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Lauren Groff–“The Wind” (New Yorker, February 1, 2021)

February 10, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: PEARL HARBOR AND THE EXPLOSIONS-Pearl Harbor and the Explosions (1979).

In a post from a couple of days ago, Rebecca Kushner mentions a bunch of punk band members that she either knew or hung out with.  I was amazed at how many of them I’d heard of but didn’t really know.  So this seemed like a good opportunity to go punk surfing.

Until about a decade ago, I had never heard of Pearl Harbor & The Explosions.  Then a friend of mine was moving and she gave me her vinyl collection.  It was a lot of punk and new wave and, inexplicably she had two copies of this album.  I never listened to it until just now.

Kushner mentions Pearl Harbor in this essay.  I read the essay that Pearl Harbor was opening for Agnostic Front, but that seems like a recipe for disaster.  Maybe Pearl Harbor was just in the audience when Agnostic Front played.  Because this album is not hardcore.  Not even punk.  It’s punky new wave but it is certainly more on the new wave scale.

The first song was the single “Drivin’.”  The guitars are angular, the bass is very busy, it feels rather like the Talking Heads.  The backing vocals are short and direct while Pearl Harbor sings in a perfect new wave style.  The weird thing is how the song seems like it’s funky, but it’s very unfunky.  I don’t know if it’s because the record has no low end–everything is at the high end–the guitar chords, the backing vocals, the bassm even the drums feel like all snare.  But the guitar chords and change-ups are really quite interesting and the solo is really quite erratic and interesting.

“You Got It (Release It)” is really catchy pop with a nice noisy guitar solo.  “Don’t Come Back” pays off a few different styles.  There’s a kind of loping almost country bass and some wildly reckless guitar chords thrown all over them.

“Keep Going” has a wonky sounding bass that pushes this song forward with jagged guitars and dreamy vocals.  “Shut Up and Dance” is one of the harder rocking songs on the disc with a quick descending main riff and loud distorted guitar chords.  But the chorus and middle part are pure new wave.

“The Big One” has a halting guitar and bass line that makes the song catchy and slightly off at the same time.  “So Much for Love” has a disco bass line and some curlicue guitar riffs in between the angular chords.  Then after two minutes the song turns pretty conventional with a catchy reprise of the chorus.

“Get a Grip On Yourself” throws in a wildly funky bass and guitar chords straight out of Bowie’s “Fashion.”  It’s a bouncy song and even has a very disco high-pitched “ooh ooh” and a rather fun “6,5,4,3,2,1, here it comes” refrain.  It also has two false endings, just to mess with the DJ.

“Up and Over” is the longest song on the album by far.  It’s got a catchy chugging riff very reminiscent of The Cars.   The reason for the length is a middle instrumental jam high bass notes and a bunch of guitar mischief.

I’m not sure why the band never did anything else.  Or why Kushner saw Pearl Harbor hanging around in what I’m guessing was the mid 1980s.  Pearl Harbor married Clash bassist Paul Simonon and also hate a solo career as Pearl Harbour.  She also sang with The Tubes (before The Explosions album).  And, best of all, her real name is Pearl E. Gates.  Here’s a fascinating interview I found with her from the Patterns and Tones blog.

Seems like Pearl Harbor was (and still is) pretty cool.

[READ: February 8, 2021] “The Wind”

This was a very sad story, told in a nail-biting way.

The narrator is relating a story that her mother would tell to her whenever “her limbs were too heavy to move and she stood staring into the refrigerator for long spells, unable to decide what to make for dinner.”

In the story, the narrator’s mother was a young child, living with her parents (the narrator’s grandparents) and her two younger brothers.  The grandmother told her daughter that the next day she should pretend it was a normal day.

What that meant was getting out and onto the school bus just like usual.  However, once she was on the bus, she asked the bus driver to let them off at a stop a few stops away.  The bus driver was taken aback but when she looked at the girl and saw her black eye, she knew what was going on and agreed to the deceit.

Their mother was waiting for them and they all got in the car. Continue Reading »

Posted in Agnostic Front, Domestic Violence, Lauren Groff, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, Pearl Harbour, Short Story, Talking Heads, The Cars, Violence | Leave a Comment »

Ben Okri–“A Wrinkle in the Realm” (New Yorker, February 8, 2021)

February 9, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: AGNOSTIC FRONT-Victim in Pain (1984).

