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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Dorthe Nors–“Flight” (Harper’s, December 2013)

Posted in Constellation Records, Dorthe Nors, Godspeed You Black Emperor, HangedUp, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Short Story, Travel on May 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

dec20133SOUNDTRACK: HANGEDUP-Kicker in Tow [CST022] (2002).

hanged2Hangedup’s second album is bigger and better than the debut (which was pretty good to start with).  This one is far more intense, and much better sounding.

I love the way the first song “Kinetic Work” starts out in such a fast and intense fashion and then shifts gears to a slower beat about 90 seconds in. Then it reverts back to a fast building song, growing very intense by the end.  “Sink” is a scattered affair with the drums taking “lead” playing all kinds of noises and rhythms over the slow beat of the strings. “Losing your charm” is more about tone and mood—with a steady pulsing beat and ever more energetic strings. It sends a middle eastern vibe too.

“View from the Ground” brings in some more unusual sounds—very machine like (with lots of echo on the percussion). And the strings sound a bit more like guitars here. “Moment for the Motion Machine” is a 1 minute 28 second precursor to the 13 minute “No More Bad Future.” If there was ever an epic instrumental of two instruments, it is this. Like a suite from GYBE, it builds slowly with grinding viola and occasional mechanical percussion.  The song changes pace and then assumes a kind of martial beat at around 5 minutes in. And then shifts gears growing more and more intense until the end.

“Motorcycle Muffler” is metallic and machine-like with interesting effects on the cool ringing tones–it sounds like he may be actually banging on a muffler.  “Automatic Spark Control” starts slowly but builds aggressively with the occasional ringing note as a progress bar. “Broken Reel” ends the disc with a slow series of viola chords (and overdubs). The title implies and the song sounds like an Irish dance, and it does, but one that is well, broken and several paces too slow.  It’s quite a change from the rest of the record, but it shows an expanding style and shows just how much they can do with two instruments. Hangedup is a very cool experimental band for those who like melodic noise.

 [READ: May 2, 2014] “Flight”

This story is about a very stoic couple breaking up.  It is narrated by the woman.  She says that her husband, Allan, left her about a year ago.

When they were first together he talked about her in a way that sounded like he felt they had a cozy life,

like the castles he used to build out of straw bales when he was a boy.  Inside the castle was a den in which to eat cookies and drink fruit juice while listening to the rumble of the combine in the next field.  That’s what being with me was like, Allan, said.

But it seems that it was really more suffocating than cozy.  Allan worked for a wind farm company and traveled the world as a technical consultant.  But he never told her anything about where he went–he found it hard to describe and explain.  So she eventually bought him a camera.  He took pictures and sent them to her from around the world.  But he got back he still had nothing to say to her.

dolly-sods-wilderness-west-virginia-hdr-photography-sunsetThe one place that is mentioned in the story is Dolly Sods, West Virginia, (see this cool photo to the right of Dolly Sods from Captain Kimono).  [I had never heard of Dolly Sods Wilderness, but it is protected land and is described : Dolly Sods is an area of high elevation wind-swept plains on the Allegheny Plateau. At elevations of 2,600 to over 4,000 feet, the area has extensive flat rocky plains, upland bogs, beaver ponds, and sweeping vistas. The plant life and climate on this high plateau resembles northern Canada, and many species found here are near their southernmost range].  The narrator explains how there are parts of Dolly Sods that have never been touched by human hands.  In the picture that Allan sent from there, he is next to a wind turbine that is going to be put up. (more…)

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Jesse Ball–“Interview 8 (Mother)” (Harper’s, December 2013)

Posted in Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Efrim Manuel Menuck, Excerpt, HangedUp, Harper's, Huh?, Jesse Ball on May 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

dec20133SOUNDTRACK: HANGEDUP-HangedUp [CST016] (2001).

hanged1Hangedup is a noisy band made up of two people: Genevieve Heistek on viola (often looped) and Eric Craven on drums and percussion.  The whole enterprise has a kind of DIY sound—like (very good) first takes done in fit of creative outpouring.

 “Winternational” opens the disc with slow and somber viola.  But after 1:41 the drums come in and the tempo changes into complex song–the way that simple patterns morphs around is really cool. It turns into a great instrumental song, with a low, almost detuned bass sound and lots of percussion. “Propane Tank” has more great weird percussion (sounding like he’s possibly hitting everything in the room). The sounds are manipulated and twisted but make a very interesting beat.  It’s pretty cool “Powered By Steam” builds then slows with some great strings and percussive sounds following in and out of a strong melody.  “New Blue Monday” is more of the same but with a new an interesting beat arrangement and texture. It also has a great ‘riff” and melody .

