César Aira–The Seamstress and the Wind (1994) [Translated 2011]

SOUNDTRACK: ELFIN SADDLE-Devastates (2012).

Elfin Saddle continues their streak of oddly juxtaposed music that works very well.   The band specializes in a kind of Middle Eastern folk music (there’s a lot of Jewish-style singing), but with Emi Honda singing Japanese-style vocals it really alters the overall sound.  They also use a lot of raw sounding “instruments” many of which are found or quite simply, junk.  Check out the instrumentation list: Jordan McKenzie: voice, guitar, half-accordion, drums, varied percussion, membrane pipes, organs, piano, pvc processing, tapes, phonographs, speakers, etc.  Emi Honda: voice, ukulele, drums, half-accordion, musical saw, extra percussion.  It’s that extra percussion and etc. that you hear a lot, rattling around in the background of these songs.

They play complex rhythms (with lots of low end drumming) underneath ethereal noises (music boxes and the like).  And all the while, Honda and McKenzie trade off their unusual vocals.  It’s mesmerizing.  When the band really starts rocking, like in “The Changing Wind” you hear how well it all works together, and how well the two play off each other.  The slower pieces, like “Boats” are very cinematic, probably because everything sounds so real–you can see the items that are making these odd sounds.

The music is definitely not pop, but with just a listen or two, you can really appreciate what they’re doing.  If you like your folk a little noisy or your rock a little experimental, this is a great record to check out.

[READ: January 13, 2013] The Seamstress and the Wind

Things that I have said about every book of Aira’s that I have read: they are all short, he writes a lot of books (according to Wikipedia he has written at least 45 books since this one came out about twenty years ago), and they are all nonlinear.

And so it is with this 130 page book.

As the book opens, a young boy named César Aira is playing with his friend in the back of their neighbor Chiquito’s truck.  They are playing a game of ghosts when suddenly, César finds himself walking in a trance back to his house.  Turns out his friend Omar couldn’t find him for hours (and when César snaps out of it, indeed hours have passed).  And yet, despite this story, it turns out that really Omar is missing (what? who knows?).  Omar is the son of the local seamstress, Delia Siffoni.  She is sewing a wedding dress for the art teacher, Silvia, who is (scandalously) pregnant.  When she hears that her son is missing, she freaks out and calls out a search party.

She concludes that Omar was hiding in Chiquito’s truck when he left for Patagonia.  So she takes a taxi to chase after Chiquito.  Since the dress is due to be finished right away, she takes it and her supplies with her in hopes of finishing it on the road.  When Ramón, Delia’s husband realizes what she has done, he chases after her.  And when Silvia realizes that her dress is driving away in a taxi she follows Ramón.  And so it becomes a road novel in which none of the characters are together.

By the end of the story there has been a terrible accident with a taxi crashing into a truck.  There has been a poker game where one of the two women has been lost in a bet (unbeknownst to her) and we have met The Wind (Sir Ventarrón) who helps the seamstress with her problems.  Indeed, Sir Ventarrón becomes an integral part of the story, including a flashback when Sir Ventarrón assisted a snowman in his quest for eternal life (yes).

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César Aira–The Literary Conference (2006) [Translated 2010]

SOUNDTRACK: CHELSEA LIGHT MOVING-”Burroughs” (2013).

Chelsea Light Moving is Thurston Moore’s new band [no comments about the state of Sonic Youth/Kim Gordon will be included in this post].  I don’t know anything about the other members of the band; I’ve not heard of any of them.  ”Burroughs” is one of four new songs streaming on the Matador Records site.

The song is spot on for the noisy/sloppy style of Sonic Youth.  Fans of Sonic Youth will certainly detect some differences–the counterpoint of Lee Ranaldo is definitely absent, indeed, the entire low end sounds very different from what SY would create given this song.  But man, if you’re jonesing for some chaotic noise, this song has it in spades.

Moore is capable of creating some traditionally beautiful songs (see his Trees album), but here it’s all about discord.  The song is over six minutes long and the last 3 or so are devoted to some noisy guitars in both chords and solos.

