This is the only time I have heard of Abaji. He is an unimposing man with roots in Greece, Turkey, Armenia and France. He sings gently (often in Arabic with some English) and he plays while he sings.
The impressive thing about Abaji is his skill and love of musical instruments. The notes say “when recording his latest album, Origine Orients, he played 10 different instruments, many of them simultaneously, with no second takes or overdubs. It took him just two days.”
“Min Jouwwa” (which means “From Inside”) is played on what looks like a normal guitar but which sounds so very different. The notes say it’s “a tricked-out Western-style guitar with extra strings, giving it the sound of an Egyptian oud.”
“Steppes” is a brief haunting instrumental. It’s played by bowing a soft-toned kamancheh (a three-stringed instrument that you hold upright on your lap for a scratch, middle eastern sound). He often times rocks the instrument instead of the bow back and forth.
The final song is played on the Greek bouzouki (with whistling as accompaniment). “Summertime” is the Gershwin song (which is only recognizable from the words–the first verse anyhow, which he sings in English–the second verse he sings in Arabic). It sounds nothing like the original with the serpentine riffs and that unique bouzouki sound.
I only wish the cameras were still rolling after the set because “he demonstrated a large duduk (an Armenian cousin of the oboe), an Indonesian suling (flute) and a Colombian saxophone (of sorts) made from bamboo that looked more like a snake.”
This is what I love about the Tiny Desk–seeing very different instruments and unconventional performers up close. Abaji is fun to watch.
[READ: May 7, 2015] The Secret of Evil
This has got to be the final posthumous collection of writings from Bolaño. The Preliminary note from Ignacio Echevarria explains that this book is a collection of the final fragments that were found on Bolaño’s computer. As such, the book consists primarily of works that are unfinished (some barely even started).
This isn’t as disappointing as it sounds because Bolaño seemed to write very thoroughly right form the beginning with his stories. So even though they are incomplete, the section that is written feels fully fleshed out–and you can imagine that more will be coming. Echevarria says that “Bolaño rarely began to write a story without giving it a title and immediately establishing a definitive tone and atmosphere.” This of course made it difficult for Echevarria to know what to compile here.
Not everything in this collection if unfinished. And indeed, with Bolaño sometimes it’s unclear if the unfinished things were actually unfinished. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON (November 08, 2001).
This is the final show for 2001 at the Rheostatics Live website. This show is the second of eleven (11!) straight shows at The Horseshoe. Since it was part of their Green Sprouts “week,” it is chock full of guests.
Kevin Hearn is playing this night (and a few others), but there’s also guest vocals from Sean Cullen and Gord Downie!
The recording is not quite two hours which I assume means that parts were cut off. I mean, a Rheos show that’s under two hours during Green Sprouts week? Unheard of. Earlier that evening Bob Dylan was playing in town, so it seems like the early parts of the show were a bit quieter than usual.
The show stars with “Fat” which sounds like it may have been coming in from something else or that’s the intro music–hard to say exactly. Then they play two new songs–“The Fire” (with a funny joke about someone’s folk apparatus (a harmonica)) and “We Went West.” Then comes their first guest, Canadian comedian and songwriter Sean Cullen. They play his Stompin’ Tom tribute/parody “I’ve Been Beaten All Over This Land.”
I love the version of “Junction Foil Ball” with th every amusing comment that a Globe and Mail reviewer described one part of the song as “a hippo jumping into a giant puddle of mud.”
There’s a very cool section that’s a Kevin special. Songs from Group of 7 and Harmelodia: Boxcar Song, Landscape And Sky, The Blue Hysteria, Yellow Days Under A Lemon Sun, Easy To Be With You, Loving Arms and I Am Drumstein.
Then Gord Downie comes out–sadly his introduction is cut off, so we don’t get to hear what they say about him (or the fan reaction). They start in the middle of his song “Chancellor” from Coke Machine Glow. Then they play “Canada Geese.” And then Dave asks if they can sing one of the Rheos’ songs (“sure thing, Tim, uh, Dave”). Ha. And Gord sings “Take Me in Your Hand.”
