SOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Metal Circus EP (1983).
After the insane hardcore mess of Land Speed Record, this EP is a bit of a change. It’s still pretty hardcore, but now you can tell that the noisiness of the guitar is deliberate. Bob Mould is playing around with multiple layers of feedback and distortion to create a wall of noise that sometimes hides, sometime accentuates the overall sound.
What strikes me as odd in retrospect is that I think of Bob Mould as one of alternative rock’s poppier songwriters. And yet when you listen to this disc the two poppiest (which is a relative term to be sure) tracks are by Grant Hart.
The first two tracks are fast and furious. But what separates them from 4 x 4 hardcore is, mostly Greg Norton’s bass. He’s all over the place. There’s also some diversity within the songs themselves (a little guitar squeal in “Deadly Skies”).
“It’s Not Funny Anymore” (Hart’s song) is surprisingly upbeat (with guitar harmonics) and is not quite as noisy (although it’s still pretty noisy, and is not going on the radio anytime soon).
The next two track are more of Mould’s screamy hardcore.
The longest song (4 and a half minutes) is also by Hart. “Diane” is a creepy song about abduction and murder (yet with something of a singalong chorus). I actually know the Therapy? version better because I had listened to that disc a lot when it came out. But the Hüsker’s version is even creepier. Wikipedia says it is about a real incident (which makes it less creepy than if Hart has made it up, I suppose).
It ends with Mould’s least hardcore song, although the guitar solo is pretty insane.
And then it’s over. 7 songs in twenty minutes. That’s nearly half as many as on Land Speed Record. You can see the songs changing already. Just wait till the next disc!
[READ: June 29, 2009] McSweeney’s #5
McSweeney’s #5 plays with cover ideas again. On this one, 
the cover idea is actual different covers and slipcovers. The book is hardcover, with three different cover designs. It also has 4 different slipcover designs. The colophon explains that if one wanted one could have requested for free) each of the cover designs because they did not intend to make people buy multiple issues. Click on the covers to see them enlarged on flickr (all images are copyright McSweeney’s).
This is the Koppel front cover.
I will quote from the McSweeney’s site their description of the covers:
As many of you know, the new issue of our print version is out, and by now is in most stores. This issue is a hardcover book, and features four different dust jackets. One dust jacket has on it a man who seems to be suffering from terrible skin lesions. The second cover looks very much like the cover of Issue No. 1, with the addition of a medical drawing of a severed arm. The third cover is blank, with all of its images hiding on the back. Hiding from the bad people. The last cover is just red. Or, if you will, simply red.
In addition, under each dust jacket is a different cover. One features pictures of Ted Koppel. One features new work by Susan Minot. And a third features a variation on the second cover, described above, though this version is legible only with aid of mirror. This inner cover also is featured under the red dust jacket.
I was quite surprised when I took the slipcover off mine, (more…)
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When it was announced that Camera Obscura had released their first album in 11 years and were touring for the U.S. for the first time in longer, I got caught up in the hype. I didn’t really know them, but felt like I sort of did. But it turns out I didn’t know them at all. Then I thought, ooh, their Scottish, I wonder if they are interesting and unusual.
I Just Read About That... 