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Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Alexandra Kleeman–“Choking Victim” (New Yorker, May 2, 2016)

Posted in Advice, Alexandra Kleeman, Babies, Bonnie Raitt, Huh?, Humiliation, Lake Street Dive, New Yorker, Parenting, Short Story, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tiny Desk Concert, Unlikable main character on June 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

522016 SOUNDTRACK: SISTER SPARROW & THE DIRTY BIRDS-Tiny Desk Concert #525 (April 25, 2016).

sistersparrowI was intrigued by the name of this band, but I was so disappointed to find out that they were another soul/blues band fronted by a woman who sounds like Bonnie Raitt.  Between Bonnie Raitt’s new album, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Lake Street Dive and now this band there’s just too much of this music that is basically the same.  And then there’s the song titles: “Sugar” “Catch Me if You Can” and “Mama Said.”

I also had to laugh at the men in the band each one of the six has a beard.  And I got  a big kick out of the harmonica player who looks like he’s trying to be bad ass, but it’s really hard to look like a bad ass when you are blowing harmonica. And the lead singer does all of those bluesy things that drive me nuts—”sing it with me, “can you play that thing for your mama, now,” etc.

Having gotten that out of the way, the band is really quite good.  The sax player has some great solos and the trumpet player sounds good too.  And, while I mocked the harmonica player, he is really good—especially on the second and third songs where he plays an electric harmonica and really wails (he is also the brother of the lead singer).  Speaking of the lead singer, her voice is great.  She’s a tiny little thing but man can she belt out notes.  And she’s got the great ability to “sing” mmm hmmms and have them be really loud—a good bluesy front woman.  The lead guitarist is really good too whether he’s playing with a slide or doing some lengthy solos, the band really rocks.  Frankly you’d have to be a corpse not to tap your foot along to the rhythm or smile at this skinny redhead belting out these notes.

But I would never be able to tell them apart from the other bands I mentioned earlier.

[READ: June 10, 2016] “Choking Victim”

This was the second story in a row that I found hard to believe (and which I didn’t understand the title of).

Karen is in her mid-thirties and has recently had a baby.  She is depressed and doesn’t understand why everything is so different in her life.

The thing that I couldn’t quite get in this story was whether or not all of the people who gave her dirty looks (and there a lot) were in her head or in reality.  I simply don’t believe that so many people would give her a dirty look just as she walks down the street: “When she pushed her baby through the park in a bulky red stroller, people watched her with curiosity and pity.”

Her husband was away for two weeks and she had a hard time with the baby.  It was especially disconcerting to Karen because at six months old her baby wasn’t really talking–hardly even babbling. (more…)

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Lara Vapnyar–“Waiting for the Miracle” (New Yorker, April 25, 2016)

Posted in Culture Shock, Drinking, History, Julia Holter, Lara Vapnyar, Laurie Anderson, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Regina Spektor, Russia, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on June 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

425 SOUNDTRACK: JULIA HOLTER-Tiny Desk Concert #524 (April 22, 2016).

Jjuliahulia Holter also has a theatrical style although her touchstone would be someone more like Regina Spektor (I found a similar style in their delivery).

“Sea Calls me Home” has a cabaret style in her delivery and songs structure.  She plays piano with a small band of upright bass, violin and drum.  I really like the sound (and solo) of the violin later on in the song.

“In the Green Wild” has a very jazzy feel with the upright bass playing a jazz line and the drums playing a jazzy rushed sound.  The violin plays some random high almost dissonant notes that work very well.  For the beginning, Julia doesn’t play piano, she sing-speaks kind of like Laurie Anderson—including the unusual intonation and emphases.  The rest of the band sings backing vocals that are higher and ethereal.  About half way in, she begins playing piano and the song settles sown a bit. The way she sings is unusual and a little unsettling—she looks up at the ceiling more or less the whole time.  Her piano notes are simple and I like the way she plays without looking at the keys.

After that song she speaks briefly.  Her personality is pretty nonexistent–she doesn’t smile or even seem to look at anyone. She sounds rather bored as she says okay we’ll play another song.  Thanks for listening.  That turned me off of her music a bit.

