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Archive for March, 2014

Ken Kalfus–“Coup de Foudre” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Beck, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Morality, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, Travel on March 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Guero (2005).

gueroGuero is one of Sarah’s favorite albums, I would say.  It’s hard for me to believe that it is almost ten years old.  It’s a return to the more wild style of Odelay!, but it’s a bit more modest in scope–there’s a lot of different styles, but it’s not quite as manic as his earlier record.  And the sampling is not quite as excessive.

It opens with “E-Pro” a big loud guitar riff and lots of fun sing along material.  The drums are loud and snappy, and it all hearkens a great return to form.  the manic sampling is not present.  There is a return to rap-lite (and lots of Español) in “Guero.”  I like the horns and the street chatter.  “Girl” is an incredibly poppy, almost synth poppy song although just what is he saying in that chorus?  It’s a really pretty summery anthem.

“Missing” slows things down but keeps some great sounds (including big strings) and cool percussion.  It’s got an unusual melody that I find really memorable.  “Black Tambourine” has a great thumping drumline and pumping rhythm and is so much fun to sing along to–whoah oh oh oh oh oh.  “Earthquake Winter” brings in more sitar and a weird tropical vibe to this slow song.  But the chorus is just great, especially the way it rises out of the murky verses.

“Hell Yes” is a very weird song with a funky staccato bass line and weirdly processed vocals.  It’s the first song that really stands out as being unlike the rest and hearkens back to his older style.  It’s also really cool.  “Broken Drum” slows things down again.  I like the melody but I feel this is a little too slow for this record. (Although I like the guitar melodies that are overlaid on top of the song).  Scarecrow” brings back an uptempo beat and a slinky guitar sound.  “Go It Alone” has big handclaps and a stripped down sound but lots of great backing vocals.

“Farewell Ride” has  very creepy stripped down sound with weird (almost out of tune) acoustic guitar and creepy harmonicas.  It’s like a demented western song, and it works very well.  “Rental Car” returns with another great fuzzy guitar opening.  It has a super fun chorus (of yeahs and harpsichord ) and very funny sample of women singing very fast la la las.  “Emergency Exit” is a slow handclappy song that ends the disc with a bit more variety.

Although this album may not reach the intensity of Odelay! (and the singles may not be quite as catchy) overall, I think this record is probably Beck’s best.

[READ: March 19, 2014] “Coup de Foudre”

I have only read a few short things by Kalfus so this is more or less a first for me.  And wow, what a lengthy and detailed story to start with.

There is a ton of stuff going on here, but I’m not willing to go into that much detail in reviewing it.  Primarily because the detail is the emotion and heart of the story, and his descriptions of what happened are designed to influence your opinion of the narrator.

So, the nutshell version of the plot is that the narrator is David León Landau, a powerful banker who can absolutely influence global monetary policy.  He has Timothy Gueithner’s ear and is soon to be meeting with Angela Merkel to talk about the Greek economic collapse and Germany’s potential role in the bailout.  He is that important.

He is writing a letter to Mariama, a maid in a very expensive hotel in New York City.  He has been arrested for sexually assaulting her, and she has effectively brought his entire career (and presidential plans), not to mention his marriage, to a grinding halt.

Simple enough.  So why is he writing to her?  He is writing to her to explain in great detail everything that happened in the days leading up to what he did.  He seem contrite, and yet he also knows that his lawyers prevented him from getting in as much trouble as he should have.  He also knows that she will never read this, but he needs to write it anyway, just to get it out, like a confession.  Even though he knows that if anyone were to see it in print it would mean the end for him. (more…)

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Heidi Julavits–“Diagnose This: How to be your own best doctor” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Air, Beck, Disease, Doctors, Drugs, Essays, Harper's, Heidi Julavits, Radiohead on March 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Sea Change (2002).

