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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Max Barry–“A Shade Less Perfect” (maxbarry.com, May 2005)

Posted in Babies, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Lou Reed, Max Barry, Short Story, The Feelies on February 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FEELIES-Crazy Rhythms (bonus downloads) (2010).

The other day when I was playing Crazy Rhythms I noticed a little card that I had never noticed before.  It said that if I went to the label’s website, I could download bonus tracks.  That was pretty cool, so I did.

The are five tracks.  “Fa Cé-La” says it is a single version although it sounds even more spare and underproduced than the album version (and it’s a tad slower). “The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness” and Moscow Nights” are demos.  “Boy” really sounds like a demo (the wood blocks are almost piercing!).  It’s interesting that the guitar solo, which sounds random on record was planned that way.  On “Moscow” the singer’s channeling Lou Reed pretty intently.

The next two tracks are live from a reunion tour in 2009.  I’m not exactly sure who was in the band, but that’s okay, the songs sound good.   “Crazy Rhythms” has a (simple) drum solo in the middle (more of a beat-keeping than a solo per se), and an extended jam towards the end song.  And the final song is a cover of Jonathan Richman’s “I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms,” at a frenetic two-minute pace.

Not bad for free downloads, eh?

[READ: December 31, 2011] “A Shade Less Perfect”

After reading all of those Max Barry blog posts, getting to read a real story is a real treat.

This is a very simple story of one-upmanship (a common trope of sitcoms–in fact just the other night Up All Night ran the “two brothers who must compete against each other at everything and never admit that they have failed at something” script).  And this story falls into the same general area, but Barry puts a surprising twist on the end.

Jonathan and Elizabeth are going to house of Jonathan’s boss, Dave.  Elizabeth likes Dave’s wife Julie.  They both had babies around the same time and met in birthing classes, so they are excited to catch up (it’s been about ten months since they’ve all seen each other).

Dave tends to lord everything over Jonathan at work.  Jonathan says he’s okay with this at work–Dave is his boss after all, but he doesn’t want to deal with it out side of work, too.  Naturally, Dave has a huge house and a convertible and every other material joy.  Even a nanny. (more…)

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Alice Munro–“To Reach Japan” (Narrative, Winter 2012)

Posted in Alice Munro, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Drinking, Lou Reed, Marriage Trouble, Narrative, Poets, Short Story, The Cure, The Feelies, The Velvet Underground, Trains on February 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FEELIES-Crazy Rhythms (1980).

Not too many albums start out with clicking blocks and quiet guitars that build for a minute before the actual song kicks in.  Not too many albums sound like early Cure sung by Lou Reed and not too many albums are called Crazy Rhythms when the thing that’s crazy about them is their vocals and guitars.  But that’s what you get with The Feelies debut.

In addition to the blocks, the opening song also features some sh sh sh sounds as a rhythm (techniques used by The Cure on Seventeen Seconds, also 1980).  There’s two guitar solos, each one vying for top spot in different speakers and, yes, the rhythms are a little crazy.

The album feels like it is experimenting with tension–there’s two vocalists often singing at the same time, but not in harmony.  There are oftentimes two guitars solos at the same time, also not in harmony.  The snare drum is very sharp and there’s all manner of weird percussion (all four members are credited with playing percussion).

That early-Cure sound reigns on “Loveless Love” as well, a slow builder with that trebly guitar.  There’s a lot of tension, especially with the interesting percussion that plays in the background.  And there’s that whole Lou Reed vibe in some of the vocals.

But not every song sounds like that, “Fa Cé-La” is a punky upbeat song with two singers trying to out sing the other.  “Original Love” is another short song, it’s fast and frenetic and fairly simple. It’s as if they couldn’t decide if they were going to be The Velvet Underground or New Wave punks.

The next surprise comes from their choice of covers: “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey”).  It goes at breakneck speed with some surprising pace changes after the chorus.  And a wonderful ringing percussion that makes the song sound even more tense than it is.  “Moscow Nights” is a more traditional song (although the backing vocals seem very spartan.

“Raised Eyebrows” is almost an instrumental, until the last-minute when the seemingly random vocals kick in.  And the final track, “Crazy Rhythms” seems to combine the speed of the faster tracks with the insanity of the other tracks.  It’s a pretty amazing debut, really heralding an age of music.

  It’s a shame it took them 6 years to make another (very different sounding) record.

