April 2022 Vinyl Spin Challenge - Intertextuality and You

April 5: Amy Hempel, In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried
  • “On the morning she was moved to the cemetery, the one where Al Jolson is buried, I enrolled in a "Fear of Flying" class. "What is your worst fear?" the instructor asked, and I answered, "That I will finish this course and still be afraid."”
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

The quote seems to connect with both the band's name and the track titled "It's Natural to be Afraid."

img_20211031_101406980_hdr-jpg.116148
 
April 9: Roberto Bolaño, Gómez Palacio
  • “On the horizon I could see the highway disappearing into the hills. Night was beginning to approach from the east. Days before, at the motel, I had asked myself, What color is the desert at night? A stupid question, yet somehow I felt it held the key to my future, or perhaps not so much my future as my capacity for suffering.”
The first thing that popped into my head...




Tinariwen - Tassili + 10:1

20210203_013243.jpg
 
April 8: Kanai Mieko, Rabbits

For their cover of "White Rabbit"

The Damned – Another Great Record From The Damned: The Best Of The Damned
Milan – A 120 173, 1981

This French version has a different tracklist than UK, White Rabbit replacing Neat, Neat, Neat for some reason.

Cut at Polygram Industries Messageries
Pressed at Polygram Industries Messageries

9fzTJj.jpg

D2zCpq.jpg


 
April 9: Roberto Bolaño, Gómez Palacio

"On the horizon I could see the highway disappearing into the hills. Night was beginning to approach from the east. Days before, at the motel, I had asked myself, What color is the desert at night? A stupid question, yet somehow I felt it held the key to my future, or perhaps not so much my future as my capacity for suffering."

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II

For me this album is forever associated with the disquieting feeling of driving, slowly, through a landscape devoid of people. The protagonist in the text seems to be destined to a life alone in the desert, or maybe the mountains (I have no idea), anticipating having a lot of time at night to contemplate the absence of color.

 
Day 08: Kanai Mieko, Rabbits

Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
DCB3B9D4-7F23-4F1A-9623-214285E32C59.jpeg
This story was unsettling for me but I would imagine it would be fairly frightening for most rabbits (though let’s be honest, frightening a rabbit is not a super difficult feat). Still a story about a girl gleefully strangling, then skinning and showering herself in their blood then eating them and then tailoring a rabbit costume out of their hides is a bit disturbing but then to blind all the living bunny by cutting out their pink eyes is next level gruesome. I also think this album title could work also, as you could easily imagine the girl and her father getting into a “food fight” with rabbit kidneys, livers and hearts while they are preparing their meal.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Day 08: Kanai Mieko, Rabbits

Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
View attachment 135093
This story was unsettling for me but I would imagine it would be fairly frightening for most rabbits (though let’s be honest, frightening a rabbit is not a super difficult feat). Still a story about a girl gleefully strangling, then skinning and showering herself in their blood then eating them and then tailoring a rabbit costume out of their hides is a bit disturbing but then to blind all the living bunny by cutting out their pink eyes is next level gruesome. I also think this album title could work also, as you could easily imagine the girl and her father getting into a “food fight” with rabbit kidneys, livers and hearts while they are preparing their meal.
Click to expand...

There was a brief movement of Japanese women authors who were writing in the grotesque genre that this was part of. It really disturbed me reading it the first time, but 20 years later and I still vividly remember it. I think that's what makes it a powerful story. Also it's so bizarre that I can't really think of anything similar to compare it to.
 
Hemotep said:
There was a brief movement of Japanese women authors who were writing in the grotesque genre that this was part of. It really disturbed me reading it the first time, but 20 years later and I still vividly remember it. I think that's what makes it a powerful story. Also it's so bizarre that I can't really think of anything similar to compare it to.
Click to expand...
I don't know the lit you're referring to but what you wrote here makes me think of Shirley Jackson.
 
Day 8 - Kanai Mieko, Rabbits

I'm going with The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

I thought of the song the Shankill Butchers. The image of butchering animals and getting pleasure from it, and the idea of the wickedness that ruins innocence. Also the part about listening to or following your mother. Something the girl in the story doesn't do as she stays with her father and descends into a quasi-incestuous debauched existence with him.
Screenshot_20220409-114814.jpg

The Decemberists were part of the inspiration for this months challenges since all their music is storytelling.
 
Last edited:
Hemotep said:
There was a brief movement of Japanese women authors who were writing in the grotesque genre that this was part of. It really disturbed me reading it the first time, but 20 years later and I still vividly remember it. I think that's what makes it a powerful story. Also it's so bizarre that I can't really think of anything similar to compare it to.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it’s hung with me for sure. Partially because it all so surreal. The woman that is narrating the story describes it as though it was almost a dream. It’s feels a bit Kafka-eque though a much more gruesome take.
 
Day 09: Roberto Bolaño, Gómez Palacio

Silver Jews - American Waters
A0C58540-2ABE-4DC2-A2B1-3DACD8CA5FC3.jpeg
The first image that popped in my head after reading, “On the horizon I could see the highway disappearing into the hills…” was the American Water album art and being as I already kicked off the day with some Frightened Rabbit, I might as well lean into the suicidal songwriter theme for today.
 
April 8: Kanai Mieko, Rabbits
Soloriens Native Unity Quartet featuring Marshall Allen – Aerials And Antennas
20220409_103433.jpg

I may be making things more difficult for myself by having imposed my own secondary challenge this month, but it's fun!
In this case, rabbits brought me to the formerly ubiquitous rabbit ears antennas, which in turn led me to play this.
 
April 9: Roberto Bolaño, Gómez Palacio
  • “On the horizon I could see the highway disappearing into the hills. Night was beginning to approach from the east. Days before, at the motel, I had asked myself, What color is the desert at night? A stupid question, yet somehow I felt it held the key to my future, or perhaps not so much my future as my capacity for suffering.”
Queens Of The Stone Age "Songs For The Deaf" (2002 Interscope Records; 2019 club remaster)

IMG_2378.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top