largehearted boy: a boy, a girl, and his radio

November 12, 2009

Book Notes - Joshua Gaylord ("Hummingbirds")

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

Joshua Gaylord's debut novel, Hummingbirds, caused Kirkus reviews to call him "an impressive new voice in American fiction," and I have to agree. Gaylord eloquently paints the relationships and interactions of his characters, both adult and teen, male and female, with rare and impressive insight into human character in this compelling story of an all-girls high school..

Library Journal wrote of the book:

"Especially good at characterization, Gaylord has delivered a story that's ripe with acute and wry observations on men and women, competition, sexuality, and secrets. He's created a slippery slope, but readers will find the terrain surprisingly navigable as the novel ends. Highly recommended."

In his own words, here is Joshua Gaylord's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Hummingbirds:

Hummingbirds is about the intimately interwoven relationships between the teachers and students at an all-girls private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. When asked to think about a soundtrack for the book, my first impulse was to return to the music that served as a backdrop to the Golden Age of teen cinema, the 1980s, with its achingly emotional ballads of loss and alienation by bands like Simple Minds and Tears for Fears. But because the book is already antique in its narrative sensibilities, it felt like the musical backdrop should tip its hat to our own moment, so (other than one homage to the 80s) I resisted the my initial impulse and tried to offer a more contemporary selection.

The soundtrack below comprises songs almost entirely from the last year or two—songs that, in my hopeful fantasies, high school students might actually be listening to at the moment. Most of them are steeped in sentiment and high drama—and the same could be said of the students and teachers at Carmine-Casey, the school in question, or, perhaps the students and teachers of any high school anywhere. I remember how important music was to me in high school, especially songs of sorrow and outrage. I have memories of driving in the middle of the night, my car stereo blasting music that was all climax and cacophony, my heart twisted with unrequited love and bitter angst. In truth, I'm sure it was 9:30 in the evening, the music was at very reasonable volume, and I was just bored. Oh, and the car was a Nissan Sentra. But that's the transformative magic of adolescence, isn't it?

"Starlings" by Elbow (from the album The Seldom Seen Kid)

I think this is the ideal aural background to Hummingbirds. It is a very simple song—almost entirely driven by a quiet xylophonic fluttering interspersed with moments of sudden cacophony that die out as quickly as they come. That's how I picture these prep school girls: fluttering around, soft and harmless—up until the moment that they're not.

"Graveyard Girl" by M83 (from the album Saturdays=Youth)

This song comes from an album inspired almost entirely by John Hughes movies—and I don't think there's a contemporary high school story that doesn't owe some debt to John Hughes. So this song reflects my (slightly ironic) homage to the much-missed master of the teen film: "She collects crowns made of black roses/but her heart is made of bubblegum." Curiously enough, in Hummingbirds, this kind of shameless emotionality belongs more to the adult characters than to the girls.

"Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen (from the album Songs of Love and Hate)

Leonard Cohen and John Updike are the two people who introduced me at a tender young age to the complexities of marital infidelity. This song in particular articulates the intense (and nearly romantic) relationship between two men who have both had a relationship with the same woman: "What can I tell you, my brother, my killer? . . . I guess I miss you, I guess I forgive you. . . . And thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes. I thought it was there for good, so I never tried." Can a man learn to appreciate (and even love) his wife's lover? The answer, in certain cases, seems to be yes. Fidelities are frequently near-sighted: it's unclear what person or social convention or abstract notion we are being faithful to—and that's one of the foundational concerns of the book.

"Crash! Boom! Bang!" by Roxette (from the album Crash! Boom! Bang!)

This song is for Dixie Doyle, the popular pig-tailed girl at the center of Carmine-Casey's social structure. I think this unapologetically sincere pop song ("My mama told me not to mess with sorrow, but I always did, and lord I still do") is the kind that Dixie would find meaningful and touching. I like to picture her sitting in her bedroom, all the lights turned off, her knees folded under her chin, staring out her window and suffering with great dramatic dignity the injustices of teenage romance.

"Inflammatory Writ" by Joanna Newsom (from the album The Milk-Eyed Mender)

This song is for Liz Warren, the socially awkward smart girl of Carmine-Casey. Joanna Newsom has the brain of a grad student and the voice of a Mouseketeer—which perfectly captures the painful self-consciousness of a staggeringly brilliant teenage girl who finds herself locked in a world of ridiculous social convention. The impossibly baroque lyrics of the song articulate the classic smart girl's stumbling luminosity: "While across the great plains, keening lovely and awful/Ululate the last Great American Novels,/An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze floodlit./But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit."

"Blue Tulip" by Okkervil River (from the album The Stand Ins)

At the center of Hummingbirds is a student play written by Liz Warren and starring Dixie Doyle. I see this song as the soundtrack of that play. The song opens with a quiet note of classic teenage petulance—"They're waiting to hate you, so give them an excuse"—but then it builds to a very emotional climax that sweeps you up in a kind of mad melodrama. That's the power that the minor key dramas of teenagehood have for the teachers at Carmine-Casey: they find themselves being caught up in them despite themselves.