While SY has not shied away from long songs, this song doesn’t feel like an epic–it’s not multi part or “extended” exactly.  It’s a fairly straightforward rock song with an extended solo section.  It’s really great.  I’m looking forward to the whole album (and I love the cover, too),

[READ: March 23, 2012] The Literary Conference

This has been my favorite Aira book so far.  And that’s probably because it is wonderfully over the top, mixing fantasy, sci-fi, genetics and literature.  All in 90 pages.

The story is about César Aira, translator.  He has been invited to a literary conference in Venezuela.  While there, he solves the age-old problem of The Macuto Line.  The Macuto Line is, essentially a rope which is attached to a pirate treasure.  For generations, people have tried all kinds of  things to impact this line–but it has proven to be unsolvable and indestructible.   Aira happened to be staying near the Line in a hotel.  He claims that he is no genius, but it just happens that the elements of his life have given him the exact information he needs to solve the puzzle.  And with a simple touch of the rope, the treasure is his.

But that’s just part 1 and has nothing to do with the rest of the story, really.  For despite his newfound wealth, he will still be attending the literary conference.  Primarily because he knows that Carlos Fuentes will be there (Fuentes is a real person, a Mexican author who died in 2012).  For, you see, Aira is planning to clone Fuentes in his bid to take over the world.  (In addition to being a translator, Aira is a mad scientist).

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César Aira–Varamo (2002) [translated 2012]

SOUNDTRACK: FIONA APPLE-”Every Single Night” (2012).

Many things have been said about Fiona Apple, and I’ll not repeat them here.  I will say, however, that she has put out some of the most consistently interesting music over the years.  From her introspective pop to her lavishly orchestrated pop, to the two mixes of her last album (one official, the other leaked), I’ve enjoyed all of it.

This is her first song in some seven years.  And it doesn’t skimp on what makes Fiona Fiona.  Specifically, it really showcases her voice.  And that’s because it is practically a capella.  The music is very spare–simple instrumentation (which sounds like a music box) and it more or less simply keeps the pace for Fiona’s voice (which sounds more full and powerful than ever) which creates the wonderful melody.  This may sound like a weird comparison, but I actually hear a bit of Eddie Vedder in her voice, too.

It’s a haunting song and the arrangement is curiously cool.

And I’ll share it here (well, actually I won’t share it, I’ll give you the link because it doesn’t want to embed):

http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F43923280&show_artwork=true

[READ: April 18, 2012] Varamo

Varamo is the most recently translated of César Aira’s hundred or so books.  It was written in 2002 and translated by Chris Andrews.  So far it is my favorite of the Aira books I’ve read.

It’s a fairly simple premise, although like most of Aira’s books, the premise isn’t exactly followed from start to finish.  And like his other books, there are fun avenues of detours.  But unlike his other books, it is a remarkably consistent story.  Except of course, that even though the book is set on the day that Varamo writes his famous poem, we never even get to see him entering his house to do so.

What?

Well, I’m going to quote from the beginning because it really summarizes the “plot” of the story:

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Rivka Galchen–”Into the Unforeseen: A romance of César Aira” (Harper’s June, 2011)

SOUNDTRACK: FIGURINES “The Air We Breathe” from Viva Piñata! (2008).

Figurines are from Denmark.  This song has a very distinctive Mercury Rev feel (late-period  Mercury Rev) with high pitched vocals and delicate intertwining melodies.

The verses are done on simple piano and the bridge has some nice harmonies.  This is a cool alt rock song that stands up to repeated listens.

[READ: March 28, 2012] “Into the Unforeseen”

The timing of this article is quite amazing.  Having really enjoyed Galchen’s short story, I decided to see what else she had written.  It’s not a lot, but she has written three things published in Harper’s–two essays and one short story.  This first essay is all about César Aira.  I didn’t even know who Aira was when it came out in 2011, but now, I get to read it again having just finished another of his novels.  (The essay concludes with information about Varamo, a novel that was just recently translated into English which I picked up at the library, yesterday).

