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Archive for the ‘McSweeney’s’ Category

My Wikipedia Entry

Posted in Digression, McSweeney's, Paul Debraski, The Collins Library, Wikipedia on February 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

wikiI finally decided I had something worthwhile to add to Wikipedia.  Since I have been writing so extensively about McSweeney’s Books, I decided to create a more or less comprehensive list of all of the books that they have published.  (I once asked a McSweeney’s rep if he had a list and he said he didn’t think anyone there did, which was somewhat surprising).  Anyhow, I used my librarian access and knowhow to create the chart on THIS WIKIPEDIA PAGE.  I’ve never felt such POWER!!

If you see any errors, please correct them!

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Lucy Thomas–Jokes Told in Heaven About Babies (2003)

Posted in Corporate skewering, Dave Eggers, Dreams, Essays, Flash Fiction, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Lucy Thomas, McSweeney's, Short Books, The Beach Boys, The Flaming Lips on February 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

jokesSOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (1993).

transIt’s easy to see how people could cry about the Lips moving to a major label.  I mean, comparing this to Hear It Is, they’re like different bands. Except that they’re not.  They’re still the same band, they’re just better, more refined, more mature (maybe) and they know how to use their previous experiments in a way that assists and strengthens the music.

Pretensions aside, this was the disc that scored them their biggest hit, “She Don’t Use Jelly.”  It’s a super catchy, slightly annoying, certainly borderline novelty song (except that all Lips songs are borderline novelty, they’re so weird).  I was thrilled when I saw the Lips on the Soft Bulletin tour and they not only played “Jelly,” they made a big party out of it with balloons and all kinds of fun.

“Jelly” isn’t entirely representative of the album, but, if you really listen to it, it’s not that far afield from the rest of the disc either.  “Turn It On” is the first time you can really hear all the elements of the Lips coalescing into what they would one day become.  Wayne’s voice is coming in close to what we know now, and the musicianship is quite good.  “Pilot Can at the Queer of God” (see, their titles haven’t sold out!) on an earlier disc would have been a messy shambles, but their refined sense makes this a fantastic song with cool backing vocals and everything.  A sort of punk Beach Boys if you will.

“Chewin the Apple of Your Eye” could actually have been a B-Side of Soft Bulletin, in its simple acousticness.  “Superhumans” starts showing off the kind of interesting drum sound that would be a staple of their later releases (this disc welcomes drummer and main contributor Steve Drozd, so that makes sense).

“Be My Head” is another fun Beach Boysesque song. It’s such a simple, happy song (complete with ahh’s in the background).  The distorted guitar isn’t overpowering.  The only thing that is decidedly not Brian Wilson is the lyrics (“You can be my head, I’m through with this one).

“Moth in the Incubator” seems to summarize their whole career in one song.  An acoustic intro, a noisy, crashing middle section and then a slight weird yet catchy as hell melody to close.

Track 9 is listed as “********” but its’ actually a song called “Plastic Jesus” from the film Cool Hand Luke.  A short acoustic song.

The disc ends with the really cool “Slow Nerve Action” a very simple riff, but it is played so differently from the rest of the album, (almost like a professional guitarist?!).  A simple song but very catchy.  An excellent end to a great disc.

[READ: January 26, 2009] Jokes Told in Heaven About Babies

I can’t really say how disappointed I was by this book.  And primarily I was disappointed because the title is awesome and has so much potential.  However, the title is neither accurate nor expounded upon.  That’s right, the book with probably the funniest title published in 2003 is misleading. (more…)

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Various–Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is (2005)

Posted in Art, Beck, Funny (strange), McSweeney's, Oddities, The Flaming Lips, Threats on February 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

dearnewSOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Hit to Death in the Future Head (1992).

hitAfter a few years on an indie label, The Flaming Lips moved to the majors with this disc.  The experimentation is downplayed somewhat although that’s not to say there’s none.  One could see that some die hard fans would be disappointed in the move as the Lips limit the acid somewhat, but just judging by the cover (polka dotted toilet seat) and the title (what on earth does that mean?) it’s clear they haven’t sold out.

“Talkin’ Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)” opens the disc with a fun deep bass voice singing, “Oooh wah wah” while Wayne ‘s normal voice sings one of their catchiest songs thus far.  “Hit Me Like You Did the First Time” is also a catchy number with a wildly distorted guitar riff opening.  “The Sun” is practically a mellow folk song, propelled by a smooth bass line.