Aseachnagefter the wild dance of Midnight Vultures, Beck entered the 2000s with Sea Change, a very mellow album.  It is highly regarded by many, although it’s too mellow for my liking, which is unsurprising give my tastes.  (Of course, if you’re in a mellow/sad mood, it’s perfect).  Even though I feel like it is quite samey, a closer listen shows as much diversity within these songs as any of his thematic albums.  And there are some great sounds that he throws on top of these tracks.  Like the Radiohead vibe in “The Golden Age”

“Paper Tiger” has a kind of sleekness to it, with the strings and the bassline that keeps the track interesting.  “Guess I’m Doing Fine” is a mopey song that has the potential to be too much ,but never goes that far.  It winds up being quite beautiful.  “Lonesome Tears” has strings that make it sound a bit like Air (the band).  “Lost Cause” is the poppy side of this mellow album—it’s got a super catchy chorus (although is clearly not a happy song) and would be a great ballad on any other album—here it comes across as the peppiest number.  “End of the Day” introduces sitar, but it falls a little flat in the middle of the disc.

“It’s All in Your Mind” is a pretty and short song.  “Round the Bend” is easily the most depressing song that Beck has ever done.  It’s also quite beautiful but, man what a downer.  Oh wait, that “most depressing” award would go to “Already Dead” a very sad acoustic song which has Beck singing in an aching falsetto.   The darkness is lightened somewhat with the sitar flavored “Sunday Sun” but it still has that aching vocal.  And yet it ends with a total musical freak out at the end—noise and feedback and chaos which makes sense in the song but seems so out of place on the record—and yet it’s kind of a welcome relief.  “Little One” has a more upbeat vibe (with big drums even).  Although it seems to get lost by the end of the disc.  As does “side of the Road” which doesn’t really have a lot going for it.

 Any one of these songs would be a perfect mellow beck song.  But at 52 minutes, the album is a bit relentless.   I think what weighs down a lot of these songs is their length.  The lengthy strings at the end of “Tears” is very pretty but with several songs pushing 5 minutes, overall it gets to be a bit much.   There’s no “bonus” track on this one.

 [READ: March 17, 2014] “Diagnose This”

This article by Heidi Julavits (whose novels I keep intending to read but have yet to so far), really appeared to me because of the conceit of self diagnosis.  Whenever you go to a doctor, if you have searched your symptoms online (which everyone has) you always feel guilty about bringing it up—like you’re not supposed to investigate these free resources.  Now it’s entirely true that looking up your symptoms online is madness—everything leads to cancer.  Everything.  If you are a hypochondriac, you should never ever do this, but if you are a reasonable person, you can use online medical diagnoses and, more importantly, message boards to see what other people have said about similar symptoms.

In this essay, Julavits talks about her own symptoms for what her doctor diagnoses as possible Ménière’s Disease, a rather rare disease that is more or less worst case scenario.  And the doctor tells her not to look it up when she gets home (she looks it up in the parking lot).   She doubts that this is an accurate diagnosis.  But as she learns when she interviews several doctors and medical school teachers—doctors are not taught to learn gray area thinking.  They have to save lives so they may jump to the most serious situation in order to prevent serious damage—even if that conclusion may involve tons of unnecessary and expensive tests. (more…)

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William T. Vollmann–“The Grave-House” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Beck, Flight of the Conchords, Harper's, Huh?, Prince, Short Story, William T. Vollmann, Yuck! on March 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Midnight Vultures (1999).

midnightIt’s not entirely clear to me how serious Midnight Vultures is meant to be. The songs are all quite good musically, but they are so very different from anything Beck has done so far—and they have a sheen of R&B that at times feels like a parody (especially coming from someone like Beck, especially when the lyrics are included).  The music is definitely designed to party (when I first heard it I found it rather Prince-like), and while I didn’t really like it very much, i have since grown to relax and enjoy the funk.

“Sexx Laws” has horns that work very well as accents. And yet for all of of its party slickness, there’ a banjo solo at the end of it.  That’s the kind of party music Beck makes.  “Nicotine & Gravy” is a slinky song with a weird chorus: “I think I’m going crazy, her left eye is lazy, she looks so Israeli, nicotine and gravy.”  What is someone supposed to do with that?  “Mixed Bizness” is an incredibly funky song that reminds me a lot of Prince’s “Dance Music Sex Romance.”  “Get Real Paid” has female leads vocals and a funky but staccato style–it’s unlike anything Beck has done up to this point.  “Hollywood Freaks” stands out for the weird and some would say bad lyrics—it feels a little like old school Beck and out of place with this new funky dancey Beck.

