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Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Joy Williams–“The Fellow” (New Yorker, September 30, 2019)

Posted in Bethlehem Steel, Craig Arnold, Dogs, Huh?, Joy Williams, New Yorker, Sexism, Short Story on September 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

302019SOUNDTRACK: BETHLEHEM STEEL-Audiotree Live, Chicago, (September 5, 2018).

a1746670660_16It’s a little disappointing that Bethlehem Steel comes from Brooklyn and not Bethlehem (it’s a terrific name).  But the name describes their sound really well–especially if you have ever been to Bethlehem.

They describe themselves as an indie/alternative rock band whose sound pivots around anger and frustration with the current political climate. The project is primarily written by lead singer/guitarist Rebecca Ryskalczyk whose aggressive, experimental sensibilities push Bethlehem Steel’s punk roots into off-kilter pop territory.

In addition to Ryskalczyk, there’s also Christina Puerto on lead guitar, Jon Gernhart on drums and Patrick Ronayne on bass.

They play six songs.  I love Audiotree sessions.  The sound is always really good.  This one is a little odd though because there’s audience applause between songs.  I think later ones did not have that.

“Finger It Out” opens with some feedback and then a some fast chords as Ryskalczyk sings.  Her voice is a little low in the mix, but it works perfectly with the music.  There’s a  quieter middle section where Puerto plays a solo.  The end is just Rebecca singing over her guitar: “if I sit still, I can feel myself dying.”

“4 Aliens” starts slower with both Ryskalczyk  and Puerto singing the lyrics in close harmony.  I love the way the bassline intertwines with the Ryskalczyk’s guitar while Puerto adds a lead line over them both.  The middle part rocks out with some great harmonies from Puerto and another solo.

“Fig” opens with a cool fast riff and then pounding chords. It rocks out and segues nicely into “Florida 2” which tweaks feedback and quiet guitar and adds in crashing chords and drums.  I love before the solo that while Ryskalczyk plays chugging guitars the drums and bass add in this off-beat thumping rhythm.  Ryskalczyk plays a solo on this one too.

“Alt Shells” opens quietly with just Ryskalczyk’s guitar and voice.  This song rocks propulsively.  I really like in the middle when everyone plays a fast crescendo and the song seems to ratchet even faster.

“Untitled Entitlement” ends the set with a cool rumbling bass that is like Pixies “Gigantic” but a little diffident. Ryskalczyk took off the guitar and recites the lyrics while Puerto generates feedback.  The chorus is wonderfully aggressive with crashing cymbals and roaring guitars.  Ryskalczyk screams the lyrics.

The song ends with her a squall of noise and Ryskalczyk screaming

I know what it feels like to have someone else feel entitled to my body.  The only people who truly made me feel uncomfortable are  middle aged white men.  The fathers of my friends.

As the feedback fades she speaks clearly, “Stop letting your sons rape your daughters.”

The last seconds are more feedback and drums as Ryskalczyk screams stop handing out free murder until she has no breath left.

It’s pretty intense.

[READ: September 28, 2019] “The Fellow”

The narrator is the assistant director of the project with the important qualification that she was not afraid of water.  The guests (called The Fellows) weren’t supposed to be afraid of water either, but some lied.

Philip was her third Fellow.  The residency came with a small house that was on the other side of a small creek.  If it flooded, the way was impassable, but it hadn’t flooded in years.

Philip arrived with a dog.  The dog had “a melancholy air.”

She asked what the dog’s name was and Philip just replied angrily, “What?” (more…)

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William Trevor–“Traditions” (New Yorker, December 18, 2000)

Posted in Chastity Belt, Death, Drinking, Huh?, Humiliation, Jackdaws, New Yorker, Set at School, Short Story, William Trevor on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

york200SOUNDTRACK: CHASTITY BELT-“Ann’s Jam,” “Elena” and “Drown” (2019)

chazzyWhen Chastity Belt first arrived they posted some gnarly band photos and wre pretty aggressive musically.  Their No Regerts album was brash.  Jagged music, pointed lyrics and rather harsh vocals.

