Month: August 2011

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‘One must have a mind of winter to regard the frost and the boughs of the pine-trees crusted with snow; and have been cold a long time to behold the junipers shagged with ice, the spruces rough in the distant glitter of the January sun; and not to think of any misery in the sound of the wind, in the sound of a few leaves, which is the sound of the land full of the same wind that is blowing in the same bare place for the listener, who listens in the snow, and, nothing himself, beholds nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.’ — Wallace Stevens

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Laurel Halo live at Tandem, Brooklyn

‘Laurel Halo’s music is deliberately vague, and intentionally steeped in descriptive context. When asked about her sound in interviews, the Brooklyn by way of Ann Arbor producer/vocalist responds with a gushing string of reference cues, including, but not limited to: “mecha violence,” “the shapes you see when you close your eyes,” “time leaping” and “David Axelrod.” Her productions are a connect-the-dots of concepts, laid out across the infinite space of your imagination, blending krautrock with early techno and electro styles for tracks of textured synth play that spur deep mental wanderings.’ — Mishka Bloglin

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Hey Colossus Pope Long Haul III live in Bristol

‘With a mission of creating “subterranean rumblings of sludgy rock using three guitars” rarely has a band been more appropriately-named than London’s HEY COLOSSUS. HEY COLOSSUS has concocted an utterly crushing sound based on he inspiration of the MELVINS, BLACK FLAG and BLACK SABBATH, and other influences including bands like CAN, BEEFHEART, ISIS and NEUROSIS into what sounds like a truckload of distortion pedals falling down a cliff onto a mountain of anvils, just to see how much noise it’ll make.’ — Shifty Records

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Haswell & Hecker UPIC Diffusion Session #22

‘Russell Haswell and Florian Hecker have been researching UPIC, Iannis Xenakis graphic input computer music composing system since 2003, and now present this as a live multichannel electroacoustic concert, using surround sound and laser lighting to create an immersive multisensory environment. Russell Haswell (UK) is a multidisciplinary artist who has exhibited conceptual and wall-based visual works, video art, public sculpture. Extreme Computer Music is one specialized area of activity. Compositions by the electronic music composer Florian Hecker (DE) tend towards noise music and are often released on the Mego label.’ — Jacques Tournier

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Prurient featuring Kevin Drumm Tractor Replaces the Horse

‘Dominick Fernow basically makes up Prurient with a theme of anti-technology and anti-electricity — with the exception of his microphones and four-track recorder. Backing Fernow’s stance up is his unconventional use of banging objects together to create music; playing with live wire, pennies, frying pans, toolboxes, scrap metal, and used shotgun shells are an example of some of his instruments. Fernow was also the guitarist of bands Football Rabbit, Vegas Martyrs, Taylor Bow, and Ash Pool (in which he also sings). More recently, Fernow has started marketing to the black metal audience with his label and creative works and is currently the primary live synthesizer player for Cold Cave.’ — self titled mag

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Liturgy live @ Silent Barn, NYC

‘Brooklyn’s Liturgy started as the solo project of singer/guitarist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, who started writing the music with a drum machine on which he created the “burst beat” — a way of taking the blast beat of much grindcore, death metal and black metal and altering the tempo while maintaining an overall rhythmic logic in time with the rest of the instrumentation. Hunt-Hendrix has ruffled some feathers with his intellectually rigorous understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of the music his band is creating. If Liturgy is black metal, you can hear an expansive and adventurous spirit in the music rather than an expression of the anomaly of an existence focused on existential, even cosmic, pain.’ — Westword

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Charlie Martineau (Esperik Glare) live @ Open Mic

‘Esperik Glare is Charlie Martineau. Charlie has been manipulating sounds since the summer of 2004 as a means to keep his sanity living in the abyss called Wyoming. His recent album releases include ‘My Nights are More Beautiful than Your Days’ and ‘Hypothetically Speaking’ His collaborators include Kenji Siratori and Florian Ayala-Fauna, with whom he creates music under the moniker In Serpents and Seas.’ — collaged

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Jim O’Rourke live 2010.06.04 Super Deluxe Roppongi