“Peaches & Cream” is another Prince-inspired track and is super catchy.  It has backing vocals (very high pitched) that sounds a lot like Beck, I just can’t imagine he’s doing them).  “Milk & Honey” is a 70s style rock song, less dancey but with all kinds of funky effects  “Beautiful Way” and “Pleasure Zone” are okay–the party seems to be ending a little here.  But the disc ends with “Debra,” which is super fun.  Beck sings in an incredible (for him) falsetto.  The song is about a ménage a trois. It is meant to be humorous (I hope) about a guy picking up a girl in his Hyundai.  But it sounds so much like Flight of the Conchords, that it’s hard to even consider it seriously in retrospect.

There is a very lengthy silence before our “bonus” track, which in this case is about a minute of fast drums and spacey noises, then some lounge music and some crazy voices.  Again, not worth the wait.  So I’m mixed on this one.  As with a lot of Beck CDs it seem like your own mood determines whether you’ll enjoy this one.

[READ: March 17, 2014] “The Grave-House”

I’ve read more of Vollmann’s non-fiction than fiction, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect with this short story.  And I did not expect a man who is in a house which is trying to eat him.

As this story opens, with once upon a time, the narrator has built a house by himself.  But since it was not paid for, it was condemned to be knocked down.  So instead, he bought a house with all the furnishings—it was all paid for.  But as soon as he decided to go outside, the house refused to let him. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–The Unknown University (2007) [tranlated 2013]

Posted in Beck, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Fears, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Laura Healy, Natasha Wimmer, Poetry, Poets, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, The Beatles, Translation, Translators on March 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

univSOUNDTRACK: BECK-Mutations (1998).

mutationsThis is the first album that shows a wholly different side to Beck. It is pretty much an entirely traditional album.  There’s no samples, just consistently strong songwriting.  The overall feel is mellow and it comes as quite a shock after the chaos of Odelay!

Although the album has a very consistent vibe, it’s not all samey.  There’s a lot of different instrumentation like the harpsichord on “Lazy Flies,” and the old-timey piano and slide guitar on “Canceled Check” which has a very country feel.  It’s not all simple and normal though, as “Check” ends with a strange musical breakdown that keeps it from being a smooth song.  “We Live Again” is a very mellow track with Beck singing sweetly over the waves of music.

As befits the name “Tropicalia” has a very tropical feel, it’s totally danceable and was a very wise choice as a sample.  “Dead Melodies” has a classical music feel (with vocals of course).  “Bottle of Blues” is, unsurprisingly, a somewhat rowdy blues song.  “O Maria” is a slow but upbeat piano song that also feels old timey.  “Sing It Again” has a melody that is similar to “Norwegian Wood,” but the song is nothing like that Beatles classic.  This is gently sung and played acoustic guitar number.  And “Static” is a quiet disc ender.

This disc also feature a “bonus” track, and this is the first one that is actually enjoyable.  It is a fleshed out song (and a good one at that). It is comparatively rambunctious and noisy and quite different from anything else on the disc.  It’s called “Diamond Bollocks” and has a great bass line and cool backing vocals.  This song could easily have been a hit if it weren’t tucked away at the end of the disc.  (Well, and there are some weird moments to, but overall, easily a hit).

Despite all that Beck is known for his crazy songs and samples, Mutations is an extremely cohesive record with enough diversity to keep it from ever getting dull.  It’s a great record and is somewhat overlooked in his catalog.

[READ: March 16, 2014] The Unknown University

This is a collection of almost all of Roberto Bolaño’s poetry.  Some (but not all) of the poems from his collection The Romantic Dogs are included here, although some of those are apparently modified a little.  It also includes what was earlier released as Antwerp but is here called “People Walking Away.”  (I found Antwerp and “People” to be quite unusual and would never remember what is the same in the two.  But translator Laura Healy says that she more or less uses Natasha Wimmer’s translation of Antwerp for the parts that are the same (a task which must have been harder than it sounds if the two pieces weren’t exactly the same).