There’s a great version of “Stolen Car” and they end the show with three songs from the then new album: “P.I.N.,” “Mumbletypeg” and “Satan is the Whistler.” It’s the best live version of “Satan” that I’ve heard so far–perfect whistling, and they don’t mess up the fast part at the end.
I’m sure the other ten nights were equally great. But this is all we have to close out 2001.
[READ: May 12, 2015] “The Cafeteria”
I read this story because it was alluded to in David Albahari’s “Hitler in Chicago.” In Albahari’s story, a character on a plane is reading Singer’s book and the person next to him asks if he knows Singer’s story about a woman seeing Hitler in New York.
Indeed, in this story, there is a woman who sees Hitler in New York, so it was a nice full circle, and I applaud Albahari for playing around with an extant story like that.
This story, translated from the Yiddish by Singer and Dorothy Straus, is set in Manhattan. The narrator, Aaron, has lived there for nearly 30 years–about as long as he lived in Poland. He has many friends who he meets up with in the cafeteria. They speak Yiddish and talk about the Holocaust or the state of Israel. He looks forward to talking with them but he is a busy many (writing novels or articles) so he can’t stay too long.
Most of the people he meets with are men, but one day a woman, who looked younger than the rest of them, appeared. She spoke Polish, Russian and some Yiddish. She had been in a prison camp in Russia. The men hovered around her, listening to her every word–she was surprisingly upbeat. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Icehouse, Victoria, BC (July 18 2001).
After playing the free show earlier that afternoon, the Rheos played a show at The Icehouse that evening. And it seems like quite a number of people showed up. And they were not disappointed. They also got to see Michael Phillip Wojewoda on drums.
Although the show begins with some slightly sketchy sound quality, it clears up pretty quickly. This show starts with a bunch of great older material “King of the Past,” “Fat,” “Northern Wish.” There’s an amazing guitar solo in “Christopher.” And “Fat” is one of the best live versions I’ve heard.
When they play “Four Little Songs” it gives MPW a chance to sing his bit. But when someone requests “Guns” Dave says that MPW doesn’t do poetry. At what I believe is a fan’s request, the play “The Pooby Song,” and then joke that they are going to play the entire Nightlines Sessions.
Then they talk about Stompin’ Tom Connors and how they met a 65-year-old man who scares the Canadian into you. This is an intro to “The Ballad of Wendel Clark” which includes two Stompin’ Tom fragments “Gumboot Clogeroo” and “The Ketchup Song.” The seven minute version of “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” ends with a crazy riff and noisy drums–a rare jam section. There’s more great drums on “Song of Flight” and excellent harmonies on “California Dreamline.”
This is a really fantastic show–one of their best. And as Lucky notes the “Dopefiends -> California Dreamline -> Song of Flight -> Self-Serve -> Winter Comes Reprise” is killer. The end of the show tacks on an amazing version of “Horses.” But it doesn’t seem like it’s from this show. The sound is a little different, and it seems pretty certain that the night ended after “Record Body Count.” But who knows.
[READ: April 19, 2015] “Hitler in Chicago”
This short story, from the book Learning Cyrillic, is fascinating in the way it begins as one thing and then turns into something else entirely. David Albahari is a Serbian novelist and the story was translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać.
As the story opens, the narrator talks about how afraid he is of flying on planes. He would much rather ride by carriage. Why is everyone in such a hurry, anyway? But he needs to fly and so he does. He pays careful attention to the stewardesses and then tries as quickly as possible to fall asleep.
On this flight to North America, he falls asleep pretty well, but when the book he was reading falls off his lap, it wakes him up. His seat mate picks up the book and smiles. The book is by Isaac Bashevis Singer and is called Enemies, A Love Story (a real book). The woman says that knows Singer and asks if he has read the story where Singer met Hitler in New York. He has.
Then she says,
“I spent a night with him.”
“Hitler?”
“No, she said, I would never have allowed myself such a thing. I meant Singer.”
I had never heard of Dave Rawlings (although I have heard of Gillian Welch). He is evidently a producer and session musician. And the recording of this Tiny Desk Concert is timed with the release of his first album.
