book I have not read.  As such, I can’t say if the music works with the book, or indeed if the songs with lyrics have anything to do with the book at all.  The liner notes essay that Shalibi wrote reveal his deep appreciation for the book and how it made him hear this music.  Pretty neat.  Against the Day the book is over 1,000 pages, so I won’t be getting to it anytime soon.

The CD has 5 tracks: three of them about 8 minutes, one at 14 minutes and the centerpiece comes in at 21 minutes.  To read more than I’m going to say about this band and the album, check out the Constellation Records page.

In general, I find Shalibi’s music to be fascinating, but sometimes a bit much.  He is not afraid to pull out all the stops.  And I think that’s to his credit.  He does free jazz, psychedelic and middle eastern phrasing, often within one song.  And while it’s often very enjoyable, it can also be exhausting.

And that is the case with this disc. The 21 minute “Bilocations” is such a brilliant piece of music.  The main musical line is just fantastic: middle eastern instruments playing a sort of James Bond type suspense theme.  And the vocals are simply amazing.  The singer (and I regret to say I’m not sure which one she is) is snarling and sexy and brings the whole piece to life.  I’ve never heard anyone say “economics” with such emotion before.  And I enjoy probably the first 15 or 16 minutes of it.  The last five drifts into a sort of solo for voice which gets a bit tiresome, actually, especially after the intensity of the first part.

And yet it is then followed up by the last two songs, each about 8 minutes long, again with fantastic motifs that propel these weird and wild pieces beyond the middle eastern psychedelic soundscapes into actual songs.

Despite my amorphous criticisms (I think that the disc is just too long to appreciate in one sitting (and I find middle eastern music is hard for me to digest in more than small doses)) this is my favorite of Shalibi’s releases.  And some day I hope to read the book, too.

[READ: September 19th ish 2009] short uncollected pieces

This is my second (and final, I think) review of multiple DFW uncollected pieces.  There are a few uncollected pieces left that I’m going to read, but they’re all longer and will likely deserve their own post.  Most of these pieces are very short, and I don’t have all that much to say about them.  But, heck, I’m a pseudo-complestist, so I want to have them all here.

All the text in bold, including the links comes from (where else?) The Howling Fantods.  Thanks!

“Other Math”. Western Humanities Review, Summer 1987. [NOTES: Read it here.]

This is one of DFW’s first short stories, apparently. And it is quite short (3 pages).

It plays with disturbing image: a young boy falling deeply in love with his dying grandfather.  This seems to have something to do with his Gramma not really loving his grandpa.  A weird little story that feels very much like a lot has been left out.

“The Empty Plenum: David Markson’s ‘Wittgenstein’s Mistress'”. The Review of Contemporary Fiction Vol. 10, Iss. 2; Summer 1990; p. 217. [NOTES: A major work. I had this in the Book Reviews section for a long time but it really is far more than a review. Read it here.]

This is a very lengthy book review which goes beyond reviewing the book itself, into discussions of Wittgenstein, philosophy and contemporary fiction. I haven’t read the book, and I have only a passing familiarity with Wittgenstein, so it’s hard to say much about this review.  Plus, the review itself is very intellectual (as you might imagine) so this is not in any way a fun puff piece of a review.

In fact, I found it quite challenging.  And, like in “F/X Porn” below, he is very critical of some other writers and is not afraid to call them on it (sometimes making me feel a little uncomfortable).  DFW really likes this book and thinks it is an under-rated gem.  And yet, he is not afraid to be very harsh about certain aspects of the book that he doesn’t like.   He wants you to know that there are serious flaws with the book and yet you should still read it because overall it is fantastic.

As the review nears the end, it talks more specifically about the book and less about the philosophical implications of using Wittgenstein as its leaping off point, and I found that a bit more comprehensible.  Nevertheless, this is a difficult piece to read.  He throws in one or two of his signature fun comments, but for the most part it is all business.

And I have to say it doesn’t really make me want to read the book.

“Rabbit Resurrected”. Harper’s Magazine, August 1992. [NOTES: This is from a series of stories Harper’s published called “To be continued…. (sequels to famous literary works).” DFW’s contribution is a sequel to John Updike’s “Rabbit at Rest”. Read it here.]

