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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 3] The Part About the Critics (3 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Art, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Boredom, Culture Shock, Dreams, Drinking, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Infinite Zombies, Muse, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Queen, Radiohead, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Smarty Pants, Translation, Travel, Universities, Violence on February 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MUSE-The Resistance (2009).

If someone were to create a band that tickled all of my fancy spots, on paper it would be Muse.  Vocals like Thom Yorke from Radiohead.  Heavy heavy guitars.  And yet, not afraid to have prog rock keyboard sections.  On top of that, throw in pretentious titles (how about a subtitle in French?), or, just for kicks, a three part suite called “Exogenesis: Symphony.”  Oh, sure and let’s just throw in a clarinet solo in one of the songs too.  Okay, so that’s Muse.

I’ve been a fan of Muse for quite a few years, before they really broke in the U.S. (Origin of Symmetry being a particular favorite).  I’m still amazed that they’ve had success here, given their proclivities towards excess.  But more power to them.

For some reason, this disc (despite all the pros in the first paragraph) didn’t really grab me that much at first.  The first single “Uprising,” is awesome: heavy, rocking, over the top choruses, everything you could want in a pseudo political rebellion type song.  But somewhere after that I felt the disc drifted a bit.

Further listens changed my mind though, and I think that “United States of Eurasia” is great while “Guiding Light” (which could easily be mistaken for Queen) is fantastic.  In fact the entire end of the album, “MK Ultra,” “I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S’Ouvre a Ta Voix” and the symphony are a wonderfully decadent 25 minutes of music.

Clearly Muse isn’t for everyone, but I’m really pleased that they’re finding their fans.

[READ: Week of February 1, 2010] 2666 [pg 102-159]

This week’s reading contains a lot of dreams and it often felt like a dream while reading it.

We pick up right where we left off, with El Cerdo telling our friends about his visit with Archimboldi.  We learn a little about why Archimboldi called El Cerdo, but nothing about what he was doing in Mexico City. It turns out that El Cerdo knows Archimboldi’s publisher Mrs Buber. (And Dieter Hellfield speculates that she, herself, may be Archimboldi. [I secretly wondered if he might be a woman given that earlier in the book, it was mentioned that [part of what was so unusual about Archimboldi’s name was that it was a feminine form of the name.]  However, his incredible height has definitely thrown me. And of course, since El Cerdo reports to have talked to him, it seems very unlikely at this point.) (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 2] The Part About the Critics (2 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Art, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Culture Shock, Dreams, Infinite Zombies, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Sonic Youth, Translation, Universities, Violence on February 1, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THURSTON MOORE-Trees Outside the Academy (2009).

Thurston Moore is a founding member of Sonic Youth.  He’s put out several solo albums over the year, although I feel like only two really “count,” Psychic Hearts and this one.

Anyone familiar with Sonic Youth knows that the band has pop sensibilities but that they bury their poppiness under layers of guitars or noise or other things.  And everyone knows that Thurston is one of the main noisemakers (you don’t put screwdrivers under you guitar strings and expect to break the top 40).  So it may come as some surprise just how accessible and poppy this record is.  In fact, I first heard one of the songs on a Radio compilation (true it ‘s an awesomely hip radio station…88.5 WXPN Philadelphia), but I couldn’t get over how supremely sweet the song “Fri/End” was.

And, although there are a few noisy moments on the disc (Thurston loves his feedback squalls), the large majority of the disc is really catchy almost folky indie music (acoustic guitar and violins!).  But it’s important to mention that Dino Jr’s J. Masics is also on hand and that he plays some wild solos on about half of the tracks (most of the longer instrumental pieces).  Like on the the title track, a nearly 6 minute instrumental that has a great melody; the middle section just screams with a great Mascis solo.

Okay, so technically that’s not the final track.  “thurston @13” is a home recording from when the man was 13 years old.  It’s him recoding various things around his house (spraying Lysol, dropping coins) with hilariously pompous 13 year old narration.  It reminded me of me when I was kid and got hold of the family tape recorder–I used to record myself doing all kinds of weird kid things (I wish I still had those tapes).  It’s just silliness, but I really enjoyed it.

Even if you’re not particularly a fan of Sonic Youth, this is a worthwhile addition to any record collection.

[READ: Week of January 25, 2010] 2666 [pg 52-102]

As this second section opens, we see Norton and Morini still together during his visit.  She takes him to an area of London that has become trendy, and features great restaurants.  She relates the story of the first famous person to move there, a painter named Edwin Johns.  Johns is famous mostly for one painting but its notoriety led it to sell for a ton of money.