“Felt Good to Burn” has a wobbly backwards feeling (so indeed, the experiments have not ended). “Gingerale Afternoon (The Astrology Of A Saturday)” sounds like a pretty typical  college radio hit song circa 1992 (although sightly underproduced).  Both of these tracks could easily have come from Beck.

“Halloween on the Barbary Coast” is probably the only song that tells you “you know you’ve still got shit for brains” that you don’t feel insulted by.  It’s a slow building beauty with a vaguely middle eastern feel and wonderful to sing along to.  On “The Magician Vs. The Headache,” the magician is another great acid power pop song.  The headache would be the twenty or so seconds of repetitive blasts at the end of the song.   “You Have To Be Joking (Autopsy Of The Devil’s Brain)” is another mellow ballad, despite the title. “Frogs” feels like a pretty normal song aside from the lyrics, until you get to the squalling guitar solo (all 2 bars of it).  “Hold Your Head” is a keyboard filled mellow song that sort of fades the album out.

So, even though these songs are a lot less aggressive and trippy than their previous records (or even than their titles would suggest), the Lips don’t just end the record pleasantly.  The final untitled track is 29 minutes of unchnaging thunder claps and nonsense and noise blasts echoing back and forth from speaker to speaker.  Take THAT major labels!

[READ: January 26, 2008] Dear New Girl or Whatever Your Name Is

According to the back of the book Lisa Wagner, the designer of this book, confiscated notes in various school districts around Los Angeles.  These notes, including the title’s inspiration were then given to various artists to use as the basis for pieces of art. (more…)

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David Garnett–Lady into Fox (1922) [THE COLLINS LIBRARY No. 3 (2004)]

Posted in David Garnett, Drinking, Fables, Funny (strange), Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Paul Collins, The Collins Library, The Flaming Lips on January 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

fox1SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-In aPriest Driven Ambulance (1990).

priestThis is where the Lips really hit their stride.  While they are still experimenting with sonic noises, the dedication to songcraft takes precedence.  It’s as if they wrote cool songs first and then fiddled with them, rather than using the fiddling as the main focus.  The album is divided into two sides: Smile Side and Brain Side.  Amusingly all songs are listed as being 3:26 long, and yet none of them actually are.

“Shine on Sweet Jesus” is catchy as hell and also features some of the interesting effects that Wayne & co would really play with later (multi layered deep voices, etc).”Unconsciously Screaming” is another simply great thrashy song.

“Rainin’ Babies” seems like it would be a pretty harsh song and yet it isn’t.  Its got a catchy chorus (“this is my present to the world”) and is one of many highlights on the disc.  “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain” has pretty weird lyrics over a nice acoustic bit.  It sounds so innocent and yet it starts: “I was born on the day they shot JFK”.  It slowly builds to a singalong chorus of “You’re fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t.  Five star mother superior rain.”  Whatever that means.

Brain Side doesn’t start out too auspiciously with the rather meandering “Stand in Line.”  But it is quickly redeemed with the epic “God Walks Among Us Now.”  It’s squeals and squalling and distortion and it’s catchy as all get out, and it contains the wonderful chorus:  “Used to be alright then things got strange.”  “There You Are (Jesus Song No. 7)” is a more delicate ballad.  (It’s surprising how much acoustic work there is on the disc).

“Mountain Side” returns us to the rocking noise.  It’s another simple, catchy song with enough distortion to keep it interesting.  “What a Wonderful World” is a cover of the classic song.  It seems so much like a parody, and yet knowing Wayne’s later lyrical work I’d suggest it isn’t.  It’s done  genuinely, despite themselves, and you never get a sense that they’re snickering at all.

The two bonus songs are okay, but they tend to ruin the rather nice ending of the disc.  (But such is the problem with bonus tracks).

[READ: January 17, 2008] Lady into Fox

In the first few pages of this book, as the title implies, a Gentleman’s wife turns into a fox.  The fact that Garnett was able to write 78 pages about this and keep it interesting is pretty remarkable.

