Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘All Songs Considered’ Category

Kurt Vonnegut–The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2011)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Biography, Book Reviews, Books about writers, David Foster Wallace, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), George Orwell, George Plimpton, History, In These Times, Interviews, Jacques Derrida, Jill Krementz, Joe Perro, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Marriage (Happy), Martin Amis, Morrissey, Norman Mailer, Playboy, Politicians, Ralph Ellison, Religion, Roberto Bolaño, Short Books, Sports, Stop Smiling, Surfer Blood, The Nation, The Paris Review, U.S. Airways Magazine, Violence, War on March 28, 2013| 1 Comment »

vonlastintSOUNDTRACK: SURFER BLOOD-“Demon Dance” (Live at SXSW, March 27, 2013).

surfer blood

I’ve liked Surfer Blood since I first heard them.  They write catchy, mostly short, poppy songs.  And usually after a few listens, the hooks really grab you.  The strange thing about the band is that the hooks aren’t always readily apparent, which makes their songs sound kind of samey sometimes.

Of course, samey isn’t a bad thing, necessarily.  Surfer Blood is quite distinctive and I tend to enjoy everything they do.  This new song sounds like their other stuff, which is fine.  But the most distinctive thing about the band of probably their singer who sounds like a less-affected Morrissey.

Having also listened to the song from the album I can say that the singer is far harder to understand live, so maybe live is not the best way to hear a new song from them, but for an old favorite, Surfer Blood has a great energy live.

Watch the show here and hear the studio version here.

[READ: March 27, 2013] The Last Interview and Other Conversations

Melville House has published a number of these “Last Interview” books, and as a completist I feel compelled to read them.  I have read criticisms of the series primarily because what the books are are collections of interviews including the last interview that the writer gave.  They don’t have anything new or proprietary.  The last interview just happens to be the last one he gave.   So it seems a little disingenuous, but is not technically wrong.

There’s so far five books in the series, and I figured I’d read at least three (Vonnegut, David Foster Wallace and Roberto Bolaño–the other two turned out to be Jorge Luis Borges–who I would be interested in reading about and Jacques Derrida (!) who I have always loved–I guess this series was tailor made for me).

At any rate, these interviews are from various times and locations in Vonnegut’s career.  There are six in total.  I don’t know if the titles they give here were the titles in the original publications but here’s what’s inside:

  • “Kurt Vonnegut: The Art of Fiction” from The Paris Review, Spring 1977 (by David Hayman, David Michaelis, George Plimpton, Richard Rhodes)
  • “There Must be More to Love Than Death” from The Nation, August 1980 (by Robert K. Musil)
  • “The Joe & Kurt Show” from Playboy, May 1982 (by Joseph Heller and Carole Mallory)
  • “The Melancholia of Everything Completed” from Stop Smiling, August 2006 (by J.C. Gabel)
  • “God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut” from U.S. Airways Magazine (!!!), June 2007 (by J. Rentilly)
  • “The Last Interview” from In These Times May 9, 2007 (by Heather Augustyn) (more…)

Read Full Post »

Roddy Doyle–”Teaching” (New Yorker, April 2, 2007)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Canadian Music, Depression, Drinking, Dublin, Ireland, Haim, Humiliation, Irish Writer, Metz, New Yorker, Roddy Doyle, Set at School, Short Story on March 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

2007_04_02_p139SOUNDTRACK: METZ-“Wet Blanket” (Live at SXSW, March 20, 2013).

metzIt’s amazing how much different two bands can sound (comparing Haim from yesterday to Metz from today).  Obviously, they play very different styles of music, but Metz is just three guys and they are loud and bass heavy and raucous. Whereas Haim, with their four members, have practically no low end at all.  It’s an amazing look at how different bands can be while playing basically the same instruments.

Anyhow, Metz are a noise rock trio from Canada.  I’d never heard of them before this song.  There’s a lot of noise as the song opens, but once the groove starts, it’s fast and heavy with pounding drums and a persistent, fast bass.  The band, who are dressed nicely (the singer guitarist has a button down shirt open over his T-shirt), are really abrasive and punky.  And the singer/screamer is a wild man–climbing on the bass drum to wail his solo, feedbacking the guitar from the amps and not even playing the guitar as he screams into the microphone (but there is noise, so I wonder if he has an echo effect on).  At one point someone in the audience even holds the microphone closer to him while he screams as he seems to be having trouble with it.

