We have moved!!!

Thank you for visiting the 33 1/3 blog. We have moved to a new site, please visit us there.

http://333sound.com

and don't forget to follow us on twitter!
@333books

The 33 1/3 Author Q&A: Marc Weidenbaum

The 33 1/3 Author Q&A: Marc Weidenbaum

By Kaitlin Fontana, 33 1/3 editorial assistant

with contributions by Mara Berkoff

Over the next few months, we’ll be profiling the authors of the eighteen forthcoming 33 1/3 titles here on the blog so you can get to know them, their writing, and what kind of twisted soul chooses to think about just one album for months at a time. 

Up now: Marc Weidenbaum, publisher of the webzine Disquie,t focusing on the sounds of ambient and experimental music. Which album had Marc wired?  Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II, which left Weidenbaum wanting to debunk myth that the album is indeed beatless. In our interview, Marc tells us that “[it’s commonly asserted] that it has no rhythmic content. I think this is, simply, false.”

33 1/3: What, in particular, drew you to writing about this album?

Marc Weidenbaum: After the almost 20 years now that I've spent with Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II since its 1994 release, what drew me in particular was the album’s deep, resounding, unrepentant murkiness—which is to say, its absence of what might be considered particular. The record evades the idea of particular, except to the extent that its pronounced murkiness is particular to it. Tracks seem to bleed together, and to fall apart. The framing material abets in this: the general lack of song titles, the hazy graphics, and the limited liner notes. Ambient music is often packaged and promoted as being ephemeral, ethereal, but this album is more so than most; it’s tantalizingly difficult to get a grip on.

In many ways it is music that one can get—that one inevitably gets—lost in. That was plainly attractive in 1994. Come 2012, when I wrote the book proposal, the idea of getting lost—at our initial moment of pervasive cell phones, GPS, search indexes, Google Books, and so on—seems like a long lost ideal. I know that I am most comfortable when I am least comfortable, and the fact that Selected Ambient Works Volume II is still strange to me makes me uncomfortable in a good way.

33 1/3: Describe for us the process of coming up with and pitching your 33 1/3. Did anything surprise you?

MW: This was the second time I'd submitted a proposal to the 33 1/3 series. The first time was several cycles ago. I had then proposed the self-titled debut album by the Latin Playboys, an adjunct operation to Los Lobos featuring two members of that band plus the musician/producers Tchad Blake and Mitchell Froom. It didn't even make the shortlist cut. This time around, rather than simply select "the album I feel most passionately about at this moment," I intended instead to select an album at a Venn Diagram intersection of various essential things: It needed to be an album that gave me an opportunity to dig into the things I am most focused on (i.e., technologically mediated sound, ambient music, electronic music, generative music, sound art, field recordings), an album that was more myth and mystery than it was a crucible of received collective wisdom.

Two final factors, in discussion with various friends and colleagues, led me to focus on Aphex Twin. The primary one was that of the three final contenders (the other two being the Monolake and the Oval), Aphex Twin was the least conventionally understood. I wanted the book to be of service to its reader, and I felt that an underreported album would have a welcoming audience, especially a record, such as this one, that doesn’t expend much effort in telling its own story. I thought both Monolake and Oval would be fine choices, but in the end I couldn't really focus on a specific album—much as I love Hong Kong and 94 Diskont, respectively—by either that I felt stood alone the way Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II does. As for the thing that surprised me the most, it was, simply, how excited I got as I worked on the proposal. When I started the process, I was thinking the 33 1/3 series would be really neat to participate in. By the time I was deep in the final editing of my proposal, I was heart-poundingly, evangelically excited at the prospect of spending serious, purposeful time with this album.

33 1/3 Holiday Gift List

Tis the season to spend money.  But maybe everyone on your list isn't deserving of the complete Beatles Vinyl Remasters (priced at a cool $350). 

So why not spend a little less on 33 1/3-approved gear for your favorite music lover? 

1. For your lady friend who’s lost control: 

Joy Division or Pink Floyd Nail Art

From Etsy

 

2. For the guy/girl who needs new headphones and hates beats by dre: 

Rebel Alliance Headphones 

From Think Geek

3. For the swooning lady in your life

Celine Dion’s “Belong” perfume 

From 99 Perfume

4. For the guy who is just too cool

A Stone Roses Reni Bucket Hat

From Cool Freak

5. For the person who actually plays music often

A “Pick Punch” to make homemade guitar pics  

From Pick Punch

6. For the music lover who doubles as a cat lover

A Cat DJ Scratch Pad 

From Uncommon Goods

7. For the guy/girl who was there from the very beginning. Throw ya diamonds up! 

Jay-Z Light Switch 

From Etsy 

The 33 1/3 Author Q&A: Pete Astor

By Kaitlin Fontana, 33 1/3 editorial assistant

Pete Astor, 33 1/3 author and awfully cool gent

Over the next few months, we’ll be profiling the authors of the eighteen forthcoming 33 1/3 titles here on the blog so you can get to know them, their writing, and what kind of twisted soul chooses to think about just one album for months at a time. 

