SOUNDTRACK: HELIUM-The Dirt of Luck (1995).
Mary Timony fronted Helium for a few years. In that time she was recognized as something of a guitar wizard–not in her speed and flash, but in the weird sounds she conjured from the instrument.
She also had very peculiar musical sensibilities (these songs are quite odd) and a cool feminist attitude. This album features the amazing song “Superball” (one of the best songs of the mid 90s–check out the video and watch the guitarist playing the strings with a screwdriver! Man I miss the 90s) as well as a number of unpolished gems like “Medusa” and “Pat’s Trick” (the dual vocals are very cool and the dispassionate “oh oh oh” is very interesting, plus I love the lyric about “long-ass curly hair”).
Her singing style is often quite slacker-y, like in the opening of “Medusa”–she’s not always audible, and she often seems like a kind of buzzy sound more than a voice. She sounds like she’s singing from very far away–seemingly powerful and yet quiet at the same time.
But combine that with the cool scratchy/noisy guitar sounds she gets and she’s pulling off a very cool combination (think Dino Jr without the hooks and killer solos).
Like “Baby’s Going Underground” features some crazy shoegazer guitar washes for most of its 6 minutes which really changes the pacing of the record. There’s also the great “Skeleton,” a riff so cool that Sonic Youth used it for “Sunday.”
She also has a way with haunting melodies as on the piano instrumental “Comet #9” and on “All the X’s Have Wings” which sounds very medieval. I think of Timony as a guitarist and yet there is there are lots of keyboards on the album too–mystical keyboards that are fascinating and seem out of character with the guitars, but actually work quite well. But the prettiest song is “Honeycomb.’ It’s a sweet song with a wonderful melody. It is followed by the ender “Flower of the Apocalypse” a guitar-based instrumental that is mostly feedback but is also surprisingly melodic.
Helium had mild accolades back in the 90s. They released a couple of albums and then Mary Timony went solo. It’s nice to have her playing now with Wild Flag.
[READ: November 11, 2011] Five Dials Number 21
This is the first issue of Five Dials that I was ready to read when it was sent to me (I’ve been all caught up for a while now). So that’s pretty exciting!
I was tempted to say that i enjoyed this issue more than other issues, but I have enjoyed most Five Dials issues equally. But this one is definitely a favorite.
CRAIG TAYLOR–A Letter from the Editor: On Turning 21 and Thinking About Rock Stars and Greece.
The magazine introduction jokes about them now being legal to drink in the U.S. and also about now being old enough to run for M.P. in England. He also tells us about their “new” section Our Town, which has vastly expanded in this issue. He also explains that there are many rock stars on hand to give the magazine tutelage (authors that the rock stars enjoy) and three short stories. He ends with a notice that they have gone to Greece where they are gathering material for Issue 22.
The OUR TOWN section is broken down into regions. I admit I don’t know anything about the Letter/Number address of sections of London, so these designations are arbitrary at best to me.
HELEN COMFORD meets the EDL (E1)
This is an amusing tale about the EDL (The English Defense League, a bunch of people who want to keep England English) and the group of antifascist protestors who show up when groups like the EDL march. Except the EDL weren’t permitted to march so instead pledged to just stand (ha!). They were supposed to march on a majority Muslim subdivision, but apparently very few of them showed up. And the whole thing kind of fizzled out. But it was a nice day so everyone enjoyed being out.
BOJANA GAJSKI on the faraway riots (N17)
Gajski lives in Serbia and always imagined that London was a magical place full of freedom and safety. Watching the riots has changed her opinion and a part of her has died a little inside. But she still wants to visit.
DANIEL SWIFT follows Virginia Woolf through a shattered city (SE1)
This is an essay in which Swift revisits the words of Virgina Woolf as she waited for the bombing to happen. It’s an interesting insight into Woolf’s literature via her diaries.
W11
This is a very funny story about a man on the tube who claims he is Jesus. When a passenger asked him to confirm that he has not sinned and then points to a very serious character flaw, “Jesus” leaves the Tube amid peals of laughter.
JONAS HASSEN KHEMIRI-“An Attempt at Nuclear Physics”
This is the first of three stories by Khemiri, a Swedish author. This one was translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles.
This story opens as a letter: “Welcome to the world!” As the letter continues it expresses concern for the recipient (presumably his son) about the dangers of listening to your heart. He gives the example of when his heart told him that he no longer loved the woman he was married to. And then later, when he found the new love of his life, her heart did the same thing to him. As the story, and the letter, end, it goes in quite an unexpected direction which was funny but also shocking.
ALEXANDER LARMAN-A Single Book: Against Nature by J.K. HUYSMANS
Against Nature stars Duc Jean Floressas des Esseintes, a decadent, debauched dandy. And Larman says that he is a pretty iconic figure in literature. He also says that Against Nature is an otherworldly marriage of naturalistic description and surreal incident and that if Joyce and Eliot were born earlier this book could have influenced their opinions of modernism. Dad Esseintes is flamboyant and eccentric, he has a contempt for the universe and exceptional intelligence. Larman proposes that Das Esseintes is a model for Withnail and I (where the titular characters are both debauched dandies, although they are not wealthy enough to pull of f the lifestyle). I thought the name Das Esseintes sounded familiar, and I realized that I know the name from a story by Brendan Connell (in which I asked where Connell comes up with these names. Oops).
