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Archive for the ‘Death’ Category

Kurt Vonnegut–Slaughterhouse Five or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death (1969)

Posted in Death, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Kurt Vonnegut, Marriage (Happy), Military, Nazis, Prison, Record Labels, Sex, Slaughterhouse Five, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, War on July 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

s5SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Bad Moon Rising (1985).

Abadmoonnother Sonic Youth record, another record label.  Bad Moon Rising is a pretty big leap from Confusion is Sex, in that there are actual songs.  Well, that’s not fair, what I mean is that the songs have structure like proper songs do. In fact, “Death Valley ’69” (with vocals by Lydia Lunch) is quite catchy!

Indeed, the band doesn’t shy away from catchy at all.  The opening track, “Intro” is a pretty one-minute guitar piece.  And it’s followed by “Brave Men Run (In My Family)” a catchy (!) song sung by Kim.  The third track “Society is a Hole” returns to the stark tracks of yore, with Thurston’s despairing vocals, but it introduces guitar harmonics, a key SY staple in songs to come.

And if you like ” I Love Her All the Time,” and who doesn’t, check out this footage from a 1991 concert (complete with Thurston using drumsticks on his guitar).

Despite these signs of lightening up, there are some pretty heavy sounds on this disc.  “I’m Insane” and “Justice is Might” sounds kind of like you might think they would based on their titles.

The band has definitely gotten control over the noise they want to make; it doesn’t seem to be enveloping them, (like it envelopes the listener), it’s more at their beck and call.  We’re not quite to the levels that prime SY will sound, but it’s pretty darn close.

And songs from the attached Flower EP are okay, but “Flower” is especially good. It has a cool “Love the power of women” spoken piece from Kim that foreshadows some of her really fantastic songs to come.

And just to be difficult, they end the disc with the one-minute “Echo Canyon” which is just as it sounds,an echoic noisefest.

[READ: July 16, 2009] Slaughterhouse Five.

What is worse?  Reading a book and not remembering a single thing about it, or not reading a book but convincing yourself that you have?  I am stuck with this dilemma as I realize that one of the two options applies to me and Slaughterhouse Five.

I was certain that I read Slaughterhouse Five.  In fact, I was certain that I knew exactly when I read it (my junior year of college on Super Bowl Sunday, when I blew off the Super Bowl party to read the book).  I realize now that it must have been some other book (but what could it have been?) as I had no recollection of Slaughterhouse Five.  At all.  Even though the cover of my mass market paperback  (which I can’t find online anywhere) was completely familiar and there’s even a dog eared page or two.  Huh.

The first thing I want to say about the book is, having read all of the novels that Vonnegut wrote before S5 was a real boon to reading it because so many of the characters from the other books appear in this one!  More on that in a moment.

The book is also about the air attack that obliterated Dresden, Germany.

Amazingly, and this is common knowledge after you read the book, Vonnegut was in Dresden at the time of the air attack.  (more…)

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Jean-Paul Sartre–“A Fine Display of Capuchins” (Harper’s, August 2009)

Posted in Death, Essays, Harper's, Jean-Paul Sartre, Morality, Record Labels, Religion, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, Swans, Wikipedia on July 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

harpersaugSOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Sonic Death: Early Sonic 1981-1983 (1984).

sonicdThis document shows just how scary a Sonic Youth show could have been back in their early days.  Well, not scary so much as noisy!   They mention that they’ve been touring with the Swans, so you can imagine how intense these shows must have been.

This record is kind of a mess.  There’s no track listing (only 1 track on my copy of the disc). In fact, it’s mostly just snippets of songs and lots of distortion.  The Wikipedia Page shows the approximate breakdown of where the snippets are (and it gives you something of a track listing).  If you’re a fan of Sonic Youth circa Daydream Nation, and you haven’t heard their earlier stuff, don’t even bother with this.  If you like Confusion is Sex and you want to hear what they sounded like live back then, pick this up.

Under all of the noise, it shows the band being silly, with snippets of conversations and tape manipulation…exactly the kind of homemade tape that you might expect from Thurston Moore’s own record label (and one of the first releases on the label).  It seems like the kind of thing that nowadays would be included as bonus footage on a DVD, but heck, they didn’t do that back then.  So this feel more a home recording.

So, before you go hunting down this out of print title, be aware of just what you’re going to get!

[READ: July 18, 2009] “A Fine Display of Capuchins”

When I was a philosophy major I read only a small amount of Sartre.  I always wanted to read more, but never had call for it.  I especially wanted to read his fiction, which seemed like it would be interesting, or at the very least, some of his not too demanding essay work.