It’s an intense set and I’d like to hear more from them.  Their debut came out last year (on Sub Pop).

You can watch this song here.

[READ: March 26, 2013] “Teaching”

Another story from Doyle, this one is a dark story about being an old and near-retirement teacher (Doyle was himself a teacher).

The story opens with a girl saying that he, the teacher, knew her mother.  This has been happening more and more now that the students he taught when he was young have had children who are now as old as they were.  The girl says her mom fancied him and he makes a poor joke wondering if the girl can believe it, but he’s just made uncomfortable by the exchange.

In fact, he mostly just seems to want to try to get through the day.  It’s only September and he has a whole school year ahead of him.  He never drinks at school, that is a rule he will always abide by, but that doesn’t mean he won’t drink after school.   Which he does.  Although to describe him as an alcoholic (which I guess he is) kind of takes something away from the thrust of the story.  The alcohol is a part of who he is but it doesn’t impact the story, exactly. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Kurt Vonnegut & Lee Stringer–Like Shaking Hands with God (1999)

Posted in Alanis Morissette, All Songs Considered, Books about writers, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), Haim, Heart, Kurt Vonnegut, Lee Stringer, Mark Twain, Short Books on March 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

stringer SOUNDTRACK: HAIM-“Falling” (Live at SXSW, March 17, 2013).

haim

Haim are three sisters and a drummer.  The sisters play guitar and sing, play bass and percussion and play keyboards.  And yes, they look a lot alike (an a lot like Alanis Morrissette).  But they sound very classic rock–kind of like Heart, with a more modern, noisy twist.

I didn’t really care much for the sound of this song–it seems kind of anemic to me.  The sisters are all quite talented and when the lead singer/guitarist started wailing they were really good.  But the overall feel of the song seemed more high school than rock show–like they couldn’t get the mix right, like the keyboards (which were little bopping notes, rather than waves of music) were the main force behind the song–which I don’t think is true.

Maybe they’d sound better on record, or if they had a better mix on stage.

[READ: March 26, 2013] Like Shaking Hands with God

I had been reading a lot of Vonnegut, but I got a little burnt out by him.  However, when I was checking his bibliography all those months ago, I found that Princeton University had a book that I couldn’t find anywhere else.  Well, given my new employment situation, it was time to take advantage of that connection.  So I went to the Firestone library and grabbed this book (and a few others that I didn’t see elsewhere).

It’s a lot of fuss over an 80 page book, but I’m glad I read it and it did get me back in the mood to read more Vonnegut (I have five books of his left to read, although I believe more posthumous stuff seems to come out all the time).

This book is essentially a transcription of two conversations that Vonnegut had (one public and one private) with the author Lee Stringer and the moderator Ross Klavan.  The first conversation occurred on October 1, 1998 at a bookstore in Manhattan.  The second was a private affair in January 1999  (which was of course, recorded), in which they followed up on some of the same ideas.

Stringer had written one book (Grand Central Winter) when the first conversation took place (he has written two more since).  Stringer says he always admired Vonnegut and Vonnegut talks about how much he liked Grand Central Winter (which Vonnegut wrote a forward to).  GCW is nothing like Vonnegut’s books, it is a serious book about being homeless (Stringer himself was homeless for a long time) and it is real and gritty.  It sounds good, although maybe a little too gritty and real for me. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Roddy Doyle–“Brilliant” (St. Patrick’s Festival Parade, 2011)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Children's Books, Dublin, Ireland, Funny (ha ha), Gashcat, Grateful Dead, Irish Writer, Roddy Doyle, Short Story on March 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

unescoSOUNDTRACK: GASHCAT-“Morning Sun” (live at SXSW, March 28 2013).

gashcat

When I first heard that the Grateful Dead had two drummers, I thought, “Wow these guys must rock hard.”  Which is not true at all.  Gashcat have two drummers and while the band is not heavy, they rock hard.  “Morning Sun” is a non-stop frenetic blast of bouncy folk pop.

