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Archive for March, 2012

Lynn Crosbie–“The Life of a Zombie,” “The Forest,” “Snoopy,” “Life with Billy Joel” (The Walrus, April 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Environmentalism, Flash Fiction, Lynn Crosbie, Primus, Rush, Short Story, The Walrus on March 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS Green Naugahyde (2011).

Primus is back with their first full length album since 1999.

As  they have done before, this album opens with a brief instrumental “Prelude to a Crawl” which sort of sets the tone for “Hennepin Crawler.”  As soon as “Hennepin” opens you know that this is classic Primus–bass loaded and crazy rhythms.  But it’s also apparent that Les is bringing some of the weird effects he’s been playing with in his various other bands to Primus–the bass is wonderfully distorted with crazy effects.  I love that he’s also playing harmonics on the bass.  It’s really hard to tell what is the guitar and what is the bass on this song.

The only problem I have with this song, and a few others, is that Les is singing in a low(er) register.  And since the bass is so prominent, it makes it really hard to hear the vocals.  Either that or they are mixed especially low.  Primus lyrics are usually just as weird as the music, and it’s always fun to hear what’s on Les’ mind.  So it’s a shame that they are buried.  It also means that the music has to stand on its own.  It often does this, but they do put extra effort into instrumental sections, so a section that feels like an instrumental because  the lyrics are so quiet means it’s not quite as interesting as it could be,

Having said that, there’s some great musical ideas here.  I love the riff of “Last Salmon Man” (again, the lyrics are hard to decipher) and the way it changes from verse to bridge.  Although at 6 minutes it’s a bit too long.  “Eternal Consumption Engine” is a great title.  It’s the first song where Les’ old vocals come back, and it’s nice to hear him.  Although I admit the “everything’s made in China” refrain does go on a bit long.

“Tragedy’s A’ Comin'” is classic Primus, a funky rubber bass line, and group vocals (although again, that bass lead vocal is hard to hear).  I think what I really like about it is the openness of the music–so that you can really hear the fun things that original drummer Jay Lane  is doing.  (I was bummed that Herb wasn’t here, but Lane is really great).

“Eyes of the Squirrel” is probably my least favorite song which is a real shame because the opening bass riffs are INSANELY wonderful!  I don’t know how anyone can play that fast.  I really like the way the song opens.  But it just seems to drag.  “Jilly’s on Smack” is one of those weird Primus songs that worms its way into you–the song is mostly quiet little noises and whispered vocals.  But there’s a cool instrumental break (and on this song, too, the drums sound great).

It’s the second half of the album that totally kicks ass.  “Lee Van Cleef” is a great stomper about missing Lee.  “Moron TV” is infectiously catchy (especially the dang a dang a dang a dang dang part) and the lyrics are wonderful.  The spoken word/jam section is also really fun.

“Hoinfodaman” is awesome and listening to Les pitch for fake products is hilarious.  It also features what may be a first for Primus: guitars in the lead melody line.  I especially love the crazy (and I think rather funny) guitar line that works as the bridge.

“Extinction Burst” ends the album on a major high note.  The harmonics from the bass jump into the really heavy main riff.  And Ler’s bizarrely fiddly guitar section is great–easily comparable to any of Les’ fiddly nonsense.  I don’t know how these guys make their instruments sound like this.  And the drums are a great complement once again.  The truly amazing part comes at the end.  The outro of the song is very Rush-like, except that Ler’s guitar chords go high when you expect low, which is awesome, and his solo is insane–all the while Les is being Les.

The disc ends with the 58 second reprise called “Salmon Men” which reintroduces the fishy theme.

It’s great to have Primus back.  It’s also great to hear them exploring different styles like funk! (within their own weird style).  Even the songs I don’t like that much are still enjoyable.  This makes for one of Primus’ best releases overall.