Over the course of five years they have mellowed out quite a bit.  Not necessarily lyrically, although there is some of that, but musically it’s almost a different band. Their guitars are tastefully echoed and the vocals are really pretty and delicate.

The music on these three tracks (the only ones streaming on bandcamp) is practically shoegazey with the hazy vocals and ringing guitars.

There’s some really nice harmonies on “Elena”–and when the two distinct vocals lines intertwine, it sounds great.

“Drown” opens with a really catchy guitar part–it’s a bit faster and sounds a little more like their last two albums, but continuing with the softer vocals.

The only problem with these songs is that they tend to lack a bit of the dynamics that their earlier songs had.  We don’t want them to be too chaste, after all.

[READ: September 20, 2019] “Traditions”

This story is about an English school.  It opens with seven boys: Hambrose, Forrogale, Accrington, Olivier, Macluse, Newcombe and Napier.  Each boy has discovered that his tame jackdaw–birds they had taught to talk (as well as a jackdaw can)–had been killed.

The boys suspect Leggett.  Although Olivier believes it is one of the “girls,” one of the maids who lived in the nearby village and attended to the boys.

Despite the birds, they must go on with their day.  This included Olivier going before the headmaster.  The headmaster was disappointed because Olivier had failed to come up to scratch in any of the sciences he was studying.  When the headmaster asked if Olivier had ambitions in that direction, he had to admit that no, he was just curious about the sciences.

The headmaster replied

You indulged a curiosity.  You indulged yourself.  That can be dangerous.

But when Olivier offered to drop out of science, the headmaster said that would be dangerous too.

Olivier quickly forgot about that and resumed thinking about the dead birds.  He was more convinced than every that it was a girl.  Although the other boys had found Leggett and beat him up (and then didn’t think he had done it).

There had been other traditions of strange things happening at the school–bells ringing in the night, things going missing.  But no one was ever caught.

Olivier was certain it was a particular girl, a maid who was no longer a girl, really.  It seemed like she was watching him as well.

No one–no previous headmaster–knows that this maid, who had been with the school for a long time, had been part of a tradition at the school “supplying to boys who now were men, a service that had entered the unofficial annals.”

I have to assume this is an excerpt from a novel, because as a short story it was very unsatisfying.  So many characters introduced, the whole science thing, and so much unspoken about the maids.  But it doesn’t appear to be from the novel he published in 2002.  So I don’t know what to think.

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Ann Beattie-“The Women of This World” (New Yorker, November 20, 2000)

Posted in Ann Beattie, Artists, Donald Sutherland, Lou Reed, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Thanksgiving, Transgender, Violence on September 24, 2019| Leave a Comment »

20000 SOUNDTRACK: LOU REED-“A Gift” (1976).

reedThis “soft rock” song features a slow guitar song with shuffle beat as Reed speaks his mind.

There’s not a lot to the lyric (most of which are repeated a few times), but they are either really funny or really obnoxious depending on your take:

I’m just a gift to the women of this world
…
Responsibility sits so hard on my shoulder
Like a good wine, I’m better as I grow older, and now –
I’m just a gift to the women of this world
It’s hard to settle for second best
After you’ve had me, you know that you’ve had the best
And now you know that– I’m just a gift to the women of this world.

This song comes from his 1975 album Coney Island Baby. Apparently, many of the album’s songs were inspired by and dedicated to Reed’s girlfriend and muse at the time, a trans woman named Rachel Humphreys.  Well done Lou!

[READ: September 10, 2019] “The Women of This World”

Dale and Nelson are married and are living in a house while its owners, a philosophy professor and his wife, are in Munich until next year.  They chose this place away from it all because Nelson is writing a book.

It’s Thanksgiving and they are hosting Nelson’s stepfather, Jerome, and Jerome’s new girlfriend Brenda.

