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Archive for the ‘Craig Arnold’ Category

Joy Williams–“The Fellow” (New Yorker, September 30, 2019)

Posted in Bethlehem Steel, Craig Arnold, Dogs, Huh?, Joy Williams, New Yorker, Sexism, Short Story on September 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

302019SOUNDTRACK: BETHLEHEM STEEL-Audiotree Live, Chicago, (September 5, 2018).

a1746670660_16It’s a little disappointing that Bethlehem Steel comes from Brooklyn and not Bethlehem (it’s a terrific name).  But the name describes their sound really well–especially if you have ever been to Bethlehem.

They describe themselves as an indie/alternative rock band whose sound pivots around anger and frustration with the current political climate. The project is primarily written by lead singer/guitarist Rebecca Ryskalczyk whose aggressive, experimental sensibilities push Bethlehem Steel’s punk roots into off-kilter pop territory.

In addition to Ryskalczyk, there’s also Christina Puerto on lead guitar, Jon Gernhart on drums and Patrick Ronayne on bass.

They play six songs.  I love Audiotree sessions.  The sound is always really good.  This one is a little odd though because there’s audience applause between songs.  I think later ones did not have that.

“Finger It Out” opens with some feedback and then a some fast chords as Ryskalczyk sings.  Her voice is a little low in the mix, but it works perfectly with the music.  There’s a  quieter middle section where Puerto plays a solo.  The end is just Rebecca singing over her guitar: “if I sit still, I can feel myself dying.”

“4 Aliens” starts slower with both Ryskalczyk  and Puerto singing the lyrics in close harmony.  I love the way the bassline intertwines with the Ryskalczyk’s guitar while Puerto adds a lead line over them both.  The middle part rocks out with some great harmonies from Puerto and another solo.

“Fig” opens with a cool fast riff and then pounding chords. It rocks out and segues nicely into “Florida 2” which tweaks feedback and quiet guitar and adds in crashing chords and drums.  I love before the solo that while Ryskalczyk plays chugging guitars the drums and bass add in this off-beat thumping rhythm.  Ryskalczyk plays a solo on this one too.

“Alt Shells” opens quietly with just Ryskalczyk’s guitar and voice.  This song rocks propulsively.  I really like in the middle when everyone plays a fast crescendo and the song seems to ratchet even faster.

“Untitled Entitlement” ends the set with a cool rumbling bass that is like Pixies “Gigantic” but a little diffident. Ryskalczyk took off the guitar and recites the lyrics while Puerto generates feedback.  The chorus is wonderfully aggressive with crashing cymbals and roaring guitars.  Ryskalczyk screams the lyrics.

The song ends with her a squall of noise and Ryskalczyk screaming

I know what it feels like to have someone else feel entitled to my body.  The only people who truly made me feel uncomfortable are  middle aged white men.  The fathers of my friends.

As the feedback fades she speaks clearly, “Stop letting your sons rape your daughters.”

The last seconds are more feedback and drums as Ryskalczyk screams stop handing out free murder until she has no breath left.

It’s pretty intense.

[READ: September 28, 2019] “The Fellow”

The narrator is the assistant director of the project with the important qualification that she was not afraid of water.  The guests (called The Fellows) weren’t supposed to be afraid of water either, but some lied.

Philip was her third Fellow.  The residency came with a small house that was on the other side of a small creek.  If it flooded, the way was impassable, but it hadn’t flooded in years.

Philip arrived with a dog.  The dog had “a melancholy air.”

She asked what the dog’s name was and Philip just replied angrily, “What?” (more…)

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Rebecca Lindenberg–Love, An Index (2012)

Posted in Alice Cooper, All Songs Considered, Craig Arnold, Death, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), House of Love, Kurt Vile, McSweeney's, Meat Puppets, Neil Young, Poetry, Rebecca Lindenberg, Short Books on April 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

loveindeSOUNDTRACK: KURT VILE-“Wakin on a Pretty Day” (2013).

Kurt Vile_CVR-31981badf76ce6680de293138b7fbf1807fe323f-s1I don’t really know that much about Kurt Vile.  I’ve been hearing about him for a while. I assumed his name was a kind of joke–like he was a comical metal guy, maybe like Alice Cooper.   That appears to be far from the truth.  I also wasn’t sure if he was well-known outside of the Philly area, but I do know that NPR has championed him for a while.

Well, he has a new album out and since NPR was streaming it, what better time to hear what the long- haired dude is all about.

There is much talk bout his voice (NPR says: There’s something about Kurt Vile’s voice that transcends whatever comes out of his mouth.).  But the whole time I listened to this song (which was a while, as it is over 9 minutes long), I kept thinking that he sounds just like the guy from House of Love, an underrated band here in the States. (He sounds even more like him in Kv Crimes”) It’s not necessarily a bad thing to sound like someone else (often times it can’t be helped I suppose), but it is a little distracting to me.

So this song is kind of groovy.  I like it musically more than vocally (there’s so many “Yeah…yeah yeah yeahs” that I lost the point of the song).  But the music is really good, including Vile’s lengthy guitar solos.  Interestingly, I was kind of bored by the song after about 45 seconds, but by 8 minutes I was really grooving it.  Subsequent listens have made me like it more, it has a kind of Neil Young or maybe Meat Puppets vibe.

My head says there’s really nothing special about this guy and yet after more and more listens, there’s something that draws me to him.  Weird.

[READ: April 2, 2013] Love, An Index

The back of Lindenberg’s book explains that the man she loved, poet Craig Arnold, disappeared in a volcano while traveling in Japan.  For such a very specific kind of event, I don’t think I would have gotten anything quite like that from these poems.  Indeed, for a book that is so specifically created about this man, there’s very little sense of the exact nature of the loss.  In some ways that’s good, it could have been a very maudlin, ungraceful collection of poems if she explicitly talked about volcanoes, but at the same time, the feeling of loss that comes across is less about death and more about abandonment (I would have presumed that the guy had left her).

I really enjoyed these poems even though I have a  really hard time accepting the bulk of these, in particular the thirty-four page title poem, as poetry.

“Love, An Index” is thirty-four pages and it is an index.  Literally, she lists words alphabetically and writes a little “definition” for each one.  There are arbitrary line breaks in the definitions but in no way does it feel like a poem.  Even the individual entries are not very poetic.  Like “Compromise, I will get up early with you/so long as you’ve made coffee.”  Okay, so that’s funny/sweet, but it’s not a poem.  But then what it is?  Yes, it is part of a greater whole and removing part of it diminishes that whole.  But again, what is the whole?  Genre defying I suppose.  Which is cool.  And despite my criticism, I really enjoyed this index.  There were personal notes that I would have no idea about, there were commonplace ideas that are familiar to all.  There’s also a ton of quotes from other poets.  And it all works together to create a beautiful portrait of a relationship. (more…)

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