[READ: February 8, 2012] “To Reach Japan”

I love Alice Munro’s stories, but I found this one a bit confusing.  Now, I admit that i read this under poor circumstances (while I was supposed to be attending a company-wide presentation), so that may have led to my confusion. But it felt like there was some questionable juxtapositions of the timeline in this story.

It opens simply enough with Greta and her daughter Katy waving goodbye to Peter (the husband and father) as they pull away from the train station.

The story immediately jumps back to Peter’s mother and how she fled on foot from Soviet Czechoslovakia into Western Europe with baby Peter in tow.  Peter’s mother eventually landed in British Columbia,where she got a job teaching.

The second time jump comes a few paragraphs later.  It seems like we’re back in the present, but the section opens, “It’s hard to explain it to anybody now–the life of women at that time.”  This describes how it was easier for a woman if she was a “poetess” rather than a “poet.”  But I’m not exactly sure when that was.  Presumably when Greta (who is the poet) was younger, but how long ago was that?  In Toronto, even?

The story jumps back to the present to say why Greta and Katy are on the train and Peter isn’t.  They are going to housesit for a month in Toronto while Peter goes to Lund for a summer job.

Then it jumps back to when Greta was a poetess and actually had poems published.  The journal was based in Toronto, but there was a party in Vancouver for the editor.  So she went.  And she had a lousy  time among the local literati.  She gets drunk and sits in a room by herself, but soon enough a man approaches her and offers to take her home. There is the potential for something more to come of it but it never materializes.  But she never forgot the man’s name: Harris Bennett, journalist. (more…)

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T. Coraghessan Boyle–“Los Gigantes” (New Yorker, February 6, 2012)

Posted in Boredom, Decadence, Los Campesinos!, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Oddities, Sex, Short Story, T.C. Boyle on February 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOS CAMPESINOS!-Romance is Boring (2009).

Even though I had heard good things about Los Campesinos! before I got this album, this was the first one I bought.  I see that it gets less high marks than previous discs but I think it is fantastic.  It is frantic and catchy, it is intense and mellow, it is loud and soft and most of the time that’s in the same song.  And, as you’ll see below, lyrically I think it’s fantastic.

The disc begins slowly.  Then the vocals come in and you can tell that Gareth Campesinos!’ voice is somewhat abrasive, but well enunciated. When at the 2 minute mark the song more or less stops and turns into little twinkling bells you’re not prepared for the next bit–the guitars are noisy and the drums are loud and the lyrics are even stranger (sung in a slightly off-key style): “I’m leaving my body to science, not medical but physics.”  By the end, the song has mellowed almost completely and we have an almost a capella ending, “Would this interest you at all?”  But before you have a chance to answer that, the next song, “There are Listed Building” ratchets forth in both speakers with loud and quiet sections, group vocals and the lead singer’s more shouting style.

“Romance is Boring” has some super catchy shouted vocals as well as the first real exposure to the co-vocalist Aleksandra Campesinos!’ beautiful gentle female voice. “We’ve Got Your Back” is primarily sung by the female vocalist until the male voice come back with “and so fucking on and so fucking forth” and my favorite shouted chorus: “What would you do?  I do not know.”  “(PLAN A)” is a screaming punk blast of discord.  Until, of course, the much more palatable group sung chorus kicks in.

One of the best songs they do is “Straight in at 101” a wonderful song about breakups that is catchy and funny. It opens with, “I think we need more post-coital and less post rock.”  And then after some great alt rock, the song comes to an end with an a capella section that is quietly sung:

I phone my friends and family to gather round the television;
The talking heads count down the most heart-wrenching break ups of all time
Imagine the great sense of waste, the indignity, the embarrassment
When not a single one of that whole century was… mine

“I Warned You: Do Not Make an Enemy of Me”  has frenetic guitar and the wonderful line, “if this changed your life, did you have one before?”  And the wonderfully titled “A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show-Me State” opens with this lyrical stanza:

She’d a bruise so black they watched it fade through the full spectrum of colours.
They kept it like a pet; a private joke they told no others.
And how the tissue repaired, and how it turned to yellow
And she found it disgusting, ’cause it didn’t match her clothing.
He said “that’s not yellow, it’s golden”.

Also lyrically interesting is “The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future,” because how can you make this couplet work in a rhythmic way.  But he does! “At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation from allergic reaction to a general anesthetic.”

There are fast songs and slow songs and pretty sections and harsh sections.  I think they meld it all together wonderfully.

