Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Depression’ Category

Karen Russell–“The Prospectors” (New Yorker, June 8 & 15, 2015

Posted in Death, Depression, Karen Russell, New Yorker, Rodrigo Amarante, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, WPA on August 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

june9SOUNDTRACK: RODRIGO AMARANTE-Tiny Desk Concert #384 (August 23, 2014).

rodrigoI hadn’t heard of Rodrigo Amarante before this Tiny Desk Concert.  The photo of him–heavily bearded with a tiny guitar, simply didn’t prepare me for the beautiful rich voice this singer has.

Amarante is from Rio de Janeiro but now lives in Los Angeles (and has no discernible accent).  That tiny guitar is a ‘Harmony parlor guitar from the ’30s, known lovingly as “Butter.”‘

He plays four simply gorgeous songs (only marred slightly by the fact that he has to clear his throat a bunch of times).  Two songs are in English, one is in French and the fourth is in Portuguese.

The opening humming notes of “The Ribbon” are just beautiful and sound so lovely with “Butter” playing along.  When he starts singing, you simply get sucked into his warm enveloping voice.

“Mon Nom” is sung in French and the soft sound of the French sounds even better as he sings.  (Coincidentally, this song contains the word Aubergine, and a woman named Aubergine is the main character of today’s story).

Before the third song, he says he’s not used to these songwriter stools but declines a change.  “I’m Ready” sounds rather different from the other song in English.  He doesn’t sing radically different, but there’s something in his phrasing that changes the tone of the song.  I believe the end of the song is sung in Portuguese.

The final song, “Nada Em Vão” is sung entirely in Portuguese.  Before the song Bob asks if this is the most unusual place he’s played in, and he says he would “like to say yes….”  This song is much more quiet and subtle.  It’s also quite lovely.  And the way it ends is kind of a surprise too.

Amarante is a real find and seems like a super nice guy too. At the end of the show he stretches and says that it’s a nice way to start my day.

[READ: February 15, 2016] “The Prospectors”

I haven’t read much from Russell before so I was really surprised by a lot of things in this story.

It opens with a woman, Aubergine, on a chairlift riding up the side of a mountain.  The woman and her friend Clara were expecting to go to a party at the peak.  The two women had met a man calling himself Eugene de la Rochefoucauld.  They had waited for Eugene at the bottom of the chairlift for an hour, then (after dubbing him Mr No-Show) they set up the chairlift by themselves.

Imagine my surprise to find out a few paragraphs in that they are heading up Mt. Joy, the miracle of the New Deal.  This story is set in WPA times, and they are going up the mountain to see the beautiful new hotel. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Carrie Brownstein–Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir (2015)

Posted in 7 Year Bitch, All Songs Considered, Bikini Kill, Books about music, Boredom, Carrie Brownstein, Cate Le Bon, Cats, Corin Tucker, Depression, Dogs, Eddie Vedder, Excuse 17, Feminism, George Michael, Heavens to Betsy, Janet Weiss, Madonna, Mötley Crüe, Mecca Normal, Memoirs, Pearl Jam, Pets, Portlandia, Record Labels, Regrets, Riot Grrrl, Sleater-Kinney, The Byrds, The Gossip, The White Stripes, Tiny Desk Concert, Wild Flag, Yeah Yeah Yeahs on July 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »

carrieSOUNDTRACK: CATE LE BON-Tiny Desk Concert #337 (February 18, 2014).

cateCate Le Bon has a very interesting style of singing–it reminds me of Grace Slick in her enunciation, but also like someone whose speaking accent is very strong and is somewhat masked by her singing (like the way she sings “reason” as “ree-sun” as opposed to “reezun”).

The blurb explains that her “phrasing is completely tied to her Welsh dialect — in fact, her first record was in Welsh…. The enunciation is completely tied to the loneliness and the questioning.”

 For this concert it is just her and her fellow guitarist H. Hawkline (both wearing super cozy sweaters).  They share the guitar licks very nicely–it’s not always clear who is playing what–with her sometimes finishing his lines (I believe).

“Are You With Me Now?” has a very catchy chorus (with an “ah ha ha ha ha” part that makes it sound like an olde English ballad).