Rawlings and Welch (who sang on a number of tracks on the album) play a mix of country and alt-country/folk. And while their voices work great together, I think it’s Rawlings’ guitar playing that really sets this Concert apart.
They play four songs, and if the blurb is correct, the first was a warm up that sounded great so they kept it. That first song is Bill Monroe’s “I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” a rollicking whirlwind of guitar fun with heavy country flavors. The second song they play is the lead track on the album. “Ruby” is a mellow ballad which reminds me of two other songs (see if you think the same).
The third song they introduce as “a depressing song.” It is minor key and slow. The melody is surprisingly catchy. Although when it shifts to Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” it’s not because the songs sound alike but because they have the same spirit. Rawlings’ voice doesn’t sound like Young’s at all, but he sounds great with this great song (and Welch’s harmonies are perfect).
The final song “Sweet Tooth” is a very country (sill country) song. What I like about it is that Rawlings puts his capo on the 10th fret! It’s no a song I’d listen to, but it’s cool to know they can play it.
Ocampo was an Argentinian poet and short story writer. This is a short story from Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces. which was translated by Daniel Balderston.
I didn’t really get this story. It is essentially about a woman living in a basement apartment. She says it is very cold in winter but an Eden in the hot summer months. She has very few things with her and no electricity or running water, but she is very clean. And she doesn’t have to pay rent. The lady upstairs feeds her (and she has candy, as well).
This entire excerpt is one very long paragraph and as the paragraph moves along she beings talking about the mice who share her place with her (they are preferable to the flies that are so prevalent in Buenos Aires). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE LOW ANTHEM-Tiny Desk Concert #43 (January 20, 2010).
The Low Anthem grow more charming as the Tiny Desk goes on. The first cool thing is the story that accompanies them. They played at the Newport Folk Festival and when Bob talked to the organizer about them, the organizer said that “Last year, they were volunteers at the festival, picking up trash.”
Then things get more interesting as each of the three songs introduces new instrumentation and ways of making music. They brought a lot of gear to this Tiny Desk.
The first song, “Ghost Woman Blues” opens with strummed acoustic guitar and upright bass. The first surprise comes with the clarinet solo (by harmony vocalist Jocie Adams). Lead singer Ben Knox Miller has a voice not unlike Vic Chesnutt’s and these songs follow along his rather simple and spare style.
The biggest surprises come in the second song, “This God Damn House.” Miller starts the song by playing a small bras horn (not sure what it is). Adams plays more clarinet (in a very cool echoing style) and upright bassist Mat Davidson switches to an old-sounding organ. But the coolest thing is when Miller takes out his cell phone (what!). He has dialed another phone in the room which he then answers. With both phones flipped open (it is 2010 after all), he begins whistling into them, playing with the feedback and echoes and creating a very cool sound to end the song.
It’s a shame there’s a cut to the next song, because I’m sure Bob asked him about that. For the final song, “To the Ghosts Who Write History Books,” Miller switches to the organ (and harmonica, man that guy is talented). Davidson is back on bass and Adams plays a bunch of cymbals with a violin bow (I wish that was a little louder).
I generally don’t like super mellow music like this, but there’s something really captivating about The Low Anthem–the instrumentation, the voices–something, really elevates them.
There is a drum kit set up although no one uses it. I can’t imagine it would have made a lot of difference. Check them out here.
[READ: April 11, 2015] “Kino”
This longer story was a typically enigmatic one from Murakami. In it, he does a great job of melding the real with the psychological, so that things that seem very surface level are actually much deeper.
Kino is a pretty simple man. He was a runner until he pulled his Achilles tendon and could no longer run. So he started working for a shoe company. He sold the premium shoes to good runners. The brand was not super popular, but it had a devoted following. And Kino made decent money for him and his wife.
He was a salesman and often went on business trips. As happens, he came home early one day to find his wife in bed with a fellow coworker. He walked out and never went back. (more…)
Karl Ove mentions many bands in this book, but the deLillos are the only Norwegian band that he plays. They sing in Norwegian and play sprightly, jangly guitar pop–they would fit in very well with some of the lighter alt bands from the late 80s and early 90s.
