Posted in bolanobolano.com, Infinite Zombies, Paul Debraski, Poetry, Roberto Bolaño on April 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Bolaño’s poems had a pretty powerful effect on me. Not the content so much, but just how powerful and not precious they could be. This is not to say that Bolaño is the only one who writes like this at all–I had just locked poetry out of my life for so long, that this was a nice wake up call.
And so, I have written this poem as a thank you.
Posted in Ben Folds, bolanobolano.com, Consumerism, Death, Demons, Dreams, History, Infinite Zombies, Language, Laura Healy, Military, Poetry, Poets, Pornography, Roberto Bolaño, The Office, Translation, Violence on April 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS-University A Capella (2009).
The story goes that Ben Folds heard some a capella bands and decided to give them some airtime. So he had them record a bunch of his songs.
I have been surprised at how much I enjoy some kinds of a capella music. Ed Helms’ stuff on The Office is certain fun, but on a more serious level, it’s amazing what these singers can do with their voices in terms of diversity, range and even sounds.
But at the same time, it’s the lead vocalist on most a capella tracks that sell the song. And, on this disc there are a lot of lead singers I don’t like. Part of it is because I don’t like R&B vocal stylings, which I find too over the top at times. Although I do admit that there;s one or two on here that work very well.
Overall, I enjoy this disc. It’s fun to hear different interpretations of songs that I know and like. Although I think realistically its the songs that Ben himself sings that I enjoy the most.
[READ: April 25, 2010] Romantic Dogs
This is the final Bolaño book that I’m going to read before finishing 2666 (Savage Detectives you’re next). And it happens to be a collection of Bolaño’s poetry.
I have a complicated relationship with poetry. I have written (and had published) a few poems. I dated a woman who was (and I suppose still is?) an excellent poet (hi, Paula). When I worked for a literary magazine, I learned how to judge poetry. And yet, I don’t really read it. And I think the reason for that is that, in my head, poetry deserves more attention than I’m usually willing to give it. I feel like a poem should be pored over, read and re-read and, if good enough, memorized.
I have memorized about two poems in my life. And since I often don’t feel like devoting a ton of time to poems, I just don’t really read them. And that’s a shame for me, because while poetry does demand a closer look, it’s not a precious item that should be put on a pedestal and looked at only when company comes over.
And Bolaño is as good a poet as anyone to demonstrate that. (more…)
Posted in Artists, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Chris Andrews, Communists, Infinite Zombies, Nazis, Poetry, Poets, Political Humor, Pornography, Prison, Roberto Bolaño, Short Books, The Dead Milkmen, Translation, Violence, Yuck! on April 28, 2010| 2 Comments »
SOUNDTRACK: THE DEAD MILKMEN-Chaos Rules: Live at the Trocadero (1994).
It wouldn’t be a complete look at the Dead Milkmen without mentioning their one live release.
Chaos Rules is a surprisingly good live set (taken from two separate concerts). They had to leave all of the songs from their Hollywood Records discs off this collection, so this comes across more as a classic concert rather than a comprehensive one.
The band sounds great and the songs sound pretty close to the originals. Not that the originals were hard but it wasn’t always obvious whether the Milkmen were doing what they were doing on purpose. This set suggests that they were.
As any good live band, they play around with their songs, being surprisingly angry about local politics and changing the (by then twenty year old) “Bitchin Camaro” intro to reflect that.
The only reason it would have been nice if they had been allowed to include some of the Hollywood Records songs (they do sneak one in under a different name) would be to see if they played them any differently. Since the early tracks are pretty chaotic, I wonder what would happen to the latter, more mellow songs. Did they stand up under the weight of the nonsense or did they become more ramshackle as well?
I guess I’ll never know. This is not essential by any means, but it is an interesting artifact for the curious and is totally enjoyable for DM fans.
[READ: April 23, 2010] Distant Star
Because Bolaño never does anything typical, this novella is a spin-off of sorts to Nazi Literature in America. The introduction states that “in the final chapter of my novel Nazi Literature in America I recounted, in less than twenty pages and perhaps too schematically, the story of Lieutenant Ramirez Hoffman…which I heard from Arturo B. He was not satisfied with my version…So we took that final chapter and shut ourselves up for a month a half in my house in Blanes, … where we composed the present novel. My role was limited to preparing refreshments, consulting a few books and discussing the rest of numerous paragraphs with Artuto…”
Okay, there is so much wonderful deception in just this introduction to this book it totally cracks me up. (Arturo B has long been a stand in for Bolaño himself). In the original, the narrator is named Bolaño (he is the narrator in jail who eventually helps the detective locate the poet).
