Is This Thing On?

Today is the anniversary of the "on-sale" date for Decomposition. Also, this year I have blogged a total of three times. 

Is there a connection?

Part of the reason for my absence is that I took most of 2015 to revise my middle-grade novel. I finally finished it in September, and now I'm waiting to see if it will find a publisher.

In the meantime I'm trying to triangulate the two writer-identities I have for some reason insisted on forging for myself: the lapsed academic who writes kooky things about music and culture, and the fantasy novelist.

I feel like there must be a connection there, but I haven't figured out what it is yet.

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Things I'm listening to:

La Luz, Weirdo Shrine.

Wiener Kids, What a Mess.

Chris Schlarb,Dropsy. (Chris and I have long shared an affinity for Zappa, and the melodies on this recording are some the most Zappa-esque I've heard from him.)

Pelican, What We All Come to Need.

And something I just received in the mail and can't wait to dive into: The Big Reveal, by my friends Hot Breakfast! (Heard an advance cut from this a while back, and it was gorgeous. I bet the rest of the album is too.)

I'm also returning to some musical projects of my own, of which more soon.

For what it’s worth: if I believed in things like "record of the year," my vote might go to Sufjan Stevens's Carrie and Lowell. 

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Via Alex Rodriguez, this JSTOR article about Miles Davis. I feel like stuff like this can only come from people who don't think hard enough about what music is. Consider this (quoted) question:

How are we to account for such glaring defects in the performances of someone who is indisputably one of the most important musicians in the history of jazz?

The answer is easy: first, redefine the word “defect.” Next, stop obsessing about what is or is not “important.” If you love a piece of music, great. If not, also great.

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A friend recently reminded me how quiet (socially awkward?) I am in real life, which reminded me why I write in the first place: it’s my main and preferred form of communication. With that in mind, I pledge to be back here more often from now on.