Up first: Pete Astor, who, aside from being an accomplished UK-based academic, is also a prolific and acclaimed indie musician, both as a solo act and as part of 80s bands The Loft and the Weather Prophets. His album of choice? Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ Blank Generation. “As an archly nihilistic teenager myself at the time, I was most impressed,” writes Astor in his 33 1/3 pitch for the 1977 album. About Richard Hell,punk persona numero uno behind it, he adds, “Here was an artist who could not only embody but also frame the punk urge; just what was needed to make one of the defining records of the era.”  

 33 1/3: What, in particular, drew you to writing about this album?

Pete Astor: It was a formative part of my development. There was the right “fit” between Blank Generation and me; just the album a thoughtful, angry and quietly overdramatic adolescent needs. 

33 1/3: Who will you be reaching out to during the writing process? Why?

PA: I’ll be speaking to the key players in the making of the record, including Voidoids members Ivan Julian and Marc Bell, and producer Richard Gottehrer. I’m also in cordial contact with Richard Hell, who has agreed to check facts and details. But, as his story is very well-documented, both in the Richard Hell Papers in the Fales Downtown Collection at NYU and in his upcoming autobiography, I Dreamt I Was A Very Clean Tramp, (due for publication by Ecco/ Harper Collins next year), he feels that direct participation in the study would not be helpful. This of course is good for me, as I have access, but also an appropriate distance: theoretically the basis for a perfect relationship!

Competition: The Winners

So, the goal of the contest was to choose which 18 of the 94 titles on our long-list would make it through to the final stage. We had over 350 entries from around the world - so thank you to everybody who had a go. (Including our dear former colleague who, with a little insider knowledge and a cunning fake name, managed to get 12 correct.)

The top non-cheating score was 8 out of 18. And there were 8 of you who hit those dizzy heights. In no particular order:

Laurent Derycke
Avner Ben-Yishai
Rhys Fraser
John F
Michael Demopoulos
Will Pierce
Paul Rothman
Maurice Funken

(Avner: not totally sure I got your name right, but that was the best my Hebrew detective skills could come up with - sorry if it's wrong!)

I put those 8 names into a hat just now and pulled out one. So the winner of an entire set of all 86 books published to date in the series is:

Rhys Fraser

Many congrats, Rhys - we'll be in touch.

For the 7 runners-up, we'll be in touch with you too, as we'd like to send you each 5 books from the series, of your choice.

Remarkably, of all the entries, every single person got at least one correct answer. All the entries, that is, except for Candace Mills - Candace, for such a rare display of skill, we'd like to offer you 5 free books as well. We'll be in touch!

Thanks again to all who entered, and we'll have more contests in the run-up to the series' 10th birthday, a year from now.

18 New Titles

Bloomsbury is thrilled to announce that we'll be publishing the following 18 titles in the 33 1/3 series during 2013 and 2014:

Andrew WK: I Get Wet, by Phillip Crandall
Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works Vol II, by Marc Weidenbaum
Beach Boys: Smile, by Luis Sanchez
Bjork: Biophilia, by Nicola Dibben
Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe, by Tara Murtha
Danger Mouse: The Grey Album, by Charles Fairchild
Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, by Mike Foley
Devo: Freedom of Choice, by Evie Nagy
Gang of Four: Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar
Hole: Live Through This, by Anwyn Crawford
J Dilla: Donuts, by Jordan Ferguson
Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, by Kirk Walker Graves
Michael Jackson: Dangerous, by Susan Fast
Oasis: Definitely Maybe, by Alex Niven
Richard Hell and the Voidoids: Blank Generation, by Pete Astor
Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson, by Darran Anderson
Sigur Ros: ( ), by Ethan Hayden
They Might Be Giants: Flood, by Alex Reed and Philip Sandifer

We sincerely hope that you'll enjoy the books on this list when they publish; these were the proposals that most inspired and excited us. (Although there were many, many others that could also have made wonderful books: if we ever figure out how to publish more of this work without diluting the series too much, we'll let you know!)

I'll post again very shortly about the Competition results.