This book is 830 pages with facing pages of Spanish and English.  According to the publisher’s note, this collection was found on Bolaño’s computer as is—a collection of all of his poems from throughout his career.

Most of the early poems were written when Bolaño was young (in his 20s).  Even at such a young age, he writes powerfully.  Not all of his poems are great of course (how could they be when there are so many) but there are dozens and dozens of poems that I thought were fantastic.  I’m going to include some below, but I also wanted to get some criticisms out of the way too.

He tends to revisit ideas quite a lot, which is normal for a poet, but it seems weird to revisit an idea in subsequent poems (especially when the poems are just a few lines long each).  It almost feels like he fixated on a subject and thought of a number of ways to work with it and rather than make one long poem, he made several short ones.  Like this strange occurrence: (more…)

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Mathieu Mariolle, Minikim & Pop–Nola’s Worlds #2: Ferrets and Ferreting Out (2010)

Posted in Beck, Carol Klio Burrell, Completed Series, Dick Hyman, Erica Olson Jeffrey, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Huh?, Mathieu Mariolle, Minikim, Pop, Supernatural, Trilogy on March 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

nola2SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Odelay! (1996)

220px-OdelayAfter the success of Mellow Gold (and those other releases) we didn’t hear from Beck for a while (there’s a joke about the title of this record referring to the delays in production).

Beck quickly went from one hit wonder to wunderkind with this release which had 5 singles and is generally considered a masterpiece of the 1990s.

I haven’t listened to it in a long time, and I was surprised to hear that “Where’s It’s At” is not the lead track (it’s actually #8).  Rather it’s “Devil’s Haircut” that opens the disc.  And it still sounds fresh and fun (and, it must be said, rather weird–the guitar solo and that screaming at the end are not typical “single” material.  “Hotwax” returns Beck to his folkier roots.  Although it is folk done Beck-style, with funk keyboards and rapped lyrics.  There’s a ton of interesting styles of music in the background (old timey pianos, distorted guitars, even a weird little trippy ending).  While not trying to ape “Loser” at all, there are even lyrics in Spanish.  It’s a simple song that might have been a hit if there weren’t so many other hit-worthy songs on the disc.  “Lord Only Knows” is a fairly conventional song, catchy and simple.

“The New Pollution” was another single.  It’s also pretty unusual for a single–the opening samples (it must be a sample, even though I don’t see credits for it) an old sounding do do, do do do vocal line, (the listed sample is the sax solo from Joe Thomas’ “Venus.”  It’s so hard to know what’s original and what’s sampled with Beck.  “Derelict” is a slow, unusual song which I quite like, although I can see it being the first song on the disc that people didn’t love.  The backing music sounds like it’s played on an old music box.

“Novacane” is a funky rap-style track.  It’s noisy but fun and has some great samples.  “Jack-Ass” was another single.  I especially like this song.  It’s a slow and fairly conventional song with s simple melody and Beck’s mellow vocals–it cuts through the clutter of Beck’s usual cacophony and shows that he can do simple as well (and hints at Mutations).  Even if he does throw in the donkey sounds at the end.  And then there’s 2 turntables and a microphone.

“Minus” has a big noisy bass and guitar–a punk song, if you will.  “Sissyneck” has a great whistling opening which comes from “The Moog and Me” by Dick Hyman.  I really enjoy this country-infused number (it’s strange that I enjoy the less weird songs more, given that the other singles were so much bigger) .  “Readymade” is a slow meandering song with some interesting elements, although it’s probably my least favorite song on the disc.  Especially since it’s followed by the raucous “High 5 (Rock the Catskills), which has some great samples (including Shubert), a noisy chorus (“rocking the plastic like a man from a casket”) and (apparently) a recreation of some old rap (I love the “Ooh, La La Sassoon” and “Sergio Valenti” call outs).

The disc ends with “Ramshackle” a simple folk song that feel slightly out of tune.  It’s a mellow end to this all over the place disc (well, aside from the obligatory “bonus” track which is less than a minute of repeated noise).  Although it is well-known for its sampling and pop creations, it also shows the real diversity of Beck’s songwriting.