"That's What I Like" by Spottiswoode and His Enemies (from the album That's What I Like)

The book is about gender dynamics as much as anything: two men clinging together in a turbulent sea of women and girls by whom the men feel, alternately, adored and subjugated. This quasi-cabaret song catalogs the exhaustive list of all the different kinds of girls loved by the singer (including "born-again Christians who read Solzhenitsyn"), but then the refrain claims that he likes these girls "only just to look."

"Busby Berkeley Dreams" by The Magnetic Fields (from the album 69 Love Songs)

This is one of the saddest songs I know. It's about the way our experiences in the real world never quite meet up to our idealized expectations—and, as a result, we tend to live our lives in flawed versions of beautiful dreams. Sometimes, though, we insist upon those dreams and indulge in them unabashedly: "I haven't seen you in ages,/But it's not as bleak as it seems./We still dance on whirling stages/in my outrageously beautiful Busby Berkeley dreams." In Hummingbirds, I think most of the characters are living within the beautiful fictions they have built for themselves—and, as the author, I tend to validate those fictions for them. They are lovely, after all.

"Every Shining Time You Arrive" by Sunny Day Real Estate (from the album How It Feels to Be Something On)

One of the central (though platonic) romances in the book is the romance between the two teachers: Leo Binhammer and Ted Hughes. These would-be enemies can't help themselves: they find each other charming and endlessly entertaining. They are always so happy to see each other.

"Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the album The Airborne Toxic Event)

This song is for the somewhat tragic character of Sibyl, who, at one point in the book, finds herself wandering alone in Central Park very late at night—psychologically torn to shreds. There's a marvelous quality to this song that takes rasping and ragged grief and turns it into something that gleams like crystal. I feel very badly for Sibyl in this book. She deserves a song that honors her ability to endure.

"An Animal in Your Care," Wolf Parade (from the album At Mount Zoomer)

I think this is the way Binhammer feels about his overly idealized wife Sarah. "You let me hang around./You put ribbons in my hair./It's in this language that I found/I am an animal in your care." The function of authority in romantic relationships is one of the dynamics the book is fascinated by—the natural erotics of the teacher/student relationship, the seductiveness of a guide leading you through something you don't understand. Binhammer always feels like a supplicant at the feet of his wife, which, of course, is probably not the best marital dynamic.

"Angels" by Black Mountain (from the album In the Future)

If Hummingbirds were a movie, this would be playing over the credits at the end. This song is gritty, but still lyrical, and one of the key lines calls for angels to "lay their haloes down." I think that reflects an underlying sentiment in the book. In high school, teachers and students alike are supposed to be comporting themselves with a kind of rigid moral rectitude—but experience tells us that no one (adult or teenager) comes through the battlefields of high school with his or her halo intact.

Joshua Gaylord and Hummingbirds links:

the author's website

Armchair Interviews review
Booking Mama review
The Dartmouth review
Heeb review
Jack Pendarvis review of the cover flap
Library Journal review
MostlyFiction Book Reviews review
Publishers Weekly review
The Roaring 20s review
S. Krishna's Books review
VinceKeenan.com review

The Page 69 Test for the book

also at Largehearted Boy:

other Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)

online "best of 2009" book lists
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks

tags: books music literature fiction

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November 12, 2009

Note Books - Carolyn Mark

The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Previous contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.

Carolyn Mark has long been one of my favorite singer-songwriters, and she released her latest album, Let's Just Stay Here (a collaboration with NQ Arbuckle), last month.

Mark also recently published her second cookbook , The Terrible Hostess, Recipes for Disaster Vol. II, so I asked her to list her favorite cookbooks.

In her own words, here is the Note Books entry from Carolyn Mark:

My Favourite Recipe Books:

1. Sourdough - A Recipe for Life by Erin Turcke

My friend and former room-mate Erin just published her first book. She's a professional baker (and musician). It's an instructional guide to making sourdough and yet so much more. Maybe to some people it's just a recipe for bread, but if you're like me and EVERYTHING is a metaphor, there are so many layers to be explored and savoured.

Want one?

Here's what Erin wrote to me when I asked for more copies:

"If you want a copy and are in Toronto you can go to 148 Pearson St - it's just off Roncesvalles about 2-3 blocks up from Queen St. That's where Christian and Julie run The Pantry Press - they're there between sort of 9:30am and 4pm type thing - the shop they work out of is actually their garage - that's why they're my favourite 'garage brand' - but anyway these are really really really great people - and they have many many many copies of the book - it retails for $25 but for a bulk purchase let's go with $20?? i hate making people pay - it's the hardest thing EVER!!!!!!!"

2. A Great Day for Soupby Jeannette Ferrary and Louise Fiszer

Neko (Case) and Kelly (Hogan) both had them in their houses when I stayed with them and it made me so jealous, I had to get my own just to feel okay. Tonnes of great soup recipes. I love soup.