They lead singer/screamer uses an acoustic guitar, and there are two old- school keyboards (for both backing music and spacey effects).  They main drummer drums and the secondary percussionist pounds along with him, using a big drum and an occasional tambourine.

This is the first I’ve heard of them and while the song doesn’t make me want to run out and buy more, they’d be a great opening act to see live.  They remind me of the Waterboys on speed.

You can watch the video here.

[READ: March 25, 2013] “Brilliant”

When I started reading Roddy Doyle books again recently, I decided to see what else he had written.  And Wikipedia listed several “uncollected” stories (several of which have by now been collected).  The final story on the list was this one, “Brilliant” which was written for St. Patrick’s Festival Parade 2011 & Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.  I don’t know exactly what that means although I understand that the Cities of Literature “promote the social, economic and cultural development of cities in both the developed and the developing world.”  So clearly Doyle was writing on behalf of a cause.

It starts out very oddly:

Poor oul’ Dublin.
Dublin was a city on the west coast of –
East.
Dublin was a city on the east coast of Ireland.

That interrupting East is never explained, although it does go on through the story, correcting the narrator who can’t tell east from west.  The story proves to be more in the vein of Doyle’s children’s stories.  There’s no poo but there is a flying dog.  In this case the dog is “The Black Dog of Depression,” an expression of Winston Churchill’s that I was unfamiliar with, although I also just read it again in an issue of The Walrus (weird serendipity, that). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Lydia Davis–“Not Interested” (Harper’s, April 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Boredom, Ducktails, Harper's, Lydia Davis, Real Estate, Short Story on March 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

HarpersaprilSOUNDTRACK: DUCKTAILS-“Letter of Intent” (SXSW, March 22, 2013).

ducktailsDucktails is a side project from the guy from the band Real Estate.  I liked some Real Estate songs, but this is the first I’ve heard of Ducktails.  The write up on NPR talks about them being an experimental  live band, so I was anticipating something wild.

But this proves to be a very sedate, kind of dull synth heavy track–the guitars are kind of tossed on there in a very 80s new wave fashion, and there’s very little beyond the washes of synths.  There’s really nothing here I’d want to hear again.

It’s available here.

[READ: March 19, 2013] “Not Interested”

I’m always mixed about Lydia Davis’ stuff.  She writes very very short pieces and most of them seem to be not so much stories as observations, ideas or even things that just seem to pass through her mind.  Some of them are amazing–insightful or funny–which convey a lot in a concise piece of writing.  And others seem just kind of flat.  This is one that I am utterly ambivalent about (which is maybe the point?).

It’s not often that you read something that starts, “I’m simply not interested in reading this book.” (more…)

Read Full Post »

Will Mackin–“Kattekoppen” (New Yorker, March 11, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, John Le Carré, Kattekoppen, Military, New Yorker, Of Montreal, Short Story, Sinkane, The Afghan Whigs, Threats, Usher, Will Mackin, Yeasayer, Yuck! on March 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_03_11_13Blitt.indd

SOUNDTRACK: SINKANE-“Jeeper Creeper” (SXSW, March 21, 2013).

sinkaneI’ve never heard of Sinkane either (was there anyone at this SXSW that I knew?).  NPR is streaming on song from this band.  It’s about 7 minutes of low-key funk with reggae-like guitars, some great bass jams and simple lyrics.  I really like the vibe that the song gives off.  They would be a great band to see live.

Sinkane later played with Usher and The Afghan Whigs, which shows a very cool range.  And evidently Sinkane leader Ahmed Gallab has collaborated with the likes of Yeasayer and Of Montreal.

Watch it here.

[READ: March 19, 2013] “Kattekoppen”

I had just finished John LeCarré’s excerpt in Harper’s when I read this short story (or possibly excerpt—it ended rather oddly).  So here was another spying operation, although this one was American and military-based.  I know very little about military operations, so this was all new to me.  And there were some things I liked about this story quite a bit. The story is set in Afghanistan where the army has just brought in a new howitzer-liaison (good job title, that) named Levi.  Levi is Dutch and yet somehow still in the US Army–and he is a good soldier.   His wife lives in Texas and is about to have a baby.