‘American post-classical composer Jim O’Rourke has been a key component in the increasing overlap of the American and European experimental music avant-garde, working in everything from jazz and rock to ambient and electro-acoustic, and building many a bridge in between. A Chicago native, his work has found equal luck with experimental jazz and noise fanatics, chill room denizens, and bedroom experimentalists, and has had the resultant effect of cross-pollinating many otherwise isolated compositional communities. Dealing most often with prepared guitar in improvisational group settings, O’Rourke has also released a fair bit of material as a soloist, although more often in the electro-acoustic musique concrète vein.’ — allmusic

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Blue Sabbath Black Cheer Bog house show

‘Seattle’s incredibly prolific doom metal outfit Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, consisting primarily of members Stan Reed and wm.Rage, have released a slew of 7-inches, splits, CD-Rs, and cassettes, collaborating and conspiring with peers in their community to generate one of the more viciously enviable catalogues of sound-vomit, death, and hatred to ever be thrown against the monolithic brick wall of noise. Their sound is metal inverted. Like other bands within the doom milieu, BSBC do not make songs, but rather create soundscapes, borderline narrative-based explosions and showcases in control and sound and moment.’ — Tiny Mix Tapes

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Matmos live at Auto Italia

‘For the past four years Matmos have been re-enacting experiments into telepathy that were done in the 1960s. They were basic sensory deprivation set-ups in which the experimental subjects were unable to hear or see. The subjects were asked to recognise different shapes being transmitted to them from a table of graphic sigils. In Matmos’s experiments, they tried to transmit the concept of their new album into the minds of their experimental subjects. For this performance, each collaborator recites different transcriptions of the psychic experiments that are played through their headphones. The performance took place at London’s Auto Italia space 19 May, 2011, organised in collaboration with Upset The Rhythm.’ — The Wire

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Seb Patane Year Of The Corn (2011)

‘Entering an installation by London-based artist Seb Patane (born in Italy in 1970) is agreeing to play an intricate game of references, symbols and signs, which will touch different buttons depending on the viewers’ private contexts. Found images and objects, intervened drawings, sound and performance… Industrial music, Jodorowsky’s work on the Tarot cards, Christiane F and war iconography… Patane works through a wide range of media and references like a hidden alchemist, linking issues that appeared to be unconnected and that, subsequently, cannot be understood the one without the other. He is preoccupied with the physicality of materials, but it is not a concern with textures but, rather, with presence and absence.’ — SelfSelector

