SOUNDTRACK: REAL MAN ADVENTURES: A Collection of (Mostly) Original Songs by (Entirely) Original Artists–All Inspired by the Book. (An Album! A Book! A Shark!) (2012).
This soundtrack came with my copy of the book, although it can be ordered separately as well. It is a varied collection of music in many different genres. The one thread is that many of the performers are either transgendered or are openly gay or some variation in between. And lyrically the songs are based on chapters from the book (some literal and others use the book as a jumping off point). No one can be expected to enjoy the whole disc (the musical styles are just too different), but there’s some really enjoyable and interesting music here.
OUR LADY J. “Picture of a Man” (live)
I’d never heard of Our Lady J., but she is a transgendered classical singer and has worked with some of the greats in theater. The song opens with a piano solo for one minute. It acts as an introduction to this theatrical piece (with big backing vocals) about what a man “really” looks like. I love the diversity in this song. It gets really big and quite over the top.
RICK MOODY-“The Closest I Ever Came to Writing a Poem”
Yes, writer Rick Moody wrote this thoughtful song. The music is simple, stark piano with Moody singing gently. It’s quite pretty.
SOCE, THE ELEMENTAL WIZARD-“He Will”
This is a rap song (in the style of Eminem), which addresses Cooper’s troubles with getting a passport (the lyrics are taken mostly from the book). The rapper has fast flow and the lyrics are complex and interesting, although I don’t really like his delivery that much. Still, it’s a great lyrical song. Soce is one of the few openly gay rappers.
T. COOPER & PEG HAMBRIGHT-“Interlude: high School”
A 34 second piano, well, interlude with words from the book.
HEM-“The Beautiful Sea”
This is a pretty song, reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan. Hem have a bit more oomph than Sarah, but are equally as pretty. This song was way too short.
THUNDEREGG-“The Guest Star of the Rest Stop”
This is a country(ish) song, with a vaguely out of tune guitar and slow droning vocals. I’d not heard of them before but I see they have dozens of records out. At 5 minutes, I found this one a little long.
T. COOPER & PEG HAMBRIGHT-“Interlude: College”
Another simple piano melody with words from the book.
SCOTT MILLER & THE COMMONWEALTH-“12th Man”
Another country song, this one about (not) playing football (always being the 12th man). It’s a sweet and sad song. Miller also has a number of albums out even though I’ve not heard of him either.
GEO WYETH-“Target Practice”
This song starts as a weird electronic track with sampled voices and then it morphs into a spare keyboard track with Wyeth’s kind of high vocals. It reminds me a bit of the Mountain Moats, but with keyboards instead of guitar. And I don’t like it as much.
CHRIS PUREKA-“Old Photographs”
Pureka has a lot of albums out too (and I thought I knew music). She is a delicate folksinger (until she really starts belting out the words at the end) reminding me of one half of the Indigo Girls. This was a really good, rather dark song.
DYNASTY HANDBAG-“One Man”
This is a sinister electronic/rap song detailing the fears of violence in the trans community. Dynasty Handbag seems to be a loose cannon with some very interesting videos out there. Definitely check her out.
T. COOPER & PEG HAMBRIGHT-“Interlude: My 20s”
This interlude is done on accordion.
THE JULIE RUIN “Girls Like Us” (Vag Vocal Version).
This is Kathleen Hannah’s band The Julie Ruin with special guest Vaginal Crème Davis (possibly not her given name) on vocals. Davis’ vocals are way over the top, but surprisingly not that different from the originals’ mocking tone (and cheesy synths).
SCOTT McCLOUD-“On My Darker Days”
McCloud is in Girls Against Boys. This song is dark electric guitar (very processed) with virtually no percussion. The vocals are whispered as well. I enjoyed the beginning but then felt it was a little samey and felt a little long even though it’s only 3 minutes.
ROCCO KATASTROPHE-“F.E.A.R.”
Katastrophe is a rapper (one of the first openly transgendered). His flow is strong and his lyrics are great. I don’t care for his backing music that much. For although it is appropriately ominous, it feels a bit anemic.
MARTY COOPER WITH THE RIFTERS-“May You Always Ride in the Sunlight”
This sounds like an old timey cowboy song (I can’t find much else about Marty Cooper). It’s a sweet song that would fit well at the end of any mix cd of good feeling songs. Even if you don’t like the genre, it’s hard not to like this song.
So this proves to be an interesting mix of songs, with a lot of ne (to me) artists.
[READ: May 1, 2014] Real Man Adventures
I didn’t know T. Cooper before receiving this book from McSweeney’s. Cooper has written several novels although I didn’t recognize any of them when I looked them up (Lipshitz 6 sounds familiar though). This book is a memoir.
What’s interesting is that Cooper talks about trying very hard to avoid reviewers referencing his past, and yet with this memoir he has completely outed himself. I was going to try to not write about his past out of deference to his preferences, but since this memoir is all about his past it’s impossible not to.
So, if you know T. Cooper’s writing and you don’t want to know anything about his past, stop reading this and don’t read the book.
I know that I’ve made that enticing, which I didn’t mean to do. And who knows, maybe fans of his writing already know this. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: THE SHINS-“It’s Okay, Try Again” (2009).
“Sometime you win, sometimes you lose. But it’s okay, you try it again.”
Black Ox Orkestar play traditional Yiddish music in a somewhat untraditional manner.
I Just Read About That... 