The final song, “Betsy on the Roof,” is the longest, about six minutes long.  It sounds similar to the first one–theatrical and somewhat operatic.  There’s a story in the song, but my favorite part is the middle where she sings a scale up to the roof and then the band rocks out.  The end of the song is fascinating as she sings her nice melody and plays atonal tones on the piano.  I enjoyed t he theatricality of this music a lot, but I would have preferred not to see her performance.

[READ: June 10, 2016] “Waiting for the Miracle”

This is the story of Vadik and his arrival in New York from Moscow.  It was a snowy day as he landed at J.F.K.  Despite the snow blanketing the skyline, it was still exciting. as he descended.  He had just received his work Visa authorizing his stay in the U.S. for three years.  He was staring work in Avenel, NJ.

His friend Sergey, who lives in Staten Island, came to pick him up.  All that Vadik wanted to do was explore the city–walk aimlessly and see what happened, but Sergey wanted to take him to his house.  And Sergey’s wife Vica wanted to see him too–in their past Vadik and Vica had been an item although and Sergey stole her away.  Vica made dinner for him and so he agreed to go to the Island.

On the way to the house, the most improbable thing is that Sergey is listening to a Leonard Cohen CD and singing along.  (Vadik likes Sergey and admits that he is still handsome, but his voice is terrible and has always been terrible.  And it’s especially bad especially for Leonard Cohen.  I say this is improbable because Cohen’s music appears later in the story  too. (more…)

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Colin Barrett–“The Ways” (New Yorker, April 18, 2016)

Posted in Babies, Benjamin Clementine, Books about writers, Colin Barrett, Drugs, New Yorker, Poetry, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on June 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

418SOUNDTRACK: BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE-Tiny Desk Concert #523 (April 18, 2016).

benjI have literally never seen or heard anyone like Benjamin Clementine.  He sits very tall with the piano keys quite low for him.  And he has such an effortless almost careless way of playing and yet his notes are precise and perfect.  He also faces away from the piano and sings more or less to the audience–as if his voice and hands were two different creatures.  And what a voice!

As the first song, “Condolence,” opens he plays the melody with his left hand, leaving his right hand on his lap as he sings with an intense operatic style.  But not operatic exactly, it’s more like a theatrical voice—like he is performing a dramatic recitation. But also singing these intense, powerful notes (with a vibrato that almost seems comical but is definitely not).  He sprinkles in some high piano notes almost as an afterthought, the way he casually places his hands on the keys.  And all this time, he is sitting on a stool and more or less facing the audience.  The song is five minutes long.  It doesn’t exactly seem to have a chorus–there are lyrical parts that are repeated, but it feels less like a conventional song and more like a story set to music.

When the song is over and he speaks.  He seems so shy and quiet, “Hello America.”  He has a very thick British accent (but now lives in France).

For “Gone” his hands seem to dwarf the piano.  The melody is simple and pretty and then he begins singing with just one word, a low “I” held for five seconds with vibrato.  After that, the lyrics are more or less spoken with his thick middle class accent.  He sings the middle section (with the higher piano notes) and seems to be singing in an upper class accent.  After hitting a long note, he speaks a few lines before singing the last word: “gone” with some beautiful piano notes to accompany.

“Adios” is a much more frenetic musically, but it also feels theatrical.  It is 7 minutes long.

After an intense first section about regrets and bad decisions, there is a spoken section in which he talks of angels and then he switches to a high tenor voice singing an operatic section (like the angels).  As the angelic section ends, he says, “I don’t understand them but as always, they come, they sing to me and they leave eventually.”  The intro music is so catchy and the angelic part so unexpected.  The song is unique.  Definitely not for everyone, but really impressive.

[READ: June 6, 2016] “Anhedonia, Here I Come”

This is the second or third story of Barrett’s that I’ve read.  And like previous stories it took me a while to realize it was set in Ireland.  This is of course my own bias as if I lived in Ireland I’d probably assume it was set there.  But I didn’t.

And frankly the location is irrelevant because this story is about a poet and his attempts at coping with the un-understanding world.