I have no idea what they’re singing about (well, the title translates to “love” so I guess I know what they are singing about.
The singer has a high, delicate voice and there’s some interesting harmonies. I really like the way the song transitions from verse to chorus with the picked guitar notes–very catchy.
It comes from their second album, Før var det morsomt med sne (Beforeit was funin the snow), which along with their first was quite popular and was reissued with a bonus disc in the 90s. Having said that I see that Amazon has one copy of the disc and no album cover listed. Worse yet, I can’t find many other songs online (Spotify lists the album, but I can’t get it to play).
Sorry, deLillos (even searching for you gives us more Don DeLillo than you guys).
[READ: June 24, 2014] My Struggle Book Four
I started including the British edition page numbers because at my work we received both editions of the book, and I received the British one first so I grabbed it and started reading. I noticed the page numbers were quite different (the British book is taller and the print is quite bigger, although this doesn’t explain why the previous books have fewer pages).
I had been interested in the differences between editions from the get go. I had enjoyed the American editions, but I enjoyed reading this British edition more (bigger print?). But when I noticed on one of the pages that the word “realise” was spelled as I typed it, it made me wonder if the American edition changed that to the American spelling. [Actually, I see that Don Bartlett lives in Virginia, so perhaps he translates it into American first]. While I wasn’t about to go into a deep inspection of the topic, when I saw the American edition on a shelf at work, I had to do a little comparison.
And what I found out was that even though Don Bartlett is the (amazing) translator for both editions, someone (perhaps Bartlett himself?) is translating the American into British (or vice versa). I looked at a couple of pages and noticed these changes from British to American:
BRITISH EDITION = AMERICAN EDITION
Pack it in, now = Give it up, now
roll-up = rollie [about hand rolled cigarettes]
looked daggers at = gave her a dirty look
a complete prat = completely useless
is that possible? = really?
to cook and wash up = cooking and doing the dishes
I had got = I’d gotten
had penned = had written
and yes, realised = realized.
Other than select phrases, every word is exactly the same. So somebody goes through the books and changes them to British english idioms and spellings. That’s fascinating.
I also see that this is the first book I had not read an excerpt from first. Not that it would have made any difference as to whether I read the fourth one. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
So book four is set in Håfjord, a town in Northern Norway near Finnsnes (a five hour flight away–okay I had no idea Norway was so big!). Karl Ove is 18 and has decided to become a grade school teacher there for one year. The tax breaks are great if you teach, and he plans to teach and write his masterpieces and then get out. He has no interest in teaching, but the town is small (most grades are 3-7 students), so he figures it can’t be too hard.
As in most of Karl Ove’s books, the stories jump around and flash back and do not stay all in this one time, but it is largely set in this locale.
My first thought was that I have never read a story with as much semen (both nocturnal emission and premature ejaculation) in my life. It is a strange take away from the book, but there it is. Karl Ove is 18 and really wants to have sex for the first time. About 3/4 of the way through the book he reveals that he never masturbated (it just never occurred to him, apparently, and at 18 he’s too old to start–what!?). As such, he seems to have wet dreams every night. And every time he gets near a woman, he has an orgasm too soon. He is horny all the time–it’s a bit disconcerting.
And since I mentioned that, I don’t know if Karl Ove’s life is typical of Norway, but I am shocked by the number of women who take their clothes off around him (he may have never had sex, but he was about to on at least a half-dozen occasions). And he says that all through school (from around age 13 and up) it was common place for the boys to lift up the girls’ shirts and kiss and or fondle their breasts. It is mind-boggling to me. And the 16 year olds all seem to be having sex all the time–this may be skewed from Karl Ove’s perspective, but that’s what I now believe happens in Norway.
But while sex is the main theme of the book–sex, sex sex, there is more to it.
Karl Ove’s parents have split up and his father has started drinking in earnest. The dad has remarried and has just had a baby. Incidentally, I was also shocked to read that Karl Ove’s father, who is an abusive stodgy old man who is cranky and mean and abusive and all the stuff that we read about in the other volumes was only 43 at the time that Karl Ove was 18. So the old man who I pictured as a gray-haired curmudgeon in this book is actually younger than me. Great.