This essay is about the week that Galchen spent with Aira in and around Aira’s home (but not his birth town of Coronel Pringles which he kind of jokingly forbids her from seeing.  Galchen loves Aira’s writing (and has a kind of crush on him, although they’d never met before).  She doesn’t say in this article but she was a Spanish language major, so she has clearly been reading his books in Spanish.

She lets us know that the day before she met Aira, her ten-year relationship ended (she hints at the reason but is quite discrete).  She brings this up because of an emotional moment later in the article.  And that’s what I loved about this article–it was personal and really invited the reader in to experience this meeting with her.  

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César Aira–An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (2000) [Translated 2006]

SOUNDTRACK: UNDER BYEN-”Samme Stof Som Stof” from Viva Piñata! (2008).

Under Byen is a Danish band and has only one song on Viva Piñata.

I had originally written a review under the impression that it was different song (the CD and even iTunes confuses this song with “Kiss ME” by Uncut.  And you can see my initial impression below).  Now, knowing that this band is not singing in English changes a lot about my perception of what the sounds actually are.

This is one of the few remixes on the disc where I listened to the original first (to make sure I had the right song).  The original is an interesting mix of peculiar instruments and some cool soundscapes.  This remix chops it up into pieces and puts it back together.  It’s an interesting twist on the song but man, the original is so much better.

[Here's my original thoughts, when I read a bit about the song when I thought it was by the band Uncut and I thought that it was not a remix.  And I saw that they were described as a poppy fuzzy band.

this song comes from one of their official releases.  "Kiss Me" is not a remix but it sure sounds like one.  It is kind of warped and the sounds feel manipulated in crazy ways. The vocals are mostly moans and noises. But it has a catchy beat and some interesting sounds. This is a weird song, and I'm not sure how it fits in with the rest of the album.  I do kind of like it, but I wouldn't hunt them down for more.

Of course, now that I know it's supposed to sound like that, I change my tune completely. And I will hunt down some other songs for comparison.

[READ: March 23, 2012] An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter

This is the third novel from Aira that New Directions has released (translated wonderfully by Chris Andrews). It’s the first one they published and the first one of his that I had heard of.  I actually heard of it long before I knew of Aira because the Preface is by Roberto Bolaño.  And if you do a search for Bolaño, this title always comes up.

And so now I finally got to read this mythical essay.  Sadly, it turns out to be an essay called, “The Incredible César Aira” which was recently published (2011) in Between Parentheses–bad timing for me.  It also has nothing to do with this novel specifically

But on to the novel itself.

This short book is about the German painter Johann Moritz Rugendas.  Little did I know that he was real.  He was a landscape painter (a profession which became obsolete with the invention of cameras) and he was very well-regarded.   Twice during his career he went to the Americas to paint the land.  On his second journey (from 1831-1847) he went to Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina, which resulted in thousands of paintings.

The opening of the book is rather philosophical (and a little dry).  But after about ten pages, the book picks up with the titular episode.  Rugendas and a German painter named Robert Krause set off in 1837 from Chile.  They got on well.  Rugendas was far superior technically and Krause, although also quite talented, was always respectful.  Rugendas had sold prints and books and his Picturesque Voyage through Brazil was printed on wallpaper and China.

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César Aira–How I Became a Nun (1989) [translated 2007]

SOUNDTRACK: MY MORNING JACKET-Circuital (2011).

I have really gotten into My Morning Jacket with their last couple of albums.  I know that they are quite different from their earlier releases, so I’m not quite as surprised by the diversity that’s on them.  With each release, they keep exploring new territory, although it’s all held together nicely by Jim James’ (or Yim Yames’) amazing voice.

The first half of the disc is much more wild than the second half, with longer songs, and more unusual textures.  The second half slows things down and feels almost, but not quite, acoustic.

“Victory Dance” is a slinky song and a cool intro to the disc.  It’s quickly followed by “Circuital,” a 7 minute long epic with two distinct parts.  The first is a kind of quiet echoey introduction, but when the guitars roar in at around 2:30, it turns into a big anthemy song…very ctahcy

“The Day is Coming” opens like a 70s AM radio song, with lots of da da das.  It’s a mellow song, the kind of song the MMJ flesh out with wonderful vocals so it never gets dull.

