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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

T. Coraghessan Boyle–“The Night of the Satellite” (New Yorker, April 15, 2013)

Posted in Akron/Family, All Songs Considered, Dogs, Fucked Up, Funny (strange), NASA, New Yorker, Outer Space, Pets, Short Story, Swans, T.C. Boyle, Technology on June 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_04_15_13Sorel.inddSOUNDTRACK: AKRON/FAMILY-“Sand Talk” (2013).

akronfamThe folks on NPR played this song as part of a “new songs” segment and I couldn’t get over how noisy and chaotic it was.  I had always thought of Akron/Family as being kind of an indie folk outfit (I know they were on Swans’ label, but I still thought of them as more folkie than noisy).  So I was surprised by just how chaotic and wild this song was.

It opens with a distorted, echoey guitar that settles into a ringing sound which reminds me of Fucked Up.  Then the drums come in (tribal and various) until it all settles down into a thumping song with a kind of spastic guitar riff.  Then the vocals come in–full bodied and sounding like more than one person.  And after the first verse, it seems like everything that happened before happens again–this time all at once.  But now, the music occasionally pauses to let the vocals come to the fore.  And at one point everything stops and a chorus of voices sings a nice melody as the band slowly resumes playing.   And this echoing fugue-like music continues apace until it all kind of slows down and then ends.

It’s quite a challenging song and one that I found rewarding after just a few listens.  I have to reevaluate what I think this band sounds like, and I definitely have to listen to the rest of this album.

[READ: May 1, 2013] “The Night of the Satellite”

What I really liked about this story was the way that Boyle plays with two ideas of randomness.  The first is the possibility of a piece of a satellite falling out of the sky and landing on you.  The second is of running into a couple in several different and unrelated locations.

As the story starts, a couple (graduate-school aged) are excited that the summer is upon them.  They plan to take a trip to visit some friends (with their dog) to get away from it all.  En route they see a car pulled over at the side of the road facing the wrong way.  The young man is sitting on the hood, the young woman is crying near the road.  Mallory tells him to stop the car.  He is reluctant but does so (childlocking the doors).  The girl says that her boyfriend is a jerk.  She is crying but says she is not hurt.  The boyfriend is yelling across the road that she should just get in the car and leave with them.  But after a few minutes, she decides not too.  So he drives on despite Mallory’s protests. (more…)

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Charles Baxter–“Loyalty” (Harper’s, May 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Babies, Charles Baxter, Funny (ha ha), Harper's, Laura Veirs, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Sarah Harmer, Short Story, The Decemberists on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

harpers maySOUNDTRACK: LAURA VEIRS-“Sun Song” (2013).

lauraI know of Laura Veirs from her work with The Decemberists, but as she’s mostly a backup singer (and occasional lead), I couldn’t really say I knew her very well.  So I was delighted to hear this song that she had written and to see just how great it is,.

The song begins with a simple folk guitar and pizzicato pluckings. Veirs’ voice has an innocence that I really love—gentle but clean.  The chorus brings an unexpected harmony vocals and vibrato but nothing prepares you for the feedback squalls that the new electric guitars bring in.

The song doesn’t get faster, just a little noisier—it reminds me of the best Sarah Harmer tracks.   Then the electric guitar goes away and the song feels fuller somehow.  The end of the song introduces a  kind of call and response which adds a cool new element until it all relaxes back into its original mellow style.

I really like this song and need to hear more from Veirs.  And I see that she has released a whole bunch of albums, so there’s a lot to choose from.

[READ: May 30, 2013] “Loyalty”

This story begins with a pretty straightforward sentiment: “As much as I love her, I blame Astrid.  Astrid told my wife, Corinne, that she could achieve happiness if only she’d leave me.”  Indeed, Astrid made a regular suggestion out of it–leave him, be free.  And so finally Corinne did–she left him alone with their son, Jeremy.  Initially Jeremy wrote to Corinne but eventually the replies were fewer and further between and he gave up.

