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Archive for the ‘Funny (strange)’ Category

Mark Binelli–Sacco & Vanzetti Must Die (2006)

Posted in Death, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Great Northern, History, Mark Binelli, Meta, Nada Surf, Racism, The Anniversary, The Believer, Threats, Twin Peaks, Veruca Salt, Violence on September 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

saccoSOUNDTRACK: GREAT NORTHERN-Trading Twilight for Daylight (2007).

grewatA patron donated this disc to our library.  I had never heard of Great Northern, but I gave it a listen, in part because I hoped that the band name came from Twin Peaks (no idea if it does). And wow, I was blown away by this disc.

This is like the great unheralded indie rocker band (although having looked them up apparently the are quite heralded).  Their songs sound like an inviting combination of The Anniversary (the GN song “The Middle” always puts me in mind of The Anniversary’s “The Siren Sings”), Veruca Salt, Nada Surf and any number of supremely catchy bands.  The vocals are split between a make and female voice which makes the diversity even more appealing.

There’s not a bad song on the disc, and I find myself playing it quite often. The music is first rate, with great textural setups and drop offs, and the choruses, oh the choruses.  It’s hard to even pick a favorite song.

I’m somewhat surprised I’d never heard of this band before (they have a new album out this year that I haven’t heard), but then they are on a label I’ve never heard of either (Eenie Meenie).  I will totally get their new disc, as well as their Sleepy Eepie EP.  I’m really that impressed.

[READ: January 2007] Sacco & Vanzetti Must Die

I read this book over two years ago (I’m cleaning up the final books that I haven’t posted about), and I’m afraid I’m a little shaky on the details.  But I just remembered that I read about it in The Believer.

The premise of the book is that Sacco & Vanzetti are actually a comedy team, not anarchists.  Well, they are anarchic, but in the realm of comedy, not bombs.  They are a sort of Laurel & Hardy with Sacco as the fat troublemaker (and yes the name fits) and Vanzetti as the straight man, the ideologue.  As they progress from slapstick routines to film, their comedy gets more specific, and their schtick concerns “knife grinders/throwers.”  The knife angle is explained as a family trademark or maybe it’s a stolen gimmick.

Inevitably, their careers begin to wain, and their lives take a turn for the worst.  And when things get bad, they get really bad, leading them to trial, with possible execution. (more…)

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Lydia Davis–Samuel Johnson is Indignant (2005)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Death, Demons, Essays, Flash Fiction, Funny (strange), History, Lydia Davis, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Merzbow, Research, Short Books, Short Story, Sonic Youth on September 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

lydiaSOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth (2008).

syr8This final (so far) SYR release is another live recording and it sees the bands joined by saxophonist Mats Gustaffson and electronic wunderkind Merzbow.  This EP comes from the 2005 Roskilde Festival in Denmark (and the language is all written in Danish).  According to the SY website, the day before this, they had performed a set in support of Sonic Nurse. However, this set, “The Other Side of Sonic Youth” is an hour or so improvisation. It is basically broken down into 5 minute intervals:

1 min.  Kim (guitar) & Steve (drums) start
5 min. Thurston (guitar) joins
10 min. Lee (more guitar) joins
15 min. Jim O’ Rourke (bass/synth?) joins
20 min. Mats Gustaffson (saxophone) joins
25 min. Merzbow (laptop) joins
30 min. Kim & Steve leave
35 min. Thurston leaves
40 min. Lee leaves
45 min. Mats leaves
50 min. Merzbow finishes

All times are approximate, and even listening to the disc it’s not entirely clear when the new players come on (or when they leave). For the most part, the set is varying levels of noise and dissonance.  But it’s not just a wall of chaos. It starts fairly simply with the guitar and drums (although when Kim and Steve play it’s never really simple).  By the time Jim comes out, the band has morphed into all manner of sound scapes.

When Mats comes in and that saxophone starts squealing, it’s a whole new ballgame. I don’t find Merzbow’s entrance to be all that noteworthy, but by the end, when it’s just him and Mats (or him by himself) he’s doing some pretty amazing stuff.

It’s hard to imagine what the Roskilde people thought of this (although crowd noise seems to be positive).  This set was followed by Black Sabbath, which in and of itself is pretty funny.  Especially since the SY set seems far more dissonant.

[READ: September 6, 2009] Samuel Johnson is Indignant

This collection of Davis’ work contains fifty-six of stories.  The stories range from one sentence (!) to some twenty pages.