“Wonderful” is a simply beautiful song.  A gentle ballad about feeling wonderful.  I just found out that this song was originally intended for The Muppet Movie.  It would have been perfect.  Of course, the band are on the soundtrack doing a cover, so I guess that’s kinda close.

“Outta My System” is another catchy little number, also reminiscent of 70s AM radio, although it’s all about doing bad things as a youth and getting them out of your system.  Musically it would also work very well for the Muppets, but I suspect lyrically it might be a bit outré for the movie (granted I haven’t actually seen it so I can’t say for sure).

All the recent MMJ albums have one crazy track and on this one it’s “Holdin’ on to Black Metal.”  So the title is pretty unexpected but it’s nowhere near as unexpected as the content of the song.  It is complete with a children’s chorus and what sounds like horns, although I suspect they are keyboards.  It’s full of blasts of sound and woah woah ohs.  It’s crazy.  I love it.  Much like I love the crazy song, “Highly Suspicious”  from the previous album.  And I just found out that this song is more or less a cover (although with different words of “E-Saew Tam Punha Huajai” by Kwan Jai & Kwan Jit Sriprajan from the album Siamese Soul: Thai Spectacular 1960s-80s Volume 2.  More on that tomorrow.

  After that bizarre track, the album really settles down into an easy groove.  “First Light is a pretty traditional, simple song.  It also has lots of horns.  “You Wanna Freak Out” is also unexpected for the title, as it’s a pretty straightforward rocker. “Slow Slow Tune” doesn not belie its title.  It has a kind of 70s Pink Floyd feel and continues the more mellow second half od the disc.  The disc ends with “Movin’ Away” a slow, piano ballad.

  Although the album has a very comfortable, familiar feel, MMJ have little tricks (great soaring guitars and, again, James’ voice) to make it rise above the ordinary.  It’s great disc that warrants multiple listens.

[READ: January 28, 2012] How I Became a Nun

I didn’t love Aira’s Ghosts because it was too ephemeral for me (as befitting a book called Ghosts, right?).  How I Became a Nun is the exact opposite: a terrifically visceral story that is straightforward and easy to follow, except for perhaps two things.

The first thing is something that’s mentioned on the back of the book (so I’m not threatening a spoiler here).  The main character is named César.  Whenever someone talks to him, they address him as César or boy or him.  And yet, the whole book is written from the point of view of young César, and César describes himself as a girl.  In the fourth paragraph, the narrator states, “I was a devoted daughter.”  And yet, shortly thereafter, another character says about the narrator, “Is it my fault if the boy didn’t like it?”

This goes on throughout the story–not a lot–but enough to keep it in your mind.

The second thing is the ending.  Which I don’t want to spoil.

So what is this wonderfully titled story about?  Well, six-year old César begins, “My story, the story of ‘how I became a nun’ began very early in my life.”  The opening chapter tells the story of César’s first experience with ice-cream.

It is a wonderful chapter, with César’s father promising the wondrous delights of ice cream and taking them both out for a cone.  César’s father enjoys his cone very much, but César, although instantly in love with the pink strawberry color is instantly disgusted by the taste. He even retches a little bit.

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César Aira–Ghosts (1987) [translated 2008]

SOUNDTRACK: tUnE-yArDs-WHOKILL (2011).

I bought this album because NPR was raving about it back in the summer.  When I first played it I was really disappointed.  rather than the interesting experimental music, it sounded like a kind of unpleasant R&B.  So I put it aside for a while.  And when I listened to it again, I was really blown away by it.

For those of you unfamiliar with tUnE-yArDs, there are three or four different singers in the band.  There’s the raspy voiced R&B singer that opens the album.  There’s the whispering vocalist and the spoken word backing vocalists of “Es-So.”  And there’s the rasta singer of “Gangsta.”  There’s the soulful male who sings “Powa” and the woman who can hit the amazing high notes at the end of “Powa.”  And all of those singers are named Merrill Garbus.  For she is more or less the one woman operation behind the band.  (I’m a little unclear if the rest of the musicians are part of her band or just session folks).