Levi gets Dutch care packages a lot.  In addition to stroopawaffles (yum!) are Kattekoppen which are cat-shaped licorice-like objects.  Levi loved them as a kid bit now he puts them on the shelf of things that people don’t want (until they desperately want them).  Eventually the narrator tries one and immediately spits it out because it tastes like ammonia.  He’s not even able to get the taste out with snow… or dirt.  It’s that bad.  I found this part of the story quite interesting.

The rest of the story was more specific to military operations.  He talks about how Levi targeted the howitzer and how he made target rings which offered an area of projection for where the shell would strike.  And that he was very good at it.  The minor problem was that Levi wanted to be home for his son’s birth.  Not a big problem except that thy Generals wouldn’t give them a new howitzer liaison in the meantime. (more…)

Read Full Post »

John Le Carré–“A Delicate Truth” (Harper’s, April 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Chvrches, Excerpt, Harper's, John Le Carré, Skyfall, Spies, Threats on March 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

HarpersaprilSOUNDTRACK: CHVRCHES-“The Mother We Share” (SXSW, March 23, 2013).

chvrchesThis year NPR doesn’t seem to be offering many full shows from SXSW for download.  But they do have a number of streaming songs.  And since I have recently reduced the amount of time I can dedicate to posts, I’m going to talk about a few songs rather than albums for a bit.

I’ve never heard of Chvrches although NPR leads me to believe they have a buzz around them.  They’re from Glasgow (I like the Glasgow scene), but this song is really way too poppy for me.  At least in this live incarnation, it’s so spare and keyboardy.  The lead singer has a great voice but it is firmly placed in the pop realm (especially with the Oh Oh Ohs).

The band is good though, and I enjoyed the synth guy making most of the sounds of the song.    I’d be curious to hear more (especially t hat cover of “Purple Rain.”  Watch it here.

[READ: March 18, 2013] “A Delicate Truth”

I have never read John Le Carré before.  Indeed, I don’t typically read any kind of spy/thriller type books.  I realized recently that I like mysteries but I don’t have a lot of time for hard spy novels (if I may use the language of sci-fi to describe a spy novel–perhaps spy-fi?).

We recently watched some of Skyfall (the Redbox had to go back so we didn’t finish it–I think I’m not down with the Redbox, it’s just as inconvenient as a video store), so this British spy-fi story seemed nicely timed.

This was an excerpt from Le Carré’s forthcoming book.  And regardless of the story itself, I’m delighted that it was a self-contained excerpt.  It is a mission and the mission ends by the end of the chapter   Obviously there is a lot more to the book, but I was pleased that the excerpt didn’t having any kind of cliffhanger.  And now I don’t feel like I have to read anymore of the story.

So this is the story of Paul Anderson or, “Paul Anderson,” a “middle-ranking British civil servant  hauled from his desk in one of the more prosaic departments of Her Majesty’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office to be dispatched on a top-secret mission of acute sensitivity.”  That pretty much sums up the story and you can tell from that sentence whether or not you’ll like the book.  I have no idea if this sort of thing happens in real life at all.  And maybe that’s not the point.  In the Afterword, Le Carré talks about The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, his first novel, which everyone assumed was all true (he says you know it’s not true because they printed it).  And he;s always been annoyed that people think of his as a spy who started writing rather than an author who did some spy work.

So I guess that means he knows of what he speaks. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Roddy Doyle–Her Mother’s Face (2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Babies, Children's Books, Death, Dublin, Ireland, Fiona Apple, Freya Blackwood, Irish Writer, Roddy Doyle, Short Books on February 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

hermotherSOUNDTRACK: FIONA APPLE-The Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do [bonus DVD] (2012).

idlerThe deluxe package of The Idler Wheel comes with a bonus DVD.  It also comes with a ton of idle scratchings from Fiona–lyrics, artwork (which is weird but good), postcards and all manner of things.  I wasn’t particularly interested in that stuff, although I am pleasantly surprised by her drawing skills.  Mostly I wanted to check out the DVD.

So the DVD is actually a five song concert excerpt from SXSW filmed by NPR.  I have to assume that the show was more than these five songs (because there are breaks in the video and because there’s no way she would do just five songs).  Also, the NPR page for the show says she played a few different songs from Idler Wheel.  There’s audio for the show on the site (three of the five songs) which kind of makes the DVD extraneous, except that you get to watch her perform.