The book is disconcerting in that it opens with several of the one to two page stories, leading you to suspect that they will all be that length. Then, when you actually get to the longer pieces it kind of throws you.

Those first stories are I guess what you’d call flash fiction.  Except that for the most part, it’s hard to tell whether the pieces are even meant to be fiction.  They are aphoristic, often.  Talking about neighbors and friends, uncomfortable moments, and mostly, lots of thinking about everyday activities.  Some of them are funny.  Some of them are thought-provoking.  Some of them are just weird.  And some of them make you wonder why they were written at all, or more to the point, why she would name this collection Samuel Johnson is Indignant, when this story,consists of this:

“Samuel Johnson is Indignant: that Scotland has so few trees.” (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 11] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Canadian Content, Colin Meloy, Consumerism, Contests, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, David Lynch, Death, Demons, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Eschaton, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Neurotics, Noir, Postmoderism, Set at School, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, Sports, Sports Illustrated, Suicide, Technology, Tennis, The Future, Violence, Wikipedia, Work, Yuck! on September 4, 2009| 5 Comments »

dfwSOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-NYC Ghosts & Flowers (2000).

nycIn the midst of all of the experimentation with the SYR discs. Sonic Youth released this “proper” release.

At the time, it was actually the impetus for me to stop buying Sonic Youth records.  Between the experimental discs and the expanding palate of 1,000 Leaves, it felt like Sonic Youth were sort of drifting away from rock altogether.  It was certainly a way to alienate fans of Goo and Dirty.

You get two two songs over seven minutes and three over five (there are two short blasts in the middle which add some heaviness to the proceedings). But for the most part, this is a very spare, almost atmospheric affair.

Prior to recording the disc, the bands custom gear was stolen.  So they started from scratch for this recording.  And that may have something to do with the ambient, almost spatial sound.  It is quite mellow, (although still angular and dissonant) with a number of spoken word/beat poetry vocals.

Whether it’s pretentious or artsy depends on your take for recited lyrics (and SY’s lyrics are inscrutable anyhow).  Although Lee’s piece “NYC Ghosts and Flowers” seems to fit the style best (he has done a number of spoken vocal pieces in the past).  And “Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)” has a sort of commercial appeal.  The closing tack “Lightnin'” even features a trumpet, which I assume is played by Kim.  It’s the most noisy piece on the disc, with all kinds of fun sound effects showing up.

I’ve been listening to this disc a lot lately.  I think because I’ve revisited the experimental discs, this one makes more sense.  It’s not what I’d call a typical Sonic Youth album, or even the best Sonic Youth album.  It is certainly their most jazzy/mellow experiment (especially compared to the noise of says the SYR discs) and is about as far from their commercial peak as they could get.

The strangest thing to me though is that, despite all of the experimentation and slow-building songs, the whole disc is under 45 minutes.  So, they aren’t just making noise to fill space.

[READ: Week of August 31] Infinite Jest (to page 808)

In all of the talk about DFW’s “psychic” abilities with regard to technologies, one thing no one has mentioned–that I’ve seen–is his love of Venus Williams. Her name keeps popping up (I’d say at least a half dozen references so far).  And in many ways one doesn’t think too much of it (she is the #3 player right now, bested by her sister Serena who is #2).  But the amazing thing about his embrace of Venus is that as venusof 1996, when the book was published, she had barely played any pro tournaments.

Look a these tidbits from Sports Illustrated:

October 31, 1994: Venus wins her first pro match, defeating Shaun Stafford at the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland. … Venus faces Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the No. 2 player in the world, in her next match. Venus races out to a 6-3, 3-1 lead but then folds as Sanchez Vicario wins 11 consecutive games. In an interview after the match, Venus is asked how the loss compares with previous defeats. She answers bemusedly that she has never before lost a match.

May 22, 1995: Reebok announces it has signed Venus to a five-year, $12 million deal. Thus far, Venus has played in one pro tournament.

Although much has been speculated (by me and others) about when he was actually writing this book (and when he was able to send in last minute changes), she would not break into the Top 20 until 1998.  He clearly saw something in her.

ijdot1

I write these posts as I go along.  So, I read the day’s pages take notes and then type them up.  This is why I get moments of speculation in the posts.  But mostly it means that when I start writing I don’t know how much there will be in total.  This is now the second week in a row where the early reading started off, if not slowly, then certainly without all too much happening.  The notes I took were very simple, along the lines of: Marathe in Ennet House or Kate & Marathe talk.  I knew I could remember what they were talking about, but there wasn’t a lot of notable moments.