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p.s. Hey. Remember that your bedtime tonight is the deadline for sending in your contributions to the blog’s celebration of and memorial for Antonio. Thanks a lot to those who’ve already sent in your entries, and thanks a lot in advance to those who will. The resulting post will be a two-parter, and it will appear here on this coming Friday and Saturday. ** Schoolboyerrors, Hey, D! Fuck, in my typically scrambled email-related attentiveness, I didn’t see/open your email until Sunday night when, I think, you were already gone. Sucks for me. But I’m glad you were able to make it, and I hope Paris treated you royally. Any highlights? Man, that BM conference does sound incredibly cool. Damn, I really regret my alternative location of that time, which will be a book tour in the US. Everyone, if you’re going to be in or near Dublin in mid-late November, PEST – Black Metal Theory Symposium, in which our own Schoolboyerrors will be one of the stars, should be completely fascinating. That link will take you to all the info you need. Man oh man. ** Tomkendall, Hey, T. I did get the workshop-related email safely, yes, thank you a ton. Once I get the Antonio post(s) set up, which will be a main activity for the next couple of days, I’ll figure out the soonest we can do a workshop here, and I’ll give you a heads up on the date. Yeah, great, exciting, man! ** David, ‘Rose Alley’ really is great. Very highly recommended. ** Memoirs of a Heroinhead, You nailed Joe’s famous cadence and tone to a ‘T’, man. I was a calf in clover. I guess I’ve said this a million times, but I thought RHCP were okay until Kiedis decided he was a singer whereupon they began to battle with, oh, Muse, for example, for the title of my least favorite band in the world. I agree Jane’s Addiction were much better. ** JoeM, Phew, there you are, safe and talkative. I was just about to call whatever the UK equivalent of 911 is. Man down with a bad case of the dreaded RHCP fan-itis. I just read a quote by Nick Cave about RHCP not two days ago that seems relevant: “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this GARBAGE?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” That guy who was running the now defunct Alyson has started a new gay press, but I don’t know much about it yet or even its name. I’ll let you know when I do in case you want to try the place. Yeah, the fact that no UK publishers want ‘The Marbled Swarm’ is painful and strange to me, but I’ve been totally on the outs with UK publishers for ten years now, so it’s just more of the usual, I guess. An HTMLGIANT equivalent for the UK would make a huge difference. If there is one already, I would love to find it. If not, starting a site like that seems like a no brainer. I’ll see if I can figure out exactly when Antonio first arrived here. I know his first appearance was as a lurker making a contribution to a Self-Portrait Day, and then he dove right into the comments arena. Memory tells me his peak involvement here was through most of 2006 and then the first third or so of 2007. Then he left for quite a while and returned for a few months maybe a year and a half ago? ** Sypha, Hey. Oh, thanks. My only problem is that there’s such an incredible onrush of really good newer writers in the US right now that it’s hard to keep up, especially living over here. That’s why I end up reading a handful of books simultaneously, which I’ve never had to do before. Oh, your label has gone active again. Great! I’ll go go get that new Sypha Nadon album pronto. Everyone, excellent news from multi-talented d.l. Sypha aka James Champagne aka Sypha Nadon: ‘After a long period of inactivity I’m trying to get my netlabel active again. Today I released a new Sypha Nadon album, “4NIC8,” a proper follow-up to 2009’s “Our Lady of the Flowers of the Red Night.” It’s kind of a porno album. It can be downloaded here. I used mostly samples from straight porn because women tend to be more, um, vocal when they’re orgasming, but there are two songs on there using samples from gay porn (“Piano Piece for Cocksucking” and “Room Service,” which “stars” Brent Corrigan).’ ** Jdb aka, I’m pretty sure, Chris Cochrane, Hi, man. Sounds awfully nice out there. I forget: are you in the Pines or Cherry Grove or elsewhere if there is an elsewhere? I could feel the mellow in your language. The good kind of mellow. Soak it in, man. ** Alan, Hey. ‘Rose Alley’ is really, really good. Agents in the UK? No, I don’t. Everyone, (1) Does anyone reading this know of any literary agents in the UK? If so, speak up, as it would help d.l. Alan. Thanks. (2) Chris Dankland, if you’re reading this: Re: your question about contemporary poets who use rhyme, Alan recommends Frederick Seidel, James Merrill, and Philip Larkin.. Thanks a lot, Alan! ** David Ehrenstein, Yes, RIP: Jerry Lieber. And also Nick Ashford. Bad day for fine songwriting yesterday. Interview with Doris Day? That’s a rare thing, is it not? I’ll go read it. Everyone, should you need a break from the avant-garde-o-rama up top today, David Ehrenstein alerts us to a brand new interview with the one and only Doris Day. You can find it here. ** Chris Goode, Hey, Chris! My pleasure, sir! Such an inspiring book! I’m really glad to hear stuff is going like wild fire in Edinburgh. May you leave the place scorched. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. ** Thomas Moronic, Safe flight or, if you’re already over there, I hope US customs let you breeze through, and I can’t wait to hear what you’re seeing and doing. ** David, Your tumblr has changed? I’m out of the loop. Hunh. I’ll go see what the newness involves post-p.s. ** Kyler, Hey. Oh, gosh, don’t let my blog wreck your sleep patterns. I’ll feel so guilty. (Just hearing the word jetlag gives me jetlag). Oh, ha ha, the psychic character. Please forgive any cartooniness. She’s there basically to represent something for the narrator. I was really addicted to that John Edwards show on the SciFi channel at the time. Do you know who I’m talking about? Whatever happened to him anyway? Take care, man. ** Steevee, Hey. You can read the Lynne Tillman book in its entirety for free online on the Red Lemonade site. Hold on. Here. ‘Talismano’ is pretty amazing, yeah. ** Katalyze, Hi, Kat! In my total ignorance, I didn’t know of Jack Layton until I read that he had died, but I was really impressed by what I read about him yesterday. Great that you’re painting again! That’s exciting news! Can you pass along the address of your tumblr site so I can hang out there and pass the link along to everybody? Kiddiepunk has done a typically gorgeous job with ‘French Hole’, yeah. I’m excited to see it finished too. ** Chris (British), Hey. Good for you for tweaking the laid back. Laying back has its virtues — I am a dyed in the wool Los Angeleno after all — but only to a point. I guess my must-share thoughts get taken care of by the blog. Yeah, I think the blog serves whatever thoughts-to-fingertips-style bursts I have. Yeah, that explains it, I guess, now that I think about it. ** 5strings, Hi, buddy. I haven’t even read Artforum since they got that new editor. Yikes. I’d better go get a copy. There’s this tiny controversy going on in the UK because Doc Martens did these ads that showed photoshopped dead ‘punk rock’ stars in heaven wearing Doc Martens including Joey Ramone and Kurt Cobain who always wore Converse sneakers and Doc Martens’ defense has been that they have proof that those two bought Doc Martens at a store but it turns out they bought the Doc Martens as gifts for friends of theirs. There’s some cafe here in Paris in Montmartre that serves Australian coffee, and I’m going to go drink some, and I’ll let you know. Ha ha ha, yeah, you could have told me that image you linked to was a photo of the Marais at 2 am on a Saturday night, and I would have believed you. Mine? Mine: Blake Butler’s ‘Nothing’, Michel Butor’s ‘Mobile’, Jeff Jackson’s ‘Title TK’, the last 20 pages of Kate Zambreno ‘Green Girl’. ** Bill, Hey. Cool, let’s mumble. Don’t know that David Nickle book. Thanks for the link; I’ll go check the work out. Why a Berg concerto for the more Italian moments in ‘Wolfburg … ‘? Good question. Maybe David E. will read this and explain that. I’m glad you’re leaning towards doing the show. What do I know, but I think I would do the same thing. Great about the successful animating. Demo link, please, when the time is right? ** Creative Massacre, Wouldn’t it? He has probably has interview requests from every which way at the moment. Yeah, freedom must be so trippy. I was reading something about how totally tripped out he was when someone showed him an iPhone. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey! Welcome back! Let’s see … No, uh, I waited too long on the ‘Enter the Void’ DVD and someone else bought the only copy. I’m an idiot. My back still hurts, but that’s my fault for having been sitting in this chair mostly for the last couple of days. The interview was nice. She was really cool. I might hang out with her sometime. That would be nice. Okay, that wedding sounds really crazed and very, I don’t know, Southern or Texan for some reason, I don’t know why. Maybe the horse flies? I guess it could have happened in all sorts of places. Never mind. It is so weird to be here in France and see all this non-stop stuff online about the Kardashian wedding. It absolutely does not translate. I’ve never even seen her move her lips or move her fingers or anything, so I don’t know what’s going on, but the giant interest in her is a humongous mystery to me. I think my favorite part of the wedding — excluding the wonderfulness of your report and its wacky, intriguing characters — was those rolls. ‘Braxton Hicks’, nice. I have a friend with the name Hicks. Sander Hicks. I wonder if they’re related. I love that ‘ … he’s one of the best men.’ Anyway, that wedding was very, very colorful. Man! It’s nice you got to decompress sweetly with Eyebrows afterwards. Anyway, great report. My days haven’t been so interesting. I’ll just tell you the things I can remember. Scott Treleaven finally arrived here. I haven’t seen him because he was very jet lagged, but I’m seeing him today. Gisele and Stephen suddenly got this idea that they might want to move out of Paris and live in a castle in Grenoble because it’s for sale and cheap, and they went down there for a few days to investigate, and she asked me if that was a crazy idea, and I said, yeah, kind of, but, you know, if that’s what you want, etc. I guess I’ll find out if she’s moving to Grenoble when she gets back here on Thursday. Kiddiepunk showed me the design for the ‘French Hole’ chapbook, and it looks beautiful, and I guess that’ll be printed soon, which is cool. My sister called to tell me about all of her usual stuff. I started putting together the Antonio posts based on the things I’ve received so far, and that’s been taking up some time and has been pretty melancholy. This LA poet I used to know and who was a really singular, cool guy named Scott Wannberg died, and that’s been depressing me. I think I ate what I always eat. Yury had a bad cold for a few days, but he’s feeling better today. Uh, I don’t remember much else, so I’ll leave it there. I’m determined to go out and actually do something today, and, if I do, I’ll tell you about it tomorrow, and, if I don’t, I’ll tell you about what I didn’t do. How was Tuesday? ** Misanthrope, Hey, G. Oh, okay, that’s cool, just get it to me as soon as you can. Yeah, I was just talking about the Kardashian wedding/ media frenzy thing. I can not believe people give the tiniest shit about that, but obviously they do. Jesus. That peeing story suggests that you are part French. ** Right. I think I’ve curated a good gig for you today, and I have this feeling a lot of you are going to think it’s ‘weird’ or something and just skip right to the p.s., but I hope you don’t. But if you do, hey, that’s showbiz, and no big. One last request from me for things for our Antonio celebration, please. Thanks. Otherwise, yep, I’ll see you tomorrow.

