6 posts from November 2006

Submission No. 2: Onion Girl
"I wield the power of the onion. I can bring people to painful tears and make their noses run and I can release smells that can repulse you."

Dave Eggers' new book is out this month in the US. It is a biographical piece of fiction based on a Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng and his journey as a child to Ethiopian refugee camp. Heard a short interview with both of them on NPR Books and it sounds really amazing. There is also a more lengthy article on Salon.com entitled "Lost and Found".

Very much looking forward to reading this book!

<<< Note: Top leather tab reads: The WORD : Contemporary English Version ("WORD" has a cross in the "O")

I recommend this for those young hip n' happinin bible smooching evangelicals. Great for a more casual setting outside the congregation. I can just see you in Gloria Jeans (mind the pun) sippin your caramel latés over a favorite psalm. And for those who aren't down with Jesus watch out because these are not zip locked denim day planners like they look. Inside this neat little trendy package is the Word... of GOD : Contemporary English Version!

Animal collective do just happen to be my favorite band in the world presently but what I am about to say is uneffected by this. I have done some thinking on the ramifications of the statements I am about to make and I am comfortable with the consequences that might result > so just listen up!

The beginning came on heavy and my smirk at the novelty of seeing them all in the flesh quickly turned into a wide and confortably unaware smile as I made some personal realizations. After sinking into the thick air that surrounded me, boarded up and safe inside my wall of friends, I noticed that no one before me had started shaking and jumping and bopping as I was. This seemed all normal in that way I hate. You know: that plague of apathy we wear like a hat here in Sydney, I being one that refuses to accept that I am not allowed to get prematurely excited, partly because I am constantly prematurely excited about anything worth getting excited about. So I kept going, disregarding the straight ungiving bodies and looking back at my associate who reciprocated my giant gleeful grin.

They played Daffy Duck first. There wasn't just perfectly effected dreamy guitar and vocals but some feeling like the ripply sound that wafts around when you row through a secret tunnel in a dinky boat. All the little crackles and splashes and ripples that hit the edges bounce back and forth between your ears. It was the panning. There was lots of panning. Oh... I do love panning! And as the song beautifully climaxed and desintigrated, rebuilding and collapsing it was clear to me that these musicians I have been following have really developed a craft for reproducing their bazaar songs in a live context. Some people had told me that they were not as one expected and that we were to prepare for possible disappointment. Well, they were idiots.

Avey Tare was garbed in pajamas with a repeated small floral patern and a splatter of coloured paint on the chest as if he had hugged someone's painting that hadn't quite dried. He looked like a child that had escaped from his sleeping house to come and perform for us. And there it all kind of fits in to place. I have always thought that so much of their music sounds like it was created for a child. It makes me feel special, indestructable and magic, with super powers, enchanted powers and endless energy.

Every few songs seemed like something they hadn't yet released which always makes it feel special and there were maybe three short gaps in the whole set for guitar changing and a small joke. Other than that, it all just seeped in together. Everything seemed a little hyper real or maybe they weren't real people. Maybe they were aliens. Panda's drumming in The Purple Bottle confirmed it. He had three arms and was jumping from one side to the other like those people on the dancing machines in timezone. And the Geologist with his head fastened mini-torch shook around and around, over and over, draped in bone-lights from some halloween display.

By the third song though, people ability to contain their enthusiasm ceased and they all just started screaming and closing their eyes in bliss swaying too and fro. And when they played We Tigers with two on the drums and two on microphones it became clear how much fun they must have with their music. They were like playful animals or a bunch of prehistoric men around a campfire syking each other out and as they leapt into the chorus squealing the melody I was sure we would all join in with hands raised and we did, jumping up and down! I could feel some around me realising and accepting what I was concluding myself which was that this was the best gig I had ever witnessed. The best musical experience so far. I had to stop myself innitially and make my comparisons, going back in time and straining out subsequent sentimentalities that might rig the scales but the truth of the matter was that when I walked out I felt like I was on some sort of awesome drug. I was giddy. My legs felt like jelly and I kept yelling everything i said partly because I had contracted normal post-gig deafness but mostly because I was so excited.