Andi Watson-Glister, Issues 1-3 (2007)

SOUNDTRACK: DEERHUNTER-Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008). Somehow, I can never remmeber what this disc is going to sound like when I pop it in.  Once it gets going the songs are all familiar and very good, its just that initial listen, where I forget that the band is rather delicate and poppy.  I tend to forget [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999)

SOUNDTRACK: TOPLESS WOMEN TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES soundtrack (2006). I learned about this soundtrack from a very cool article in The Believer (the beginning of which is online here).  In the piece, the author claims to have never seen the film (he was given the soundtrack by a friend) and he doesn’t want  to change [...]

Read Full Post »

Douglas Coupland–Generation X (1991)

SOUNDTRACK: THE DEAD SCIENCE-Villainaire (2008). This is probably the most fascinating album that Constellation has released recently.  I’d never heard of The Dead Science, but evidently they have a few disc out already. The main thing one notices about this disc is the lead singer.  His voice is fascinating: a sort of slow, whispered falsetto [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–short uncollected pieces (with titles): “Other Math” (1987); “The Empty Plenum: David Markson’s ‘Wittgenstein’s Mistress’” (1990); “Rabbit Resurrected” (1992); “The Nature of the Fun” (1998); “F/X Porn” (1998); “Peoria (4)” (2002); “Peoria (9) ‘Whispering Pines’” (2002); “Deciderization 2007″ (2007)

SOUNDTRACK: LAND OF KUSH-Against the Day (2008). Land of Kush is a huge orchestra created by Sam Shalibi.  Shalibi is a maniac of independent releases, creating everything from orchestral pieces to solo records all with his unique blend of middle eastern tinged music (featuring his oud playing). This album is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Against [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–various uncollected essays (1987-2007)

SOUNDTRACK: FLEET FOXES-Sun Giant EP (2008). My friend Jarrett introduced me to the Fleet Foxes with their self-titled CD.  I recently picked up the Sun Giant EP and it is just as good as the main CD.  It opens with a beautiful a capella introduction to “Sun Giant” in multipart harmony that melds into a nice [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–”Hail the Returning Dragon, Clothed in New Fire” (Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and the Death of Camp and Other Essays from Might Magazine) (1998)

SOUNDTRACK: NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL-In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998). I had always put off getting into Neutral Milk Hotel.  They were just another one of those Elephant 6 bands, and there were so many bands and splinter-bands and solo bands that I had to draw the line somewhere.  And Neutral Milk Hotel were on [...]

Read Full Post »

Periodical: AAA World

Okay, so this magazine doesn’t really count.  AAA World comes free with a AAA membership.  And in the past we would just recycle it unopened.  Then one month, the cover article looked interesting and we enjoyed it.  Since then, I always make sure to at least flip though it.  And, yes the target audience for [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–[Final thoughts] Infinite Jest (1996)

Okay, now that I’ve had time to digest the book (and to cope with the ending) I wanted to give some final thoughts on the book.  I also wanted to tie up some loose ends by posting my original response to the Salon.com questions as well as my letter to the posted article (keeping all [...]

Read Full Post »

David Foster Wallace–[Week 14/End] Infinite Jest (1996)

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-”Rather Ripped” (2006). When Rather Ripped came out, I was really excited by it.  It rocked heavy, it was catchy and it featured a lot of Kim.  I listened to it all the time, and would have said it was my favorite SY disc of this era.  However, listening to Sonic Nurse reminded [...]

Read Full Post »

“The Planet Trillaphon as It Stands in Relation to the Bad Thing” (Amherst Review, 1984/Tin Roof #40, 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY-The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place (2003). Explosions in the Sky play beautiful, lengthy almost cinematic instrumentals.  They are primarily a guitar-drum band, (but they do add bass from time to time). Each of their albums is practically symphonic in its beauty as most of the songs start slowly, [...]

Read Full Post »