A LIST: The Needle and the Damage Done
When Jenny Lord finished her book on knitting she solicited titles from writers. And the puns flew fast and heavy (Paradise Knitty, Who Gives a Knit? Thass da shizKNIT). She ultimately chose Purls of Wisdom.
JONAS HASSEN KHERMIRI-“Control Alt. Delete”
This story was translated by Rebecca Delgado.
I didn’t enjoy the set up of this story as much, although in retrospect it makes sense. It is created in four “compositions” and it is about a man with a neighbor who plays the piano at all hours. He imagines what this inconsiderate man must be like. He can’t stand it. He wants to call the police. But instead he calls the landlord. And it seems like it finally works. And yet still he has never seen the man. Until he finally decides to confront him–by going through his storage bin. And once he learns a little bit about his neighbor, his feelings change. This story was also quite funny despite its darkness.
ROCK SCHOOL: The Best Bits of the Best Books as chosen by musicians
ZACH CONDON (BEIRUT): The Savage Detectives-ROBERTO BOLAÑO
Obviously this made me happy.
MIRA AROYO (LADYTRON): Slaughterhouse Five-KURT VONNEGUT
I was pleased about this one too.
ELLEN WADDELL (LOS CAMPESINOS!): We Need to Talk About Kevin-LIONEL SHRIVER
This was a fascinating story (and Waddell writes three times as much as anyone else). This is the story of the fallout of a high school shooting. Waddell says the ending so surprised her that she actually wept while reading it.
MOCKY: The History of Forgetting-NORMAN M. KLEIN
I don’t know who Mocky is. This is a collection of docu-fables investigating the history of L.A.
KATE HARKIN (SKY LARKIN/WILD BEASTS): Fordlandia-GREG GRANDIN
Fordlandia is about the (true) story of Henry Ford’s attempts to build a slice of America in the Amazon (to have full access to rubber).
HUNTER HUNT-HENDRIX: Sexus-HENRY MILLER
Especially a long passage in chapter 9.
DEL THE FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN: The Big Payback-DAN CHARNAS
This is the history of Rick Rubin and the other playmakers in hip hop.
DIANE CLUCK: The Self-Healing Cookbook-KRISTINA TURNER
This is a macrobiotic cookbook. Cluck sounds fairly dull if this is her favorite book. I’m just sayin.
JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON: The Rings of Saturn-W.G. SEBALD
I wasn’t planning on reading any other Sebald as I wasn’t quite blown away by the book I read, but this is quite an endorsement.
ADAM GREEN (MOLDY PEACHES): The Soft Machine-WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
Burroughs as your favorite author says quite a lot about you.
BRET HIGGINS (GREAT LASKE SWIMMERS): Demain-HERMAN HESSE
A study of man.
OWEN ASHWORTH (CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE): We Have Always Lived in the Castle-SHIRLEY JACKSON
Everybody knows and loves “The Lottery.” I don’t know anything else by Shirley Jackson. Ashworth makes me want to change that.
MIRANDA MULHOLLAND (GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS): Cue for Treason-GEOFFREY TREASE
I’ve never heard of this book, but Mulholland makes a great case for it, especially for a precocious performer to be. Although when I looked it up it didn’t appeal to me.
KID KOALA’s Hidden Journal (Q&A)
This is a brief Q&A with turntablist Kid Koala. He is an amazing musician and a great artist. He always includes art with his albums, and has even created his own book. Now he’s back with another book called Space Cadet. In addition to the interview (which explains how he made this new book) we get several pages from the final. It looks great.
JONAS HASSEN KHERMIRI-“Unchanged Unending”
This one was translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles.
This was a wonderful story in which a man wouldn’t change anything about his relationship. Except maybe some details about how they met (as patients in an STD clinic). And as he’s talking to her, you realize that they aren’t even together anymore. And he starts changing more and more things. It’s very funny but again very dark. Jonas Hassen Khermiri is an author to watch.
HEATHECOATE WILLAIMS-“Being Kept by a Jackdaw”
On many occasions I have stated that I do not like poetry. This poem is 46 stanzas long (over two pages!) and I loved it. It was really good.
RAYMOND CHANDLER-Coda: Human Resources, Hollywood Style”
This was a very funny letter from Chandler to Hamish Hamilton. It concerns the Warner Brothers when Hal Wallis (head of the production studio) left them flat. They were discussing the situation and, upon seeing up and coming producer Jerry Wald hanging around decided he was not worth developing into a good talent if he was just going to leave.
The illustrations are by LIZZY STEWART. Her drawings are pencil lines that are more than slightly imperfect but which resonate quite well.
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Another fantastic issue of Five Dials. I’m not sure why its taking them so long to produce them now–they were on a pretty fast schedule when they started–but if they keep up this much quality, I can wait.
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