For yes, the story is the life of a poet who is also a murderer. And, the story is pretty much the same as the 20 or so pages of Nazi Literature. It is now an extended meditation on this particular poet. All of the events that were present in the short version are here, they are all just fleshed out with Bolaño’s wonderful details and full biographies of other characters.
The big, weird thing though is that almost all of the names have been changed (to protect the guilty?). So even though the poet of this book has the same exact life story as Lieutenant Ramirez Hoffman, he never has that name in Distant Star (and he goes through several pseudonyms). There are twins in the short version who now get new names. Even the poetry teachers have different names. However, the detective who hunts him down at the end has the same name. Weird.
The book works as a critical assessment of the Allende administration (which is why the real Bolaño was imprisoned). But on to the story. (more…)
Posted in bolanobolano.com, Chris Andrews, Communists, Death, Foreign Books, Gangsters, Meta, Roberto Bolaño, The Dead Milkmen on April 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: THE DEAD MILKMEN-Stoney’s Extra Stout (Pig) (1995).
Of course, I can’t forget the Milkmen’s final release! But, in fact, I had forgotten about it, so much so that when I played it again, I was totally surprised to realize that I knew and liked a number of these songs quite a bit.
This disc was their return to Restless records, and it almost feels like their detour to Hollywood never happened. Back is the dominace of Rodney Anonymous’ songs andthe more chaortic, frenetic guitar work of thier earlier discs.
It opens with “Peter Bazooka” a dark meandering song that features the one consistent thread on this disc: most of Rodney’s verses are spoken rather than sung. Which is fine, except the songs somehow feel more noveltyish when they’re delivered this way. So even if a song like the second track “Train I Ride” is just as silly as any DM song, because it’s sung it feels more like a proper song than a novelty. “The Girl with the Strong Arm” is even more frenetic than “Joe Bazooka” and it’s another rant (although with a more singable chorus).
But a song like “Helicopter Interiors” sounds like classic DM: simple clever guitar line, raucous guitar, and it’s under 2 minutes long. And, while the back half of the disc is less exciting than the front, the rocking “Chaos Theory” is good fun: “Study hard and you’ll have a future, oh yeah when the hell was that ever true?”
But Joe Jack Talcum’s songs are not absent from the disc. He appears first on “I’m Flying Away” a slow, reggae tinged track that feels too anemic to have ever been a hit. “The Man Who Rides the Bus” is a rocking, more catchy track although again it’s missing anything even resembling a hit.
A couple songs do overstay their welcome: “Blues Song,” a parody of the blues (yawn) is over 4 minutes long (yes, the solo section is pretty funny). Although even a lesser song like “When I Get to Heaven” is enjoyable enough (the return of odd vocal effects is also welcome). The only real failure is the horn-fueled pseudo funk of “Crystalline.” At this point I’m not sure if it’s wise for the DM to bust so far out of their comfort zone.
Joe Jack sings the final three songs. “Khrissy” is a trebly love song, “Like to be Alone” is a piano ballad that doesn’t really go anywhere, but the final song “Big Deal” is a another negative song package as a humorous uplift anthem. It concludes the DM’s output on a high note.
I’m not sure if the band should have done more after this. And of course, there is much sadness that bassist Dave Blood killed himself a few years ago. But I understand they still tour and they keep their website active. DM are a wonderful staple from my college days, and I thank them.
[READ: April 16, 2010] Monsieur Pain
It is not lost on me that while I was reading a book called Monsieur Pain, I was stricken with an abscess in my cheek. It swelled as if there was a softball in my mouth and it hurt like a mother. And, since this happened while I was on vacation, I had the delight of going to a Virginia Urgent Care center carrying this book around with me (and the medical services were excellent, thank you all).
Of course, the Pain in the title is not a man who inflicts pain or anything, it’s just his name. I was wondering if, since he is French, if the Pain is to be translated as “bread.” That is never addressed.