“Tapping” is mostly drums (tapping). The beginning is a little monotonous although the effects in the background are interesting to try to imagine what they are.  It builds slowly so by around 5 minutes the song has some momentum.  I imagine its interesting to see live and it works for a slow building monster song but its dull compared to the rest of the disc.  “Czech Disco Pt.II” makes up for it with frenetic drums and viola. “Wilt” plays with interesting bell-like percussion.  “Bring Yr Scuba Gear” has building viola; however, this song has bass guitars (guest bassist Ian Ilavsky who is also on “Powered by Steam”) and overdubs by Efrim Menuck which make this the most traditional sounding rock song of the bunch. Which is no bad thing.

Hangedup are certainly experimental but they are very cool and different sounding, too.

[READ: May 5, 2014] “Interview 8 (Mother)”

This is an excerpt from Ball’s novel Silence Once Begun.  As such, it’s a little hard to talk about it fairly.

It begins with an interviewer’s note that he was awoken by Mrs Oda who felt she needed to clear something up.   The rest of the except takes the form of an interview.

Mrs Oda tells a story about Jiro, (presumably her son) about why he cannot be trusted.  Her story concerns Jiro when he was young.  He would pretend that he was a lord and he would preside in judgment over his toys.  All the toys (even things like blocks or spoons) would plead to him for something.  First they would all shout at once and he would declare that they would all be executed if they could not speak in turn.

Then each toy would make its case (perhaps it didn’t like where it was placed last night).  Regardless of what the toy asked for, his response was the same to each one: “Don’t open your mouth again or I’ll have you killed.” (more…)

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Terry Griggs–“Juno Pluvia” (The Walrus, May 2014)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Death, HangedUp, Polmo Polpo, Sandro Perri, Short Story, Terry Griggs, The Walrus on May 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

walrus maySOUNDTRACK: POLMO POLPO-Like Hearts Swelling [CST026] (2003).

polmo“Swelling” is the operative word for this disc from Sandro Perri (who is the only person in the band).  Perri layers waves of music.
The album is comprised of drones and loops and is largely ambient in nature.   There’s five songs in 46 minutes. Opening track “Romeo Heart” builds from silence to super loud punk noise.   The 11 minute “Requiem For A Fox” introduces a kind of  underwater heartbeat pulse and detuned sounds.  By around 7 minutes the drums kick in bringing the song to a faster beat until it concludes with an acoustic guitar section and a wild slide solo at song’s end.  “Farewell” builds slowly over 5 minutes with interesting drums sounds.

At 13 minutes, “Sky Histoire” adds a tambourine, which brings in an interesting (albeit minor) percussive element that the other songs didn’t have. By the end, the song is totally intense.  It even has bells and chimes.  The final track, “Like Hearts Swelling” feels like real instruments rather than samples and keyboards.  It features Genevieve Heistek from Hangedup looping and weaving her viola.

Regardless of how great this album is (which it is), if you don;t like ambient music this is not for you.  But if you can get absorbed in the sound, it is a great collection of songs.

[READ: May 1, 2014] “Juno Pluvia”

As this story opens, the narrator, whose name is Hero, is protesting about her cousin Nile.  She tells us to forget about him because a dead body has recently washed up on the beach and that is what we should be worried about.  The man (clad in speedos and nothing else) has been dead for five years–the cold water of Lake Michigan preserved him.  And it was Nile who found him.

When she questions Nile about what he was doing when he found him, Nile says he was fishin’, which she doesn’t believe for a second.  And then she allows us to consider Nile after all: “grease incarnate…did he ever wash?”  And all the while, her mother warned her about him…to never ever get into his van.

Hero relates sadly that she was never invited.  He was never to be her first, she was never to be one of his girlfriends, who were all cross-eyed and bucktoothed anyway.

And thus, the remainder of the story focuses on what she told us to ignore–her cousin Nile. (more…)

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T.C. Boyle–”Sic Transit” (Harper’s, October 2013)

Posted in Books about music, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Death, Glissandro 70, Harper's, Kanada 70, King Crimson, Model 500, Sandro Perri, T.C. Boyle, Talking Heads on May 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harpoctSOUNDTRACK: GLISSANDRO 70-Glissandro 70 [CST037] (2006)

glissThis peculiarly named band comes from the two members of it.  Craig Dunsmuir is in a band called Kanada 70 and Sandro Perri has stuck his name on the end of the word “glissando” which is a musical term for gliding from one pitch to another.

