SOUNDTRACK: FUGAZI-Steady Diet of Nothing (1991).
Jangly noisy guitars open the track (and then a lengthy silence after a minute or so). And this loud/soft dynamic is pretty dramatic on this disc.
There’s a slot of really cool sounds (within the framework of loud noisy alterna-punk). “Reclamation” opens with some harsh guitar harmonics over a kind of spoken verse, but it bursts into a great chorus. “Nice New Outfit” is quite catchy (even if lyrically it’s very dark). But by the middle of the disc, it feels like some of the songs aren’t quite as interesting.
Of course, the instrumental “Steady Diet” is noisy and wonderful. And “Runaway Return” has a catchy noisiness to it. But the band comes back to a high point with “Polish” and the thoughtful “Justice Letter” (written about favored Supreme Court Justice William Brennan who retired in 1990).
This record is a cool departure from the first disc. To me it’s not quite as immeiate as Repeater, and yet it still has some really powerful songs. I find that no matter how many times I listen to it there’s a few tracks that never grab me, but overall, this is another great release from Fugazi.
[READ: Week of April 26, 2010] 2666 [pg 831-893]
Wow.
The book is over and I am blown away. I don’t know if it was the set up, or my utterly lowered expectations or the complete lack of connections previous to this, but I had assumed that this story would end (well, actually exactly as it did, with him going to Mexico) but the 30 pages before the end blew me away. I can’t get over how nicely he tied so much together and in such an unexpected way. I could not tear myself away from the end. Wow.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole book. I’ll do a final thoughts post after I digest, but the ending of the book was immensely satisfying. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 