Bobby Tallis is a skinny twenty-something.  He lives in an old housing estate that is populated mostly by old people.  He had nothing to do with them.  Really all he does is walk six miles every day so he can buy weed from a schoolgirl (see, this could be anywhere). (more…)

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Sarah Shun-Lein Bynum–“The Burglar” (New Yorker, April 11, 2016)

Posted in Books about writers, Film & TV, Grace Slick, Jimi Hendrix, King's X, New Yorker, PJ Harvey, Racism, Sarah Shun-lein Bynum, Seratones, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on June 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

41116 SOUNDTRACK: SERATONES-Tiny Desk Concert #522 (April 15, 2016).

seraThis Seratones show totally rocked!  And it was a nice change of pace from the slower bands who have been on the Tiny Desk lately.

The lead singer and guitarist is A.J. Haynes.  She plays guitar with a pick on her thumb and has a very clean guitar sound.  Her voice is really lovely—powerful and strong and covering multiple styles from Grace Slick to PJ Harvey.  The blurb says

Haynes grew up singing in the Brownsville Baptist Church, learning to sing out to and hit that back wall without a microphone.

And that’s apparent from the ease she has at singing.  The rest of her band is really great too.  Continuing the blurb:

bassist Adam Davis heard a lot of American rock’s greatest guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, as well as the amazing voice of Janis Joplin. The rest of the band is rounded out by the drumming of Jesse Gabriel, who is spare but there with a sharp backbeat, while guitarist Connor Davis rocks with lyrical grit.

Although I had to laugh because Haynes seems to be having so much fun while her bandmates are rather stonefaced.

They play three songs and they are all great.  “Don’t Need It” rocks out like nobody’s business.  Haynes is a charismatic (and adorable) lead singer with a big afro and a great smile.  “Get Gone” has a much more bluesy sound.  I like the way she delivers the line: “Suns coming out like you knew it would.”  After each verse she gives a big high-pitched “ooh oooh.” And then comes back with a growly low voice.  I love that she’s alternately belting out notes and then singing falsetto.

“Chandelier” has a great funky groove.  When the song sorta stops and just the drums kick in she gives a delightful giggle.

I was really delighted with this band whom I’d never heard of before and I definitely want to check out their recently released debut album.

[READ: April 11, 2016] “The Burglar”

I enjoyed the way that this story was structured.  One paragraph at a time with a dot in between them.  This allowed for a strange juxtaposition of time, with some things happening simultaneously and others possibly out of sequence.

There are several characters in the story.  There is a the burglar (known primarily as “he”); there is the wife who is waiting for exterminators to come to the house–she’s out and hopes to get home before they do).  There is the husband, who is off at work.  His job is fascinating, he’s writing his first script for a TV pilot.  The producers of the show want it to be edgy and different.  The character he is working on (the only person named in the story) is Emmet Byron Diggs, who is falsely accused of killing his wife.  Emmet is black, but the producers don’t want him to think about that as he develops the character.

The story rotates through these characters.  We see the scriptwriter and the producers talking about the show: a time travel show in which Emmet is going to start killing people.

The burglar encounters a dog in the house and tries to figure out how to deal with it.

The wife is racing to get home.

And Emmett is also walking down a street checking out the twenty-first century world he’s in.

Okay so the burglar is in the woman’s house.  But she hears him upstairs and assumes he is the exterminator.

And then the burglar hears her and tries to figure out what he’s going to do.  He calls out, “Just the cleaning crew.”  he berates himself for saying such a weird thing and she thinks its weird that the exterminator would call himself the cleaning crew.

And that’s when the phone rings and it’s the exterminators calling to say they’ll be late.

How does this real-life scenario play out at home while her husband is trying to create a similarly fictionalized setting on the page?

The stories even began to overlap somewhat with action in both stories taking place in a kitchen.  By the end of the story it’s not entirely clear what’s even happening, at least to me.  And yet despite or because of this confusion, I really loved the story.  It was intense and strangely funny at the same time.

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Kevin Canty–“God’s Work” (New Yorker, April 4, 2016)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Kevin Canty, Melanie, New Yorker, Palehound, PWR BTTM, Religion, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on June 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

4416SOUNDTRACK: PALEHOUND-Tiny Desk Concert #521 (April 11, 2016).

palehoundPalehound sounds like they would be kind of a scruffy roots rock band.  But they are about as far from that as you can get.  Rather, Palehound are the embodiment of alt indie rock–a literate confessional songwriter playing spare grungy music behind her emotionally wrenching vocals.