This story exemplifies the fascinating twists and turns that Bolaño puts in his books (this one was one of his first). In the introductory note to the book, he states that he wrote this story in 1982 and then submitted it to two different fiction contests under different titles. He won both contests. (Ha!). The other fascnating thing about this story is that most of the people are real. And while yes, that is a conceit he uses in a lot of his stories, in this one the real people are the main people: César Vallejo was a real poet (and did have the hiccups) his wife was real, Pierre Pain was indeed a mesmerist, and of course Madame Curie is real, too.
The story itself was fascinating and sometimes difficult. (I had to re-read the scene in the movie theater a few times to get the total picture). It is written from the point of view of Monseuir Pain. He is contacted by Madame Reynaud (a woman he is sort of in love with, especially now that she is widow) who urgently requests that he go to see someone “profesionally.” The someone turns out to be the husband of her friend Mrs.Vallejo (who turns out to be the poet César Vallejo–although plotwise that is not important). She says he is dying from the hiccups. (more…)
Posted in Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Communists, Death, Foreign Books, Infinite Zombies, Military, Natasha Wimmer, Nazis, Phish, Racism, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Suicide, Translation, Violence, Work on April 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Joy (2009).
This is basically Phish’s reunion disc (after a 5 year hiatus). It opens with one of their poppiest songs, “Backwards Down the Number Line” a song that picks up where their least disc left off: with a feeling of driving down a country lane with nowhere to go, windows opens, just happy to be alive. The second track, “Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan” is a delightful rocker with a supremely catchy chorus “got a blank space where my mind should be….”
The third track, “Joy” starts as a simple piano ballad, but quickly morphs into one of the prettiest songs I’ve heard in ages, an outrageously happy upbeat tender song: “We want you to be happy, cause this is your song, too.”
“Sugar Shack” is a delightfully funky song, recognizable at once as one of Mike’s songs. It’s a simple, pleasant enough track, but somehow Mike’s voice sounds weaker than usual.
“Ocelot” is a silly track (and one of my favorites) while “Kill Devil Falls” is a bluesy number that will easily be a lengthy jam live. It’s my least favorite track on the disc, but it is followed by a more upbeat future-jam called “Light” which features delightful multi part harmonies.
The highlights of the disc are the final two songs: the 13 minute “Time Turns Elastic” and the five-minute “Twenty Years Later.” “Elastic” is a wonderful non-jam, a thoughtfully constructed epic with many parts (although not an elaborate prog rock track or anything). It’s catchy and moving with sweeping grandeur and easy to sing parts. And it melds wonderfully into the delicate multipart gorgeous final track.
This is a really strong, mature disc from Phish. There’s not a lot of silliness or nonsense, just some great uplifting gentle rock songs. It’s quite wonderful.
[READ: Week of April 19, 2010] 2666 [pg 766-830]
This penultimate section of 2666 (the end is nigh!) settles down into an almost pasotral recollection of Archimboldi (the man formerly known as Reiter) as a writer (yes the pronunciation of his name is not lost on me, although I assume it doesn’t have the same connotation in German). And while it is not all happiness, there is more joy in these 60 some pages than in most of the rest of the book combined.
But before we get there, we have one final moment with a war criminal.
Posted in Cars, Culture Shock, Essays, Fishing, Food, Fugazi, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Ghosts, Gods, Greed, History, Humiliation, Late Late Show, LGBTQ, Magic, Minnesota, Nature, Nostalgia, Oddities, Political Humor, Prison, Religion, Set in New Jersey!, South, Stephen Fry, Stephen Fry in America, Summer, Travel, Word usage, Yuck! on April 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: FUGAZI-13 Songs (1990).
I was so blown away by that first Fugazi disc that I immediately ran out and got this collection of their first two EPs.
The strange thing to me is that even though I enjoy the disc, nothing on it really stands out as all that memorable. I feel like Repeater was such a strong release that these earlier tracks pale somewhat.
I’ve listened to this disc a number of times over the last few days and nothing really stands up and grabs me like Repeater still does.
I wound up buying two more Fugazi discs after this, but I’m pretty sure the reason I stopped buying their music was from this same feeling: the songs were all good, rocking, indie music, but there was nothing terribly memorable about them.
[READ: April 15, 2010] Stephen Fry in America
I first heard about this book when Stephen Fry appeared on The Late Late Show. This book was very casually plugged as Fry’s attempt to visit every State in the U.S. It turns out that this book is the companion piece to a six part BBC TV series of the same title (which I have not seen). Although the TV series makes the existence of this document much more understandable. Because although everyone wants to travel to every state in the union, the only way it would ever be accomplished in the fashion is for a TV show (even a book wouldn’t get quite this treatment if there were no TV show).
