Ursula in 2024: Tomes and Tunes part 3

Heather fields near here - they were at about 50% when I took this.

Time to start a new thread!

I'm Ursula, 52, an American who has been living in western Germany since the end of March 2023 (previously living in a bunch of other places but most recently Istanbul). In addition to the cats, I live here with my mathematician husband Morgan, 43. We share a few reads from time to time, and we share listening to a lot of music!

In books, I tend toward "serious" fiction book - by which I don't necessarily mean ones that are supposed to be Real Literature, just that I'm not likely to read a lot of funny, happy books ("uplifting" is not a descriptor that draws me!). It's not entirely intentional, because I don't really read reviews or blurbs so I rarely know what I'm getting into. I guess I'm just attracted to the covers for that sort of book. I read a little in the mystery/thriller and a little in the science fiction areas occasionally. I try to get some nonfiction in there too but I've been less successful than usual in recent years.

Last year I started posting my weekly listening roundups and I will continue that as well. I am usually listening from a variety of lists (the big one is the 1001 Albums before you die list - I'm starting this year in 1977) in addition to whatever things I just enjoy and new releases (yes, I still listen to new music).

I may also post photos of stuff around here, my cats, and maybe even some of my drawings.

Currently reading


America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien

Read in 2024

Januar

    
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
My Soul To Keep by Tananarive Due
Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki
The Club by Takis Würger
Wool by Hugh Howey

Februar

    
Dear Child by Romy Hausmann
The Lonesome Bodybuilder by Yukiko Motoya
The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig
The Promise by Damon Galgut
Gaza by Norman Finkelstein

März

     
The Doll Collection by Ellen Datlow
Network Effect by Martha Wells
Travelers by Helon Habila
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto
Battle Songs by Daša Drndić

April

    
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha
60 Songs That Explain the '90s by Rob Harvilla
The Woman on the Stairs by Bernhard Schlink
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Lie by Petra Hammesfahr

Mai

    

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Retrospective by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky
The Archive of Feelings by Peter Stamm

Juni

    

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
This Is Amiko, Do You Copy? by Natsuko Imamura

Juli

  

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
A Cage Went in Search of a Bird by various authors
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

August

    

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden
Devil Is Fine by John Vercher
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
The Creeper by A.M. Shine

September



White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Weekly 5x5



World’s End FM - Hak Baker [hip hop] (2023 lists)
The Age of Pleasure - Janelle Monáe [r&b] (2023 lists)
Bewitched - Laufey [jazz] (2023 lists)
Superfuzz Bigmuff - Mudhoney [alternative/grunge] (1001 Albums list)
I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose - Bombay Bicycle Club [indie rock] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s)

STRUGGLER - Genesis Owusu [alternative] (2023 lists)
Drums and Guns - Low [slowcore/indie] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s)
Shadowland - k.d. lang [pop] (1001 Albums list)
Viva Hate - Morrissey [pop] (1001 Albums list)
Vivid - Living Colour [hard rock] (1001 Albums list)

Lifes Rich Pageant - REM [alternative] (self pick) ♥
Room on Fire - The Strokes [indie rock] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s)
Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman [folk] (self pick) ♥
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) - David Bowie [rock] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
But Here We Are - Foo Fighters [rock] (2023 lists)

Let’s Start Degeneracy - Microwave [post-hardcore] (2024 releases) +
Life Till Bones - oso oso [emo] (2024 releases) +
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle - Bill Callahan [alternative country] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s) +
… and Justice for All - Metallica [metal] (1001 Albums list)
I’m Your Man - Leonard Cohen [singer-songwriter] (1001 Albums list)

Perch Patchwork - Maps & Atlases [alternative] (self pick, partial)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 - Sam Cooke [soul] (self pick) ♥
Born To Die - Lana Del Rey [pop] (self pick, partial) ♥
… - Mandy, Indiana [experimental] (self pick, partial) ♥
Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free - Bonny Light Horseman [folk] (self pick, random songs) ♥

----------------------------
******Notes on this week:

• Below the chart:
  Deulgukhwa - Deulgukhwa (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste) +
  
  Not on the chart due to *gasp* boobs:
  Nothing’s Shocking - Jane’s Addiction (1001 Albums list) ♥
  
  Skipped for recency:
  Laugh Track - The National (2023 lists) ♥
  Kaytraminé - Aminé & Kaytranada (2023 lists)


• Morgan and I started a couple of other lists, a top 100 indie albums of the ‘00s list from TrebleZine and a top 300 albums of all time from Paste. No, we will never run out of lists!