Back in February, Palehound played a showcase for NPR (you can see it here).  In the live setting, the band was noisy and rocking and singer/guitarist Ellen Kempner’s distortion was turned way up.  She doesn’t shred, but she makes a giant noise.  She is backed by a bassist and a drummer–spare but effective.  And her voice is comfortably uncomfortable meaning her angry lyrics and intentionally less than pretty singing works perfectly for the music she writes.

But for this Tiny Desk, she strips away a lot of the noise and lays bare both her sound and her voice.  As the blurb says, these three spare, nervy renditions of songs from 2015’s Dry Food are, naturally, a bit rawer and more exposed… But, with the aid of drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Davood Khoshtinat, Kempner uses that intimacy to her advantage.

The first song, “Pet Carrot” opens with a simple guitar riff and Kempner’s delicate  voice singing “my best friend is a parrot and I say things that he won’t mind” (this part reminds me a bit of the melody from “Brand New Key” from Melanie.  When the band kicks in (bass and drums) they ground the song.  Her guitar style isn’t flashy at all but it works really well with her understated vocals.

She switches guitars (“the old switcheroo”) and Bob says they admired this guitar.  She says they were on tour with PWR BTMM who are so glittery so she bought whale stickers and bejeweled the guitar.  Bob says that PWR BTTM will be here in Feb (so not only did Palehound’s show air two months later but it was put out after PWR BTTM’s).

For “Dry Food,” her vocals are much deeper and even more delicate.  Her guitar playing is great—picking the high notes with her fingers and playing bass notes with her thumb.  The drum is simple–keeping the beat–while the bass adds a low end.  Again, the lyrics are great: “You made beauty a monster to me so I’m kissing the ugly things I see.”

The final song, “Dixie,” is just her singing and playing guitar.  It’s a simple ballad, but not a happy one.  I like the way she repeats the last line of each verse–like a poem.  The song feels like a dream and confessional at the same time:  “People that I’ll never meet have been showing up naked in my dreams and I try to close my eyes but I really want to see their breasts like eyes are staring back at me, their breasts like eyes are staring back at me.”  I love the slow chord she plays at the end of each verse too—a punctuation after each thought.  And then this line: “The hair that’s in my shower drain has been clogging up my home.  And I try to scoop it up but I wretch until I’m stuck just stare and gag into a Dixie cup, just stare and gag into a Dixie cup.”

With her full band there’s a lot more dissonance both in her guitar sound and the chords she plays (and she talks about new merch–Nail Polish called Nailhound by Palehound).  This band is really something.

[READ: January 23, 2013] “God’s Work”

This is a story of faith and questions.

Sanders is a college aged boy (I think–it says sophomore, and they live near a college, so I assume he is in college).  His mother is a devout woman who goes door to door with pamphlets inviting people to Fellowship.  They aren’t Mormon–in fact I can’t decide what their religion is.  They don’t believe in hell, just a void, but she says that, of course, you would rather have God’s eternal love than nothingness.

Sanders loves his mother and his faith is certain.  But he is a teen-aged boy with urges and an imagination.  And being around college-aged girls (while he must wear a heavy black suit) is unsettling.

Most people simply shut their doors in his mother’s face (which does not deter her) but every once in a while people invite her in.  Sometimes for good reason and other times to give them a hard time. (more…)

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Ian McEwan–“My Purple Scented Novel” (New Yorker, March 28, 2016)

Posted in Books about writers, Fraud, Humiliation, Ian McEwan, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on June 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

328SOUNDTRACK: MOTHERS-Tiny Desk Concert #520 (April 8, 2016).

mothersMothers is an unusual band.  There are four members (which isn’t that unusual) but their music has a number of elements that makes them hard to classify.  Their songs are slow and somewhat meandering, with a lot of ethereal qualities. There’s no drums and the bass is spare.

On “Too Small For Eyes,” lead singer and guitarist Kristine Leschper sings in a very high, delicate voice and she plays vibratoed guitar lines high on the neck of her guitar (she even holds the guitar very high on her body).  There’s another guitarist who plays similarly high notes and a keyboardist who is playing single notes that sound almost like a steel drum—in the most nontropical way ever.  The music is pretty and feel  like it could float away at any second.  But Leschper’s voice veers towards the harsh from time to time which comes as a surprise.  And as the song nears the end (it’s unclear just how long this song is going to be since there’s no conventional structure—the song could go for 20 minutes longer), the guitars start playing a slightly more dissonant sound.