And then, we get the trifecta of Endnotes and Tine’s interview. Holy cow, a torrent of information flooding out at once.  It doubled my word count almost immediately. Phew.

ijdot1
As this week’s reading starts out we see Marathe trying to check into Ennet House.  Okay, actually he’s there as the final part of his recon looking for the veiled girl who was in the Entertainment and is now in rehab.

His new-eyes-looking-at-the-place is rather enlightening as I hadn’t realized just how dreary and drab the House is (nor just how weird most of the residents would be).  The supporting cast is in good form: some of them sleeping, some of them talking loudly, others just staring.  And Marathe takes it all in. (more…)

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Elliot Serrano & Ariel Padilla–Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama [Issue 1 of 4] (2009)

Posted in Ariel Padilla, Army of Darkness, Barack Obama, Elliot Serrano, Evil Dead, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Morphine, Supernatural, Tortoise, Ui, Violence, Zombies on September 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ashSOUNDTRACK: UI-Sidelong (1996).

ui I mentioned this band in my review of The New Yorker because Sasha Frere-Jones writes the music column for the magazine and he’s also the main guy here.

This disc is challenging to describe but certainly not to listen to.  It is a gorgeous smooth/funky/instrumental set.  The band plays with sound effects and time changes, but they are grounded by a fantastic double bass-guitar rhythm.  In some ways they remind me of the bass style from Morphine (that fluid and ultra-cool sound).

There’s a couple of songs with words, although they’re not really anything special (mostly sort of chanting/free verse style).  Stick with the instrumentals which don’t get bogged down with concepts.

This album came out the same year as Tortoise’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die.  Tortoise seems to be a frame of reference for reviewers (like me), although they don’t sound anything alike.   I guess its the whole instrumentals-can-be-cool aesthetic.

If you like your music funky and bass heavy without being dance music (although you can certain groove to Ui) or straight up funk, this is a disc worth seeking out.

[READ: August 24, 2009] Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama (Issue 1)

I had a couple of reasons for reviewing this comic before the series was finished.  One, it’s Army of Darkness.  Two, Ash saves President Obama.   Three, It’s Army of Darkness!! And four it’s on a small press, so they can use the publicity.

You need to know some back story to understand just what the hell is going on here.  And if you haven’t seen any of the Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell films (Evil Dead/Army of Darkness) then this probably doesn’t mean much to you. (more…)

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Periodical: Mental Floss

Posted in A.J. Jacobs, Art, Bible, Big Books, Contests, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Esquire, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Ken Jennings, Louis Armstrong, MacGyver, Mental Floss, Michelangelo Merisi (or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, Natural Disasters, Oddities, Outer Space, Political Humor, Religion, Research, Robots, Salvador Dali, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, Technology, The Future on September 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

worstMental Floss has been one of my favorite magazines for about four years now.  It only comes out every two months, but it is just chock full of all kinds of weird information.  Sarah and I fight over who will read it first.   And then later we say, Oh, I read somewhere about X, and the other will say, yes, I saw it in Mental Floss too.

A bunch of friends and I used to do the Mental Floss Quiz of the Day which is good random trivia fun.  And I think that’s how I learned about the magazine.

So the magazine is designed to be read in easily digestible nuggets.  None of the articles are overlong.  Even the cover article, which tends to run for several pages, is broken down into bite-sized sections.  And each and every article makes you go, Huh or WOW.

The magazine even starts out great.  On their copyright page they list their errata which they call Mental Flaws.  And their corrections are just as funny as the rest of the magazine.  I think they had one issue with no Flaws and they were very excited about it.

mistakesNext comes the ubiquitous letters.  This also contains the occasional feature of Readers and Their Famous Friends, which shows pictures of readers celebrities (pretty much the only celebrities they ever talk about).  This is followed by the letter from the editor.  Neely Harris (I have yet to determine if Neely is a boy or a girl and I’m not going to look it up either, somehow it’s more fun trying to imagine) is very funny and always sets a good tone for the magazine. (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 10] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Adventure, Big Books, Boston, MA, Canadian Content, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Demons, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Eschaton, Esquire, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Goonies, Infinite Summer, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Oddities, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Religion, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Suicide, Technology, Tennis, The Future, Toilets, Violence, Yuck! on August 29, 2009| 8 Comments »

dfw-title-pageSOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Garbage (1995).

garbageI was thinking about how IJ reminds me so specifically of a place and time (I instantly think of the apartment I was in when I started reading it).  And there are also some discs that I was crazy about at the time too.