“No God” plays with very simple guitar lines (chords played very high on the neck of her guitar and a simple accompanying riff).  Hawkline plays keys (and sings some great falsetto backing vocals) to flesh out this song.  Everything is so clean you can hear each note from the guitar and her voice.

“Duke” opens with some interesting slightly off sounding from Cate while Hawkline plays a simple chord pattern (his fingers are enormous, by the way).  Hawkline’s falsetto is almost as engaging as the vocal lines that match the guitar line which Cate plays.  And when she says “I’ll see you here” in that unexpected pronunciation, it’s totally captivating.

I like Le Bon a lot and want to hear what she wounds like on record.

[READ: May 18, 2016] Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl

After finishing Bob Boilen’s book and thinking about how I don’t really love music-based books, I immediately read Carrie Brownstein’s book.  Carrie Brownstein is one of the two guitarists in Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag.  She is also one of the leads (writer and actor) on Portlandia.  And she wrote for NPR for a while, too.  Basically, Carrie is the shit.

One thing I took away from this book is that I’ve read a few musician memoirs (Mötley Crüe and Marilyn Manson to name a few) and this is the first one I’ve read that was filled with so much sadness.  Not “I was stoned and regret sleeping with that person with an STD sadness,” but like, real family problems and even a dead pet.  And, as Carrie herself jokes, her stories of being on tour and ending up in the hospital are not based on drugs or other debauchery, but on anxiety and even worse, shingles.

The beginning of the book starts in 2006, around the initial break up (hiatus) of Sleater-Kinney.  Carrie is in pain–emotional and physical–and she can’t take much more.  She starts punching herself hard in the face. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Miriam Toews–All My Puny Sorrows (2014)

Posted in Canadian Content, Depression, Funny (ha ha), Hospitals, Matthew Zapruder, McSweeney's, Mennonites, Miriam Toews, Missy Mazzoli, Music, Parenting, Roomful of Teeth, Sex, Suicide, Victoire, Wilco on April 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

ampsSOUNDTRACK: MISSY MAZZOLI-Vespers For A New Dark Age (2015).

missymazzoli_sq-80d1109aad30ab9a4bfe1a45d5c82d99354bc079-s400-c85Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers for a New Dark Age, is a 30-minute suite for singers, chamber ensemble and electronics. The piece was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the 2014 Ecstatic Music Festival.

It’s a fascinating mix of traditional and contemporary instruments.  And there’s a surprise musician as well: Martha Cluver and Virginia Warnken Kelsey from Roomful of Teeth, provide operatic soprano voices.  Mazzoli’s own ensemble Victoire, provides the music while Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche adds percussion and thunderous pounding.

As the suite opens, electronic chimes sound before the beautifully soaring voices come in (I don’t know who is who).  The instrumentation is complex and the vocals are often in English (but operatic and not always obvious to hear). There’s some great rising and falling notes from various instruments.

The first piece is called “Wayward Free Radical Dreams” and I like the surprise of the simple English phrase “Come on, come on come on” A bell ringing is the segue into part 2, “Hello Lord.”  Over a lonely flute and some synths, the vocalist sings a poem by Matthew Zapruder for lines like: “hello lord / sorry I woke you / because my plans / are important to me / and I need things / no one can buy / and don’t even know / what they are / I know I belong / in this new dark age.”

I love the rising and falling notes of “Interlude 1″ over the fast violin moments.  “Come On All You” opens with some ticking hi-hats and squeaky violins.  There’s a lot of drums in this song—some punctuate the melody until the soprano voice takes over and then around 4 minutes into the section, the drums burst to life.  “New Dark Age” has some moody synths under the soaring voices and “Interlude 2” opens with the sound of big deep bells.

“Machine” has a mechanical staccato feel in both strings and voices.  When it returns to “Come on Come on” refrain (this time with two voices), it’s very cool.  The “Postlude” ends the piece with moody strings and distorted mechanical sounds that overwhelm the voices at times.   The piece ends on an up note but not in an overwhelmingly happy feeling.

The final piece on the disc is not part of the suite, although it fits in sonically.  It is called “A Thousand Tongues (Lorna Dune Remix)” and it has echoing pianos and overlapping synths.  While this piece is pretty it is probably the least interesting of the disc.  Perhaps because there are fewer voices and more synth melodies.  Perhaps because it is a remix.  The song feels fine, but not as compelling as the suite.

