I recently moved to San Francisco from Japan. Here is a picture of San Francisco:
San Francisco is like Japan, in that there are human beings here. It is also different from Japan because the human beings speak mostly English. While Japan is a country, San Francisco is a city in the United States. San Francisco is where I live now.
I am working on a novel about a long beaked echidna. I was inspired by a piece in the times. This is what I’ve written so far:
Here a long-beaked echidna walks across the forest floor in search of food. He has no name, is defined by his scent. His scent is his name. He is our echidna. The ground is sopping wet and it has been raining for seventeen days. Our echidna wanders the highlands of New Guinea, but doesn’t know what ‘New Guinea’ means; he is not a human being. Remember that. Little fat feet suck the muck and make footprints recognizable only for a short while before they fill with water and disappear. Little black beady eyes swivel left-right-left-left-up-down searching for larvae and worms. Occasionally our little monotreme stops and his proboscis roots around the warm earth. Bingo! He finds a grub. The earth is as warm as the air, and balloon-like grub is a bit warmer still. A gooey snack. A thin snakelike tongue flits in and out of our echidna’s cone shaped snout. His skin is pink and naked and his eyes are black and beady. He has spines for protection but is not really aware of them. They look like number two pencils poking out of a mammalian eraser. His body appears squishy and fetal: a larger version of the baby animals you’ve see in nature videos worming through the soft wet hairs of their mother to drink milk. Even with his protruding schnoz and marble eyes, our echidna’s face has a pleasant countenance – a physiognomy so ancient that it projects pathetic naivete. Our echidna has a depressed and simple face. Pathetic but existential.
For some context, this is what our echidna looks like:
long-beaked echidna
Little Joy
2009 is half-way through and it has already proven to be a far better year for music than 2008. Yet, rather than pull a gorilla vs bear and make a best of 2009.5 list, here are seven of my favorite bands/records/songs have been giving me a seriously appreciated summer vibe. Oldies (but goodies) are included.
1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion.
The leak appeared in late 2008 and I had pretty much stopped listening to it by March. But now it’s summer! Songs that didn’t strike me when the album came out now seem great bubbly tunes for summer. Summertime Clothes most of all, natch.
2. Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Saint Etienne seems to be the template for about a million other bands (mostly coming out of Sweden, on the Sincerely Yours label) that have blown-up recently. Tough Alliance, Memory Cassette, jj, Air France, and even High Places, Beach House, and School of Seven Bells owe pretty much everything to these guys. Not to mention last year’s blogosphere dominating remix of Friendly Fires which basically is this song.
The definition of balearic indie. Period.
3. jj – ecstasy / my life, my swag
On the aforementioned Sincerely Yours label. I love just about everything coming out of Gothenburg Sweden these days. Jj’s bizarro take on Lil Wayne may be my absolute favorite thing right now. Who knew that Sweden was some sort of mythical summer drug paradise. Apparently it is.
4. Cass McCombs – Dreams Come True Girl
Folk-crooner Cass McCombs has an awesome new record and this Orbison-esque country meditation is the first track, and my favorite. The video is perfectly nostalgic and has skateboarding in it (nostalgia + skateboarding = the way to blastodon’s <3).
5. Little Joy – Next Time Around
Yes, this is from 2008, but it would be a huge shame not to include it on any summer list. This song was built for summer. It makes no sense in any other context.
6. Major Lazer – Keep it Goin’ Louder
Switch and Diplo teamed up to made a ridiculously fun dance-hall album, but the most fun track on the record is also the most accessible one. In a perfect alternate universe this would be the top played song on every top 40 station in the country.
7. Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love
The single best summer banger of all time. No hyperbole.
Other music with an awesome summer vibe getting heavy iPod rotation:
-Memory Cassette – Tough Alliance – Air France – Bibio – Japandroids – The Underwater Peoples Summer 2009 Compilation -