In Håfjord, Karl Ove is teaching kids who range from age 13 to 16. It’s disconcerting to read about him thinking lustful thoughts about his students, until he reminds us that for most of the students, he is only 2 years older than them. I am pleased to say that he behaves himself (except in his mind) with all of the students. There’s even a really interesting flash forward to eleven years later when he runs into two of them again.
He proves to be a pretty decent teacher it seems. The kids mostly like him (the girls all think he is hot) and he is young and tries to make it fun (he himself hated school and everything about it). He even seems to help out an awkward boy (although that is never resolved). We see him teaching, trying to interact with the kids and generally being a pretty good guy.
Until the booze comes out.
For in addition to semen, this book is chock full of alcohol. Before graduating from gymnas (high school), Karl Ove basically stopped caring about anything. He spent most of his time drunk. It is astonishing the amount of drinking he does–it’s practically like an Amish Rumspringa how crazy he goes. But even in this retrospective look, he talks about how much he likes it, how it loosens him up and makes him less nervous.
But really he just spends most of his time drunk, hungover or sick. He even got into the hash scene for a while. He was living with his mom at the time and she was appalled at the way he acted–especially when he threw a party which trashed their house. She even kicked him out for a time.
He seemed to be over the drink in Håfjord, but it turns out that there’s precious little else to do except drink up there, especially when it grows dark for most of the day. So there is much drinking–he only misses class once or twice because of it but he comes very close a lot.
The irony that he is appalled at his father’s drinking, while drinking so much himself, is apparently lost on him.
The other main preoccupation with Karl Ove is music. He talks a lot about his great taste in music (he reminds me of me–a little insufferable). Back when he was in gymnas, he spent a lot of time discussing his favorite bands and favorite songs. He got a job (at 16) writing reviews for a local paper (holy crap, jealous!) and then later gets a job writing a column for another paper. For the previous book I listed a lot of the bands he mentioned, and I wish I had written them down for this one. U2 features prominently (this is 1987, so I’m guessing Joshua Tree), but also Talking Heads, a Scottish post-punk/new wave band The Associates and their album Sulk which he describes as “an utterly insane LP.” he and his brother really like The Church and Simple Minds (before they got so commercial). He also has a whole thread in which he makes connections with albums:
Briano Eno, for example, started in Roxy Music, released solo records, produced U2 and worked with Jon Hassell, David Byrne, David Bowie, and Robert Fripp; Robert Fripp played on Bowie’s Scary Monsters; Bowie produced Lou Reed, who came from Velvet Underground, and Iggy Pop, who came from the Stooges, while David Byrne was in Talking Heads, who on their best record, Remain in Light, used the guitarist Adrian Belew, who in turn played on several of Bowie’s records and was his favorite live guitarist for years. (64).
He also specifically raves about “The Great Curve” from the Talking Heads album, and of course, he raves about the first Led Zeppelin album as well.
Music is a huge part of his life (and he dresses accordingly too). It’s unclear whether the kids think this is awesome or not, but he may be a bit too much for some of the locals. The locals are mostly fishermen (which makes sense), and Karl Ove is a bit intimidated that he is so wimpy compared to them–one of the women even teases him about his tiny arms.
But his main focus is writing. He writes a few shorts stories (to my knowledge he has never published any of them). We see some excerpts and they seem fine–he fancies himself Hemingway. But he also mentions a bunch of Norwegian authors (I love when he does that). Sadly again, not too many of them have been translated into English. [I really hope that some mega fan creates a database of all of the bands and authors he mentions]. He also talks briefly about his first novel which alludes to his time teaching here. I happened to read a small summary of said novel (Out of the World) and feared that it spoiled what was going to happen. But, in fact there does appear to be a difference between his fiction and non-fiction.
The book moves very quickly–from party to party, from failed sexual attempt to the next, even from his staying up all night long trying to write. And most of the time he comes off as kind of a dick–he is also very self-critical, which somehow tempers that dickishness.