* caused by suggestion from d.l. David

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‘XTC defined themselves by propeller-armed drums and a skin-cutting guitar sound. It’s pure pop disguised as jittery post-punk, all played with teeth-chattering intensity. The aesthetic is so tight that even their forgettable tracks serve it. Colin Moulding’s big singles serve as the commercial front for outro, neo-political epics on which Partridge wrings his vocals like laundry and spits out vowels like golf balls. XTC also defined their own version of a love song: Stuttering boys are so staggered by the sight of spectacular girls that their feet don’t touch the ground. Dozens of other contemporary bands were more extreme in every way– angrier, more danceable, more adventurous or primitive or whatever– but XTC’s triple-jointed sock hop out-charms them all.’ — Pitchfork

‘XTC came to prominence in 1978 by bumming a ride aboard the New Wave express, but even as techno-punks pogoing awkwardly out of step at the art school hop, on their hectic first album White Music they displayed the idiosyncratic smarts that have sustained a distinguished career on the sidelines of English rock. The spluttering incoherence of Andy Partridge’s vocals and the spikey nervous energy typified by scattergun songs had given way to a more measured approach by the time of 1980’s Black Sea, but their penchant for convoluted arrangements somehow bundled into oddly-shaped pop packages remained intact. XTC’s complex music with all its high-wire antics has always managed to sling up the safety-net of a good chorus and, paradoxically, this simple, traditional facility may yet prove to be their greatest achievement.’ — Uncut

‘A band which is often regarded as too cerebral for its own good, XTC has no equal. One of the many groups that rose to prominence (at least in critical terms) during the punk heyday, they proved to be much more than mere British punksters from day one. The band was led by Andy Partridge, who wrote about 85 % of the original compositions and assumed lead vocals. The other songwriter was Colin Moulding. He penned the remaining tunes, sang them and played the bass quite admirably (Gilmour offered him the position of Pink Floyd bassist when he won the rights to use the Floyd’s name back in the late eighties, in fact). In 1982 Andy decided to stop touring due to exhaustion. From that point onwards, the band became a studio entity. Their sound became more pastoral and far more quirkier than it was before. They released several albums (including recordings as psychedelic alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear), and in the 90’s they went on strike against Virgin Records since the label refused to release one of their songs as a single. When they were freed from the contract two more albums ensued. After that, Colin lost interest in music and he even stopped communicating with Andy. It looks like the story of XTC ended there.’ — musicKO