3. The Grit Cookbook by Jessica Greene, Ted Hafer

World-wise down-home vegetarian recipes.

So there's this restaurant in Athens, Ga where all the bands eat that's allegedly owned by R.E.M. and it's perfect road food. There's this thing called The Golden Bowl that makes you feel like a million bucks even when you're on tour and they do things to tofu that make your pants wanna get up and dance!

And so we ate there three times in two days and they had a cookbook for sale so I bought two copies even though I was broke and I gave one to my friend Ingrid who is a caterer for the movies and she uses it all the time now and there's this gravy made with nutritional yeast that's to die for. And the secret with the tofu: double fried.

4. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris

I love this book. It's so KOOKY! And if you pull off the dust jacket, inside there's a photo of Amy covered in candy sprinkles! I love the idea of putting marbles in the medicine cabinet so see if your guests are snooping. The recipe with the kefalotiri cheese is great too. And the pictures are hilarious. Man, what an inspiration. It is so refreshing that not everyone is 'normal' or wants to be.

5. The Good Ole Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer

Come on! It's a classic. My ma used it! YOUR ma used it! If you can find an old edition, the wild game section is a hell of a read and as well as being merely a recipe book, Irma's got this TONE that exudes confidence. Bordering on smug almost but hell, wouldn't you feel confident if you wrote basically the encyclopedia of cookery? I think she was probably pretty funny too.

Okay that's it for me. Back to sound check. Gotta go meet the boys. Thanks for asking.

Carolyn Mark links and free and legal mp3s:

Carolyn Mark's website
Carolyn Mark's MySpace page

Carolyn Mark: "All Time Low" [mp3] from Let's Just Stay Here

also at Largehearted Boy:

Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
52 Books, 52 Weeks

tags: books music cookbooks food indie

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Shorties (Amanda Palmer, Zadie Smith, and more)

Metro Weekly profiles singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer.

''I like mixing up music and lyrics in ways that are confusing to compel the listener,'' the pop musician says. ''That's another thing I really like about this art form. You can make as much or as little sense as you want and you're not going to get arrested.''

Zadie Smith talks to NPR's All Things Considered about her new essay collection, Changing My Mind. An excerpt from the book is also provided.

Tiger Saw's Dylan Metrano talks to the Newburyport News about his memoir, All My Friends Are Right Here With Me: A Decade in the Indie Rock Underground.

Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces talks to the Georgia Strait.

The Telegraph lists the best culture websites (including several music & book sites).

The Dallas Observer compares the post-Uncle Tupelo careers of Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy.

Medium Fidelity lists the worst album covers of all time.

Rocks Off remembers the greatness of Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne album.

Prefix interviews singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt.

Sonic Youth members recommend their favorite films to the Criterion Collection.

New York Magazine lists the 40 songs that define the "Brooklyn sound."

GOOD finds a surprising connection between U.S. oil production and the quality of rock music over time.

The Free Music Archive now contains 13,367 free and legal mp3s to download and stream.

This Wikipedia list compares traits of vampires from various pop culture sources.

AfterEllen reports that Ariel Schrag's graphic novel Potential will be adapted into a film.

Read Schrag's Largehearted Boy Book Notes music playlist for the book (as well as the other books in the autobiographical series).

Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

online "best of 2009" book lists
online "best of 2009" music lists
best of the decade (2000-2009) online music lists

daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists

tags: music books popculture indie

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Daily Downloads (The Atlas Sound, Bryan Scary, and more)

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

The Atlas Sound: free and legal "doctor" b/w "The Screens" [mp3]
other Atlas Sound posts at Largehearted Boy

Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears: "Andromeda's Eyes" [mp3] from Mad Valentines EP
Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears: "It's a Gambler's Whirl" [mp3] from Mad Valentines EP
other Bryan Scary posts at Largehearted Boy

The Chairs: "David" [mp3] from Nine Ways (out November 17th)
other Chairs posts at Largehearted Boy

Papermoons: "Live Right" [mp3] from New Tales
other Papermoons posts at Largehearted Boy

Russian Circles: "Malko" [mp3] from Geneva
other Russian Circles posts at Largehearted Boy

Taken By Trees: "My Boys" [mp3] from East of Eden
other Taken By Trees posts at Largehearted Boy

Technoir MA: "Roundabout" [mp3]
other Technoir MA posts at Largehearted Boy

Tim Fite: several free and legal albums [mp3]
other Tim Fite posts at Largehearted Boy

Wolf Gang: "The King and All His Men" [mp3]
other Wolf Gang posts at Largehearted Boy

Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:

Laura Veirs: Luxury Wafers session [mp3]
other Laura Veirs posts at Largehearted Boy

Natureboy: 2009-11-07, New York [mp3]
other Natureboy posts at Largehearted Boy

Roadside Graves: HearYa session [mp3]
other Roadside Graves posts at Largehearted Boy

Sondre Lerche: 2007-10-30, Hollywood [mp3]
other Sondre Lerche posts at Largehearted Boy

Sydney Wayser: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Sydney Wayser posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
other music festival downloads

Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists

tags: music download indie mp3

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November 11, 2009

Book Notes - John Ortved ("The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History")

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

The Simpsons is one of my favorite television comedies of all time, and John Ortved has written an invaluable oral history about the show. Covering the show's inception of The Tracey Ullman Show to its unlikely and unpredicted success in its first season and on through its later years, The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History not only reminds us of the greatness of the show but also its cultural importance.