When Fiona was younger there was much talk of her videos being too sexualized.  And I suppose “Criminal” fit that bill.  As such, she has become something of a visual artist by virtue of her body.  I’d always thought that she was too skinny, but she seems even more so now.  And yet for all the waifiness of her (are you still a waif when you’re 35?), her voice is till strong and powerful and she can belt the hell out of a song (perhaps with a little too much forced vibrato at times).

She seems a little at a loss when she’s in that awkward frontwoman space (my guitarist is playing a rocking solo–what do I do?).  She dances somewhat (which NPR describes as confidently but I read as awkwardly, huh).

In this live setting the songs take on a new, looser feel.  As I mentioned, the guitarist  really lets loose (and he sounds great–there’s even one moment when Fiona walks over to the piano and leans on it to watch the guitarist jam).  The band sounds great together and yes Fiona sounds great too.

I actually saw Fiona live in Boston on the tour for her debut album.  Unfortunately, the place was mobbed with tweeny girls (was that her target market?) who screamed and shrieked through the whole set.  It was one of the worst shows I’d ever seen, through no fault of the performer, who I honestly don’t remember at all.  I’ll bet without the devoted screamers the show would have been as interesting as this one seems like it was.

Tracks on the DVD include “Fast As You Can,” “A Mistake,” “Anything We Want,” “Sleep To Dream” and “Every Single Night.”  On the NPR page you can hear “Fast As You Can,” “A Mistake,” and “Every Single Night” as well as “Extraordinary Machine” (on which she hits some amazing high notes!).  There’s no “Sleep to Dream” (which has a very different style than on the record–I almost didn’t recognize it) or “Anything We Want” which sounds great live, especially since she (presumably) plays the introductory percussion (which I assume is looped?) on some strange object.  This was the first time most of us had heard “Every Single Night” and I remember thinking it sounded good but so uncomplicated that I was worried that the album would be a little…flat.  Boy was I wrong.  And now hearing it again, I can hear just how subtle and complex the song is.

[READ: January 28, 2013] Her Mother’s Face

This was Roddy Doyle’s first picture book (you can see that once I found out that he had written children’s books I had to get them all from the library).  I read this after Greyhound of Girl, and assumed that it was a slimmed down version of Greyhound.  But now that I see that this came first I’m inclined to believe that this book was the inspiration for Greyhound.

Many of the basic details are the same as Greyhound–a girl whose mother died when she was three years old; a ghost visits her and gives her solace.  That may not seem like a lot of similarity but in terms of plot that’s really all both books have (it’s the details that really make both stories).

But they are very different books meant for different audiences.  Face is a picture book and the illustrations by Freya Blackwood are simply gorgeous.  Really they are quite mesmerizing in their beauty.  I read it to myself and decided that it’s not really meant for my kids.  Neither of them are really old enough to get it (and the death of the mom at age three might lead to more questions than I need to answer at the moment).

It’s wordy for a picture book and it doesn’t have much of Doyle’s humor in it.  This is serious book. (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #13 (2006)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Africa, Alex Robinson, Alison Bechdel, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Ander Nilson, Archer Prewitt, Art Spiegelman, Ben Katchor, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Bud Fischer, Bust, Canadian Content, Charles Burns, Charles Schulz, Chester Brown, Chip Kidd, Chris Ware, Collecting, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Daniel Clowes, David Collier, David Heatley, David Lasky, Death, Debbie Dreschler, Depression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Esther Pearl Watson, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gary Panter, Ghosts, Gilbert Hernandez, Gilbert Shelton, Glen David Gold, Graphic Novel, History, HOB, Huh?, Ira Glass, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, Jeffrey Brown, Jesse Reklaw, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, John McLenan, John Porcellino, John Updike, John Woodring, Jonathan Bennett, Julie Doucet, Justin Hall, Kaz, Kim Deitch, Kurt Wolfgang, LGBTQ, Lilli Carré, Lloyd Dangle, Louis Reil, Lynda Barry, Malachi B. Cohen, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Marriage Trouble, Masturbation, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Michael Chabon, Military, Milt Gross, Oddities, Olivia Schanzer, Parts & Labor, Philip Guston, R. Crumb, Rebecca Dart, Richard McGuire, Richard Sala, Rodolphe Töpffer, Ron Rege, S. Kierkegaard, Seth Tobocman, Sex, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Surreal, Tim Samuelson, Tom Hart, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, William Faulkner, World Cafe Live on January 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

