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Archive for the ‘Dromedary Records’ Category

Roberto Bolaño–“Luz Mendiluce Thompson” (Harper’s, March 2008)

Posted in Bagatelle, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Chris Andrews, Dromedary Records, Foreign Books, Harper's, Nazis, Roberto Bolaño, Short Story, The Dead Milkmen, Translation on February 23, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CUPPA JOE-Nurture (1995).

Fuzzy guitars, distortion, rocking noise and…that delicate voice.  cuppa joe breaks out their harder side with this album. What’s nice about this full length is the way the band really pushes the boundaries of its indie pop sound.  They explore different styles but never go so far as to lose their identity.  It’s most notable in the bass, which sounds so different on different songs, quick and jazzy on “Swinging on your Gate” full of high notes and full on “Broken Arms.”

And, of course, “Bottlerocket” is back for another go.  This sounds like a re-recorded version than the EP, louder and fuller.  And frankly, after writing a song like this how do you compare?

But just showing some of the diversity on the disc, “Sitting Limit” has some major distortion on the guitars.  It’s funny how almost deadpan the vocals are in comparison.  I’ve finally concluded that the vocals sound kind of like the alternate leads singer from The Dead Milkmen (Joe Jack Talcum, the one who sang “Punk Rock Girl”).  In fact, a few of their slower songs sound like Talcum’s ballads.

“Decline” offers some vocal harmonies which bring an interesting depth to the song (which in this case is much lighter in the jangly guitars) and almost sounds like a demo.

“Poster” stands out for its deep almost punk bassline and aggressive (relatively) vocals (and fr the fact that it’s under 2 minutes long).  It’s funny how much more intense the vocals can sound on these tracks.  And just when you think you have them figured out as a pop band with punk leanings, they throw in a song like “long Walk” with some wild music lines and an almost world music influence.

Even as the disc comes to a close, “Beauty of of an Unshared Thing” is like a long lost 90’s college radio gem.  It’s got the wash of guitars, the great bassline and a propulsive beat.

Listening carefully to the lyrics, the word that comes to mind most is earnest.  A song like “Self Confidence” is a mellow song about empowerment.  Or “Medium Well” with the line  “A kiss means so much more when it doesn’t taste like alcohol.”

The bonus track on the disc is a cover of an old Irish song by the band Bagatelle.  The song “Second Violin” is astonishingly catchy.  Given my proclivities, I prefer the harder rocking stuff on the disc, and there is certainly plenty of that.

It’s going to be re-released from Dromedary, with extra bonus tracks!

[READ: February 17, 2010] “Luz Mendiluce Thompson”

This story is taken from Nazi Literature in the America.  It’s translated by Chris Andrews.

The book is evidently a collection of fictional biographies of Nazi writers who live in the Americas.  The contents is simply a list of names (and this is the only one I have read, so I can’t confirm that the rest of the collection is like this).

But, lo, that summary is true of this piece.  Luz Mendiluce, born in Berlin 1928, died in Buenos Aires in 1976.  Her proudest memory and most sacred possession is of her being dandled on Hitler’s lap.  This is the photo she would rescue if her house was on fire.

And this story, which is quite easily my favorite short fiction by Bolaño thus far is a fast paced, exciting and strangely moving portrait of this fascist poet. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 5] The Part About Fate (1 of 2) (2004)

Posted in American Music Club, Big Books, Bob Mould, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Boss Jim Gettys, Boxing, Communists, cuppa joe, Dromedary Records, Farewell Singapore, Footstone, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gena Rowlands Band, Greed, Hugh Thomas, Infinite Zombies, lions.chase.tigers, Moviola, Natasha Wimmer, Newspapers, R.E.M., Religion, Roberto Bolaño, Smarty Pants, Social Distortion, Stuyvesant, Teenage Fanclub, The Byrds, The Dark Brothers, The Mommyheads, The Neutron Drivers, There Will Be Fireworks, Three Blind Wolves, Translation, Travel, Voltaire, Wallendas on February 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Make the Load Lighter: Indie Rock for Haiti (2010).

I mentioned this disc a few days ago because it’s a benefit disc for the people of Haiti.  I had encouraged people to order it ($10 to a good cause, eh?) but hadn’t fully listened to it yet.

