The post Wake The Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2015 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

It’s up for debate whether Alexandra Kleeman’s début novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine is dystopian. I mean, it’s too familiar and life-like to be truly dystopian, although that’s exactly what makes it so terrifying. The world seems to be functioning pretty much as normal, as people go about their days with the aimless sense of duty we are all accustomed to, a far cry from the visions of Orwell or Burgess or Dick. But the definition of dystopia is “a community or society that is undesirable or frightening”, so who’s to say “normal” can’t also be dystopic?

Kleeman’s narrator ‘A’ is blank, mostly faceless with few discernible personality traits. Her job feels temporary and is barely mentioned. Many of her scenes involve her doing very little inside her apartment. Instead she is fleshed out through her exposure to-/interaction with her room-mate (‘B’), boyfriend (‘C’) and the vivid stream of entertainment and advertising (or entertaining advertisement) which seems part of the world’s very fabric. Obvious comparisons are Pynchon and Foster Wallace, plus George Saunders in his being-clever mode (as opposed to his sentimental one), although the focus is very much away from the large-scale political/societal systems in favour of personal, A-centric explorations. All background occurrences (the mystery of disappearing dads, an anti-veal activist who ends up marketing it, even B and C) are filtered through A’s experience.

As the story is told in first person this might seem obvious, but (to me at least) it goes much deeper than that. In most postmodern books the main character is subject to/lost amongst a world of disinformation, whereas in You Too… it’s A herself who feels like the disinformation. The question here isn’t “is the world as the media says it is?” but rather “am I who the media says I am? Who I think I am?” Whether this is an emerging trend in post-postmodern millennial literature, a natural reaction to a world in which identity is unsettled and fluctuating, or just a new, gender-based perspective on things traditionally written about by men is unclear. One thing is for certain, Kleeman is a name to watch among the new generation of writers building upon the work of the aforementioned greats.Here’s a collection of songs that I think are relevant or related to the novel. If you like a particular band, just click the artist name in the tracklisting to be whisked away for more information. Enjoy:

Tracklisting:

1. Too Dark – Frankie Cosmos
2. Sucks Hanging Out With You (It Sucks Even More When You Leave) – Free Cake For Every Creature
3. Slumber Party – Mommy Long Legs
4. What’s Another Lipstick Mark – Adult Mom
5. Unholy Faces – Florist
6. Bedroom – Alanna McArdle
7. TV – Oh, Rose & Sawtooth
8. Death Cult Paradise – Trace Mountains
9. I Saw My Twin – Hop Along
10. Nashville Parthenon – Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
11. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts – Wolf Parade
12. Oranges – Young Jesus
13. 1994 – PWR BTTM
14. Washing Machine – SPORTS
15. Lookalike / I Lost My Mind – Titus Andronicus

You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine is out now on HarperCollins. Quiet, Constant Friends is still available as a download or on cassette via the Wake The Deaf Bandcamp page. You can read the other Lit Links posts here. If you have a book in mind and fancy a go yourself, just get in touch!

The post Alexandra Kleeman – You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. By My Side – Valley Maker
   2. Shadow Play – Tierpark
   3. West Texas – PWR BTTM
   4. Console – Joplin Rice
   5. Lightning Dream Shuffle – Will Stratton (for Genius Loci)
   6. Dazed By You – PINS
   7. Y U – Fanpage
   8. The Rest – Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
   9. I’m Not – Hoshifo
   10. Nothing, Just Looking at the Moment – Lejsovka & Freund
   11. Stole Ur Bike – Boosegumps
   12. Our Headache Years – Nudes
   13. Worry, Glory – The Silence Set
   14. Sand – Frankie Cosmos
   15. xplodineyez – Field Medic
   16. Walking The Line – Sam Moss
   17. Bedroom – Alanna McArdle
   18. Tired – Captain Samurai
   19. Birds – M Caridi & The Glow
   20. Gardensong – Funeral Advantage
   21. Snow Bird – Ama Moii
   22. So Long, Suzie (The Damage is Done) – Morning River Band
   23. Cracks in the Sidewalk – Naomi Pop
   24. Burn This – Mauno
   25. What Coast – Grubs
   26. Pulled Over – Generifus
   27. EZ River – Wilder Maker

The post September Roundup – A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Fresh from putting out a split release with Jawbreaker Reunion earlier this year they are back with their debut full length, Ugly Cherries. A fair number of tracks have been unveiled in the previous weeks. ‘Dairy Queen‘ details plans for happiness/freedom/world domination to be set in motion once the narrator has finished their shower, while the title track confronts queerness head on with a clear-eyed defiance. The pick of the bunch is ‘West Texas’, where Hopkins and Bruce alternate verses to describe a variety of attempted escapes, all of which circle back to where they started – horribly, irrevocably in love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtquRuiGABc&feature=youtu.be

The latest track to be unveiled is ‘1994’, a throw back to the feel-good power-anthems of the early nineties. Once again however, the band mix this sense of fun with serious and personal lyrics, allowing for a song at once danceable and cryable:

“Haven’t seen your face since 1994
It feels like nothing
These days it pays to be so strange
And I’m like nothing”

Ugly Cherries is to be released on the 18th September. You can pre-order it now via Father/Daughter Records and Miscreant Records. The band are also heading out on tour for those of you in the US. See the full dates below (* indicates with Mitski, # are with Mitski and Palehound):

09/18 @ Silent Barn – Brooklyn, NY (Record release w/ Charly Bliss, Fern Mayo, Kississippi)
10/14 @ Aurora – Providence, RI (w/ S featuring Jenn Ghetto of Carissa’s Weird)
10/31 @ Shea Stadium – Brooklyn, NY (w/ Joanna Gruesome, Aye Nako, King of Cats)
11/10 @ PhilaMOCA – Philadelphia, PA *
11/11 @ DC9 – Washington, DC *
11/12 @ Southern Cafe – Charlottesville, VA #
11/13 @ Pinhook – Durham, NC #
11/14 @ Caledonia Lounge – Athens, GA #
11/16 @ The High Watt – Nashville, TN #
11/17 @ Bishop Bar – Bloomington, IN #
11/18 @ The Frequency – Madison, WI #
11/19 @ 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN #
11/20 @ Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL #
11/21 @ Rumba Cafe – Columbus, OH #
11/23 @ Smiling Buddha – Toronto, ON #
11/24 @ Casa Del Popolo – Montreal, QC #
11/25 @ BSP Lounge – Kingston, NY #

The post New music from PWR BTTM appeared first on Various Small Flames.