“Burden Of Proof” is similarly slow with washes of spooky keyboards growing louder.  If they didn’t pause between songs I would have thought it was the same song.  The second guitarist is on the floor playing with effects pedals.

As the song ends, the music continues as the bass player thumbs some notes to keep the sound going.  The second guitarist and keyboardist switch places.  When I first listened to the show without watching I thought they only played two songs.

The third song sounds a little different from the other two (it is a newer song not on their debut album).  The guitar line is a little deeper.  Like the first song, this one turns a little unsettling in the middle with notes that don’t quite seem t go with the music.  It feels like things are slightly awry as they play.  The song returns to normal and then as it reaches the end there is that slightly seasick-sounding wave of keyboards that bring the song to its conclusion.

The blurb says that, kind of like with Ane Brun, the band chose to play their most mellow songs for this show.  In some ways that makes sense, but it also lost me as an audience member because I felt like their music was too samey.

[READ: April 6, 2016] “My Purple Scented Novel”

I’ve enjoyed just about everything I’ve read from McEwan, but this is by far my favorite story from him.

It is about two writers–Jocelyn Tarbet and the narrator, Parker Sparrow.  Forty years ago, they went to school together and were the best of friends.  They took holidays together, made love to each others’ girlfriends and even tried a homosexual relationship.  That last attempt didn’t work–they were repelled by each other’s penises.

But that was fine, because they were each successful in their own way.  Parker had his story published first.  But soon after Jocelyn had his story published.  And things were great.

Until Jocelyn wrote a TV play and made a fortune.  (more…)

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Annie Proulx–“A Resolute Man” (New Yorker, March 21, 2016)

Posted in Annie Proulx, Death, LGBTQ, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, PWR BTTM, Romance, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on June 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

march 21 SOUNDTRACK: PWR BTTM-Tiny Desk Concert #519 (April 4, 2016).

pwrbttmPWR BTTM are the most fun Tiny Desk concert to come along in a long time.  They are a two person—drums and guitar only–queercore band.  The two guys are Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce.  They are punky and brash and a lot of fun.

Ben plays guitar for the first three songs and they switch off lead vocals.

“Ugly Cherries” opens with an excellent, complex guitar riff played on a very distorted acoustic guitar.  I love that that complicated riff runs through the song and ends with an awesome harmonic’d note.  It’s two minutes of pop punk fun.  And the opening lyrics sets the tone for the song (and the band):  “My girl gets scared, can’t take him anywhere.”

Between songs Ben and Liv are full of jokes and chatter.  Liv says “This is my favorite show that we’ve ever done…its cool to be someone’s lunch break.”

For “Dairy Queen,” Ben switches guitars.  He has an electric guitar this time and Liv sings lead.  Interestingly, this guitar is less distorted than the acoustic.  This is a funny song with the refrain of “right now I’m in the shower.”  There are lots of ideas about things they could do if he wasn’t in the shower like “We can go to Disneyworld and fuck shit up,” At the end of the song Liv moans that he had planned to change Disneyworld to NPR because it is the same syllables, but he forgot.

“Nu 1” returns Ben to lead vocals.  It is a slower song with a simpler guitar riff.  Although once the chorus comes in it’s loud and brash with backing vocals from Liv.  The opening line “God damn everyone’s dumb” is pretty great.  The end of the song has a guitar riff that is similar to the first song, but played in a very different style.

For the final song “C U Around” they switch places with Liv moving to guitar and lead vocals.  As Ben heads to the drums Bob comments on his nail polish and Ben looks over and says “Bob… up here” pointing to his eyes.  While everyone is laughing and Liv is tuning, Ben says

When I was 15 and didn’t think a queer person could ever be in a band….  I  never thought I’d get to throw shade at Bob Boilen.  This is my biggest dream come true.

Then Ben asks how is Liv doing up there and Liv shouts “Guitars are hard!” His guitar playing is very different–more strumming than Ben’s manic style.  The song is slow with a plucked guitar riff and I like the way near the end he starts strumming really hard and gets a cool fuzzed out bass guitar tone while retaining the regular sound of the guitar’s high end.