[READ: March 21, 2012] “The Life of a Zombie,” “The Forest,” “Snoopy,” “Life with Billy Joel”

I haven’t read Crosbie before, so I don’t know if she typically writes these really short (yup, I’m going to say it) flash fictions.  I’ve mentioned many times that I sort of love and hate flash fiction.  It seems like as the genre develops it revels even more in what is not stated.  Sometimes this works really well, and other times it just seems to ask too much of the reader–especially if you don’t have time to get invested in a character.

“The Life of a Zombie” is strangely titled because it’s actually about the life of a woman dating a zombie.  The story (half a page in total) goes into Lynn’s previous bad dates as well as the men she met through a dating service (including a criminal and a man on hid death bed).  The zombie has more life than either of them.  She just has to keep him from eating her brains, but otherwise they have a nice time and have just moved in together.

It’s hard to critique a story because it doesn’t do what you want it to, but I will anyway.  I had hoped this story would have been more deadpan–not so much that should couldn’t get anyone else but how it really is to be in love with a zombie.  It could have been funny through playing it straight.  And, yes, longer would have been better here as it was it kind of felt like a one note joke. (more…)

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Michael J. Lombardi–“ΦΒΚ: Love of wisdom, the guide to life” (Colonial Williamsburg: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Winter 2012)

Posted in 18th Century, 19th Century, Ben Folds, Colonial Williamsburg, Essays, History, Michael J. Lombardi, Set at School, War on March 21, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS-Free Folds Five E.P. (2011).

With the purchase of Ben Folds’ Imitation of Myself, I received a free download of this E.P.  It contains five tracks: three demos and two live tracks.

The demos are for “Underground” (1992), “Stevens Last Night in Town” (1994) and “Song for the Dumped” (1994).  Demos are a strange thing.  For fans of a song it’s interesting to hear an original version, especially if it is radically different.

These demos are not radically different although there are certainly some differences.  “Underground”‘s opening spoken bits sound more comical and less sung (it’s clearly just not mixed well).  And “Steven” has a strange spoken word section during the instrumental break.  It’s also less manic than the official release.

The most drastic change is in “Song for the Dumped” in which the chorus ends not with the humorous “and dooooooon’t forget my black T-shirt” but with the more abrasive (and Ben said harder for him to sing) “you fuuuuucking whore.”  So these demos are interesting for knowing that these songs were pretty much always meant to sound a certain way (and that even Ben has limits for how much he’ll curse).  But the official releases are better.

The live versions are both from solo shows.  “Narcolepsy” (1999) and “Dr Yang (2008).   Ben live is always a fun prospect.  He puts on a fun show and often stretches the songs out with fun jams.  “Narcolepsy” is notable for the incredibly buzzy bass guitar that they’re playing.  Neither one of these songs features any jams, but they both have a heavier, more intense feel than the studio versions.

Since the Imitation of Myself included live songs and demos, these make a nice addition to the set.  Although they’re certainly not essential.

[READ: March 15, 2012] “ΦΒΚ: Love of wisdom, the guide to life”

My family has traveled to Colonial Williiamsburg for our last few vacations.  We don’t spend all of our time there (Busch Gardens is just down the road, after all), but we have really enjoyed the history.  So last year I sent them a nominal fee and got some kind of membership coupon.  And then about a week ago, we received this magazine.  I don’t know why it took so long to get to us and I don’t know how many more we’ll receive.  I wasn’t even sure if I was going to read anything in it (I like Colonial Williamsburg, but probably not enough to read a whole magazine about it).  But I was delighted by the content of the magazine.  And I’ll mention a few of the other articles in the near future.

This one is about the origins of ΦΒΚ, Phi Beta Kappa.  It’s something I never even thought about, but once I started reading it, I found it really interesting. (more…)

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Jeffrey Eugenides–The Marriage Plot (2011)

Posted in Culture Shock, Drinking, Drugs, Edith Wharton, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Religion, Research, Sex, Thomas Pynchon, Ulver, XTC on March 20, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: ULVER-Shadows of the Sun (2007).