Stephen Fry was almost born in America (in New Jersey, in fact, where he believes he would have been Steve, rather than Stephen). And he has always felt a connection to the States. So, Stephen Fry, (in my head the quintessential Brit) brings a film crew and his classic British Big Black Taxi to see all of the States. He begins in Maine and travels in an interesting manner, zig-zagging across the country. He tends to visit the places/events/sites that each state is known for. And, like any good TV show, he participates in the activities (he lobsters, he rides horses, his deals blackjack) and makes a tit of himself. (more…)
Posted in Adventure, Bon Iver, Book Reviews, Books about writers, Collecting, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Death, Death Cab For Cutie, Demons, Essays, Fantasy, Ghosts, Gods, Golems, Graphic Novel, Grizzly Bear, History, Illusion, McSweeney's, Michael Chabon, New Moon, Radiohead, Religion, Research, Supernatural, The New York Review of Books, Thom Yorke, Word usage on April 24, 2010| 1 Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2010).
Back in the 90s, it seemed like every week there was a new soundtrack featuring an unreleased song from some great alt rock band. This meant huge sales for soundtracks, even if for the most part they weren’t solid start to finish. In fact, mostly you got three great new songs, three pieces of rubbish, one great song by a band you’d never heard before and two or three okay tracks.
The inclusion of a new Death Cab for Cutie song was the big news about this soundtrack. And overall, the reviews were positive. And I’m pleased to say there aren’t really any horrible songs here. (I have no idea how the soundtrack fits in with the movie as I haven’t seen it and probably never will).
But as with that old soundtrack formula: we get a few good songs by reasonably well-known bands: Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Bon Iver & St, Vincent, Muse, Grizzly Bear. And then there’s a whole bunch of good rock songs. The disc plays as something of a sampler of downcast, mellow alt rock. In fact, the back half of the disc sounds like a pretty decent alt rock radio station from the last decade or so.
Some of the tracks even sound like 90s alt tracks (Hurricane Bells, that song is 16 years old right? And Sea Wolf, you’re channeling Peter Murphy, I know.) The final two tracks are okay. The Editors is kind of a Nick Cave via Joy Division sorta spoken word ballad. And I admit I’m a little disappointed in the Lykke Li track–they got hyped beyond their ability. The final track is a piano score, which is fine.
The biggest surprise to me is how much that Death Cab for Cutie songs sounds like a Rush song. I’ve never considered that the bands sound anything alike before, and yet from the moment the song opens, that could be Geddy Lee singing, and that whole guitar structure is very Rush-like. Maybe they should do a cover of it.
[READ: April 20, 2010] Maps and Legends
This is a collection of 17 non-fiction pieces by Michael Chabon. The pieces cover everything from book reviews, essays about reading and writing, comic book and comic book artists and golems.
The opening essay is about the modern short story and it sets the tone for the entire book. Interestingly, this essay talks about the state of entertainment and how “Entertainment has a bad name. Serious people learn to mistrust and revile it. The word wears spandex, pasties, a leisure suit studded with blinking lights. (13). This very topic is at the heart of the David Lipsky/David Foster Wallace book (and in fact Chabon is mentioned in that book as well.) Ah, serendipity. (more…)
Posted in Airlines, Alanis Morissette, Big Books, Books about writers, Cars, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Death, Demons, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Infinite Summer, Infinite Zombies, Minnesota, NPR/PRI/PBS, Rolling Stone, Smarty Pants, Suicide, Travel, William T. Vollmann, Yuck! on April 23, 2010| 4 Comments »
SOUNDTRACK: ALANIS MORISETTE-Jagged Little Pill (1995).
In this book, DFW considers himself to be absolutely useless when it comes to music. He doesn’t know anything at all. He says he listens to Bloomington country radio stations until he can’t take it anymore and then he switches over to the alt rock station. He’d never even heard of Nirvana until after Cobain’s suicide.
And so, the soundtrack for the book is R.E.M., Bush (two songs) and Alanis. In fact, there’s a surprisingly long section devoted to Alanis in the book, including DFW’s admittance that he would love to have a date with her for tea. He admits that she is pretty much manufactured angst and yet there’s something about her that he finds irresistible.