Wes was crushed, but soon after he fell in love with Astrid and they got married.  I love the way it is presented:

The minute Corinne was gone, Astrid showed up. I don’t recall that, prior to that day, we had so much as exchanged a moody, sparking glance. She took me into her expert arms. It was consolation and sympathy at first, I guess. I didn’t question it. In about the time it takes to change the painted background in a photographer’s studio from a woodland scene to a brick wall, she had left her boyfriend and was presenting me with casseroles and opened bottles of cold beer.

We never really learn if Astrid had planned this all along.  It seems like it, but it’s not like Wes is a huge catch.  Corinne’s divorce request went though with no trouble or custody problems.  And soon he and Astrid had a new child, a daughter, Lucy.  Then they saw Corinne on TV, on a show about runaway moms–Wes asks, what would make her do such a thing–and no reasonable answer is given. (more…)

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Mary Ruefle–“The Gift” (Harper’s, May 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Consumerism, Glacé apricots, Harper's, Mary Ruefle, Sharon Van Etten, Shearwater, Short Story, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty on May 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

harpers maySOUNDTRACK: SHEARWATER & SHARON VAN ETTEN-“Stop Dragging My Heart Around” (2013).

Shearwater-Sharon_RSDEverybody knows this song.  It was  way overplayed (overplayed enough that Weird Al parodied it in 1983).  So I can’t say I was all that excited to hear this cover.

What’s nice about it though is that if you’ve heard a song a million times, hearing a slightly (not radically) different version can reintroduce it to you in a new way.

It’s noisy and clunky in the music–giving a more folkie vibe.  And while Sharon sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks—she gives that same raspy quality to it–she’s definitely not trying to be Stevie.  The Shearwater vocalist does moderate mimic of Petty—enough to show that he knows what the original sounds like without duplicating it.  The whole feel has a kind of tossed off, less polished vibe that really works with the lyrics.

It turns out that this version is live and it was released on a  7″ single (but NPR gives it to us for free).  I like this version quite a bit although I do miss the “Ah ha has” and “Hey hey heys” in the bridge.

[READ: May 29, 2013] “The Gift”

This was a very strange little story.

In it, a woman wakes up after her house has flooded.  Not entirely, but there was certainly a few feet of water (she can see the residue marks).  What’s also strange is that she had not left her apartment for five days and she had just spent nearly $90 (the bulk of her grocery money) ordering a box of glacé apricots from Australia–in gold foil at extra cost–no less!

She feels guilty… but they just looked so good in the catalog.  Of course, so did the mosquito netting–but really what use had she for that?

She spent some time thinking about the Australians working in the glacé apricot factory–did they ever steal an apricot?  Were they hungry? Somehow she imagined them enshrouded in the mosquito netting.

She was awoken from her reverie by the water rushing around her living room–and the piglets grunting around in the mud. (more…)

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Ben Marcus–“The Dark Arts” (New Yorker, May 20, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Ben Marcus, Hospitals, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, New Yorker, Patti Smith, Punks, Savages, Short Story, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Travel on May 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

5.20SOUNDTRACK: SAVAGES-Live at KEXP (May 16, 2013).

savagesI heard some songs from the Savages album, and I loved them–that combination of 80’s punk and goth all wrapped up in current technologies and attitude.  A couple of their songs are some of my favorite of the year so far.  I’d also heard that they were even better live.  So here are four songs played live in the studio from KEXP.  And while the audio is awesome, they are a lot of fun to watch.

In fact, the more I watch the less I know who I am most impressed by–the amazing guitarist?  the great unaffected bassist?  the wild drummer?  They’re all a pleasure to watch.

But it also sounds great.  There’s some great soaring guitar sounds on “City’s Full” which really has a Patti Smith meets Siouxsie vibe.  And there’s that whole goth feel–the bass up front and dominant but with really big guitar chords and cool riffs.  And the drums, man she rocks out in the whole first half of “City’s Full.”   Then listen to the fabulous bass line that runs through “Shut Up.”   I love the way the low bass plays off the high guitars  (and the vocals sound very Siouxsie there).    And the drummer is amazing at the end of the song.