As this week’s reading draws to a close, we get a wonderful parallel story about this very painter.  Espinoza, Morini and Pelletier travel to the sanitarium where the painter is currently residing.  Morini is compelled to ask the man one very specific question.

For in the story that Norton related, she revealed that Johns chopped off his hand, had it embalmed, and placed it at the center of his one masterpiece painting.  This painting became the centerpiece of a very successful exhibition.  Morini is queasy during Norton’s story and when he later confronts Johns at the sanitarium, he demands to know why Johns cut off his hand.  As this section draws to a close, Johns reveals to Morini that the answer is, simply, money.

But fear not, Archimboldi fans, the man is not forgotten, and the next revelation about him comes from an unlikely source.  A Serbian writer reveals some tactile information that sheds light on Archimboldi himself.  One of the details is that he bought a plane ticket flight but never showed up for the flight.  The Serbian writer believes it was because he canceled the flight under the pseudonym and then rebooked the flight under his real name.  Although Pelletier published the article in his journal, further scrutiny by himself and Espinoza lead them to doubt its credibility or use. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 1] The Part About the Critics (1 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Foreign Books, Infinite Summer, Infinite Zombies, Natasha Wimmer, Pixies, Research, Roberto Bolaño, Scholarship, Sex, Starlight Mints, Translation, Travel on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STARLIGHT MINTS-Change Remains (2009).

This is the fourth disc from the Starlight Mints.  Their music is hard to describe at any time, but this disc complicates things even further.

The number of genres they cram into this disc is impossible to count.  However, there seems to be a very heavy concentration of a sort of punk/disco feel.  The disco beats (and telltale bass lines) are very strong yet the noisy guitar and instrumentation removes the disco sheen.

And that overall sense sums up the disc fairly well.  It’s got this poppy aspect to it, but there’s a sinister undercurrent.  In my review of their earlier discs, I described them a having a Pixies influence.  And while that’s still true (the sinister part (and the vocals definitely sound like Black Francis)) their sound has evolved away from a grungy rock into a more keyboardy feel.

The opener is a short instrumental that sounds like a cartoony James Bond theme.  The next few tracks have a good 90s alt rock feel (although “Zoomba” mixes it up with some jazzy horns).   But it’s the second half of the disc where the disco sounds really come to the fore.

And, lyrically, the band is all over the place.  It’s always fun to see what’s coming around the corner (as when the rocking “gallop along” comes out of an otherwise mellow dancey track).   Starlight Mints are definitely not trying to sell billions of records, but they are no doubt building a delightful niche fan base. And I’m one of them.

[READ: Week of January 18, 2010] 2666 [pg 1-51]

And so begins the Infinite Summer-like reading of 2666.  I don’t know if this reading group has a catchy title yet (I can’t even think of a jokey one right now), so for now, 2666 it is.

I don’t really know what I’m in for with this book.  And as such, I’m not entirely sure what thee posts are going to turn into.  Unlike with Infinite Jest, which was confusing from the get-go, this novel starts out in a rather straightforward manner.  So, I think for the foreseeable future I’ll do some plot summary and comments.

2666 is divided into 5 books (which were originally supposed to be published independently).  The first book is 161 pages and is called The Part About the Critics.

I had no idea what this book was about.  I’d heard it was a great, difficult read, and that was enough for me.  I like to go into books fairly blindly, so that’s nothing unusual.  The back cover blurb says that it centers around Santa Teresea, which I suspect has something to do with Juarez, Mexico.  So, okay, I get the idea that we’re in for a harrowing tale about murdered women in Mexico.

So, imagine my surprise when the book opens with fifty-plus pages about 4 scholars of a little-known German writer.  And imagine my further surprise when the language of the book is fairly easy to read. (more…)

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Infinite Summer: Roberto Bolaño–2666

Posted in bolanobolano.com, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Summer, Infinite Zombies, Roberto Bolaño on January 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

I was just about to Publish this post below.  Then I searched for links to the sites mentioned, and I stumbled across an article from the LA Times which said that the cool folks at Infinite Zombies and This Bolaño group are basically doing the same thing (only better).  And, since my idea is fairly half-assed, I’m just going to follow them instead.  Thank you guys!  And you’re even starting right when I wanted to!  Huzzah!

Their schedule is here.  So count me in! (more…)

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