Basically, when Mr Tebrick’s wife turns into a fox–more or less before his eyes–he decides that he will bring her home in hopes that this will just wear off.  The story turns into something of a fairy tale, with Mrs Tebrick wearing a house coat and playing cards (although she cannot talk) and with them trying to lead a normal life. (more…)

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Frank Buckland–Curious Men: Being a Collection of Freaks, Frauds, and Fine Fellows. Gathered by an Eminent Victorian (1830-1838) [THE COLLINS LIBRARY No. 6 (2008)]

Posted in 19th Century, Dip-in Books, Frank Buckland, Freaks, Funny (strange), Led Zeppelin, McSweeney's, Oddities, Paul Collins, Pink Floyd, Short Books, The Collins Library, The Flaming Lips on January 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

curiousSOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Telepathic Surgery (1989).

telepathicAlthough the overall sound of the Lips on this disc isn’t that much different, the band sounds more accomplished. Rather than just banging out songs in a garage, this one sounds like a bunch of guys banging out songs in a studio and then experimenting the hell out of them.  In fact, the experimentation often takes over the quality of the song itself.  Wikipedia states that this album was originally going to be released as a thirty minute sound collage, although that was modified to what we now have, and that makes some sense.  This experimentation will certainly pay off in later years as the Lips hone their studio skills.

Even though the experiments tend to overshadow the songs, the compositions are more intricate, the playing is more precise (even though it is still somewhat sloppy sounding) and they sound like a real band.

The album is a lot of fun, although the middle two tracks: “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory” and “UFO Story”could easily be removed and made a separate EP.   (And yes, I realize that “Hell’s Angels” is a bonus track not on the original LP, but it really messes with the flow when dropped in the middle of the disc).

But back to the beginning.  “Right Now” has a great, weird squeaky opening riff and a fantastic chorus that is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine.” “Chrome Plated Suicide” is a surprisingly poppy song, drenched in distortion to give it anice edge.  “Hari-Krishna Stomp Wagon” is subtitled “(Fuck Led Zeppelin)” which is pretty funny since so many of their earlier songs sound so Led Zeppelinish.

There are two super-short pieces that fill up the disc: “Michael Time to Wake Up” is a thirty second feedback squall and “The Spontaneous Combustion of John” is 53 seconds but is an actual song song, with acoustic guitars.  “UFO Story” is in fact a 6 and a half minute spoken word story about UFOs.  It’s a mellow drony piece with a barely audible (presumably stoned) Wayne relating a tale about seeing the same UFOs on two distinct occasions.  The middle two minutes are basically just  guitar squalling feedback, and the  final the two are a pretty piano melody.  “Miracle on 42 Street” isgentle instrumental, with a lot of cool bass, that opens with some fun radio snippets.

The second “side” of the disc is pretty different from the first. It contains a series of rather short, rather simple songs.  The experimentation has also mellowed somewhat.  It’s not as crazy as the first half and, in fact is a return to the acid rock of the first two albums.  “The Last Drop of Morning Dew” is another short song although it’s not silly.  “Shaved Gorilla” begins with a classical sample (which I cannot place), and then turns into a tidy little rocker.  And the disc ends with the wonderfully titled “Begs and Achin,'” a solid distortion filled rocker.

Two bonus tracks come on the disc “Fryin Up” (on Easter Sunday, blowing off everything off on Monday…hee). Doesn’t sound out of place on the disc at all.And “Hell’s Angels Cracker Factory” is a 23 minute (!) instrumental freak out. It opens with the roar of motorcycles and includes reversed tape loops and distortion, blessed distortion.  As a track it works pretty well, although, as I said, in the middle of a disc it’s a bit of a distraction.  On the reissue Finally, The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid the song is reduced to 3 minutes, which gives you a taste for it without taking up the bulk of your evening.

Overall, the album is a transitional step, but it’s an important one.  And if you like your music freaky, it’s an enjoyable one, too.

[READ: January 15, 2008] Curious Men

This is a collection of articles originally published in the 1830s.  The subject is, essentially, human oddities.  Buckland was a sort of collector of oddities.  Yet unlike P.T. Barnum, he seems to have befriended, rather than exploited many of the people in question.  In fact, this collection of articles shows him investigating some of these bizarre claims, and seeing if they need to be debunked. (more…)

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McSweeney’s#1 [Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern (or “Gegenshein”) Autumn 1998 “The Ski Instructor”]

Posted in 19th Century, Bill Clinton, Books about writers, Christmas on Mars, Consumerism, David Foster Wallace, Egyptology, Essays, Flash Fiction, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Glasgow Phillips, John Hodgman, Komar and Melamid, Led Zeppelin, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Meta, Neal Pollack, Racism, Rick Moody, Roberto Bolaño, Sarah Vowell, Short Story, Smarty Pants, The Flaming Lips, War, Zev Borow on January 13, 2009| 3 Comments »

mcsweeneys1SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Hear It Is (1986).

hear-it-isI’ve claimed that I love the Lips, but then I was very harsh about their cover of “White Christmas,” and I noted that I wouldn’t listen to the soundtrack of  Christmas on Mars very much.  So, I felt I owed them some love.  But my recollection of their early stuff was that it was pretty weird and hard to listen to.

