The Counterforce No. 13
New Young Southpaw, Albert Ayler, Subhumans, Ned Beauman, Paul Beatty, Opal/Mazzy Star, and more...
I recorded some new Young Southpaw material this week. It was a lot of fun to do. And the idea that Victoria Beckham was such a fan of French prog band Magma that she too decided to invent her own language is one of my favourite Southpaw conceits.
If you’re unfamiliar with Young Southpaw, there is plenty more absurdity here and here. Might I suggest starting with Humpty Dumpty In HD or the ‘Recastaways’ story, in which Gilligan’s Island is now a musical with John Denver instead of Bob Denver, Geri Halliwell as Ginger, Public Enemy’s Professor Griff as The Professor. I hope you can guess who plays Thurston Howell III...
Got a gift certificate for my bday and bought this beautiful-looking book.
For years I was really only familiar with Ayler’s Spiritual Unity, a giant of a record to be sure. But lately I’ve been getting acquainted with his last few albums, and really digging them. Not critical or fan favourites from what I gather, and I guess I can see why. But such criticism always says more about the critic than the object of criticism. So much is panned simply by virtue of not being what someone wants it to be. Praise is like that too, of course. But I really like New Grass. The combination of groove and really going for something. Both joyously so. And a joy that takes into account all the other emotions as well. Ayler still has his signature sound, that spiritual warrior spirit coming through, his furious barrages of notes around the melody, that growl...
Popped into Static Era the other day. A cool new record shop in Milford, Connecticut. Run by super nice peeps. They’ve been very good to me, stocking my books. And on the bookshelf I spied Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years Of Subhumans. A mammoth tome just waiting for me and I of course snapped it up right away. Subhumans have always been one of my favourite punk bands. I have such fond memories of searching out the records in Boston in the mid-90s. This thing is a brick to be sure. 600+ pages, and small type at that. I dug the few pages I’ve read so far, incredibly detailed (which you’d hope for at 600 pages, heh) and can’t wait until I have some more time to sit down with both of these books.
I’ve never seen Subhumans live, though I’d love to. And shoot, I’ll be missing them again when they tour the US later in the month and on into June. I’ll be on my own little tour. Heading down to Atlanta for two signings at Posman Books over Memorial Day weekend, with a stop at the awesome Epilogue Bookshop in Chapel Hill, NC on Thursday May 25th. Be great to see you at one of these.
Yeah, hard to find the time to sit down and read these days but I’m still way into audiobooks, especially spending so much time in the car. I enjoyed Ned Beauman’s latest novel, Venomous Lumpsucker. I’m a big fan of his work. I took a chance on Madness Is Better Than Defeat when I was driving across country in 2018. Loved it. And The Teleportation Accident is even better. I love how his writing takes you all over the place, never knowing where it’s going next, all while maintaining a strong intriguing narrative that doesn’t get knocked about by these wild waves. It’s quite unique. Very funny too. I wouldn’t describe it as Pynchon-esque, their styles are too dissimilar for that, but you do get the sense Beauman knows a hell of a lot about a hell of a lot.
Venomous Lumpsucker is set in the near-future, with pretty logical extensions of late-capitalism activities and ongoing environmental obliteration. The moneymen finding a way into everything, a business has been built on ‘extinction credits’, or what a company has to pay if its operations were to obliterate a particular breed of animal. Meanwhile, scientists have found a way to upload and store species data in case one day someone might want to bring that particular creature back to life. Researcher Karin Resaint has grown attached to the titular fish during the course of her analysis, believing them to be incredibly intelligent. Mark Halyard, who hired her for the project on behalf of a huge corporation with a financial interest in their breeding ground, has been involved in some nefarious dealings that cause the two of them to meet and then criss-cross Europe tracking down clues as to whether the lumpsuckers actually do still exist. It’s great fun, though not without its own melancholy at this all-too-possible fate for our planet, as well as the sadness of some of the individual lives encountered. Like I mentioned above, you can never guess where things are going next or what twist might just change everything. And the fact that the U.K. post-Brexit has become known as ‘the Hermit Kingdom’ is just delicious.
After posting about Exceptionally Funny Books in The Counterforce No. 10, I decided to revisit Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, and, immediately following that, his Slumberland. Beatty and Beauman are forever linked in my mind as I read both The Sellout and Madness Is Better Than Defeat around the same time in April 2018. I loved both books so much – finding them wonderfully funny and engaging - I immediately consumed everything both writers had released. Fitting that they would take their place next to each other on my bookshelf.
The Sellout is definitely one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. There’s a quote on the back by Dwight Garner from The New York Times that really sums it up: “The Sellout puts you down in a place that’s miles from where it picked you up.” Right on. Slumberland is Beatty’s previous book about an LA DJ who travels to Berlin just before the Wall comes down, searching for the legendary but little-known jazzman genius, Charles Stone, aka ‘The Schwa’. Here Beatty really shows the breadth of his musical knowledge, even writing Einstürzende Neubauten’s Blixa Bargeld into a scene. I’ve been left wondering if he named the bartender at Slumberland ‘Doris’ after Die Tödliche Doris? I could read so much more of Beatty’s writing on music. Slumberland is very funny too, while also dealing with more serious issues of race, segregation (transposed here to the divided Germany), and how things are preserved
I’m also still on my big Opal kick. Now exploring all the audio on YouTube after Kendra left the band and Hope Sandoval took over the vocals for the rest of the tour before they became Mazzy Star. Wow, their cover of ‘Heroin’ is killer. Starting at 39 minutes in above. The version from Frankfurt is great too. Opalstardream on YouTube has also posted a lot of fantastic stuff and vouches for this site where there are a bunch of live recordings, which I availed myself of ten just last night. Even some Clay Allison ones (see last Counterforce). And there’s this live vid from Italy 1988.
SEVEN SONGS
The Creatures – ‘Don’t Go To Sleep Without Me’. I’ve been reading Jung’s Man and His Symbols and, as I’ve said plenty of times about the way my brain always leads to something musical, whenever I hear the phrase ‘anima and animus’ I can’t help but think of Siouxsie and this Creatures song. Awesome seeing all the coverage of Siouxsie returning to the stage last week
Pale Saints – ‘Blue Flower’. My friend Rick once pointed out how curious it is that Pale Saints covered both Kendra Smith’s ‘Fell From The Sun’ on The Comforts Of Madness and then this song (by Slapp Happy, but to people of a certain age, associated with the Mazzy Star version) on their next album, In Ribbons. In Ribbons is one of my favourite album names btw
Lifetime - ‘Ostrichsized’. Energetic, romantic, catchy as hell. Such a great tune (not the best recording here, but only one I could find).
Eugenius – ‘The Moon’s A Balloon’. This was stuck in my head earlier this week. Loved Eugenius. Saw them at Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT in 1994 on the tour for this album. The live version of this song was quite emotional for me.
Medicine - ‘Baby Doll’. Noisy pop at its best
Albert Ayler - ‘New Generation’. Another one off New Grass I really like
Joy Division - ‘These Days’. A few days ago Grant McPhee tweeted “Still sounds like the future and Simon Reynolds could have saved himself a lot of time with Rip it Up by just writing 'These Days' inside, albeit a less enjoyable read.” Great tune. I always loved the way it sounds