The Washington Post wrote of the book:

"How did such a curious artifact become "the most powerful, lasting, and resonant entertainment force television has ever seen"? That is the task taken up by Ortved's "uncensored, unauthorized" history, which is as tasty as a pink-glazed donut with sprinkles, as refreshing as a Duff beer and as piquant as a curry slushy from Kwik-E Mart. "

In his own words, here is John Ortved's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History:

The Simpsons is a very popular television series that I have spent the last 3 years writing about, first in an article for Vanity Fair, then in book form.

The following tracklist will reveal my completely eclectic, aka "awful" taste in music--and yet I consider myself radically ahead of the curve. As a teenager, most of the CDs I bought were soundtracks because, to me, it seemed like the most efficient way to collect all the songs I liked. This seems hugely dorky, and it is, but it could also be seen as innovative, and a precursor to mp3's and iTunes. It could also be true that no girls were making me mix tapes, and I wanted to feel like someone was making compilations for me.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the following and forgive my lack of musical expertise. I'm basically from the Homer Simpson school of audiophilia, which teaches that "Grand Funk Railroad paved the way for Jefferson Airplane, which cleared the way for Jefferson Starship. The stage was now set for the Alan Parsons Project, which I believe was some sort of hovercraft."

Oy. Before I get off on a quoting marathon, let the nerdery begin:

Bill Cosby "Dope Pusher"

This was the 3rd track on Bill Cosby's anti-drug public service; it's basically just the Cos yelling at some kids so incomprehensibly that, ironically, it seems like he's on something. The Simpsons have the most impressive list of guest stars of any program ever, but they'll never get Cosby (who has said that Bart Simpson was "sent to destroy" The Cosby Show). I put this track at the top of the list not because it has any worth, but because it's a celebrity making music, which, despite the Cos's best intentions, is perhaps the highest form of self-indulgence (Demetri Martin and David Cross review some of the worst here.). So much of my book is about Hollywood egos being completely out of control and while Cosby seems like a guy who is actually pretty down to earth, it just worked too well with The Simpsons history to let it slide. Oh, in 1972, when this album was released, it won a Grammy.

The Arcade Fire, "Wake Up"

I went to school in Montreal with a couple of these kids and I don't think I've completed a creative project since then without the help of their music. This is the ultimate coming of age song – there's an inspirational, but weighty vibe that I find symbolic of the creative act. I hear it in the heavy, cheerful guitar riffs, but also in the desperation to the lyrics, which are balanced with a hopeful, dance-y melody. Spike Jonze's smartest move in making Where The Wild Things Are was attaching this song to the trailer.

The Damned "Jet Boy Jet Girl"

The Simpsons story really begins with Matt Groening in LA in the very early 80s punk scene. This song, originally by Elton Motello, perfectly captures the subversiveness and irreverence of Groening's early work: it's a punk track about a gay love triangle whose chorus, "oo-hoo-oo-oo; he gave me head," mocks those 60s surfer tunes which were, at one point, considered rebellious. It's gender-bending, loud, and fun – everything those people who didn't actually live in the 80s enjoy thinking it was like.

De La Soul "Please Porridge"

I'm not a fan of the "skits" on hip hop records (they are never funny), which De La pioneered. I wish MCs were willing to exert the effort necessary to place their satires and parodies into their songs, like De La manages to do here. "Porridge" is set to a classic snare and bass beat, but it's infused with rhythms from a wooden block and upbeat piano riffs. It sounds like a hip hop song for kids – but it's really quite progressive; a clever narrative runs throughout, peppered with pop culture allusions – including a sample from Kermit The Frog – my favorite being, "I click, I click the TV to The Simpsons." De La Soul innovated the think-y, irreverent, articulate vein of hip hop; they were The Simpsons of rap.

Blood Sugar Sex Magic "The Red Hot Chili Peppers"

This was the last tape I ever bought. I was 12 and my father promptly confiscated it (Will Smith was right: parents just don't understand). This was the age many of us were starting to define ourselves through the pieces of culture we embraced. There was a lot of Guns and Roses' "Use Your Illusion (I and II)" that summer. In fact, I think that was the summer of confiscation: kids all over were losing their Bart Simpson T-shirts, MC Hammer fades, not to mention their Chili Peppers' albums. Adults were freaked out that their kids would sympathize with an underachiever, or wanted to hear songs with words like "shit" in them. Seven years later, Eminem would release his first album, which included a delightful track about killing his wife and stuffing her in a trunk.