I was happy to discover his disc, which really explores different classical motifs.

[READ: March 15, 2015] All My Puny Sorrows

As with many books, but especially those published by McSweeney’s, which I always read, I didn’t really know what this was about.  I can pretty much guarantee it would not have been high on my list had anyone told me it was about dealing with a suicidal sibling.

But what’s great about the McSweeney’s imprint is that they gather such a wide variety of books and most of them are of such good quality that I know I won’t be disappointed.  And this book not only didn’t disappoint, I found it really fantastic.

The story is fairly simple, although from my perspective it was also fairly exotic.  The main action of the book takes place in present day Winnipeg.  But there are flashbacks to the main characters’ childhood in 1979.  And the way it opens–with the family watching as the house that their father built is put on the back of a truck and driven away is one of the more memorable opening passages of a book that I’ve read.

The family consists of the narrator  Yolandi, her older sister Elfrieda and their parents.  And, perhaps most exotic to me they are Mennonites.  Their family is not entirely pious in the tradition in their town–they are seen as somewhat less than observant.  Things were made even worse by the deliberately provocative nature of Elf.  She was creative, she loved to read and she had a real sense of outrage.  The church pastor once accused her of “luxuriating in the afflictions of he own wanton emotions.”  She embraced poetry, particularly the line “all my puny sorrows” and decided it would be her slogan.  So she began spray paining AMPS all over the town. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Tor Ulven–Replacement (1993) [translated 2012]

Posted in Boredom, Death, Depression, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Kerri A. Pierce, Short Books, Stig Sæterbakken, Suicide, The Kids, Thin Lizzy, Tor Ulven on June 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

torSOUNDTRACK: THE KIDS-“Forelska i lærer’n” & “Norske Jenter” (1980).

kids2 The Kids are a Norwegian band that was mentioned in Karl Ove Knausgaard’s story yesterday.  He is pretty disparaging of them as they were hugely popular when he was in school (and he liked other bands).  They sing in Norwegian and are quite poppy.

“Norske jenter” is the poppier of the two.  It’s pretty synthy, with a super catchy melody and chorus.  It seems just shy of being a sleek pop hit, but I can imagine that a band singing in your native tongue would fair well even without super slick packaging.

Of course, having said that, “Forelska i lærer’n” is nothing if not slick–check out these guys with their super blond hair.  Actually the video is pretty funny and with a name like “In love with the teacher,” it is quite a different subject than I expected).  I love the way they designed the teacher.  And that wink is fantastic.  If only the lead singer could act a little better.  kidsThe song is kind of a heavy classic rock sound–maybe a poppier version of Thin Lizzy (those guitar solos are very Thin Lizzy).  I’m of course very curious what the lyrics are.

I found two videos on YouTube (and apparently there are some more recent live songs)

Norske jenter: There’s no visuals in this video, just music:

But the video for “Forelska i lærer’n” is here in all of its glory–it looks much more modern than 1980.  The self pogoing at the end is fantastic.

[READ: June 15, 2014] Replacement

I found out about this book from Karl Ove Knausgaard, who claims that it is the best Norwegian novel ever written (he also has a quote on the back of the book).  I had never heard of Tor Ulven before.  It turns out that he has written mostly poetry.  And then he wrote a few prose-like poems and then this novel called Avløsning in Norwegian.  And then he killed himself.

This book was translated by Kerri A. Pierce and it has an afterword by Stig Sæterbakken.  And literally that is all I can tell you about the book for certain.

Why?  Because the back of the book and the afterword actually differ about what they say is happening in the story.  To a pretty intense degree.  The back of the book says that “the perspectives of unrelated characters are united into what seems a single narrative voice: each personality directing the book in turn.”  Whereas Stig makes the case that the book is all one narrator at different points in his life.

And why can’t you tell?  Because there seems to be different perspectives (all by men), and yet no one is named.  And then there’s the fact that some of the book is written in second person, while the rest is in the third person–this suggest at least two narrators, and yet it could also be a flashback.  There are at least four different time settings and seemingly different people.  There’s an old man in a wheelchair, there’s a security guard, there’s a taxi driver (I think).  There’s a guy who likes to list things, there’s another guy who thinks parenthetical thoughts.  And there’s an intense obsession with “her,” a woman who doesn’t seem fictional but is certainly mythical.