Well, after playing the disc nonstop for the weekend, it’s time to chime in and say that this is a fantastic disc of indie rock, which spans the indie rock gamut from harder punk songs to beautiful heart-felt passionate tracks.  Each and every track is catchy, and most of them have a cool twist or hook to push it beyond being “just” an indie song

The first three songs are really fast and really heavy.  Footstone opens the disc.  I don’t know a lot by them, but this sounds to me like their heaviest song ever.  It comes across like a really hard edged punk song, but you know there’s a groove too.

Boss Jim Gettys (one of many wonderfully named bands) play a 2 minute punk metal blast that is notable for the cool guitar solo that breaks up the onslaught.  The third heavy song is by Dromedary stalwarts cuppa joe (!?).  “Taniqua” is a fast song with a rocking guitar intro.  It thuds along for 2 and a half minutes and then ends with a wonderfully upbeat chord that leads nicely in to the fourth song.  Moviola’s “Calling on the Line” is a poppy jangly college rock sounding song from the 90s.  It pretty well epitomizes the Dromedary sound.  The band has a bunch of records out which you can see here.

I wasn’t that impressed with Three Blind Wolves at first.  It seemed a little lacking.  But after about three listens I got it, and it’s now one of my favorite songs on the disc.  The singer’s voice is varied and wonderful, warbling over a fairly spare musical intro (the occasional high notes are totally cool).  But the chorus just rocks out wonderfully.  Three Blind Wolves is one of four Scottish bands from what I rather assumed would be a Jersey based compilation.

Paula Corino’s song is okay.  It’s my least favorite track on the disc, but only because it never really grabs me, and, while it’s a totally fine song, it gets a little lost amidst the rest of the tracks.  It’s followed by Wallendas’ “Adrianne” a delightful poppy song like a modern day Byrds.

The next song, The Neutron Drivers’ “All Around the Sun” doesn’t have an original second in it.  And yet it is easily the catchiest song on the whole disc. When you first hear the opening guitars you pretty much know exactly what the whole song (even the obvious guitar solo) will sound like.  It’s like the uber-rocksong.  And yet for all of its sounding familiar, it doesn’t sounds like any specific song. Amazing how they pulled that off.

The Dark Brothers’ “Knee Deep in Sin” is a weird and unsettling song in that it sounds like the singer from Social Distortion with a slide guitar.  It’s got a majorly country feel, until about three minutes in when you get a guitar solo straight outta Teenage Fanclub’s “The Concept” and suddenly this country song is a slow burning rocker.  Very cool.

The next two songs justify the price of the disc.  There Will Be Fireworks’ (Scottish band #2) “Foreign Thoughts” is a fantastic, amazing song.  It builds and builds with tension upon tension as the singer (with a wonderfully aggressive accent) spits the words over more and more instrumentation.  It’s followed by the utterly amazing Gena Rowlands Band’s “Fuckups Of the World Unite.”  This is like the great long lost American Music Club song.  It’s vulgar and yet completely un-profane.  It’s catchy, heartfelt and it blows me away each time I hear it, both lyrically and musically.  The simple guitar paired with the opening couplet is amazing in an of itself but it’s even better when it closes the song.

The Mommyheads come next with a remixed version of “Spiders” from Flying Suit.  I enjoyed the song on that disc, but it takes on a new life in this remixed version.  It feels fuller and even slighty creepier.

On like my third or fourth listen, Scottish band #3, Farewell Singapore’s “Blue” grabbed me and said “HEY THIS SONG IS FUCKING GREAT YA BASTARD.”  And man, is it ever.  I’ve been walking around all weekend singing “Scotland’s as dark as it’s going to be” over and over.  And I’ve no idea what it means.  The sudden breaks in the song sound like there’s something wrong with the track given the propulsive nature of everything else.  And the intense guitar solo that follows the glockenspiel bit is fantastic.  Oh and the male/female vocals sound great together.