Interestingly the music doesn’t glide so much.  “Something” opens with a simple, pretty repetitive guitar pattern that keeps getting bigger and bigger. And then bird sounds flow over and around.  It’ a very beautiful introduction.  When it starts getting faster and more complex, it’s actually quite a musical feat.   “Analogue Shantytown” follows with an unusual opening.  Someone singing the word “shantytown” into a harmonica. It’s a weird and interesting sound.   When the guitar begins it sounds very 80s King Crimson-like with wild staccato guitar  Then the chords come in, with a simple repetitive rhythm. And then more and more voices start singing different phrases over the top. Like a rocking fugue.

“Bolan Muppets” has another simple, pretty rhythm and simple but lovely guitar line. More layers of voices (who knows what they are saying) propel this song along.  By around 5 minutes (of the 7 minute song) the songs settles down into a simple guitar progression with very nice vocals (in English).  “Portugal Rua Rua” opens with some more nonsense words (unless he’s singing in Portuguese). Then a single guitar plays along with the rhythm. Then some vocals come in English and the song fleshes out a bit more. By the end they start chanting lyrics from Model 500’s “No UFOs”) which gets a little crazy but is quite fun.

The final song is 13 minutes long. It opens with a baritone guitar playing a fast riff. The song starts to add layers of music—drums, percussion, guitar squalls. By 4 minutes it kind of settles into a repeated guitar rhythm with chanting in the background. That stays in a kind of holding pattern for a bit until around 8 minutes when they start messing with the sounds.  It ends with more chanting in a decidedly Talking Heads feel (and indeed they start using a chant from the Talking Heads at the end).

So this proves to be a wild and raucous record.  It has a decidedly dancey sensibility, but is not a dance record.

[READ: April 25, 2014] “Sic Transit”

I really enjoyed this T.C. Boyle story quite a lot.  So much in fact that not only have I been thinking about it all day, but I could easily see him fleshing out the story into a novel.

It’s a simple enough story on the surface.  In a pleasant suburban town, there’s a house that is overgrown and–out of place.  So it’s no surprise to find out that the owner is dead.  But it is disturbing to think that he was dead for eight days before anyone noticed and that they only noticed because of the smell.

That’s when the narrator learns that the mysterious neighbor, the one whose house you couldn’t even see from the street because of the overgrowth of bushes was a singer for a band from the late 70s and early 80s called Metalavoxx.  (I have to say that I feel this band is not quite right for the time they are depicted as having played–I feel like they are about five years ahead of their time with their name and their look).  At any rate, Carey Fortunoff, the singer, is dead.  And the narrator feels strangely compelled to learn more about a man he doesn’t actually care about and never heard of.

Mostly this is because the narrator has just turned fifty and is thinking about mortality.  What must your life be like to die and not be found for eight days? What kind of strange life did this guy live?  So, on a Sunday morning he decides to at least peek in the man’s house.  And when he finds a door unlocked, he decides to go in. (more…)

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Annie Tempest–Lord Tottering: An English Gentleman (2013)

Posted in Annie Tempest, Carla Bozulich, Comic Strips, Constellation Records, Country Life, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Funny (ha ha), Marriage (Happy), Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Snuff Box, Technology on April 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

eaveptotterSOUNDTRACK: ELIZABETH ANKA VAJAGIC-Nostalgia/Pain EP [CST035] (2005).

This album is considered an EP, probably because it runs about 33 minutes. And yet with 3 songs and one of them nearly 20 minutes long, it feels like a much bigger release.

The first song, “Nostalgia” is 17 minutes long and begins with three minutes of scratchy violin “warm up” sounds.  Around 3 minutes guitars start playing some simple chords which gives the violin some direction.  Around 4 minutes’ Vajagic voice comes in, throaty and raw like a wounded PJ Harvey crossed with Patti Smith.  The song doesn’t vary all that much in the 17 minutes, but it’s her voice that carries the anguish and pain of the song along.  The interesting touch of the scratching guitars on the edges gives more angst to the song.  Starting around 12 minutes, the song kind of devolves into a series of noises –clicking drums, scratching violins.  A kind of free-form exploration like the beginning was.

So although the song is 17 minutes, it’s really only about nine of actual song.  The rest is sort of an experimental jam, with the volume down quite low in comparison.