A great 80s echoey riff opens “She Will.”  I love when the song almost stops and it’s all fast cymbals and faster guitar (which is really cool in and of itself) until it builds back up.  And just look at her drumming at 10:20.  Wow. 

And the closer, Husbands” just gets more and more intense.  Like the crazy noisy cymbals.  And the way her voice soars and soars until it just stops.  Wow.

[READ: May 23, 2013] “The Dark Arts”

Julian is sick. Very sick.  So sick, in fact, that American doctors can’t seem to help him, can’t even seem to effectively diagnose him.  So he and his girlfriend Hayley have traveled to Europe for new medicines that the AMA hasn’t approved yet.  They travel to a few places first as a kind of romantic vacation and their ultimate destination is Düsseldorf.  It’s there where Julian will have his bone marrow drawn out, then boiled and tinkered with and then injected back into him.

Ouch.

But there’s been a snag.  On their way to Düsseldorf, they had a fight and Hayley stayed behind.  So Julian went to Düsseldorf to a hostel.  Every day he goes to the train station hoping to see Hayley show up.  He imagines what he must look like to the locals–a skeletal American wearing what must look like a death shroud.  He barely eats, he barely does anything.  In fact, he has more or less given up.

But his father and Hayley, they believe in him, they believe that these cures can help.  Indeed, his father has been so great through all this offering him anything he needs–money they don’t really have and unwavering support.

And then the story gets even more interesting–we find out that American doctors not only couldn’t diagnose him, but actually believed that there as nothing wrong with him. (more…)

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Jonathan Lethem–“The Gray Goose” (New Yorker, May 6, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Boy, Communists, Culture Shock, Drinking, Feist, Jonathan Lethem, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, New Yorker, Norman Mailer, Sex, Short Story, Virginity (Loss of) on May 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_05_06_13Schossow.inddSOUNDTRACK: BOY-“Little Numbers” (Live at The Current, April 6, 2013) (2013).

boyI am totally hooked by this single–a song which sounds like the next huge Feist hit.  It’s got a great piano melody that just grabs on and won’t let go.

So how does the song hold up on acoustic guitars?  In a recent interview the two Swiss/German band members, Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass, say that the song was originally written in this slower more acoustic vein.  On first listen this version is not very appealing–there’s something so bubbly and bouncy and joyous about the single version.

The immediacy of the song is gone and the “woah-o” section seems more mournful than joyous.  I suppose it is actually more true to the original intent of the song (I read your name on every wall, is there  cure for me at all).  Although this version features Boy’s beautiful harmonies, especially the concluding moments, I still prefer the more upbeat single version.

[READ: May 21, 2013] “The Gray Goose”

When this story started, I was a little concerned that it was going to be another story about a repressed childhood under the thumb of an oppressive Jewish mother.  It begins by telling us that Miraim’s father left in 1948, when she was little.  One of the only presents she had been given was an album by Burl Ives.  And that album could be played on her family’s hi-fi/radio housed in a rosewood cabinet—“the most fantastical item of furniture in their lives.” Her father hated that they gave into consumerism to buy such a thing, but it was revered.  And all vinyl was held very delicately, as if a breath of air might warp it.

“The Gray Goose” was her favorite song and she listened to it often, trying to scrutinize the songs—just what was this gray goose that could not be killed, Lord, Lord, Lord.  (The traditional meaning of the gray goose that could not be killed appears to have something to do that with the hunter went hunting on the Sabbath, so the goose could not be killed). Although in the story, Miriam’s mother, Rose, says that the goose represents the heart of the working class.  For Rose and her husband, Albert were fiercely Communist.  We learn about Rose and Albert’s marriage—they were passionate about their beliefs, and this passion seemed to transmit to each other.  And then Rose got pregnant, so they married.  And then Rose had a miscarriage, but now they were stuck with each other so they decided to have a child—Miriam.  (His parents didn’t approve of any of it, especially Rose).

Then Albert was offered a job back in Germany—the only Jew to return to Germany so soon, and Rose and Miriam were on their own.  Well, Miriam was on her own, Rose had many many suitors, although none could stay the night.

