I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: NO FORCEFIELD-Lee’s Oriental Massage 415-626-1837 (2000).

I was terribly disappointed with the second No Forcefield album (so why did I get this one?  Because I got them both used at the same time for $1 each).  And I can’t help but think Id have been so much more disappointed in it had I listened to this one first.

This first record is really quite good.  I still have no idea why Ler from Primus is in the band or what he does on this disc (and he’s the reason I learned about the band to begin with), but this disc sounds like a proper album and not just a bunch of undercooked ideas.

This disc is primarily a collection of electronic/scratching tracks.  The beginning of the disk has more scratch-heavy pieces (provided by DJ Disk), and as the disc moves along we get slightly longer more instrumental-only dancey tracks.  But they’re not really dance tracks either, they’re heavy electronic tracks in the vein of say Prodigy (with no lyrics).  They’re quite inventive and they rock pretty hard.

But it must be said, it sounds nothing like Primus.  There’s virtually no bass, and no guitars and no vocals.  I assume that Brain does all of the electronics and drums, and then there’s a few extra folks helping out.  There’s some definitely worthwhile tracks on here (and the samples are all fun…Mister Roger’s Neighborhood music, for example).

This isn’t a genre I know very well, so I don’t know how it compares globally to others. But I do know bad techno music and this isn’t it.

Not bad for $1.  And, no I never called the phone number.

[READ: January 26, 2010] “Fjord of Killary”

This is a quick, dark story.  It concerns a poet, named Caoimhin, who moves from the city to the West Coast of Ireland.  Specifically, he goes there to buy a hotel.  The hotel has been extant since the 1600’s and was even written about by Thackeray.  Since he is having massive writer’s block, he assumed that this little community on a fjord will give him lots to write about.

But instead, he finds himself very busy tending to the locals (the hotel bar is the real draw) and largely uninspired to write anything.

The actual plot of the story concerns a terrible storm.  The raging ocean that is right below the hotel is rising and rising.  Caoimhin is rather nervous, but the patrons, all old residents of the area, tell him not to worry.  Well, actually they ignore him, (despite all of his lame attempts at conversation making) but the effect is the same.

It’s only when the water actually comes up the porch and under the doors that the people start to really get nervous.

And I have to say that the actual plot of the story, the water rising, and subsequent conclusion, was my least favorite part of the story.  The ending didn’t really do very much for me.  What I really liked was, really, everything else in the story: the old residents, their banter, their abject refusal to acknowledge the (outsider) bartender.  It was all wonderful.

And I would have loved to have read a story about the bartender and how he coped with all of these people on a regular basis: the older, married couple who grope each other quite explicitly; the old men who talk pretty much exclusively about travel routes (I loved the idea that they were even discussing how to get places when they were sure that they were flooded in.)  I want to know more about the Belarusian staff and just who is making out with whom.  And what about Caoimhin’s friends at home?

These were great characters and the flood, while interesting, seemed like a bit of an artificial plot point that took away from the real story.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed all of the characters and the setup, and even the tension about the flood.  I just would have preferred that not be the focus.

This of course makes me wonder if this is yet another except fro a longer piece that gets strangely truncated for The New Yorker.  It’s available here.