Song 2, “Pain” is 12 minutes and opens with a slow guitar melody.  But the real focus is Vajagic’s voice because the instrumentation is basically a guideline.  Until, that is, the 4 minute mark comes around, when the guitar turns electric and more powerful and EAV’s voice goes away for about 3 minutes.  The melody is simple but has a good yearning and building quality with an interesting slow guitar solo meandering around.  Around 8 minutes she begins singing again, repeating the original vocal melody but now with screaming guitars behind her–it’s quite a change and a cathartic introduction of new sounds.  The ending kind of drifts away without ever really letting go.

The final sing is only 4 minutes.  It opens with cracking sounds and a music box.  When the song proper starts there’s more quiet guitars and EAV’s voice and that’s all the song is–like a microcosm of the longer songs and somewhat more powerful for its condensed nature.   Although I do prefer the louder more angsty music she makes, this is a nice showcase for her restraint.

This is the last record that I’m aware of her releasing.

[READ: April 26, 2014] Lord Tottering: An English Gentleman

I saw this comic strip book at work and decided it was interesting looking and might be fun to read.  The title made me laugh as did the Registered Trademark “Tottering-By-Gently” and is a kind of compendium of Lord Tottering comic strips.

Never heard of Lord Tottering?  Me either, but it has been appearing weekly in the magazine Country Life since 1993 and is “phenomenally successful” according to the introduction.  Which also states that Annie Tempest is one of the top cartoonists working in the UK.  (I’ve never heard of her either, but again, that doesn’t mean much).

The cast consists of Daffy Tottering, who reflects “the problems facing women in their everyday life” (if you are rich and British, and live in “their stately home in the fictional county of North Pimmshire).  She also spends time (and I feel compelled to put all of this in here because it is an amusingly long list):

“reflecting on the intergenerational tensions and the differing perspectives of men and women, as well as dieting, ageing, gardening, fashion, food, field sports, convention and much more.” [She must be exhausted].

Her husband is Dicky.  He is basically a retired rich Englishman who hunts and fishes and goes to the kind of club that is mocked endlessly in Snuff Box.

I mock this cartoon a little bit because it is pretty mockable–wealthy aristocrats suffering white people’s problems.  Think of it almost like Cathy for Rich Britons.  And yet, despite all the mocking, I got a chuckle out of a lot of the strips, and I’m sure it brings a smile to many people. (more…)

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Margaret Drabble–“The Gifts of Anna Speight” (Harper’s, October 2013)

Posted in Arthur Miller, Bobby Knight Rider, Books about writers, Doris Lessing, Funny (ha ha), Ginuwine, Harper's, Jane Austen, Land Ho!, Letters to Cleo, Margaret Drabble, Mouse Rat, Parenting, Parks and Recreation, Pearl Buck, The Decemberists, Wilco, Yo La Tengo on April 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harpoctSOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS, LAND HO!, BOBBY KNIGHT RANGER, LETTERS TO CLEO and more on PARKS AND RECREATION (April 24, 2014).

unityLast night, in the season finale of Parks and Recreation, the Pawnee/Eagleton Unity concert finally happened.  And, despite them never talking about who would be at the concert, the final show list was surprising and maybe not so surprising.

To see the Decemberists play live was a huge surprise and was totally wonderful (and to see Jenny Conley on keyboards looking healthy was very nice) especially since they have been more or less on hiatus for a time.  Although maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise since Michael Schur directed a Decemberists video a few years back.

Ginuwine played a song as well (I don’t actually know him), and it shouldn’t have been a surprise because in a past episode it was revealed that character Donna is actually Ginuwine’s cousin.

Then came Letters to Cleo.  This was a surprise because they’ve been broken up for years and, aside from a hit were never really all that big (I was huge fan and saw them live once).  Although it was not a real surprise because Ben has been seen wearing an LtC shirt from time to time on the show.  Seeing him sing along to the chorus (off stage) was great.  I also just read that the drummer from LtC is the drummer in Andy’s band Mouse Rat.

Next was Bobby Knight Ranger, a hilarious visual joke of three members dressed like Bobby Knight (with really fake white wigs) who, played nothing but “Sister Christian” for their set.  At the end of their set they threw chairs.  It was a weird throwaway joke that was very funny.  It was made even funnier when during the credits it became clear that Bobby Knight Ranger was actually Yo La Tengo.  This is just surprising as I don’t know any connection there, but in my experience Yo La Tengo are game for anything.

Land Ho! finished the night.  Land Ho!, if you follow the show is Pawnee’s biggest band (fronted by Wilco dude Jeff Tweedy (!)).  They played a song and then Mouse Rate (and others) jammed with them for a holographic tribute to Li’l Sebastian (a running joke that I think is way overplayed and yet which makes me laugh every single time)..