I very distinctly remember when the first Garbage single “Vow” came out.  I remember seeing it in Newbury Comics [the absolute best record store chain, ever] on Newbury Street and it was plastered with stickers about how it was the new band from Butch Vig and he had produced every popular alt record in the 90s and blah blah blah.  But so I basically got Vigged out and didn’t bother listening to it.

Strangely, I don’t remember what changed my mind about them.  I assume I heard the first proper single “Queer” and instantly fell in love with the band.

It makes me laugh that the band was initially marketed as Butch Vig and two other high-profile producers got together and made this great music and they found this unknown Scottish woman to from the band.  And then, shortly there after the band was Shirley Manson and three unknown guys.  Heh, prettiness wins out.

Garbage was at a record store in downtown Boston that year.  I went down, but went to the wrong location (Doh!) and by the time I got to the right one, the line was too long and I was told I wouldn’t get in.  Alas. (Hey, I’ve still got my autographed poster from The Verve before they released “Bittersweet Symphony.”)

This album was in very heavy rotation at my house at the time.  I must’ve listened to it 1000 times.  But this is the first time I’ve listened to it in awhile.  It’s hard for me to be critical of it since I know every nook and cranny.  But listening to it today I think it is still pretty damned awesome.  The vocals are tight and creepy/sexy.  The songs are all solid rocking/catchy.  And the production is superb (obviously).

Not a bum track on the whole release, even 14 years later.

[READ: Week of August 24] Infinite Jest (to page 729)

There has been much discussion here on the forums and here between me and Infinite Tasks about the IJ timeline.  There is the pretty glaring observation that M.P. tried to kill herself  on November 7th, was in the hospital for five days and then appears in Ennet House on November 8th.

In last week’s reading, the WYYY engineer is musing about M.P.  He was told that she was hospitalized, and I considered that maybe that five day gap came BEFORE she tried to kill herself (for otherwise, how to explain that Mario missed her radio show sometime in late October?).  And yet that doesn’t seem to jibe with the fact that she’s apparently in there for an overdose.

A new timeline issue may be cropping up in this week’s reading.  A green Nunhagen-sponsored car appeared during the Escahton match.  We learn this week that Steeply is driving a Nunhagen-sponsored car.  But she arrives during the Hal/Stice tennis match, three days after Eschaton.  Has she been trying to get into E.T.A. for three days?  But, also, note that she left AZ, and Orin met the Swiss hand model (and Orin is having his second go -round with her during the match), early on the 11th (I think).  So I don’t think Helen could have been at ETA during the Escahton match.  Is there a second gunman green car?

This timeline stuff bugs me mostly because I feel like IJ is really fantastic.  And I assume that DFW spent a lot of time on it. (Certainly more time that I am spending reading it!). I imagine him with charts and graphs and circles and arrows explaining where everyone is at any given time.  Now, there are a number of conceivable explanations for the mistaken timeline:

  • Most of the stories about Madame Psychosis are second-hand, so they could be wrong.
  • There is ample evidence that people in this book are crazy and therefore not to be trusted.
  • And of course, there’s always the possibility that DFW just screwed up.

If this final option is the reality, I won’t be devastated.  I don’t think the book hinges on a few minor timeliness issues.  But I will be a bit surprised.  DFW seems like such a meticulous guy (I mean, geez, look at the detail he puts into his scenes) so it would be really surprising if he got timeline issues messed up.