I really wanted to like this album because of the cover–which is striking.  I know, I know, never judge…  My initial reaction to the disc was kind of poor.  I’ve followed Ulver’s progress through their many incarnations, and it’s not entirely surprising that they should make an entirely ambient record.  It just strikes me as an odd release–mellow and almost lullaby-ish but also a little creepy (the voice mostly).

But at the same time, musically it’s quite pretty.  And while it wasn’t a very good listen for a car trip to work, it was actually really perfect for listening to at work–where headphones allowed for hearing so many nuances.

There’s not much point in a song by song listing, as the songs are similar–washes of music with slightly distorted, deep vocals.   But there are some interesting musical choices that make each song unique, and consequently better than a lot of ambient in which all of the songs use the same musical palette.  “All the Love” employs piano and come cool electronic sounds near the end.

“Let the Children Go” is a much darker song (with drums!).  “Solitude” is the most melodic song of the bunch.  It reminds me of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” (which should tell you something about the overall tone of the album).  It has a noticeable vocal line (and really audible lyrics, which are quite melancholy and more emotional that I would have expected: “You just left when I begged you to stay.  I’ve not stopped crying since you went away.”

Another observation.  At times when he actually sings, the vocals sound a bit like XTC–“Shadows of the Sun” in particular.  And since that song has pianos it’s not inconceivable that this could sound like XTC (although not really).

With the right atmosphere, this record proves to be a very impressive listen.  Kristoffer Rygg’s vocals really suit the mood and, all in all, it does reflect the album cover rather more than I initially thought.

[READ: March 18, 2012] The Marriage Plot

I had put this book on hold a few months ago.  And I was ninety-something on the list, so I didn’t think too much about it.  I looked the other day and I was 10.  Yipes.  How was I going to read this 400 page book  in three weeks while also reading Gravity’s Rainbow??

Well, amazingly, The Marriage Plot worked as a nice foil to GR. It is a supremely easy read.  It is completely uncomplicated.  And, it actually has some unexpected parallels to GR–specifically, two of the characters travel to Europe, one on a pilgrimage the other on a honeymoon, and they travel to Paris, Geneva, Spain, Zürich, and even Nice.  There is literally no connection between these two books (although Mitchell does bring Pynchon’s V along with him), but it was fun to see new people go to the cities that Slothrop has been traveling to for very different reasons.

I powered through the book, reading large chunks and staying up way too late both because I liked the book and because I wanted to get it back on time (beware the library police!).  And there really is something about finishing a book quickly, it really keeps the story and characters fresh and makes the experience more enjoyable.

But on to the book.

This book centers around three people in a kind of lover’s triangle.  The woman at the center is Madeleine (and yes there are wonderful tie-ins to Madeline the children’s book series). The two men are Leonard and Mitchell.  All three of them are graduating from Brown in the mid 80s.

I identified with the book immediately because Madeleine is an English major (as was I).  She studies the Victorian era [and I had just read the piece by Franzen about Edith Wharton] and is on track to write her thesis on this era.  The title of the book comes from this section–novels written at that time were especially focused on marriage–if a woman did not marry, she was more or less doomed, and so the plots centered around her quest to find a suitable mate.  As Franzen noted in the above article, Wharton and some of her predecessors sounded the death knell for the “marriage plot” and Madeleine was going to do her thesis on that.