I was so delighted to not know who was playing before hand because every band was a fun surprise.  But seriously, did these bands all fly in just to play one song?   Surely they must have done a few songs for the crowd.  And if so, I think it would behoove Parks and Rec to get a CD out of songs from the Unity Concert (including some solo Johnny Karate songs as well.

The episode itself was also quite good.  While I didn’t care too much for the Tom’s Bistro segment (most of the jokes were pretty obvious from the get go), it was nice to see so many old characters make a cameo.  In fact, with the concert and the old characters and the tidy wrap up, it felt more like a series finale than a season finale.

And, SPOILER ALERT UNTIL THE VIDEO CLIP OF LETTERS TO CLEO PASTED BELOW: I though that their meld from the scene in the office on the third floor with the sly tag of three years later was a stroke of genius.  I have been a little down on this season because I thought it was getting a bit overdone with Leslie’s failures and whatnot. I actually wanted her to get the hell out of Pawnee.  But the compromise of how she stayed made sense for the show (if she didn’t take that job I was done with the show).  I was also not looking forward to a year of Leslie being pregnant (the triplets thing was also lame to begin with).  So the fact that it was all utterly skipped over–the pregnancy, the baby problems, the sleepless nights, even the fact that we didn’t have any awkward transitions in the job and that Leslie is just settled into her new job was excellent.

I also loved that Ben and Leslie were off to do something interesting (with Ben in a tux) with no explanation–what a great cliffhanger.  Kudos for one of the best season enders I’ve seen in a long time.

[READ: April 24, 2014] “The Gifts of Anna Speight”

This was a confusing story.  Well that is because it is an excerpt from a novel and therefore doesn’t stand on its own.  But I don;t know if it was just the excerpt they chose, but I found it not very compelling at all.

The story is told in second person, with Sylvie telling “us” what she knows about the Wibletts Institution.  Sylvie knew someone whose son resided there.  He suffered from PKU, a recessive disorder associated with seizures, mental retardation and blue-green urine.

There are so many layers of storytelling involved here that I was quite confused as to just who was who when Jess was suddenly interested in the story of Bob Germen.  Germen’s son is the above mentioned resident.  She wants to know about Bob’s son.  First we learn that Jess knew a lot about literary figures with disabled or retarded siblings or children and later we learn that she has a special needs daughter, Anna.

But most of the excerpt talks about the literary figures. (more…)

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Karl Ove Knausgaard [Knausgård]–My Struggle: Book Two [A Man in Love] (2009) [translated 2013] (total pages for books 1-2: 957 [British Edition: 616])

Posted in Acting, Babies, Big Books, Biography, Books about writers, Canadian Music, Culture Shock, Don Bartlett, Drinking, Food, Foreign Books, Harper's, Jealousy, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Karl Ove Knausgård, Marriage Trouble, Parenting, Sex, Soccer, Translation, Travel, Yuck! on April 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

karlove1SOUNDTRACK: WHITEHORSE-“Pins and Needles” and Kickstarter campaign (2014).

photo-mainI really enjoyed seeing Whitehorse live.  I would absolutely see them live again.  I was delighted then that their album was also fantastic (I didn’t think it could match their live show…and it doesn’t but it is great in a different way).  In a very short time I became a big fan of the band.

THey havea  new song, “Pins and Needles” and a Kickstarter campaign.  The song begins with Melissa McClelland’s voice singing in it beautiful way–there’s guitar in the right ear and bass in the left ear.  Then Luke Doucet comes in for verse two.  And when their voices fill the bridge it feels so complete.  Until they get to the chorus when they push it even further and it sounds amazing.

  They sing so well together.  Her voice has a slight country twang, and his is a low baritone.  Their harmonies are superb as they sing the compelling chorus: “Fake Your Death and I’ll Fake Mine”

Lyrics are certainly interesting for the band.  How many times do you hear a woman singing a line like: “I’m the villain in this piece  And back when I was a thief, I broke hearts like they were teeth.”

I love this song.  And it may or may not end up on the new album for which there is a Kickstarter campaign.

And I’m in.  I’m a little unclear about exactly what they aim to do with the money they raise.  They say quite plainly that there will be an album regardless of whether they raise the funds.  And their label, Six Shooter, is totally behind the band.

Rather seems to be a way to raise some money and some attention for the band.  And, apparently it will give fans a glimpse of the album as it is being made–a sort of behind the scenes featurette that comes before the disc itself.  The prizes are varied and moderate–from a download, to the CD, to a T shirt, to sheet music (all for reasonable donations), all the way to the grand prize–for $8,000 they will play a private show for you.