Check out the Moog and Me, which has Dick Hyman playing the Moog synthesizer and whistling along.

[READ: March 9, 2014] Nolas’ Worlds #2

Nola’s World is a three-part graphic novel series.  I just noticed in this book that it was originally (in French) called Alta Donna.  This book was translated very naturally by Erica Olson Jeffrey and Carol Klio Burrell.

The book picks up right where book one left off.  Nola is wondering why, after the crazy events at the end book one (which involve a roller coaster and aliens) Damiano hasn’t called or texted her and Pumpkin can’t remember anything that happened.

I felt like the beginning of the book was a little too pre-teen angsty for me, but it quickly snapped out of it and moved on the to fun and weirdness that this series presents in spades. We basically learn that Damiano and Inez are avoiding Nola because she can’t know their secret.  We also learn (and I guess we knew this already but I missed it) that the man controlling the aliens at the end of book one is Nola’s father. –WHAT??! (more…)

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“Some Instructions” (The Believer, November/December 2013)

Posted in Alexander Waterman, Ann Liv Young, Ant Hampton, Beck, Brian Belott, Brian McMullen, Buddy Wakefield, Christian Bok, Dawn Kaspar, Dynasty Handbag, Fluxus, Funny (strange), George Brecht, Huh?, Jericho Brown, John Beer, K. Silem Mohammad, Lauren Brincat, Luke Dischbeck, Matthew Dickman, Matthew Zapruder, Noah Eli Gordon, Olivia Plender, Sarah Rara, Sasha Archibald, The Believer, Zubair Ahmed on March 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

beelievrSOUNDTRACK: BECK-“Beercan” (1994).

I beercanhad forgotten how much I liked “Beercan” as a song until I played Mellow Gold again.  It’s incredibly catchy, has some wonderfully weird elements (like the sample of the girl saying “I’m Sad” over flamenco music), and deserved to be heard more.

The B-sides for this single really run the gamut of everything Beck does.  The first track “Got No Mind” is a reworking of “Pay No Mind.” It’s done as a very simple folk song.  The words are largely different and the music is played differently, but the chords are the same.  It’s an interesting conceit to redo a song almost entirely like that.  The second song “Asskiss Powergrudge (Payback ’94)” is just a dirty slow abusive song. The guitar strings are totally muted, just making noise.  The vocals are slowed and sludgy.  And it’s just heaps of abuse.

“Totally Confused” is also on the “Loser” single and is such a pretty, mellow folk song (with Anna and Petra from That Dog singing backing vocals).  And the final song, “Spanking Room” is just a pile of sheer noise and feedback.  It is loud and crazy and goes on for some 5 minutes.  There’s a “bonus” track of which I have learned is called “Loser (Pseudo-Muzak Version).” It’s Loser sampled and played behind some weird keyboard “muzak.”  It sounds like it was done live in a small club.  Really weird.

[READ: February 28, 2014] Some Instructions

This little booklet came with the Believer 2014 Art Issue.  It is called “Some Instructions.”   It is inspired by George Brecht, a Fluxus artist who is credited with creating the written form of performance art (called the “event score”).  Brecht was bored by didactic instructions in art so his creations were utterly open to interpretation.  The example they give is his “Three Chair Events” which is in its entirety:

  • Sitting on a black chair. Occurrence.
  • Yellow chair.  (Occurrence.)
  • On (or near) a white chair.  Occurrence,

–Spring 1961

This is the kind of thing that I think i would have enjoyed in college, being pretentious an d obnoxious, now I realize it is just navel gazing and (in many of the examples below) barely even thought out.  You can kind of see what Brecht was getting at (although why he needed to do more than one or two is beyond me), as a kind of thought-provoking questioning of what we know of as art.  But some of these below are just, well, stupid. (more…)

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Jason Jägel–Topsy Turvy (2012)

Posted in Beck, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Jason Jägel, Lemony Snicket, Mad Scientists, McSweeney's on March 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

topsySOUNDTRACK: BECK-Mellow Gold (1994).

mellowAnd then “Loser” happened and because of this preposterous song, over a million people have purchased a very peculiar album.  After listening to Soulmanure and One Foot, you can really see that Mellow Gold is a sort of greatest hits, or perhaps a most-commercial-potential collection from that period.  What’s especially strange about the album is that it includes scenes from the photo shoot for Soulmanure in the booklet.  I have also learned that “Loser” was done as something of a one-off, a goof that Beck threw together on the day of the recording–while the lyrics sure seem like it, the music is pretty spectacular–that slide guitar is instantly memorable.