They did not come on Thanksgiving day became Jerome’s ex-wife (Nelsons mother), Didi was coming on Thanksgiving and they’d rather not see each other.

Nelson loved Jerome and felt indebted to him for arriving when Nelson was five and saving him from the life that Didi has planned for him.  Nelson admired Jerome and they still got along very well. (more…)

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Thomas McGuane–“Wide Spot” (New Yorker, September 23, 2019)

Posted in Berlin, New Yorker, Political Humor, Politicians, Reunion, Short Story, Thomas McGuane on September 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

923SOUNDTRACK: BERLIN-Information (1980).

berlWho knew that Berlin made an album without Terri Nunn?  Back in 1980, Terri Nunn had sung with Berlin and had even released a couple of singles with them.  Then she decided to try out acting.  The replaced her with Virginia Macolino.

This debut album is very new wave with a mild punk edge.  Their music is all synth but with a lot of jagged edges.

Terri Nunn’s voice is pretty distinctive, but Macolino sings in that same range.  She adds in a squeaky falsetto and an occasional Valley Girl twang.

Given the really smooth, polished sound of their later albums (“Take My Breath Away”), this album is really jagged feeling.  The synth sounds they chose are often weird and mechanical.  And Macolino sings in a distinctive robotic way.  There’s also a lot of processed vocals (the men I assume) adding even more of a technological bent.

It would be interesting to see where they would have gone with this style in mind.  But they went a bit more poppy a bit slicker and they brought Terri Nunn back.  The rest is 80s history.

[READ: September 20, 2019] “Wide Spot”

I really enjoyed the way this brief story unfolded.

The narrator is a local politician.  He tours local small towns to make sure he gets people to vote.  He stops in at Wide Spot, which was the county seat.  It was once a slightly less run down place.

When he was younger, the narrator had been in a band called the Daft.  They always ended their little tours in Wide Spot.  He wasn’t a very good keyboard player and the lead singer of the band, Calum had gone to L.A. to seek his fortunes solo.

He was in Wide Spot looking for Cornel Bowen, a donor who he wanted to touch base with.  Although Cornel proves to be less than helpful, he does reveal that Calum is still in town. (more…)

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John Updike–“Nelson and Annabelle” (Part 2) (New Yorker, October 9, 2000)

Posted in Bill Clinton, Death, donald tRUMP, Elliott Power, Excerpt, Hillary Clinton, John Updike, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Miink, New Yorker, Racism, Sexism, Sexual Assault, Short Story, Thom Yorke, U.N.K.L.E. on September 22, 2019| Leave a Comment »

92000SOUNDTRACK: U.N.K.L.E.-“Ar.Mour” (2019).

armourHaving learned that U.N.K.L.E. had not only been making music all of these years but even put out a new album this year, I thought I’d listen to something new and see what it was like.

I chose “Ar.Mour” because James Lavelle described it as a sci-fi beat jam.  It features vocals from Elliott Power and Miink.

A pulsing beat opens this five minute song.  Some deep echoing drums come in and slowly add tension and then after about a minute the slow trip-hop drum beat begins. Then a simple guitar line comes in and around two minutes voices swirl up from underneath.  There is definite sci-fi feel to the song.

The song seems to fade out around 2 and half minutes before picking up again and just when you think the whole song is an instrumental the vocals come in.  There’s a deep voice followed by a repeating higher voice.  Then there’s a rap.  All of the voices are enveloped in a soft echo, making the words hard to hear.

The end of the song has a catchy vocal melody as the whole song builds with all of the parts melding together.

[READ: September 1, 2019] “Nelson and Annabelle” (Part 2)

I’m still not sure if this is a two-part, long short story or if it is an excerpt from a novel.

What was kind of strange was that this whole story was utterly chock full of details as if it were a novel, and yet the ending just sped through and finished up with a kind of epilogue tacked on.

This part starts at Thanksgiving dinner.  Nelson has invited Annabelle to his mother’s house for dinner with the family.  The family includes his mother’s new(ish) husband Ronnie and a bunch of Ronnie’s closest relations.