As the pieces of the triangle fall into place we learn (skeletal at first with much detail added later) that Madeleine and Mitchell were very good friends initially.  So good, in fact, that she invited him back to her parents house for a vacation.  He was head over heels in love with; however, out of fear (mostly) he never acted on the opportunities she gave him, and she thought that he wasn’t interested in anything more than friendship.  Basically, he blew it (although he doesn’t learn this until much later–I can relate to this all too well). As the story opens, she has just woken up, hungover, smelling of a party, with a mysterious stain on her dress.  She knows she did something with someone last night but she’s not sure what.  Not atypical college behavior.  But the kicker is that it is graduation morning and her parents are ringing the doorbell of her dorm right now. (more…)

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Thomas Pynchon–[Week 4] Gravity’s Rainbow [Sections 2.4-2.8] (1973)

Posted in Anarchy, Bugs Eat Books, James Joyce, Lewis Carroll, Military, Political Humor, Racism, Research, Russia, Sex, Supernatural, Surreal, The Dead Milkmen, Thomas Pynchon, War on March 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BUGS EAT BOOKS-“Imipolex G” (2004).

I had a CD planned for this week, but when I searched for Imipolex G online to see if it was real or based on anything, I can across this song by a band I’ve never heard of.  How could I pass it up (at least it wasn’t a song about coprophagia).

I listened to the whole album (only once, so this isn’t a fair criticism) and it’s all in a similar vein–lo-fi sounding.  Like maybe it was recorded on a two-track. The vocals are slightly whiny–not bad whiny–90s indie rock whiny.

And I see that Joe Jack Talcum from the Dead Milkmen has a solo album on the same label, so that makes sense.  I probably would have lived this album back in college.  And I would have wondered what Imipolex G was and then I would have found out about Gravity’s Rainbow and tried to read it.  And given up.

So this song is just over three minutes and opens with feedback squalls, but that noise is undermined by the jangly guitar that takes over the song. It’s quite catchy (in a noisy indie rock kind of way that almost dares you to think it’s catchy.

I’ve tried to determine any lyrics I could “plans etched on the wall… target for my head…I’ve got to go away.”

I’ve embedded the song below, although clicking on the button will take you to their My Space page, rather than playing it directly.

Imipolex G

The album appears to still be available (original pressings came with a bug).

[READ: Week of March 12] Gravity’s Rainbow 2.4-2.8

This was a conveniently short read this week (I had a lot going on, so those 30 fewer pages were a nice breather).  Section 2 continued mostly with Slothrop, although it was also an extrapolation of the people who were impacted by him in the beginning of the section.

For those with weak stomachs, we saw what I have to assume is the most disgusting section of the book.  And there was also a reverie (and the use of the word reverie) that had me a little confused. (more…)

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The Peking Acrobats (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, February 24, 2012)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, Peking Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey! on March 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 24, 2012] The Peking Acrobats

Raritan Valley Community College continues to impress me with their wonderful selection of performances.  And this was another amazing one.  It had me literally slack jawed.

The Peking Acrobats (let’s start simple) are acrobats from Peking, China.

As the show opened, there were ropes hanging from the ceiling (not secured to the ground).  And then several men came out and climbed the ropes.  Which would be no big deal, except that they climbed them like monkeys do–or more literally as if they were walking up the rope while holding on to the rope like a grappling hook line.  From there they proceeded to leap back and forth between the ropes, winding themselves up and then rapidly spinning down until they almost hit the floor.  Nothing I write will convey how amazing it was to watch.

And the best part about it was that that was, when all was said and done, perhaps the least interesting part of the show. (more…)

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The Wolf Knife (2010)

Posted in Deb Olin Unferth, Laurel Nakadate, Sex, The Wolf Knife, Yuck! on March 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: March 15, 2012] The Wolf Knife

Ever since the advent of Wholphin, McSweeney’s short film DVD series, The Believer’s annual Film Issue has included films that do not belong on Wholphin–typically longer films, which is a cool way to see things you normally wouldn’t.   This year’s issue includes a feature-length film by Laurel Nakadate, The Wolf Knife.

Readers of this blog know that I love the McSweeney’s empire.  I read McSweeeney’s and The Believer, Grantland and Lucky Peach.  They’ve gotten me to enjoy things I never thought I would.  I also really love Wholphin–the films are weird and cool and unexpected.

