SOUNDTRACK: OXFORD DRAMA-“Asleep/Awake” (2014).
Oxford Drama is, unexpectedly, from Poland. Their lyrics are in English, although their Facebook site is all in Polish.
“Asleep/Awake” is a slow, synthy track with Małgorzata Dryjańska singing in a breathy whispery voice. Her voice feels delicate even if the lyrics are somewhat empowering (and she has no discernible accent). The instrumentation (all synth and electronic drums) is by Marcin Mrówka. I like the way he throws in some occasional bass lines to add more texture to his simple beats.
The song feels very much like a 90s British trip hop sound. Although on the more mellow side of trip hop. It’s quite pretty and dreamy. It’s interesting to hear this kind of music coming out of Poland (although why shouldn’t it, honestly?). I rather hope they break through in the states.
Their 4 song EP is available on bandcamp.
[READ: September 7, 2014] “Trilobites”
Lucky Peach issue 12 is all about “The Seashore.” And thus there are lots of beach-related foods under discussion. Lisa Hanawalt has a wonderful story about hanging out with otters (if she weren’t so hilariously vulgar (she’s wearing a shirt that says “Every day I’m not covered in otters is a piece of shit”) I’d have my kids read it because it is so cute). There’s a brief article explaining the particular smells of the seashore.
Chris Ying has a hilarious article about sea cucumbers (and just how hard it is to make them appetizing). And there’s a wonderful little section that compares the “sea” version of things to their “land” counterparts. Like the Sea Anemone, the Sea Cow and the Sea Horse and how different they are from the land based creatures with the same names.
There’s an amusing tribute to the Goonies (a movie I haven’t seen in 30 years); and a lot of talk about Crayfish. Perhaps the most interesting of these articles was the seaweed farmers—who basically say that any seaweed is edible, so next time you’re in the ocean, chow down.
And then there’s the clams and abalone and whatnot. This includes a brief explanation of the edibleness of 8 different bivalves. There’s also Robert Sietsema’s trip down the Atlantic Seaboard going to as many clam houses as he can.
There’s also an article about sushi—but not the sushi itself, rather the stuff that comes with it. Like Krab, which is not crab at all, but various fish pieces minced up and dyed to look like crab! Or the wasabi that you get, which is not real wasabi (real wasabi is super expensive ($100/lb)). That green paste is actually horseradish, mustard oil, citric acid and yellow and blue dye.
And what beach/resort issue would be complete without s tory about the Harvey Wallbanger (I enjoyed this history quite a bit).
The issue is also chock full of recipes and then it ends with this piece of fiction
“Trilobites” is set on a downtrodden farm in the South. I wonder if the South gets tired of their fiction depicting fathers as brutal drunks. In this case, there’s this instance of the father whipping the narrator: “One time I used an old black snake for a bullwhip, snapped the sucker’s head off, and Pop beat hell out of me with it.”
He is also not too fond of his mom. Once Pop died, his mother was interested in selling the fam. She’d like to move to Akron where she has family. He has no interest in the farm but doesn’t want to leave either. This exchange, in which they laugh at the funny phrases Pop used to say sums up his attitude:
I think back. “Cornflakes were pone-rakes,’ and a chicken was a ‘sick-un.’
We laugh.
“Well,” she says, “he’ll always be a part of us.”
…I think how she could foul up a free lunch.
The trilobites in the story are in Company Hill, a former river bed that is now home to fossils. The narrator has never been able to find a trilobite.
The narrator pines for his love from high school, Ginny. In her yearbook he wrote “We will live on mangoes and love.” But she left for Florida.
Now she’s back in Charleston on break and asked to visit. But as with many stories full of desperation, especially in the South, nothing good can come from anything.
He has to deal with the man who wants to buy the farm. He can’t really communicate with his mother. The girl who is still around (who is super cute) is jailbait. Even his “date” with Ginny is a disaster. She has a boyfriend back in college, she tells him. But she wants to have fun with him while she’s back. They fool around, but it is ugly and ends with Ginny mad. And even the trilobites don’t come out.
I just didn’t really get this story. I know I am out of my depth in a story like this as the boy huntsfor a “turkle” in the water (which I guess is a turtle). His father used to like “turkle in a mulligan” whatever that means. This is just not my kind of story.
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SOUNDTRACK: EX-COPS-“Black Soap” (2014).
After listening to Myrkur yesterday I wanted to check out Amalie Bruun’s other band, Ex-Cops.
I Just Read About That... 