At this stage (2010), the whole Alanis thing seems almost adorable in it’s “controversy” or “hype” or whatever. It’s still hard for me to be objective about the quality of Jagged Little Pill (I mean, Flea plays bass on it so it must be good, right?). I really enjoyed it at the time, perhaps because of its rawness or its honesty (which was pretty novel at the time, especially from a woman), all packed in a clean production of course. There’s also something weirdly appealing to me about her (really not very good) voice. She seems just off enough for all of this to be really sincere.
And of course, the nastiness of “You Oughta Know” was pretty astonishing for pop radio at the time. True, there’s songs on here that make me cringe now (there’s a lot about her that makes me cringe) and yet there’s still some really enjoyable stuff here. Even the perennially mocked “Ironic” for all of its flaws has a stellar chorus.
Now that the “women in rock” phase of alternative music has passed, there’s very little music like this being made anymore. So it’s kind of fun to reminisce about this stage of my musical life, warts and all.
Oh, and by the way, I also grew up watching Alanis on “You Can’t Do That on Television,” so it was pretty exciting to see a child star that I knew make it big.
I never liked Bush though.
[READ:April 21, 2010] Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
As I mentioned, I was super excited to get this book and I treated it like the artifact it is: trying to read it in one sitting (impossible) or at least in as compressed a time as possible to preserve the stream of consciousness attitude of the book.
For, as the subtitle doesn’t quite state, this is five-day conversation between David Lipsky and David Foster Wallace. The tape recorder was running for most of these five days and what we get is a literal transcript of the conversation (with much of Lipsky’s parts excised). It is an all-access pass to the mind of the man who wrote Infinite Jest as the hype of the book was really taking off and as his brief promotional tour for the book was winding down.
Lipsky was (is) a reporter for Rolling Stone. DFW’s Infinite Jest was the huge media hit (#15 on the bestseller list) and the hype was outrageous. DFW had begun a (sold out) reading tour which actually began the day before the book came out, so he rightfully notes that no one could have actually read the book by then, they were just there because of the hype. And Lipsky himself is part of this hype.
Lipsky was sent to do a profile of the wunderkind, literature’s next great hope (RS hadn’t (hasn’t?) covered a young author like this in a decade at least). The idea was that Lipsky would tag along with DFW, go to the last readings on the tour, an NPR interview, and spend most of their time together: planes, rental cars, hotel rooms, etc generally just hanging out with tape recorder running. (more…)
Posted in bolanobolano.com, Chris Andrews, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Infinite Zombies, New Yorker, Pornography, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Short Story, The Space Negros, Translation on April 22, 2010| 7 Comments »
SOUNDTRACK: THE SPACE NEGROS Do Generic Ethnic Muzak Versions of All Your Favorite Punk/Psychedelic Songs from the Sixties (1987).
I stumbled upon this CD again when I was looking for a Sparklehorse disc (alphabetical you see). I originally discovered this album when I was a DJ in college and the absurdity of the title instantly grabbed me.
And never has a title so accurately described the music within (except for “the space negros” part which is just weird). Anyhow, the disc is indeed a collection of generic ethnic muzak recordings. But it predates that late 90’s “ironic” muzaky recordings of hipster songs.
Nevertheless, it is muzaky background versions of songs from the sixties (and a few originals). The difference comes in the instrumentation: zithers, harpsichords, clarinets, autoharp, etc. In other words, this isn’t a guy making cheesy Casio recordings of classic songs. This is a collection of musicians reinterpreting songs for fun (and presumably to get high to?).
The most noteworthy songs for me are “Silas Stingy/Boris the Spider” medley and The Stooges’ “We Will Fall.” In fact, I didn’t recognize any of the other songs on the disc (the 13th Floor Elevators and The Electric Prunes are the only bands that I recognize aside from The Who and The Stooges).
So, this is clearly a labor of love. Whether or not you will love it depends on your tolerance for trippy muzaky renditions of songs that sound like they’re from an Indian restaurant/hash shop circa 1964 (that exists on the moon?). The CD reissue includes thirty more minutes of tunes which are all just listed as More Generic Muzak (no covers here). It’s strange that these more nebulous bonus tracks really tend to show off how good the rest of the disc is. Sure in part that’s because the other tracks are actual songs, but it also shows how well the weird musical approach to these songs works when it is focused with a good starting point.