So you can imagine how disappointed I was to be so disappointed by The Wolf Knife.  The introduction to the film in the magazine is by Deb Olin Unferth.  She made it sound amazing (even though she admits that people did walk out during the first fifteen minutes in some screenings).  And yet, after going through what some critics have said she concludes: “to some [seeing the film] might sound like the best possible use of ninety minutes of their lives.”

Oh how wrong this was. (more…)

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Derek Kirk Kim–Same Difference (2004) [reprinted 2011]

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, Derek Kirk Kim, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Guster, Humiliation, Mythomania, Pho, Real Estate, Short Books, The Smiths, Tiny Desk Concert on March 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REAL ESTATE-Tiny Desk Concert #202 (March 12, 2012).

I enjoyed some Real Estate songs, but i never listened to their whole albums.  I thought this Tiny Desk show would give me more sonic information about them.

This three song set is very pleasing.  The music is soft and nonabrasive, with a very smooth feel (as you can see they are dressed in sweaters and cardigans, so this is not really a shock).  It’s poppy without having any real hooks.  They remind me of a less catchy Guster or a less dramatic Smiths (“Green Aisles,” especially for the bass and guitar solo) or gentler Death Cab for Cutie (“Municipality”).

There’s nothing to radically distinguish these three songs (radical is not a word that would apply to Real Estate), although “Green Aisles” has a few more dynamic moments (mostly from the change in drum patterns).

This review sounds like I didn’t like the set, but that’s not true.  As I said, it’s very pleasant.  And sometimes pleasant is what you want.

You can hear it here.

[READ: March 11, 2012] Same Difference

First Second continues to publish some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking graphic novels around.  This is a republication of a story that first appeared in a collection (and proceeded to win an Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz Award).

The story is about Simon and his close friend Nancy.  It opens with them in a Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland, CA.  The first scene of the book is wonderfully drawn–we look in on the characters through a fish tank–fish are practically littering the panels–it’s very cool.

The two of them are with their friend Ian and they are shooting the breeze, talking nonsense.  And then Simon sees a woman that he knew from high school.  She is sitting at the bus stop and Simon wants to, but can’t, talk to her.  Her name is Irene, she seems sad, eyes downcast looking at the ground.  And then Simon reveals that she is blind.

In high school, he and Irene were very close.  He helped her out, described films to her in class, and “rescued” her from bullies.  And then she invited him to a Sadie Hawkins dance.  He doesn’t like her that way, so he lied to get out of it.  She never found out about the lies, but it has haunted him for the last seven years.

Later, Nancy figured out the truth of the matter, and even though we the readers probably guessed it as well, it still hit hard when it was spoken aloud. (more…)

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Donald Antrim–“Ever Since” (New Yorker, March 12, 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Arctic Monkeys, Cloud Nothings, Donald Antrim, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, The Strokes, Unlikable main character on March 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CLOUD NOTHINGS-“Stay Useless” (2012).

This was the song of the day on NPR on March 14th.  While NPR describes it as like 90s indie rock, I find it to be much more like early 2000s indie rock (think The Strokes or Arctic Monkeys).  True, those bands were playing in the spirit of 90s rock, but they had a slightly different take on things–cleaner, perhaps.

So, while the guitars are buzzy and distorted, the vocals are up front and clear (even if the words aren’t entirely understandable–a neat trick that).  The song is under three minutes and has a catchy, powerful chorus.  I’ll bet it’s a lot of fun to hear live, although honestly I don’t think it’s anything all that special.

[READ: March 9, 2012] “Ever Since”

I’ve enjoyed many of Antrim’s stories in the past.  And, I rather enjoyed this one as well.

This was a fairly simple story of a man who has not let go of the woman who broke up with him a year earlier.  And how she haunts him and his current relationship still.