I’m in for a CD, and I’m happy to pay regular ticket price when they come around again.

Check out the Kickstarter campaign for more details where you can also hear “Pins and Needles.”

[READ: April 24, 2014] My Struggle Book Two

maninloveI read an excerpt of Book Two in Harper’s well over a year ago.  So when I got to that section again (it’s the end of the book) I was trying to remember why it sounded so familiar–an accident during a soccer match that leaves Karl Ove with a broken collarbone and an unhappy girlfriend (who will be looking after three kids without him), and then I remembered the excerpt that started it all.

The translation of Book Two by Don Bartlett is fantastic, just as in the first book–I can only assume the original Norwegian is just as compelling.  Book one was 430 pages and now book two was 573, so I’m in to Karl Ove’s life for 1003 pages, and there’s four more books due (Book Three comes out next month).

As I mentioned for Book One, this series has caused some controversy because it is given the same title as Hitler’s Mein Kampf (Min Kamp in Norwegian), and also because he says some pretty mean stuff about people who are still alive.  Book One was about the death of his father.  It was pretty dark.  Book Two is about his first daughter and about falling in love with Linda, his children’s mom (although not yet his wife).  And it is also pretty dark.

I was trying to figure out why I like this series so much.  Not a lot happens, Karl Ove is not a very nice person and he seems to be pissed off most of the time.  And I think what I realized is that I share a lot of opinions as him, but he takes everything to the extreme.  And he is kind of an asshole.  I mean, anyone who writes a six part autobiography called “My Struggle” (okay, really it’s called My Head) is kind of an asshole.  But so when I see things that I would only think in my deepest recesses of my mind printed on a page, it’s strangely visceral to me.  I realize this means that I’m kind of an asshole too, but the key difference is that I don’t act on the things that I think, nor do I write 4,000 pages about them.

I told Sarah that she might laugh at some of the opinions that he lists but that she would not enjoy reading the books.  Indeed, this book, this series, is not for many, I’m sure.  But to me there is something strangely engaging about him and his strange life and his writing style.  And I really flew through this book, finishing it in about a week.

So this book begins (started in July 2008) with Karl Ove being pissed off.  He talks about finishing the first part of the novel (which I have to assume is Book One, given when this was written and how this book ends) just last month (in other words he is really churning this stuff out!).  He and Linda have been fighting (as the book opens they have three children, Vanja, Heidi and John–it’s also hard to believe that his children are young enough to not really know much about this series). The tension is high between them–glares, comments, nasty sniping.  Karl Ove says that he is afraid to say things around her because he knows how she’ll react.  But at the same time, some of things he desires are simply not defensible in a relationship or when you are parent.  And the main conflict seems to be that Karl Ove is selfish and Linda is (at least according to him) mildly suicidal and possibly bipolar).  And mind you, at the time of his writing this, I think they are still together….  (I could look that up, but it seems kind of fun not exactly knowing). (more…)

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Colson Whitehead–“Loving Las Vegas: What the prudes get wrong about Sin City” (Harper’s, December 2013)

Posted in Black Swan, Colson Whitehead, Constellation Records, Excerpt, Frankie Sparo, Gambling, Harper's, Las Vegas, Poker on April 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

dec20133SOUNDTRACK: FRANKIE SPARO-Welcome Crummy Mystics [CST023] (2003).

sparo3It’s a shame that Welcome Crummy Mystics proved to be Sparo’s last album, because it is by far his best.

This album has more sounds, sounds that accentuate the simplicity that Sparo has constructed.  So there are all kinds of unexpected instruments on th opener “Hospitalville” including horns and bass, And the whole thing has a noir feel that pervades much of the disc.  It was was completely absent on the debut (intentionally obviously).  There are harmony vocals on “Sleds to Moderne” and “Akzidenz Grotesk” has electric guitar and Sparo’s voice mixed a bit louder.  There’s more rocking out on “Back on Speed.”

But it’s not all uptempo.  “Bright Angel Park” is a pretty  instrumental with lots of piano while “My Sistr” is a menacing slow piece that begins with just bass and voice.  Although as more instruments are added the menace is replaced by a kind of jazz feel.

“Camera” is sung in French and has interesting electronics throughout and “City as it Might Have Been” has beautiful strings layered on top of each other as it builds to an epic conclusion.  “This Lie” ends the disc with piano and organ an excellent accompaniment to his lyrics.  And on this album you can really hear what a great lyricist he is.

It’s amazing what a change this is from the debut and that he packs all of this great music in to a mere 37 minutes.