As with the other books I cannot figure out exactly why I am so addicted to his writing. I brought the book home on Thursday night and finished it (all 548 pages of it) Monday night. This really completes the picture of himself as he moved from childhood to adulthood and really lays the foundation for whatever is to come next. Early in the book he talks about the books that he loved at that age, books that talk about the move from childhood to adulthood. And thus, this book becomes something of a bildungsroman as well. Although whether or not Karl Ove actually grew up at the end of this book will have to wait until volume 5 (which I have to assume is still another year away as there is no information about it online at all!).
For ease of searching, I include: Hafjord, For var det morsomt med sne.
SOUNDTRACK: MATT HAIMOVITZ & CHRISTOPHER O’RILEY-Tiny Desk Concert #426 (March 14, 2015).
There’s no introduction or fanfare for cellist Matt Haimovitz and pianist Christopher O’Riley’s Tiny Desk set. They just start right in with a romping Beethoven piece. I don’t know these two, but the notes say the duo has a new album out called Shuffle.Play.Listen., in which music by Stravinsky and Astor Piazzolla mingles with Cocteau Twins and Arcade Fire. There’s no contemporary music in this set, but it’s very cool nonetheless.
The Beethoven piece sounds alive and wild and very modern. The Glass piece is slow and beautiful The final piece is lively and playful (with hints of darkness). It introduced as reminding O’Riley of a scene in The Unbearable Lightness of Being when Daniel Day-Lewis gets a quickie.
It’s especially fun to watch how animated Haimovitz is. The set list:
Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 4 in C – IV. Allegro vivace
Philip Glass/Foday Musa Suso: The Orchard
Leoš Janáček: Pohádka – II. Con moto
[READ: April 6, 2015] Five Dials 33 Part II
After several themed issues of Five Dials we get back to the ones that I really like–random things thrown together under a tenuous idea. It’s got some great authors and a surprising amount of large scale doodles–full page scribbles and some drawings that go from one page to the next (which works better online than in print). Some of the giant illustrations also are fun–they are of jokey images like a memory stick that states I have only memories. The art was done by JODY BARTON.
As with a previous issue there is a page of contributors and “The Unable to Contribute Page.” These are journalists unfairly imprisoned (see more at cpr.org). The Table of Contents is back, along with the FAQ: (more…)
I had never heard of Beach Slang before watching this Tiny Desk Concert. Evidently they are a new band with only a couple EPs out. The write up says they are a punk band. But in this Tiny Desk show, it’s just lead dude James Snyder and his guitar.
He plays four songs. They are all sort of jaunty acoustic songs. They are almost anthemic, but not quite. The strangest thing is Snyder’s super-raspy singing voice, especially since his speaking voice is gentle and his laugh is kind of high-pitched. He is very funny and nervous when he talks, which I enjoyed quite a bit.
Exploring a little their bandcamp site, I see that they do a cover of the Psychedelic Furs’ Love My Way, and that sound is pretty apt.
Their recorded versions are heavier and actually sound a bit like the Goo Goo Dolls.
This is a brief but enjoyable set. I find him so charming that I like it more than I might normally.
[READ: April 1, 2015] Five Dials 31
It has been quite a while since I’ve read a Five Dials. And that’s no fault of the magazine–its all on me. I always think, I’ll just put it off till I have time, and then I realize that I can always find something to read…so I just need to actually make time for Five Dials because it is totally worth it.
So this issue came out about a year ago. Maybe that’s not too bad?
It begins with the contributors page and is followed by the Unable to Contribute page which lists five journalists who are currently in prison (find out more at the Committee to Protect Journalists). Page 5 is a Table of Contents which I feel they haven’t done before. It has a cool drawing on the bottom. All drawings from this issue came from The Public Domain Collection of the British Library.
Then there’s a Frequently Asked Questions page. Many pertain to corresponding with Five Dials, but others, well: (more…)
Recorded outside of Stubbs while the groundscrew was cleaning up the huge mess, Luluc play a beautiful quiet ballad.
