Friday Links: AAPI Math Rock Edition
"Looking through the letters / I can see / into the earth / below, the blue blur / of bones." - Ocean Vuong, "Logophobia"
Nazis unwelcome: here’s my post about moving this blog off of Substack soon. I might put this stinger on every post until then to try to irritate Nazi Sympathizer Hamish McKenzie. I might forget/get bored and stop. Not today though!
Cotton Xenomorph’s “Cryptids and Climate Change” issue continues, with so much good stuff this month. Check out “Judas Elk,” a pretty wild poem from Adrianna Gordey.
We’re firmly in a post-rock world. That’s been true for as long as I’ve been sentient. That doesn’t mean guitar bands are dead, or even that rock is dead. It means that guitar music is open to more possibilities. I don’t know enough about the history of the genre to know if there’s something distinctly Asian about math rock—the genre certainly isn’t limited to Asian musicians—but if you look in Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong? You’ll find some kickass guitarists, twinkling away with clean tone and weird time signatures.
But first, some real good books!
What I’ve Been Reading This Week:
Two books that, when you’re reading them, don’t feel overwhelming in their sadness. Which is good, because there is plenty of sadness to go around. There’s a kind of tough tenderness here, both books shot through with beauty and love even as bad things happen. I’m talking, of course, about Hard Skin by Melissa Llanes Brownlee and Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong.
Hard Skin by Melissa Llanes Brownlee: being honest, I am not generally a fan of fiction from children’s perspectives. For every Stranger Things or The Tin Drum there’s the thousands of clichéd ~~~smol bean innocence lost~~~ stories we rejected from the undergrad lit mag. It’s thrilling, then, to report that Melissa’s collection of short stories rocks and is a delight to read. Melissa was one of the first writers we published when I started at Cotton Xenomorph, and she’s a flash fiction writer I truly look forward to having new stuff come out. I would argue she’s even grown as a writer since this book was published, but that doesn’t mean this book isn’t a banger.
These stories are, as I said, mostly from the perspective of young people, and there’s a real struggle to understand a world that often doesn’t make sense. Why do people want to exploit land? Why do people feel anything but joy and reverence at nature? Why do parents beat their kids? Why do we make offerings to Pele every year if we also go to church every Sunday? The language reflects—lyrical, careful, not a wasted word—reflects the dissonance of Hawaii’s status as its own place and own people but also belonging to the United States. It also reminds me a touch of Their Eyes Were Watching God, perhaps obviously because there is heavy dialect writing, but on a deeper level, there’s a sense that this particular snapshot of Hawaiian life/hybrid language needs to be recorded before it disappears. I felt grateful reading this book, in the “books can transport you someplace else” kind of sense.
Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong: is this the first time I’ve re-read a book already talked about on this blog? Blog’s only 19 months old. That said, I read this book very early, before I decided “hey maybe I should just talk about a new book every week,” and I feel like my reading comprehension is better? For whatever reason, I have read this book before, but I don’t feel like it, even if some poems were familiar to me.
How glad I am to revisit this! I feel like I am the latest possible person to Ocean Vuong, everyone’s already read all of his books and has opinions. Bob’s read him on The Line Break and I thought I had, but that was the homie Lyd Havens. These poems are lyrical, vulnerable, wounded, yet very much in touch with what’s beautiful in the world. There’s self-doubt and the injustices of war and fathers and future sons and mothers and rivers and wounds, all wrapped up in really good poetry. I’ll check out his other stuff soon, this is a great first book.
LINKS!
It would be silly to give you something to listen to while you browse these links of things to listen to. Instead, here is an octopus:
Longtime readers probably know Covet, I talk about Covet a lot. Frontwoman/lead guitarist/songwriter Yvette Young is also a trained classical pianist, which you can totally tell if you listen to early Covet. Recently, she composed a three-part (she doesn’t say ‘three-movement,’ I think you could) piece for guitar and a 19-piece string orchestra. Combining electric guitars with classical instruments is a schtick I was super into in high school and am less so now (it is possible to overdose on Trans-Siberian Orchestra, kids), but Yvette’s composition is really great. The third movement is my favorite.
A twinkly, mathy quartet from Manila, tide/edit is incredibly fun. They advertise themselves as “playing happy music,” and it’s true. Too much of their songs at once, though, and things can get a little same-y. Do what I do: go long stretches without listening to them, then spend some sunny day listening to all of their records. It’s great! Here they are playing on a bus, which seems difficult, but people do lots of things on busses.
Elephant Gym is another band I talk about a lot, because they are, as Brendan put it one time, “a band with limitless creativity.” Or something. I have auto-delete text messages on my phone, so I can’t fact-check. Elephant Gym has a new album that is rad, and they recently played a KEXP set.
Some bands exude cool even if you’ve never seen them play. toe is one of those bands. My favorite song of theirs is “Last Night,” and here they are, looking awesome in this surrounding-audience setting.
Let’s go back to Manila, man, the Philippines are so cool. AOUI is a sick band I started listening to recently, my favorite track being “Chebodeh!”
What’re you still doing here? Well, I mean, I hope you’re still jamming some tunes. It’s Friday! Dance a little. We got any photos of people dancing?
If you work in the service industry, may you clean up in tips this weekend. And hey, this is hard to do after a long shift, but look up and take a second to appreciate the night sky. We love the night sky. And if you work in the service industry, I know you got exit wounds.
Sorry you got an email,
Chris
Oh!! Thank you so very much!! Your words mean so much to me!!