I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: マキシマム ザ ホルモン–“え・い・り・あ・ん” (2013) [MAXIMUM THE HORMONE-“A.L.I.E.N” (2013).

This Japanese band has gained some ground in the United States (having two of their songs used in the anime Death Note).  They are a heavy, heavy metal band which explores many different genres.

This song begins with a heavy metal guitar riff.  When the song proper starts, it is clearly a heavy song sing in Japanese.  The second vocalist (who screams like Yamantaka Eye with John Zorn) screams in an unmistakably Japanese way.  And at 1:15, the song slows down into a very heavy almost mosh.

So far so good.  The first big surprise comes at 1:44 when the song is hijacked by a funk metal bass line and the follow up section is a less scary sounding but still heavy metal.

And then it’s back to the speed and noise once more, complete with a pause and a “Go!” and then a series of “He!y Hey! Hey!” metal chants.

But the real surprise comes at 3 minutes when the whole song slows to a sweet section with whispered vocals by the (female) drummer?  And then the entire song switches to a sweet song–delicate guitar and super sweet vocals with the new lyrics “Stop Stop Winny Upload.”  The boys come back in, but now they are playing along to this poppy (but guitar heavy) “Stop Stop Winny” section.

This runs on until the end of the song which has the band members conversing in Japanese (about what, I have no idea).

It is one of the most jarring songs I’ve heard, combing at least five genres in its 5 and a half minutes (and several of their other songs do this too (check out “Yoshu Fukushu”).

This is to say nothing of the video, which opens with the band playing in a live setting.  The  guitarist has long hair and a beard and sings the first verses.  The short-haired singer sings the really fast growly stuff and the bassist has a nifty side shave.

As the funk metal stuff starts, the band switches to a studio scene in which, why not, they all grow extra heads and limbs.

The Stop Stop Winny section switches from a segment with the drummer in a wedding dress singing gently.  And then the final section shows the band in a psychedelic set with little kids and balloons.

It’s fantastic.

[READ: November 13, 2015] Jottings from a Far Away Place

Brendan Connell has this new book coming out (on December 1st) from the wonderfully named Snuggly Press.  (I love that it says This is a Snuggly Book) on the title page verso.

Connell has written all kinds of books in his career but this one is something of a new style in his vast oeuvre.  The title word “Jottings” is a giveaway because so many of the parts of the book are very short–notations, indeed, jottings, that may or may not relate directly to the rest of the pieces.  I found the book a little challenging to read at first because of this.  However, when I wrapped my head around what was going on, it really gelled.  And when I read it a second time, with this in mind, it worked beautifully.

Connell has created a kind of labyrinth of a book in which some fragments lead to dead ends, but other fragments lead to longer stories.  And when you hit on the right path you are rewarded with a longer story that is as well written (Connell’s eye for detail is, as always, exceptional) as it is interesting.  But unlike the mythological labyrinth, there is no Minotaur if you take a wrong path–rather there is just a fragment that forces you to think about where it might belong.

The full structure of the book still eludes me I must admit.

There appear to be chapters (at least every few pages there is a “title”).  Titles like “Observations” and “Habitually Dancing” point somewhat to the content within, although only indirectly.  Because some of the longer stories span several of these chapters (with smaller sections interrupting their flow).

Each “chapter” has numbered sections (between 4 and 9 sections, I believe).  With some of them being just one line long (“Don’t be too exact.  Sloppiness makes excellence” or “Reports of a distant axe” while others are many pages long.

As I read through the book (which isn’t that long) a second time, I tried to demarcate the “longer stories, the ones with multiple sections.  I came up with 23 longer stories, although indeed, many of these are merely a few paragraphs themselves.

The first one, in the first chapter runs several pages and invokes the deity “Heavenly Worthy of the Numinous Treasure.”  Although you might have seen him in his previous incarnate Slim Pickens.  This story is somewhat sweet and ambiguous, unlike many of the other stories which explore some areas that Connell has worked magic in before–the hypocrisy of religion, delectable foodstuffs and the otherworldly realms in which violence begets happiness.

The Far Way Place in the title also allows for the supernatural (or metanatural) to occur without need for explanation.  Like the longer story in “Showing the World” in which a castle appears to be replicating itself or the one in “Entrusting” in which a boy whose grandmother has given him an Indian God is able to benefit from his prayers to it, despite, or because of, his father ‘s belief that it is a demon.

Connell explores violence as a means in the longer story in “A Ramshackle village” in which an emperor puts most of his subjects to death; or in the final story “Generating Worlds” in which Countess Bathory uses the iron maiden to preserve her own youth and beauty.

1. People love to be distracted.

Connell throws in a line like this from time to time which made me think of a kind of otherworldly sketch show in which a short “skit” might somehow connect to other things.

2. A cloud floated a cross the sky.  A group of birds, hungry, came along and ate it.
Can you imagine them flying about?  Rain dripping from their wings.

To me there are three big stories in the book, they all deal with religion in some way and are each wonderful.

The story which begins in “Defilements” and run through many sections is about Fra Bernardo, a holy man who uses the lord (and his clerk Ugolotto), to seduce the virginal Donna Fioretta.  The twist of this one is pretty spectacular.

The second story also begins in this section and concerns two holy men.  The ascetic Madhusudan is so fearful of injuring the world that he will not cross a stream (“I cannot commit violence to water bodies”) and wears a kerchief over his mouth so he does not swallow any insects.  Vishvatma is the other monk who is less of an ascetic.  They both worship the Green-Complexioned Adho-Mukhi.  When we meet them, they are paused by a stream.  Madhusudan cannot cross, but when a prostitute comes along, Vishvatma carries her across–much to Madhusudan’s shock and horror.  And we follow them through many chapters to see how this one event has impacted both of their lives. Again, the ending  is fantastic

5. If you’re lucky you’ll end up like some choliambic poet.

The longer story n “Maladjustment” concerns the artist Rex Brown and his “most subtle” work yet.  A delightfully surreal story comes in “Irreversibility” in which a man’s pet lobster escapes its leash and winds up in a rather unexpected place.  “Emerging from a Trance” offers the strangely erotic story of Paul, a man who is reincarnated as a spoon.

The longer story in “Treasures” follows King Tarchetius as he is suddenly in the presence of the phallus of Mars.  He is encouraged to have his virginal daughter become impregnated by it. In this story Connell uses Latin for some of the actions : “A fronte vela  tergo?” he asked the prostitute Dexithea.”  But when his daughter proves to be less than virginal, the story turns into something rather different.

3.  There was a man who, after many years of practice, finally was able to liquefy marble with his are hands.
A useless skill.

The final lengthy story is about a man and his friend who kill the beloved goat of the man’s wife.   Each meal is like a dagger in her heart.

I also enjoyed the little sections of “things.”

Happy things:
A statue with grass growing high around it.
A man who travels a long way and is greeted by friends

Things that come in threads:
Time
Wine

Quiet things:
Worms
A flute with no holes
The mouth on the back of a person’s head.

This is a great collection, full of thoughtful, sometimes delightful, often times dark stories (be prepared for more than little human sacrifice). The far away place is not necessarily one you’d want to visit but reading jotting from there is a good way to spend your time.

5.  Few Houses Mountain has many houses.