And what happens?  Well, nothing. (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #44 (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Andrei Codrescu, Andrew Palmer, Baseball, Baynard Woods, Ben Katchor, Bill McKibben, Bill Morrison, Books about writers, Dance, David Hockney, Death, Depression, Dogs, Drugs, Errol Morris, Essays, Geoff Dyer, James Stephen George Boggs, Jenny Shank, Jessica Hopper, Jim Shepard, Joe Meno, Jonathan Lethem, Lauren Redniss, Lawrence Weschler, McSweeney's, Mike Sacks, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peter Vermeersch, Prison, Rachel Cohen, Rebecca Curtis, Revenge, Ricky Jay, Riva Lehrer, Rob Curran, Ryan Mrozowski, Sex, Short Story, Simon Rich, Stuart Dybek, Stuart Glover, Tom Barbash, Violence, Walter Murch, Wells Tower, Wendy Lesser, Wesley Allsbrook, WNYC--93.9 New York on May 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

44SOUNDTRACK: WNYC SOUNDCHECK GIG ALERTS (2009-).

soundcheck There are so many places to listen to free music.  But i prefer places where you can (legally) download free music.  So here’s a place I’ve just discovered: WNYC Radio’s website which features a section called “Gig Alerts.”  The feature talks about a different interesting band playing that night (in New York).  After a small blurb, there is (almost always) a free downloadable track.   There’s twenty listings per page and 86 pages.  Do the math and that’s a lot of songs.

The feature covers virtually every genre, although there is a preponderance of alt- and indie- rock (mostly lesser known bands).  If you are interested in new (to you) music and in exploring different artists, this is a great resource for a ton of free music.  So, check out Gig Alerts here.

[READ: May 20, 2014] McSweeney’s #44

I was pretty pleased with myself when I got caught up on the McSweeney’s issues.  But I remember wanting to take a break when this one came in.  I now see it has been almost a year since I read the last issue.  So the break was too long and now I have three issues to catch up on again.  Sigh.  But this one proved to be a great issue to return on.

This is a pretty quintessential issue of McSweeney’s.  It’s got letters, some fiction, a special section dedicated to Lawrence Weschler (which includes a lot of art), and a cool, interesting section of plates with full color art.  It’s also got an interestingly designed hardcover with a kind of raw cardboard in the back, a slightly raised colorful section for the spine and then a further raised section for the giant 44 on the front cover.

LETTERS (more…)

Read Full Post »

Donald Antrim–“Fed” (New Yorker, November 4, 2013)

Posted in Depression, Donald Antrim, Food, John Vanderslice, New Yorker, Tiny Desk Concert on February 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_11_04_13Brunetti.inddSOUNDTRACK: JOHN VANDERSLICE-Tiny Desk Concert #29 (October 7, 2009).

Ivanderslice only know about John Vanderslice from NPR.  He’s an artist that Bob and Robin have talked about him forever.  They play a song of each of his new albums, so I know quite a few of his tracks from over the years (he has put out ten albums since 2000).  And yet I have never seen his name anywhere else.  I’m fascinated by this, because he must have a following or he wouldn’t still be recording.  Turns out Vanderslice created a recording studio called Tiny Telephone where many big name alternative bands have recorded.  He also recently finished a Kickstarter campaign to create his own label which was hugely successful.

Most of his songs I find are nto that memorable at first.  But after two or three listens, all of their amazing features come out and the songs become wonderful–full of unexpected layers and instrumentation.

The Tiny Desk Concert contains four songs from his then recent album Romanian Names.  his band consists of two acoustic guitars, a bass guitar, a flute and saxophone (often playing in a way that sounds very un-sax-like) and a drummer who is playing a Surdo drum–the kind usually used in parades.  It is a deep resonating drum (especially when he gives it a good loud whack).