And yet, I proved myself wrong.  Hear It Is is not the Flaming lips of the early 2000’s.  It’s almost like the bratty younger brother of that band.  Only Wayne and Michael Ivins are present, and the band is pretty much just guitar, bass and drums.  The guitar is distorted and noisy (except when it’s acousticy and mellow).  The album doesn’t sound too far out of place for a college radio record in the late 80s.

Except of course that Wayne and the boys are pretty out there. The music is psychedelic, acid inspired and quite punk.  So you get songs like “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin” a seven minute epic of heavy riffs and screaming, but also of background “Ahhhh’s”.  You also get “With You” a song that starts out like a pretty, acoustic ballad. “Godzilla Flick” is a ballad like no other.  And yet despite all of the freakouts and noise, really at this stage what you get is a Led Zeppelin inspired heavy garage band having a lot of fun.  To say that this is going to blow your mind would be unfair, but to anyone who says the early stuff is unlistenable, they are totally wrong.   Hear It Is is sloppy, punky and a little ridiculous, the ideal incubator for what will become the Lips of 2000.

This CD comes with a cover of “Summertime Blues.”  This disc was reissued along with their initial EP and some bonus tracks on the disc Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid.

[READ: 1998 and January 10, 2009] McSweeney’s #1

I have been reading McSweeney’s since its inception.  (My copy of this issue even has the two page typed letter that explains the failure of Might magazine and the origins of this one. However, it’s been over ten years since I read the first issues.  Given my new perspective on McSweeney’s, and how I read just about everything they release, I thought it was about time to go back to the beginning and proceed through the issues until I meet up where I first started reviewing them.

Issue #1 has many features that are absent in later issues:

First is the cover.  This cover is simply filled with words; practically littered with them.  There are subtitles, there are jokes, there’s all sorts of things (I mean, just look at the full title of this issue).

Second is the letters column.  The difference with this letters column compared to most publications is that they are all (or mostly) nonsense.  One comes from an author whose piece is accepted into the issue (Morgan Phillips).  Another is a funny/silly letter from Sarah Vowell.  And there’s a letter to his cousin from John Hodgman (whose comic potential may not have been tapped at this point?). (more…)

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McSweeney’s #29 (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Fishbone, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Joyce Carol Oates, King's X, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Meta, Military, Outer Space, Roddy Doyle, Sex, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Threats, Unlikable main character, Violence, War, Yannick Murphy on January 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

mc29SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe (1993).

monkeyI had actually forgotten about this album, because it was so overshadowed by Truth and Soul and Reality….. When I put it on I wasn’t expecting much (Fishbone had something of a precipitous decline around this time).  So, I was amazingly delighted with how much I remembered this album and how much I enjoyed it (which shows to me that I must have listened to it a lot back in college).

This album is much much heavier than anything they’ve done up to this point (I can’t speak for the releases that came after it).  It does have some variety of songs, but not nearly as much as their previous releases.  The other notable thing is that there’s no short songs on it.  There’s none of the one minute songs that they’ve put throughout their discs.

“Swim” was the single from the album and it is heavy and moshy.  The video, I seem to recall, was a lot of people crowd surfing.  “Black Flowers” slows things down a bit, but unlike previous ballads, this one is still pretty loud.  It’s got a great catchy melody, but it’s still  quite dark. “Servitude” reminds me of some of King’s X’s s darker moments, with their riffs and dark harmonies.  (This just shows how Fishbone is much more metal on this release).  Their first “lighter” song is the return to ska with “Unyielding Condition.”  It’s a nice let up from the heaviness, and is still catchy. “Lemon Meringue” is the other lighter moment, with a nice bass riff included.

Funk returns with “Properties of Propaganda” and the repeated chants of “Fuk This Shit on Up.”  “The Warmth of Your Breath” is hardcore insanity, the type of song that would have been about 2 minutes on another disc sort of overstays its welcome, although the often repeated line “may your dog’s colon be familiar with the warmth of your breath” while barely audible can’t help but raise a smile.  And even though “Drunk Skitzo” features Branford Marsalis, it’s still too long for such silliness.

