SOUNDTRACK: LONELY LEARY-“Flaneur” (2018).
At the end of every year publications and sites post year end lists. I like to look at them to see if I missed any albums of significance. But my favorite year end list comes from Lars Gottrich at NPR. For the past ten years, Viking’s Choice has posted a list of obscure and often overlooked bands. Gottrich also has one of the broadest tastes of anyone I know (myself included–he likes a lot of genres I don’t).
Since I’m behind on my posts at the beginning of this year, I’m taking this opportunity to highlight the bands that he mentions on this year’s list. I’m only listening to the one song unless I’m inspired to listen to more.
One of the things that I love about Lars, and this list is a great example, is how effortlessly multicultural he is. He doesn’t listen to music because it’s from somewhere, he listens to music wherever it;s from because he likes it. So this band, with the decidedly English-sounding name Lonely Leary is actually from China. Lars says that the
The excellent label Maybe Mars documents the current Chinese underground music scene, from the psych-rock of Chui Wan and surfy shoegaze of Dear Eloise to P.K. 14, Beijing’s experimental rock pioneers.
Lonely Leary is a post-punk band which sounds like they would fit right in with Protomartyr or even The Fall, Sonic Youth or Joy Division. The fact that they are from China and sing in Chinese doesn’t affect the tone and overall feel of the music, it somehow makes it more intense (to my ears).
Lars describes their debut album as one “where noise needles into perversely kitschy surf riffs and hoarsely barked punctuation marks.” Although I hear less kitschy and more Dead Kennedy’s guitar and feedback noise.
The sounds they achieve throughout the album are great. “Flaneur” opens the disc with a screaming feedback followed by a rumbling bass. There’s some great guitar lines from Song Ang (which remind me of Savages) and then Qiu Chi barks his dissatisfaction through to a satisfyingly Dead Kennedys-ish chorus. There’s even some Savages-esque chanting as the song squeals to and end.
This is great stuff.
[READ: January 4, 2019] “Father”
Here is a new year and a new essay from Sedaris that perfectly mixes emotional sadness and hilarious light-heartedness.
The night before his fathers 95th birthday, his father turned in the kitchen and fell. David’s sister and brother-in-law discovered him the next day and brought him to the hospital. They felt the most disturbing thing was his disorientation, including getting mad at the doctor: “you’re sure asking a lot of questions.” He was lucid the following day, but he was quite weak.
David was in Princeton on the night his father fell [at a show that I could have been at–we opted not to go this year]. He called his father and said that he needed him to be alive long enough to see trump impeached.
A few months later, his father moved into a retirement home. David and Hugh visited and at first he seemed out of it, but hr recognized both of them instantly. The thing was that he was no injured. He had tried to move his grandfather clock (one of the prized possessions he brought to the home) and it fell on him (for real). Many family members called the clock Father Time, so David said to Hugh “When you’re 95 and Father Time literally knocks you to the ground, don’t you think he’s maybe trying to tell you something?”
While he was there the nurses were excited to meet someone famous–You’re Dave? Dave Chappelle? They all asked for his autograph (I wonder what he signed).
Then David and Hugh drove to their house on Emerald Isle. Hugh’s brother John and his sons (11 and 7) came along too. The boys, Harrison and Austin are hilariously not impressed by David. The boys only want to play the Switch (which they aren’t allowed to do at home). The one time when David encouraged them to put away the Switch, Harrison nudged his brother “Stranger danger…don’t talk to him.”
“I’m not a stranger, I’m your host and it wouldn’t hurt you to be a little more like me for a change.”
“Whats so good about you?”
“Two things,” I said, my mind racing as I tried to think of something,” I’m rich and I’m famous.”
“What did you do to get famous?”
“Wrote books”
“Well I never heard of any of them.”
“That’s because you’re seven.”
But overall he says the kids were good. They did what they were told and didn’t bicker much. When they did it was over quickly. And better yet, there was no sulking which to David was unbearable. “Oh move on for God’s sake” my mother used to say when we glared and stewed.”
The house where they are staying has been in the family for generations. There were turtles that hatched eggs in the back although they never thought much of it [How is that possible? That would have been so awesome!]. But now it had become a huge deal with a Turtle Patrol on constant watch to help them get to the water.
For David, it was weird that his father wasn’t there for all of this. He had always been there. He worried that it was only going to get worse for his father.
David tried to get the boys interested in the turtles but they weren’t. And worse yet they were away from the house when most of the turtles hatched.
But Sedaris ties everything together at the end with his spin of the funny and the surprisingly tender.
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