As you can see from the photo, PWR BTTM dress outlandishly.  Ben is in a bright red dress with sparkly nail polish and really garish facial makeup (with his beard showing through) and swim goggles on his forehead.  Liv is a bit more subdued although when he steps to the front mic you can see that his lipstick is really quite striking.  A few months back Bob said they put on his favorite live show.  If I loved the fifteen minutes of this one I can only imagine how great a 90 minute extravaganza of PWR BTTM would be like.

[READ: March 25, 2016] “A Resolute Man”

Since I’ve read a few pieces by Proulx recently I felt like I knew her M.O.: bad things happen to people who seem innocent, but might not be–usually by strangely named people.  And all set a long time ago.

This one is not far from that description, although it does change things somewhat.  And I enjoyed it a lot more.

I found the beginning to be a little slow going (but that may be because I was anticipating a long slog).  We learn about Captain James Duke.  And this time I marveled at Proulx’s descriptive sentences; “Duke, at fifty, was complicated, dark-haired, and somewhat handsome”.  That’s a lot of things in a few words.  We learn about Duke’s history and then we learn that he has inherited a parcel of land in Boston (he currently lives in England). (more…)

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Ann Beattie-“For the Best” (New Yorker, March 14, 2016)

Posted in Ane Brun, Ann Beattie, Hillary Clinton, Interiors, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Woody Allen on June 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

314SOUNDTRACK: ANE BRUN-Tiny Desk Concert #518 (April 1, 2016).

aneAne Brun is a Norwegian singer who is currently based in Sweden.  She plays piano and guitar and has a pretty voice which reaches high notes but maintains a kind of rough rasp.  She says she had a terrible cold and this is her first day of singing.  She doesn’t trust her voice yet and she thanks everyone for being so quiet.

The three songs she sings are slow (a little too slow for my tastes).  The blurb says that these are the three slower songs on the album, so maybe I’d like them a bit more amid the other songs  This is not to say the songs are bad, just a little too mellow.

Having said that, the melody and vocal lines of “Still Waters’ are beautiful.  This is the one song she plays on the piano and it does sound rather different from the other two.

For “All We Want is Love” (which she describes as the ultimate love song, kind of), she plays a pretty, picked melody on the acoustic guitar.  But its clear that her voice is the main instrument here–and she hits some lovely notes in the repeated refrain of “All we want is love.”

“Signing Off” is the last track on the album.  It is a slow guitar song. The melody isn’t as immediate as the previous song, but her voice really does carry the tune nicely.  I wonder if her voice normally sounds like this or if the cold impacted her singing.

[READ: March 14, 2016] “For the Best”

I wasn’t that inspired by the previous story of Beattie’s that I read.  And I didn’t really love this one either.  I found it very slow going.

The story is about a man named Gerald, an older divorced man, who gets invited to a party.  His ex-wife, whom he has not seen in some thirty years will also be invited.

But the way this was revealed was kind of circuitous, I thought.

the Clavells weren’t the sort to play pranks, so the printed invitation to their annual Christmas party arrived after what Gerald and Charlotte’s son, Timothy, would call a “heads-up,” sent by e-mail, letting them know that both were invited to the event, at the Clavells’ apartment, on West Fifty-sixth Street. Gerald hadn’t seen Charlotte since their divorce, thirty-one years before, and this was the first time he’d seen her e-mail address. Whether she was on any social media he wouldn’t know, as he was not.

I enjoyed some of the oddly phrased ways the story was revealed (like that last sentence), but it took me a few tries to puzzle out if Gerald was the recipient or the sender oft he invite.  It’s a long first sentence, I guess.

I also enjoyed this follow-up sentence: “It was a rather jaunty message from the Clavells, who were not jaunty people.”  But I think that reading so much of the story like this is exhausting. (more…)

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Anne Carson–“‘We’ve Only Just Begun'” (Harper’s, January 2016)

Posted in A Silver Mt. Zion, Anne Carson, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Funny (strange), Gangsters, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Harper's, Huh?, Sam Shalibi, Short Story, Silver Mt. Zion, Snakes on May 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

HarpersWeb-Cover-2016-01-410SOUNDTRACK: A SILVER MT. ZION-He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… [CST009] (2000).

smtzWhile working with Godspeed You Black Emperor, Efrim decided to start another band.  Ostensibly this was an attempt to “learn music” and to be able to communicate better with his fellow musicians.  Apparently, this didn’t work.  So rather he created another band A Silver Mt. Zion (whose name has changed on nearly every album).  Strangely enough, he took two other members from Godspeed with him Thierry Amar (bass and more) and Sophie Trudeau (violins).