There are still dozens of you who sent in proposals that ended up being turned down, and then requested feedback. I'm way behind on that, for which I can only apologise but I will respond to all of you before the end of September.

And finally: a massive Thank You to everybody who's taken part in, and helped out with, this process over the past several months - it's been a pleasure.

David

Competition Time!

On Friday August 31st, we'll be announcing the 18 titles that have made the cut out of the 471 that we received back in the spring.

To win an entire set of the series (all 86 volumes published so far), we have a simple task for you. Look at the shortlist of 94 possible titles below, and pick out the 18 that you think we'll end up selecting. The person who gets the closest to getting all 18 right will win the contest. (And in the event of a tie, we'll figure something out...)

Send your entry (one per person only) to:

thefinaleighteen at gmail dot com

before the end of Thursday August 30th.

Your email *must* have the subject line "My List of 18" - anything without that will not be accepted.

Good luck!

**

Andrew WK I Get Wet
Rush 2112
The Pharcyde Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
J Dilla Donuts
The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Vol II
Outkast Stankonia
Black Flag Damaged
Sigur Ros ( )
M.I.A. Arular
Wilco Being There
Randy Newman Good Old Boys
Rammstein Sehnsucht
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Nico Desertshore
Jandek Chair Beside A Window
Parliament Mothership Connection
Kraftwerk Trans-Europe Express
Eminem The Slim Shady LP
Daft Punk Discovery
Richard Hell Destiny Street Repaired
Rush 2112
Frank Zappa Joe's Garage
Oasis Definitely Maybe
The Mekons Rock'n'Roll
The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues
X Wild Gift
Nocturnal Emissions Spiritflesh
Danger Mouse The Grey Album
Phish Billy Breathes
The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat
Richard Hell and the Voidoids Blank Generation
Jay-Z The Blueprint
Gang of Four Entertainment!
Can Tago Mago
Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson
Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind
Ashlee Simpson Autobiography
Crass Christ - The Album
Smokey Robinson Going to a Go-Go
Helmet Meantime
The Game The Documentary
Janis Joplin Pearl
Gil Scott-Heron Winter in America
The Godz Godz 2
The Incredible String Band Wee Tam and the Big Huge
Queen News of the World
The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks…
Half Man Half Biscuit Back in the DHSS
Big Black Songs about Fucking
Black Flag Damaged
The Wrens Meadowlands
ELO Out of the Blue
Caetano Veloso Caetano Veloso
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Insane Clown Posse The Great Milenko
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
Drake Thank Me Later
Bobbie Gentry Ode to Billie Joe
Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible
They Might Be Giants Lincoln
Isaac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul
Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
Lady Gaga The Fame
Pet Shop Boys Very
Van Halen Van Halen
Motley Crue Too Fast for Love
David Bowie Diamond Dogs
Beat Happening Beat Happening
Woody Guthrie Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti
Diamanda Galas Malediction and Prayer
The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Beach Boys Smile
Michael Jackson Dangerous
Hole Live Through This
John Lennon and Yoko Ono Double Fantasy
The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers
Tubeway Army Replicas
Devo Freedom of Choice
Jay-Z The Blueprint
Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell
Bjork Biophilia
Van Morrison Astral Weeks
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
Refused The Shape of Punk to Come
Sloan Twice Removed
Tricky Maxinquaye
Husker Du New Day Rising
They Might Be Giants Flood
The Congos Heart of the Congos
Gogol Bordello Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike

Abbey Road

If you're in the mood for a stunning, sumptuous, beautifully produced coffee table book about a legendary recording studio, then I do believe we have just the item for you.

Abbey Road: The Best Studio in the World is by Alistair Lawrence and comes with a foreword from Sir George Martin. It publishes next week in the UK, and in October in North America. Here's a short piece of descriptive copy about it:

The first photographic celebration of the most famous recording studio in the world, publishing in its 80th year. Unprecedented access to the Abbey Road archive - from Edward Elgar to the Beatles, Kate Bush to Elbow the most famous artists in the world have recorded here. This gorgeous book includes material on the artists, the engineers, the technology and the history of Abbey Road. It's an incredible document of cultural history, for anyone who values music and how it's made.

There's a link to the book on Amazon.co.uk here, and to the book on Amazon.com here.

Also (and this is the kind of thing I get pathetically excited about), there's a limited, numbered special edition of the book (200 copies only - each signed by Sir George) which you can pre-order through the Bloomsbury website or find in a handful of specialist bookstores.

And finally, there's a piece on the book at the Abbey Road website, here.

Pitchfork Fest!