[READ: February 6, 2012] “Los Gigantes”

I think I begin every T. Coraghessan Boyle story with some trepidation.  I liked Boyle because of The Road to Wellville, but I find that most of his other stories are very Southwestern, a region I really don’t know very well.  And yet for all my trepidation, I find I do enjoy his stories.

This one has a very simple premise.  All of the largest men in the area have been offered jobs by the President (I’m not sure where this is set but I assume, if it’s not entirely fictional, that it’s meant to be in Central America).  Although the men have some freedom during the day, at night they are locked into cages.  But their job is a simple one–eat, sleep and have sex with very large women.  That’s all.  It’s kind of boring, but  they are provided entertainments.  And it could certainly be worse (wait until you see what conditions the women love in!).

Discontentment begins to settle in as they realize that they are little more than stud animals (the President is breeding them for their size for a secret army in several generations).  And so one night two of los gigantes escape (it’s fairly easy, they are very strong men).  But they basically get as far as town where the pleasures of the  town’s bar keep them from returning home.  They are caught and punished, but the punishment is not that bad because the President really wants their offspring.

The men issue demands–a nicer living situation mostly–which are met, and they are contented once more. (more…)

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Shaun Tan–Tales from Outer Suburbia (2012)

Posted in Culture Shock, Death, Dogs, End of the World, Graphic Novel, Marriage Trouble, Oddities, Pets, Shaun Tan, Short Story, Supernatural, Surreal, Toys, TV on the Radio, YA Books on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TV ON THE RADIO-Nine Types of Light (2011).

I loved most of TV on the Radio’s releases.  On this one they scaled back some of their sound and they really highlight their assets, namely the vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone.  This album feels like something of a continuation of the style from Dear Science.

Indeed, some of the songs are downright simple. “Second Song” is completely straightforward; I really enjoy the falsetto vocals on it.  “Keep Your Heart” is so straightforward it has almost no music in the verses.  It’s very much back to basics. “Killer Crane” is also very simple, with a gorgeous melody.

But don’t count uberdude Dave Sitek out of the game, he throws in some very interesting sounds and textures on a number of tracks.  “No Future Shock”  introduces all kinds of wonderful sounds and repeated lyrics which work as a mantra.  One of my favorite songs is the weird and wonderful “New Cannonball Blues” great synth sounds, cool harmonies  (that falsetto is on fire here!) and a nice staccato chorus.  “Repetition” has some cool repetitions (it’s in the title after all) that really becomes a mantra, with some great musical accompaniment.  And the drums sound amazing.  And “Caffeinated Consciousness” has some more cool sounds: orchestral hits and the like followed by a very mellow bridge.

And then there’s “Will Do” a perfect blend of the two styles–rich melodies, cool effects and great vocals (which is why it was the single).

The simple songs are a good introduction to the kind of stuff TV on the Radio is capable of, but it’s clear they have a love for the unexpected and that’s why I enjoy them so much.

[READ: February 5, 2012] Tales from Outer Suburbia

Shaun Tan is an Australian author/artist who drew the amazing wordless The Arrival (it is stunning!).

This book is a collection of fifteen (very) short stories that come chock full of drawings.  Some drawings add to the story, some drawings tell the story and some drawings tell a kind of parallel story.  As with The Arrival, his artwork is weird and wonderful.

The library filed this book under YA Graphic Novels.  I’m not sure it’s either of those (The Arrival was filed under kids picture books).  While there are pictures, it is certainly not a conventional graphic novel.  And while the themes and idea aren’t risqué or anything, I feel like the ideas are more adult than teen oriented.  Of course, having said that, most of the protagonists are young, so maybe teens do enjoy stories about existential confusion! (more…)

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Alice McDermott-“Someone” (New Yorker, January 30, 2012)

Posted in Alice McDermott, Kwan Jai and Kwan Jit Sriprajan, My Morning Jacket, New Yorker, Romance, Sex, Short Story on February 3, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KWAN JAI & KWAN JIT SRIPRAJAN-“E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai” (1960s-1980s).

This song is the basis for My Morning jacket’s “Holdin’ on to Black Metal.”  It’s not the inspiration…it’s the exact song.  In fact, it could even be a cover, except with completely different lyrics.  Well, I say completely different lyrics without knowing what the original lyrics are, although it translates as “Advice Column for Love Troubles” which “Holdin’ on to Black Metal” certainly is not.