The opening of the story is really quite wonderful.  It didn’t really have an impact on me at first but when I reread it, I realized it’s a wonderful precis of the story:

Ever since his wife had left him–but she wasn’t his wife, was she? he’d only thought of her that way, had begun to think of her that way, since her abrupt departure, the year before, with Richard Bishop [I’m interrupting to say wow, has he packed a lot into a dependent clause.  And then he continues with the rest of the powerful descriptor]–Jonathan had taken up a new side of his personality, and become the sort of lurking man who, say at work or at a party, mainly hovers on the outskirts of other people’s conversations, leaning close but not too close, listening in while gazing out vaguely over their heads in order to seem distracted and inattentive waiting for the conversation to wind down, so that he can weigh in gloomily and summarize whatever has just been said.

Now, THAT, dear readers, is a SENTENCE!

To make him even more pathetic, when he summarizes an idea he often claims that his ex-wife felt a certain way about it…and then explaining that she wasn’t really his ex-wife.

The crazy thing is that Jonathan has a new love in his life: Sarah, the kind of woman who  appears by his side at a party (a work party for her) and says, “Hey Buster, lets’ go fuck in the bathroom.”  It’s unclear whether she was joking, which makes it even more fun. (more…)

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Michael Chabon–“Citizen Conn” (New Yorker, Febraury 13 & 20, 2012)

Posted in Bob Mould, Caesars, Cancer as plot device, Death, Graphic Novel, Hüsker Dü, Michael Chabon, New Yorker, Short Story, Swedish Music on March 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CAESARS-Strawberry Weed (2008).

This Caesars disc is the final of the donated library discs that I received.  And the guy who donated these has some great taste. I feel like I need to track him down and see what else he likes.  I was initially skeptical of this disc because it is so crazy poppy, but it has a few cool elements to it that make it more interesting than typical pop music.  I’ll claim that it’s because they’re from Sweden, where they skew things a little differently.

The melodies are wonderfully catchy, and yet “Fools Parade” starts with some crazy noises and wild drumming before switching over to pure pop sensibilities.   “Waking Up” features that sure-fire sign of a pop hit, the word “alriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight” sung with many changes in pitch.  It’s not always easy to pull off but they do it perfectly.

“Boo Boo Goo Goo” is as crazily catchy as its title suggests it would be.   The lyrics aren’t as inane as the title suggests with the catchy ender: “you’re not gonna get that far climbing those monkey bars”.  “Crystal” has some great old-time Farfisa organs on it which make it sound simultaneously retro and (because of the guitars and such) very contemporary.

It’s actually hard to write about this disc effectively because there are so many great catchy pop songs on it–it would just be “this is poppy and fun” over and over again.

I think the poppiness of Caesars can be summed up by “Stuck with You” in which there’s a wonderful “ooh ooh ooh ooh” section, but it’s a little fuzzy and distorted, just slightly off from pristine.  Similarly, “No Tomorrow” has great fuzzy guitars and more oh oh ohs, this time ending in a super catchy “oh yeah!”  Or how about the “oooh wee oooh” that opens “In Orbit” which sounds spacey and otherworldly.

“Up All Night” introduces a minor key song to this intrinsically poppy album, and even the minor key song is upbeat.

This is a great album if you’re looking for something catchy and easy to sing to, but which isn’t completely made of bubblegum.

[READ: March 11, 2012] “Citizen Conn”

Michael Chabon does not shy away from comics.  I almost fear he’s endangering himself as being the guy who writes about comics (fortunately he has written very well about other topics too).  But for this short story he’s back in that familiar realm.

This story is about two men, Morton Feather and Artie Conn.  They were comic book artists back in the day, writing failing books for a failing company.  But they’re in the right place at the right time when an accidental mailing reveals that men in tights are making a comeback.