So, it’s really the first half of the disc that I liked a lot…I guess some discs run too long.

I never got a Fishbone CD after this one.   The reviews were pretty lousy by then.  But of course, the reviews of this one were lousy too, so maybe I’m, selling their later output short.

[READ: January 3, 2009] McSweeney’s # 29

My cover for this book happens to be red.  Huh.

This issue comes as a hardcover book.  There are planets on the cover, including a die cut hole that shows the moon of the next page.

On the bottom of every page of the book are matchbox labels.  Most of them are Eastern European in origin.  They were collected by Jane McDevitt, a web designer in the UK.  Some of the images are available on her Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/maraid.  They are a pretty cool collection of images.  And, they brighten up all the work . (more…)

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Christopher Monks–The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life® Or, The Video Game as Existential Metaphor (2008)

Posted in Christopher Monks, Contests, Einstürzende Neubauten, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Marriage (Happy), McSweeney's, Michael J. Nelson, Portishead, Set at School, Super Mario Brothers, Technology, Tekken, Universities, Video Games, Virginity (Loss of) on November 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

yourlifeSOUNDTRACK: PORTISHEAD-Third (2008).

3rdThis is probably one of the spookiest albums I’ve heard in a long time.  And, boy, do I love it.

Portishead has been away from the music scene for about ten years.  They’d had a couple of hits, sort of gloomy trip hop all held together by Beth Gibbons’ otherworldly voice (“Nobody loves me, it’s true, not like you do”).  But frankly, after ten years I wasn’t even sure if I cared about Portishead anymore.  And then, I heard the songs!

Beth Gibbons’ voice sounds even more ghostly than before.  And the noises that Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley make are totally beyond the pale.  Some of the music sounds like pieces from a late night horror movie.  Take the bizarro verse music of “Hunter,” guitar chords stretched beyond recognition alternating with a keyboard riff straight out of “Revenge of the Cheapo Zombie Monster.” Or the aggressive soundtrack of “Machine Gun,” in which Gibbons sings over a musical piece that is more or less an electronic drum that sounds like a machine gun.  It’s pretty intense.

But just when you think the whole disc is nothing but uneasy listening, they thrown in the beautiful acoustic simplicity of “The Rip,” a simple acoustic guitar playing over Gibbons’ sultry voice, or “Deep Water” a minute and a half of old timey ukulele music.  Of course, these songs are bookeneded by two creepy tracks: “Plastic” in all its eeriness, and “We Carry On” some of the most unusual sounds ever to be called music (aside from Einsturzende Neubauten, of course).

Somehow all of the unsettling sounds work wonderfully together.  And, although I haven’t processed all the lyrics yet, previous Portishead albums would lead me to believe that things aren’t very peachy in Gibbons’ world.  And yet, despite that, I find the album very uplifting and not at all depressing.

Maybe every band should take ten years between records if it yields results this great.

[READ: November 16, 2008] The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life®

I used to work with the author of this book.  Perhaps a dozen or so years ago, Christopher (just Chris back then) Monks and I worked at Wordsworth Books in beautiful Cambridge, MA.   When I learned that he was writing for McSweeney’s (and has since become the editor of their online website) I was very impressed and happy for him and not at all jealous or seething with envy at his wonderful, picturesque life in the Massacusetts suburbs.  But, more to the point, when I read his works, and his website, he displayed humor that was in little evidence at work.  (Talk about compartmentilization…).

Anyhow, he recently sent a generic email to everyone who has ever written him to say that he has a book out (and would we all go buy it, please).  Well, I’m always game to help someone who over the years I have come to consider a former co-worker. (more…)

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Deb Olin Unferth–Vacation (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Cancer as plot device, Deb Olin Unferth, Funny (strange), Harry Potter, James Joyce, King's X, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Military, Slacker, The Walrus on October 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING’S X-Please Come Home Mr Bulbous (2000).

I’ve always loved the silly side of King’s X, especially when it comes to titles.  And here we have yet another bizarro album title.  And King’s X’s 8th disc actually lives up to the title.  Well, sort of.  But it is one of the band’s most unusual records musically.  They experiment with many different sounds and textures.  There’s a lot of really spare sections, where Doug’s bass is not the heavy, smooth sound we’ve become used to, but rather, single notes (or sometimes two notes at once) played staccato.  There’s also a lot of different styles within one song–King’s X have always experimented with sounds, but it was usually one style per song.  This one mixes things up tremendously.