Michael Jackson "Black Or White"

Clearly not Michael's best, but this song, video and album came out shortly after Michael appeared as a 300 lb white mental patient on The Simpsons (he didn't actually sing "Man In The Mirror" on The Simpsons – he had a stand-in) creating a moment of pop confluence that nearly makes my head explode. Throw Madonna, or Michael Jordan in there and it would have been a 90's Yalta. But this also the point where we saw MJ step right over the edge. The tabloid freak show had started, and with "Black or White" Michael had clearly become more about the pop than the music. The Simpsons thing was cool, but then there's Macauley Culkin in this video, lip-syncing a rap, before the beautiful and batshit crazy computer special effects finale.

Alabama "Hats off to Hard Riding Cowboys"

One element of The Simpsons we rejoice is its hyper-allusiveness: they can refer to The Flinstones, to 18th century French politics, to literature to Hollywood--all within a few beats of a single scene. They are especially adept at tipping their hat to their comedy lineage – which I think is classy, and appropriate. This song is a dedication to the past greats of country music – the band plays a lick or two from each of their forbearers' signature songs--it's romantic and smart and quite catchy. And I don't care what everybody in their right mind says: I like Alabama (one of 8 bands in the history of Rock and Roll to put out more than 20 gold records – so take that – the others are The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Aerosmith, Chicago, Rush, The Beach Boys and Kiss).

Bob Dylan "Song to Woody"

Bob Dylan is a guy who completely chose his own place in the pop canon; I think his different contortions over the decades make him, almost more than anyone else, the perfect pop animal. Only Dylan could go from folk singer, to born-again-Christian, to Victoria Secret pitchman and still have more cred than anyone else in the business. The Simpsons hasn't engaged in the same kind of shape shifting, far from it, but the series freely admits that it's a massively successful product of the Fox Corporation. It's incredibly honest about its place in the world and, like Dylan, makes no promises as to its identity.

Vivian Girls, "Where Do You Run To"

Hollywood doesn't make a ton of bones about its sexism. Women are drastically underrepresented both in front of and behind the camera. And The Simpsons was no different. Sam Simon, the original showrunner, adhered to the accepted wisdom that "women aren't funny" and kept them out of his writing room, a trend that has for the most part, continued at the show. Vivian Girls are an all-girl, kick-ass and yet completely sexy punk group. I could have gone with a Blondie track and made the same point, but I wanted something contemporary.

Warren Zevon "Werewolves of London"

I added this song for 2 reasons:

First, something I love about The Simpsons is the "what the f**k did I just see?" factor. There are many weird, weird moments in the show that are funny for their own sake, like Season 12's "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" episode where Homer keeps getting drugged by Victorian-era puppet masters. Similarly, this song is fantastic, but makes no goddam sense: "He'll rip your lungs out, Jim – I'd like to meet his tailor." What?

The second reason is that while writing the book, I drank a lot at a bar called Maxx Fish in the Lower East Side, and they were always playing this song.

The Donnas "Dancing With Myself"

I'm kind of cheating here, (having used "Jet Boy Jet Girl" earlier), but I wanted to use this cover to explicitly acknowledge the imitators The Simpsons have inspired. There's both the good (Family Guy, South Park), the bad (American Dad) and the ugly (Fish Police, Dilbert). In the annals of covers, I think this one is right up there with Jeff Buckley's rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"--as good as the original, if not better (there's a Nouvelle Vague version of this song as well--it's fun, but nowhere near as good).

Kraftwerk "The Robots"

There is a big nerd element to The Simpsons – from its fans, to the writing room, to authors who write books about it, and then go on websites to write corresponding track lists – and there is something very nerdy about electro, especially German 80s electro. Still, listen to Kraftwerk and then any contemporary hip hope with synth (ahem, Kanye), and you'll be blown away by all thievery. I imagine Kraftwerk was a great way to say goodbye to the 70s; I highly recommend bringing both them and The Simpsons with you on your next drug adventure.

Rolling Stones "Yesterdays Papers"

I'm ending with a Rolling Stones track because, as John Alberti says in my book, "Maybe The Simpsons have stretched it into the Rolling Stones because the Rolling Stones are so corporatized now it's really hard to imagine that they were ever subversive or edgy or countercultural. It seems like they're beating a dead horse to pick up a paycheck," which I think is a very accurate description, if you watch any of the current episodes. The Stones may be my greatest rock band in history, just as The Simpsons are probably the greatest TV show ever produced – which is why it is especially sad to watch them both ride so ingloriously, not into the sunset, but towards the bank.

