April 2022 Vinyl Spin Challenge - Intertextuality and You

Day 6
Octavia Butler, The Book of Martha
Xiu Xiu - Forget
This was the first thing that came to mind. I don't pretend to understand the meaning behind all of Jamie Stewart's lyricism, but I think this album might be about someone who is LGBTQ struggling with religion and not feeling loved by God because of their sexual orientation/gender identity? I don't know, like all things Xiu Xiu, it's a bit cryptic and surreal, but that's my best guess. Either way, the vibe the excerpt gives me pairs pretty well with this album, I think.
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April 6: Octavia Butler, The Book of Martha
  • “She stepped away from God, and already God seemed to be fading, becoming translucent, transparent, gone.
  • “I want to forget,” Martha said, and she stood alone in her living room, looking blankly past the open drapes of her front window at the surface of Lake Washington and the mist that hung above it. She wondered at the words she had just spoken, wondered what it was she wanted so badly to forget.”
The first thing that popped into my head...




The Dandy Warhols - Live-Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia Live At the Wonder

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April 6: Octavia Butler, The Book of Martha
  • “She stepped away from God, and already God seemed to be fading, becoming translucent, transparent, gone.
  • “I want to forget,” Martha said, and she stood alone in her living room, looking blankly past the open drapes of her front window at the surface of Lake Washington and the mist that hung above it. She wondered at the words she had just spoken, wondered what it was she wanted so badly to forget.”
Neither of these albums ever got pressed to wax, but I listened to these two albums a bunch when they came out and saw both bands live. These are the songs of theirs that got some radio play, and for some reason they both popped into my head from these quotes from the story, more so than the story itself. And since I'm away from my records I figured this would be the time to play something that isn't available in that format anyway.

U.P.O. - No Pleasantries: "Godless"



Splender - Halfway Down the Sky: "I Think God Can Explain"



Fun memory of one of the times I saw Splender, the frontman tossed his guitar into the pit and as chaos descended and we all turned into monsters anihilating the guitar to pieces, the security staff had looks of pure horror on their faces and started tossing kids left and right.
 
April 6: Octavia Butler, The Book of Martha
  • “I want to forget,” Martha said, and she stood alone in her living room, looking blankly past the open drapes of her front window at the surface of Lake Washington and the mist that hung above it. She wondered at the words she had just spoken, wondered what it was she wanted so badly to forget.”
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Original Sountrack

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Wes C. Attle said:
April 6: Octavia Butler, The Book of Martha
  • “I want to forget,” Martha said, and she stood alone in her living room, looking blankly past the open drapes of her front window at the surface of Lake Washington and the mist that hung above it. She wondered at the words she had just spoken, wondered what it was she wanted so badly to forget.”
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind Original Sountrack

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Perfect link!
 
April 7: Richard Selzer, The Knife
  • “One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip--by the stem. Not palmed nor gripped nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers. The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin. Like a slender fish, it waits, at the ready, then, go! It darts, followed by a fine wake of red. The flesh parts, falling away to yellow globules of fat. Even now, after so many times, I still marvel at its power--cold, gleaming, silent. More, I am still struck with a kind of dread that it is I in whose hand the blade travels, that my hand is its vehicle, that yet again this terrible steel-bellied thing and I have conspired for a most unnatural purpose, the laying open of the body of a human being.”
The first thing that popped into my head. Lotsa songs on this record involving cutlery, cutters and cuttees...




Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

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Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
April 7: Richard Selzer, The Knife
  • “One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip--by the stem. Not palmed nor gripped nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers. The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin. Like a slender fish, it waits, at the ready, then, go! It darts, followed by a fine wake of red. The flesh parts, falling away to yellow globules of fat. Even now, after so many times, I still marvel at its power--cold, gleaming, silent. More, I am still struck with a kind of dread that it is I in whose hand the blade travels, that my hand is its vehicle, that yet again this terrible steel-bellied thing and I have conspired for a most unnatural purpose, the laying open of the body of a human being.”
The first thing that popped into my head. Lotsa songs on this record involving cutlery, cutters and cuttees...




Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

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That is quite a song list.
"I'm Here to Kill You" might be one of the creepiest titles ever.
 
April 7: Richard Selzer, The Knife
  • “One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip--by the stem. Not palmed nor gripped nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers. The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin. Like a slender fish, it waits, at the ready, then, go! It darts, followed by a fine wake of red. The flesh parts, falling away to yellow globules of fat. Even now, after so many times, I still marvel at its power--cold, gleaming, silent. More, I am still struck with a kind of dread that it is I in whose hand the blade travels, that my hand is its vehicle, that yet again this terrible steel-bellied thing and I have conspired for a most unnatural purpose, the laying open of the body of a human being.”
Mitski "Laurel Hell" (2022 Dead Oceans)
Working For The Knife

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April 7: Richard Selzer, The Knife
  • “One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip--by the stem. Not palmed nor gripped nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers. The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin. Like a slender fish, it waits, at the ready, then, go! It darts, followed by a fine wake of red. The flesh parts, falling away to yellow globules of fat. Even now, after so many times, I still marvel at its power--cold, gleaming, silent. More, I am still struck with a kind of dread that it is I in whose hand the blade travels, that my hand is its vehicle, that yet again this terrible steel-bellied thing and I have conspired for a most unnatural purpose, the laying open of the body of a human being.”
Brain Salad Surgery ~ Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

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Day 7: The Knife

Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

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The description of the knife reminded me of the kung-fu movie soundbites strewn throughout the album, and the description of cutting a human body open made me think of the skit where Meth & Rae describe torturing people.
 