I have deliberately been avoiding reading about Merrill Garbus before writing this because I didn’t want to be influenced by reality.  I honestly had no idea who she was or what she looked like when I started listening to the disc.  I assumed, by her voice, that she was a black woman.  But then the liner notes talk about Jewish grandparents and the disc itself includes samples of them, and they are clearly white.  And then yes I saw a photo of her, and she’s quite white.  None of that is of any consequence except to really highlight the chameleonic nature of the music and how it really transcends genres.  That’s pretty awesome.

 The trick that you will read about ad nauseam about tUnE-yArDs is that Garbus loops her own stuff live.  It’s not screamingly apparent on the disc but you can certainly hear stuffed looped as the disc goes along.

This album made almost every best of year-end list.  And that surprises me somewhat because it’s not always easy listening.  “My Country” has all kinds of screamed parts, a staccato horn solo and a cacophonous ending.   The second song, “Es-So” opens with a some clunking drums and what seems like a slightly out of tune guitar playing a simple, aggressive riff.  The rhythm and tune of the song is infectious and yet so…odd.  “Gangsta” is one of my favorite songs of the year.  It opens with a great bassline and then several “sirens” which I suspect are Merril’s own voice.  It seems to end after 2 minutes but there’s more…a bizarre interlude in which the song seems to have a hard time starting up again.  (“bang bang bang oy, never move to my hood coz danger is crawling out the wood”).

“Powa” is probably my least favorite song on the album although I still like it.  It’s slow and kind of ballady but the vocals are just so wild it keeps it from being dull.  “Riotriot” is strange meandering song full of peculiar percussion.  It’s a bit too long, but there’s some really interesting parts, especially at about 3 minutes when the song suddenly turns into a psychedelic freak out.  “Bizness” opens with Garbus’ crazy distorted voice over some pretty descending notes (which I assume are from Garbus’ pretty singing voice).

“Doorstep” has a bunch of fast sha la las that I normally dislike but which work so well within the song and with Garbus’ amazing, angsty singing near the middle of the song.  “You Yes You” has some great guitar work in the beginning and a very fun segment that ends with a big “Ha!”  “Wooly Wooly Gong” is a cool slow song, minor key with delicate vocals.  The disc ends with “Killa” another great song featuring Garbus’ rough voice and scratchy guitars.

The whole album keeps you on your toes.  There’s something for everyone, but it’s all mashed together so it’s not always clear than anyone will like it.  It’s a really fun release and although it took me several listens to really appreciate it, I simply can’t stop playing it now.

[READ: January 9, 2012] Ghosts

I had planned to read this book a little earlier than I did, but then three holds came in from the library which pushed everything back (those were all new and this book, well, to be fair, I’m not sure it was ever checked out, so I was allowed to renew it).  The only bummer thing about it is that this entire story is set on New Year’s Eve, so it would have been nice to post it then.  Oh well, what’s two weeks?

So, this is the first novel by Aira that I have read.  I really enjoyed his short story recently and, since Roberto Bolaño is a big fan, I wanted to see what he had written.  As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Aira has written approximately forty-five novels (!) (since 1981 (!!)) He had five in 2005.  Most of them are fairly short (Ghosts is less than 140 pages), so it’s not quite as daunting as it could be.  And for English readers, there are only seven books translated into English.  So now is the time to jump on his bandwagon!

This novel was translated by Chris Andrews, who has translated many of Bolaño’s shorter works as well.  I did notice one or two British/Australian spellings in there (Andrews is Australian).  But I am very impressed with the translation, especially the occasional fifty-cent words that were wonderful choices (I wish I had written them down).

The story itself is fairly simple, although there are waves of complex ideas that come throughout.  As I mentioned, the entire story is set on New Year’s Eve in Argentina (which, North Americans please note, is really really hot–like super crazy hot, which is a little disconcerting to read during a cold January].  It’s also almost entirely set in one building (there’s a quick trip to the market).  And the bulk of the story centers around one (extended) family.