John Ortved and The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History links:

excerpts from the book

Bookgasm review
Bookslut review
The Complete Review review
Gelf review
Monkey See review
NeuFutur review
St. Petersburg Times review
Washington Post review

ArtsBeat interview with the author
CBC News profile of the author
The Daily Beast post by the author about the book
Toronto Star profile of the author
Vanity Fair article by the author that spawned the book

also at Largehearted Boy:

other Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)

online "best of 2009" book lists
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks

tags: books music literature non-fiction simpsons

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Book Notes - M. Thomas Gammarino ("Big in Japan")

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

M. Thomas Gammarino's debut novel Big in Japan is a surprisingly funny romp through rock music and Japan that isn't afraid to tackle big issues.

Ron Currie, Jr. wrote of the book:

"In Brain, Gammarino has created a perfect hero for the Age of Anxiety. Propelled by the author’s knack for both pitch-perfect dialogue and startling metaphors, the reader follows Brain on an ill-fated tour of the Land of the Rising Sun, where he loses his band but finds himself in slow, painful, hilarious fashion."

In his own words, here is M. Thomas Gammarino's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Big in Japan: A Ghost Story:

One of the earliest things I remember knowing about Big in Japan was that it would somehow trace a character's movement from a kind of heavy metal worldview towards a jazzier one. That's an idiotic oversimplification, but I was maybe twenty years old when the idea came to me, a guitarist of varying allegiances, and still close enough to high school to remember just how important musical taste can be in marking out one's identity—so the words "heavy metal" and "jazz" signified for me not just musical genres but cosmic principles of a sort, something like the Classical and the Romantic or the Apollonian and the Dionysian.

Needless to say, Big in Japan took all sorts of new directions over the years (Japan, for instance), and there are any number of ways I came to organize Brain Tedesco's development in my mind, but that dialogue between the Apollonian and the Dionysian is still there on every page, albeit largely tacit. One of Brain's many paradoxes is that by holding himself to such rigid, perfectionistic standards in his art (he's the nerve center of a prog band called Agenbite), he's become such a horrific mess in life, and when the pendulum swings towards Dionysius, it looks an awful lot like a wrecking ball. Whether Brain ever manages to effect a balance is something I'll leave for the reader to decide.
Here are ten songs I think the Brain of the early parts of the novel would like, and ten songs I think he would hate. I like them all, more or less.

"Throat Song," Tudjaat

Brain's musical tastes tend toward the "exotic," even as he's terrified of leaving his own geographic comfort zone. By way of an irresistible pun, Inuit throat-singing (no doubt a pale imitation) makes its way onto Agenbite's first album, Inwit. If you don't know what Inuit throat-singing is, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Here's a link.

"Take this Longing," Leonard Cohen

While the Ish Barban character in the novel (a kind of hippy intellectual who left Agenbite to take up French translation in Montreal) would love everything about Leonard Cohen, a song like this would be too artless and on the nose for Brain, too much like having a spy inside his head, and he would retaliate with clenched fists and a weird, smoldering anger.

"Buchimish," Petar Ralchev

Early in the novel, Brain listens to some Bulgarian folk music in his car and proceeds to meditate about 15/16 time. Brain gets high on odd time signatures like this because, while so chaotic to the virgin ear, they surrender utterly to his control once he figures them out. Blooming buzzing life, unfortunately, doesn't often yield like that. I know nothing about Bulgarian folk music beyond what it took to write that passage, but here's the first hit I got on YouTube—played, as it happens, on the electric guitar.

The Beatles

Pick the song. It doesn't matter. Brain might find something to admire about The Beatles if he'd only give them a chance, but he's clearly too insecure to enjoy something as simple as a great melody, let alone one in a danceable time signature. On top of that, he'd feel threatened by the humor, the clear-sightedness, the rawness and joie-de-vivre. Not to mention the popularity.

"To Live is to Die," Metallica

Agenbite's drummer, Nick, introduced Brain to heavy metal early in high school and taught him what CDs to buy. No doubt this was one of them, and it's this sort of heavy, regimented metal that lives in the deepest recesses of Brain's brain, I think.

"Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish," Captain Beefheart

Theo McCall, Agenbite's oversexed frontman, writes surrealistic lyrics like these, which are way too anarchical to please a control freak like Brain.

"Change of Seasons," Dream Theater

Brain likes long songs with complex changes, odd time signatures, and operatic, quasi-religious vocals. He'd have to dig Dream Theater, though he might resent their virtuosity a bit.

"Sk8er Boi," Avril LaVigne

At one point in the novel, Brain eavesdrops on some people singing karaoke. One of the songs they're singing is by "Avril what's her face." No doubt Brain knows her name, but he can hardly find it in himself to accord respect to a pop artist who makes so much money on so predictable a formula. That's not my opinion. I actually really dug that first album, albeit not enough for me to know what I think of her subsequent ones. Incidentally, Avril really is very big in Japan.

"See, And It's Sharp," Spastic Ink

This is the prog equivalent of Oulipo. Set some arbitrary formal constraints and then obey them like divine writ. Two notes make up this entire song (Can you guess what they are?). Brain likes constraints; he's used to them. It's freedom he's not so comfortable with.