That’s all back story for the evening of the action—the evening that Miriam and some friends have gone to Greenwich Village to a jazz club.  Miriam is precocious, having finished school a year early and started college (and apparently already dropped out).  She is out with some friends, the wonderfully named Rye Gogan, the horn-rimmed glasses-wearing Porter, assorted girlfriends and Miriam’s boyfriend who is referred to hilariously as Forgettable.  As in “of course Forgettable weighed in with, ‘What?’” (more…)

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Fiona McFarlane–“Art Appreciation” (New Yorker, May 13, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Eleanor Friedberg, Fiery Furnances, Fiona McFarlane, Kirsty MacColl, New Yorker, Short Story, Sparks on May 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

2013_05_13_p139SOUNDTRACK: ELEANOR FRIEDBERG-“Stare at the Sun” (2013).

efI don’t know Eleanor Friedberg, who is part of the Fiery Furnaces.  This song is fast and bright.  It’s a pretty standard rock song with bright guitars, and there is definitely folk feel to it.

The real selling point of the song is Friedberg’s voice.  She sounds a bit like a 60’s-era male with a high voice (indeed, she reminds me a little of Russel Mael from Sparks).  Maybe I’ll think of her as a mix of Kirsty MacColl and Sparks.

I like this song.  It’s not amazing, but it has a real bouncy summer feel.  An enjoyable romp that bears repeated listens.

[READ: May 21, 2013] “Art Appreciation”

I read this story in two parts.  And when I finished the first part (about four pages in–the paragraph that ended “and he kissed her there for the first time”), I thought it was a delightful story.  A sweet story of young romance.  True, the main character is a bit of a douche: “Henry Taylor had always known he would have money one day, and this confidence was vindicated when his mother won the lottery.”  But I thought that maybe Eleanor, Ellie, would somehow make him a better person.  And that sweet kiss seemed like a wonderful start.

The year is 1961, the place is Australia (it took me a little time to figure that out).  Henry is a gambler–but a mostly winning gambler–he goes to the dog tracks on Friday nights, the horses on Saturday.  But Henry, who is 28,  is also a working man–a mid-level employee at an insurance firm.  And even after his mother won the lottery he didn’t quit his job (it was of course douchey to assume that his mother would somehow give him the money but that’s what he thought).  Despite his confidence about the money, he also didn’t want to show off about it.

Ellie had recently started working in Henry’s office. She was very attractive and he thought that “now that he had money, he would marry her” (geez, he gets douchier by the minute).  Soon enough he has asked her out.  And she happily accepts.  Ellie is 20.

Finally one Sunday Henry’s mother says that she is moving to Victoria with her sister and giving him the house–she wants to see him settled.  He imagined selling the house and buying something closer to the city.

That night he visited Kath.  Kath is his un-serious girlfriend.  He tells her that their fun is over, that he is dating Ellie now so this will be their last fling.  He also has the douchiness to tell her that he has won the lottery.

Soon we learn what the title refers to, Ellie goes to art appreciation classes on Friday nights.  She asks Henry to walk her to class, which he does.  Henry stays for this one and doesn’t like it.  He sits with another bloke who asks if he was dragged there, too.  But she is so excited by the class, art is her passion.  They have a nice dinner together and they kiss for the first time.

And I thought that was nice.

But there’s more. (more…)

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Jonathan Nolan—“Poker Face” (New Yorker, May 20, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, John Zorn, Jonathan Nolan, New Yorker, Rashanim on May 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

5.20SOUNDTRACK: RASHANIM-“Bahir” (2005).

Masada_RockSpeaking of John Zorn, there was a nother clip on NPR about the release of his album Masada Rock in 2005.  Clearly I stopped listening to Zorn’s new stuff around this time because I didn’t know this record.  It features the band Rashanim.

This is a wonderful little mashup of surf rock and noir played by a kind of stripped down rock trio.  The main riff is very noir, something Zorn specializes in.  It’s funny to me that this is a Masada album as it feels decidedly unJewish to me.  But it sounds very Zorn.  The band packs a ton of stuff into this 4 minute piece.  There’s a lengthy, fairly sloppy guitar solo that goes through much of the song.  And the end is a frantic workout.