13SOUNDTRACK: PARTS & LABOR-Stay Afraid (2006).

partslaborParts & Labor have changed t heir style over the years going from noisemakers who have a melody to being melodious noisemakers.  This album is one of their earlier releases when noise dominated.  Right from the opening you know the album is going to be a challenge.  The first song has pounding drums (electronics that sound like bagpipes) and heavy distorted shouty vocals.  By the end of the songs there is squealing feedback, punk speed drums and screaming distorted vocals (complete with space sound effects).  It’s an aggressive opening for sure.  Song two opens with a long low rumbling and then “Drastic Measures” proves to be another fast-paced song.

“A Pleasant Stay” is 5 minutes long (most of the rest of the album’s songs are about 3 minutes).  It continues in this fast framework, although it has a bit more open moments of just drums or just vocals.  The way the band plays with feedback in the last minute or so of the song  very cool.

“New Buildings” has a hardcore beat with a guitar part that sounds sped up.  “Death” is a thumping song (the drums are very loud on this disc), while “Timeline” is two minutes of squealing guitars.  “Stay Afraid” has a false start (although who knows why–how do these guys know if the feedback sounds are what  they wanted anyhow?).  The song ends with 30 seconds of sheer noise).  The album ends with the 5 minute “Changing of the Guard” a song not unlike the rest of the album–noisy with loud drumming and more noise.

The album is certainly challenging, it’s abrasive and off putting, but there;s surprising pleasures and melodies amidst the chaos.   Indeed, after a listen or two you start to really look forward to the hooks.  If you like this sort of thing, this album s a joy.  It’s also quite brief, so it never overstays its welcome.

[READ: April 15, 2011] McSweeney’s #13

I have been looking forward to reading this issue for quite some time.  Indeed, as soon as I received it I wanted to put aside time for it.  It only took eight years.  For this is the fabled comics issue.  Or as the cover puts it: Included with this paper: a free 264 page hardcover.  Because the cover is a fold-out poster–a gorgeous broadside done by Chris Ware called “God.”  And as with all Chris Ware stories, this is about life, the universe and everything.  On the flip side of the (seriously, really beautiful with gold foil and everything) Ware comic are the contributors’ list and a large drawing that is credited to LHOOQ which is the name of Marcel Duchamp’s art piece in which he put a mustache on the Mona Lisa.  It’s a kind of composite of the history of famous faces in art all done in a series of concentric squares.  It’s quite cool.

So, yes, this issue is all about comics.  There are a couple of essays, a couple of biographical sketches by Ware of artists that I assume many people don’t know and there’s a few unpublished pieces by famous mainstream artists.  But the bulk of the book is comprised of underground (and some who are not so underground anymore) artists showing of their goods.  It’s amazing how divergent the styles are for subject matter that is (for the most part) pretty similar: woe is me!  Angst fills these pages.  Whether it is the biographical angst of famous artists by Brunetti or the angst of not getting the girl (most of the others) or the angst of life (the remaining ones), there’s not a lot of joy here. Although there is a lot of humor.  A couple of these comics made it into the Best American Comics 2006.

There’s no letters this issue, which makes sense as the whole thing is Chris Ware’s baby.  But there are two special tiny books that fit nearly into the fold that the oversized cover makes.  There’s also two introductions.  One by Ira Glass (and yes I’d rather hear him say it but what can you do).  And the other by Ware.  Ware has advocated for underground comics forever and it’s cool that he has a forum for his ideas here.  I’m not sure I’ve ever read prose from him before. (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #12 [Unpublished, Unknown &\Or Unbelievable] (2003)