So how different can this band sound, then?

Well, quite different, actually.  Efrim’s main instrument for this album is piano (there was no piano in Godspeed as far as I can recall).  And virtually the entire album plays like a slow modern classical piano album.

This album being made by the folks from GYBE, there’s bound to be some differences between the vinyl and the CD.  The vinyl lists two songs, while the CD breaks those two songs into four parts each.

“Lonely as the Sound of Lying on the Ground of an Airplane Going Down” is the first song.  It has four parts.

“Broken Chords Can Sing a Little” opens with some piano chords, slowly meandering through a slightly dark melody.  The song is 8 minutes long and about 3 minutes in, there’s some staticky recorded voices that speak over the melody.  A slow mournful violin comes in about 4 minutes in.  Another voice fights for dominance during the song (they may both be religious speakers, although it’s not always clear).  The last minute or so of the song is simply the two voices speaking over each other.

“Sit in the Middle of Three Galloping Dogs” introduces some drums into the mix.  It’s the only song with drums–provided by GYBE member Aidan Girt.  Those voices continue into this song.  The drums give the song momentum as they play under an echoing guitar and some cool overdubbed violin parts.  The song seems like it will continue the same, but about half way in, the music drops off except for a fast bowing violin and then it shifts tone completely, with a more intricate drumbeat and new layers of violin.

The end of the song merges with the next track’s opening piano notes.  “Stumble Then Rise on Some Awkward Morning” returns to the sound of the first track–spare piano and plaintive violin.  The song slowly builds, but in a very different way from GYBE.  The pianos grow more insistent, but don’t seem to be heading towards a cathartic conclusion, just toward a new location.  And the song ends with a series of descending piano notes.

“Movie (Never Made)”is only three minutes long and it marks yet another departure from the GYBE/SMtZ instrumental world.  Efrim sings! His singing voice is whispered and quiet (occasionally anguished) and works pretty well in this quiet song.  The beginning lyrics: “A Silver Mt. Zion / all buried in ruins / we was dancing the hora / until we vomited blood.”  (Efrim described recording the album as a “Jewish experience”).  The music is spare piano and a rather jazzy contrabass until the end when a violin is added.  But it is primarily a spare piano and vocal song.

Disc/Side Two is called “The World Is SickSICK; (So Kiss Me Quick)!” and also has four parts.

“13 Angels Standing Guard ’round the Side of Your Bed” opens with what sounds like distant voices fading in and out amid washes of guitar chords.  The bass and violin anchor the song to a melody.  The “voices” might actually be guitars, although they sound almost like angels singing amid the ambient waves.

“Long March Rocket or Doomed Airliner” is listed as being only five seconds long and is all silence.  The CD suggests that all of the songs are timed as round numbers (9:00, 3:00) which isn’t true according to the CD.

“Blown-Out Joy from Heaven’s Mercied Hole” begins with a slow jazzy bass and Efrim singing gently.  Harmony vocals (from Sophie) can be heard as well.  The song is nearly ten minutes–the longest on the disc.  And the vocals stop pretty quickly.  The rest of the song is violin over the bass with a sprinkling of piano notes as well (sometimes playing a lengthy riff or run).  This song also features two guests: Gordon Krieger on bass clarinet and Sam Shalabi on guitar (both of which come in around 8 minutes, I believe).

“For Wanda” is apparently the inspiration for the disc.  The album was born out of Efrim’s desire to record something for his dog Wanda, who died while GYBE were on tour.  This song is a slow melancholy piano with ambient sounds in the background (unclear what they are although they sound like fireworks).  Eventually, the violin comes in as well and continues the melancholia.  The song fades only to be followed by a quiet coda on the organ.

So yes, this is quite a different sound and feel from GYBE.  And, perhaps surprisingly, this would prove to be Efrim’s main musical outlet, releasing several albums and couple of EPs before GYBE would reunite.

[READ: January 19, 2016] “‘We’ve Only Just Begun'”

I was sure I had finished off all the older Harper’s stories, but here’s one that I missed.  And it is pretty peculiar.