In yesterday’s post, Rebecca Kushner mentions a bunch of punk band members that she either knew or hung out with.  I was amazed at how many of them I’d heard of but didn’t really know.  So this seemed like a good opportunity to go punk surfing.

Agnostic Front is a band I’ve known about forever–they are pretty well acknowledged as the godfathers of punk.  And yet somehow I never really listened to them.

Victim in Pain is their debut album.  It’s got 11 songs in just over 15 minutes.

The longest song on the record is just over two minutes long =.  It’s called “Fascist Attitude” and in addition to being sadly appropriate still, it fits a lot of content into just two minutes

Why should you go around bashing one another
If they look or think different, why let it bother
Everyone’s got their own style, their own thoughts
Don’t let it bother you, don’t let it get caught
Your fascist attitudes – we need the least
With a scene that’s fighting for unity peace
Don’t need more anger; no more danger
Stop now before it’s too late
Learning how to respect each other is a must
So why start a war of anger danger among us
It’s time to grow out of your nazi hypocrism
When you really don’t want part of a fucked up system

Agnostic Front are still going, with a bit more of a thrash sound (and a wicked rumbling bass).  And their albums (and songs) are still really short.

[READ: February 8, 2021] “A Wrinkle in the Realm”

This is an interesting story about masks, but not about the masks that we have been wearing all this time (or maybe it is).

The narrator notices that a woman crossed the street as he walked by.  Then he noticed on the subway that a woman moved her purse to the other side of her when he sat down.

He looked at himself in the mirror and thought he looked normal.  But he wondered what other people swa in him.

I assumed that this story was about racism (although no one’s race is given), but it goes in a different direction.  Although it’s also clearly about racism, make no mistake.

He was unable to stop worrying about what people saw in him to make them afraid.  He tried changing the way he walked, but this new style seemed to make people cross the street even sooner.

One day he was walking behind someone tall and bowlegged.  The man walked past a woman who didn’t do anything.  But when she saw the narrator, she looked startled and immediately crossed the street.  He was so surprised that he followed her.  She crossed back.  When he crossed back, she crossed one more time, but he met her in the middle.  As they walked past each other he said, “There’s nothing wrong with me.  I’m not going to eat you.”  She turned and fled. Continue Reading »

Posted in Agnostic Front, Ben Okri, Masks, New Yorker, Rachel Kushner, Racism, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

Rachel Kushner–“The Hard Crowd: Coming of age on the streets of San Francisco” (New Yorker, January 18, 2021)

February 8, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: U.K. SUBS-Another Kind of Blues (1978).

In this essay, Rebecca Kushner mentions a bunch of punk band members that she either knew or hung out with.  I was amazed at how many of them I’d heard of but didn’t really know.  So this seemed like a good opportunity to go punk surfing.

U.K. Subs are a punk band that I’ve heard of but really knew nothing about.  A little research tells me that they have been active all of these years–their latest release was in 2019.  That’s some serious staying power.  According to Wikipedia, there have been about 75 members of the band over the years.

This first album is a pretty fascinating listen.  Most of the seventeen songs are under two minutes long, but they’re not blisteringly fast or anything.  The songs are more or less blues based (as the title indicates) but faster and grittier

This is definitely a punk album.  But they follow a lot of rock song conventions.  Indeed, “I Live in a Car” is a minute and a half long but it’s got verses a chorus and two guitar solos.  “I Couldn’t Be You” even has a harmonica solo.

But songs like “Tomorrow’s Girls” offer good old punk chanting choruses.  And “World War” which is all of a minute and twenty three seconds is actually over 20 seconds of explosion.

“Stranglehold” was a pretty big hit in England and it’s easy to see why.  It’s got an immediate riff, a three chord chorus that’s easy to sing along with and a bouncy bass line.  And it’s all of one minute and fifty-seven seconds.

Checking some of their other releases through the years, UK Subs definitely went through a metal phase in the 80s and 90s, but their 2016 album Zeizo has found the punk spirit again.  I think I like Zeizo better than their first.

[READ: February 2, 2021] “The Hard Crowd”

I’ve read a few things by Rachel Kushner, although I’ve never given any thought to her biography.  I never would have guessed that Kushner was part of a San Francisco pub scene when she was growing up (or that she is essentially my age).

This essay is about that time in her life.  When Jimmy Carter was president and he quoted Bob Dylan in his acceptance speech “He not busy being born is busy dying.”

She says that being born is an existential category of gaining experience and living intensely in the present.  Conversely, dying doesn’t have to be negative–the new stuff is over but you turn reflective you examine and tally–it is behind you but it continues to exists somewhere.

She says she’s been watching film footage found on Youtube shot in 1966 or 1967 from a car moving slowly along Market Street in San Francisco, where she grew up.  She assumes it is B roll from a film, because it is professional grade (she imagines it was for Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, but that’s not based on anything).

She worked at the Baskin Robbins making $2.85 an ahour.   The shop is now gone and she thinks it’s weird to be sentimental about a chain store, but when her mother took her to the IHOP years after she worked there, it all came flooding back–sights, smells.  Despite every one being identical, this one was hers. Continue Reading »

Posted in Autobiographies, Bob Dylan, Bullitt, Cro-Mags, Death, Drugs, Free Beer, Gorilla Biscuits, Jimmy Carter, New Yorker, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, Prison, Punks, Rachel Kushner, San Francisco, CA, Touch Me Hooker, UK Subs | Leave a Comment »

Hilton Als–“True Stories: The shock of PJ Harvey” (New Yorker, August 20 & 27, 2001)

February 7, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: BULLY-“Dry” (2021).

Back in 1993, PJ Harvey’s album Rid of Me was one of my favorite releases.  I loved the dynamic and the powerful lyrics.

I really enjoyed Bully’s 2015 Feel Like album.  I had a ticket to see Bully a couple of months ago, but obviously that didn’t happen.  Here Bully covered PJ Harvey.

The performance is part of  Sounds of Saving’s “Song That Found Me at the Right Time” series and is paired with a Q&A in which Bully’s Alicia Bognanno discusses mental health issues, both personal and across the music industry.

The interview is about five minutes, and an important moment comes when she says

A lot of musicians, like myself, are sober and dealing with mental health. I think it’s 85% of artists, or something, struggle with mental health. I have a link on my fridge for a suicide prevention hotline because you never know when people are going to need that. And people aren’t really vocal about it, so that should be readily available at all times.

For this cover, Bognanno plays the song solo.  She gets a great sound on her guitar and I love the way she drops the distortion for the quieter chorus.

Her vocal delivery is right on, although she makes the song her own because her singing style is quite different.

There’s no solo like in the original, but it is hardly missed in this excellent cover.

You can watch the interview and song here.

[READ: January 30, 2021] “True Stories”

This is one of Hilton Als’ Profiles in the New Yorker.  This one is about PJ Harvey.

I loved PJ Harvey’s earlier records and even though her newer records are “better,” I miss the visceral sound of the early ones.  Als’ profile talks about that change in sound and how a lot of her image was character driven, not personal.

For PJ Harvey’s third album, To Bring You My Love, Harvey started dressing differently, in a costume: tight pink catsuit that accentuated every line and bump, an exposed black bra; turquoise eyeshadow, heavy black mascara on eyelashes as long as beetles’ legs; careless red lipstick.  It was like the opposite of Bowie’s immaculate Thin White Duke.

She called this character Vamp.

She tells Als that in the early days she didn’t know how to do interviews and how to keep private things to herself.  At the time she wore black, scraped her hair back and didn’t wear makeup.  She wore big boots, played a big guitar and made a lot of noise.  She says the English pres wanted her to be this dark melancholy feminist.

But Harvey couldn’t be pigeonholed.  She is a musical purist who delights in the impurity of contemporary rock as it borrows from the blues, funk, pop, techo and trip hip.

Harvey grew up in a village of 600 with artistic parents who listened to all kinds of music.  They often had bands staying at their place on the weekend. Continue Reading »

Posted in Automatic Dlamini, Biography, Bully, David Bowie, Hilton Als, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, U2 | Leave a Comment »

Allegra Goodman–“A Challenge You Have Overcome” (New Yorker, January 25, 2021)

February 6, 2021 by Paul Debraski

 SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-“City Sickness” (1993).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

I don’t recall when I first heard the Tindersticks, but I was immediately a fan.  The camber pop was lovely, the strings gorgeous and Stuart Staples’ voice was deep and robust.  Yes, his lyrics are dark or at least sad (or they always seem like they are even when they aren’t), but his voice makes you want to listen to everything he has to say.

This song has a simple melody and a gentle sweeping chorus complete with strings and glockenspiel all underpinned with an almost pop melody.  The big surprise comes during the instrumental break which features a… guitar, violin(?) mixed really low in the background, playing a kind of noise/screeching sound that you almost don’t notice until it stops.

Tindersticks would go on to write many more great albums over the years and are still going.

[READ: February 3, 2021] “A Challenge You Have Overcome”

This is about a couple, Steve and Andrea, who were from a long line of long marriages (on Steve’s side).  They had been married 25 years, which Steve’s mother Jeanne must have been pleased by given Andrea’s family’s history.

Things weren’t perfect:

You might sleep in separate bedrooms and wash dishes in a fury.  You might find a moldy peach in the refrigerator and leave it on the counter for three days as evidence of some private trial–but you would never leave.

Steve and Andrea had endured all kinds of struggles and difficulties, including Andrea losing her job and Steev hating his own job.  Steve works in academic publishing and his small press is slowly going digital–something eh was definitely not interested in.  Andrea had recently begun counselling high school students about getting into college.

Surely Jeanne would approve.   Jeanne had lost patience with everyone toward the end of her life and was not afraid of direct honesty.  Jeanne had brought Andrea to tears many times–she had no filter. Continue Reading »

Posted in Allegra Goodman, Belle and Sebastian, College, New Yorker, Parenting, Publishers, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, Tindersticks | Leave a Comment »

Sam Lipsyte–“Waiting for To-Go” (New Yorker, January 25, 2021)

February 5, 2021 by Paul Debraski

 SOUNDTRACK: THE GO-BETWEENS-“Streets of Your Town” (1988).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

The Go-Betweens were the brainchild of wonderful songwriters Robert Forster and Grant McLennan.  They wrote beautiful poppy, catchy songs, often with dark lyrics.

“Streets of Your Town” starts out with a boppy beat and a catchy guitar riff.  It opens with the chorus–“round and round, up and down, through the streets of your town.”  Then the tone shifts.

The verse is still musically perky but then you get this lyric

,And don’t the sun look good today?
But the rain is on its way
Watch the butcher shine his knives
And this town is full of battered wives

Right back into the bouncy chorus. This was a pretty big single for them and yet those lyrics.  A perfect study for a budding sonmgrwiter.

[READ: February 3, 2021] “Waiting for To-Go”

This is a short Shouts and Murmurs piece from Sam Lipsyte.  I have really enjoyed his stories but realized I haven’t seen anything from him in a while.  This, like many Shouts and Murmurs, seems pretty funny but in reflection, is only mildly amusing.

The title is part of the joke in this piece.

Two people named E and V (see Beckett) are sitting in a room gazing at their phones

In the first scene one of them says he heard a podcast about the Neolithic or something.  The other asks if that was the Stone Age, but he says no, they had copper, like copper axes.

The second person says copper sounds nice, but he is referring to the copper pan that he just bought,

In scene two, later tin the night, one of them, looking at his phone, says “My God. That’s amazing.”

What is it?
No.
What?
Nothing.
Oh.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Food, Funny (ha ha), Huh?, New Yorker, Sam Lipsyte, Samuel Beckett, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, The Go-Betweens | Leave a Comment »

Graham Swift–“Blushes” (New Yorker, January 18, 2021)

February 4, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: THE POP GROUP-“Savage Sea” (1979).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

I have thought that a few songs did not fit on this mostly mellow mix, but if ever there was one that stands out, it is this one.

I am unfamiliar with The Pop Group who formed in 1977.  They released two albums, then broke up.  Then they reunited in 2010 and have put out two more albums.  The Pop Group has been described as extremely influential (which inspired the reunion).  I have to assume that no one sounded anything like them at the time.

“Savage Sea” opens with a quiet piano twinkling and then a whispered voice starts speaking.  After about a minute noises start swirling and in adding discordance.  The spoken words get a bit more intense and the song gets spookier even as the piano melody remains mostly the same.  Around 2 minutes some deep moaning voices are added and then a squeaky violin spears the song with high notes.

With about fifteen seconds left, the piano starts to play a conventional series of chords, but just as it’s about to turn into something, the song ends.

I haven’t listened to the whole of Y, but of the few songs I did listen to, “Savage Sea” seems like the most listener friendly, as most of the other songs are quite noisy with screams, chants, wild guitars and all kinds of free jazz.  There’s even some funk and dub bass all played around the same time.  It’s chaos.

The name of the band is pretty hilarious

[READ: February 3, 2021] “Blushes”

I anticipate reading a  lot of stories about the pandemic in the next few months.

This one was interesting because although it was set during the pandemic, the story itself has nothing much to do with it.

Dr. Cole is a retired physician, a specialist in respiratory diseases.  But with the pandemic raging, he has volunteered to help out wherever he can.  Of course he is nervous, but he doesn’t have a lot left in his life.  The love of his life (his second wife) died recently and they had no children. He’s not depressed or anything, but he doesn’t have the familial concerns that some might have in this situation.  Honestly doing the work takes his mind off of things.

As he drives in, he marvels at the emptiness of the roads–and the re-arrival of nature (he saw six foxes the other day). Continue Reading »

Posted in Death, Graham Swift, Hospitals, New Yorker, Pandemic, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, The Pop Group | Leave a Comment »

Ngozi Ukazu–Check Please [Book 2: Hockey] (2020)

February 3, 2021 by Paul Debraski

 SOUNDTRACK: STEREOLAB-“High Expectation” (1991).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Stereolab have been around forever (I saw them live two years ago) and their music has gone through several transformations over the years.

This song comes from their second release, an EP called Super-Electric, and was then released on the Switched On collection.  It’s a pretty quiet song, with a kind of soporific feel–muted guitars, no drums, and a kind of gauzy sheen over all the music.

One of the best things about Stereolab is that their lyrics are usually absolutely different from what you think they might be about given the music and Lætitia Sadier’s delivery.  She sings softly and, because French is her native language, her emphases are not always where one might expect, so she can sing a line like: “There is no sense in being interested/In a child, a group, or in a society” (in the song Spark Plug”) and it sounds like a pretty pop song with lovely backing vocals.

In “High Expectation,” she sings gently over this chill-out song:

Do you really want to love someone who does not love you
Do you really want to stab your enemy in the back.  Stab him in front.

and then the understated but still catchy chorus:

I don’t, I don’t, I don’t, I’m sorry.

Stereolab were unique right from the get go.

[READ: June 1, 2020] Check Please Book 2

Check Please is a two-part graphic novel.  Book 1 followed college freshman Eric “Bitty” Bittle through his freshman and sophomore years.  In book two Bitty is now a junior (and senior) Samwell College and is taking on more responsibilities.

The book is written as a vlog from Bitty.  As the opening blurb tells us

I’m a junior on the Samwell men’s hockey team and not only do I have new teammates and responsibilities I’ve got a new beau–remember Jack?  Dating a professional hockey player wasn’t anything I expected to do in college.  My parents don’t know, my teammates have no clue, and Jack and I aren’t sure that we want to keep it a secret.

Jack Zimmerman is now playing pro hockey for the Falcons.  He has a hockey nickname–Zimmboni–and the respect of his team.  Despite the high profile games dn Bitty’s schooling, they do manage to see each other (Zoom meetings before they were what everyone was doing). Continue Reading »

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Drinking, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Hockey, LGBTQ, Ngozi Ukazu, Pies, Set at School, Stereolab, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, Universities | Leave a Comment »

Leonard Michaels–“Nachman from Los Angeles” (New Yorker, November 12, 2001)

February 2, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: THE SERVANTS-“Afterglow” (1990).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

The Servants are a band I’ve never heard of.  They released one album in 1990, Disinterest.  Band member Luke Haines said, “It is art rock … ten years too late and fifteen years too early.”  They recorded a second album, Small Time, but it wasn’t released until twenty-one years later–following the inclusion of Disinterest in Mojo magazine’s 2011 list of the greatest British indie records of all time.

Evidently, Stuart Murdoch liked singer-songwriter David Westlake’s music so much, he wanted to start  band with him (before Belle & Sebastian).

I listened to this song on Spotify and was really surprised by the recording:

Of all the songs on here, I think this one surprised me the most.  The recording is incredibly muffled.  It all sounds like it was recorded on a cassette player.

It opens with a thumping guitar note and a buzzy bass line meandering around a subsequent guitar line.  There are drums but they are only hitting on the beat with an occasional cymbal that sounds like it’s down the hall.  Westlake’s vocals are so muffled I can’t actually tell what he’s saying, but there does appear to be an occasional harmony vocal.

Interestingly, the music is pretty catchy once it gets going, you just can’t hear any detail as to what’s going on.

Then I realized that this recording is actually an early demo that came with a reissued album.  That’s why it sounds so terrible.

Hearing the version on YouTube (which I assume is the real thing–there’s virtually no information about this song online!), Murdoch’s appreciation makes a lot more sense.

The song moves along nicely with a pretty guitar and steady bass.  Westlake’s voice is low and understated.  I like the way the chorus reveals itself, almost as the end of the first verse instead of a separate part of the song

Stay with me
please don’t go, afterglow.