But as it starts, we see something altogether different. The building in question is a condominium.  It was supposed to be finished on January 31, but, of course, it isn’t.  All of the families who have bought into the condo have shown up to see the proceedings.  They are pretty much all there at the same time although some are coming and others are going.  We learn a lot about the building itself, the pool on the roof, the rooms and cabinets, the elevators.  It’s a pretty nice place.  We meet most of the families who will be living there when it is finally finished. The kids love running around in the unfinished house, watching the workmen carting things away and being a mild nuisance.  But it’s basically a holiday so no one cares all that much.

Oh, and there are ghosts all over the building. 

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César Aira–”The Musical Brain” (New Yorker, December 5, 2011)

SOUNDTRACK: TRENCHMOUTH-Inside the Future (1993).

This album came before the other Trenchmouth CD I reviewed.  And it’s safe to say that all of the ideas were still in place for this CD as well. 

What I love about Trenchmouth is that all 4 members seem to be playing different songs and yet they all work so well together.  True, it sounds chaotic and at times unpleasant (such is the nature of punk) and yet when you listen a few times you hear how it all works.

“Telescopic” opens with a crazy punk bass line, the guitars are just screams of noise and the drums are rhythmic yet chaotic (that’s Fred Armisen on drums and he is a wild man).  Then lay over the top the disaffected vocals (which are in a different ke)y and you get one hell of  a punk song.  The feedback squalls at the end let you know that they have no intention of being on the radio.

“Power to the Amplifier” condenses all of that noise into 2 minutes of fury. 

“The Dawning of a New Sound System” starts with some crazy guitar chords (showing you just how weird the guitars are) but this song has a pretty catchy chorus (with backing vocal shouts of “Hail Hail”).  ”Yes, This is the Place” offers slightly less abrasive guitars and a very smooth middle section.

“Capsule” actually opens with a sound similar to Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” and it has a different vocalist (although I don’t know who).    The percussion on “Confectionery” is amazing, while “In the Event of a Struggle” is another 2 minute cycle of styles.  “The Future Vs. Centrifugal Force” sounds the most like that mid 80s SST style that I like so much–kind of a jam feel, but short and punky.

“Sea of Serenity” is listed as “Swing Version”, although I don’t know if there’s another version.  This one has intense guitars (don’t they all) and frantic drumming.   It also has a wonderful third part with a great off-kilter guitar riff.   The final proper song is “Hit Men Will Suffocate the City” and it is more of the same noisy wonderment.  It ends with a great bass line.

The final track is “Now I Have Tasted Life” and it is absolute filler.  A weird addition, it’s 7 minutes of slow melodica noodling and occasional reggae sounding guitars with random percussion  There’s also some feedback squalls.  It sounds like one of their real songs stretched out and slowed down.  It would be okay if it weren’t so long.  But it’s hard to blame anyone for experimentation when the rest of their experimentation is so good.

It’s obvious why Trenchmouth weren’t popular (although you can hear proto-Primus all over this record–I wonder if Les and Ler knew Trenchmouth at all?), but it’s a shame their music is so hard to find.

[READ: November 30, 2011] “The Musical Brain”

I have been meaning to read César Aira for a little while now.  He’s on my list of new authors to check out.  So I was pretty delighted to see this story (translated by Chris Andrews) in the New Yorker.

There are so many wonderful and unexpected aspects to this story that I was constantly kept on my toes.  This also made it somewhat challenging to write about.

The story appears to be autobiographical (we learn late in the story that the narrator is named César), about an incident that happened when he was 4 or 5.   It is set in the Argentinian city of Coronel Pringles and it talks a lot about his family and the town that he lived in.

I loved the strange little details he threw in about his family.  Like his mother’s “invincible suspicion of any food she hadn’t prepared herself” or the provenance and outrageousness of his father’s wallet.