"Bitches Brew," Miles Davis

Agenbite's drummer, Nick, is a big enough jazz buff that he managed to drag the band to the Montreal Jazz Festival a couple of months before the novel begins. I imagine him really digging fusion like this. Brain, by contrast, would be freaked out by the unboundedness of it.

"Flight of the Bumblebee," played by Tiago Della

Watch this if you haven't already.

Clearly this is the sound of a bumblebee on speed. The micro-precision and chromaticity of Rimsky-Korsakov's piece would sit well with Brain's obsessive-compulsive tendencies, I think, but what a source of torment it would be for him that, hard as he practiced with his metronome, he could never quite match Della Vega's superhuman, albeit sort of ridiculous, chops.

"The Messiah Will Come Again," Roy Buchanan

Born-again Matt, Agenbite's bassist, would love this tune. Brain would loathe it. The highlight is clearly the guitar solo toward the end, which has got to be one of the most soulful solos ever recorded, and which I remember as much for the well-placed noises as the notes.

"Etudes for Guitar, No. 12 in A Minor," Villa-Lobos, played by Manuel Barrueco

This is what Kerry King from Slayer would sound like if he were forced to play a nylon-string guitar, and had four hundred years to practice.

"Grateful Days," Dragon Ash

When the character Keith drives Agenbite around on their first night in Tokyo, he pops in some Japanese hip-hop. Brain finds it "shamefully derivative, a sampled Smashing Pumpkins riff over the exhausted Canon in D chord progression." This is the song I had in mind. That description is pretty accurate, but unlike Brain, I don't find it especially shameful. It makes me kind of happy actually. How many hip hop choruses culminate in an unabashedly sunny line like "Thank you father, mother, and my friends"?

"Koyunbaba," Domeniconi, played by John Williams

I've actually heard John Williams faulted for being too "perfect"—i.e. robotic—a guitarist. For Brain, of course, there can be no such thing as too perfect, and the odd tuning and Lydian airiness give this piece an otherworldly sublimity Brain would have to submit to (as I do every time).

"Tales from Topographic Oceans," Yes

Brain would want to like this for its spacey title and cover art, but ultimately he'd find it too noodly and bland, neither visceral nor technical enough. Most 70s prog would fall into this camp for Brain, I think. I myself can get into Rush, early Genesis, some King Crimson and Yes, but I confess that Brain and I are of a mind on Topographic Oceans.

"Veil of Maya," Cynic

What a weird and wonderful hybrid of death metal, prog, and something-not-wholly-unlike-jazz this is. It's tight as hell and the jazz isn't really jazz, so I suspect Brain would admire it.

"Jizz in My Pants," The Lonely Island

This track would make Brain want to kill himself. Too (paradoxically) unrepressed, too close to home perhaps, and way beyond Brain's fun threshold.

"Like Herod," Mogwai

Brain would like this, but he might not love it because, though Mogwai is 99% instrumental, they don't change things up every other measure. I love these guys. In fact, I like to fantasize that when the film version of Big in Japan goes into production, Mogwai will do the soundtrack. I think they could handle both incarnations of the band beautifully (that'll make sense to anyone who's read the book).

"Beautiful Day," U2

Obviously this is too poppy and just plain popular for Brain. I wanted to include it here because I tend to think that if a band were really to do the thing Agenbite does towards the end of Big in Japan (sorry, no spoilers), it would be this band, and they'd kick it off with this song.

M. Thomas Gammarino and Big in Japan: A Ghost Story links:

video trailer for the book

Metropolis review
Nothing More Wonderful review

also at Largehearted Boy:

other Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)

online "best of 2009" book lists
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks

tags: books music literature fiction

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Shorties (Jonathan Lethem, Herta Muller, and more)

The Miami New Times interviews author Jonathan Lethem.

What differentiates Chronic City for you from your other novels, besides the fact that it's the first one set in Manhattan?

I put a lot of effort into making each novel different, but I'm especially proud of this one. It's a special book for me. But if I had any corrective for the reviews that have come out so far, I'd say most gloss over the fact that it's a really funny book. When I read it aloud, people are usually laughing. It's definitely as manic and funny as Motherless Brooklyn.

The Wall Street Journal profiles 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Herta Muller.

Kafka is the most commonly cited ancestor for Ms. Muller's writing. His empathy for the powerless and his alien status as a Czech Jew writing in German reflects her own mingled heritage. The blunt rhythms of Brecht, another Swabian, also can be heard in her prose. Joyce, Faulkner and Woolf seem to have influenced her evocations of childhood.

At the Guardian music blog, Simon Reynolds shares his thoughts on the music of the past decade.

The New York Times reviews Vladimir Nabokov's posthumous novel, The Original of Laura.

The Kickstarter blog offers artists a list of what fans will pay for when funding a project.

My Year of Mixtapes is sharing a new downloadable mixtape every week.

Newsarama continues its interview with author Lev Grossman.