Jennifer Convertible (a wonderful band name which gently rips a regional chain store, which seems to have changed its name to the far less inspired Jennifer Sofas and Sofabeds) has a very cool song that opens like a latter R.E.M. track but brings in some wonderfully atmospheric guitar noise to add a real sense of foreboding to the song.  The buzzing guitar solo is a nice touch, too.

lions.chase.tigers (4th and final Scottish band, with a downloadable EP on their website) sound a bit like an early Bob Mould track.  Which is pretty good in itself, but what I love about the song is that it’s a cool jangly indie rock song with a great martial drum sound.  And it bops along, in a minor key until we get a delicate guitar riff and then a rocking chorus.  But the really interesting part is yet to come: the gentle guitars come back but they’re accompanied by a voice screaming its lungs out (and yet mixed way down, so it’s no louder than the guitar).  And the song proceeds as if that isn’t a weird thing to add in.  Man, it takes guts to write a song like that, and it pays off.

The disc ends with Stuyvesant’s song, “Salieri.  It’s another slow builder, but it’s quite catchy and when the harmonies kick in in the last minute, it become quite the great song.  And it ends the disc on a good note.

So, in sum, order the disc.  It’s for a good cause, but even if you’re not into that sort of thing, you get some really great music for your money.  There’s literally not a bad track on the disc, and the bulk of them are outstanding.

Even the liner notes are interesting (and provide a look at why and how this disc came about).  My only complaint is that you get almost no information on the bands!  Now, I realize that in the world of online downloads, you’re lucky enough to get album art (and the photos are sad and beautiful) but I’d love to know more about these bands, where they’re from, who they are, and if any of them are have websites or other discs or whatnot.  But then, I actually read liner notes on discs!

Download the tracks, and the art, here.  Do it!  Now!

[READ: Week of February 15, 2010] 2666 [pg 231-290]

This week’s reading is the first half of the third Part: The Part About Fate.  And I have to say thus far it is easily my favorite part of the book.  I enjoyed it right from the start upon learning that the titular Fate is not an abstract Fate but a person named Fate.  A nice twist right up front.

This section also deals quite directly with matters of race.  Fate is black, and during his travels he is acutely aware of his color.  Plus, many scenes pop up in which race is definitely a factor.

Fate’s real name is Quincy Williams.  He is a 30 year-old reporter for Black Dawn, a magazine out of Harlem.  Quincy is known as Oscar Fate; everyone calls him Fate. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–“Praise to the Highways” (Harper’s, December 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, bolanobolano.com, cuppa joe, Dromedary Records, Footstone, Foreign Books, Harper's, Natasha Wimmer, R.E.M., Roberto Bolaño, Translation on February 21, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: FOOTSTONE-Wobbles from Side to Side EP (1994).

Footstone is like Dromedary’s punk brother of cuppa joe.  Their guitars are loud and heavy, their songs are fast and very catchy.  And yet, their vocalist almost feels out of place in such a heavy outfit: he’s almost soft spoken.  And this makes their whole sound very compelling.

This EP, available as a free limited time download here, was originally a 7 inch with two tracks. The download offers an extra bonus track.

“Mountain Man” is the a side and it opens with a blast of guitar heavy punk.  As it progresses, intertwining and harmonizing vocals add an amazing depth.  The b side, “Belly” opens with a wonderfully almost sinister guitar riff that is quickly discarded for some straightforward powerchord verses.  (Yes, the cool opening riff comes back at the end).   Although the band sounds in no way like R.E.M., I find the occasional backing vocal that pops up to be oddly reminiscent of Mike Mills’ great harmonies.

The bonus song, “Airbag” is 5 minutes of poppy guitar rock.  The opening chords remind me of Sabotage -era Black Sabbath, but the poppy bridge changes the direction altogether.  This song might do being a little shorter, but how can you complain about a free bonus song?

I have a hard time figuring out what any of these songs are about, although clearly in “Belly,” they don’t like something anymore, and there’s a very clear line about stuffing something back into his Levi’s, although exactly what is a mystery.

Footstone has a full length available from Dromedary too, and they put on a mean live show.

[READ: February 17, 2010] “Praise to the Highways”

This short story comes from the soon to be translated collection Antwerp. Natasha Wimmer (who translated The Savage Detectives and 2666) does the translation here too.

I’ve read a few of Bolaño’s short stories, and I have to say that as a group, I’m more than a little confused by them. Sometimes they seem to be about very specific incidents which I know very little about. Other times, they seem to be very abstract:glimpses of scenery that speed by and then vanish.

