lit randomness: eggers, punk fiction intro, greg ames, poets’ beards and more

We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon and Wed.

Dave Eggers, of McSweeney’s notoriety, and his brother Toph (yeah, that brother from that book) do their first interview together to promote their new book on Cold Fusion: At Paste. BTW, help save Paste.

Intro by Johnny Marr to new punk fiction anthology: At 3am.

Interview w/ Greg Ames, author of Buffalo Lockjaw: At Maud Newton.

All-time 10 ten best and worst mothers in comics: From Newsrama (h/t Fangirls Attack)

Poets ranked by beard weight: At Journey Round My Skull (h/t Bookslut blog)

The Millions’ Staff must-have subscrip list: At The Millions.

Review: Dish, Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour

Dish, "This Ain’t Livin’"

Guess the only reason to write is because the album “rocks” or something, though Dish has more of an eye on Southern groove surf music with Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour like their pensive Orlando location would give them. Stuck between two oceans but not close enough to either, this is the musical expression of being influenced by the coast and the confederacy. (Update: their Myspace says Deland, so really that’s the Atlantic, not the Gulf…I think the “expression” statement still holds true, however).

“This Ain’t Livin” gives us the classic line “I’m so hungry I could eat my stomach” before morphing from a laid-back acoustic into a rowdy Ben Kweller breakdown (if Ben Kweller is rowdy…). But rowdy enough to cause one of the bros, Nathaniel to leave which kind of sucks…Dish bends and twists several musical styles on Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour, I think I was told to write by somebody something akin to the Cold War Kids, but I’m also thinking The Raconteurs, so maybe they told me to write that too. “Cold Is,” the second album track, was recently on NPR so maybe I’m way behind on this or NPR is way cool. I choose neither, except I choose Dish.

Other faves include “Death and Romance” with upbeat melodic distortion if there is such a thing; and “Family Tree” which follows the same slow, slow, faster, slow, rock, rock, rock formula of some of the others mentioend here. I hear they use a lot of pots and pans and random objects for percussion, so continue to dish up this goodness. Hopefully the bros find ways to trade music files over USendIt and keep this stuff coming.

Vid for “This Ain’t Livin” after the jump:

review: Benjamin Bear “Lungs”

Benjamin Bear
“Lungs”
Self-released 2008
www.myspace.com/benjaminbearmusic
www.benjaminbear.org

Though the name is Benjamin Bear, there isn’t a bear or a Benjamin among this Seattle group. What is here is a deep, almost damning introspection that bends the will of the piano into narrative pathways that is usually assumed by the singer-songwriter with a guitar strapped on. All that remains is dark Ben Folds heady trip that does not depend on easy chorus hooks, but on full verses. They would be “soul” if the word had not already been ripped from its original meaning into a musical one. So I’m stuck with words like “brooding but hopeful” and “holy crap, this is what the Counting Crows would have been before selling out for the Top 40.” The voice of Mychal Cohen interplays with elegant sweeps on the piano to produce gems like “Russ,” whose quick tipped licks reveal a playful and honest confessions about a medical crisis with clever lyrical inversions that stick for days.
Those are the same reasons I like the second track, ‘Posterboy” which also starts in a soft but steady piano beat before plunging into a rocking chorus with jazzy drums provided by David Stern. The surprises that Cohen gives with his piano playing elevates Benjamin Bear beyond a novelty into a surefire creative force.