The album does some very interesting things with stereo recording, which I never really noticed until I was listening with one earphone in–it rather changes the song, and that one channel may have more of the out of tune guitar noises too.

“Pay No Mind” has some crazy lyrics, although they do work, and, frankly, it’s a great acoustic folk song.  The noises and weirdness in the song make it more fun, but the melody is great on its own.  I can’t tell if his voice is slowed down or not, but the harmonica sounds great and raw.  “Fuckin’ with My Head” has a great garage rock sound (with more harmonica, this time distorted beyond all reason).  The verses are noisy but the chorus is so delicate.  “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997” has a guitar which sounds decidedly out if tune.  It is probably the most anti-folk song on a major label album.

“Soul Suckin Jerk” has a cool funky bass line over a crazy noisy beat and weird effects.  It is also super catchy despite the crazy out of tune guitars and excessive feedback.  “Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)” opens with a fight (“c’mon motherfucker”).  Despite the chaos and vulgarity, it’s a very catchy song–the downward melody of “Shit kicking, speed taking, truck driving neighbor downstairs” is hard to resist.  That song is followed by one that opens with, of course, a music box and is called “Sweet Sunshine.”  It is the most distorted and unpleasant song on the album–as far from catchy as you can get and yet it still sounds completely Beck.

“Beercan” is a surprisingly awesome single tucked at the bottom of the album (even if it does have ear-splitting feedback in the middle. “Steal My Body Home” slows things down incredibly, a technique Beck would use a lot over the years–making a song sound very different by spacing it out more.  Especially when the solo comes in and there’s more out of tune guitars and a kazoo.

“Nightmare Hippie Girl” is a funny folk song (the lyrics are great), and again the melody is catchy and boppy.  It’s followed by one of my favorite songs on the album “Mutherfucker” which is a noisy piece of nonsense with the screeched chorus “Everyone’s out to get you motherfucker”.  It would get annoying really fast, but at 2 minutes, it’s an amusing and kind of fun to sing along to.  The album ends with “Blackhole” a slow and somewhat epic (5 minutes) acoustic song.  It feels big and the melodies evoke an epic song.  It’s quite pretty.  Naturally, there’s an obligatory piece of nonsense as a “bonus” track (apparently titled “Analog Odyssey”).  It’s just a minute or so of noise and is not worth mentioning).

Although this album is much more polished than the other to (the production is very clean which really lets all those weird elements stand out) it still shows Beck as a weird, freakish musician–extremely talented with a great ear for melody but someone who is not afraid to be loud and noisy just for the heck of it.  Mellow Gold is still an interesting listen twenty years later.

[READ: March 1, 2014] Topsy Turvy

Topsy Turvy came as a separate book with my copy of Lemony Snicket’s 29 Myths.  It was originally an insert in McSweeney’s 40.  At the time I said this:

This is an inserted graphic novel.  It has very simple illustrations, which I liked, although I didn’t really follow the story at all.

Since it is now its own entity, I’ll give it a bit more.

The book has a drawing per page.  Most pages have one word or  a few words.  Like “Nighttime” and “Some Are Awake” and “Size is Uncertain.”  The story invites us to see the people who are awake making potions to turn things into other things. (more…)

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Cirque Éloize: Cirkopolis (McCarter Theatre, Princeton NJ, March 9, 2014)

Posted in Acrobats, Brazil, Charlie Chaplin, Cirque Éloize, McCarter Theatre, Metropolis, Peking Acrobats, Princeton, NJ, Set in New Jersey! on March 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2014] Cirque Éloize: Cirkopolis

cirkopolosI was a little concerned that we might be circused and acrobatted out when I got us tickets for Cirque Éloize.  But I’m really glad I got them.