The conversation is cordial until they start talking politics.  Everybody hates Clinton and they are angry that Hillary might run for office in New York.  It was not enjoyable rehashing the political arguments from twenty years ago, but I was fascinated at how much the things they said about him could easily be applied to trump and I wondered if these fictional people were now pro- or anti- trump.

…he lied to us, the American people.  He said it right out on television….

…he’s a draft dodger.  If I were a soldier I’d tell him to stuff his orders….

He makes me ashamed of being an American he makes America look ridiculous.  Drowning us in sleaze and then flying around all over the world as if nothing whatsoever has happened. Its so brazen.

He makes Nixon look like a saint.  At least Nixon had the decency to get out of our faces.  He could feel shame.

Its the sleaze. What are children supposed to think.  What do you tell the Boy Scouts?

As people get drunker, Ronnie, who has been against Annabelle since she showed up tells her to her face that “You’re your mother’s daughter alright… She’d fuck anybody…  It must feel funny being the illegitimate daughter of hooer and a bum.”

Nelson takes Annabelle and leaves the house and swears he will never set foot in it again.

Next we met one of Nelson’s oldest friends, Billy.  Billy is now an oral surgeon and very rich.  He calls up Nelson and invites him out for dinner to catch up. They have a nice time so when New Year’s Eve comes around–the Y2K New Years–Nelson invites Billy out with him and Annabelle.

Also in town are Nelson’s ex-wife, Pru, and their son.  Their daughter, who is 20, decided to go somewhere else with her boyfriend.  Nelson is bummed about the visit.  He wanted to see his daughter and he imagined that they would all stay with him.

Pru is pleased that he finally moved out of his parents house (the two of them lived in his parents’ house when they were married), but she doesn’t want to stay in his new cramped place.

For New Years Eve, Nelson Pru and Billy plan to go out.  Nelson invites Annabelle to come with them–what else is she doing?

They go for dinner (Billy uses his pull as a n oral surgeon to get them a seat at a crowded restaurant) and a movie.  They see American Beauty and have lots to say about it–it’s fascinating how racist and homophobic these men are.

Annabelle and Billy hit it off.  Nelson didn’t intend for that to happen, but it did.  In fact, in the car, it sounds like maybe he can hear the zipper of her dress being undone a little.

They decide to spend the last minutes of 1999 at a club.  But as they head downtown, the streetlights go out.  Is it a terrorist attack (in central Pennsylvania?)

With the traffic lights out, Nelson thinks people will take turns through the intersection.  But when a jerk in an SUV tries to cut him off, Nelson guns it, making the SUV screech to a halt.

For the first time all night Pru is really nice to him, “Oh honey, that was great, the way you made that asshole chicken out.  I think I wet my pants.”  As they drive further Pru whispers that she might stay at his place tonight after all.

The epilogue is satisfying, if you care about these characters.  Which I kind of do.  I definitely wonder if there’s more to their story or if this was just Updike’s way of capping off the full Rabbit saga

 

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John Updike–“Nelson and Annabelle” (Part 1) (New Yorker, October 2, 2000)

Posted in Death, Excerpt, John Updike, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Thom Yorke, U.N.K.L.E. on September 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »

10222000SOUNDTRACK: U.N.K.L.E.–“Rabbit in Your Headlights” (1998).

unkleI was looking for a “rabbit” song to include with this story and I remembered this one from U.N.K.L.E., an album I had completely forgotten about.

In fact, I had forgotten all about U.N.K.L.E. and was surprised to read that not only was the album Psyence Fiction not a one off, but that he (James Lavelle) has been releasing music up until now.

A slow, mournful piano plays a two chord melody as Thom Yorke sings his best Thom Yorke.  Thumping electronic drums slowly build from nothing and then a spare bass line which seems to circle the piano is added.