Audio: Andy Partridge interviewed @ Todd Rundgren

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p.s. Hey. ** Killer Luka, Yeah, I missed that yesterday, by hair’s breadth, I bet. Thanks for the festive add, pal. ** Thomas Moronic, How was the Chapman Bros. show? I saw a video of it, and it looked very, very them. That’s all I could really tell. Sure, email, cool, wink wink, thanks! What magazine is it that contains the Travis/Bruce thing? Sounds interesting, obviously. ** Empty Frame, Hey. The Sussex Beacon does sound pretty amazing. And yep, big time, about the people back during the epidemic’s heaviest thrust who used themselves to make the necessary noise. Yeah, your piece was great, man. The dolls piece. I’m totally humbled and chuffed, as people in your neck say, that my work had anything to do with it. Thank you a lot, bud. The new pieces sound like they’ll be fascinating. Love from here too. ** Kiddiepunk, Feed that tan today, and good luck with that movie. Talk to you, I hope. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. That is an inspired idea, i.e. something here on singer/microphone style, etiquette, etc. Let me look around and see how I could do it. Depends on the nature of the resources, but, yeah, great idea, and I’ll get on that. Thanks a lot, Kai. ** Nb, My luck has its sights on you, be assured. Jesus, man. Hang in there, and report back. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. Sounds amazing: the LaTouche Day. Can’t wait. And that’s very good news about ‘The Golden Apples’! ** Katalyze, Hey, Kat. I don’t think it can be turned back, no. I guess it needs to be acknowledged and addressed by, I don’t know, everyone, the rioters included. With people’s tiny attention spans and fear of disruption these days, I fear what this means will be quelled and spun and sidelined in a week. But we’ll see. Interesting about the guilty pleasure books. I think I’m weird in my not ever turning to books without turning off my critical faculties. I personally wouldn’t say Rothko is a guilty pleasure at all. He’s pretty great, I think. I don’t know David Mack, but I’ll google him. I used to look at Odd Future tumblr, but I haven’t in a while. I think that actually I got into them because of that tumblr, which, yeah, I was really into, of course. A book of it sounds like a good idea. Hunh. Thanks, K, and lots o’ love. ** Brendan, Kinkos at 3 am. Ah, that really brings it back. Except in my case it probably more like 11 pm. Okay, well, the job thing sounds pretty okay, and that’s awesome. But get that eye repaired, man. When does the insurance kick in? Sorry about the Giants. I’ve given up on the Dodgers. I don’t even try to follow them anymore. If I was in a position to hear Vin Scully put a genius spin on things, I might. I’m okay. Been better, been worse. I hate the no talking too. Let’s Skype. What do you say? ** Frank Jaffe, Thanks for slaying everybody yesterday. I’m checking my mailbox like a meer cat checks the horizon. Yeah, I’ve seen at least two of — or parts of two of — the ‘Twink Peaks’ movies, and, yeah, no owls, no Bob, no Lynchian nothing. I know the name ‘Dante’s Cove’, but that’s all. Should I chase down some online clips? Great day to you and the Lukester, maestro.** 5strings, ‘Milkboys + John Holmes = freaky’: ha ha ha, awesome. Man, I missed your great voice while you were away, let me tell you. That better/worse thing sound like something I could say this morning. Actually, I think I just did. Here’s the lighter, man. Heads up. Catch. ** Tonyoneill, Tony! Awesome to see you! Man, thank you so much for those words about ‘TMS’. That means a fucking ton. And your timing is impeccable ‘cos ‘TMS’ just got its first official review in Library Journal, and it’s the same dismissive, condescending shit my books have always gotten from the official sources most of the time, and I’ve been depressed ever since. It’s weird, T. There’s just nothing I can do as a writer to prevent being written off as a ‘gay’ ‘transgressive’ writer perpetrating an update on ‘the more outré passages of Burroughs and Genet’ whose most recent book aka ‘TMS’ is only of interest to fans of The Marquis de Sade. ‘Cos, yeah, the thing is, I do feel like this novel is the best thing I’ve ever written, and to feel that way and really know that’s true, actually, and to have something I’ve worked so hard on and that really raises my work’s game be written off as just another of my usual gay transgressive books fit only for people who like that kind of weird stuff is so disheartening, or, I guess mostly, worrying, ‘cos if that’s indicative of the response the book’s going to get, it’s going to kill me. Anyway, sorry about the rant. I need to thicken my skin and fast. So, yeah, sorry, and, really, Tony, thank you, man, thank you! Right, you’re coming to Paris soon! I should be here now that