[READ: April 15, 2014] “Loving Las Vegas”

I felt like I had read something else from Whitehead about gambling and it turns out he wrote an article for Grantland about the World Series of Poker in Atlantic City.  This essay is an excerpt from the upcoming book that he is writing about said World Series.

This is a story about Whitehead’s appreciation for Vegas from when he was young and dumb (well, not so dumb, really).  His friend Darren got a job writing for Let’s Go, the funky travel guide.  And the assignment was Vegas.  In 1991.  They were Gen X and they were going on a great road trip.  So naturally, the first thing to do was get new speakers for the crappy car.  [I have often felt a strong connection to Whitehead, feeling that we could have been soul mates if I were a little more daring and had lived in NY instead of NJ].

They go on a great road trip (Colson hadn’t gotten a license yet so he was a navigator).  They went to Chicago and saw the Sears Tower, they went to New Orleans to visit an old friend whose frat buddies wanted to know why he was “bringing niggers and Jews” into their chill-space (yikes).  Then they got out of there and went to the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead (which they wrote about).   And then it was on to Vegas. (more…)

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

Posted in A Silver Mt. Zion, Alison Krauss, Book Reviews, Charlie Parker, Constellation Records, Delmore Schwartz, Eric Bogosian, Frankie Sparo, Glenn O'Brien, Harper's, Henry Miller, John McMillian, LeRoi Jones, Michael North, Miles Davis, Norman Mailer, Richard Thompson, Silver Mt. Zion, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Bissell on April 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

dec20133SOUNDTRACK: FRANKIE SPARO-Arena Hostile (VPRO Radio Recordings) [CST017] (2001).

sparo2I didn’t love Sparo’s debut album, but a year later while on tour with A Silver Mt. Zion (whom I do love) he went into a studio in Amsterdam to re-record some of those songs.  I’ll let the Constellation site tell you what this EP is and why I like it so very very much,

In January 2001, Frankie Sparo toured Europe with a Silver Mt Zion. Musicians from the latter group worked on new arrangements of songs from Sparo’s debut record My Red Scare, adding strings, organ and electronics to Frankie’s guitar and beatbox compositions. Some of the results were captured in a live studio performance recorded live to 2-track at VPRO radio in Amsterdam, where a feverish flu found Sparo in a ravaged, hallucinatory state – which only added to the dark magic of these recordings. The four songs on this EP are all first takes, beautifully recorded by the good people at VPRO. Along with 3 songs reworked from the debut album, the EP also includes a heartbreaking cover of the Rolling Stones’ “I Am Waiting”, which Sparo performed solo a number of times in concert.

“Diminish Me NYC” is great in this version with an off-kilter electronic arrangement and strings. “The Night That We Stayed In” which I singled out on the debut album has two violins, turning the song into an even cooler number (although the “throw your hands in the air” line seems moderately less comical now).  “Here Comes The Future” has an almost dance beat—a slow dance mind you, but still, a good one and ends with some organ waves.  And the cover of “I am Waiting” must be the slowest cover of a Stones song ever.  I don’t know the original, but I bet it sounds nothing like this.

I really like this EP a lot and it makes me want to like the debut album even more–if I had more patience with it.

[READ: April 15, 2014] 3 book reviews

noveltyThis month Bissell reviewed non-fiction three books.

The first is Novelty: A History of the New by Michael North.  In this book North argues that newness, that novelty, has always been a problem: “one of the very first ideas to trouble the consciousness of humankind.”  This dates all the way back to Aristotle who argued that nothing came from nothing; that everything came from something else.  Even the Renaissance, that period of great exploration and creativity was really just mimicking classics (hence the word renaissance).  The new tends to be looked at askance, so we get terms like “novelty act.”

North says that one thing which is genuinely new is our proclivity to turn everything into information as gigabits or as abstract knowledge.

I’m intrigued by the premise of this book but not enough to want to read it and frankly, Bissell doesn’t make it sound that compelling.

Bissell connects this attitude about newness and novelty to the rock world (and rightly so).  Where we (well, some people) value novelty and criticize anything that is derivative.  Which leads to the second book (another one I don’t want to read but for different reasons).  Beatles vs. Stones by John McMillian.  The Beatles were arguably the most original band ever since no one did what they did before them.  And then, bvssarguably, the Rolling Stones came along and did just what the Beatles did a little bit afterwards.