What I have learned about circuses, cirques, and acrobats is that there are basically a half dozen things you can do: gymnastics on ropes, gymnastics on poles, contortions, juggling, wheels and balance.  So, when you see a new act, it’s unlikely you’ll get much variation on these essential skills.  The big difference comes in presentation.  And while the Chinese Acrobats do wonderful presentation, they had nothing on Cirque Éloize for overall presentation, stage set up and storytelling.

The first thing you hear as the lights dim is loud industrial noises (the music was a little too loud, I felt, but it really showed the sense of oppression they were trying to convey).  The din grew louder and louder until the curtain rose and we saw a man sitting at a desk stamping papers rhythmically.  He finishes his work and more papers come. More and more (with simple comic touches and sound effects).  He is dressed in drab grays as is every other person, including the women–suits, raincoats, all in drab gray.  They start moving around en masse, doing some simple but interesting footwork as the music grows more tense.  Our worker drone is swept up by the conforming masses.  And then a video backdrop appears with gears and dark buildings.  It zooms in on a scene as the first act begins–one where people start climbing all over his desk and jumping off. You get a feeling of Metropolis, or Brazil or even Charlie Chaplin films–and the zooming nature really makes it feel like you are soaring along.

What amazed about this sequence initially was their dress–you’re used to seeing acrobats in sleek outfits but these folks were in suits.  And they started doing acrobatic stuff–but more of a mix of dance and acrobatics than simple feats of strength and agility.  The most impressive part was when one of them men simple grabbed another man by the hands and essentially hurled him, upright, onto his own shoulders.  There were amazing displays of this kind of strength and balance–nothing slow and subtle, just pop, there he is.  And yet all the while other people are doing things behind him which are also amazing to watch. (more…)

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Lemony Snicket–29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy (2014)

Posted in Beck, Children's Books, Funny (strange), Huh?, Lemony Snicket, Lisa Brown, McSweeney's, Oddities on March 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

29mythsSOUNDTRACK: BECK-One Foot in the Grave (1994).

beckoneIt’s pretty well established that Beck’s Mellow Gold came out before One Foot in the Grave, although the recordings for Grave may have been earlier.  This is Beck’s other indie label release that came out just as he was selling millions with DGC (One Foot in the Grave is another one that has barely sold 100,000 copies).

I have the earlier release with 16 songs, but it has since been re-released with 16 bonus tracks.  The album was recorded with Calvin Johnson at his Dub Narcotic studios.

In contrast to the chaos of Soulmanure, this album is a lot more focused on Beck’s anti-folks style.  And while there are some silly freakouts, the disc is largely a straightforward indie folk release.  The disc even opens with a traditional track.  And he has another song that sounds traditional (with slide guitar) but isn’t.

Sometimes the guitars are out of tune or overly twangy, but the songs are all serious and real, not noisy freakouts or nonsensical whaling.  That’s not to say there’s aren’t a few silly songs. “Cyanide Breath Mint” is certainly weird  and “Ziploc Bag” is a cacophonous blues song.

But this album is more consistent.  Calvin Johnson sings vocals on the album with him (I don’t actually know which voice is his as there are a number of people credited with vocals).  There’s a deep voice doing backing vocals on some tracks and there even a duet, on “Forcefield” in which Beck does not do lead vocals.

Probably the best song is “Asshole” which has a good melody and has lyrics that are somewhat surprising given the title: “She’ll do anything to make you feel like an asshole.”

It’s tough to say that the album is a precursor to Sea Change, because it is so lo-fi and under-produced and because the lyrics are more absurdist/funny, but the vibe is strong enough to make Sea Change a possibility rather than something that came out of left field.

[READ: March 1, 2014] 29 Myths of the Swinster Pharmacy

In continuing with the McSweeney’s McMullen’s children’s books series, this one is yet another weird book that my kids didn’t really like.  I enjoyed it, but felt that the ending lacked somewhat.