Steve Hassett plays lead acoustic guitar and sings harmonies while Zoë Randell plays rhythm guitar and sings lead. Interestingly, his voice often goes in higher registers than hers.
I really like the solo that he plays that adds a bit of uptempo feel to this otherwise quiet song.
This issue of Harper’s featured five essays (well, four essays and one short story) about “Growing Up: five coming of age stories.” Since I knew a few of these authors already, it seemed like a good time to devote an entire week to growing up. There are two introductions, one by Christine Smallwood (who talks about Bob Seger) and one by Joshua Cohen who talks about the coming of age narrative.
Here’s yet another piece by Karl Ove (like the recent essay in the New York Times Magazine) translated by Ingvild Burkey
It’s hard for me to imagine that Karl Ove (who has written literally thousands of pages about his life) could have anything more to say–any incident that he hasn’t gone over with a microscope. And yet, here he is with a new incident.
As with most things from Karl Ove, it explains a minute detail which proves to be a big event. He was 12 and in school and told to spit out his gum. As he walked up to the wastebasket the attention made him blush. The first time he can recall the burning shame making him more self-conscious which then kept repeating itself. And then some one said “Karl Ove’s face is all red!” (more…)
I discovered We Arrive Alive from the Girl Band bandcamp site (it says the bands are friends). They are from County Wicklow and play very cool post rock instrumentals. They have three EPs, all of which are available for free on their bandcamp site.
Their first is called Walls. The opening song “Walls” has fast guitar with a slinky Sleater-Kinney kind of guitar progression. Unlike S-K, there is bass and no vocals. The middle section feels like any number of post-rock instrumentalists like Explosions in the Sky. But it’s not derivative–it’s expansive and beautiful. “Save Me from the Morning” is a much faster song with a more intricate bassline underneath the guitar riffs. The structure of the song makes it seem more like a conventional song (ie one with words). But there are no words, and the guitars fill in very nicely for where vocals might appear. But 90 seconds in, the songs switches gears and becomes a bit more jazzy. Then around 3 minutes the bass takes over with big loud notes—it’s a great transition. There’s yet another part, a quiet section, that ends the song. That’s a lot of music packed into 6 and a half minutes.
“This is a City” is the final song. A seven minute slow building instrumental. It starts quietly and the intertwining guitars get louder as they echo more. I love the way at around 5 minutes the song shifts gears entirely to a sort of electronic feel with pinging notes. It ends with a fantastic closing riff.
I’m glad to have discovered these guys, I love a good collection of instrumentals.
[READ: March 17, 2015] A Little Lumpen Novelita
This may be the final extant untranslated book by Roberto Bolaño. Although I have yet to read The Secret of Evil (that fell right off my radar), as far as I can tell, the only things left untranslated are:
Diorama (this book is unpublished at all, so it’s unlikely to be translated anytime soon) AND
Consejos de un discípulo de Morrisona un fanático de Joyce, 1984 [Advice from a Morrison Disciple to a Joyce Fanatic] which has yet to be translated and I don’t know why, so I assume it never will be.
I don’t fully understand the use of the word “Lumpen” in the title, but don’t let that odd word (which is in the Spanish title, so we can’t blame excellent translator Natasha Wimmer) keep you from reading this breezy and entertaining (if not a bit dark) book.
As with many books by Bolaño, there’s not a lot of plot, per se. In this book, a young woman (Bianca) and her brother have been orphaned at a young age. Their parents died in a car crash in Italy (which is where they live). They try to cope as best they can, but they ultimately decide to drop out of school and do nothing except watch a movie a day. Bianca tells her brother that they can’t afford that lifestyle (especially since he just seems to get X-Rated films), but he continues to do so anyway.
They realize that they will need money of course, so Bianca gets a job as a hair washer at a salon. Her brother gets a job cleaning floors at a gym. It seems to be enough for the time being. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: ABAJI-Tiny Desk Concert #47 (February 15, 2010).
This is the only time I have heard of Abaji. He is an unimposing man with roots in Greece, Turkey, Armenia and France. He sings gently (often in Arabic with some English) and he plays while he sings.
I Just Read About That... 