I haven’t read the Rabbit series (shock gasp horror) so I feel utterly unable to comment on this as a sequel. (But since I assume that he loved the series and would want to show it fidelity, I’m sure it is quite successful in that regard).

The piece itself shows a very amusing look at Rabbit on his deathbed: wanting to know if he can still have sex, hoping that women’s sexual organs will be divorced from their voices and 283 omitted pages detailing every sensuous experience he;s ever had as they fly past his face.

DFW’s Rabbit is an offensive, boorish lothario. And he seems rather compelling. I’ve alway wanted to read the Rabbit series, but for some reason I never did.  This makes me want to read it just a little bit more.

“The Nature of the Fun”. Fiction Writer Magazine, September 1998. (Reprinted in the anthology ‘Why I Write: Thoughts on the Craft of Fiction’, ed. Will Blythe.) [NOTES: Read it here.]

This is the kind of piece that everyone loves when DFW writes.  His language is fluent, his metaphors are spot on and his prose is absorbing.  This is a short piece about writing and how you begin writing because it is fun.  It’s fun to let your creativity out and to explore ideas.  Then, when people actually start reading your stuff, you start thinking about your audience more than yourself.  You try to impress others with your writing.  And that is crap.  The key is to get the fun back in, because if you enjoy yourself, readers will respond.  A rather inspirational piece.

“F/X Porn”. Waterstone’s Magazine, Winter/Spring 1998. [NOTES: Read it here.]

The strangest thing about this piece is why it was written for Waterstones’ (a british bookseller) magazine.  This article is all about film.  It is a critique of special effects blockbusters and how the basic rule is, the better the effects, the crappier the storyline/movie in general.

His main films here are Terminator and Terminator 2, although he is basically just going after James Cameron in general.  It’s an enjoyable piece, especially if you agree that the first Terminator movie was far better than the second.  It also highlights a lot of the sort of meta-awareness that audiences are supposed to have now (knowing about Cameron squabbling with Schwarzenegger which somehow adds to the movie itself).  DFW can be pretty vitriolic, and it’s sometime shocking to see him direct his withering criticisms at specific people/films, but that’s his opinion and he’s clearly not going to hide it. It’s definitely a fun piece, especially if you’re interested in what he has to say about film.  And for his observations about the female leads in Terminator and Aliens (and how much Linda Hamilton suffers as an actress from T1 to T2).

“Peoria (4)”. TriQuarterly #112, June 2002. [NOTES: Read it here.]

This is (presumably) the 4th in a series of Peoria pieces.  I don’t know if any other pieces were ever published.  I don’t want to call this flash fiction, even thought it is only a page.  It is more of a sketch, an abstract look at a very small part of Peoria.

“Peoria (9) ‘Whispering Pines'”. TriQuarterly #112, June 2002. [NOTES: Read it here.]

As above (and these both appeared in the same issue, next to each other) I’ve no idea if there are any other Peoria pieces to be seen.  This is another scene…one long sentence, that conveys a sense of an empty field with a car carcass in the middle.  It is evocative and yet strangely cold.

“Deciderization 2007 — a Special Report”. Introduction to “The Best American Essays 2007” anthology. [NOTES: DFW was editor of the 2007 edition of “The Best American Essays”. This was his introduction and it can be read here.]

This is another introductory piece.  This time to a collection of essays.  And this introductory essay would likely have been his last introduction anyhow, given how blunt and almost troublesome he is about the process.  The essay is funny, undermining the very concept of “best.”   He also questions the concept that he is the “editor.”  He explains that these pieces have all been edited already the first time they were published and so he is basically the decider.  It’s a rather funny piece, especially the way he introduces the general editor of the series.  It eventually morphs into questions that had been on his mind since the 2004 election.  (Ideas he addressed in his essay “Just Asking“).  In general, how a populace of Americans seems so disengaged from what is happening in the world.  Simply blaming the for-profit media as not responsible enough to us won’t cut it. It does make me want to read the essays included, although with so much else to read its unlikely that I ever will.

Oh, and Infinite Tasks sent me a comment encouraging me to read Mark Grief’s “Afternoon of the Sex Children,” which is in this collection and which DFW himself says very positive things about.  So, maybe this collection will move up on my to read list.  Rats, our library doesn’t have the 2007 essays collection.  To the interlibrary loan!