This original is a tad slower and, perhaps, a tad stiffer (which is funny that it’s on a collection called Siamese Soul).  The riff is pretty cool, and in this version they use (what I assume are) Thai flourishes the keyboards are just all over the place, bringing in a crazily noisy texture.  The vocals are all in Thai (I assume).  But what’s amazing is that the opening vocal melody is copied exactly by MMJ (and then MMJ take it in a very different direction).

After that opening riff, the similarities in vocals end, as the singer (I am so vague about this because I can’t find anything about this album anywhere) takes off on a more conventional non-Western singing style.  I prefer the MMJ version, but this is a fun little addition to Circuital.

Check it out and be surprised.

[READ: January 31, 2012] “Someone”

I normally don’t like titles like this one.  “Someone” seems to show a real dearth of imagination, and it doesn’t really inspire anyone to want to read the story.  Having said that, the title actually proves to be quite apt, albeit only after reading the whole thing.

I haven’t read any McDermott stories before, although I have heard of her, but I have no idea if this is the kind of story she normally writes.

This one is set in 1937.  Marie is 17 and has just been asked by Walter Hartnett what is wrong with her eye.  What’s wrong with her eye is that the sun makes it squint involuntarily.  Walter tells her not to do that, that it makes her whole face look funny.  This must be a charming pick up line circa 1937 because later that day Marie and Walter go on a date.

The story quickly flashes forward to the present–we see Marie examining her squint in the mirror. She also thinks back to when her daughters started dating and she warned them: (a rule that I agree with): “If he looks over your head while you’re talking, get rid of him.”  But the daughters didn’t want to hear another story about Walter Hartnett.  So we get to hear it instead.

On that first date, Walter invited Marie upstairs for a minute.  We all know what getting invited upstairs means, but did it mean that in 1937?  Well, Walter does live with his mom, so maybe not.  But his mom is not home, and there’s beer in the fridge.  And soon enough Marie is having her first kiss.  And Walter doesn’t take it slow.  He’s already moving on to second base–with kissing and biting and….  And then they hear the door open downstairs.  Marie is stunned.  (more…)

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Margaret Atwood–“Underbrush Man” (The Guardian, November 7, 2011)

Posted in Canadian Content, Dinosaur Jr., Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Margaret Atwood, Marriage Trouble, My Bloody Valentine, Mystery, Nirvana, Short Story, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, The Guardian, The Smiths, Yuck on February 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YUCK-Yuck (2011).

If you’re like me, you love alt-rock from the 90s, however that may be described.  Typically, we’re talking loud guitars, but we’re also talking shoegazer music and alt folk and basically anything that might have appeared at Lollapalooza.

Yuck is like comfort food for anyone starved for new music from that ear.  There’s hardly anything new or original in it, but it sounds great.  It’s fun to play spot the influences (Dinosaur Jr. Nirvana, melodic Sonic Youth), but it’s more fun to just sit back and listen.

When the first song, “Get Away” opens up with that phased, distorted guitar I’m instantly transported back to the 90s.  And then when the solo begins (before the verse) it’s like adding screaming punk to shoegaze.  Blissful.

“The Wall” sounds like yet another style of 90s alt rock, with some more screaming guitars.  Then comes “Shook Down” in which the band slows down with acoustic guitars (think Teenage Fanclub).  It’s a little slow, but there’s a surprise third part which adds some wonderful distorted guitars to the song.

“Holing Out” brings a more punk edged guitar sound to the album (still distorted just edgier).  “Suicide Policeman” is a pretty straightforward folk rock song: acoustic guitars and whatnot and it never really rocks out.  The nice part is when the second, electric guitar plays slow wobbly chords over the top (think The Smiths).

“Georgia” rips right into a My Bloody Valentine song (female harmonies over washes of guitars).  This is the first song that I don’t love.  It’s got something to do with the chrous.  The verses are great, but the chorus is just a little too…blah.  But I love the sound of the song.

“Suck” is probably my least favorite song on the disc.  It’s really really slow and drags a bit.  Although, amusingly this song stays in my head the longest, especially the line “did you see the fire briagde.”  Maybe I secretly like it best

“Stutter” continues this slow mood–I think I like these songs individually, but they drag down this section of the album when played together like this.

Because when “Operation” bursts back, the album picks up (more great use of little guitar solos-think Smashing Pumpkins).  “Sunday” does the My Bloody Valentine thing much better–great chorus on this one.  Amusingly the verses are not very MBV-sounding at all, but it’s a nice blend.