After two minutes, the music drops out leaving just a piano and a spoken middle section.  The drums slowly build back and then Yorke begins singing again. As Yorke’s voice soars and soars the song feels like it’s going to end (at five minutes)  but it hits a crescendo moment and then drifts back in to a chill trip-hop beat as the noirish piano fades out.

This song came out after O.K. Computer but before Kid A, and the trip-hop beats sure nod to where Radiohead would be going.

I’m glad to know that trip- hop is still hanging in there and I’ll have to check out some of the other U.N.K.L.E. albums.

[READ: September 1, 2019] “Nelson and Annabelle” (Part 1)

I have never read any of John Updike’s “Rabbit” novels.  I always meant to.  In fact, I owned a copy of the Updike Rabbit book that was always remaindered.  But I wanted to start with the first one and just never got around to it.

I feel like now it’s too late to read them.  I imagine that the stories are retrograde and old -fashioned and that I won’t appreciate the protagonists or the attitudes.  In fact, this story, which I enjoyed parts of, has some pretty unpleasant attitudes about women.

I initially felt I would have enjoyed this story more had I read the Rabbit books since the subtitle here is “the two children of Harry (Rabbit) Angstrom meet at last.”  There’s a lot of character introduction in the beginning–ex-husbands, ex-wives, lovers, children.  But once it settled in, I found it interesting and then re-read the first two pages to get everything straightened out.

So, in brief, Harry (Rabbit) was married to Janice.  They had a son, Nelson.  Harry died and Janice married Ronnie. Ronnie knew Harry for most of his life, but they seem to be somewhat antagonistic.

This story opens with the new that Harry slept with a woman, Ruth, and maybe have been the father of Ruth’s daughter, Annabelle.  Turns out Ronnie also slept with Ruth (before Harry did) and Ronnie describes her as the Brewer town whore.  Harry had also slept with Ronnie’s first wife (there’s a lot of convoluted infidelity going on). (more…)

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Tobias Wolff–“The Most Basic Plan” (New Yorker, November 27, 2000)

Posted in Cars, Death, Florida, Los Lobos, New Yorker, Parenting, Sex, Short Story, Tobias Wolff on September 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

indexSOUNDTRACK: LOS LOBOS “Sabor a Mi” (1978)

220px-Los_Lobos_del_Este_de_Los_Angeles_coverThe other song from the Los Lobos debut album that nick Hornby mentioned was ” “Sabor a Mí” a beautiful acoustic bolero.

The rhythm is slow and stately, with nice use of an upright bass.  The guitars sound great–very clean and precise with no fuzz or distortion or loose sloppy playing.  This is respectful playing of a traditional song.

The vocals are by Cesar Rosas and some are wonderfully romantic sounding.  The solos are really great too.

I’m glad that Los Lobos branched out into so much diverse music over their career, but their early traditional songs are lovely.

[READ: September 15, 2019] “The Most Basic Plan”

In this story a man has traveled to Florida to be with his dying mother.

There was no question that she was dying and he had made appointments at local funeral homes.  He was itching to get away–he didn’t want to be late on Friday, as it would need to be rescheduled on Monday.

He fed her ice chips–it was all he could do for her.  He looked through her things–her photos–and remembered the past.  But the present could not be halted.

He asked the young woman on duty to look after his mother.  She was new and was clearly afraid of his dying mother.  She resented him and he assured her that he would be back soon.

He had rented a car at the airport, but once he got out into the warm air, he returned the car and requested a convertible Miata.  It was overpriced and, given the occasion, maybe a little festive, but he appreciated it. (more…)

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William Boyd–“Beulah Berlin, An A-Z” (New Yorker, November 6, 2000″)

Posted in A to Z, Artists, Berlin, Berlin Germany, Huh?, Language, New Yorker, Rhinoceros, Short Story, William Boyd, Zoos on September 17, 2019| 2 Comments »

2000SOUNDTRACK: BERLIN–“Sex (I’m A)” (2019 version) (2019).

berlinBerlin had a few more hits than most people remember.  There is of course, “Take My Breath Away,” and “The Metro” but also had and the infamous hit “Sex (I’m A)” which is the most 80’s song I can think of.