“Fishbowl Man” has the rather unique distinction of being a chunky heavy guitar riff with vocals by Doug, a pretty, softish chorus sung by Ty and, even weirder, a spoken word center.  “Julia” follows with several different parts: a rather mellow opening, with a harmony-filled chorus, a suddenly heavy heavy post-chorus, and a little psychedelia thrown in for good measure.  “She’s Gone Away”‘s catchy chorus sounds an awful lot like one of King’s X catchy Ty ballads, but musically it’s quite different. There’s some two-notes-at-once bass playing, and–despite the soaring harmonies of the chorus–the guitar work is much heavier and darker for a Ty-sung song.  The solo also has an unusual part in which the bass and drums are very sparse while Ty noodles away.

“Marsh Mellow Field” sounds like a typical King’s X song, but there’s new stuff added: Doug singing a call and response chorus to himself, Ty and Doug splitting vocals in the verse, but it all comes back to a catchy chorus.  “When You’re Scared” has a really weird (for King’s X) recording sound that sounds like they’re in a huge, empty field.  But it works really well with the gentle harmonious chorus.

Consistently the highlight for most listeners is “Charlie Sheen.”  It is upbeat and pretty and what the hell it has to do with Charlie Sheen no one knows.  There’s great vocal interplay on this, and it ranks pretty high on the Ty ballad list.  And, somewhat unusually for this disc, there’s nothing unusual about it.

“Smudge” contains some of the darkest lyrics I can think of for King’s X.  Doug even sings of breaking a rosary.  Evidently the backlash from the Christian community was pretty strong.  “Bitter Sweet” has a loping bass that plays nicely over this tender, short ballad.  And the disc ends with 11 minutes of the sweet “Move Me (Parts 1 and 2)”.  Despite the oddities at the beginning of the album, the bulk of the disc is pretty conventional King’s X.  And they’ve still got it.

One other unusual thing: between some tracks on the CD there are tongue twisters in Dutch and Japanese. (I lifted this from Wikipedia, by the way)

* At the end of track 1: Acht-en-Tachtig-Prachtige-Grachten
This is Dutch for “88 (achtentachtig) beautiful (prachtige) canals (grachten).”
* At the end of track 3: Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da
This is a Japanese tongue twister (hayakuchi kotoba) meaning “The adjacent (tonari) customer (kyaku) eats (kuu) persimmons (kaki) often (yoku).”
* At the end of track 4: Zes-en-Zestig-Sinaas-Appel-Schillen
This is again Dutch and means “66 (zesenzestig) orange (sinaasappel) peels (schillen).”
* At the end of track 5: Hottentotten-Tenten-Tentoonstellingen
Dutch tongue twister meaning “(an) exhibition of tents made by the Hottentots.”
* At the end of track 6: Chikushō, nante hidee sandoicchi da
Japanese meaning “Damn (chikushō)! How awful (hidee) this sandwich (sandoicchi) is!”
* At the end of track 10: Acht-en-Tachtig-Prachtige-Grachten
See first tongue twister.

[READ: October 1, 2008] Vacation

I received this book in the mail as part of my McSweeney’s Book Club.  I tend to put new books at the bottom of my pile, but I decided to break it up and read this one right away.  It sounded really interesting, I liked Unferth’s flash fiction, and it was fairly short itself (216 pages).  I would say that aside from Harry Potter, this may be my fastest turnaround on a book coming out and me reading it.

But enough about me.  This book is about Myers and his wife, Gray and his daughter, Claire and the Untrainer, and Spoke and Sexy Woman in Bikini.

The set up of the book caught my attention right away.  It begins with Claire’s story.  She sees a man on her train.  He looks familiar, but his head is oddly misshapen.  She finds it very unsettling.  The man walks off the train and out of her life.  And then we follow the man.  It reminded me of Slacker, where people’s lives intersect briefly and we follow the next person. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #28 (2008)

Posted in Art, Austin City Limits, Children's Books, Consumerism, Fables, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), McSweeney's, My Morning Jacket, NPR/PRI/PBS, Sarah Manguso on August 27, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MY MORNING JACKET-Evil Urges (2008).

Looking back, I see that My Morning Jacket is the first band that I talked about.  And I also see that I didn’t say anything about the CD.  Which was not a criticism, it was just something I hadn’t realized I’d be doing yet.  Well, now let’s make up for it with the review of their latest album, Evil Urges.

