Lost In Translation

33 1/3: Gang Of Four's Entertainment!

I have to admit that I came to Gang of Four's album Entertainment! late. I suspect that I tracked down the album after hearing the track "Natural's Not It" on the soundtrack fro Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette. I'm pretty sure the album was featured in Simon Reynold's Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 as a prime example of the genre. Anyway, I really enjoyed Kevin J.H. Dettmar's take on 33 1/3: Gang Of Four's Entertainment! (2014). I think his approach may strikes some readers as pretentious, but I do think there was much more behind the lyrics than I was getting from my listenings. Dettmar calls it one of the "lodestars of my intellectual life"-the other being James Joyce's Ulysses. Dettmar approaches the album with the rigor of cultural analysis using theories from the likes of Raymond Williams, Marx, Engels, Foucault, Zizek, and others. His references range from Jay Z, Nirvana, Elvis Costello, to Arthur Miller, E.M. Forster, and other more high brow references. Dettmar alternates between discussions of key words (such as Ideology, Nature, Theory, Alienation, Consumer, and Sex) and explains how they are applied to the songs from the album. His discussion of the songs do not follow the track listings on the original album but are from the author's own design: "Ether"/"Guns Before Butter", "Natural's Not It"/"Contract", "Not Great Men"/"Glass", "At Home He's A Tourist"/"5.45", "return the Gift"/"I Found That Essence Rare", and "Damaged Goods"/"Anthrax". It was an entertaining and informative analysis of a seminal postpunk (the author would bristle at this label-but here it is).

Rolling Thunder Revue

I really enjoyed Rolling Thunder Revue (2019) directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a look back at Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue which played in nontraditional and more intimate spaces with a variety of musicians and hanger ons such as Allen Ginsberg and Joan Baez among others. There's a fictional element weaved into the story with roles for actors playing things such as the European film director Stefan van Dorp (Martin Van Haselberg) and an imaginary politician Jack Tanner (Michael Murphy) as well as a fictionalized version of Sharon Stone. But its all about the music-mostly from "Blood on the Tracks" but also the single "Hurricane."

Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus / Season One: Outlaw Country

Originally I was going to give Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour, Bus Season One: Outlaw Country a miss since I'm not much of a country music fan. But a friend talked me into it by saying that it's still Mike Judge behind the production, so it should be entertaining-and sure enough it was. I may even have to do some discovery in that genre after seeing it. The episodes are: 1. "Johnny Paycheck" 2. "Jerry Lee Lewis" 3. "George Jones and Tammy Wynette (Part One)" 4. "George Jones and Tammy Wynette (Part Two)" 5. "Billy Joe Shaver" 6. "Waylon Jennings (Part One)" 7. "Waylon Jennings (Part Two)" 8. "Blaze Foley"

Back From The Grave: 5,6,7,8's & Jackie And The Cedrics

I saw a double bill concert, the 5,6,7,8's and Jackie and the Cedrics, in Shinjuku at a live house called "sinnjuku red cloth": the 5,6,7,8's are most famous for their appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill. They play 60s style garage rock. I first saw them while in graduate school in Bellingham in the mid-90s at the "Garage Shock" musical festival held yearly by Estrus Records.

I also saw the other band, Jackie and the Cedrics , at the same festival in Bellingham.

Beastie Boys Book

I very much enjoyed reading the Beastie Boys Book (2018) mostly written by Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz in tribute of Adam Yauch who died of cancer in 2012. But the book is so much more than that, it has a plethora of photos, a graphic comic style story, a series of recipes by chef Roy Choi, and an essay on New York by Luc Sante,and other contributions by the likes of Spike Jonze Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, and others. It was enjoyable to rel-live the years of the Beastie Boys who provided a soundtrack to my own life as I am approximately the same ages as the Beasties and remember fondly buying each release-save "The Mix-Up" an instrumental album released in 2007 that somehow escaped my attention-but I have since downloaded and listened to the enjoyable album. I did savor reading the book and sort of regret that I have already finished reading it. It is a must read for anyone who listened to the Beastie Boys growing up.

For Whom The Cowbell Tolls

There were several reasons why I decided to read Dan LeRoy and Peter Relic's book, For Whom The Cowbell Tolls: 25 Years Of Paul's Boutique (2014). I had previously read and enjoyed LeRoy's 33 1/3 book on Paul's Boutique and I had recently ordered the Beastie Boys Book. It is a good bookend to LeRoy's previous books. Some chapters were more interesting than others. For example I enjoyed reading about the lost single in Chapter One: "If Jerry Lewis Owned Paul's Boutique: The Story of Beastie Boys' Great Lost Single." Some of the business-related sections dragged a bit for me, but I was fascinated to read about Young Jean Lee in f) That Great Cowbell Moment: "How Paul's Boutique Inspired Playwright Young Jean Lee." It seems that Lee grew up in Pullman, Washington a few years behind me and gave up an academic career to become a playwright and cited the album as an influence on her sense of creativity. There are some obscure roads the authors followed in this book that were interesting more often than not, however, I think this is a probably a book for only the biggest Beastie Boys fans.

Let's Go (So We Can Get Back)

I have been a fan of Jeff Tweedy's music since his start as co-singer/songwriter in Uncle Tupelo and have followed him ever since. His second band, Wilco, has long been one of my favorites. As a result I was probably the ideal audience for an autobiography from Tweedy-Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) (2018). It was simultaneously released with his most recent solo album Warm (2018). This memoir is a very accessible and self-aware reflection of Tweedy's life and career to date. This includes essentially talking about his bands in chronological order as well as other musical endeavors such as producing albums for Mavis Staples. He also gives insight into his family and songwriting process. And he does not shy away from addressing controversial topics such as his opiate addiction, mental health issues, and his celebrated break up with former Uncle Tupelo co-founder Jay Farrar and his later firing of Wilco member Jay Bennett. It was a book I found insightful and entertaining-so very much written for fans of Tweedy's various musical projects.

2018: The Year in Music

Since I subscribe to iTunes I listen to more new music than I used to. So I'm going to list the music that has been getting heavy, moderate and low rotation on my iTunes this year.

Heavy Rotation: Hell On Neko Case, Look Now Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Tokyo Bay/Crying Inside EP-Nick Lowe, Suspira (Soundtrack) Thom Yorke, Dean Wareham vs. Cheval Sombre Dean Wareham & Cheval Sombre, I'll Be Your Girl-The Decemberists, Warm-Jeff Tweedy, Dust of Our Love-Joe Pena

Moderate Rotation: What a Time to be Alive Superchunk, Digital Garbage Mudhoney, With Animals Mark Lanegan, There's a Riot Going On-Yo La Tengo, Pas de las Luces-Mint Field, God's Favorite Customer-Father John Misty, Sparkle Hard-Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, How to Solve Our Human Problems-Belle and Sebastian

Low Rotation: American Utopia-David Byrne, In a Poem Unlimited-U.S. Girls, Big Red Machine-Big Red Machine, Tell No One-Bad Moves, Record-Tracy Thorn, Foolin' Around/Tailor Made-Lemon Twigs

Also, I really got into Godspeed Your Black Emperor! and The Sadies (who I saw live) when I was in traveling in Canada. Some other retro music that I added included The Fall (since Mark Smith died) as well as several albums I missed from 2017 from the likes of Jason Isabell, Old 97s, LCD Sound System, Black Angel, and more.

33 1/3: Oasis' Definitely Maybe

I enjoyed Alex Niven's take on Oasis' 33 1/3: Definitely Maybe (2014). The book was divided into four sections: 1. Earth 2. Water 3. Fire, and 4. Air. Within each section was a detailed description of the tracks and how they were recorded. I liked how Niven gave the musical context from which the music was made as well as the sociopolitical context of place and time-i.e. Thatcher-ite blokes on the dole from Manchester in the early 90s. Niven also gave context of the band's first two releases and how they differed from the subsequent albums, of which he states only a half dozen songs are worthy of mention-a sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with. Another informative and entertaining look at a seminal rock album from Continuum.

33 1/3: LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver

I'm a fan of the 33 1/3 series with essays about selected albums, and the latest one I read was LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver (2016) by Ryan Leas. Writers take different approaches and in this one Leas mostly analyzes his own personal connection with the band, but also ruminates on their early retirement and return to recording as well as their relationship to nostalgia and New York City in particular. I mostly enjoyed it, but I can see how other readers might have been upset at the lack of journalistic details about the recording of the album as well as a lack of discussion on how the songs were written let alone little actual quotes from the band and its mastermind James Murphy. But I can over look those defects and join in on the recent nostalgia of a band that I think defined the 00s and the fight for relevance in the modern age.