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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Lydia Davis—”How I Read as Quickly as Possible Through My Back Issues of the TLS” (Harper’s, January 2014)

Posted in Beck, Flash Fiction, Harper's, Lydia Davis, Short Story, Times Literary Supplement on April 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harperjanSOUNDTRACK: BECK-“Defriended” (2013).

defriendIn 2013, Beck released threes singles that are likely not going to be released on albums.  They were released as digital downloads and they are each very different.

“Defriended” opens with a slow, backwards sounding keyboards with purposefully electronic drums.  The riff is catchy and there are some nice clean vocals on it.

It is certainly catchy but doesn’t seem like a comeback single.  It’s doesn’t resonate as a big “hit.”  This feels more like a testing the waters single.

[READ: April 1, 2013] “How I Read as Quickly as Possible Through My Back Issues of the TLS”

I am once again confused by Lydia Davis.

I have enjoyed her short fiction, but when she releases something like this I just feel like it’s a list. Yes, we gain insights into her (or her narrator anyhow), and yes there is some humor involved, but the whole piece is just a series of things that she does and does not want to read in her issues.

I do not want to read about the life of Jerry Lewis

I do want to read about mammalian carnivores

I do not want to read about a portrait of a castrato

(more…)

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Stephen Finucan–“The Navigator” (The Walrus, April 2014)

Posted in Beck, Canadian Content, Death, Jack White, Short Story, Stephen Finucan, Swimming, The Walrus on April 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

 walrusaprilSOUNDTRACK: BECK-“I Just Started Hating Some People Today” / “Blue Randy”(2012).

beckhateA few years ago, Beck suffered from a debilitating back injury that required spinal cord surgery.  This limited his output significantly over those years.  It also gave him a chance to re imagine releasing music.  And so around 2012 he started releasing singles with no albums attached.

This first one is a collaboration with Jack White and is and astonishingly traditional country song.

The song has big fiddles and twangy vocals.  Then the drums kick in and a big old bass notes sounds and…it’s even more country.  There are big, fun verses (about murder, naturally) and a slide guitar solo.

I honestly can’t tell what Jack White’s contribution is, but evidently it is “punk vocals.” And those punk vocals come near the end.  Because at 3:45, it turns into a blistering fun country punk mess, which lasts for just a few seconds.  And then it morphs into a weird, string-filled kinda sexy song with a hot-sounding lady telling us she’s going to kill us.

The straightness of the country is only weird because of the straightness of the punk at the end.  It’s clear Beck wanted to have fun with this track, and so he did.

The B-side is another country song.  This one is of a more spoken word quality, but it still has the country vibe (and slide guitar).  His voice sounds decidedly more country than I have heard from him.  Even Beck fans may be confused by just how country this is, and yet he definitely has country content in his earlier releases.

[READ: April 1, 2014] “The Navigator”

This is an interesting story that has a fascinating structure.  It seems like the story is told in third person.  It is the story of a man, Walter Ehrlich, who nearly died in 1972 when he caught pneumonia.  He had been swimming every day in Lake Ontario, but the doctors told him that that was unsafe, so he had a pool put in is backyard and he swam there every day that the winter didn’t freeze the water.

He also had a passion for ballrooms, and built one in his garage (this section is quite magical).

After a few paragraphs, the narrator reveals himself and the story is suddenly in first person.  The narrator knows about the man through his wife’s family.  Walter was close to his father-in-law (the story of how they met is also funny).  Indeed, there are photos of Walter visiting his wife’s family when she was just eight or nine years old.  (more…)

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David Means–“The Mighty Shannon” (Harper’s, February 2014)

Posted in Beck, David Means, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Parenting, Record Club, Sex, Short Story, Thurston Moore, Tortoise, Yanni, Yuck! on April 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harperSOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-YANNI: Live from the Acropolis (2010).

yanniAlthough there was no official notice terminating the club, this release has proven to be the final installment of Beck’s Record Club (for now).  And what a weird place to end.  Cheesy new ager Yanni’s live blockbuster album.  My buddy Joe (a major metalhead) got me into this album when it came out (really).  And I have to admit it’s pretty awesome–the musicianship is nothing short of spectacular.

So I was very intrigued at the premise of these guys covering the album.