Posted in Aimee Bender, Aleksandar Hemon, Alicia Erian, All Songs Considered, Andrea Deszo, Andy Lamey, Ann Cummins, Ashley Warlick, Ben Ehrenreich, Boredom, Chad Simpson, Darin Strauss, David Ebershoff, Dean Wareham, Death, Douglas Coupland, Drinking, Drugs, Emma Forrest, Essays, Excerpt, Frank Ocean, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gabe Hudson, Glen David Gold, Henry Bean, History, J. Malcolm Garcia, J. Robert Lennon, James Boice, Jennifer Egan, Jess Walter, Jessica Francis Kane, Jill Bialosky, John Henry Fleming, Jonathan Lethem, Judy Budnitz, Julie Orringer, Katie Roiphe, Laird Hunt, Letters, Marc Nesbitt, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Myla Goldberg, Native Americans, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, Peter Orner, Prince, Rachel Sherman, Racism, Rene Nuijens, Rhett Miller, Rick Moody, Robots, Roddy Doyle, Ryan Boudinot, Salvador Plascencia, Sarah Raymont, Set at School, Sex, Shann Ray, Short Story, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Stacey Richter, Steve Almond, Steve Stiefel, Steven Millhauser, Tara June Winch, Travel, Valerie Sutton, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, Wythe Marschall on December 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

12SOUNDTRACK: FRANK OCEAN-“Bad Religion” (2012).

frankoI didn’t know anything about Frank Ocean until I started looking at all of the  Best Albums of 2012 lists.  He was on everyone’s list and was pretty near the top of all of them.  So it was time to check him out.

It  turns out that he’s affiliated with the Odd Future collective, whom I’ve talked about in the past.  But he’s also been on a lot of big name records.  Channel Orange is his debut album (that’s not a mixtape) and the big surprise seems to be that this song (which he sang live on Jimmy Fallon) is about a male lover.  And I guess that’s progress.

So Ocean sings a slow R&B style, and I have to say his voice reminds me of Prince a lot.  Which is a good thing.  I really like this song.    It has gospelly keyboards (but in that Purple Rain kinda way).  And a really aching vocal line.  It’s really effective and it’s really simple.  And I think that’s what I liked best about this song and others that I’ve heard–he’s really understated.  Crazy, I know.

Now I do not like R&B, it’s one of the few genres that I just don;t get.  And yet there’s something about this album (the tracks I’ve listened to) that is really compelling.  It’s not awash in over the top R&B trappings, and it doesn’t try too hard.  It’s just Frank  (not his real name) and his voice over some simple beats.  A friend of mine recently said that all of a sudden she “got” this album, and  I think I may have to get it as well.

[READ: December 30, 2012] McSweeney’s #12

At the beginning of 2012, I said I’d read all of my old McSweeney’s issues this year.  I didn’t.  Indeed, I put it off for quite a while for no especial reason.  Now as the year draws to an end, I’m annoyed that I didn’t read them all, but it’s not like I read nothing.  Nevertheless, I managed to read a few in the last month and am delighted that I finished this one just under the wire.  For those keeping track, the only issues left are 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 10, 38, (which I misplaced but have found again) and 42, which just arrived today.  My new plan in to have those first four read by Easter.  We’ll see.

So Issue #12 returns to a number of different fun ideas.  The cover:  It’s a paperback, but you can manipulate the front and back covers to make a very cool 3-D effect (by looking through two eyeholes) with a hippo.  The colophon/editor’s note is also back.  Someone had complained that he missed the small print ramble in the beginning of the book and so it is back, with the writer (Eggers? Horowitz?) sitting in Wales, in a B&B, and hating it.  It’s very funny and a welcome return.

As the title suggests, all of the stories here are from unpublished authors.  They debate about what exactly unpublished means, and come down on the side of not well known.  And so that’s what we have here, first time (for the mos part) stories.  And Roddy Doyle.

There are some other interesting things in this issue.  The pages come in four colors–each for a different section.  The Letters/Intro page [white], the main stories [pink], the Roddy Doyle piece (he’s not unpublished after all so he gets his own section) [gray] and the twenty minute stories [yellow].  There’s also photographs (with captions) of Yuri Gagarin.  And a series of drawing that introduce each story called “Dancewriting”–a stick figure on a five-lined staff.  They’re interesting but hard to fathom fully.

LETTERS (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »