Surfer Blood is a confusing band. Their music sounds like a whole bunch of different late-80’s alterna-rock bands that I love. But their vocalist (and the music of the verses) doesn’t really fit that style–I’m not sure what those sound like) and some of it is drenched in a kind of Beach Boys-reverb that befits the Surfer part of their name.
It’s a fascinating amalgam of styles that works very well and which is chock full of catchy choruses. “Floating Vibes” opens with a big loud guitar note, that quickly morphs into a catchy verse line. Conversely, “Swim” opens with a strange shouty kind of introduction and then morphs into a crazily catchy chorus (also shouted).
“Harmonix” opens with a “rock n roll” 50s style riff, then jumps to cool guitar harmonics and then turns into a song that sounds unmistakably late 80s to me (although maybe it sounds like a song my friend Garry wrote back in the late 80s).
“Neighbor Riffs” is a rocking 2 minute instrumental, which is followed by “Twin Peaks,” a song that sounds unmistakably late 80s but I can’t decide why (it’s also great because it’s about, you know, Twin Peaks). I’m confused by the next pair of songs: “Fast Jabroni” and “Slow Jabroni” as they do not seem related and the Fast song is much better. In fact the combination of “Slow Jabroni” and the next song, “Anchorage” really drag the disc as those two songs are over 12 minutes in total (whereas most of the songs are in the 3-4 minute range). Neither of the songs is bad (in fact “Anchorage” is pretty cool), they just both last too long.
As I try to process who this band sounds like, I’m going to let Carrie Brownstein provide the best description of them:
Sometimes an album comes from people who you can tell love some of the same music as you. And when they interpret the bands you both love, when they run it through their own brains and hearts and hands and amps, instead of sounding like a watered-down version of the progenitors, it sounds fresh and heartfelt and energized. That’s Surfer Blood for me.
And me too.
[READ: May 16, 2011] “We Come in Peace”
This is one of my favorite short stories that I’ve read in a long time. It appeals to me for a number of reasons (I love the conceit of angels tinkering with humans), but it’s also very well written and thoroughly engaging. I think the only disappointment about it is that it’s a short story and not a novel (although the intro to the story says that this is merely an excerpt from the short story which appears in full length in Gartner’s new collection of short stories, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives).
I feared that the story would be daunting at first because it includes a dramatis personae (which can be intimidating for a short story). But the dramatis personae just tells us which angels are matched to which humans. For yes, this is a story about five angels who are sent to earth to learn about the five senses. Amusingly, this is spurred on because humans have discovered the extra taste sensation known as umami.
So, the five angels are sent to a Canadian suburb to inhabit the bodies of 5 students: Bashaar, an athlete and dancer who is beset by local radical muslims to get him to join; Stephan a good student (ie., dork) who is turned cool by his angel, much to his family’s dismay; Leo, a nice dude; Jason, the school bully, who is inhabited by a happy angel; and Jessica, an anorexic girl who suddenly eats, develops a nice body and becomes romantically involved with 16-year-old Cullen. Each of the angels subsumes the personality of the kids (whose families are, needless to say, freaked out by the changes). Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: THE VASELINES-The Way of the Vaselines (1992).
I had never heard of The Vaselines until Kurt Cobain praised them so much back in 1992. SubPop quickly issued Way of the Vaselines, a fairly comprehensive collection of their recordings.
I bought it and thought it was okay. Not revolutionary or anything, but decent indie pop. And I think my lackluster response is in part because I often react the same way to what you’d call originators of a scene when I’ve already been in the scene for a while. Once people have blown the fundamentals away, it’s hard to appreciate the fundamentals anymore.
And so I’ve given them a new listen with more appreciative ears. I also enjoyed poppier music a lot more now than I did in 1992 (it’s funny how poppy The Vaselines are and yet how noisy Cobain was).
The songs really hold up quite well in a Velvet Underground way (“Rory Rides Me Raw”), or the left field dance anthem cover of Divine’s “You Think You’re a Man.” They also have some fast punk songs (“Dying for It”).
Nirvana covered three of their songs, “Son of a Gun” and more famously “Molly’s Lips.” (The Vaselines version of “Molly” is much cuter (with a bike horn in the chorus)). And, perhaps most famously, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” (which is pretty close to the original).
The Vaselines sang a lot about sex, (“Sex Sux,” “Monsterpussy”) that was disguised in a largely pop context. But they also had inclinations towards fuzzy punk.
I think what’s so wonderful about this collection is that it’s four Scottish kids who had good pop sensibilities (and some talent) playing what they liked. They’re an amateur love to the whole disc, and yet for all of their lo-fi ness, the songs sound good–even if you can’t always understand the lyrics. (Sub Pop remastered and re-released the package with bonus tracks as Enter the Vaselines, but I’ll not be getting that).
Were they, as Allmusic says, the best pop band from 1986 to 1989? I don’t know. But they sure played some great songs. I’m don’t think I need to hear their reunited selves, because there’s something about the charm of these Edinburgh kids playing these songs in something of a vacuum that I rather like. It only took two listens to this record (probably the first time in ten years) for me to see how much was here.
[READ: April 16, 2011] “Underachievers Please Try Harder”
The subtitle of this article is “Indie Rock Reunites on the English Coast,” and I’m mentioning it because it got me to listen to the Vaselines record again.
It was an interesting article about the state of music and “festival” tours, specifically All Tomorrow’s Parties. (This year’s ATP spinoff, I’ll Be Your Mirror will be in Asbury Park, New Jersey! and features Portishead, Mogwai and A Silver Mount Zion among others–were I 20 years younger, I’d be there). Continue Reading »
While trolling around NPR’s Favorite Sessions Pages (an amazing place to look for live music!), I found this Vampire Weekend in-studio session from KEXP in Seattle (whose site features some amazing shows that you can listen to (but I don’t think any are downloadable). This interview and performance was before the band’s debut album had come out (and they had only been playing live for about six months).
So the set has four songs. All will appear on the debut album, but they sound a little different. Perhaps it’s the in-studio sound recording or perhaps they play them a tad bit slower, but you can hear the words more clearly (which is cool) and some of the beats are sustained a bit longer. It’s a wonderful set.
The interview is also fun. The interviewer is pretty well gushing all over the band. But he asks interesting questions–it’s amazing to be reminded just how young the guys are. The DJ also asks about their influences and that’s kind of an interesting discussion, although thy don’t really admit to any specific influences (rats).
It’s a wonderful (if not too brief) session, and well worth a listen.
[READ: March 27, 2011] “The Man on the Island”
I really enjoyed the way this story was constructed. It went through several different teasers before settling down into what the story would ultimately be about.
It opens with a taxi driving through Bridgetown in Barbardos. The passenger, a reporter from Canada, asks the driver, Calvin Braithwaite, to drive him all over the island on a special commission. Braithwaite agrees, and they spend the reporter’s few days in Barbados together. When the reporter leaves, he asks for Calvin’s email address and phone number, for possible follow-up.
This introduction leads us to assume that the story is about the reporter. And also that Calvin is “the man on the island.” Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: BUKE AND GASS-Tiny Desk Concert #95 (December 6, 2010).
Buke and Gass’ album Riposte made the NPR’s 50 Favorites of 2010. I listened to a track and liked it but I wasn’t blown away by it. Nevertheless, I wanted to check out this Tiny Desk concert because I was sure it would be interesting. And so it is. And it makes me like them infinitely more–enough to check out their whole album.
The initial attraction to Buke and Gass is their homemade instruments (and if you watch the video, you can kind of see how they work, except I want to know more details (there must be foot pedals of all kinds to make these exquisite sounds)). Arone Dyer sings and plays a modified baritone ukulele (who even knew such a thing existed) and makes incredibly squalling, cool effects come from it. Aron Sanchez plays a modified guitar/bass hybrid (there’s bass and guitar strings-the bass are filtered through one amp, while the guitar goes through another). And someone is playing a tambourine and a bass drum (I think it’s Sanchez with his (unseen) feet).
The songs are weird but incredibly catchy. Dyer’s voice is wonderful, and perhaps the most amazing thing is that she seems to be playing guitar harmonies to complement her voice and it makes it sound like there are two singers. It’s also amazing how much noise they make with these two instruments.
The whole set is wonderful and if they can do this on live, I can’t wait to see what the can do with studio magic. Now, just what the hell does their name mean?
[READ: April 15, 2011] “Why I’m a Pacifist”
I enjoyed Nicholson Baker’s earlier works quit a bit, but I have missed a lot of his more recent releases. Nevertheless, Baker is unafraid of controversy and I enjoy reading what he has to say.
In this article he defends his belief in pacifism. What’ surprising to me is that in his biographical introduction he talks about his earlier life as a red-blooded Young Republican. I never would have figured that Baker has such a past, but he evidently did. When he grew out of that phase, he opened himself up to the possibilities of pacifism (which his wife thoroughly supported). Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: THE HEAD AND THE HEART-SXSW, March 18, 2011 (2011).
Just months after their in-studio session, The Head and the Heart played South by Southwest. This set seems somehow louder than the in-studio (which seems a very common phenomenon–the bands just seems to be quieter in-studio somehow, even if they are playing hard, it still seems subdued, which isn’t bad at all, just odd). So here, the band really lets loose (or maybe it’s because they’ve been playing no for six extra months?) and they sound like they’re really having fun.
Their sound is loud and (somewhat) chaotic, and it really suits them. The set list is similar to the in-studio (they also play “Cats and Dogs” which segues into “Coeur d’Alene”). “Ghosts” and “Lost in My Mind” are also here (“Lost” sounds great in this rambling, somewhat shambolic format). They also play “Down in the Valley.” Added to the set are “Winter Song” and “River and Roads.” These two songs feature vocals by violinist Charity Thielin, and I have to admit I don’t love her voice. Perhaps it’s in this context or that she is mixed a wee bit to loud (because I didn’t dislike her voice in the in-studio). As I said, I haven’t heard the studio version yet, so I’ll chalk it up to a very large crowd.
But otherwise the set is outstanding, and I’m becoming a huge fan of the band.
[READ: March 28, 2011] Here They Come
I had been thinking about reading this book for a while (the blurbs on the back are quiet compelling) but I kept putting other McSweeney’s books in front of them (I had hoped to finish an entire stack of McSweeney’s novels before The Pale King came. But it shipped two weeks early and threw off my plan).
I have read two pieces by Murphy in previous McSweeney’s issues, but looking back they didn’t prepare me for this strange story. And the strangest thing is the point of view of the narrator (but more on that later).
This is actually a simple enough story. Set in New York over an unspecified time period (there’s a couple of winters and a couple of summers, but I’m not sure if it’s new seasons or flashbacks), the (as far as can tell) unnamed narrator girl leads a pretty crap existence.
Firs there is John, the hot dog vendor. He’s a married man from a middle eastern country (his family is back there). And basically the narrator lets him feel her up (for what it’s worth on a flat chested 13-year-old) for free hot dogs and candy bars. She doesn’t seem to upset by the groping and keeps going back to pass the time with him.
Then there is her brother, an obnoxious boy who walks around in a silk dragon bathrobe all the time. When he is not smashing things with his guitar when he walks past the furniture, he is smashing things in his room or threatening to shoot himself with their old, unloaded gun.
Her mother works all the time but really can’t afford to take care of them or feed them. And she says “Merde” night and day (she is French). But worse is her mother’s mother, la mere, who stays with them from time to time. la Mere seems like she has money but she never gives them any. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: LIZ PHAIR-Exile in Guyville Live October 6, 2008 (2008).
Like all indie rock hipsters I loved Exile in Guyville when it came out. And like all indie rock hipsters, I hated that Liz Phair later made an album that is had the top cover below. I didn’t even care anymore when she made the album with the second cover below.
The irony of course is that Liz made Guyville because she was sick of the hipster boys who were living in Chicago at the time. And now it was the same hipster boys (only older) who were dismissing her for selling out. (At least, that’s what I get from the interview that’s attached to the end of the concert and this separate interview from around the same time).
But regardless of my hipster cred (and subsequent loss of same) I really didn’t like Liz’s new pop style (but good for her for still being hot, right?). In fact, I hadn’t even really listened to her since 2000 anyhow so when she came out with her pop albums I just kind of shrugged.
So, what’s up with this return to Guyville? Well, the interviews mention her needing some closure on the rough time in her life when she made the record. And also feeling that since could actually play her guitar now, it was worth giving fans (and herself) the experience of actually enjoying playing the album live. So, good vibes and happy feelings all around (and sex and sex and more sex).
The concert is the entire Guyville album, played start to finish, with occasional banter in between. And she is quite faithful to the original (she even has a special guest sing the “Every time I see your face, I get all wet between my legs” line on “Flower.” The main flaw with the concert is that the bassist hits a number of flat notes and also on at least two songs is either out of tune or just mixed too loud or something.
The other flaw is directly related to Liz saying how much better she is at performing. Because as the set opens, her voice sounds really off on the first couple of songs. In the interview, she says that she still feels uncomfortable on stage until about the fourth song. And maybe that’s what’s happening on 6′ 1″ or, quite possibly, she can’t hit those notes anymore (her voice is considerably higher on her newer songs and 6′ 1″ is a low register, almost flat singing style and she just doesn’t seem comfortable doing it). Indeed, by the fourth or fifth song, she seems more comfortable and seems to be having more fun and the set moves pretty smoothly from there.
She has a good rapport with the audience. Humility was never her strong suit, and it shows, which makes me her a little less likable, but she still has good banter.
When the album is over she comes back for a brief encore. She plays two songs solo (which are okay). And then the band comes back for two of her other hits: “Supernova” and “Polyester Bride” which both sound fantastic.
Listening to Exile in Guyville again was great, the songs hold up really well. I’ll have to pull her old CDs out and listen to the originals again (the concert is mixed a little low, but–good on NPR–all of the bad words are left in!). The NPR page also said that Guyville had gone out of print until it was reissued recently. Is it really possible that Matador let it go out of print?
[READ: April 22, 2011] Five Dials Number 4
The conceit behind this issue is “Eleven writers tell us Exactly What Happened …Days Before It Happened.” And the authors tell us in past tense what happened on the fateful night of the election between Obama nad McCain. (even though they are written some time before it has happened).
This issue is short again (all of 14 pages), but with such a tidy topic, the fourteen pages are packed with information. There are eleven authors who write about the election. Most are just a couple of paragraphs, so I’m not going to try to summarize them. I’m going to say their predictions for what happened and (in one case) the uncanny accuracy.
CRAIG TAYLOR-A Letter from the Editor “On Elections and Chomsky”
He lays out what the point of this speculation fiction is: “We’ve become tired of the uncertainty and of the waiting. It’s time someone told us exactly how this election ends.” And also, Chomsky is almost 80, and he’s still vibrant. Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: GUSTER-World Cafe Live December 3, 2010 (2010).
I heard that Guster was going to be on the Free at Noon show about fifteen minutes before it started (and then I had to go to work). So I missed this show. I was pretty excited to see that it was available on World Cafe Live. But I was surprised to see that the show (plus a fourteen minute interview!) was only about 28 minutes long. I’ve had questions about how the World Cafe shows work. It always seems like the show would be longer (four songs for a concert seems like more trouble than its worth). And then I found…
This page which helps explain the World Cafe stage a bit more. The Guster concert was a Free at Noon show for WXPN in Philadelphia. The full set list was Set List: 1. Architects & Engineers 2. Satellite 3. Hercules 4. This Could All Be Yours 5. Bad Bad World 6. Stay With Me, Jesus 7. Do You Love Me 8. Hang On. So the World Cafe archives truncate the sets (which is what it feels like on some of the shows–at least the ones that have an audience).
But then beggars can’t be choosers (especially for a free show). So, this download includes: Satellite, This Could All Be Yours, Stay With Me, Jesus and Do You Love Me (plus the lengthy interview). The set is fantastic (as you expect from Guster), their harmonies are tight and sharp, the songs sound wonderful and they are catchy as all get out. Two of these songs are from their new album, and they work perfectly with the older ones (even if they do slow things down a wee bit).
The interview is also interesting as it reveals the guys to be smart and thoughtful and it shows a side of them that’s not always apparent from their songs. It’s a wonderful download. Thanks NPR.
[READ: April 16, 2011] “The Ice Worm”
This story began as one thing and then turned into something else entirely. As the story opens, Ilka Weiss is in a nursing home, and we learn that her daughter, Maggie, has come to take her home (even though the nurses think she should stay). When we see Ilka, she is reciting the Bible from memory (the passage where King David is going to fight the Philistines). This goes on for a page (a funny scene with the family interrupting her but her continuing unabated), but it sets a certain tone for the story.
The next scene sees Maggie getting the runaround in bureaucratic hell as she tries to arrange for a visiting nurse to come for her mother. It is an absolute hell of misinformation. And she is not able to secure anything for two weeks. When they finally call back, Maggie has taken Ilka to the hospital. Continue Reading »
[READ: September 24, 2001 & May 9, 2011] Talk of the Town
After 9/11, I read everything about the incident (like the multiple comics that came out). About a week after 9/11 my friend Al and I went down to Hoboken and absorbed the decay (and I can’t help but wonder if that’s why I’ve developed adult asthma). My 9/11 story is no more compelling than anyone else’s and may even be far less compelling (you can read a snippet at Al’s blog, should you care to). Anyhow, when this issue of The New Yorker came out (with the amazing cover that you can’t really see here–the towers are in a shiny black that reflects the light), I read all of these accounts and recollections.
I came upon them again recently when I was doing a New Yorker search for Jonathan Franzen. I recently read all of his New Yorker entries, but when I saw that he had one that was part of this 9/11 issue, I decided to put it off. It was reasonably close to the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, and I told myself I’d wait until then to reread and see what I thought.
And then President Obama gave the order to capture and kill Osama bin Laden (hooray!) and that seemed like a far more propitious reason to go back and re-read these articles. Now I can feel a bit lighter about the whole thing (just a bit, but a bit can be a lot). And so, here’s a somewhat facile reaction to these reactions.
I’ll preface by saying I can’t imagine what it must have been like to write something, anything at that time. Some people respond well to pressure and tragedy and perhaps that’s what happened here. I can’t help but wonder how paralyzing it must have been for other writers (as it was for most people). So that these writers had the wherewithal to write anything coherent is pretty amazing. And the fact that the could express the range of emotions that they do is extraordinary. Continue Reading »
I have the latest Yeasayer album (which got huge praise in 2010), but not their first album from which all of these live songs come. These songs sound so very different from the 2010 songs that I have a hard time believing it’s the same band.
These songs have a rhythm-heavy, almost percussive feel to them (maybe like Adam and the Ants). And their lead singer sounds a bit like the singer from Duran Duran. The songs are all electronic sounding and are not easy listening by any means, but at the same time they are not discordant or noisy.
My favorite part of the show, though, was when they thank NPR and David Dye. One of the guys says that his sister taught David’s daughter and the other band member quickly jumps in to say that that’s a boring story. It’s quite amusing.
I really like their new album, and I’m a little cool to these earlier songs. The band sounds good live, but I just couldn’t really get into these songs. Although after a few more listens, I recognize some catchy bits.
There’s an interview at the end which is quite informative, explaining how the band creates their music (they enjoy the creative process more than the touring process). In one instance they talk about sampling a rehearsal section and then cutting it up and reworking it into a new song. So basically, Yeasayer are a bunch of studio geeks playing around.
[READ: March 18, 2011] “Her Dog”
This was a very short (barely two page) story that packed an amazing amount of story into such a short space.
As the story opens we learn that Victor is her dog. When Grace and Joe bought Victor together, Joe made it clear that the dog was all hers (he didn’t want a dog). And although she did all of the work (even walking him in the rain when she had a cold), they also walked Victor together at the beach on the weekend. And then (with no explanation), Grace died and Victor was Joe’s dog. (All of this in the first paragraph!) Continue Reading »
SOUNDTRACK: KANYE WEST-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).
Before buying this album I really only knew of Kanye West as a loudmouthed guy who tweeted a lot and told off George Bush. But then everyone was raving about this album (Pitchfork gave it a 10 out of 10!). So I decided to check it out. And I can’t get over how great an album it is.
Now I’m going to start this review by mentioning a few things I dislike about rap as a genre. 1) I dislike all of the “guests” that appear on a record–I bought the album because for you, not your friends. 2) I dislike excessive use of “unh” and “yeah” at the beginning of a track; when you have nothing to say–let the backing music flow, save your voice for actual words. 3) Rap is still terribly misogynist and vulgar–I’ve nothing against vulgarity per se (I do have something against misogyny) but excessive use is lazy, and it stands out much more in a rap song since you’re saying the words not singing them.
The Kanye West album is guilty of all three of these things, and yet I still think it’s fantastic. The first reason is because it goes beyond a lot of rap by introducing real musical content into the songs. This is not an “all rap is just a beatbox” dismissal of rap, it’s an observation that rap tends to be more about the lyrics and the musical accompaniment can get kind of lazy. West’s songs have (beautiful) choruses, strings, and samples that augment the rest of the song, as opposed to samples that ARE the song. And Kanye West’s voice is great. His delivery is weird and twisted, a little cocky but more funny, with a twisted attitude that is really cool–and to my rather limited palate of rappers, it’s original.
The opening of the disc “Dark Fantasy” has a chorus singing “Can we get much higher” which is catchy and cool (and is used in the promo for The Hangover 2). The switch from this opening to the rapping works well (aside from the FOUR “yea”s). Although I don’t love the yeahs, I love his delivery, and that he occasionally ends lines with these weird “hunh” sounds, that are wonderfully emphatic.
The guests start showing up on track 2, but even the guests can’t detract from the excellent guitars of the song (and the cool solo). And I’ll say about the guests that I like some of them, but for the most part I’d rather hear Kanye.
“Power” samples King Crimson’s, “21st Century Schizoid Man”; anyone who samples King Crimson is alright with me. But to use it so perfectly, to make it part of your song is real genius. It works musically as well as within the overall concept of the album.
“All of the Lights” (with the pretty piano intro) features scads of guests including John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, Elton John (!), and Rihanna. I can hear some of these people but not Elton John (why would he agree to be on a track where you can’t even hear him?). It is a beautiful pop track nevertheless.
“Monster” is a monster of tracks with yet more guests (I like that some of these guests break with the typical guest, like Bon Iver (!)). And I really like Nicki Minaj’s verse. [I’m not familiar with her work at all (in fact I keep wanting to say Minja instead of Minaj) but her verse with the wonderfully crazy vocal styling she displays is weird and cool and very powerful–I would like to check out her solo album, but the samples I heard weren’t that interesting]. It also has a great repeated chorus of being a “motherfucking monster.”
It’s followed by the even more catchy “So Appalled” (with FIVE guest rappers–some of whom I’ve never heard of but who do a good job. I love Cyhi da Prince’s lyrics: “I am so outrageous, I wear my pride on my sleeve like a bracelet, if God had an iPod, I’d be on his playlist” or “So call my lady Rosa Parks/I am nothing like them niggas baby those are marks/I met this girl on Valentine’s Day/fucked her in May/she found out about April so she chose to March” or this line, “y’all just some major haters and some math minors.”
“Devil in a New Dress” opens with a bunch of “unhs” (which I dislike) but this is nice ballad in the midst of all of the noise (and it has some clever lyrics). It morphs right into “Runaway” one of the more audacious singles I can think of. The piano melody is so simple (a single note to start) and the lyrics show Kanye as a loser in relationships. It’s a surprisingly thoughtful song for a song with a chorus that goes: “Lets have a toast for the douchebags, let’s have a toast for the asshole; a toast for the scumbags every one of them that I know. You been putting up with my shit for way too long…runaway fast as you can.” It gets even more audacious when you realize the last 4 minutes of the song are a solo with distorted voice. And the video…the video is 35 minutes long!
The sentiment of that song is erased by the next one, “Hell of a Life”. It opens with a great distorted guitar riff and lyrics about sex with a porn star. “Blame Game” is a surprisingly honest song about being nasty to your girlfriend (“I’d rather argue with you than be with someone else”). It features a sample of Aphex Twin’s (!) “Avril 14th”. And it’s quite a sad but lovely track. It ends with a very long skit by Chris Rock. I like Chris Rock, but this dialogue is kind of creepy because the woman who Rock is talking to (about the great sex she gave him) seems to be a robotic sample–why not have an actual woman talk to him?
The final track, “Lost in the World” has a lengthy intro by an auto-tuned Bon Iver. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the disc, especially the end, where the processed vocals get even weirder but accent the beat wonderfully. This track morphs into what is the actual final track, “Who Will Survive in America” which is basically a long recitation from Gil-Scot Heron. It works great as an album closer.
So, despite several things I don’t like about the disc, overall, it’s really an amazing release. And I can overlook the few things I dislike because the rest is so solid. I can’t decide if it’s worth looking for his earlier releases. How can they live up to this one?
[READ: May 6, 2011] McSweeney’s #37
This is the first McSweeney’s book where I’ve had to complain about the binding. The glue peeled off pretty quickly from the center cover. Fortunately, the back cover held up well. I’m guessing it’s because there’s an extra book tucked into the front cover which prevents the book from closing nicely when it’s removed.
But aside from that, the design of the cover is very cool. It is meant to look like a book (duh), but actually like a 3-D book, so the bottom right and top left corners are cut on diagonals (this makes for a very disconcerting-looking book inside–with triangles cut across the top). The artwork inside is also cool. In keeping with this appearance, each two page spread looks like a book with a spine drawing in the gutter of the pages). And the bottom of each page has lines making it look like the bottom of a book. (The illustrated margins are by SOPHIA CARA FRYDMAN and HENRY JAMES and there are interior paintings by JONATHAN RUNCIO).
The front matter is wonderful. Although it gives the usual publishing information, the bulk of this small print section is devoted to counteracting all the claims that the book is dead. It offers plenty of statistics to show that not only are the public reading, they are reading more than ever. The introduction also goes a long way towards arguing against the idea that people are reading less now than in the past. When was this “golden age” of readers? There’s also the wonderfully encouraging news that 98% of American are considered literate.
SOUNDTRACK: SURFER BLOOD-Astro Coast (2009).
Surfer Blood is a confusing band. Their music sounds like a whole bunch of different late-80’s alterna-rock bands that I love. But their vocalist (and the music of the verses) doesn’t really fit that style–I’m not sure what those sound like) and some of it is drenched in a kind of Beach Boys-reverb that befits the Surfer part of their name.
I Just Read About That... 