And lo, here is a piece that had been untranslated until now.

This is a fascinating piece.  Sartre goes into a crypt underneath a church in Rome.  In the crypt he finds that it contains the bones of thousand of friars which were exhumed and transferred there in 1631.  (more…)

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McSweeney’s #31

Posted in Anachronisms, Barzum, Biji, Bill Cotter, Books about writers, Charlie Chaplin, Consuetudinary, Corporate skewering, David Thomson, Death, Digression, Douglas Coupland, Duan Chengshi, Dystopia, End of the World, Ernest Hemingway, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Barr McCutcheon, Graustarkian Romance, History, James Hannaham, Jessica Anthony, John Brandon, John Cusack, Joy Williams, Legendary Saga, Mary Miller, McSweeney's, Meta, Miguel de Unamuno, Minnesota, Nicolas Chorier, Nivola, Oddities, Orson Welles, Pantoum, Plato, Poetry, Religion, Say Anything, Senryū, Sex, Shelley Jackson, Short Story, Sight & Sound, Smarty Pants, Socratic Dialogue, Supernatural, Susan Sontag, The Replacements, Threats, Violence, Virginia Woolf, Virginity (Loss of), War, Whore Dialogue, Will Sheff on June 12, 2009| 2 Comments »

31SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Hootenanny (1983).

hootThis is the second full length from The Replacements.  For a band that just released two punk albums (one’s an EP), naming your new one Hootenanny is pretty ballsy.  As is the fact that the first track sounds like, well, a hootenanny (even if it is making fun of hootenannies.)

However, the rest of the album doesn’t sound like hootenannies at all.  In fact, the rest of the album is all over the place.  I don’t want to read into album covers too much, but the design has all 16 titles in separate boxes in different colors.  It suggests a little bit of stylistic diversity inside.

Just see for yourself:  “Run It” is a one minute blast of some of the punkiest stuff they’ve done. (It’s about running a red light).  Meanwhile, “Color Me Impressed” marks the second great alt-rock anthem (after “Go”) that Westerberg has put on record.  “Willpower” is a sort of spooky ambient meandering piece that, at over 4 minutes is their longest piece yet.  “Take Me to The Hospital” is a punky/sloppy guitar song.  “Mr Whirly” is sort of an update of the Beatles’ “Oh Darlin.'”  “Within Your Reach” is technically the longest Replacements song to date.  It starts with a cool flangy guitar sound that swirls around a fairly mellow vocal track (this song was featured in the end of Say Anything.  John Cusack cranks the song up past the red line).  “Buck Hill” is an (almost) instrumental.  “Lovelines” is a spoken word reading of personals ads over a bluesy backing track.  “You Lose” is the first song that sounds like another one…a sort of hardcore song.  “Hayday” is a fast rocker like their first album.  And it ends with “Treatment Bound” a sloppy acoustic number that sounds like it was recorded in a tin can.

As you can see, this album is all over the place, and almost every song sounds like they may not make it through to the end.  Yet, despite all of the genres represented, the band sounds cohesive.  The disc just sounds like a band playing all the kinds of music that they like, and the fact that there are a couple of really lasting songs on the disc makes it sound like more than just a bar band.

I feel as though not too many people even know of this disc (it was the last one I bought by them, as I couldn’t find it for the longest time).  But in reading reviews, I see that people seem to really love this disc.  I enjoyed it, and, like other ‘Mats discs, it’s certainly fun, but I don’t listen to it all that often.

[READ: June 9, 2009] McSweeney’s #31

The latest issue of McSweeney’s has a totally new concept (for this journal, anyhow):  They resurrect old, defunct writing styles and ask contemporary writers to try their hands at them. I had heard of only two of these defunct styles, so it was interesting to see how many forms of writing there were that had, more or less, disappeared.

Physically, the issue looks like a high school yearbook.  It’s that same shape, with the gilded cover and the name of the (school) on the spine.

Attached to the inside back cover is McSweeney’s Summertime Sampler. As far as I know this is the first time they have included a sampler of multiple upcoming works.  There are three books sampled in the booklet: Bill Cotter’s Fever Chart; Jessica Anthony’s The Convalescent & James Hannaham’s God Says No. I enjoyed all three of the pieces.  Fever Chart has stayed with me the most so far.  I can still feel how cold that apartment was.  The Convalescent begin a little slow, but I was hooked by the end of the excerpt. And God Says No has me very uncomfortable; I’m looking forward to finishing that one.