So here it is 2019 and the Terri Nunn has reunited with Berlin co-founders John Crawford and David Diamond for their first Berlin album together since 1984.  That album, Love Life, featured “No More Words” (I had forgotten that one).

I also didn’t know that Terri Nunn was not the original singer of Berlin.  Their first album, Information had Virginia Macolino on lead vocals.

But in 2019, the three got together to release Transcendance.  And this album has an update of “Sex (I’m A).”  Terri Nunn pointed out in an interview that she still wanted to sing about sexuality now that she is in her fifties, but didn’t want to make songs that made it sound like she was still in her twenties.

So why they decided to cover this song, I don’t know. It’s not very different.  The lyrics are (I think) the same (It’s hard to remember all of the things she “is”  in the song.

The music is different–the drums are bigger and the synth is a little less plastic sounding.  The vocals sound almost identical. Terri Nunn’s voice sounds great.

The one big difference is the inclusion of a lot of guitar. Both in the chorus (which rocks a bit more) and in the occasional solos after the verses.  And after the chorus there’s a more modern pulsing rhythm which sounds pretty good.

It’s a fine update–adding some things and not really losing anything, but it doesn’t seem entirely necessary.

[READ: September 10, 2019] “Beulah Berlin, An A-Z” 

This story was created with a kind of gimmick, but it works.

Almost every paragraph (some sections are longer than one paragraph) starts with an oversized capital letter, A to Z.  And each capital letter is the first word of the new section and (almost) the last word of the previous section.

So paragraph one begins with “Angst” and ends with “Berlin.”  Section two begins with “Berlin” and ends with “cooler.”  Section three opens with “Color” (so there’s a slight variant at work sometimes).

This formal structure sort of makes the story forced, but not really.  Mostly it’s fun to see how Boyd set it up. (more…)

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Garth Greenwell–“Harbor” (New Yorker, September 16, 2019)

Posted in Bulgaria, Drinking, Garth Greenwell, LGBTQ, New Order, New Yorker, Short Story, The Cure on September 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

garhSOUNDTRACK: CAYETANA-New Kind of Normal (2017).

cayetanOne of the worst feelings is when you find out about a band right after they’ve broken up.

I feel like I’ve been aware of Cayetana forever, but they only formed in 2011. I wonder if there’s another band I’m confusing them with.

Well, Cayetana played their last concert at Union Transfer this past August 3.  It’s nice that they played their final show in front of  a home crowd.  I would have gone had I known I liked them.  Which I now do.

Cayetana were Allegra Anka: bass guitar / back-up vocals; Augusta Koch: guitar / lead vocals; Kelly Olsen: drums / back-up vocals.  For a band with an exotic-sounding name, their music is pretty straightforward.  But boy is it good.

Their songs are pretty standard alt-rock with a 90’s feel, but there’s really interesting instrumentation under Koch’s satisfying vocals.

 One of the most immediately pleasing things is the sound of the bass guitar, and that the bass doesn’t simply follow the guitars–there are basslines galore on this record.  I love the counterpoint of the fast and complex New Order-like bass line and the ringing guitar notes on the opener “Am I Dead Yet?”

There’s great guitars (with feedback) and thumping drums on the really catchy “Mesa.”  There’s great drums on “Too Old For This” as well.

The harmonies are terrific like on “Easy to Love” where you can clearly hear all three of them.

Most of the songs are pretty catchy, but there are few with a twinge of discord.  “Bus Ticket” has some harsh notes and a thumping ending.   And “Side Sleepers” slows things down and feels more bass heavy, which is no bad thing when the basslines are as cool as this one.

“Certain for Miles” starts quietly with just bass and drums but adds a nice ringing guitar about midway through.  The wonderfully titled “Phonics Failed Me” is a midtempo rocker with a great instrumental break.

“Follow” has more of that great opening bass work like The Cure or New Order and “Dust” has an even better bass introduction–slow and moody with lots of bass chords.