LA trip plans got delayed. When do you get here? I can’t wait to see you! Are you doing any events or anything while you’re here? Fantastic! Super excited about your film stuff. May that process sail. Yeah, so good to see you, and its ‘s great that I’ll get to see you in the real world. Lots of love to you, Tony. ** Misanthrope, Happy birthday! Everyone, it’s Misanthrope’s birthday! He’s hit the big 4-0! Make him happy in the comments today in one way or another Dude, after that McFeast, why even bother with a birthday party? It’s done. You’ll never top that! ** Chris Goode, Hey, C. Your blog post on the riots is by far the best thing I’ve read on the situation. By a million kilometers. Everyone, the great Chris Goode has written a piece on his blog about the London riots that is, I can pretty much guarantee you, the best thing you will read on the situation. It’s here. Go there. That really is the first thing I’ve read that addresses and unearths the incredible difficulty and necessities and awfulness of what is happening. Brilliant, Chris. I don’t need to tell you that the impotence you feel as an artist right now isn’t impotence at all. When I get that feeling, I always end up thinking that it was a drastic battle against the automatic and repetitious in which my immediate needs were left out for a very good reason. See if that isn’t how you feel soon. I’ll bet. The cris cheek post was really fantastic, by the way. Huge and rich, and I felt very, very inspired by it. You rule, basically. Accept it, buddy. ** Schlix, Man, I’m sorry. It sure sounds like depression. Can you trace it back to anything or -things? I don’t know how your depressions work, but I know mine basically tend to end or start ending when I get bored by my depression, and the weirdest, most random things can knock it loose. Breaking your habits by doing something peculiar sometimes helps. And I have things that I turn to like GbV and the early New Pornographers albums, for instance, that seem to able to produce joy in me against most odds by magic. Anyway, please talk about it if it will help, my friend. Hugs. ** Steevee, Hey. Yeah, that is a piece of the fallout that’s interesting to consider. Everyone, courtesy of Steevee, here’s a Pitchfork piece about the impact of the London riots on indie music labels. Congrats on nearing the end. 75 pages is either close enough to 80 or easily beefed up or surrounded by slightly bigger margins, right? ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. I haven’t scoured the news this morning yet, but I got the idea last night that the rioting is happening more noticeably outside of London now? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Very best of luck if you need it with the dermatologist today. Let me know how it goes. I haven’t read that much Mark Richards really. I was not very interested in what I did read by him, which was some stories and an early novel, but my memory is vague. If you dip into him, let me know the deal. ** Chris Cochrane, The Syria stuff, yeah, yikes. I don’t know about in the States, but that situation is getting very heavy coverage over here. Nice Elvis track indeed. Is it less muggy over there now? It’s still endless spring over here, or maybe we’re into early fall at this point. Hard to tell the difference. ** Alan, Hey, man. Oh, I only think I know vaguely or remember vaguely about Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony. Obviously, I’m going to investigate that as soon as I get out of here. Thanks, man. That could be a really big boon. ‘Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics’ has always been the book of his that I’ve intended to read next. I think it might be high time. Yeah, thanks again, A. ** Sypha, Good work, man. Wow. When you’re into it and diligent, you’re into it and diligent. Great! I hope to get to see some of the new work. ** Jeff, Interesting comic. A bit bleak for men, of course, ha ha, but very well done, obviously. Well, I hope for the very best with your uncle, whatever the best may be. You were talking to Thomas not me, but I’ll throw in that Bruce Benderson translated Tony Duvert’s novel ‘Diary of an Innocent’, so the influence you see is likely there. ** MANCY, I know Capitol Hill just a little bit. When I was up in Seattle to do that Spin article on Courtney Love, all the other band members of Hole lived there, so I was shuttling between their apartments a fair amount. The area seemed quite nice. Great! Keys! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. You got out there in the nick of time, I guess. How are you adjusting? When does school start up again? ** Okay. D.l. David suggested an XTC post, and that’s what I came up with. Given that a bunch of people around here are feeling kind of glum, maybe XTC’s jaggedy, inventive goodness is just the thing. Either way, see you tomorrow.