The four songs are diverse (within the confines of the band, of course) and passionate.  Vanderslice’s voice is pleasant, but it’s the way he uses it around the melodies (and especially the big minor chords that really sets his stuff apart) that makes these songs sound great.  Like the way the “still wide-eyed, you” section builds in “Romanian Names.”  The saxophone playing what sounds like a guitar solo is very very cool in the second song, “Forest Knolls.”  “Too Much Time” is a more upbeat song (it’s neat to see the cool percussion he gets out of one drum).  The final song “Sunken Union Boat” makes good use of the flute.  It’s a great set and makes me think that Romanian Names would be a good place to start with his studio albums.

[READ: January 5, 2014] “Fed”

Antrim’s story is a personal reflection.  He talks about the breakdown he had a couple of years ago.  He also talks about suicide (see, food stories always seem to be about something else).

The doctors were worried about him when he left for home–being older and by himself seemed like a dangerous way for him to live at the moment.  This was especially true as he was having trouble with coordination, which mean that cooking was out of the question.  This made things even worse because Antrim loved to cook.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Allie Brosh-Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened (2013)

Posted in Allie Brosh, Biography, Cake, Depression, Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Okkervil River, Shearwater, Short Books, Swans, Tiny Desk Concert on January 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

  hyperSOUNDTRACK: SHEARWATER-Tiny Desk Concert #9 (November 14, 2008).

shearwaterI didn’t really know Shearwater before this Tiny Desk Concert.  I’d heard of them but wasn’t familiar with their music (I assumed it was more countryish).  I was also really surprised to find that Thor Harris was in the band (he is currently playing with Swans–it doesn’t get too much more different between Swans and Shearwater (even if they are both birds).

Jonathan Meiberg is the singer–he was formerly in Okkervil River for a number of years before Shearwater became too big to be a side project.  The setting is perfect for the band as they get to showcase some really quiet insturments.  Like the Waterphone (designed by Richard Waters, although Thor Harris made the one they are using).  It is based on the calimba and they describe it as the sound you hear when something weird happens on Lost.  Thor also plays the clarinet (!).

Meiberg has a great voice, and it perfectly complements these delicate songs.  “Rooks” has melodies on xylophone and Hammered dulcimer (which also looks homemade).  “Leviathan, Bound” is based on the documentary “Blue Water White Death” about great white sharks and whalers.  They explain that this is a new version of the song with banjo.  And before they start the song they nearly knock something over (it is a Tiny desk after all).

“North Col” is the less commonly use approach to Mt Everest.  And this song is just as spare and pretty.  Before playing the final song, they show the album cover (of Rook) and talk about Kahn & Selesnick, the artists who made it (it’s quite striking).  Then he explains the origins of “I Was a Cloud” which he wrote when he was in the Falkland Islands.  They were birding and found a tiny bird living under the wreckage of a fighter jet.  It’s a beautiful image and a beautiful song.

And I definitely need to hear more Shearwater after this.

[READ: December 29, 2013] Hyperbole and a Half

The whole blogs-into-books thing is weird.  You can read everything in these blogs for free on the internet, so why do they come out in books?  Is the internet insecure when it comes to publishing?  Are these things more legitimate as books?  Is it just a way to make money?  Are they in print just in case the internet explodes?  It certainly undermines the concept that books are dead.  Well, whatever, some blogs translate very well to print.  Like this one.

I have enjoyed Hyperbole and a Half a number of times, but I never thought to check it regularly.  So I had no idea that Allie had taken a year off.  And I had no idea that she suffered from Depression so people were concerned about her.  I always just thought her strips were very very funny and didn’t read anything in them.  Of course, knowing she was Depressed (she admits as much in the book) makes the darker stories seem darker, but the funny ones are still really funny.

I mean, just look at drawings! No really, look at the drawings–they are so weird and creepy and so freaking funny.  It seems like she can’t really draw, because the pictures are crazy.  And yet she is so consistent with her lines and styles that I have to assume she is a masterful artist and has chosen this crazy style to accentuate her crazy stories.  And it is genius. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Peter Orner—Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge (2013)

Posted in Alison Krauss, Babies, Cars, Death, Depression, Kiss, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Parenting, Peter Orner, Phish, Politicians, Short Books, Short Story, Tom Bissell, ZZ Top on November 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ornerSOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Hoist (1994).