So Feather and Conn work together to creator some of the most powerful and long-lasting comic book superheroes.  They ride so high that they are offered to sell their creations to a very high bidder.  Feather refuses but Conn accepts.  And so begins the rift between them.  Later, since Feather lost the fire of his convictions after the sell-out, he is fired and Conn becomes solely responsible for these creations. (more…)

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Jonathan Franzen–“A Rooting Interest” (New Yorker, February 13 & 20, 2012)

Posted in Anachronisms, Book Reviews, Clinic, Edith Wharton, Essays, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jonathan Franzen, Stereolab, Technology, The Who on March 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: CLINIC-Funf (2007).

I received this disc when it was donated to our library.  Clinic is an art-punk band from Liverpool.  This is a collection of B-Sides (that’s an unusual place to start when you’ve never heard a band before). As such, it’s hard to tell if this is what the band sounds like or if these are crazy experiments (because the songs are pretty crazy).  Even if they are experiments, they’ve got me very interested in hearing what the rest of their stuff sounds like.  And since these songs are all over the map I’m still not sure what their albums may sound like.

There are twelve songs on the record: only three are over 3 minutes long, the rest are just over 2 minutes (with a couple under 2 minutes).  This whole collection is under half an hour.  And yet it feels like they take you all over the place, music-wise.  The collection covers from 1999-2007, but they’re not in chronological order, so you can’t even tell if any of this is a progression in musical styles or just a bunch of experiments.  The willful obscurity is quite exciting.

“The Majestic” is a grand, building monstrosity.  It is full of pomp, which is immediately deflated by the slightly off-key organ.  “Nicht” is a 180 degree turn—a blistering hardcore song. It’s played very fast and yet it is not sloppy (and it’s 90 seconds long).  “Christmas” flips the sound again, with a delicate, slow song about, yes, Christmas.  “The Castle” has a lot of organ sounds, which reminds me of early weirder Who songs and even Stereolab.  “You Can’t Hurt You Anymore” is an instrumental (with cowbell!).  “Dissolution” has a distorted guitar and tribal drums.  It breaks after a few riffs to showcase some bizarre distorted spoken words.

Speaking of lyrics.  A lyric sheet is included which is very helpful because the lyrics are utter nonsense: “Pork pie had to know uncle now you can elope” “Diktat no fat fun eyebrow shhhh for the one and the one with horrors”  “Cheat the bored, cheat thee sup at the toast.”  I suspect they are just making sounds while they play and then figuring out what the words might be later.

“Magic Boots” returns to that punk sound with distorted guitar solos at the front (and distorted vocals in the back).  “The Scythe” has a kind of western guitar feel (simple, but interesting).  “Lee Shan” is the slowest song on the disc (spoken/chanting vocals are low in the mix).  “J.O.” is a slow keyboard song.  “Circle I” is another blistering noisy punk song. The collection ends with “Golden Rectangle” which is a slowish surf-sounding song, but with keyboards.

It amazes me that this band has so many full length records out.  They must have a cult following, even though I’d never heard of them before.  I’d really like to check out what their main releases sound like.

[READ: March 11, 2012] “A Rooting Interest”

Hot on the heels of Jonathan Fraznen saying he hates Twitter, I get to read how much he loves Edith Wharton.

It’s no secret that Franzen is a curmudgeon–he is an emotional guy who believes in authenticity; there is absolutely no surprise that he would hate Twitter.  And, while I think Twitter is good for some things, he is absolutely correct when he says, “Twitter stands for everything I oppose…it’s hard to cite facts or create an argument in 140 characters…it’s like if Kafka had decided to make a video semaphoring The Metamorphosis.”  [Actually I’m not sure that that simile is apt, but I get the point.]

He may be a little overstepping with the rest: “Or it’s like writing a novel without the letter ‘P’…It’s the ultimate irresponsible medium … People I care about are readers…particularly serious readers and writers, these are my people. And we do not like to yak about ourselves.”  I think there is some fun to be had yakking about ourselves, but the point is well taken.

It also seems quite appropriate for this article in The New Yorker in which he lauds a writer who wrote almost one hundred years ago. (more…)

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