The story is elliptical. not really having an opening and not really having an ending.

And as such, a review has to be somewhat elliptical as well.  The story opens:

“They got into our car at a stoplight. It was cold. We never lock the doors in back. There were two of them. At the apartment they terrorized us.”

One of “them” was named Grimaldi. (more…)

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K.D. Miller–“Witness” (The Walrus, May 2016)

Posted in Artists, Babies, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Godspeed You Black Emperor, K.D. Miller, Short Story, The Walrus, Violence on May 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

2016-05SOUNDTRACK: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR-‘Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress’ [CST111] (2015).

Godspeed_You!_Black_Emperor_-_Asunder,_Sweet_and_Other_DistressIn 2015, GY!BE released their so far last record.  And it lasts a mere 40 minutes.

As with the previous record, there are two longer songs and two somewhat shorter ones.  The album’s four tracks are based on “Behemoth,” played live numerous times since 2012 and previously recorded onstage for the concert series We Have Signal. (Absolutely worth a viewing if you like the band–this is a good recording).

“Peasantry or ‘Light! Inside of Light!'” has perhaps my favorite opening from any GY!BE album.  After a series of drum beats, the big monolithic riff kicks in.  It begins as two notes but slowly grows and morphs into something bigger.  The bands rocks the riff for about 3 minutes, when there’s a brief guitar solo and a change in direction (with lots of chaos and noise).  And then the song turns pretty and strangely uplifting–the violin riffs that punctuate the middle of the song are quite beautiful.  For the last two or so minutes, the song really slows down, keeping that same basic melody but adding a slow guitar playing the riff.  It’s capped off with more of those soaring violin riffs.  At ten minutes total, it’s one of their shorter “epic” pieces, but I think it’s a great one.

“Lambs’ Breath” (almost ten minutes) begins as a seamless continuation of the previous part, opening with noisy static guitar sounds and droney chords.  This track is almost ten minutes long and it goes through many different waves of noise.  There’s some echoed sound effects and static that more or less drop out into a quieter drone about 3 minutes in.  The quiet (very quiet) drone is accompanied by electronic sounds.  The last nearly 3 minutes are all one note, oscillating somewhat, but feeling like it never stops.  On the vinyl, this track ends in a locked groove, so it actually does go forever.

“Asunder, Sweet” (6 minutes) continues with that same note until it is punctuated by echoed guitar notes and buzzing sounds.  Around three minutes in, more sounds start rising out of the murky noise.  It feels like a beast slowly waking.  There’s some pretty feedback as the drone grows louder….

“Piss Crowns Are Trebled” is nearly 14 minutes long. It continues of the growing drones of the previous song but immediately adds a violin.

For this album there is one minor change:

  • Thierry Amar – bass guitar, double bass
  • David Bryant – electric guitar, Portasound, organ, drones
  • Aidan Girt – drums
  • Karl Lemieux – 16mm frames artwork, photography
  • Efrim Menuck – electric guitar
  • Mike Moya – electric guitar,
  • Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
  • Sophie Trudeau – violin, drones
  • Timothy Herzog drums, drone [replacing Bruce Cawdron]

[READ: April 11, 2016] “Witness”

I really enjoyed this story and the wonderful direction it went at the end (I’ve been worried about The Walrus’ dark stories as of late).

The story is about an older woman (she is over 70), Harriet.  Harriet is a painter.  She lives alone by the lake, despite her son’s protestations.   And as the story opens, we see her attacked by someone in her home.

What was so interesting about the way the story was constructed was that Harriet remained wonderfully calm through the whole ordeal.  She remembered to turn her head while the man (who smelled of Juicy Fruit) put his arms around her throat (this prevents you from losing oxygen).  She could tell that the boy was one of the local kids who hung out down by the 7-Eleven.

But instead of freaking out, she remains calm through it all.  She talks to him in a friendly manner.  When he asks for the money, she says it’s in the bedroom.  But he forces her down the hall to the room.  As they are about to head in, she tells him that there’s a mirror in there.  She doesn’t want to see is face or know who he is (such good thinking).

He pauses, thinks this over, then throws her to the floor and proceeds to take her money.  (So I didn’t love that part of the story). (more…)

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