Their live album Okonokos was my first introduction to MMJ (after seeing them live on the PBS show Austin City Limits, which blew me away).  This is my first listen to a studio record from them and I can’t say enough about it.  I’ve been listening to it in the house all the time.  What’s so impressive about Evil Urges is the utter diversity it contains, yet it also sounds unmistakably MMJ.  I’m sure this is mostly due to Jim James’ voice, but I think it goes beyond that.

Quite a large majority of the album feels like, as Sarah said, songs her parents used to listen to back in the 1970s.  And I can’t help but agree. The middle songs “Thank You, Too!” “Sec Walkin'” and “Two Halves” sound very much like treacly 70s AM radio, and yet, none of these songs sounds treacly, and…they all maintain enough of a contemporary feel that they don’t seem retro at all.  How do you make a retro song without it sounding retro?

But really, the whole album is fantastic.  “Evil Urges” is a funky opening, which segues into the almost unbelievably smooth sounding “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream, Pt 1.”  This is followed by the most controversial song of the collection: “Highly Suspicious.”   I’ve read a lot of reviews in which they deplore this song.  It’s unlike anything else on the record: a heavy, fuzzed out, staccato guitar riff with the chant of “Highly Suspicious” and Jim James singing some lines in an insanely high falsetto.  It seems to devolve into just shrieks of laughter by the end.  When I first heard it, I found it somewhat unsettling, and it really doesn’t fit the album at all; however, it is the song I find myself singing the most from the album. It’s a truly unforgettable song.  And, of course, I like it.

“Librarian” is a lovely, if somewhat outdated and cliched look at librarians (hey, I have to say it, I’m a librarian) but it’s ultimately a sweet, beautiful song about libraries and their employees.  And “Look at You” finishes up the “soft” portion of the record.  There’s about 6 of these soft/mellow songs and if “Look at You” wasn’t such a great singalong of a song, it would be one song too many, because of the anticipation of the rocking follow up: “Aluminum Park.”  I have no idea what its about, but the guitar riff is spectacular, and it brings a great change of pace to the record.  We finish up with two more heavier songs, and the penultimate song “Touch Me, I’m Going to Scream, Pt 2.”  This doesn’t reprise the opening song, but rather adds a new dimension to it.  It winds up being about 8 minutes long because the end just… keeps… getting…… slower……… and……… slow………. er……… AHHHHHHH!

Overall, a great album.  I always assumed I’d get Z someday, but since almost the whole record was recorded live for Okonokos, I never did.  I’m glad that Evil Urges has rekindled my MMJ fix. And Z will be coming soon.

[READ: August 23, 2008] McSweeney’s #28

McSweeney’s #28 is a beautiful creation to behold.  It is designed as 8 separate small volumes.  Two sets of four volumes are placed in a cardboard box (with no top).  They are held in with an elastic ribbon.  When all four are placed in correctly (with their backs face out) they create a beautiful painting.  The next four are held in with the same ribbon to create two paintings on top of each other…suitable for mounting! (well, not really, but it would look very nice face out on the shelf.)

Danica Novgorodoff painted the two beautiful puzzle pieces that make up the back covers of the books.  One (comprised of the books marked with *) is a predominantly yellow painting of a girl huddled in the woods.  The second is of coal miners working in the dark.  Both are evocative in very different ways.

There’s an introductory essay in the bottom of the “box.”  The essay was written by Jess Benjamin, a one-time intern at McSweeney’s, whose idea it was to create this volume.  Her idea was to showcase fables because:

Once upon a time, there was a simple, straightforward way of telling a story.  It was known as a fable.  All you needed were some talking animals, a human or two, a moral take-away, and a pithy delivery.  Space out the text, include some colorful illustrations, and you were in business….

The power of the fable lies in its ability to say what it means and mean what it says.  Its messages are compelling because they are not hidden, elegant because they are uncluttered, timeless because they are honest.  A fable does not discriminate; a fable loves everyone equally….

And, so, what we have is 8 volumes of fables.  Each volume is written by a different author.  And, each volume has illustrations (by different artists) on just about every other page.   As with all fables, each one is short and teaches a moral.  These are by contemporary authors and have a more contemporary, yet still globally applicable message.

Overall, this issue is light on words, but it more than makes up for it in illustrations and morals. (more…)

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