The Guardian's music blog explains why Christmas songs can never be cool.

Rosanne Cash visits The Current for an interview and live performance.

Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

online "best of 2009" book lists
online "best of 2009" music lists
best of the decade (2000-2009) online music lists

daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists

tags: music books popculture indie

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Daily Downloads (Rosie Flores, Orenda Fink, and more)

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Cars & Trains: "Intimidated By Silence" [mp3] from The Roots, The Leaves (out January 26th)
other Cars & Trains posts at Largehearted Boy

Midnight Masses: "Walk on Water" [mp3] from Rapture Ready, I Gazed At The Body (out December 8th)
other Midnight Masses posts at Largehearted Boy

Mike Mountain: "Social Climber" [mp3] from Mike Mountain EP
other Mike Mountain posts at Largehearted Boy

OOIOO: "O O I A H" [mp3] from Armonico Hewa
other OOIOO posts at Largehearted Boy

Orenda Fink: "That Certain-Something Spring" [mp3] from Ask the Night
other Orenda Fink posts at Largehearted Boy

Prairie Cat: "Given Up" [mp3] from It Began/Ended With Sparks
other Prairie Cat posts at Largehearted Boy

The Recital: free and legal The Succulent Leftovers EP [mp3]
"Kid You're Wrong" [mp3]
other Recital posts at Largehearted Boy

Rosie Flores: "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'" [mp3] from Girl of the Century
Rosie Flores: "This Cat's in the Doghouse" [mp3] from Girl of the Century
other Rosie Flores posts at Largehearted Boy

Sambassadeur: "Days" [mp3]other Watermarks posts at Largehearted Boy
other Sambassadeur posts at Largehearted Boy

Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:

Alberta Cross: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Alberta Cross posts at Largehearted Boy

The Thermals: LaundroMatinee session [mp3]
other Thermals posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
other music festival downloads

Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists

tags: music download indie mp3

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November 10, 2009

Try It Before You Buy It (November 10th, 2009 Music Releases)

Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal mp3 downloads and full album streams from this week's music releases:

Bad Lieutenant: Never Cry Another Tear
full album stream

Britney Spears: Britney Spears: The Singles Collection
full album stream

Brown Bird: The Devil Dancing
"Danger & Dread" [mp3]
"Muck and Mire" [mp3]

Continue reading "Try It Before You Buy It (November 10th, 2009 Music Releases)"

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November 10th Updates to the Online Best of the Decade (2000-2009) Music Lists

Today's additions to the list of the online best of the decade (2000-2009) music lists:

Acclaimed Music (top albums & songs)
Anu Kirk (top albums)
Intensities in Ten Cities (songs)
The Love Universe (best albums)
NPR's All Songs Considered (albums that defined the decade)
Poetry/Musings (favorite albums)
Stuff Running 'Round My Head (top albums)
Stylus (top albums 2000-2005)
Vague Space (top albums)

also at Largehearted Boy:

list of the online best of the decade (2000-2009) music lists
daily updates to the list

Online "Best Of 2009" Music Lists
Online "Best Of 2008" Music Lists
Online "Best Of 2007" Music Lists
Online "Best Of 2006" Music Lists
Online "Best Books of 2009" Lists
Online "Best Books of 2008" Lists
other lists at Largehearted Boy
Daily Downloads (free & legal mp3 downloads)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
musician/author interviews

tags: music cd list lists indie 2000s albums

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Shorties (Beck, The Swell Season, and more)

At the Details blog, Jeff Gordinier critiques Beck's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne."

We really like Leonard Cohen. And we like Beck, for that matter. Mostly. But this cover of "Suzanne" is an atrocity. It's worse than bad—it's such an insult to the legend of Leonard Cohen that we feel like introducing the aging Canadian ladies' man to a lawyer so that he can sue these lazy hipsters to get his dignity back. Listen to the Beck Record Club's version of "Suzanne" and you will encounter a perfect example of what might be called "smugism": singing in a self-consciously droopy and tuneless chorus that suggests nothing so much as a collective yawn, Beck and his bohemian buds give off the impression that they couldn't be bothered to crawl out of bed for this song, let alone put any genuine feeling into it. It's not a remake; it's a pose.

The A.V. Club interviews Glan Hansard of the Swell Season and the Frames.

Glide interviews Portugal. The Man's John Gourley.

The Retriever Weekly lists "must-have, life-defining" soundtracks.

New York Magazine lists five music bloggers who are digital tastemakers.

CNN profiles the music school founded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

The Design Collection's Observatory blog has notable designers redesign the covers of Vladimir Nabokov's books.

The Atlantic reviews Ayelet Waldman's most recent essay collection, Bad Mother.

NPR's Monitor Mix blog is soliciting photos of your music collection.

The Mountain Goats visit The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

The 100 best blogs for the literati.

AbeBooks examines what soldiers were reading in the trenches during World War I.

eMusic lists the best songs from recent television shows.