There is always the possibility that these issues will be cleared up, after all, he ties up so many loose threads, but I suspect they won’t.  And that’s okay.  I won’t turn into Steeply’s father poring over every page and keeping a journal in little notebooks (that’s what the blog is for!)

ijdot1It is incredible serendipity that I did the JOI filmography during this week as this week’s readings actually count on knowing a bit about it.  And since I had just reevaluated it, I was aware of a thing or two during Hal’s viewing scene.

ijdot1Week 10 starts off seeming like a lot of nothing is happening.  There’s a few post-Event scenarios.  Until we get to November 14th, and a whole lot goes on.  A whole lot! (more…)

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Bryan Lee O’Malley–Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe (vol. 5)

Posted in Adventure, Books about music, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Cibo Matto, Contests, Death, Drinking, Fantasy, Free Kitten, Funky Web Sites, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Ikue Mori, LGBTQ, Magic, Oni Press, Robots, Romance, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sex, Sex Bob-omb, Short Books, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Threats, Video Games, Violence, YA Books on August 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

sp5SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR 5: Sonic Youth Featuring Kim Gordon/DJ Olive/Ikue Mori (2000).

syr5The fifth SYR disc is rather different from the others in that the only SY member is Kim.  This is a sort of side project for Kim, Ikue Mori and DJ Olive. They’ve played shows together as well.

This disc is also different because it features a number of short songs rather than a couple of long ones.  It also features a lot of different instrumentation: turntables, keyboards, that sort of thing.  Most of the tracks are instrumental (more or less) although a few have Kim’s vocals on it.  And Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto does vocals on one track.

Kim’s side projects (like Free Kitten) are usually pretty abrasive. She lets her freak flag fly with her vocals.  And that in a nutshell will determine whether you like this or not.  Kim is playing mostly guitar, so the other instruments tend to take over a bit.

It’s always interesting when SY mixes it up with another band or solo artist.  But it doesn’t really make it a SY record, proper.

Oh, and all of the writing on the disc is in Japanese.

[READ: August 25, 2009] Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe

There’s a new Scott Pilgrim website which lets us know that Volume 6 will be out in 2010.  I can’t wait that long!

This 5th volume seemed a bit different from the other four.  The lines were crisper, it seemed like Ramona looked a little bit different (her eyes were bigger or something) and overall, the volume was a lot darker (in tone).

Today is Scott’s 24th birthday (he’s now the same age as Ramona, yup he finally asked her).

But at a party Steven Stills tells Knives that Scott had cheated on Knives with Ramona and on Ramona with Knives (which wasn’t true exactly), which sets Knives off again.  She violently confronts Ramona and when she says why, Ramona gets pissed too.

At this same party, Ramona’s evil ex-boyfriends (the twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi) show up.  Scott prepares to fight them, but they send their robot after him instead.  The fight continues downstairs while everyone pretty much goes to other rooms, kind of bored with the whole escapade.

We also see a bit of Ramona and Scott’s domestic life (Ramona runs errands all day and Scott does, well, nothing). (more…)

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Infinite Summer Update: Burkhart Bilger–“Perfect Match” (The New Yorker, August 31, 2009)

Posted in Burkhart Bilger, David Foster Wallace, Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, New Yorker, Tennis on August 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ny[READ: August 27, 2009] “Perfect Match”

This is my second un-“regular” Infinite Jest-related post this week (it’s getting a little out of hand).

I would normally not read a 6 page article about doubles tennis.  But, since we’re in the midst of a heated tennis battle between Hal and Stice, it seemed like mandatory reading.

First off, Burkhart Bilger (wonderfully near-fictional name notwithstanding) is no David Foster Wallace.  While his writing style is much more streamlined, I feel that his passion for tennis is not quite as strong.

Nevertheless, the article was really fascinating.  It’s not available online, but the abstract is here.  I was particularly struck by the explanation that a good doubles game can only help your singles game.  Singles has become very baseline dominated, while in doubles there is a lot more running to the net, giving for broader skills.

Of course, the more IJ-related stuff concerns a) eating.  Bob Bryan says that if he eats just three meals he will lose 3-5 pounds in a day (!) and b) the synchronicity of twins during doubles. (more…)

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Bryan Lee O’Malley–Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together (vol. 4)

Posted in Adventure, Books about music, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Death, Demons, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Legend of Zelda, LGBTQ, Oni Press, Romance, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sex, Sex Bob-omb, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Violence on August 27, 2009| 1 Comment »

vol 4SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Silver Session for Jason Knuth (1998).

silverThis record came about for two reasons. One was the suicide of longtime Sonic Youth fan (whom the band didn’t know) Jason Knuth.  And the second was because when they tried to record vocal tracks for One Thousand Leaves, the band upstairs was so loud, it kept interfering with their recording.

So, SY turned all of their amps all the way up, put all of their guitars and basses against said amps, turned on a boombox for feedback fun and then left the room.  They say it was so loud that even with hands pressed against their ears it was still too physically oppressive to be in the room.