As for #31 itself:

The Fugitive Genres Recaptured (or Old Forms Unearthed) include: pantoums, biji, whore dialogues, Graustarkian romances, nivolas, senryū, Socratic dialogues, consuetudinaries, and legendary sagas.  Each genre has an excerpt of an original writing in that style.  Following the sample is the modern take on it.  And, in the margins are notes in red giving context for what the author is doing.  I assume these notes are written by the author of the piece, but it doesn’t say.

I’m going to give a brief synopsis of the genre, but I’m not going to critique either the old piece or whether the new piece fits into the genre exactly (suffice it to say that they all do their job very well). (more…)

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Neil Gaiman–The Graveyard Book (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, Children's Books, Dave McKean, Death, Demons, Fantasy, Minnesota, Neil Gaiman, Supernatural, The Replacements, Threats on June 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

graveyardSOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Stink EP (1982).

stinkThe Replacements followed their shambolic Sorry Ma, with this little EP.  8 songs in 14 minutes.  If you were going to check out one of these two releases, this is the one to get.  If for no other reason than at 14 minutes it certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome.

And song-wise, this album is pretty amazing.  The first track, “Kids Don’t Follow” opens with a live recording of the Minneapolis police breaking up a party.  Not sure if this was a band party or not, but the Replacements had to change their name from The Impediments because they got banned from a local club because they were too drunk and disorderly.

But even though this album has all the trapping of a hardcore record (check out the sleeve design, and, of course, the name of the EP).  And look at these song titles: they’re almost a parody of punk attitudes: “Fuck School,” “White and Lazy,” “God Damn Job,” “Dope Smokin’ Moron.”  Once again, the band plays fast, but not terribly angry songs.  Rather than being angry ragers, the band sounds more like drunken teenagers.  And so the chorus  of “God Damn Job” stays with you so and wind up singing the infectious but inappropriate to sing in public “Gaaahhhhhd Damnit.  Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhd Damnit. God Damn!”

It’s only White and Lazy that features anything like the hardcore trappings the album suggests.  The opening of the song is almost folksy, but when they hit the 90- second mark they bust out a true hardcore section: speed, shouty lyrics and more speed.   It’s very cathartic.

But best of all, Stink features “Go” the first song by Westerberg that is truly awesome.  It’s slower than the rest, and features a great chorus with a cool screaming guitar.  Over his career, Westerberg would writes some amazing anthems, and this is the first.

Although this isn’t their final raucous record, future records will drift from this attitude.  And this condenses their stuff into 15 minutes.  The whole album sounds like it will fall apart before they finish it, but finish it they do.

[READ: June 6, 2009] The Graveyard Book

Sarah gave me this book for my birthday, with an exciting IOU: that she would get Neil Gaiman to sign my copy when she meets him at ALA this summer.  So I got that going for me.  Which is nice.

I’ve been a fan of Gaiman’s for years.  And yes, Gaiman’s Sandman was what got me interested in comics, so thanks Neil.  Plus, as a Tori Amos fan, you pretty much have to love Neil, as their symbiotic relationship goes back almost twenty years now.

Having said all of that I haven’t followed his post comics career all that closely.  I read American Gods, but I don’t recall all that much about it.  My brother-in-law Tim tells me that it’s amazing, so I will likely go back and read it again someday.

So, what about this book, anyhow.

There’s a chapter of this story available in his M is for Magic collection.  Interestingly in the introduction, he notes that, it’s Chapter 4 which he wrote first.  Huh.  So, it seemed familiar to me when I started reading it although it didn’t seem totally familiar until I got to Chapter 4. (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Cat’s Cradle (1963)

Posted in Books about writers, Concept Albums, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, End of the World, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gods, Kurt Vonnegut, Lavender Diamond, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, Natural Disasters, Political Humor, Religion, Robyn Hitchcock, Sci-fi, Smarty Pants, Technology, The Decemberists on June 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

catsSOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-The Hazards of Love (2009).

hazardsI first played this disc a few times without really listening to it, just to get a feel for it.  And I was surprised by how heavy it sounded.  The harshest moments of the disc really stood out to me, and I was quite surprised, as I think of the Decemberists as more folky than this.

But when I finally sat down and listened, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the disc overall.  I have yet to understand the complete storyline (the lyrics are printed in a near impossible to read size and color, so I’ve had to rely on what I could pick out.)