“Rose Gives a Lilly” is an instrumental and, although it’s nothing amazing, it’s still nice.  The disc ends with “Rubber” a 7 minute retro blast.  It’s a slow builder, with big distorted guitars (the vocals are almost inaudible).  Just add more and more layers of guitar over the melody and you’ve got a great album ender.

It’s nice to see a band absorb influences rather than just aping them.

[READ: January 27, 2012] “Underbrush Man”

Once I saw Mohsid’s story in The Guardian, it was just a quick look to see that Margaret Atwood had a story there too!

I really enjoy Atwood’s stories, and this one is no exception.  But this one was rather unexpected for me because it begins with the point of view of a dog.  There are actually four points of view in this story.  I was delighted that the first two were more or less the same, that the third one was unexpectedly unrelated to the action and then the final one cleared everything up.

But we start with a dog. (more…)

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Mohsin Hamid–“Terminator: Attack of the Drone” (The Guardian, 6 November 2011)

Posted in Death, End of the World, Mohsin Hamid, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Technology, The Future, The Guardian, Violence, War, Wikipedia on January 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-“Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict” (1969).

I‘ve mentioned this song a few times here so I figured I’d talk about it itself.  This bizarre song comes from PinkFloyd’s bizarre album Ummagumma.  Back in high school we ranked albums by a very specific content rating and this one received the highest: SDI-seriously drug induced.

Disc One is a live album but disc two contains compositions by each of the band members.  They each received about thirteen minutes of time to do what they wanted.  And they really seemed to go to town.

Roger Waters created this track, and it is very, very weird.  I’ve always loved it, probably because it is so audacious.  Wikipedia gives us this:

The track consists of several minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by Waters’ voice and other techniques, such as tapping the microphone played at different speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of spoken word in an exaggerated Scottish burr.

The Picts were the indigenous people of what is now Scotland who merged with the Scots.

You can hear it in all its glory (and then marvel that the guy who made it later when on to make some of the most famous music ever released) in this video.

I also love that someone liked this bizarre thing enough to put it on a Pink Floyd compilation (Works) as well.

And the wind cried Mary.

[READ: January 25, 2012] “Terminator: Attack of the Drone”

I found a link to this story somewhere, I can’t recall where, now.  It was mentioned with excited breath that Moshin Hamid, who I don’t know, had written this exclusive short story for The Guardian.  Hamid has been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize and has written two novels: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Moth Smoke (2000).

This story was not quite what I expected from the brief biography I’d read.  Because of the ominous title, I assumed it might have something to do with Iraq (I realize that this came out before the recent downing of the U.S. drone in Iraq, but it still seemed plausible).  Rather, what we get is a bit of sci-fi about smart machine that are on a murderous rampage.

The story is not really as sci-fi as all that, except that what I wrote is true. But it’s more about two boys as they try to deal with this new world of death, machines and heroism.

It begins with the note that “the machines are huntin’ tonight.”  (There’s an interesting dialect in the story, especially from someone who lives in Lahore, New York and London.  We get lines like “Sky’s light enough so’s we’d maybe see the machine but all’s quiet and it ain’t about,” which I register as Southern American.  And yet the characters are named Omar and Yousuf.  I can’t decide if that’s an attempt to show a future world of total integration or just a total disconnect.)

There aren’t many humans left–his Pa is dead, his ma got her leg blown off by a landmine.   But at least his sisters are still alive–that’s more than most people have.

The machines come thundering through, crushing everything in their sight.  They also fly–you can’t see them, but you can hear them.  No one has ever killed a machine. (more…)

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Five Dials Number 22: Why Willows Weep and Other Tales from the Forest Floor (17 January 2012)

Posted in Ali Smith, Amanda Craig, Blake Morrison, Canadian Music, Catherine O'Flynn, Cocteau Twins, Constellation Records, Dead Can Dance, Environmentalism, Fables, Five Dials, Joanne Harris, Kate Mosse, Leanne Shapton, Maggie O'Farrell, Maria McCann, Marriage Trouble, Philip Hensher, Phillipa Gregory, Pink Floyd, Rachel Billington, Richard Mabey, Salley Vickers, Short Story, Simon Prosser, Sinéad O'Connor, Susan Elderkin, Tasmina Anam, Terence Blacker, Tracey Chevalier, Trees, William Fiennes on January 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LES MOMIES DE PALERME-Brûlez de Coeur [CST070] (2011).