“World” ends the disc with a slow moody tone with echoing guitars and lots of great bass lines and chords.  It’s quiet and ends with a car starting up and driving away.

A fitting ending to the bands final album.

[READ: August 22, 2017] “Harbor”

I read a story by Greenwell a couple of years ago.  It was written in 2017.  They are both set in Bulgaria. They both have a character named N.

I found this story confusing, probably because of the cultural information that I couldn’t quite parse.

Underneath all of the action, the narrator is coining for R. who just broke up with him.  Every couple of months he flew to Lisbon to be with R., but R. said he needed to figure things out.  The narrator wanted a new life too.  He was tired of teaching.  But he wanted the new life to come with R. in it.

As with the other story, the Bulgarians and Americans writers are hanging out.  The narrator explains there is no such thing as a Bulgarian professional writer–they all had other careers.  The Americans were younger and boring by comparison.They play spin the bottle.  But before they can finish, the waitress comes over and tells them to stop.  She removes the bottle.

(more…)

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Woody Allen–“On a Bad Day You Can See Forever” (New Yorker, November 13, 2000)

Posted in Acid Mothers Temple, Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Dante Alighieri, Funny (ha ha), Kawabata Makoto, New Yorker, Short Story, Unfunny, Woody Allen, 河端一 on September 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

30SOUNDTRACK: KAWABATA MAKOTO [河端一]-INUI 4 (2007).

a2911123677_16Kawabata Makoto [河端一] is the guitarist and mastermind behind Acid Mothers Temple. The band is hugely prolific. But he still had time to record solo albums. Often times without any guitar.

This was Kawabata’s fourth solo LP, now available on bandcamp

NUI 4 is the fourth volume in Makoto’s series of occasional solo releases for VHF. While widely and rightly known for ear-splitting Deep Purple style guitar demolition with Acid Mothers Temple, Gong, etc, Kawabata’s INUI works are highly personal and introspective, with lots of room given to cosmic atmosphere and acoustic instruments. INUI 4 is a single 68 minute track, a slow building and evolving multi-layered swath of acoustic & electric guitars, electronics, and hurdy gurdy. The final 20 minutes of the track features prominent “glissando” guitar, ala Daevid Allen, a very fine sound to be lost in.

This album consists of 1 hour-long song called RYO (01:07:51).

A piercing high note lingers throughout the track as a beautiful bouzouki melody plays and trippy space sounds swirl around.  The piercing note seems to fade into the background as soaring swirling sounds begin around 5 minutes with a kind of high whistling melody running through from about 8 minutes.

AS the song  continues, new sounds continue to enter.  At 15 minutes, warping and buzzing sound swirl in.  At 23 minutes, deep moaning sounds cycle through.  At 30 minutes swirling spaceship sounds float in.

Around 35 minutes a melody seems to come through the hazy distance (possibly from the hurdy gurdy).  Around 40 minutes a “beat” (made of possible reversed guitar chords) starts to come in.  This adds a kind of quiet propulsion to the sound as the soloing in the distance gets more intense (yet still quite).

Then at 46 minutes it shifts dramatically.  All the drones drop away and the song starts fresh with gentle swirling guitars.  Everything feels like it is ringing and chiming and it stays in this beautiful glissando style for the next 20 minutes.

Not a bad way to spend an hour.

[READ: September 13, 2019] “On a Bad Day You Can See Forever”

This story seems mostly like an opportunity for Woody Allen to throw in as many fifty-cent words as he can.  Which is kind of funny since it is about overpaying for renovations.

You’d never quite guess that’s where this story is going from the opening.  As it opens the narrator is at the gym and has just thrown out his back (“my spine suddenly assumed the shape of a Möbius strip”) trying to “tickle pink the almond-eyed fox” doing push ups near him.  Given Allen’s history, this is unfortunate to say the least.  Not the least of which is because this character is married.

But whatever, it’s a comic story, right? (more…)

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