The disc is a concept album.  It tells the story of  Margaret who falls for a shape shifting creature of the forest and, I think, their offspring as well.  There’s a jealous forest queen involved, and, of course, the Rake–although I’m not exactly sure how he fits in–but more on him in a moment.

In addition to some “celebrity” guest vocalists (Robyn Hitchcock and Jim James of My Morning Jacket sing backing vocals), for the first time on a Decemberists disc, Colin Meloy doesn’t sing all of the lead vocals.  The two women characters’ parts are sung by two singers I don’t know: Becky Stark (of the band Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond).  And when the queen (Shara Worden) sings, she’s pretty angry. She creates one of the harshest sounds I can think of by the Decemberists.

Interestingly, that song, “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” also contains one of the most beautiful passages that the Decemberists have done.  “The Wanting Comes in Waves” part of the song has an uplifting chorus, a wonderful melody and a beautiful sing-along.  Meanwhile, the “Repaid” part has some harsh, angular guitars and when the Queen repeats “repaid!” for the third time, the hair will stand up on your arms.  (Of course, the song then repeats the beautiful part once again…phew…and it is reprised at the end of the disc, because how could you NOT include that passage again?).

This record also features the catchiest song about infanticide that I know of.  “The Rake’s Song” rocks, and yet as you’re singing along to the simple but catchy chorus of “Alright, Alright, Alright,” you realize that the Rake has just killed all of his three children so that he can have a life as a free bachelor again.  (Revenge does come at the end).

And that revenge comes in one of the 4 versions of the title song.  What starts as a simple folky ditty (in Part 1) “singing, oh ho, the hazards of love,” morphs (in Part 2)  into a rocking track, then (in Part 3) a track with a children’s choir (my least favorite track on the disc–it works with the story, but I don’t care for the kids voices, really) and (finally) a haunting epilogue.

This is The Decemberists’ most striking album to date.  It is a bold attempt to alienate just about everyone, and yet I believe they have pulled off something just shy of a masterpiece.  The harshness of some of the songs still makes me a little uneasy (at least when listening with the kiddies), but the rewards are ample, and they really do fit perfectly with the plot.

I never expected the Decemberists to venture into prog rock territory but since they embraced it fully, they really pulled it off.  I do still need to get in and read the lyrics though, just to get all the details straight.  (They are legibly printed here).

[READ: June 1, 2009] Cat’s Cradle

This is the first “well-known” Vonnegut book I’ve read (not counting Slaughterhouse Five, which I’m going to re-read soon for the first time in fifteen or so years).  I’d heard of this book but never knew what it was about.  And, boy, trying to summarize is pretty tough.

Why?

Because Vonnegut invents an entire new religion and a fictional island on which to practice it.  And his characterization of the whole thing is so complete, that it is utterly believable.  And that’s only half the book.

So, let’s try this: John, the narrator decides to write a personal biography of Felix Hoenikker, the Father of the atomic bomb. Okay, so we know we are on somewhat fictional ground, and yet it is sort of based in reality.  Fine. (more…)

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Salman Rushdie–“In the South” (New Yorker, May 18, 2009)

Posted in Death, Marriage Trouble, Natural Disasters, New Yorker, Old Age, Pixies, Religion, Salman Rushdie, Short Story, WNYE 91.5--Radio, New York on May 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

518SOUNDTRACK:  Radio New York, WNYE, 91.5FM.

91.5Radio New York is a fascinatingly diverse radio station.  I have probably scanned right by it on many occasions because at the time I scanned onto it, the show was something that I had no interest in.  And yet, several hours before or after, I would have found a great resource for good music.

Their website features a cool interactive page that describe the amazing diversity in their daily lineup from Alternative rock to Cypriot Shows, BBC World Service and Haitian Perspective, even the Voice of Bosnia.  I admit I’m unlikely to listen to many of  these programs, but it’s nice that they’re there.

The morning music, however (from 6AM-Noon) is often exactly what I like.   Especially John in the Morning, whose description: “From the Pixies to Pela, M.I.A. to Massive Attack, JITM breaks new music, embraces old music and ties it all together” sounds exactly like what I’d do if I were  a DJ.

[READ: May 21, 2009] “In the South”

This short story finds Salman Rushdie contemplating death on a personal level and a grand scale.  The story concerns two old men: Junior and Senior (who is 17 days older than Junior).  The men are not related, but they grew up in the same town.  Both men also have the same first name (which they will reveal only as starting with the letter V), and nothing else in common.  (more…)

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