SOUNDTRACK: The Believer July/August 2010 Music Issue Compilation CD: “We Bumped Our Heads Against the Clouds” (2010).
Of all the Believer music compilations, this is by far my least favorite. It would be oversimplifying things to say that the music is not for me, but in many respects it is not. Chuck Lightning, the curator of the project states that this compilation is more or less a look into the state of the union for black artists. And that invariably means a lot of R&B and songs that might be heard on Glee (I like the show, but I never know any of the music).
Deep Cotton’s “Self!” reminds me of novelty dance hit from the late 80s. Of Montreal, who I thought sounded totally different from this, offer “Hydra Fancies” which is as catchy a disco anthem as any disco anthem can be. Roman GianArthur’s “Depraved Valet” is an amazingly falsettoed Prince knock off. Cody Chestnutt’s “”Come Back Like Spring” is a simple almost acapella ode to spring. Saul Williams’ oddly titled “B.S. in a Tampon” is a spoken word with acoustic guitar that reminds me of Gil Scot-Heron. Janelle Monáe’s “Cold War” is the first really catchy song (the la las remind me of Carole King), although I could do without the overstated “Calinda” part and the extended fade.
The first song I really liked was BLK JCKs “Iietys” which sounded enough like TV on the Radio to be really interesting. Spree Wilson’s “Chaos” also sounds like TV on the Radio (the more R&B side of the band, although the guitar solo is a dead ringer for “Hotel California.” Scar’s “Rewind” is the song that should be on Glee. I want to hate it but it is so damned catchy, I can’t. Again, those Oh Oh Ohs are too perfect (and the auto0tune of course is unassailable).
Rob Roy’s “Velvet Rope Blues” is my favorite song on the disc by a large distance. It’s a weird rap that reminds me of The Streets, with an awesome sung chorus ala OutKast. Hollyweed’s “Have You Ever Made Love to a Weirdo” is a trippy, juvenile space rap that is really silly. Sarah hates it but I kind of like it, as it’s in the spirit of Frank Zappa, (although I hate the sax solo). Fear & Fancy’ s “Off the Grid” sounds also not unlike OutKast. And George 2.0′ s “Turn Off the TV” is a anti-TV rap rant (with the somewhat ironic conclusion that you yourself might end up ON the TV).
M.I.A. is probably the biggest name on the disc. “Born Free” is a weird little track of highly distorted vocals over a punk guitar buzzsaw sound. But her vocals are mixed so loud in the mix that they sound unrelated. It sounds not unlike a Go! Team track. This track makes me wonder how she became such a sensation.
Hot Heavy & Bad’s “One” returns to that disco sound in the vocals with some contemporary bass sounds. It wears out its welcome pretty quickly. Tendaberry’s “Cold Boy” sounds like a less horn-y Fishbone. Mother Novella offers one of the few all guitar songs, “Closer 9 1/2” and it’s an okay mid tempo rocker.
The final song is pretty awesome in theory: Nina Simone covering Alice Cooper. That’s right, Nina Simone covering Alice Cooper. Sadly I don’t know the Alice Cooper song, so it’s a bit lost on me.
[READ: September 16, 2010] Speaking with the Angel
I bought this volume when it came out (and apparently donated $1 to TreeHouse at the same time). It’s a collection edited by Nick Hornby (and the cover is designed similarly to the way High Fidelity and even About a Boy were at the time (“the Hornby look,” I suppose).
I didn’t buy it for Hornby alone, although he does have a story in it, but because it looked like a really promising collection of stories from authors I liked. And for some reason I didn’t read it until now. It includes 12 stories, and as the introduction notes, $1 was donated to TreeHouse.org.uk (in the US $1 goes to TreeHouse and another $1 goes to New York Child Learning Institute). I don’t know if the money still goes there, but you can donate with a form at the back of the book.
ROBBERT HARRIS-“PMQ”
This is a funny vignette. In it, the Prime Minister “explains” his way out of an embarrassing predicament. The story is written in wonderful politician-ese, so it’s fun to imagine what really happened as he explains what “really” happened.
MELISSA BANK-“The Wonder Spot”
I’ve been meaning to read Bank’s The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing for years. And for some reason I never did. So, my first exposure to her is this story. It’s the story of a young couple who are newly together. They are heading to a party at his behest. She is not to happy about going, but he promises it will be fine. She eventually asks for a signal that she can use when she wants them to leave. The party proves to be nothing that she expected, and she even knows one of the guests. From there the story twists in a wonderfully uncomfortable direction and a very satisfying conclusion. Of course, I just learned that she has a novel called The Wonder Spot, which I have to assume is an extension of this story.
GILES SMITH-“Last Requests”
I was rather surprised to find that this story takes the title quite literally. It introduces a character that I would never have considered before. I don’t want to say much more about the actual plot because I don’t want to reveal anything that might give away the surprise that I found. I enjoyed the story quite a bit and found it unexpectedly touching.
PATRICK MARBER-“Peter Shelley”
This is a great story about punk music, The Buzzcocks and sex. And that’s pretty much it. But it gets the tone of everything just right. They made a great short film of the story called “Love You More.” I mentioned this film in my Wholphin post (It’s in issue #8) and you can see an excerpt of the short film here. It’s a great story.
COLIN FIRTH-“The Department of Nothing”
I didn’t know Colin Firth wrote fiction, I just knew that he’s Mr Darcy (swoon). Anyhow, this story is great. Really top-notch. It follows a boy who is a total misfit. The only person he likes hanging around with is his grandma, which is totally pants and makes him feel like a bell-end (I love British slang). But his grandma is magic, and she tells him stories that take him far away from his real life (which is The Department of Nothing) and other things on the TTPUYL list [Things That Pants Up Your Life].
The tone of the story is light and funny (as the slang should tell you), and his life in school is full of all kinds of kids who make fun of him (including his brother). And yet, the story that his grandma tells is deep and mysterious and he learns that she is far above the Department of Nothing. It’s very magical. Until things get very dark, indeed. Firth has really packed a lot into this story, and it’s quite a stirring tale.
ZADIE SMITH-“I’m the Only One”
This story is about a 14 year-old boy. His sister (a budding movie star… well… director) has just moved back home, and she is treated extra special around the house. And that means that he has to move his things out of her spare room. And be quiet when she sleeps all day. Sadly, he’s also not very bright. But having to retake some classes meant that he was able to meet Cole, a boy in his class who is very tall indeed and very cool, too. I enjoyed the whole story, but I found the end to be perhaps too ambiguous. I’m not really sure what to make out of the conclusion, which is a shame because I liked everything else quite a lot.
NICK HORNBY-“Introduction” & “NippleJesus”
The introduction to the book is written “for the authors” so that they know why money is going to TreeHouse. Hornby’s son is autistic, and he hopes to do his small part by raising awareness and money for the school that his son goes to. While you hear a lot about autism these days, you don’t often hear the stark truth of a parent who is dealing with an autistic child (this is ten years ago, so I wonder how it all worked out, or if he’s still dealing with it). And it is quite a sad story. There are many worthy causes that can benefit from donations, and I’m glad I was able to help in a (very) small way for this one.
“NippleJesus” is a fantastic story that builds itself up towards great profundity and then undermines itself by the end. In the story, the narrator is a big man. A hard man. A man who used to bounce at bars until a knife was pulled on him (how is that fair?). But he gets a new job (through his wife) working at an art gallery. Once again, he’s a bouncer, but it’s much more sedate crowd. That is, until he learns that his job is to sit in front of NippleJesus, a work of art that is guaranteed to be controversial.
Listening to the man talk about the artwork as he watches people come and go is a fascinating story. And watching this man who never spent a lot of time thinking about things like this actually think about things like this (and slowly become possessive of the work) is really cool. But even better is the ending, when, as I said, he undermines everything we know. It’s a great story.
DAVE EGGERS-“After I was Thrown in the River and Before I was Drowned”
This is the story of a dog who runs really fast. He races other dogs in the neighborhood and feels so good to be alive. [Later published in Eggers’ How we are Here].
HELEN FIELDING-“Luckybitch”
I enjoyed this story because it was very dark but was also very funny. An old woman wakes up on the floor, embarrassed and upset that she may have to push the panic button that her daughter insisted on installing. Then she remembers having a fight with her daughter and she realizes that she might not come around for a while. She thinks about her life and the fabulous things she has accomplished (the celebs she has bedded being one of the proudest accomplishments). And we watch, waiting for something bad to happen to her. A very engaging story.
RODDY DOYLE-“The Slave”
It takes a long time for the title of the story to become apparent. In it, a forty-something man is sitting at his kitchen table (there are stage directions included with the story in italics, although it is not set up as a play). He begins by remembering his schooling, and how he can’t recall much of it (except for My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets–it was written before the removal of Pluto, what new mnemonic have they come up with?). But then things change and we realize that he is actually more obsessed with something that happened in his house and which has changed everything about his life.
It’s a powerful story about how something fairly simple can really knock you on your arse. (There’s even Irish words in it!). I was also amused that it mentions Trainspotting (the narrator won’t let his daughter watch it) since Irvine Welsh is next.
IRVINE WELSH-“Catholic Guilt (You Know You Love It)”
This started out as a story I hated. A homophobic asshole beats up a gay man in the park. But Irvine Welsh uses horrifying images to ram home–not a message exactly–but a sort of cosmic joke. Getting past the vulgarity was worth it.
JOHN O’FARRELL-“Walking Into the Wind”
This story looks at the incredible rise and shattering fall of a British mime. I loved the set up of this story (and perhaps I revealed too much by saying he’s a mime, although the title should give it away). He is mobbed by fans at the Fringe Festival for his intense performance. But his friends don’t get it. They just want to go have a laugh or go on holiday or even go on a date. And yet one of these dates leads our mime to find the woman of his dreams. Of course, she could be a little more supportive of his craft. As the story continues it gets funnier and funnier. He undermines expectations at every turn and I laughed quite often.
True, it does go on a little long (like most mime), but it was a very satisfying story (and the twist at the end was delightful).
***
Overall this was a really enjoyable collection. Top notch writers at the top of their game. Shame it took me ten years to read it.
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