For the first time ever, Pitchfork Music Festival, the biggest indie festival in the US, is hosting a literary section. They're calling it the Book Fort, and it will host several awesome vendors, including McSweeney's, Chicago's own Featherproof Books, and many more. Oh, and us--yep, two of us from team 33 1/3 will be there, both repping our books and hanging out for the readings and discussions. P-fork says:

Heralded for its innovative publications, Chicago-based Featherproof Books is the perfect host for this year's PMF Book Fort. Armed with literary ammo and manned by some of the most dangerous minds in indie publishing, the Book Fort offers the chance to learn about up-and-coming young writers, leaf through books hot-off-the-presses, and find your next book-club read. Panel discussions and readings will contribute to the festival's stimulating creative atmosphere.

We're still locking down details, but if you're in Chicago July 13-15 and are coming to the Pitchfork Music Festival, come say hi and pick up a book or two. (Plus, have you seen that lineup? It's pretty great!) See you there.

Big Star documentary gets a blog

We've posted here before about Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, a feature documentary on "rock's first cult band." We here at 33 1/3 are big fans of the band (and are very proud of Bruce Eaton's take on Big Star's Radio City). Now the filmmakers behind the doc--who, it should be mentioned, crowdfunded the doc via Kickstarter--have started an awesomely obsessive Tumblr about the band and its doings, and it's worth a look not just for Big Star fans but for music fans in general. From the blog:

This is the vinyl lathe at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The Omnivore reissue of THIRD/Sister Lovers was mastered on this machine as were the original Big Star records in the 1970’s. Ardent is one of the few studios that masters their own vinyl reference disks. It was purchased from STAX Records in the heyday and came with their technician, Larry Nix.

How cool is that? I don't even think I've seen a vinyl lathe before. Nothing Can Hurt Me was featured as a work-in-progress at SXSW this year; We'll make sure to track its progress and keep you updated.

Talking Heads & New York Times Book Review

Hold on tight. “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around.” Jonathan Lethem’s monograph on Talking Heads’ “Fear of Music” isn’t your everyday, step-by-step, track-by-track snapshot of a great record. “This ain’t the Mudd Club, or CBGB, I ain’t got time for that now.” And, most definitely, Lethem’s contribution to Continuum’s “33 1/3” series isn’t a quick spin down memory lane. It’s obsessive, passionate and personal. In short, the name of this new book by Jonathan Lethem is “Fear of Music.”

The rest of this lovely review by Pat Irwin can be found here.

The 94

I'm very pleased to announce that the following 94 proposals are still in the running, from the 471 that we received during March and April.

Andrew WK I Get Wet
Rush 2112
The Pharcyde Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
J Dilla Donuts
The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers
Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works Vol II
Outkast Stankonia
Black Flag Damaged
Sigur Ros ( )
M.I.A. Arular
Wilco Being There
Randy Newman Good Old Boys
Rammstein Sehnsucht
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Nico Desertshore
Jandek Chair Beside A Window
Parliament Mothership Connection
Kraftwerk Trans-Europe Express
Eminem The Slim Shady LP
Daft Punk Discovery
Richard Hell Destiny Street Repaired
Rush 2112
Frank Zappa Joe's Garage
Oasis Definitely Maybe
The Mekons Rock'n'Roll
The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues
X Wild Gift
Nocturnal Emissions Spiritflesh
Danger Mouse The Grey Album
Phish Billy Breathes
The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat
Richard Hell and the Voidoids Blank Generation
Jay-Z The Blueprint
Gang of Four Entertainment!
Can Tago Mago
Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson
Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind
Ashlee Simpson Autobiography
Crass Christ - The Album
Smokey Robinson Going to a Go-Go
Helmet Meantime
The Game The Documentary
Janis Joplin Pearl
Gil Scott-Heron Winter in America
The Godz Godz 2
The Incredible String Band Wee Tam and the Big Huge
Queen News of the World
The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks…
Half Man Half Biscuit Back in the DHSS
Big Black Songs about Fucking
Black Flag Damaged
The Wrens Meadowlands
ELO Out of the Blue
Caetano Veloso Caetano Veloso
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Insane Clown Posse The Great Milenko
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
Drake Thank Me Later
Bobbie Gentry Ode to Billie Joe
Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible
They Might Be Giants Lincoln
Isaac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul
Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely
Lady Gaga The Fame
Pet Shop Boys Very
Van Halen Van Halen
Motley Crue Too Fast for Love
David Bowie Diamond Dogs
Beat Happening Beat Happening
Woody Guthrie Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti
Diamanda Galas Malediction and Prayer
The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy
The Mountain Goats All Hail West Texas
The Beach Boys Smile
Michael Jackson Dangerous
Hole Live Through This
John Lennon and Yoko Ono Double Fantasy
The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I
Robert Johnson King of the Delta Blues Singers
Tubeway Army Replicas
Devo Freedom of Choice
Jay-Z The Blueprint
Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell
Bjork Biophilia
Van Morrison Astral Weeks
PJ Harvey Let England Shake
Refused The Shape of Punk to Come
Sloan Twice Removed
Tricky Maxinquaye
Husker Du New Day Rising
They Might Be Giants Flood
The Congos Heart of the Congos
Gogol Bordello Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike

If I've managed to figure out the technology, everybody who originally sent in a proposal should have just received an email, bearing either good or bad news. If for some reason you haven't received that email from me, and you're finding out via this blog post, I'm sorry - that was not the intention.

I should reiterate here that many, many of the proposals that didn't make the cut were really very strong - it was a real pleasure and an honour to read them all. And I do hope that the authors of those proposals post them online somewhere for others to enjoy.

As for the next stage: we'll do our damnedest to push through to the final decisions in the next 2 months and we'll keep everyone posted. I hope you'll forgive us if it takes a little longer than late July, though - we want to get this as right as we possibly can!

Anyhow: comment away, and feel free to ask questions, as usual...

Lethem in Waltham, Mass June 6

I am just going to post this again verbatim because it will almost certainly sell out and will be a really fun night. Here's a link to some great coverage in the Boston Phoenix, and here's an interview from Pitchfork... There's also a rave review on the way in this weekend's New York Times Book Review.  Link to ticketing site is below!

Wednesday, June 6th at 7:00pm

Back Pages Books presents  
A BOOK, A BAND, A BREW 

Featuring

• Jonathan Lethem reading from his 33 1/3 volume on Talking Heads Fear of Music (book)
• Winterpills playing a selection of Talking Heads cover songs (band)
• Watch City Brewery beers (brew)

WATCH CITY BREWERY
256 MOODY STREET
WALTHAM, MA 02453

Tickets are $22 and include a copy of the book and a complimentary drink from the bar.
It is expected to sell out, so don't wait until the last minute. It is also worth mentioning that this is Jonathan's only east coast tour date, so...
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE  TICKETS.


(and for those of you who can't make it for whatever reason, here's a link to an excellent interview with NPR's music blog The Record.)

Dead Trend hits the road

Mike Fournier, author of the 33 1/3 on The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime, will be hitting the road starting today with band in tow to support his novel Hidden Wheel.  You can read more about Hidden Wheel and the band Dead Trend in this article from the Boston Globe.

5/18: Brooklyn NY. Book Thug Nation. With Mike Faloon, Mike DeCapite, & Tobias Carroll. 7 PM
5/19: Harrisburg PA. Midtown Scholar. With Mike Faloon. Early reading: 2 PM
5/20: New Brunswick, NJ. Rehab House. With Black Wine and Mike Faloon. Hit me for info. 7:30 PM
5/22: Philadelphia PA. Megan’s house. Brunch matinee! 12:30PM
5/22: Philadelphia PA. Beaumont Warehouse. 6 PM
5/25: Baltimore MD. Atomic Books. With Laura Barcella. 7 PM
5/27: Richmond VA: Chop Suey Books. Early show. 3 PM
5/29: Durham NC: Regulator Books. 7PM
6/4: Atlanta GA. Wonder Root. 6 PM
6/6: Nashville TN. Portland Brew. With Todd Dills and Quincy Rhoads. 6PM

Some pics and a short write up of a recent Dead Trend show with Mike Watt and J Mascis (among others) can be found here.

June 6 / Lethem in Boston (well, Waltham, but close enough)

Wednesday, June 6th at 7:00pm

Back Pages Books presents  
A BOOK, A BAND, A BREW 

Featuring

• Jonathan Lethem reading from his 33 1/3 volume on Talking Heads Fear of Music (book)
• Winterpills playing a selection of Talking Heads cover songs (band)
• Watch City Brewery beers (brew)

WATCH CITY BREWERY
256 MOODY STREET
WALTHAM, MA 02453

Tickets are $22 and include a copy of the book and a complimentary drink from the bar.
It is expected to sell out, so don't wait until the last minute. It is also worth mentioning that this is Jonathan's only east coast tour date, so...
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE  TICKETS.


(and for those of you who can't make it for whatever reason, here's a link to an excellent interview with NPR's music blog The Record.)

And keep an eye on our facebook and twitter pages.  I'm going to be giving away some signed copies of the book in the next few days.