It’s the kind of language play that I like to make Lady Z read for voiceover practice, or to look at on airplanes, or to read out loud to unsuspecting visitors over tea and psychedelic music. I think stuff like this is a hoot, though the humor that I see is often not so much in what is being said as it is in the way it is being said.
In this case, the language is organized according to body parts on the one hand and, I believe, letters and numbers on the other. (It’s a 2-sided book, y’unnerstand.)
I’m not sure I always agree with the perspective being expressed - in that I’m often not entirely sure what the perspective is that is being expressed - but the use of words is really delicious (the way it is being said, again). I’m taking it slow, about 40 pages into the BODY half (and it’s taken me a month or more to get there) but I’m already enjoying revisiting certain bits as I flip through looking for the place where I left off, or trying to determine which half of the book is which.
Click here for more
information about Mark Cunningham’s Body Language
directly from the mouth of the publisher,
which is to say: Tarpaulin Sky Press
Sonic Youth has released a series of records on their own SYR label, many of which consist mainly of improvisations recorded in their studio during rehearsals or between and among album sessions. Most if not all of these releases are labeled in languages which are not English. The reasons for this are obscure…
I own two of these releases (#1 and #2, I believe …) and I like them quite well. I’ve had #2 for longer and played it more often, so last night I got out #1 to listen to while reading a short story by Irvine Welsh (which mentions heroin only briefly so sppbt to his reputation … we’ll see how the collection progresses, but so far the writing is really solid good and I would recommend it, the book is called The Acid House).
The Sonic Youth record was mellower than I recalled, pleasantly droning and pulsating, and after a minute or two a little light went on in my brain and I realized it was one of those increasingly-common large-sized 45rpm releases, which I was playing at 33&1/3.
I let it go. It sounded good. I will listen to side two today in the same manner.
It has become typical that I prefer those large-size 45rpm releases when played at the wrong speed. This first came to light during Marc Cantlin’s visit to Los Angeles back in the spring of 2009… said visit documented here:
Right around that time I had purchased a record by Akron/Family called “Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free.” I sat down to listen to it and was really enjoying it a lot, really into it … and it took me half of side one (of four) to realize I was listening too slow. Or rather, the record was moving too slow. Perhaps I was listening too fast.
I returned the album to its intended speed and started over … to my great dissatisfaction. It was weak, lightweight, affected, even silly!* (On the other hand, I had discovered afro-grunge.)
Since that time I have found in my collection also a record by Omar Rodriguez Lopez called, I think, “Please Heat This Eventually” with guest Damo Suzuki which I’ve been playing on the wrong speed for years and never realized. It’s better that way, trust me.
* To be fair to Akron/Family, who are a worthy group, the album sounds pretty good, especially sides 2-4, if you have not just listened to it at the wrong speed first. Contrast is, in this case, everything.
Yesterday was a hair on the chilly side, tho not unpleasant… like Seattle in the spring. Like there’s a mild, debatably damp bite in the air. But not overtly damp. And not a nip. No teeth to it. Just a chill. And besides, it was sunny. I was outside mainly in the lat afternoon, just before sunset, attempting to contend with what turns out to be a double-filament bulb in our 1999 Nissan Altima’s tail/brake-lights. Hassle upon hassle - but pleasant enough to deal with until you get a fix-it ticket. Which we haven’t got, so rite on it is.
Was also out briefly driving to Greg’s for Rough Church rehearsal. It was nice enough up his way, but not spectacularly so (measured by that I didn’t notice, and I usually do). I mean, it was clear and the air and temperature were pleasant. I just didn’t get any sense of the cosmic ambience. Which could in itself be telling.
Previous afternoon I was rehearsing on Simon’s Drum Satellite with Cricket & The 2:19. I brought an extra shirt thinking I’d need one. Didn’t really, though it wasn’t too much either. Also pleasant and cool, but a little drier in the air. Like, micro-clicks drier. Notably unnotable, also, except in relations to the days surrounding.
Micro-clicks of individuation are, I suspect, what I am after.
Today it is raining again. I haven’t been out yet. I will soon be on my way back to Greg’s, but I don’t see much to sample today in the way of meteorological micro-clicks. It is wet, and probably a bit chilly. I don’t mind.
I am greatly honored (again) to have my work listened to, dug, and raved about by the Arch-Drude himself, Julian Cope. You can read his rant here, about 2/3 down the page:
Among other things, he says that this disc “showcases both 5-Track’s role as natural instrumentalist freebluesman, but tends to overlook/underplay his excellence as a singer of freaked out-yet-enlightened field holler,” which is a WONDERFUL thing to hear. He also says, and this might even be better: “What I rarely get sent – and what makes 5-Track so unique – are songs of such calibre as ‘Floating Around’, ‘It Could Be Time’, ‘Hot Potato Pie’ or the be-all-and-end-all epic ‘He’s not Dead, He’s Just In Texas’.”
Jon Franco said (words to the effect of) “Hey guys, you know what? Me and my roommate Josh were thinking we should have a benefit, you know? For, like, Haiti? Since we’re all musicians and this is a way we could do what we do and try to make a difference. You know? Guys?”
So we all said, “Sure, go for it!”
And Scott Keil said, “Oh, hey, you got it man,” and he went and found a venue (Los Angeles Music Academy, in Pasadena, where Scott went to school and where he is now employed) and some sponsors (Red Cross, Habitat For Humanities) and set up about twenty bands, who were generally amazing (I was in three of them, and I had friends in a few more, and then there were these amazing 70s-era samba-funk people from Brazil called “Muamba” and some great locals called “Big Moves” … and on and on…) and there was food and two stages in different rooms and … wow … what a solid cool day. Mad thanks to everyone who put it together.
I’m pretty sure John Boyd got Cricket’s and Amanda Jo’s sets on video, so those might show up online eventually. Amanda’s set included debut performances of her songs “Get It On Up” and “Ho Dogs Rocka Rocka Anybody See Them” and also guest performances by Jef Hogan (electric bass guitar) and Jym “Snake” Fahey (harmonica).
Sodden palm fronds line the pavement like drowned monkeys, figments of last week’s rain, and I believe yesterday was the 1st day of spring.
Which is a radical thing to say about January 30th. But this is Los Angeles, and I can feel it. There is said to be more rain yet to come. But I’m putting it on the line right here and now that it is going to be a spring rain.
Their 3rd full-length album, second on Drag City, second self-titled release for that matter, follow-up to the noise-clot double LP “Twin Infinitives,” Royal Trux (s/t) has just been re-issued. It’s really good … low-fidelity, low-budget, and somewhat more (deliberately?) noisy and sloppy than I can imagine it really needed to be … but the songs are there, and they are solid songs, and the instrumentation is sparse and effective (usually rhythm even acoustic guitar, drums, vocals, maybe bass, often a distorted electric lead … reminds me in many ways of the sound on Cats And Dogs, which makes sense as that was the follow-up to this, or even a low-budget Accelerator, which makes less sense except in that it is of course the same band and was all along … but they sure sounded different for a minute there on Thank You and Sweet Sixteen, and again on Veterans Of Disorder and Sweet Sixteen … so, what?)*
Anyway, I’ve played it twice and I’m digging the hell out of it and I might finally be ready to go back and give Twin Infinitives the proper examination it requires / deserves.
Also currently listening to (on CD … dammit … though it comes with a DVD which I haven’t looked at but fully expect to be amazing) and also from Drag City is a recording of Moroccan Gnawa trance music … which is unreal good, like maybe it’s the cool glass of water of musics. Especially when you take into account water’s potential as a spiritual conductor.
And also listening to a disc on Sublime Frequencies by Group Doueh … so lo-fi it makes Royal Trux sound the Dave Matthews Band … but if you have ears, you gotta listen. It’s desert guitar from Ali Farka Toure’s barbed wire nightmares. It’s the best use of a cheap flanger pedal, ever.
* Or was it the same band, really, since they (uh, “deliberately”) changed sidemen/rhythm section constantly, album to album, tour to tour … it was the same guiding mental lights, anyway. I might have to try and learn all these songs (offa s/t), just to see what they look like in the light.
