I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BECK-“Defriended” (2013).

In 2013, Beck released threes singles that are likely not going to be released on albums.  They were released as digital downloads and they are each very different.

“Defriended” opens with a slow, backwards sounding keyboards with purposefully electronic drums.  The riff is catchy and there are some nice clean vocals on it.

It is certainly catchy but doesn’t seem like a comeback single.  It’s doesn’t resonate as a big “hit.”  This feels more like a testing the waters single.

[READ: April 1, 2013] “How I Read as Quickly as Possible Through My Back Issues of the TLS”

I am once again confused by Lydia Davis.

I have enjoyed her short fiction, but when she releases something like this I just feel like it’s a list. Yes, we gain insights into her (or her narrator anyhow), and yes there is some humor involved, but the whole piece is just a series of things that she does and does not want to read in her issues.

I do not want to read about the life of Jerry Lewis

I do want to read about mammalian carnivores

I do not want to read about a portrait of a castrato

I find the publication of this to be incredibly ballsy, and I guess I kind of respect that.

The ending throws a funny spin on things:

Not interested in–or, well, yes, maybe interested in:
the history of diplomacy
Laura Bush’s autobiography

But again, that’s all it is.  I guess I just feel like I’m always missing something with her.  And yet, once again, she has made me laugh a little.