SOUNDTRACK: KALBELLS-Tiny Desk Concert #783 (September 5, 2018).
The opening of the first song “Craving Art Droplets” was kind of promising, with the backing singers (Angelica Bess on keys, Sarah Pettinotti on bass) all “yeahing” at the same time and their rather strange chord progressions (and synth bass). But once the song started, I realized it wasn’t going to get any better. Just layer upon layer of cheesey synths. The only thing that saved it was the live drums (Zoey Brasher), even though they don’t add a lot.
Just before the break, the song builds in an interesting way with everyone chanting louder and louder. And just when I thought there was hope, it devolved into the worst thing ever–lead singer Kalmia Travera’s long cheesey sax solo. Oh dear.
She introduces the next piece: “The next song we’re gonna play is a medley.” That’s a strange intro for songs no one knows. Wordless chanting starts “123456/Bodyriders” (along with a cowbell). The lyrics… are puzzling at best “Six was the rest, six was everything” (?) When it segues into “Bodyriders,” the Travera singing high notes over the chanted background is promising, but those synth sounds again…. (even when she bends the notes, it’s still cheesey). .
“Droolerz” is a new song and has an amusing lyric: “We could play drums and eat lobster at the opera.” And the way the delivery comes across is enjoyable. The chorus also wants to be fun
Dance in the back yard, lets party
Let out all our demons, in the heat
Hang out on the lawn, in the dark
Naked in the shower, till dawn
But the way it’s sung is such a downer I can’t stand it. Maybe its the synths–but I feel like the song is struggling and failing to be bigger than it is. It all feels really sad to me.
[READ: April 15, 2016] “Distant Relations”
Sometimes it’s easy to tell that a piece in the New Yorker is an excerpt. And sometimes you just hope it is. And in this case, my hope was founded. “Distant Relations” is a chapter from Pamuk’s book The Museum of Innocence, (like this excerpt, it was translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely).
The main reason I assumed it was an excerpt was because of one or two lines in the early section of this story. The ending, while ambiguous, could have been a (relatively unsatisfying) ending, but those hints that there was more really made me want there to be more.
The story begins with the narrator talking about his fiancée Sibel. It was 1975 and she had just noticed a purse in a shop window (by Jenny Colon). He made a note to go back and get the purse. Although they are in Turkey, both protagonists have been abroad, He studied in America, while Sibel studied in Paris.
The next day he decided to go to the shop and buy the purse. It was owned by a distant relative. She wasn’t there when he went in, but instead there was a beautiful young woman there. Before the transaction was finished, he recognized who it was. It was his “cousin” Füsun. I put cousin in quotes because it turns out that she is very very distantly related. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 