The song is jangly with a few nice guitar flourishes and a rather unexpected guitar solo.

It’s also two minutes shorter than the demo (and honestly sounds like a totally different song–I feel like something is wrong somewhere).

[READ: January 30, 2021] “Nachman from Los Angeles”

Nachman is, indeed, from Los Angeles.  His friend Norbert has just introduced him to Prince Ali from Persia.  Ali has a proposition for him.  At Norbert’s suggestion, Ali would like Nachman to write Ali’s metaphysics paper for him.

Ali took the class thinking that metaphysics had something to do with mysticism.  By the time he realized it didn’t, it was too late to drop it.  He needs this class to graduate and he has no head for this sort of thing.  Norbert said that Nachman was a great writer. Norbert did not say that Nachman was a mathematician who has never read Henri Bergson.

When Ali said that he would pay him $1,000, he took Nachman’s stunned silence as an agreement.

Nachman is mad at Norbert–who doesn’t even go to school with them.  Norbert got a tattoo which upset his father so much that he cut Norbert off, so Norbert can’t afford school.  But Norbert sees this transaction as a business opportunity–$1,000 a paper, imagine that.

Nachman settled in to read Bergson.  Ali seemed concerned that Nachman was reading instead of writing.  The paper was not due for three weeks, and Nachman obviously needs to learn about what Bergson had to say. Continue Reading »

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Cheating, David Westlake, Henri Bergson, Leonard Michaels, New Yorker, Philosophy, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, The Servants, Universities | Leave a Comment »

Sophie Escabasse–Witches of Brooklyn (2020)

February 1, 2021 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: WIRE-“Outdoor Miner” (1978).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Wire is another band that is quite unlike most of the other bands on the mixtape.  Over the years, Wire became a softer, somewhat more poppy band.  But on their first couple of albums, they were pretty abrasive.

True, their music was unconventional–which Murdoch clearly likes, but unlike the other bands, this album, Chairs Missing starts with some really sharp guitars and heavy bass and drums.  Although some of the later songs do have softer choruses.

Interestingly most of the songs on this record are quite short–almost half are under three minutes.  Murdoch seems to like short songs, so “Outdoor Miner” being less than two minutes makes sense.  It is also very different from most of the rest of the album.  The bass is smooth, the guitars jangle and Colin Newman’s voice is really gentle.  There’s also some gorgeous harmonies.

The chorus is really catchy and bouncy and the end of the song (keeping in mind the whole song is less than two minutes) features the chorus with another vocal line singing a counterpoint melody. It packs a lot of goodness in a small package.

[READ: January 31, 2021] Witches of Brooklyn

T. bought this book and knew I’d like it.  She was very right.

I liked everything about his book.  I especially liked the artwork.  As I was admiring the book, I kept thinking that her artwork was different in some way.  Then I read her biography and learned that Sophie Escabasse is French (she now lives in Brooklyn) and her favorite artist is Belgian cartoonist André François.  I didn’t know his work (his books have recently been translated into english as Gomer Goof and Marsupilami).  Escabasse’s work isn’t really like his at all, but they both share the European sensibility that I find different from American artists.

The main character Effie, is fairly straightforward looking, but her aunts are both wonderfully odd looking.  Her Aunt Selimene looks almost like an inverted bowling pin with a long thin chin; Aunt Carolta is very wide and round with wideset eyes.  But what sets her apart is that she wears the tiniest glasses on the bridge of her nose.  When I first looked at her head on, I thought they were nostrils. But they are not and they are hilarious.

The book starts off unusually with the doorbell saying Driiiiing.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a doorbell ring start with a D before.

The doorbell rings and two old ladies clamber down the stairs to see who it is (grumbling humorously all the way). It is a man from Adoption services; he is with a little girl.  He is wearing sunglasses even though it is 2 or 3 in the morning.  He asks for Selimene Huchbolt-Walloo.  She is sister to Emily?  Yes.  Then, in an astonishingly fast paced reveal, the man says that Selimene is now Effie’s legal guardian. (He doesn’t say that Emily died, it’s just implied, I guess).  Selimene has a raging temper and yells at the poor man while Aunt Carolta, brings Effie inside and is very nice to her. Continue Reading »

Posted in André François, Belle and Sebastian, Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Magic, Sophie Escabasse, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, Supernatural, Superstitions, Wire, Witches | Leave a Comment »

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