New Book (Cover): A Collection of Essays, by George Orwell 8:54 AM

I bought this sucker for the essay "Politics and the English Language," but I look forward to reading Orwell's other essays too.

Best Albums of 2011 10:15 AM

So here goes. I've been listening and pondering, and listening and pondering, and the list you see below is the result. I put some of these on my best-of list months ago, and some of them went on as recently as a few weeks ago.

I've placed the albums in order of most played; however, that may not mean much.

Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
For some reason this album didn't get much attention. Post-rock may be passe, but I enjoyed it. It carries on where "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone" left off.


Solkyri - No House
I've never heard of this group before getting a hold of this LP, nor have I read much in terms of reviews. However, they play a steady, guitar-driven version of post rock that uses ambiance and secondary instrumentation effectively.


The Antlers - Burst Apart
I guess I have to mention "Hospice" in relation to their new LP. They're different. "Burst Apart" isn't a concept album, nor is it rapped up in nostalgia and deep pathos like "Hospice." Instead, the new album is forward moving, and lyrically it shows a more mature view. "Burst Apart" shows much growth from the previous album, and that works fine. After all, isn't that what musicians are supposed to do?


Destroyer - Kaputt
I never thought I'd be listening or reviewing an album such as this, but I must say, it's good, albeit in a weird way. Daniel Bejar creates a weird and throwback world without the pastiche and retread. I know, that doesn't sound possible, but he does it. The music video below is what got me hooked on them. I just can't explain it.


Grails - Deep Politics
They've stepped it up yet another notch by creating an entire film soundtrack, but it's so good that they don't even need the film to accompany it.


Long Distance Calling - S/T
I like post-rock bands that can create a sound distinct all to themselves, and Long Distance Calling do that quite easily. The (orgasmic) stand out on this album is "The Figrin D'an Boogie," which starts at mid tempo speed, slows down with a sparse and almost ethereal bridge, uses a slow meandering guitar lead, then throws in more and more instrumentation until the song bursts. It's amazing.


Russian Circles - Empros
It's different than their previous offerings, almost a more black metal guitar sound at times, but it's good, a classic even.


Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears - Scandalous
Does rhythm & blues exist. Yes it does, and it's better than ever thanks to these guys., Check out "Booty City" loud.


The Deep Dark Woods - The Place I Left Behind
I'd never heard of this band, and I was apprehensive after hearing the first few notes that they'd be another copy/paste bearded indie wannabee nostalgia band, but as I got more into the album my apprehension changed to wonder. They write deep and affecting songs full of interesting music. "I Just Can't Lose" is a standout track.


Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Yeah, they're good.


Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire
I wasn't impressed with his last few released, but this one takes me back to the "Heartbreaker" and "Gold" days.


Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
That the music is as good as, but completely dissimilar to, the artwork intrigues me more about this album, which is full of world-ish dance rhythms and fitting vocals.


And So I Watch You From Afar - Gangs
These guys have released yet another blistering post-rock album jam packed with insane fretwork.


Bon Iver - S/T
Trendy as fuck, yes, but at least the guys have changed their sound a bit more to match up with the orgasmic Gayngs.


Amon Amarth - Surtur Rising
Oh, epic death metal, how I have never appreciated thee, yet Amon Amarth continue to impress and excite my musical ears.


Charles Bradley - No Time for Dreaming
Old school soul song by an old schooler. This is legit.


Tom Waits - Bad as Me
And...he's released another gem.


Elder - Dead Roots Stirring
This sophomore effort by these stoner-doomers has gone best the homage to sleep provides a more polished example of the progression of the genre.


TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
More affective than effecting, they've traded their more rock moments for ominous lyrics.


Altar of Plagues - Mammal
This is no White Tomb, but it is surreal, bleak, unrelenting, and primitive.


Handsome Firs - Sound Kapital
Fun and steady is the best way to describe this album.


Nicolas Jaar - Space is Only Noise
This is one of those electronic albums that only comes around once every 10-odd yeras, and I don't know if Mr. Jaar can do it again with the follow-up. Enjoy.


Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Retro fashionability at its best, yet the deadbeats have some definite chops as they start in the 60s and travel toward the 21st century.


Krallice - Diotima
New school black metal with some atomic fretwork going on.


Rocket Miner - Songs for an October Sky
Here's a solid post-rock album.


Wye Oak - Civilian
Deep and moody, Wye Oak voices a painful world that ends up beautiful.


Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1
Their press releases indicate that they improvised this album in the studio in just a few takes. Regardless, it's got some serious staying power.


Gary Clark Jr. - The Bright Lights [ep]
THis guys sounds much like the black keys on three of the four songs, and that fourth song is a slow cryer.

Music Listens for February 6-10 3:41 PM

My nose has been in a computer screen for the past two weeks, so I missed my post last week. It's been a varied week, too.

Here goes:

Om - Conference of the Birds.
Yes, I know, a super oldie, but for some reason these guys help me think.


Memphis Slim - Beer Drinkin' Woman
He's got an awesome, slow blues vibe going.


Groundhogs - Blues Obituary
A seldom heard British revival blues band you don't hear much. I've been spinning these guys a lot lately and enjoying them!


Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
I seem to have a blues theme going here, yet Fleet Foxes don't really seem bluesy to me. Anyway, they've released yet another amazing album, as you probably already know.


Raphel Saadiqm - Stone Rollin'
I'm not sold on this guy so much. The record's a bit uneven, but interesting at time. You can't beat good man. It's got a 50's sound with 90's subject matter, and you can't beat the video.

RE: Wislawa Szymborska, Poet Of Gentle Irony, Dies At 88­ 10:20 AM

So it goes. Find the full article here.

Wislawa Szymborska, Poet Of Gentle Irony, Dies At 88­

by DAVID ORR

EnlargeCzarek Sokolowski/AP

Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska in 1996, the same year she won the Nobel Prize in literature. Szymborska, who was born in 1923, died Wednesday in Krakow, Poland.

text size A A A

February 2, 2012

The surest path to international fame as a poet probably doesn't involve writing short poems about sea cucumbers. Yet for the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska (pronounced vees-WAH-vah sheem-BOHR-skah), who won the Nobel Prize in 1996 and died Wednesday, the little things — onions, tarsiers and, yes, sea cucumbers — turned out to be very big indeed. Along with the work of Zbigniew Herbert and Tadeusz Rozewicz (and from a slightly earlier generation, Czeslaw Milosz), Szymborska's poems suggest not only the beauty of postwar Polish writing, but also the potential strength of poetry anywhere and everywhere.

Like her peers, Szymborska is an ironist. But in Szymborska's work, irony takes on a very particular character; it becomes playful, almost whimsical, as if the poet were more interested in juggling the ball in her hand than using it to score a goal. Her poems are usually short, they often focus on the quirks of an everyday subject or situation, and her tone stays firmly in the middle ground, well away from the darker pitches of rage, despair or ecstasy. She's a poet of dry-eyed, athletic precision: an acrobat, not a powerlifter. The beginning of "Under One Small Star" is typical (all quotations are from translations by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh):

My apologies to chance for calling it necessity.
My apologies to necessity if I'm mistaken, after all.
Please, don't be angry, happiness, that I take you as my due.
May my dead be patient with the way my memories fade.
My apologies to time for all the world I overlook each second.
My apologies to past loves for thinking that the latest is the first.
Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home.
Forgive me, open wounds, for pricking my finger.

And the poem concludes:

Don't bear me ill will, speech, that I borrow weighty words
then labor heavily so that they may seem light.

This is often taken as a statement of principle by Szymborska, whose devotion to lightness extended even to elegies. "Cat in an Empty Apartment" takes the point of view of a dead friend's cat, left alone; "Funeral (II)" consists of quotes one hears at, well, funerals ("you were smart, you brought the only umbrella"). Each poem is moving, but the sentiment emerges around the lines, rather than being spelled out within them. It's misdirection as tribute.