The band recorded it all (of course) but rather than releasing it all like some kind of Metal Machine Music, they cut the tracks down into small chunks (“Silver Shirt” is 7 minutes long but most are about 4, with “Silver Son” and “Silver Breeze” being under 2).  They also somehow turned what sounds like a noisy disturbing mess into rather pretty ambient pieces.  (In honesty, I have to believe that the band was in the room with for some pieces, since some of “Silver Flower” seems to have strumming on it).  And “Silver Son” actually has a beat of sorts to it.

As with the other disc in the SYR series, these aren’t really songs. They’re not even what you think of as Sonic Youth, but they are interesting experiments (some are actually quite nice).  Not for everyone (heck, hardly for anyone) but if you’re intrigued, its worth checking out.

[READ: August 23, 2009] Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together

This volume mixes things up a bit for the series.  The cover is a wicked reflective style, and there are even 8 color pages at the beginning of the story (that work as a sort of catch up device).  I didn’t really like the color pages all that much to be honest. While it was nice to see that Ramona’s hair is blue, for the most part the color pages felt a bit more mechanical than the regular pages (the edges were crisper, which I didn’t really care for). But whatever, don’t complain about a free addition.

As for the story itself, it seems to up the ante in intensity. (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 9.5: J.O.I.’s Filmography] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Canadian Content, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Eschaton, Film & TV, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, John Cage, Kronos Quartet, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Sex, Short Films, Smarty Pants, Sonic Youth, Sports, Suicide, Supernatural, Tennis, Threats, Universities, Violence, War, WMDs, Yuck! on August 26, 2009| 8 Comments »

blackSOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR 4: Goodbye 20th Century (1999).

syr4This SYR recording consists of Sonic Youth’s interpretations of 20th century composers’ works.  Some of the composers are obscure, but a few are more or less household names: John Cage, Yoko Ono, maybe Steve Reich.  I knew a few of these composers from Kronos Quartet, but for the most part the pieces are all new to me.  Since I don’t know the original pieces I have no idea how faithful they are.

The most fascinating thing about the disc is the CD-ROM video of “Piano Piece #13 (Carpenter’s Piece)” which shows the band performing.  The “song” is literally the band nailing the keys of a piano down.

There are a number of guests on the CD, including the first (I think) performance by Coco Haley Gordon Moore (on the 17 second “Voice Piece for Soprano”).  And, the liner notes are all in English.

This is the longest SYR disc (at over an hour and a half) and it is a fascinating mix of noises and sounds and screams and spoken bits (okay okay okay okay okay okay okay).

This is not for everyone, not even the average Sonic Youth fan.  There’s absolutely nothing in the way of “songs” here.  The abstractness of the disc is palpable.  And, clearly, just knowing that one of the pieces is a bunch of people nailing keys of a piano, you get a fair idea of the breadth of “music” that the disc covers.

[RE-READ August 19th] J.O.I. Filmography

Before reading this week’s section, I had noticed that many people on Infinite Summer (and elsewhere) have discussed James’ films and how they relate to incidents in the overall story.  So, I decided to go back and re-read his filmography Endnote, just to see what else I could learn.

In general, with more background, the Endnote is much more interesting. The first batch of films are more amusing to read about just to see the emphasis on pain and disfigurement.  We also see that he had been using students and teachers from E.T.A. in his films for a while.

We have had an in-depth look at some of these earlier films: The Medusa v. The Odalisque; Homo Duplex, The Joke, The ONANtiad (which the endnote describes as unfunny).  But the ones we haven’t seen show distinct commentary about the state of the country since the Reconfiguration (it’s clear that J.O.I. was against it).  The American Century As Seen Through a Brick deals with anti-O.N.A.N. riots; The Universe Lashes Out is about the evacuation of New Hampshire during the Reconfiguration; Poultry in Motion concerns the toxification of Thanksgiving Turkeys; and No Troy is about miscalibrated Waste Displacement Units that crashed into Troy, NY (which was mentioned in the scene about people looking for entertainment outside of their living rooms).

[Unrelated to the story, on page 990 of my paperback IJ (with forward by Dave Eggers) every italicized word contains a superscript 1 after it (indicating, what? more footnotes?) It is an astonishingly weird glitch/typo and I can’t believe that it wasn’t spotted before going to print as it makes the titles actually harder to read.] (more…)

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