Some easy examples:

  • The cover of the Rollings Stones’ first album is compositionally similar to the cover of The Beatles’ second album.
  • A few months after the Beatles released their ballad “Yesterday,” the Stones released their ballad “As Tears Go By.”  (The song was recorded earlier but was initially dismissed as not Stones enough).
  • After the Beatles used a sitar in “Norwegian Wood,” the Stones used one (in a different way) in “Paint It Black.”
  • And quotemaster himself, John Lennon, once said, “Everything we do, the Stones do four months later.”  [The Stones did still released some great music after The Beatles broke up, of course, even if now they play nothing they wrote after 1981 on tour anymore].

And this Lennon quote is typical of this book which is a gossipy casual look at the differences between the Beatles and Stones [Beatles when you’re writing, Stones when you’re jogging; Beatles when you’re alone, Stones when you’re with people).  But in addition to comparisons, he includes scenes like when the Beatles attended a Stones show and when Jagger and Richards were at Shea Stadium for The Beatles’ arrival.

There are many similarities between the bands, although the biggest different seems to be that the Stones never really became friends, while The Beatles were friends till the end.

Of course, the Stones has always been cooler than the Beatles, which is a nice segue into Bissell’s third book: The Cool School: Writing from America’s Hip Underground by Glenn O’Brien.

coolschoolO’Brien’s thesis is the seemingly obvious one that “cool” is not a new thing–that early tribes doing war dances had cool people playing syncopated drums in the corner.  But he is not arguing about coolness, he is collecting “a louche amuse bouche [that must have been fun to write]…a primer and inspiration for future thought crime.”  The book includes works by the likes of Henry Miller, Delmore Schwartz, LeRoi Jones and Eric Bogosian.  I like some of these guys, but as soon as I see them assembled together, I know I’m not going to be going anywhere near this book.

Bissell says that there is some cool stuff here: Miles Davis writing about Charlie Parker for example, but most of the cool seems to be trying too hard.  Like the “charmlessly dated” Norman Mailer piece, “The White Negro.”

I appreciate the way Bissell sums up what comes through from the book: “to be cool…is to make the conscious choice, every step of the way through life, to care about the wrong damn thing.”

It is comforting to come away from one of these book reviews without wanting to read anything.

 

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Ernest Hemingway–“Near-Death in the Afternoon” (Harper’s October, 2013)

Posted in Bullfighting, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Ernest Hemingway, Frankie Sparo, Funny (ha ha), Harper's, Vanity Fair on April 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harpoctSOUNDTRACK: FRANKIE SPARO-My Red Scare [CST013] (2000).

sparo1Speaking of early Constellation Records releases, Frankie Sparo was everywhere in the early stages of the label.  And then he just disappeared.  That proves to be quite literal as he was the pseudonym of Chad Jones (who i don’t know from anywhere else).  Frankie released two albums and an EP and then Chad retired him.

This debut is perhaps the most deconstructed and un-musical album of songs that I can think of.  It’s as if Sparo wrote songs and then decided to take four of every five notes out of the song.  And then he sings in a style that accompanies that spareness.  It’s actually too much of such littleness.  If Sparo’s voice filled the song the minimal accompaniment would be interesting.  If there was more music, his slow singing wouldn’t sound quite so… flat?  There’s talk of his lyrics being good, but I honestly find his singing to be so slow that I can’t really follows any of the songs.

And it’s a shame because his voice is plaintive and longing and the construction is very interesting, it just doesn’t really pan out for me.

The final two songs start to add more to them and I like them better.  I especially like the final tack “The Night That We Stayed In” which has without a doubt the slowest rendition of the oft cited phrase “throw your hands up in the air and wave them like you just don’t care” (imagine falling asleep while saying that).  But the music is fuller, bringing in a new and interesting style to the end of the album .

I suppose that in the right frame of mind this would be exquisite, I just hope I’m never in that frame of mind.

[READ: April 18, 2014] “Near-Death in the Afternoon”

I’m not  huge fan of Ernest Hemingway–I just don’t like his macho schtick.  But this piece–which is a comic story (I don’t know who the person he’s talking about is) is not only quite funny, it seems to be turning his macho image on its head.  Although perhaps I am oversimplifying Hemingway.

Anyhow, this comes from a collection of his letters, although it is considered a story and what submitted to (and rejected by) Vanity Fair in 1924.  The full title is “My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart” which implies to me that it is a longer piece, although it feels full to me.

It begins with Hemingway saying that he often encounters Donald Stewart in the bull ring (which make me laugh).  But he’d often ignored him.  Yet on this occasion the crowd is going crazy for him: “Don Stewart!” they chant.  Ernest wants to get into the ring but the crowd is insistent and, indeed, someone even throws a tomato at him (and hits him right in the face). (more…)

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