This is the second disc from Constellation’s MUSIQUE FRAGILE 01.  Les Momies de Palerme, comprised of Marie Davidson and Xarah Dion, create ethereal music that would not be out of place on NPR’s Echoes (wonder if John Diliberto knows about the album).

There is a female vocalist who has qualities of Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser (big surprise there) as well as early Lush.  But while the music is often swirling and intriguing, it is also sometimes odd.  There are moments in “Solis” which remind me of Pink Floyd’s “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.” (That’s the second time I’ve mentioned this song in just over a month).

“Incarnation” has a vaguely middle eastern feel and works more in a Dead Can Dance kind of vein and “Le Cerf Invisible” has some really cool sound effects that spring up throughout the song.

The title track has a spoken word section that reminds me of the spoken word part in Sinéad O’Connor’s “Never Get Old” from The Lion and the Cobra (probably because it’s spoken by a woman and is in a foreign language, although on Sinéad’s album it’s Gaelic (spoken by Enya(!) and on this one it’s French).  I rather like it.

Most of the songs are longer than five-minutes, but there are two short ones: “Médée” is just under three and “Outre-Temps” is just under two, but they retain the same style of music, although “Médée” introduces acoustic guitars.

“Je T’aime” ends the disc with a bit more acoustic instrumentation.  The album kind of becomes more grounded as it goes along.  But it’s always ethereal.  It’s a neat experience.

Their website has a great front page, too.

[READ: January 23, 2012] Five Dials Number 22

Most Five Dials issues are chockablock with different ideas: contemporary issues, flashbacks to the past, fiction, poetry, ethics, music.  A wonderful melding of interesting ideas.  But Number 22 is entirely different.  Simon Prosser and Tracy Chevalier co-edited this issue and as they say in the editor’s note, they asked a group of contributors “to write grown-up fables about nineteen trees native to the UK.”

This issue is also promoting trees by highlighting the work at http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk, an organization with three aims:

1 Work with others to plant more native trees…

2 Protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future…

3 Inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees…

Simple but noble goals.  You can even buy a copy of this book in print from them at their store.

Even though I love nature and like being in the woods, I don’t know a lot about different kinds of trees.  I’m always stumped when it comes to tree identification.  So this issue was kind of enlightening for me.  Each fable has a picture of a leaf (presumably from that tree) which were painted by Leanne Shapton.  The fables also create backstory for what tree-lovers know about their favorite trees, and so this was also helpful just to learn what people know about trees.

But at the same time, it makes me uniquely unequipped to really talk about these fables.  So I’m just going to list the authors and their trees and say a word or two about their style. (more…)

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Scott Tucker–“Shore Ting” (Narrative, January 9, 2012)

Posted in Canadian Music, Marriage Trouble, MC Paul Barman, Mitchmatic, Narrative, New Girl, Scott Tucker, Short Story, Threats, Violence on January 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MITCHMATIC-“D-Bags” (2011).

On the show New Girl, my favorite joke in the pilot (which was brought back in a recent episode) is the douchebag jar.  Every time someone in the house (well, Schmitt, really) says something a douchebaggy, money goes in the jar.

This song has a crazily simple bass line–which sounds like “Another Bites the Dust,” but isn’t.  It’s unclear from the beginning exactly what the song is about.  But once the chorus comes in, the song is just perfect: “D-Baaaaaags: Hey I’m calling from a handicapped stall, dude; D-Baaaaaags:oh I’m a jerkwad? I’m a jerkwad?  D-baaags, Don’t tell me how to carb load, I know how to carb load.”

There are three rappers in the song.  Mitchmatic takes the first verses.  Mikey Maybe gets the best line: “say irregardless while trying to seem smart.”  The Joe has a really fast delivery that reminds me of Paul Barman (in lyrics and style).

I’m really enjoying Mitchmatics’s beats.  You can download Two Week Off for free.  Or you can watch the video (which seems to have the studio version of the song over a live video)

The video goes on a little long after the song, but the song is pretty great.  It might actually do to give it a proper video.

 

[READ: January 24, 2012] “Shore Ting”

When I signed up to receive Narrative magazine, I also signed up for their emails.  And the January 9 email contained this story (as well as many other things).  This story was chosen as their Story of the Week.

