I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CUPPA JOE-Busy Work EP (1993).

This EP was one of the first releases on the Dromedary label.  It contains 3 songs.  Whenever I think of cuppa joe, I think of them being a somewhat lightweight band; charming and fun, but lightweight.

And I think most of this is due to the lead singer’s voice.  It’s quite delicate and veers towards, but never quite reaches whiny territory.  Comparisons to They Might Be Giants are not unfounded.

But the thing is that, musically, the band plays a wonderfully diverse selection of styles, some of which emphasize the singer’s delicate voice, and others which play in a wonderful contrast to it.

Take their brilliant first song on the EP, “Bottlerocket”.  The chords are masterful and intriguing as the song opens, moving towards a fast, propulsive verse and an insanely catchy chorus (with backing vocal harmonies!).  It’s a tremendous song, and cuppa joe could easily rest on their laurels after creating such a masterpiece.

The other two songs on the EP are more of that delicate style that I think of as distinctly cuppa joe.  “French Toast” is a very quiet little ditty about, yes french toast.  It’s catchy and seems to be an ideal b-side, sounding almost like a demo.

The third track, “Surface Area” starts out almost as an homage to R.E.M. “I am Superman” with the jangly guitars and all, but the jazzy bassline totally changes the tone of the song.  Overall it splits the difference of the other two, being a fully realized song that gets a surprise lift from loud and raucous guitars about halfway through.

It’s a really great representation of this cool indie band.  And it will be available for download in a few days right here.

[READ: February 17, 2010] 2 Poems

These are the first two Bolaño pieces that I found while looking around online.  These poems are very likely published elsewhere.  However, since I’m not a big reader of poetry, I don’t think I’ll be reading his poetry collections in full.

Both poems were translated by Laura Healy. While it’s impossible to know if she did a good job of translation (since I can’t do it myself), all I can comment on is the quality of the English words. And in both cases, she chooses very exhilarating words to convey these images.

“Self-Portrait at Twenty Years”
Bolaño’s poems are pretty hard-hitting. I’m not sure specifically what this is about (as I don’t know a lot about his biography), but it seems an intense situation.
“Brushing cheeks with death” is a very powerful image.

Okay, having read that “Vagabonds” article, I know a little more about his biography.  And, it sounds like he was involved in all kinds of military and spy activity.  So the intensity of this poem seems apt.  I still don’t know enough to assign it to a particular event in his life, but wow.

“My Life in the Tubes of Survival”
A metaphorical poem about life hurtling towards death. I assume that Bolaño knew he was dying when he wrote this poem, and that likely explains quite a lot of the emotion here.

With just these two poems, I’m delighted by how thoroughly readable and frankly visceral it all is.  His poems also seem to be very personal, or at least specific to his own life.  But since I don’t know all that much about him or Chile or really anything that he’s going through, i know I’m missing a lot of details (and very likely, the point of the poems).

Even though I said I wouldn’t read more of his poetry, these were both really good.  And in fact, maybe I will read some more.

For ease of searching I include: Bolano