 As the story opens, César remembers a night when the family went out to dinner.  And on that occasion, he recalls the high school headmistress Sarita Subercaseaux holding forth in the corner of the restaurant while people brought her boxes of books.  He concludes (in the present, but had no idea at the time) that they are donations for the new library that is to be built (and of which Subercaseaux will be the head librarian).

He remembers Subercaseaux very fondly both from the library and from school, and when he asks his mother about her, we get the first of many erasures of the past.  His mother informs him that Subercaseaux died long before he was born.  Which of course he knows is impossible.  But his mother’s memory is better than his!

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Roberto Bolaño–Between Parentheses: Essays, Articles and Speeches 1998-2003 (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC ENEMY-Fear of a Black Planet (1990).

NPR recently broadcast a PE show from the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival.  I didn’t know that PE was still touring, so that was a surprise to me.  The show was largely a celebration of Fear of a Black Planet, which meant that I had to go back and listen to the original.

Man, is this a solid album.  The lyrics pack a punch even twenty years later and what is perhaps more amazing is that the sound collages that Terminator X created, which were something of an oppressive sonic assault are now fairly mainstream-sounding (forward thinking or what?).

What I like about this (and most PE) albums, is that  they have little skits between songs, but unlike most rap skits they’re not one-not jokes that you listen to once and then skip every future time.  A wonderful skit (for lack of a better word) is “Incident at 66.6 FM” in which we hear an amazing amount of racist epithets thrown at PE apparently on the radio.  Or the rather disturbing “Meet the G That Killed Me.”  “Anti-Nigger Machine” is a great collage of samples like “Think” and James Brown and a dozen more songs.

“Can’t Do Nuttin for Ya, Man!” is a (sort of) comic song from Flav that is catchy as anything. While “Reggie Jax” is a confusingly titled song that has nothing to do with baseball, but everything to do with funk.

Of course, this disc has some of PE’s best songs as well.  From the awesome “911 is a Joke” to one of the best rap songs ever, “Welcome to the Terrordome” (my favorite story of this song is when I was wearing a  Welcome to the Terrordome shirt and my philosophy professor asked me quite pointedly, “What in the hell is a terrordome.”  That was a fun conversation).  “Terrordome” is still amazing–powerful, musically intense and for all of its lyrical acuity, it still has funny moments….boing.

And of course, “Burn Hollywood Burn” is an amazing critique of the movie industry (and it’s catchy too).  I got Black Caesar back at the crib, right Lar?

I’ve always been a little confused by “Pollywannacracker.”  Not lyrically, but vocally, as Chuck’s (is it really Chuck?) voice is treated in a surprisingly tinny way.  I liked the song more on this listen than any other, I guess in the past it just kind of snuck by me.

The album is a little front loaded with greatness.   “Power to the People” is another powerful song, but it’s not quite as memorable as the other tracks.  “Fear of a Black Planet” has some really cool sounds on it (where did they get that “black man, black woman, black baby” sample?).   “Revolutionary Generation” is a great track in which Chuck and Flav stand up for black women: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, my sister’s not my enemy.”  Not your average rap subject.

And the last couple of proper songs, “B Side Wins Again” and “War at 33 1/3″ are fast paced and furious, but they don’t really have much in the way of a hook.  Nevertheless, lyrically they are really great, and I love to hear Chuck D flow that quickly.

The biggest surprise for me is the censored version of “Fight the Power” (the song that got me into PE in the first place, thanks Spike).  It’s really surprising to me that PE allowed their music to be bleeped–unless it was just for a deliberate radio play (which I can accept).  Although they also list a title as “Leave This Off You Fu*Kin Charts” (did I buy a Columbia House version or something?)

This is an amazing album, one that still sounds fresh and sadly, is still relevant.

[READ: October 15, 2011] Between Parentheses

I never expected to get so addicted to Roberto Bolaño.  And despite his death, there is no shortage of works coming out in English (that is one of the advantages to reading a translated author–even death doesn’t cease the available materials).  Indeed, this year alone, New Directions is publishing Between Parentheses, and Tres and FSG is publishing The Third Reich (a collection of non fiction, a collection of poetry and a novel respectively).