According to the Beck/Record Club website:

This installment of the Record Club takes on ‘Yanni Live At The Acropolis’. The original album featured Yanni with a full orchestra at the Athenian Acropolis. A TV special of the concert was played repeatedly on PBS through the mid 90′s. To flesh out the complex arrangements, several studio musicians were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Bobby Brown (and others). Beck and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth provided auxiliary music and noise, with Thurston improvising lyrics over the previously instrumental track ‘Santorini.’ Tortoise show up later on a few other tracks. Look for the complete rerecording of this musical monolith, originally captured at the bedrock of Western Culture, done here at Sunset Sound Studios on June 13th, 2010.

The big names for this release are Thurston Moore and Tortoise–who get to work together on two songs.  Thurston seems to be on most of them–playing noise and occasionally singing (I don’t think there are any words on the original).  I haven’t listened to the original album in ten years so I don’t really remember it very well.  I am quite certain it sounds nothing like this cover version. I’m actually looking forward to playing it again now that I’ve listened to this, mostly to see if there is any similarity at all between the songs.  But also to see if I still like it.  I’m also very interested in the unreadable score (for track 8)

Santorini (2:53) Thurston makes up lyrics.  The session musicians play a beautiful rendition.
Keys To Imagination (4:22).  Tortoise & Thurston play together and the noise and samples run wild.
Until The Last Moment (5:50).  This song is kind of muddy sounding with lots of cymbals and feedback.
The Rain Must Fall (2:55).  More vocals on this one.  With samples that sound like kids singing “rain must fall.”
Acroyali/Standing In Motion (5:46). This one has a cheesy synth tone.  I think the vocals are by Beck on this one.
One Man’s Dream (4:26).  Gentle piano and quiet feedback notes in this one.
Within Attraction (5:39)  Tortoise is back with more samples and sounds.  It also sounds like there are samples from the original Yanni disc.
Nostalgia (4:07) “Thurston and Beck team up again with a crew of heavyweight studio musicians to tackle an apparently unreadable score for another song from Yanni’s Live At The Acropolis, with Thurston adding lyrics.”  I don’t know what they’re playing then, but it sounds good.
Swept Away (4:11).  Gentle keys and “funk” interspersed with noise and effects.
Reflections Of Passion (8:21).  This song opens in a very Sonic Youth style (the slower version of SY).  It’s fairly delicate with vocals until about 3 minutes in when the big drums carry it through to the end.

I haven’t watched all of the videos in the Record Club because some of the earlier ones are “artsy” and just hard to watch.  But this one is great for seeing just what they did to make these sounds (and who is singing).  The INXS one was also good for this.

[READ: March 15, 2014] “The Mighty Shannon”

The mighty Shannon is of course the river in Dublin, even though it is barely mentioned in the story.  The story opens with a man in pain–a migratory pain that has moved from his lower back to his shoulders to his neck.  The doctors can’t find anything wrong with him and suspect it may have something to so with his personal life more than actual pain.  He is reluctant to admit that, but when we learn what is happening in his personal life, it is quite plausible.

The narrator is married, but he has been having an affair with his son’s Spanish teacher (shame on them both). They first met at a parent teacher conference (where his wife seemed unimpressed by her) and then they encountered each other at the park when they were each going for a run.  He offers her running advice for her upcoming marathon and the really seem to hit it off.  Soon they start sleeping together.  He feels badly about it but also believes that his wife, Sharon, (not Shannon) was having an affair first–based on a pocket dialed phone call. (more…)

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Joy Williams–“The Mission” (Harper’s, February 2014)

Posted in Beck, Drinking, Harper's, INXS, Joy Williams, Liars, Os Mutantes, Prison, Record Club, Short Story, St. Vincent on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harperSOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-INXS: Kick (2010).

inxsOf the four Record Club releases, this is actually the album I like least.  And that is mostly because of my college roommate.  He believed that rock music was the devil’s music (or so he told me).  And so he only had a couple of albums.  Most of the Beatles records (amusingly enough) and, totally randomly–INXS’ Kick.  So I got sick of this really fast.  It’s nearly 25 years later, so I’m okay with the album, and I do like some of the songs again, but boy can I pick out flaws.

This recording seems a lot more causal than the other Record Club releases—the original recording bleeds in front of some of the tracks and I believe they play around with the lyrics on a few.  They also really rearrange some of the songs, making them quite different from the original.

Form the Beck/Record Club site:

Record Club No. 4 is here…! Joining in this time we had three of my favorite bands— Liars, Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St. Vincent, Sergio Dias from the legendary Brazilian band Os Mutantes, as well as RC veteran Brian Lebarton, just back from the Charlotte Gainsbourg tour. The record covered this time was 1987 blockbuster ‘Kick’ by INXS. The record was chosen by fellow Aussie, Angus from the Liars. It was recorded in a little over 12 hours on March 3rd, 2010. It was an intense, hilarious, daunting and completely fun undertaking. Thanks to everybody for being there and putting so much into it. Many classic moments, inspired performances and occasional anarchy.

Overall, I enjoyed this release quite a bit and found St. Vincent’s contributions to be quite excellent.  I didn’t know Liars before this, but I really like his voice.

Guns In The Sky (2:21). Loud drums open the song and the synth is buzzy and noisy. Angus’ vocals are very similar to Michael Hutchence’s.
New Sensation (3:40) Begins with a poppy synth rendition (and people rapping over it), but that’s like a teaser version. The real version is quite mellow and interesting—a very slow song sung by St Vincent and Angus from Liars.
Devil Inside (5:16) This sounds very different–it’s slow and menacing with a sax section.
Need You Tonight (3:06) St Vincent on vocals—a rather sexy version.
Mediate (2:32) The intro has them talking about the words they’ll use, like “shake and bake and wake and bake.” With much giggling.  Done as a simple rap over a handclap drum
The Loved One (3:37) This sounds like a sixties song–acoustic but kind of psychedelic.
Wild Life (3:10) Slow and a little creepy.
Never Tear Us Apart (3:06) This one has strings and synths–St Vincent sings this in a very beautiful way.
Mystify (3:18) Sung well by Angus with a slow picked guitar.
Kick (3:14) This is a buzzy punky version with an aggressive feel.
Calling All Nations (3:04) Acoustic guitar played and sung by St Vincent–it sounds very much like a St Vincent song.
Tiny Daggers (3:30) This is a silly electronic ranting song that ends up lasting 12 minutes (which is about 9 minutes too long).

Overall this has a raw feel that I like better than INXS’ more polished version. And anything with Annie Clark participating is a plus.

[READ: March 14, 2014] “The Mission”

This story started out as an interesting personal drama, with a very memorable scene.  A woman is sent to prison.  She will only be there for nine days (which the other inmates hear about and which causes them to grumble).  The drama comes when the try to remove her wedding ring but cannot (they have to cut it off).

The memorable scene is the reason why she was sent to prison in the first place.  She was drunk driving and drove into a cemetary. She crashed through the fence and into several gravestones.  The arresting offer’s opening remark was “You’re lucky you didn’t kill somebody.”  After a few days, she believes she is going to be released, but her lawyer informs her that things are going to be really rough for her out there–the people whose graves she broke are super mad.  So she should just hold tight and be happy to have some freedoms in here. (more…)

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Nadezhda Teffi–“Family and Others” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Anna Summers, Beck, Bob Dylan, Harper's, Nadezhda Teffi, Record Club, Russia, Short Story, The Velvet Underground, Translation on March 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-VELVET UNDERGROUND: Velvet Underground & Nico (2010).

velvetAccording to the Beck/Record Club website:

Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. As you will hear, some of the songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens. And those who aren’t familiar with the albums in question will hopefully look for the songs in their definitive versions.

Introducing this first recording, Beck explains:

For this first edition, after lengthy deliberation and coming close to covering Digital Underground’s Sex Packets, all present voted in favor of the ‘other’ Underground’s The Velvet Underground & Nico. Participants included this time around are Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, Brian Lebarton, Bram Inscore, Yo, Giovanni Ribisi, Chris Holmes, and from Iceland, special guest Thorunn Magnusdottir, and myself. Thanks to everyone who helped put this together, and to all of you for indulging in this experiment. More soon.

That’s a lot of introduction for this record, which, as you have surmised is a full cover of the Velvet Underground’s debut album.  And, as the blurb promises, it is chaotic, but often charming.  I am not a huge Velvet Underground fan, although I have this and some of their other albums.  I appreciate them more for what they spawned than what they played.  But having said that I know this record pretty well.  I did make a point of not listening to the original before listening to this.

The track listing:

Sunday Morning (3:15).  This version is pretty faithful.  Beck sings and sounds a bit like Lou Reed.
I’m Waiting For The Man (4:04).  This song is very silly indeed–instruments detuned and loopy sounding.  It’s a little funny but a little annoying too.
Femme Fatale (2:42).  This is a straight version with Beck taking the Nico part and doing a nice job of it.
Venus In Furs (5:22).  This song is a little noisy & feedbacky but it’s a great version. Probably my favorite song of the bunch.
Run Run Run (4:25).  They’ve turned this into a little synth pop song.
All Tomorrow’s Parties (5:16).  This has vocals by Thorunn Magnusdottir.  She doesn’t quite have whatever Nico had and consequently although the songs tarts out pretty, the length and tempo turns it a little dull by the end.
Heroin (6:40).  This version is insane, with Brian Lebarton getting more and more frantic.  If the instruments didn’t sounds so cheap, the intensity would be pretty awesome.  But it’s a little wonky sounding (and a too long).
There She Goes Again (3:02).  This song is like “Waiting for the Man” detuned and silly.
I’ll Be Your Mirror (2:33).  This is a pretty version which would, once again sound a little better if the instruments didn’t sound cheap.
Black Angel’s Death Song (3:43). Beck sounds more like Dylan on this song, which i don’t know that well at all.
European Son (3:26).  This song is a little dull, I don’t recognize it.
Heroin (Bonus Alternate Version) (5:05).  This version of Heroin is a bit more reasonable than the other version, although I wish it had a little of the first version’s chaos.  Maybe a meeting of the two would be ideal.

So this is a fun project where talented friends get to make some music together.  It gets an even higher “grade” overall because he’s not releasing it officially, not asking money for it.  Not every song is a winner, but those that win are quite good.

[READ: March 17, 2014] “Family and Others”

Nadezhda Teffi was alive from 1872-1952 and wrote this in 1912.  It was translated from the Russian by Anna Summers.

This is a very simple story that doesn’t feel like a story so much as a friendly lecture about family.  The story begins with the statement that we tend to divide people in to family and others.  Which is true.  he continues that Family knows everything about us while Others know very little about us.  Sometimes when people get closer, they move from other to family.  However, it is the family that tends to give us the most grief.

When you are sick, others send you flowers but family interrogate you about when you caught the cold and what you were doing when you got it.  They don’t try to make you feel better, they want to know more about the problem.  He offers several similar situations in which family is less than cuddly with us.

(more…)

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Ken Kalfus–“Coup de Foudre” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Beck, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Morality, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, Travel on March 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Guero (2005).

gueroGuero is one of Sarah’s favorite albums, I would say.  It’s hard for me to believe that it is almost ten years old.  It’s a return to the more wild style of Odelay!, but it’s a bit more modest in scope–there’s a lot of different styles, but it’s not quite as manic as his earlier record.  And the sampling is not quite as excessive.

It opens with “E-Pro” a big loud guitar riff and lots of fun sing along material.  The drums are loud and snappy, and it all hearkens a great return to form.  the manic sampling is not present.  There is a return to rap-lite (and lots of Español) in “Guero.”  I like the horns and the street chatter.  “Girl” is an incredibly poppy, almost synth poppy song although just what is he saying in that chorus?  It’s a really pretty summery anthem.

“Missing” slows things down but keeps some great sounds (including big strings) and cool percussion.  It’s got an unusual melody that I find really memorable.  “Black Tambourine” has a great thumping drumline and pumping rhythm and is so much fun to sing along to–whoah oh oh oh oh oh.  “Earthquake Winter” brings in more sitar and a weird tropical vibe to this slow song.  But the chorus is just great, especially the way it rises out of the murky verses.

“Hell Yes” is a very weird song with a funky staccato bass line and weirdly processed vocals.  It’s the first song that really stands out as being unlike the rest and hearkens back to his older style.  It’s also really cool.  “Broken Drum” slows things down again.  I like the melody but I feel this is a little too slow for this record. (Although I like the guitar melodies that are overlaid on top of the song).  Scarecrow” brings back an uptempo beat and a slinky guitar sound.  “Go It Alone” has big handclaps and a stripped down sound but lots of great backing vocals.

“Farewell Ride” has  very creepy stripped down sound with weird (almost out of tune) acoustic guitar and creepy harmonicas.  It’s like a demented western song, and it works very well.  “Rental Car” returns with another great fuzzy guitar opening.  It has a super fun chorus (of yeahs and harpsichord ) and very funny sample of women singing very fast la la las.  “Emergency Exit” is a slow handclappy song that ends the disc with a bit more variety.

Although this album may not reach the intensity of Odelay! (and the singles may not be quite as catchy) overall, I think this record is probably Beck’s best.

[READ: March 19, 2014] “Coup de Foudre”

I have only read a few short things by Kalfus so this is more or less a first for me.  And wow, what a lengthy and detailed story to start with.

There is a ton of stuff going on here, but I’m not willing to go into that much detail in reviewing it.  Primarily because the detail is the emotion and heart of the story, and his descriptions of what happened are designed to influence your opinion of the narrator.

So, the nutshell version of the plot is that the narrator is David León Landau, a powerful banker who can absolutely influence global monetary policy.  He has Timothy Gueithner’s ear and is soon to be meeting with Angela Merkel to talk about the Greek economic collapse and Germany’s potential role in the bailout.  He is that important.

He is writing a letter to Mariama, a maid in a very expensive hotel in New York City.  He has been arrested for sexually assaulting her, and she has effectively brought his entire career (and presidential plans), not to mention his marriage, to a grinding halt.

Simple enough.  So why is he writing to her?  He is writing to her to explain in great detail everything that happened in the days leading up to what he did.  He seem contrite, and yet he also knows that his lawyers prevented him from getting in as much trouble as he should have.  He also knows that she will never read this, but he needs to write it anyway, just to get it out, like a confession.  Even though he knows that if anyone were to see it in print it would mean the end for him. (more…)

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Heidi Julavits–“Diagnose This: How to be your own best doctor” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Air, Beck, Disease, Doctors, Drugs, Essays, Harper's, Heidi Julavits, Radiohead on March 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Sea Change (2002).

Aseachnagefter the wild dance of Midnight Vultures, Beck entered the 2000s with Sea Change, a very mellow album.  It is highly regarded by many, although it’s too mellow for my liking, which is unsurprising give my tastes.  (Of course, if you’re in a mellow/sad mood, it’s perfect).  Even though I feel like it is quite samey, a closer listen shows as much diversity within these songs as any of his thematic albums.  And there are some great sounds that he throws on top of these tracks.  Like the Radiohead vibe in “The Golden Age”

“Paper Tiger” has a kind of sleekness to it, with the strings and the bassline that keeps the track interesting.  “Guess I’m Doing Fine” is a mopey song that has the potential to be too much ,but never goes that far.  It winds up being quite beautiful.  “Lonesome Tears” has strings that make it sound a bit like Air (the band).  “Lost Cause” is the poppy side of this mellow album—it’s got a super catchy chorus (although is clearly not a happy song) and would be a great ballad on any other album—here it comes across as the peppiest number.  “End of the Day” introduces sitar, but it falls a little flat in the middle of the disc.

“It’s All in Your Mind” is a pretty and short song.  “Round the Bend” is easily the most depressing song that Beck has ever done.  It’s also quite beautiful but, man what a downer.  Oh wait, that “most depressing” award would go to “Already Dead” a very sad acoustic song which has Beck singing in an aching falsetto.   The darkness is lightened somewhat with the sitar flavored “Sunday Sun” but it still has that aching vocal.  And yet it ends with a total musical freak out at the end—noise and feedback and chaos which makes sense in the song but seems so out of place on the record—and yet it’s kind of a welcome relief.  “Little One” has a more upbeat vibe (with big drums even).  Although it seems to get lost by the end of the disc.  As does “side of the Road” which doesn’t really have a lot going for it.

 Any one of these songs would be a perfect mellow beck song.  But at 52 minutes, the album is a bit relentless.   I think what weighs down a lot of these songs is their length.  The lengthy strings at the end of “Tears” is very pretty but with several songs pushing 5 minutes, overall it gets to be a bit much.   There’s no “bonus” track on this one.

 [READ: March 17, 2014] “Diagnose This”

This article by Heidi Julavits (whose novels I keep intending to read but have yet to so far), really appeared to me because of the conceit of self diagnosis.  Whenever you go to a doctor, if you have searched your symptoms online (which everyone has) you always feel guilty about bringing it up—like you’re not supposed to investigate these free resources.  Now it’s entirely true that looking up your symptoms online is madness—everything leads to cancer.  Everything.  If you are a hypochondriac, you should never ever do this, but if you are a reasonable person, you can use online medical diagnoses and, more importantly, message boards to see what other people have said about similar symptoms.

In this essay, Julavits talks about her own symptoms for what her doctor diagnoses as possible Ménière’s Disease, a rather rare disease that is more or less worst case scenario.  And the doctor tells her not to look it up when she gets home (she looks it up in the parking lot).   She doubts that this is an accurate diagnosis.  But as she learns when she interviews several doctors and medical school teachers—doctors are not taught to learn gray area thinking.  They have to save lives so they may jump to the most serious situation in order to prevent serious damage—even if that conclusion may involve tons of unnecessary and expensive tests. (more…)

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William T. Vollmann–“The Grave-House” (Harper’s, April 2014)

Posted in Beck, Flight of the Conchords, Harper's, Huh?, Prince, Short Story, William T. Vollmann, Yuck! on March 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Harpers-1404-302x410SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Midnight Vultures (1999).

midnightIt’s not entirely clear to me how serious Midnight Vultures is meant to be. The songs are all quite good musically, but they are so very different from anything Beck has done so far—and they have a sheen of R&B that at times feels like a parody (especially coming from someone like Beck, especially when the lyrics are included).  The music is definitely designed to party (when I first heard it I found it rather Prince-like), and while I didn’t really like it very much, i have since grown to relax and enjoy the funk.

“Sexx Laws” has horns that work very well as accents. And yet for all of of its party slickness, there’ a banjo solo at the end of it.  That’s the kind of party music Beck makes.  “Nicotine & Gravy” is a slinky song with a weird chorus: “I think I’m going crazy, her left eye is lazy, she looks so Israeli, nicotine and gravy.”  What is someone supposed to do with that?  “Mixed Bizness” is an incredibly funky song that reminds me a lot of Prince’s “Dance Music Sex Romance.”  “Get Real Paid” has female leads vocals and a funky but staccato style–it’s unlike anything Beck has done up to this point.  “Hollywood Freaks” stands out for the weird and some would say bad lyrics—it feels a little like old school Beck and out of place with this new funky dancey Beck.

“Peaches & Cream” is another Prince-inspired track and is super catchy.  It has backing vocals (very high pitched) that sounds a lot like Beck, I just can’t imagine he’s doing them).  “Milk & Honey” is a 70s style rock song, less dancey but with all kinds of funky effects  “Beautiful Way” and “Pleasure Zone” are okay–the party seems to be ending a little here.  But the disc ends with “Debra,” which is super fun.  Beck sings in an incredible (for him) falsetto.  The song is about a ménage a trois. It is meant to be humorous (I hope) about a guy picking up a girl in his Hyundai.  But it sounds so much like Flight of the Conchords, that it’s hard to even consider it seriously in retrospect.

There is a very lengthy silence before our “bonus” track, which in this case is about a minute of fast drums and spacey noises, then some lounge music and some crazy voices.  Again, not worth the wait.  So I’m mixed on this one.  As with a lot of Beck CDs it seem like your own mood determines whether you’ll enjoy this one.

[READ: March 17, 2014] “The Grave-House”

I’ve read more of Vollmann’s non-fiction than fiction, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect with this short story.  And I did not expect a man who is in a house which is trying to eat him.

As this story opens, with once upon a time, the narrator has built a house by himself.  But since it was not paid for, it was condemned to be knocked down.  So instead, he bought a house with all the furnishings—it was all paid for.  But as soon as he decided to go outside, the house refused to let him. (more…)

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“Some Instructions” (The Believer, November/December 2013)

Posted in Alexander Waterman, Ann Liv Young, Ant Hampton, Beck, Brian Belott, Brian McMullen, Buddy Wakefield, Christian Bok, Dawn Kaspar, Dynasty Handbag, Fluxus, Funny (strange), George Brecht, Huh?, Jericho Brown, John Beer, K. Silem Mohammad, Lauren Brincat, Luke Dischbeck, Matthew Dickman, Matthew Zapruder, Noah Eli Gordon, Olivia Plender, Sarah Rara, Sasha Archibald, The Believer, Zubair Ahmed on March 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

beelievrSOUNDTRACK: BECK-“Beercan” (1994).

I beercanhad forgotten how much I liked “Beercan” as a song until I played Mellow Gold again.  It’s incredibly catchy, has some wonderfully weird elements (like the sample of the girl saying “I’m Sad” over flamenco music), and deserved to be heard more.

The B-sides for this single really run the gamut of everything Beck does.  The first track “Got No Mind” is a reworking of “Pay No Mind.” It’s done as a very simple folk song.  The words are largely different and the music is played differently, but the chords are the same.  It’s an interesting conceit to redo a song almost entirely like that.  The second song “Asskiss Powergrudge (Payback ’94)” is just a dirty slow abusive song. The guitar strings are totally muted, just making noise.  The vocals are slowed and sludgy.  And it’s just heaps of abuse.

“Totally Confused” is also on the “Loser” single and is such a pretty, mellow folk song (with Anna and Petra from That Dog singing backing vocals).  And the final song, “Spanking Room” is just a pile of sheer noise and feedback.  It is loud and crazy and goes on for some 5 minutes.  There’s a “bonus” track of which I have learned is called “Loser (Pseudo-Muzak Version).” It’s Loser sampled and played behind some weird keyboard “muzak.”  It sounds like it was done live in a small club.  Really weird.

[READ: February 28, 2014] Some Instructions

This little booklet came with the Believer 2014 Art Issue.  It is called “Some Instructions.”   It is inspired by George Brecht, a Fluxus artist who is credited with creating the written form of performance art (called the “event score”).  Brecht was bored by didactic instructions in art so his creations were utterly open to interpretation.  The example they give is his “Three Chair Events” which is in its entirety:

  • Sitting on a black chair. Occurrence.
  • Yellow chair.  (Occurrence.)
  • On (or near) a white chair.  Occurrence,

–Spring 1961

This is the kind of thing that I think i would have enjoyed in college, being pretentious an d obnoxious, now I realize it is just navel gazing and (in many of the examples below) barely even thought out.  You can kind of see what Brecht was getting at (although why he needed to do more than one or two is beyond me), as a kind of thought-provoking questioning of what we know of as art.  But some of these below are just, well, stupid. (more…)

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Zsuzsi Gartner–“We Be Naked” (The Walrus, March 2014)

Posted in Canadian Content, Douglas Coupland, Giovanni Boccaccio, Language, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Walrus, Word usage, Zsuzsi Gartner, tagged on March 10, 2014| 1 Comment »

walrusmarchSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Linwood Movie Theatre, Port Dover, ON (December 4, 1999)

portThis is the final concert on of the 20th century on Rheostatics Live (and I’ll be taking a short break from the Rheos concerts after this one).  Even though the site doesn’t list the venue, in the previous show they say they are playing at the Linwood Movie Theater in Port Dover.  As with every other venue, I can’t find any information about this, so I’ll just accept it as true.

The last few shows were recorded from the soundboard, so this one is a little jarring to hear the audience so loudly.  But the sound is good and clean.

They say during the show that they are going to play songs from all 10 of their albums. And they do a pretty good job.  They miss playing something from Greatest Hits (which is kind of a surprise as everyone was shouting for “Wendell Clarke.”  Unsurprisingly they do not play anything off of Group of 7, and, in what I think of as a huge surprise—nothing off of Introducing Happiness—they almost always play something from that album anyway.

The set is comprised mostly of Harmeldia and Melville songs and it’s quite a good one.
“I Fab Thee” even invites audience participation.

This show also has one of the great dialogues between fans and band.  Someone asks if they have CDs available for sale.  Dave says, yes in the lobby.  She asks if they have them anywhere else and he replies “Is the lobby not convenient enough for you, ma’am?” to much laughter.

It’s a good show to end the millennium on. And I look forward to seeing what 2000 brings in their live shows.

[READ: March 6, 2014] “We Be Naked”

I have really enjoyed Gartner’s stories in the past but this one rubbed me the wrong way from the start.  I do not like stories where language is deliberated misused and not explained.  I am fine with dialect and I am fine with uneducated narrators, but when a narrator appears educated enough yet consistently gets something wrong and there is no explanation, that story has a massive strike against it.

So when the story starts

We be naked, not nude. Something to remember as the memory of us moves into the slipstream. Nude is in the eye of the beholder, naked a true enough fact.

I thought the “we be” part was an affectation of that first line.  The rest of the language is quite beautiful.  But no, the word “be” is used as the verb throughout the story.  In more and more irritating ways: “Or demands be modest.  We not be asking…”  Ugh. So what has caused the slip in the most basic verb use that English speakers have?  Especially when two sentences later we get this beautiful piece of prose:

And lay down your arms and pick up your instruments, music being the only true and beautiful man-made thing in this world.

Well, the story begins in April 2014 (which I liked) after the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol after the Pirate Party Bombings.  For almost two years since then they be chill.  Shudder. (more…)

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