all the news that print will fit.
|
|
| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
|
|
Wednesday, July 02, 2003 np: mansun - six ever since pitchfork reviewed the new mars volta album, i've been listening to mansun repeatedly. mostly because they compared the new mars volta album to a much less successful version of mansun's six album. now, i've heard very little of mars volta's stuff. i do like at the drive-in quite a bit even though i find myself returning to their very excellent records less and less often. i just have to be in a very certain mood to want to hear them. and that doesn't erupt often. the part of the pitchfork review that i found most interesting was that its main criticism of mars volta's fusion of prog-rock and punk was that it tried to make everything work so seriously. mansun's success at fusing the two diametrically opposed genres was by making it so over the top, camp and tongue-in-cheek (not to mention constantly threatining to spill over into absolute ridiculousness) that you were having a good time. so mansun is great. but be forewarned. it's not the kind of album to sit around listening to with your friends. its precisely the kind of record to listen to alone, in your car, in your room, etc. also, if you find their excellent first album, attack of the grey lantern, be careful. try to find the UK version rather than the american version. for some insane reason, for its stateside release, they replaced "stripper vicar" with "take it easy, chicken" and fucked about the running order which played havoc with the album. it was a beautiful constructed album with all the songs running together in various places and the altered running order on the u.s. version ruins it. although hearing the u.k. version is harder than it might seem. for me, it took actually going to london in order to find it. every version i've found here has been the u.s. version. (obviously). but enough about modern prog. attention, ne'er-do-wells! today, having been the first of the month and therefore employee-30%-off-day at my place of employment, i purchased a few noteables. so, j. ball, et. all, be forewarned that once i finish reading it, you are now perfectly welcome to borrow my copy of...carter beats the devil for your own perusing. also, i picked up a copy of an american tragedy by theodor dreiser and what a writer! (okay..i actually haven't started it yet, but for those of us who have seen man of the century that should elicit a few chuckles.) of late i've been reading blood meridian by cormac mccarthy. a book recommended to me by jim white the last time i saw him perform. it's almost hard to explain what is so riveting about this book. it is a mix of so much of what is great about american writing..infused with the violence that this country was built upon and thrived upon ever since. blood permeates almost every page of this novel. whether or not it is redemptive somehow..or just the ongoing brute presence of manifest destiny..i won't know until it's over. but so far i've seen nothing but senseless, reckless death. and it has me spellbound in a way. the critics on the cover of the book compare mccarthy's writing to melville and faulkner, and true, this book has me riveted in a way i haven't been since i finished moby dick. i'll post more about this novel i'm sure. cos it won't leave my head. in fact..i'm off to read more now. posted by J. Neas | 7/02/2003 02:25:00 AM
Comments:
Post a Comment
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