April 2 – Don DeLillo, Human Moments in World War III
  • “It is not too early in the war to discern nostalgic references to earlier wars. All wars refer back. Ships, planes, entire operations are named after ancient battles, simpler weapons, what we perceive as conflicts of nobler intent. This recon-interceptor is called Tomahawk II. When I sit at the firing panel I look at a photograph of Vollmer’s granddad when he was a young man in sagging khakis and a shallow helmet, standing in a bare field, a rifle strapped to his shoulder. This is a human moment, and it reminds me that war, among other things, is a form of longing.”

The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts

I latched onto the idea of nostalgia for some of history's worst moments, and immediately thought of the Decemberists, and how they play with this, creating catchy, poppy music that calls back to wars and violence of centuries past while still explicitly referencing (and sometimes reveling in) just how horrible and blood-soaked those times were. On this album, I especially think of "The Legionnaire's Lament."

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Day 7: The Knife

Interesting story. I don't have albums that I can think of that deal with surgery...so I went with a knife reference.

Neko Case and Her Boyfriends - 'Twist the Knife' from Furnace Room Lullaby

The author certainly made sure not to twist it.
This is a great line: "The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin."

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April 3 – Carmen Maria Machado, The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror
  • “Maxa’s vanity was cluttered with what she needed and more: bulbed bottles of scent with sleek lines, a small pair of scissors, mascaras and powders the color of chalk, lipstick and a metal tracer, kohl for her eyes, a hot curler, rouge, a fat brush tipped in pink dust, pencils, old scripts, a pair of bone-colored dice. It seemed like a place where spells were cast; that by scooping up a resident mouse and opening its throat into her wine glass, Maxa might be able to curse whomever she pleased. But there was no need for animal blood; powdered carmine arrived in small sacks – which Sabine told me was created by boiling insects – and I spent my waking hours mixing and reheating the concoction like a vampiress.”

Björk - Homogenic

The imagery of a vanity and makeup as tools of witchcraft makes me think of Björk at her most theatrical, using style and sound to bless and curse.

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Day 4: Johnny Mnemonic

I am running a couple a data analysis mailboxes right now and I really like the description of phase mode. I imagine that I go into phase mode while programming and I often gravitate towards certain slightly repetitive, jazzy, few to no words songs. Often times electronic music works as long as it has a quieter quality and volume variation is at a minimum. Today’s phase mode was accompanied by Jacques Charlier Art in Another Way.
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April 4 – William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic
  • "Transition to idiot-savant mode is always less abrupt than I expect it to be. The pirate broadcaster's front was a failing travel agency in a pastel cube that boasted a desk, three chairs, and a faded poster of a Swiss orbital spa. A pair of toy birds with blown-glass bodies and tin legs were sipping monotonously from a Styrofoarm cup of water on the ledge beside Molly's shoulder. As I phased into mode, they accelerated gradually until their DayGlo-feathered crowns became solid arcs of color. The LEDs that told seconds on the plastic wall clock had become meaningless pulsing grids, and Molly and the Mao-faced boy grew hazy, their arms blurring occasionally in insect-quick ghosts of gesture. And then it all faded to cool gray static and an endless tone poem in the artificial language."
Jon Hopkins - Insides

Synthwave is often the soundtrack for cyberpunk today, but I personally think that William Gibson's work needs something a bit more organic and a bit more prone to abstraction, and Jon Hopkins fits perfectly with what reading Gibson feels like- there is the cold glint of metal, the pulse of photons, the moment where time stretches- or compresses- as one enters cyberspace, a juxtaposition of sharp focus and hazy edges.

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April 4 – William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic

I tried to read this back when the movie came out and I didn't find it all that interesting...and I still don't.

I can't remember if the Lo-Tek leader had a name, but the name of his character in the movie is J-Bone.

Ice-T ‎– Rhyme Pays
Sire ‎– RCV1 25602, 1987/2020

#BFRSD20 - Limited to 1000

Pressed at Record Industry

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(used old images because I'm lazy)
 
April 5: Amy Hempel, In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried

Reading about a sick patient in a hospital makes me think about work...and this album.

Disturbed ‎– The Sickness (10th Anniversary Edition)
Reprise Records ‎– 522888-1, 2000/2010

Cut by Ray Janos at Sterling
Pressed at GZ

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April 7: Richard Selzer, The Knife
“One holds the knife as one holds the bow of a cello or a tulip--by the stem. Not palmed nor gripped nor grasped, but lightly, with the tips of the fingers. The knife is not for pressing. It is for drawing across the field of skin. Like a slender fish, it waits, at the ready, then, go! It darts, followed by a fine wake of red. The flesh parts, falling away to yellow globules of fat. Even now, after so many times, I still marvel at its power--cold, gleaming, silent. More, I am still struck with a kind of dread that it is I in whose hand the blade travels, that my hand is its vehicle, that yet again this terrible steel-bellied thing and I have conspired for a most unnatural purpose, the laying open of the body of a human being.”

The title of this album (The Way of All Flesh), the song (Esoteric Surgery), and the incredibly precise and technical drumming, all resonate with this story. Richard Selzer was a surgeon and a writer and his work has this beautiful way of describing the technical side of things. Very unique voice that always stuck out to me. I imagine that he wouldn't like Gojira, lol.
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