SOUNDTRACK: CHICANO BATMAN-“Pink Elephant” (2019).
I really liked Chicano Batman’s song “Friendship (is a Boat in a Storm).” I liked its soft, chill vibe. It didn’t sound like chill music though–it had an air of soul and funk about it. I particularly enjoyed the organ sound.
They have a new album out and “Pink Elephant” is the first song I’ve heard from it.
This song is pretty peculiar even by their standards. There’s a cool loping bass line from Eduardo Arenas and an unusual guitar riff from Carlos Arévalo. The guitar is all high notes–like a solo, but playing a continual riff. The sounds don’t meld exactly, but neither do they sound bass. Bardo Martinez’ vocals are the same style of chill out vibe. There’s a lot going on and it’s really held together by Gabriel Villa’s drums.
The first time I heard this song I didn’t like it much, but subsequent listens have made it almost an earworm–so unusual and yet so catchy. I miss the organ of the earlier song which seemed to hold everything together better. No organ means it loses its psychedelic vibe, but it works really well as a different kind of song.
[READ: May 10, 2019] “Wet Spring”
I don’t know what made me look for a story from fifty years ago today, but here it is.
I’d never heard of Ivy Litvinov. She was an English-Russian writer who died in 1977. She wrote a couple of novels and a bunch of short stories. Ten were published in the New Yorker and all were collected in She Knew She Was Right except for this one.
This story was a pretty horrifying look at married life. I have to wonder how much of it was relatable fifty years ago and how much of it is just that the husband is an ass.
David and Theo were recently married (Theo is a woman, it’s not a progressive story). David intended not to get married until he was established as a painter. Theo was also a painter and planned to not get married until she was finished at the Slade (a fine arts school in London).
But mind and intentions suffered the usual defeat.
They met at a party, were married in the Spring and had a baby, Angela, by February. Neither had achieved their stated goals.
Their apartment was small and crowded with their art supplies. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 