Thus I progressed on the surface of life, in the realm of words as it were, never in reality. All those books barely read, those friends barely loved, those cities barely visited, those women barely possessed! Then came human beings; they wanted to cling, but there was nothing to cling to, and that was unfortunate — for them. As for me, I forgot. I never remembered anything but myself.
Skygreen Leopards – “Parallel shadows (part 2) – Mad lion (part 7)”
Child God in the Garden of Eden
With the same simple and beautiful instrumentation as “The Heron,” this song, off a lesser-known companion piece to their disappointing (I thought) Life and Love in the Sparrow’s Meadow, channels the same mystical, pastoral beauty of their debut. I have two versions, this being the newer and clearer, but I keep the old version because it has a soft and indistinct quality that I grew to like. Chalk it up to variations in vinyl ripping.
Sometimes I write very long articles.
Black Forest/Black Sea – “These Things”
Forcefields and Constellations
On their earlier self-titled album, Black Forest/Black Sea were more like Rachel’s, but when this album dropped, it was clear they had other things in mind. It’s the strange delvings of Charalambides married to the electronic hammock of Tape. Fully half the tracks are throwaway, but then you get a weird, sparkling gem like “These Things” and you’re reassured that they know what they’re doing.
At a distance, she might have been a wraith; or a breeze made visible; a vagrom breeze, warm and delicate, and in league with death.
Asimov seems like a pretty cool guy.
When they were called rebels, they were called so for no other reason than this, that they would not be slaves.
Christians boycotting Glenn Beck
“It is not enough simply to help the poor, one must address the structures that keep them that way. Standing up for the rights of the poor is not being a Nazi, it’s being Christian. And Communist, as Mr. Beck suggests? It’s hard not to think of the retort of the great apostle of social justice, Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Recife, ‘When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.’” Well said.
deliquium: chemically, dissolution into air or liquid. otherwise, a swooning or faint mood
ebullition: boiling up or pouring out, either emotionally, physically, or linguistically
peripety: corruption of peripeteia, a sudden turn of events, usually in literature
bruit: (noun) a din or loud noise. (verb) to voice loudly or spread rumor
trumpery: showy, deceptive, or nonsensical (from tromper, to deceive)
voluptuary: a person devoted to luxury and sensual pleasure
maunder: to talk or move about aimlessly or confusedly
insouciant: carefree, indifferent, or nonchalant
You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind-legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men. If man were not a gregarious animal, the world might have achieved, by this time, some real progress towards civilisation. Segregate him, and he is no fool. But set him loose among his fellows, and he is lost — he becomes just a unit in unreason.
from Martin Chuzzlewit
Be they never so Withered, no Milk-Maiden grieves
to lay herself down among Strawberry Leaves
Album art for Bear in Heaven’s Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Comets On Fire – “Dogwood Rust”
Avatar
What can I say? Simply one of the best tracks of all time, and the standard by which I now measure all medium-length rock songs. Listen to it all the way through; it’ll put hair on your chest. I’m proud to say I saw these guys in a place about the size of my apartment, and they killed it. Too bad the cops came like five minutes later and actually arrested the guy who lived there.
dulia: a theological term signifying the honor paid to the saints (as opposed to god)
lazaret: a small ship, room or building used for quarantine (or simply set aside)
disseizin: wrongful dispossession of one in the possession of real property
surplice: a loose-fitting garment with fabric crossing diagonally in front
quillon: one of the two protrusions forming the crossbar of a sword
opetide: early spring, when flowers’ buds are beginning to open
omnisubjugant: one to whom everyone else is subject (clearly)
anchorite: a hermit or one who has otherwise isolated himself
propinquity: nearness or similarity in time, place, or nature
gallimaufry: a medley or jumble (originally a food term)
legerdemain: sleight of hand (French: “light of hand”)
dandiacal: of or pertaining to dandies; foppish
aureate: gold, brilliant, or ornate in style
apposite: relevant, apt, or well-suited
guerdon: a reward or compensation
pleach: to interweave or braid
portreeve: a port warden
…those eyes which hawks, that nose which eagles, had often envied.
…for so it happens that, in this country, the more hideous the crime, the more intense the curiosity of the upper classes of both sexes to witness the miscreant perpetrator; the more disgusting the details, the greater the avidity with which they are listened to by the distinguished auditors;—the reason being plain, that, as they have exhausted the pleasures and excitements afforded by their own sphere of action and enjoyment, their palled and sated appetites require novel and more powerful stimulants. Hence, at length, we see “fashionables” peopling even the condemned cell—rushing, in excited groups, after the shuddering malefactor, staggering, half palsied, and with horror-laden eye, on his way to the gallows!
Tanakh – “Stereognosis”
Villa Claustrophobia
Tanakh’s debut album is still by far their strongest, and from start to finish there is hardly a weak moment. The haunting, wordless opener and its closing echo; the languid pace; you get the feeling that you are at once being serenaded in a lonely temple and floating far above a field of carnage. “Stereognosis” is the meat in an instrumental sandwich, between the sparse “Tallis” and droning “Tells,” which if joined to the center would create a single piece of music over 10 minutes long. Simply amazing. This album is most highly recommended. And you can buy the whole ball of wax for $5.