• Not a lot of standouts this week, and a band I’ve really enjoyed, Low, even disappointed me with this album. I guess I lean toward their later, more experimental work than this one. Oh, but Bill Callahan! I love everything I’ve listened to by him, and this was definitely no exception. This time through (2nd or 3rd listen), I’m Your Man grew on me a bit more.


• I didn’t enjoy k. d. lang. I remember this album being a big deal, but it doesn’t do anything for me. Worst thing I put in my earholes? Probably not - that’s probably Hak Baker, but overall most things didn’t inspire strong emotions either way.

+ = added to my library
♥ = already in my library

Devil Is Fine by John Vercher

First line: The morning we buried you, a road flagger danced in the street.

The narrator (if he had a name, I've forgotten it) is talking about (and to) his son, Malcolm, who died recently in a car accident as a teenager. The narrator is a biracial man, and he's traveled to somewhere in one of the Carolinas to find out about some land that now belongs to him. (It was willed to Malcolm by Malcolm's grandmother, and so now it's fallen to his father.) Once he gets there, he meets some quirky characters in a mostly-deserted bar and then goes to look at the property.

Turns out, it's a plantation that has been passed down through the white side of the family. So here he is, the biracial owner of a plantation. A plantation where some literal skeletons are found. Meanwhile, the narrator is having some odd experiences in sort of fugue states. He's struggling with everything - his son's death and the relationship he had with the child's mother, the existence of the plantation, his job as a professor and the not-great reaction to his most recent book - and it seems to be manifesting into some pretty weird hallucinations.

Okay, enough with the plot. I almost put this book down because of the writing. There's a lot of jokey stuff, and it felt like the author had never met a simile he didn't love. When I finished the book I saw that John Vercher has an MFA, but I wasn't getting that MFA feeling from it, I was getting a self-published feeling. Anyway, I persisted and the ending made it worthwhile for me. I have spent time turning it over in my head, trying to decide how I feel about it.

So, not really a recommendation, but not an anti-recommendation either.

Oh! I forgot to mention that the title must have come from an album of the same name (an album I happen to love): Devil Is Fine by Zeal & Ardor. They're an avant-garde metal band, and this album came from the main guy posting on 4chan asking for 2 genres to mash up, and some unpleasant person said "black metal and (n-word) music". Said main guy in the band happens to be Black, and he took up the challenge, using the question: What if American slaves had embraced Satan instead of Jesus?

The title track is here on YouTube.

Weekly 5x5



Tommy - The Who [rock] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
The Wonderful and Frightening World of … - The Fall [post-punk] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian [indie pop] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem [dance-punk] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
GREIF - Zeal & Ardor [avant-garde metal] (2024 releases) +

Surfer Rosa - Pixies [alternative] (1001 Albums list)
Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth [alternative] (1001 Albums list)
God Save the Animals - Alex G [indie] (self pick) ♥
Straight Outta Compton - NWA [hip hop] (1001 Albums list)
Water’s Here In You - Babehoven [indie] (2024 releases)

BRMC - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club [alternative] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
Dizzy - Dizzy [alternative] (2023 lists)
Games of Power - Home Front [hardcore] (2023 lists)
portrait of a dog - Jonah Yano [jazz (or jazz-adjacent)] (2023 lists)
Isn’t Anything - my bloody valentine [shoegaze] (1001 Albums list)

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case [alternative] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
PANIC - Tobi [hip hop] (2023 lists)
…Baby One More Time - Britney Spears [pop] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
Disaster Trick - Horse Jumper of Love [shoegaze] (2024 releases) +
It’s Never Been Like That - Phoenix [indie pop] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)

The Egg - Shiner [post-hardcore] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
La Leyenda del Tempo - Camarón de la Isla & Paco de Lucia [flamenco] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
Madres - Sofia Kourtesis [electronic] (2023 lists)
16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens [indie rock/jangle pop] (1001 Albums list) +
In Brine - jellyskin [electronic] (2023 lists) +

----------------------------
******Notes on this week:

• Skipped for recency:
  It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy (1001 Albums list)


• This was not a great week! One funny thing - Morgan and I had pretty opposing views on Tommy. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, I don't even know the last time I listened to it. He, on the other hand, really hated it!
  
  Kind of amusing since Zeal & Ardor just came up in my last book review, but they have a new album out. On a first listen, I liked it - although I have seen it's not being terribly well received.
  
  I don't like Belle and Sebastian, is what I've discovered from various lists. This one wasn't as annoying to me, but it was not great.


• jellyskin was a pleasant discovery for me. I didn't expect anything from it since I rarely find things classed "electronic" to be to my taste. This one was weird in all the right ways, I think. It was probably the highlight of my week of listening, honestly. Oh and I'd never even heard of The Go-Betweens (just goes to show that you can't hear everything even when you're at the peak of your music listening) but I enjoyed this album. Were they popular somewhere, I wonder?


• The worst thing I put in my ear holes this week was ... The Fall. I just don't get it. Not at all.

+ = added to my library
♥ = already in my library

Three books and one week of music behind at the moment. Morgan is out of town for the week and I'm in my German class so it's been super busy. Looking forward to some breathing room when he gets back.

Your comments on Tommy made me smile. I still listen to it often. Love it.

>6 ursula: Great comments. Not sure I will pick up this, but your comments gave me a good idea what to expect.

I continue to fail completely to be here at all.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment in the morning that involved an hour and a half of waiting, then I had my German class all afternoon, then a classmate and I visited another language school to inquire about B2 classes, and that was pretty much my entire day. I have books to review, albums to post!

>10 BLBera: I admit I've only listened to it a handful of times in my life but it made me wonder why that was, I should have listened to it more!

Thanks for that, I am glad to give some sort of idea about it because I certainly didn't know what to expect (I mean, if I read reviews maybe I would have ... hahaha). But yeah, I can't recommend it unreservedly, just say I found it quite interesting thinking about it afterwards.

>11 ursula: When you burst back onto the scene you will be even more impactful .

>8 ursula: My enjoyment of Tommy is almost all of the nostalgic variety, remembering my teen years when the work was first released and the idea of a "rock opera" was new and kind of daring. A lot of the music is fun for me, but the message never really moved me.

Quadraphenia, on the other hand, I still consider a masterpiece. Instead of the religious/psychological elements of the plot line, Quadraphenia goes directly for the jugular with searing songs about the dead-end nature of working class life.

>13 rocketjk: "the idea of a "rock opera" was new and kind of daring."

I think the rock musical is inherently doomed to failure; the two types of music have diametrically opposed performance styles that are impossible to reconcile.

Rock fans want to "believe" -- I put that in quotes because they know it's not actually true -- that Mick Jagger's 38,475th performance of "Ruby Tuesday" is something special, creative, newly devised for this specific moment and this specific audience. It's not, of course; it's pretty close to exactly the same performance he gave last night in the previous city on the tour. But the illusion of spontaneity and originality is a large part of the appeal.

Musical theater fans revel in the precision with which performers are giving the same performance every night. They revel in the precision of the dancers hitting exactly the same steps with exactly the same timing every night; they delight in the fact that the singers they heard on the original cast album will sound just the same in the theater. That belief is just as knowingly delusional as the belief in the dazzling new "Ruby Tuesday"; no two theater performances will ever be exactly alike. But again, the illusion is what draws that audience.

(Of the two, the theater illusion comes closer to actually being realized than the rock illusion does; that tap number comes closer to sameness on consecutive nights than Jagger ever does to actual spontaneity.)

You can't provide both the illusion of spontaneity that will make the rock fans happy and the illusion of exact precision that will make the musical theater fans happy; something's gotta give.

>14 KeithChaffee: "I think the rock musical is inherently doomed to failure; the two types of music have diametrically opposed performance styles that are impossible to reconcile."

Well, when I was speaking of Tommy and Quadraphenia, I was really speaking of the albums rather than any musical theater productions that might have come along later. In those days, because the concept of a rock album with a narrative through-story was still a new idea, they were referred to as "rock operas." I think that nowadays, they'd probably just be referred to as "concept albums."

More generally, though, while I understand what you're getting at, I don't think the distinction you're making is as cut and dried as you're expressing it. I am a rock fan, and I very much enjoyed Jesus Christ, Superstar when I saw it on Broadway. When I went to that performance I didn't think I was at a rock concert. I thought I was at a Broadway play, with rock music. Since I like rock music even more than I like show tunes, especially in those days, I very much enjoyed the play. I don't find anything contradictory about that. I don't know what all rock fans want. I know Tommy and Quadraphenia and Jesus Christ, Superstar were very popular, though. Ken Russell's movie version of Tommy was too. So was Hair, come to think of it. I'm not sure why you would say they were doomed to failure.

In fact, there is now--and there has been for months--a very successful production of Tommy being performed on Broadway.

My opinion is that what rock music fans want out of a live performance are the same things that fans of all musical genres want, a sense of connection with the performers, and a sense that the artist(s) actually care(s) about the quality of the music they're performing. Depending on the artist and his/her/their audience, perhaps they desire the artist have a message that they're committed to relaying. In short, a passion for their artistry.

>11 ursula: I am failing to be here too, which is a shame because I really like this community. Life is so full of—stuff—to manage.

Anyway, I'm caught up on your reading and albums and have to say, as a very nascent urban sketcher, I love your drawings—another facet of life I don't have enough time for and would love to just feel more fluent in.

Life continues to be ridiculously busy!

But hey, I got my results from the B1 test.



Good thing I was already 3 weeks into the B2 class when I got these, ha.

September 5x5



Done by the Forces of Nature - Jungle Brothers [hip hop] (1001 Albums list)
Body Talk - Robyn [pop/dance] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)
Moss Side Story - Barry Adamson [instrumental] (1001 Albums list) +
fROMOHIO - fIREHOSE [alternative] (1001 Albums list)
All Hail West Texas - The Mountain Goats [indie] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)

Alopecia - Why? [indie rock] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
Paul’s Boutique - Beastie Boys [hip hop] (1001 Albums list) ♥
Let Love Rule - Lenny Kravitz [psychedelic rock] (1001 Albums list)
Lahai - Sampha [r&b] (2023 lists)
With a Hammer - Yaeji [electronic] (2023 lists)

Djam Leelii - Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck [Senegalese] (1001 Albums list) +
Multitudes - Feist [indie] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
The Hum Goes on Forever - The Wonder Years [emo] (self pick, new purchase on vinyl) ♥
softscars - yeule [glitch/indietronica] (2023 lists)
Heaven to a Tortured Mind - Yves Tumor [experimental] (self pick) ♥

White Roses, My God - Alan Sparhawk [experimental/electronic] (2024 releases)
The Real Thing - Faith No More [alternative metal] (1001 Albums list)
Learning to be Happy - Kayleigh Goldsworthy [indie/singer-songwriter] (self pick, vinyl) ♥
Tension - Kylie Minogue [pop] (2023 lists)
The Late Great - Townes Van Zandt [country/singer-songwriter] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste) +

I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning - Bright Eyes [indie] (100 best indie rock albums of the ‘00s - TrebleZine)
Fuse - Everything But the Girl [pop] (2023 lists)
The Healer - John Lee Hooker [blues] (1001 Albums list)
Manning Fireworks - MJ Lenderman [indie/singer-songwriter] (2024 releases) +
Shin Joong Hyun - Shin Joong Hyun & Yup Juns [Korean folk] (300 greatest albums of all time - Paste)

----------------------------
******Notes on this month:

• I realized if I’m ever going to clear out my playlists (I don’t do that until I post about the albums, so I can keep track of why I listened to each thing), I’m gonna have to post something, so here is a monthly 5x5 to just get through it!


• Morgan and I went record shopping in Saarbrücken again and although I was torn on what I was going to buy, as soon as I saw the Wonder Years record, I just gasped and knew that was The One. That means my collection of my favorite albums from 2022 is coming along pretty well!
  
  Calling out just a couple of things I liked: Barry Adamson. I had never heard of him, or this album, but it’s a soundtrack album to a non-existent film (which was also the conceit for one of the albums this year that Morgan really liked, called Nell’ ora Blu.
  
  MJ Lenderman has been having a moment for a year or so and I’ve never felt particularly drawn to his music, but I enjoyed this a lot. I’m not entirely ready to jump aboard, but I’ll be listening to this again.
  
  Found another African album to like: Djam Leelii.
  
  Also The Mountain Goats doing their weird thing. What it must be like in John Darnielle’s head. Story songs that just spin in all directions. Townes Van Zandt


• Things I did not like: Jungle Brothers, fIREHOSE, Faith No More, Everything But the Girl (especially that).

+ = added to my library
♥ = already in my library

Hopefully I can also find some time to post about the (very few) books I've read since my last update.

>17 ursula: Congratulations, what an excellent result. 🥳🥳🥳

>17 ursula: Impressive results! Congrats and keep it on!