hoistI always think of Hoist as a kind of goofy album because of the way they are dressed on it (and the crazy cover).  But it is absolutely not.  Indeed, opener “Julius” sounds like a ZZ Top song.  In fact, every time they’ve played it live I assumed it was a cover.  It is less restrained in the live setting, because this version has more acoustic guitar.  There’s even backing vocalists and horns.  “Down with Disease” has that great watery bass, but the song (which sounds good) here is a little stiffer than the live version.  It also has something of an R&B feel (with backing vocals) even if the guitar is certainly not R&B at all.  It bleeds right into “If I Could” a pretty harmony-voiced mellow song.  The big surprise comes from the Alison Krauss vocals–she gets a solitary line or two and then harmonies.  The song is very pretty but the strings are overkill.

“Riker’s Mailbox” is indeed a reference to the Star Trek character, although the 30 second burst of noise is pretty hard to explain. Nevertheless, the trombone is played Mr Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes.  It jumps into the rocking “Axilla, Pt. 2” which is usually a little faster live (I like the sloppier crazier live version better). There’s some vulgar dialogue in the middle of the song.

“Lifeboy” is a mellow acoustic song that builds from just guitar.  Lyrically it’s interesting: “God never listens to what I say…and you don’t get a refund if you overpray.”  It folds into “Sample in a Jar,” which is just as good here as any live set.  “Wolfman’s Brother” ahs horns thrown on top and some interesting sound effects.  Although overall l don’t like this version nearly as much—I don’t care for the horns or the backing vocals plus in the live version they emphasize the bruh of brother more which is cooler.  (Although I do enjoy the weird “Shirley Temple” line at the end).  “Scent of  Mule” opens so strangely with crazy guitars and a thundering drum.  The singing is very silly (with silly voices) and has a very twangy style (complete with banjo and yeehah).

“Dog Faced Boy” is a sweet (but weird) acoustic guitar number.  “Demand” is a ten minute song which I don’t really know at all.  It has a strange, staccato style riff.  At 2 minutes in, a car starts and after a commercial on the radio the driver pops in “Split Open and Melt” (a nod to “Detroit Rock City,” perhaps?).  This goes on until 9:30 at which time there’s a car crash and choir of angels (sick!).

I don’t car for the horns and R&B flavoring of this album, but the song selection is really quite good.

[READ: September 24, 2013] Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge

I read about this book in Tom Bissell’s reviews recently.  He really made it sound like an interesting book.  So when I saw that we had just received a copy, I grabbed it and brought it home for the weekend.

There are 52 short stories in the short book (which is less than 200 pages).  Some of the stories are very short (1 page) with a few coming in at 5 or 6.  The 1 page stories are like flash fiction but they seem to be more of snapshots than actual full stories and they seem like they might be diary entries or something. The fact that a number of them are italicized with dates at the end make them seem like a selection from the same person rather than individual stories.

The stories are set all over the world, although they tend to focus on Chicago and Boston.  They are pretty universally dark with themes of death and loss permeating the collection.  And yet despite their overall negative feeling, the stories aren’t really depressing, exactly.  Bissell described the narrators as like someone telling a story about someone telling a story.  And that is true and that distance seems to take some of the edge off the stories.

But what’s impressive is the consistently strong and powerful writing.  The way that Orner is able to convey so much with such few words.  Some stories are just a scene, others are a whole lifetime.  But either way they are all really gripping.

I wasn’t going to write about each story, but it would have nagged at me if I didn’t, so here’s a few words about 52 stories. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Tom Bissell–3 book reviews (Harper’s, February 2013)

Posted in Ben Folds Five, Biography, Book Reviews, Charlie LeDuff, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Depression, Drugs, Eyes Wide Shut, Frederic Raphael, George Saunders, Harper's, Religion, The New York Times, Tom Bissell, War on October 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

febSOUNDTRACK: BEN FOLDS FIVE-The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2013).

bffThe first Ben Folds Five album in over a decade opens with a big noisy sound and then quickly shows the diversity of the band by pulling back and showing a mellow verse with Ben’s piano and occasional bass.  But then the chorus comes in and Robert Sledge’s bass is once again masterful.  While Ben is clearly the leader of the band, there is something about the BFF’s bass that is so notable.  And this album rocks in BFF’s unique way–rollicking piano, and noisy buzzy bass.