When I really get into an author, I fall for his or her works, not necessarily him or her as a person (heck, some author are downright jerks).  But there are some authors that I want to know about, personally.  Bolaño is a pretty polarizing figure–he seems obnoxious, his works don’t shy away from very specific opinons, and sometimes it’s unclear what kind of views Bolaño himself has in his works (or if he’s even telling the truth about his so-called truths).  One thing in particular is the constant use of the word “faggot.”  It is used often in 2666 (and I know that is a translator’s choice, but still) and used deragoatorily.  Now, clearly the context is everything for something like that.  But it seems to speak badly of Bolaño.  And yet, when reading these essays he is not homophobnic in the least.  He is obvously well aware of institutionalized homophobia in Latin America, and he is obviously not supportive of it.

But that’s just one interesting thing about this book.  So let me back up.

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Natasha Wimmer, translator (1973- )

SOUNDTRACK: COLIN STETSON: “Horn of Plenty” (interview, NPR’s All Things Considered) (2011).

I’ll be mentioning some recordings by Stetson shortly, but as an introduction to this man and his bass saxophone, this ten minute piece from NPR is absolutely essential.  I had listened to his recent album and NPR has two concerts from him that are downloadable.  I enjoyed the music, but after listening to this interview it gave me so much more appreciation for what the man is doing.

For a lot of classical and jazz, knowing what the author “meant” can help.  Knowing that The Moldau is a river makes Bedřich Smetana’s piece all the more interesting and moving.  Similarly, knowing that “Judges” is about horses… well, holy crap yes it is.

More importantly, knowing how he does what he does–circular breathing: taking air in through your nose while breathing out through your mouth (try it…it’s not possible) allows Stetson to essentially never have to stop playing.  (Tenacious D has a very funny version of this called “Inward Singing,” although it lacks the gravitas of Stetson.)

Also, the bass saxophone weighs twenty pounds nad is almost as tall as him.  The picture is preposterous.  Who even thinks of making music with such a thing.  And yet he does.  Unsettling music, sure, but music nonetheless.   Listen to this interview and be amazed.

[READ: 2010-2011 and beyond] Natasha Wimmer

Many readers don’t read anything that was written in a different language.  And those of us who do probably give little thought to the translator.  Until recently I didn’t give much thought about them either.  Often I assumed that if I didn’t like a book, it was the author not the translator.  And that could be true, but it may also not be so easy a judgment.

Natasha Wimmer has translated many of Roberto Bolaño’s English publications (she has not translated them all–see below–and, she has also translated other writers).  But she has famously translated The Savage Detectives which rocketed her to prominence, and then she managed his unwieldy 2666.  She has also recently translated Between Parentheses, the book I am currently reading.

Between Parentheses is a collection of newspaper columns, essays and pseudo-fictions.  It is a far cry from the convoluted masterwork that is 2666 and yet Wimmer has made this collection of essays utterly readable (I’ll review the book proper when I finish it).  Again, obviously the work is Bolaño’s and he deserves the credit.  But as I’m reading these newspaper articles, I am aware that they were written in Spanish.  And yet the word choices that Wimmer uses, from idioms to real seventy-five-cent words make the essays flow, give them real impact and really convey the kind of writer that Bolaño was.  Let’s take just one example picked not at random but because it uses a real seventy-five-cent word and it mentions David Foster Wallace (can I go a week without mentioning him?).  In “All Subjects with Fresán”, Bolaño states that he and Rodrigo Fresán spend much of their time talking about various subjects;  he lists 30.  Number 22 is “David Lynch and the prolixity of David Foster Wallace.”  I have no idea what word Bolaño used in Spanish (he has an amazing vocabulary, so I’m sure it was a Spanish 75 cent word) but how many translations would have used the word prolixity?  [Okay I had to look it up, he uses "palabrerío" which Collins translated as "verbiage, hot air."  How much more outstanding is "prolixity"!--Oh, and as if Bolaño wasn't prone to palabrerío himself].

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