This story, which invokes highways in the title is one of these latter type of stories. It’s only two pages in the magazine and it is broken into 5 sections: “Cleaning Utensils,” “The Bum,” “La Pava Roadside,” “Summer,” and “Working-Class Neighborhoods.”  Each section is a paragraph. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–“Self-Portrait at Twenty Years” (Harper’s, November 2007) & “My Life in the Tubes of Survival” (Boston Review September/October 2007)

Posted in Adventure, bolanobolano.com, Boston Review, cuppa joe, Death, Demons, Dromedary Records, Foreign Books, Laura Healy, New Yorker, Poetry, Prison, R.E.M., Roberto Bolaño, They Might Be Giants, Translation, Violence, War on February 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CUPPA JOE-Busy Work EP (1993).

This EP was one of the first releases on the Dromedary label.  It contains 3 songs.  Whenever I think of cuppa joe, I think of them being a somewhat lightweight band; charming and fun, but lightweight.

And I think most of this is due to the lead singer’s voice.  It’s quite delicate and veers towards, but never quite reaches whiny territory.  Comparisons to They Might Be Giants are not unfounded.

But the thing is that, musically, the band plays a wonderfully diverse selection of styles, some of which emphasize the singer’s delicate voice, and others which play in a wonderful contrast to it.

Take their brilliant first song on the EP, “Bottlerocket”.  The chords are masterful and intriguing as the song opens, moving towards a fast, propulsive verse and an insanely catchy chorus (with backing vocal harmonies!).  It’s a tremendous song, and cuppa joe could easily rest on their laurels after creating such a masterpiece.

The other two songs on the EP are more of that delicate style that I think of as distinctly cuppa joe.  “French Toast” is a very quiet little ditty about, yes french toast.  It’s catchy and seems to be an ideal b-side, sounding almost like a demo.

The third track, “Surface Area” starts out almost as an homage to R.E.M. “I am Superman” with the jangly guitars and all, but the jazzy bassline totally changes the tone of the song.  Overall it splits the difference of the other two, being a fully realized song that gets a surprise lift from loud and raucous guitars about halfway through.

It’s a really great representation of this cool indie band.  And it will be available for download in a few days right here.

[READ: February 17, 2010] 2 Poems

These are the first two Bolaño pieces that I found while looking around online.  These poems are very likely published elsewhere.  However, since I’m not a big reader of poetry, I don’t think I’ll be reading his poetry collections in full.

Both poems were translated by Laura Healy. While it’s impossible to know if she did a good job of translation (since I can’t do it myself), all I can comment on is the quality of the English words. And in both cases, she chooses very exhilarating words to convey these images. (more…)

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52 Weeks Heads and Quotes: A One-Year Planner with Plenty of Room for Notes, Doodles and Whatever (2009)

Posted in 30 Rock, Books about writers, Charles Burns, David Byrne, Dip-in Books, Dromedary Records, Footstone, George Saunders, Nick Hornby, Record Labels, Terry Gilliam, The Believer on February 18, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DROMEDARY RECORDS

My friend Al started Dromedary Records many many years ago (for the whole, in depth, history read here).  He released a number of cool indie rock CDs and then decided to put a halt to the proceedings.

Recently, he decided to resurrect the label, with mostly downloads as opposed to physical product (for the post about that, read this).  He’s currently offering a free EP download from the great Jersey band Footstone.  But more importantly, he’s gathered a number of cool indie bands who contributed a track for his new compilation called Make the Load Lighter: Indie Rock for Haiti.  Proceeds from the compilation go to Haitian relief.

Al has always loved music.  Dromedary was his way of getting great music out to people without all the bullshit that major labels were foisting on artists (this was all before internet music, of course).  And, Al has always been a really good and decent human being (even after owning a record label for a dozen years).  I’m delighted that he’s able to do a nice thing for people and still get music out to those who want it.

So, buy the download, support a good cause, and enjoy some great tunes.

[READ: February 2009] 52 Weeks Heads and Quotes

This is a day planner (sort of) and as such it doesn’t really qualify as a book I’ve read.  However, The Believer published this planner which included excerpts from the magazine, so it kind of counts.  Each week there’s a quote from an artist (usually a writer, but also actors and musicians) as well as a Charles Burns drawing of him or her (or even it in a couple of cases).

And since it is not tied to any year (you write in the month as you go) it has the delightful quote on the back: “You can start this planner anytime–it does not expire.” (more…)

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