The Space Negros (headed by Erik Lindgren) made several discs, but it’s hard to find a lot of information about them online. Even their own website is surprisingly devoid of information (although you can buy the disc!)
[READ: April 19, 2010] “Prefiguration of Lalo Curo”
Even when I try to stop reading Bolaño, the stories keep arriving in my mailbox. This story (to be released in his forthcoming story collection The Return) looks at the history of Lalo Curo. For those of us reading 2666, Lalo Curo figures prominently in The Part About the Crimes. And in 2666 his history is given. So this short story is a bit confusing within the canon of Bolaño. 2666
In this one, Lalo’s mother, rather than being raped and impregnated as a young girl (as had all of her mother’s mothers) was a porn star. Lalo was born Olegario Cura (surname Cura (The Priest) because his father was a priest). And, as with all my favorite Bolaño stories, there’s all kinds of fun questions regarding narrator and intended reader. Lalo’s mother “Connie Sánchez was her name, and if you weren’t so young and innocent it would ring a bell” along with her sister and friend were all stars in a series of porn movies. The man behind the movies was a German [another thing that recurs in Bolaño] named Helmut Bittrich. Helmut treated them well, and the whole production company felt like a (weird, certainly) family. In fact, Connie made films even when she was pregnant with Lalo (lacto-porn!).
Connie had tried legitimate theater (even Broadway!), but eventually, her career went towards porn. The bulk of the story is given over to (graphic) descriptions of all of her films. But the most interesting section is about Bittrich’s understanding of “the sadness of the phallus.” After all those graphic scenes we get this remarkably poetic moment:
he’s naked from the waist down, his penis hangs flaccid and dripping. Behind the actor, a landscape unfolds: mountains, ravines, rivers, forests, towering clouds, a city, perhaps a volcano, a desert.
Pajarito Gómez is the male actor described above. He is the primary male in all of the porn films. He wasn’t well endowed, but he had a special kind of presence on screen. As the story ends, Lalo goes in search of Gómez and finds him easily. They share a moment, watching movies and reconstructing the past.
It’s an interesting story, one that fully fits within the Bolaño landscape. Bolaño is pretty obsessed with porn, and this story is obviously no exception. It may not be the best introduction to Bolaño’s work, and yet in many ways, it’s pretty much Bolaño in a nutshell.
Posted in Art, Books about music, Corporate skewering, Dischord Records, Essays, Free Speech, Fugazi, Glen E. Friedman, Greed, Ian F. Svenonius, Nation of Ulysses, Photo Essays, Punks on April 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: FUGAZI-Repeater + 3 Songs (1990).
This was Fugazi’s debut album and my first exposure to them. They’d put out some singles before this but I missed them. Listening to it now, it sounds great, but not revolutionary. And yet, I remember back then, this was a pretty mind-blowing album. It’s full of heavy chunky guitars and yet it is underscored by a punk vibe (that comes from the source: Minor Threat).
And yet, despite that pedigree, the album is also quite diverse. There’s some pleasantly melodic sequences, including the very nice instrumental “Brendan #1.” There’s some wildly unpreditcable chord sequences and sounds, like the opening fof “Greed.”
Of course before you forget that this is a punk band at heart you get the hardcore chanting of “Sieve-Fisted Find” which sounds like every chanted hardcore record from the 80s (a nice touch).
And yet there’s also great diversity throughout, chugging guitars in “Two Beats Off.” “The slow, almost jazzy twists and turns of, “Shut the Door.” And I haven’t even mentioned the two lead-off tracks: “Turnover” and “Repeater” one of the best statements of purpose to open a disc in the 90s.
I have enjoyed other Fugazi releases, but for me this is the one to get.
[READ: April 9, 2010] Keep Your Eyes Open
My brother-in-law Ben got me this book for Christmas a couple of years ago. It’s primarily a photo collection. Well, it IS a photo collection, but there’s also an introductory essay that I hadn’t read until the other day.
Glen Friedman has evidently been Fugazi’s official photographer for years (and this is, I gather, his second book of photos). The book is a good mix of live and “posed” photos. Obviously, the live ones are more dynamic (and you can really see that way the band is totally immersed in their show). There’s got to be at least a dozen shots of someone in the band upside down, on his back or in some way not normally upright. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 