I liked this song quite a bit and thought I’d see just what Zorn has been up to since I last watched his discography.  I’d say that in the last ten years he has released around 100 albums of various styles and genres.  I think my wallet is happy I stopped paying attention.

[READ: May 16, 2013] “Poker Face”

The five brief pieces in this week’s New Yorker are labeled as “Imagined Inventions.”  And in each one, the author is tasked with inventing something.

I didn’t know Nolan before reading this.  This was my least favorite of the five essays—kind of like a final skit from Saturday Night Live.  Essentially he raves about how useful emoticons are—very current, yes.  Well, he precedes this by saying how in texting it’s even harder to detect sarcasm than it was in emails.  He has a friend who uses exclamation points to show sincerity, so Thanks. Could be ironic but Thanks! is sincere.  I find I do the same thing, so I appreciated that. (more…)

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Karen Russell—“Vision Quest” (New Yorker, May 20, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Babies, Humiliation, Inventions, John Zorn, Karen Russell, Masada, New Yorker, Pat Metheny on May 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

5.20SOUNDTRACK: PAT METHENY-“Mastema” (2013).

Itap-cd-cover don’t know all that much about pat Metehny.  I know he’s a jazz guitarist held in high regard by some and in less high regard by others.  This song is Metheny playing a John Zorn composition–indeed, it comes from an entire album of Zorn covers called Tap: John Zorn’s Book of Angels, Vol. 20.  I have been a huge fan of Zorn for decades, and yet some time ago I had to stop following him–his output is just too huge.  So this Book of Angels series by the Masada String Quartet is unfamiliar to me.

Knowing what I do about Zorn, this piece is quite an interesting statement–it’s got a lot of the wildness that Zorn throws into his music, but it’s also got the pretty melodies that Zorn writes as well as the Jewish melodies that saturate the Masada albums.

Strangely enough this song reminds me more of Frank Zappa than John Zorn.  That may have to do more wbecause it’s a guitar and not a sax, but it also has something to do with the bass guitar that is playing along–it’s got a very Zappa sound to it.

I feel like I’d rather just listen to Masada, but I’d have to really compare the two to see how this holds up.  It’s a pretty wild guitar workout though, if you like that sort of thing.

[READ: May 16, 2013] “Vision Quest”

The five brief pieces in this week’s New Yorker are labeled as “Imagined Inventions.”  And in each one, the author is tasked with inventing something.

Karen Russell is the first of the five authors whom I did not recognize (although I have read a few short pieces of hers in the New Yorker).  She describes her last invention, which was for the seventh grade science fair. It was called the Roller Solar Cream—she poured sunscreen on a roll-on deodorant stick.  It got a C+.  So she explains that she’s not much of an inventor, but she’s going to give it a try.  She also states that she doesn’t know how any of these inventions would work, nevertheless she proposes four.

Number 1 is a “Trapster” for social situations.  The original trapster is an app to alert you to speed traps and the like (I’ve never heard of that).   Her app would alert you when you are heading into a socially dangerous situation (be careful what you say around this person, her dad is famous).  Number 2 is called “Last Wishes Glasses” which upon wearing allow you to know what your dead relative would actually think of your plans/ideas (“she would have wanted it this way” is no longer needed).  I have to admit I find this invention to be pretty nonsensical.  Number 3 is the one I like most.  It’s called “Baby Roshambo” and it’s a program that allows you to see what a baby’s life will be like depending on what name you give him or her—see how Ashley, Bubbles, La’Dynasty and Gertrude would turn out differently just because of their names.