“Michael Praytor, Five Years Later” has some great harmonies (the kind that BFF do so well).  “Sky High” is the kind of social commentary ballad that Ben excels at. And the title track is a fast moving rocker that has more great harmonies.

“On Being Frank” is a Sinatra inspired song with strings.  While “Draw a Crowd” continues Ben’s humorous vulgarity in a very unexpected way: “if you’re feeling small, and you can’t draw a crowd…draw dicks on a wall.”  “Do It Anyway” the single, which inexplicably wasn’t huge, gets more and more fun with each listen–to scream along with “OKAY!” is very cathartic.

“Hold That Thought” is one of those mellow but speedy numbers that I love from Ben.  And when then bass plays that high solo bit near the end (oh that bass), the song kicks into new levels of excellence.  “Away When You were Down” is another string-filled mellow song.  The final track “Thank You for Breaking My Heart” reminds me of “Boxing”, a mellow piano ballad which is, obviously, heartbreaking.

This is a great return to form.  There’s some heavy rockers and some pretty ballads. It’s nice to hear the Five back together again.

[READ: October 5, 2013] 3 book reviews

This month Bissell reviewed three books.

The first book is a biography of Flavius Jospehus called A Jew Among Romans jar by Frederic Raphael (who also wrote the screen play for Eyes Wide Shut).  I had never heard of Flavius Jospehus but evidently without him we would have no historical accounts of time from around the beginning of the Common Era.  His writings are pretty much the only works that have survived.

And his story itself is interesting too. In 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. This attack has had more impact on current life than can be explained.  Judaism lost the Second temple, Jewish Christianity soon disappeared beneath the waves of Gentile Christianity, even Islam was shaped by this because a Mosque now stands where the Second Temple was.  And nearly all modern forms of anti-Semitism can be traced back to this attack in some way.  Flavius Jospehus chronicled this time as a Jew in a reasonably impartial way (which led many to call him a traitor).  His books Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War are the sources for almost all of our knowledge of that era, including about Pontius Pilate. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Ailís Ní Ríain–Desolate Heaven (2013)

Posted in Ailís Ní Ríain, All Songs Considered, Death, Depression, Gender, Irish Writer, Marriage Trouble, Play (Drama), Short Books, The Blow on October 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ailisSOUNDTRACK: THE BLOW-“Parentheses” (2006).

blow1I learned about The Blow from NPR Music.  The lads played a new song by them, but this song, which is also available on NPR, is from 2006.  I don’t know anything else about The Blow.  But I do know that “Parentheses” is a delightful little pop confection (with enough elements of weirdness that explain why it was never a hit).

“Parentheses” immediately sounds like something I’ve heard before.  That chorus is just so perfect—“when you’re holding me, we make a pair of parentheses” that I can’t believe no one has thought of it before.  Of course, the bit in the verses about the deli aisle is certainly unexpected.

I normally don’t like the bap bap // bap drum beat, but it’s perfect here.  The stripped down nature of the music (simple chords on a few different keyboard sounds) accompanies this perfectly.  It’s sung with Khaela Maricich’s sweet and almost fragile (but not) voice.

It is so catchy I have now listened to it three times in a row.  And that little guitar tail at the end is very inviting as well.  I can’t believe this song wasn’t huge.

[READ: September 26, 2013] Desolate Heaven

I read this play because of my friend Ailish—I’ve never seen anyone with a name almost like hers—Ailís—before.  And, given the Irish name it is no surprise that the story is set in Ireland.  But rather than Dublin, it is set on a desolate beach.  We see two young girls: Orlaith (13) and Sive (12) messing about.  They are acting like adults—complaining about the beach and “the kids” and how everything is awful.  Despite some tensions, the girls bond over their difficult lives.  Each lives with a single parent and in each case, the parent is an invalid.  Each girl has to do everything for her parent in addition to going to school.  And in the next few scenes we see just how desperate their situations are: Sive’s mother has broken her pelvis (and has been unable to move for two years) and Orlaith’s father didn’t get up at all today because he didn’t feel he was able to.

In the next scene, we see the girls acting out a plan—to meet at the beach with as much money as they can grab.  And just like that, they are off on a road trip. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »