I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: TRICKY-“Kingston Logic” (2010).

I really liked Tricky’s debut album Maxinquaye.  Although I felt he had somewhat diminishing returns after that.  Then he got into acting so I assumed his musical career was over.

Now he’s back with this album (although I see on allmusic that he has actually been releasing for quite some time, and had a “comeback” album in 2008).  This song, which you can hear on NPR, while still kind of angry, is less claustrophobic than his early stuff (which I liked, but it’s nice to see him coming out from under that).

The female vocalist that he employs on the song is fine–she raps more than sings, which is kind of a shame since Tricky usually picks women with great and interesting voices.  But since this “rap” seems more like another instrument than actual singing/lyrics, it works quite well as a sound collage.

The selling point of the song is the infectiously simple guitar line that repeats throughout.  There’s a lot of other things going on that keep the song very busy, including a spoken section by Tricky himself.  The whole song is not even 3 minutes long;  it comes in, does what it intends and then takes off.

The more I listen to the song that more I really like it and I’m going to have to check out the whole disc to see what else he does.  I miss the gorgeous vocals, but I’ll happily take more of this, too.

[READ: October, 20, 2010] “Issues I Dealt with in Therapy”

Matthew Klam is another of the 1999 New Yorker 20 Under 40 authors.  I enjoyed the excerpt of this story in the main issue, but I have to say I was rather surprised at how differently the  story turned out than I expected.

The protagonist of this story and his girlfriend are invited to a wedding on a fancy exclusive island (think Nantucket, although it is never stated).  He is a pretty average guy, but the guest list includes the Al Gore family as well as Madeline Albright and many other VIPs.  The island has been pretty much taken over for this wedding and it is clearly going to be a big deal.

The bulk of the story is a flashback which answers the question, “What was I doing here?”

The narrator and Bob (the soon-to-be husband) were in college together.  They were even roommates for a year.  Their friendship was kind of silly and superficial, but they formed a bond that lasted over the years.  Even though the narrator isn’t a VIP, he was still asked to be an usher (and to give a speech) at the wedding.

And yet, as he is recounts Bob’s astonishing career from working in civil rights to a step to the Justice Department to becoming a kind of consultant for politicians to some nebulous higher job in which he is in demand all the time, we sense that the narrator is less than comfortable with the way things turned out.  Sure, jealousy is part of it.  But he’s also annoyed at the way he’s been somewhat blown off over the last few months.

The details of the excesses of the wedding are wonderful: the guests receive a save the date card plus other cards instructing them what to wear and where the narrator can find resources for making a good speech.  Later on when the groom-to-be reveals that a case of wine costs $500 a bottle.  And of course, the helipad must be free in case Mr Gore himself can make it.

The story ends with unsurprising negativity, and yet the details are amusingly awful.  I enjoyed the story (and the title is delicious).  I’m not sure if I’ll want to read more by Klam, although according to his website, he’s only published one fiction collection and that was back in 2001.  (This makes me want to see just how prolific these 1999 authors have been since this New Yorker honor).