(more…)

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Margaret Atwood—“Cat’s Robo-Cradle” (New Yorker, May 20, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Birds, Black Sabbath, Cats, Environmentalism, Inventions, Margaret Atwood, New Yorker, The Black Angels on May 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

5.20SOUNDTRACK: BLACK ANGELS-Evil Things (2013).

blackangelsThis song has a 70s era metal sound (with a heavy early Black Sabbath feel).  It opens with a big riff and surprisingly quiet vocals (the vocals are not really sung loudly, they’re almost whispered, and they are very clean–it’s a nice contrast to the big buzzy guitars).  But for al the buzzy guitars (and the wonderfully dated to 1967 keyboard sound), there are passages that are quiet and almost gentle.  Indeed, there’s a lot going on in this song.  It’s a nice marriage of heavy metal and psychedelia.

I love the way the end seems like it’s uncontained–like they couldn’t control the feedback.  It’s interesting that Bob and Robin on NPR relate this more to psychedelic bands of the late 60s and yet I hear more Black Sabbath–of course, Sabbath was a lot more psychedelia than we let on.

I’d like to hear more from these guys

[READ: May 16, 2013] “Cats Robo-Cradle”

The five brief pieces in this week’s New Yorker are labeled as “Imagined Inventions.”  And in each one, the author is tasked with inventing something.

Since Atwood wrote Cat’s Cradle, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this piece—the title of which was just kind of odd.  As with many magazine titles, I feel like perhaps she didn’t come up with the title because that’s not what she calls her invention–someone just tried to tie it into her famous novel.

Anyhow, she begins her piece by talking about the fascinating-sounding Museum of Failed Products in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  She says that there are so many interesting things there, some of which she feels must be better than her own invention, and must be better than Pop-Tarts.  She says she predicted the failure of Pop-Tarts because when her family first tried it, the jam exploded all over the toaster.  So she knows from good and bad ideas.

Her idea has to do with the death of so many birds and rodents from feral cats.  Recall that birds are predators of insects so their dwindling number is affecting forests and garden.  When cats kill the birds (and the rodents that larger birds eat), they are permanently impacting the climate.  Her idea is for a safe (to the cats) trap which she calls the Robo-Coyote. (more…)

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Mindy Kaling—“Leaning In” (New Yorker, May 20, 2013)

Posted in Blur, Elektra, Funny (ha ha), Inventions, Kissing, LGBTQ, Marriage (Happy), Mindy Kaling, New Yorker, Séð og Heyrt on May 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

5.20SOUNDTRACK: ELEKTRA-“I Don’t Do Boys” (2009).

elektraI found out about this band and video because of my recent reading of the Icelandic magazine Séð og Heyrt and this post on I Love Icelandic Music.

This song was listed as one of Iceland’s musical scandals because of the aggressively lesbian imagery.

The song is simple enough.  Piano chords play slowly until the tone changes for the bridge and the very simple chorus (which reminds me of Blur’s Boys and Girls in a way, although it doesn’t sound anything like them): “I don’t do Boys, I just do Girls, I just do girls with style and class. I don’t do boys I just do girls I just do girls with kissable ass”). It’s poppy but a little more aggressive than a typical pop song (and not as metal as a pop metal song).  There’s an interesting style to the backing vocals that seems to make it more than a pop song as well.  I’m not saying it’s good, but it’s more than typical.

As for the video, I can’t tell if this is male fantasy lesbianism or what, but since this story is all about kissing, here’s a video that’s all about kissing.  See if it’s as scandalous as Iceland thinks.

[READ: May 16, 2013] “Leaning In”

The five brief pieces in this week’s New Yorker are labeled as “Imagined Inventions.”  And in each one, the author is tasked with inventing something.

Mindy Kaling is always funny, especially when you’re not sure how serious she is.  As when she begins her essay, “One of the perks of my job is that I regularly get to kiss men—often married men—with zero repercussions for anyone involved.”  Of course she’s talking about acting, but as she says—who is to know if she slips out of character while kissing?

She explains that kissing new people is one of the great joys in life and, while being in a committed relationship is also wonderful, she feels that removing the joy of kissing new people is a terrible drag.  She agrees that marriage is a serious business but kissing is not.  “Kissing in and of itself can’t create offspring or cause life-threatening disease.”  She offers an example of how if you just kissed someone you would never be stuck having to listen to his post-coital ramblings afterwards. (more…)

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