July 2010
14 posts
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July 2010 reading log
Finished:
Middlemarch
Garfield (ed.), Innovations in Teaching Statistics
Robert Crumb, The Book of Mr. Natural (I think the ‘80/’90s comeback with Devil Girl is more dangerous and better, which I think is against prevailing wisdom)
Daniel Clowes, Wilson
Continued:
T.L. Fine, Theories of Probability
Christopher Middleton, Collected Poems
Started:
fucking Ulysses: see...
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Though at least three of the artists came up in Zaire, this classic compilation comprises six four- or five-minute Kenyan dance hits and five eight- or nine-minute Kenyan dance hits. So I guess it’s benga, a beat/genre/label even more all-embracing than the soukous it cheerfully lifts. Though at times the guitaristics billow like Kinshasa, they’re gentler, quirkier, more...
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WatchThese ‘73-75 songs catch a poor Brazilian (albeit a Brazilian who says his dad won the lottery) on his way from pop tropicália to leftist jingles and instruments constructed from household appliances, only unlike his buddy Caetano Veloso, he puts the rebellion and satire out there in the music for benighted English speakers to hear… Paul Simon should be so smart. Not to mention ...
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But with Marks Mankwane’s sourcebook of guitar riffs hooking each number and Joseph Makwela’s unshakable bass leading the groove rather than stirring it up reggae-style, it’s also about a beat forthright enough to grab Americans yet more elaborate than the r&b it evokes. The defiantly resilient and unsentimental exuberance of these musicians has to be fully absorbed before...
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Half deconstruction and half celebration, this is a message of brotherhood for the age of media overload, disarming late capitalism with humor, know-how, access, and leftfield panculturalism. No wonder CBS wants to censor it.
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I know of no pop music more shameless in its pursuit of pure beauty—not emotional (much less intellectual) expression, just voices joining for their own sweet sake, with the subtle Latinized rhythms (like the close harmonies themselves) working to soften odd melodic shapes and strengthen the music’s weave. High energy doesn’t always manifest itself as speed and...
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…this major (and privileged) pop group sounds as wearied by the failure of punk solidarity, the persistence of racial conflict, the facelessness of violence, and the ineluctability of capital as a bunch of tenured Marxists. But these familiar contradictions follow upon the invigorating gutter truths of the first album for a reason—they’re truths as well, truths that...
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This time, however, [Michael Hurley and Peter Stampfel] combine with [Jeffrey] Fredericks for thirteen homemade, chalky, fit-for-78 songs that renew the concept of American folk music as a bizarre apotheosis of the post-hippie estate. No losers, though—just loadsa laffs, a few tears, some death, some shit, a hamburger, spaghetti, world travel, crime, etc.
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75 favourite Non-Rock tracks of the Fifties
Non-Jazz list forthcoming. Comments below.
Thelonious Monk, “Brilliant Corners” (Brilliant Corners)
Frank Sinatra, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (Songs for Swingin’ Lovers)
Frank Sinatra, “Night and Day” (A Swingin’ Affair)
Miles Davis, “So What” (Kind of Blue)
Billie Holiday, “Fine and Mellow” (The Sound of Jazz:...
“In the long run, if an unskilled forecaster gets something right 50 percent of...”
– Nate Silver
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The deliberately characterless vocal ensembles and square rhythms defy today’s pseudo-soul norm, and Mann’s songs—especially the brilliant “Part Time Man,” about not getting a job after World War III—are indecisive and a little down. In short, the perfect corrective to the willful brightness of boogie optimism.
“they’re not going to score four against Argentina”
– — me, Thursday
Argentina v Germany: tactical preview | Zonal... →
With the caveat that I have no idea what Maradona will actually do:
1. Sometimes attack is the best form of defence. To cover Messi, Tevez, and Higuain requires five-and-a-half players. Better to retain those three and continue to play them high, while deploying di Maria and Maxi deeper (and at least one of them wider). Agree that starting Veron seems counterproductive.
2. Yep, Mascherano...
“me, I just liked watching a smart person’s thoughts unfold over time. (Me and...”
– Farewell, Robert Christgau’s Consumer Guide - New York Music - Sound of the City
So this is what I get for saying there wasn’t much music-related news anymore that could disappoint me more than not being able to look forward to another damn Honeydrips album, huh? Again, not entirely unexpected, and... 