I really wanted to not like this story.  There were so many things about it that seemed like they should be red flags to me: a tourist getting entwined with a local urchin; the tourist “doing good” for the urchin when none of the locals want anything to do with him; a wife who is very Christian; and the implication of forthcoming violence throughout the story.  Not to mention a piece of foreshadowing that I assumed gave away the ending (although it doesn’t).

The story opens with an interesting scene.  The tourist, Dale, gives the urchin (named Sammy, although this was obviously a name for tourists) a cigarette and then realizes that he has personally started this boy on a lifetime of smoking. And he feels bad about that.

Sammy hits up Dale for work.  Dale doesn’t have work, but since he is looking into renting a sailboat, he more or less hires Sammy to help him on the boat.  Dale asks Sammy if he can do various things and whatever he asks, Sammy replies, “Shore Ting.” (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–“Labyrinth” (New Yorker, January 23, 2012)

Posted in Biography, Books about writers, Chris Andrews, Julia Kristeva, Le Butcherettes, New Yorker, PJ Harvey, Roberto Bolaño, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 27, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: LE BUTCHERETTES-Sin Sin Sin (2011).

I learned about Le Butcherettes from their Tiny Desk Concert.  So I thought I’d check out their album.  I’ve listened to it a few times now and it’s really quite good.

While the Tiny Desk Concert showed a subtle side of Teri Gender Bender, this album rocks really hard.  All three songs from the Tiny Desk Concert rock much harder here, and are actually better in this full band context (especially “Henry Don’t Got Love”).

It has a punk feel and reminds me of a more commercial sounding Bikini Kill or other Kill Rock Stars punk.  “Dress Off” is all Teri’s voice shouting over drums: “You take my dress off. Yeah, you take my dress off.
Yeah, You take my pretty dress off.”

In the Tiny Desk concert, Teri Gender Bender channeled PJ Harvey completely.  On the album, she has a bunch of different vocal styles that all work well for the songs.  Although “New York” is totally PJ, “The Actress That Ate Rousseau” reminds me of punkier No Doubt and”Tainted in Sin” has a simple stark keyboard melody with Teri singing a more aggressive guttural style.

Unsurprisingly for someone named Teri Gender Bender, there are some political songs as well.  “Bang!” has the lyric, “George Bush and McCain taking over Mexico.  Next thing you’ll see is their army banning seranata“

Although there’s a lot of short songs (7 are 2 and a half minutes or under), there’s a few long ones too.  “The Leibniz Language is over 5 minutes and “I’m Getting Sick of You” and “Empty Dimes” are both over 4.  There’s also an instrumental, “Rikos’ Smooth Talking Mothers” which is a simple song spurred on mostly by scratchy guitars.

The final song, “Mr. Tolstoi” is the anomaly on the album.  Teri “sings” with a fake Russian accent  over a very Soviet-style keyboard march.  The chorus:

I want Raskolnikov To be inside of me.  I want Sonya’s eyes.  I want Sonya’s eyes.

Weird.  But not outrageously crazy for this record.  It’s good noisy fun.

[READ: January 23, 2012] “Labyrinth”

It’s no secret that I love Roberto Bolaño.  And I’ve said before that one thing I love about him is the astonishing variety of subjects and styles that he comes up with.

So this short story is forthcoming from his newly translated collection of unpublished short stories called The Secret of Evil.  What I love and find so unique about this story is that the entire story is based upon a photograph.  The New Yorker includes the photograph (I wonder if the The Secret of Evil will include it also).  In the photograph, eight writers/thinkers sit around a table.  Thy are: J. Henric, J.-J. Goux, Ph. Sollers, J. Kristeva, M-Th Réveillé, P. Guyotat, C. Devade, and M. Devade.  The only person I know of this list is J. Kristeva, whose work on semiotics I have read.  [I just looked her up on Wikipedia and learned that she has also written novels, including: Murder in Byzantium, which deals with themes from orthodox Christianity and politics and has been described by Kristeva as “a kind of anti-Da Vinci Code.”  Gotta put that on my list].  But the others are (evidently) prominent in their fields as well (editor of Tel Quel, author of several novels and non-fiction, etc).

The beginning of the short story is an extensive detailing of the photograph.  Bolaño looks at each man and woman in the photo and describes them with exquisite accuracy.  Beyond that he imparts a bit of speculation about what they are wearing, where they are looking, their attractiveness and even, about the length (or lack) of necks. (more…)

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