Lemony Snicket books are often peculiar, and it seems like he’s really pushing the levels of what counts as a story with some of his books.

I love the conceit of the story–these two kids just don’t understand what is up with this building–what do they sell? And in trying to learn more about it, they have come up with all of these notions.  Some of them are funny, some are absurd, some are serious, some are even true.  But there’s no real sense of completion at the end, which is kind of a bummer. (more…)

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Michel Daubert–Tintin: The Art of Hergé (2013)

Posted in Art, Big Books, Biography, Christian de Portzamparc, Foreign Books, Hergé, History, Johnny Cash, Michael Farr, Michel Daubert, Sonic Youth, Technology, Translation, Travel on March 12, 2014| 1 Comment »

tintinSOUNDTRACK: BECK-Stereopathic Soulmanure (1994).

soulmanureDepending on who you believe, this was Beck’s first or second or even third album.  Certainly it was recorded earlier than the other records but who knows what the actual release date was, or if it even matters (it doesn’t).  This album plays like a demo tape of home recordings of a talented folksinger who doesn’t want to be labelled as a folk singer ans is experimenting with all kinds of other sounds, including tape manipulation, home recording and utter noise (there’s a Sonic Youth sound connection here, before they ever did anything together).

But anyway, that’s got nothing to do with this album.  My version has 23 listed tracks and two bonus tracks.  And since I’ve no intention of doing a track by track analysis of the album, I’m going to group some tracks together.

There are a few styles of music on the record.  There are about a half-dozen noise/nonsense tracks–distorted guitar, distorted voices, sometimes sheer noise–like the “bonus” track which is some ten minutes of just nonsense.  There are about a half a dozen tracks that are basically just talk–old home recordings from when he was a kid, and other spoken tracks.  There are even a few tracks from a guy named Ken who is apparently an older guy singing what sounds like hobo songs (which I suspect Beck does not play on at all).

There are also a number of different instruments which (I assume) Beck is playing. He plays banjo very well, there’s an accordion track, and of course guitar.

What sets this apart from being a simple nonsense album is that there are nearly a dozen “real” songs.  There are a couple of well sung country tracks, with a slide guitar. There’s also some anti-folk, rap and live numbers.  These are fleshed out, proper songs–musically complete.  It’s in the lyrics that you can hear Beck fighting the folk/country pigeonhole.  He has three songs that are more or less rapping (like “Loser”).  There’s a couple of songs that were recorded live (in a club with half a dozen people), and are mostly silly.  And then there’s a series of anti-folk songs.  These are pretty traditional sounding songs, but with layers of noise or weirdness that keeps them from being traditional folk.  Like “Satan Gave me a Taco” which is complete song but is obviously quite silly.  And yet, Johnny Cash covered the song “Rowboat” on one of his Americana albums.

None of the recordings sound more than lo-fi, but the good songs all sound good.   It honestly sounds like a guy trying desperately to show off what he can do–and hoping desperately to get accepted by just about any genre.  Except that he clearly has his own identity (as varied as it may be).  This record is certainly not for everybody (as suggested by the incredibly low sales), but if you like Beck’s early experimental stuff, there’s enough really good stuff here that’s worth checking out.

[READ: March 9, 2014] Tintin: The Art of Hergé

Sarah bought me this book for our tenth anniversary (which is “tin”, get it?).  We’ve both enjoyed Tintin over the years, more as an icon than as a collection of stories (which I believe she has not read and which I’ve read about 1/3 of).  The Spielberg film and subsequent video game are both really cool too.  This book is an amazing look at Hergé as an artist and at the Hergé museum, which looks amazing.

When Sarah and I were in Belgium, we went to an animation museum which featured Hergé heavily.  Since it was a decade ago, I actually thought that this book was about that museum, but no, the Musée Hergé opened in 2009 and was designed by French architect Christian de Portzamparc.  The first chapter of the book is dedicated to the Museum, and do de Portzamparc’s designs and execution in the spirit of Tintin.  And I have to say the building looks amazing.  The facade alone is beautiful, and his explorations light and dark and shape look really awesome. (more…)

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