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thequeerlibrarian · 5 months

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Read in 2023

January

1. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian - 5/5 ⭐

2. The Silmarillion by Tolkien - 4/5⭐

3. Seide und Schwert by Kai Meyer - 5/5⭐

4. Lanze und Licht by Kai Meyer - 5/5⭐

February

5. Drache und Diamant by Kai Meyer - 5/5⭐

6. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo - 5/5⭐

7. The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller - 5/5⭐

8. The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis - 4/5⭐

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis - 5/5⭐

March

10. Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare - 5/5⭐

11. The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis - 2.75/5⭐

12. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - 5/5⭐

April

13. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - 5/5⭐

14. One last stop by Casey McQuiston - 3.5/5⭐

15. You Deserve Better by Anne-Marie - 3.75/5⭐

16. Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian - 5/5⭐

17. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia C. S. Lewis - 5/5⭐

18. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis - 5/5⭐

May

19. The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis - 5/5⭐

20. The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis - 4.75/5⭐

21. King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo - 5/5⭐

22. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo - 5/5⭐

June

23. Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Book by Suzanne Collins - 5/5⭐

24. Summer poems by Hermann Hesse - 5/5⭐

July

August

25. Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen - 4/5⭐

September

26. Harry Potter 1 reread for work

27. Harry Potter 2 reread for work

October

28. Harry Potter 3 reread for work

29. Babel by R.F. Kuang - 4.5/5⭐

30. Poems ll by Hermann Hesse - 4/5⭐

31. Poems by Shakespeare - 4/5⭐

32. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio - 5/5⭐

33. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - 4/5⭐

34. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - 4.75/5⭐

35. Coraline by Neil Gaiman - 4/5⭐

36. Watership Down by Richard Adams - 4.5/5⭐

37. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 4.5/5⭐

38. Star Wars: Stealth by Karen Miller - 5/5⭐

November

39. Star Wars: Wild Space by Karen Miller - 5/5⭐

40. Crush by Richard Siken - 5/5⭐

41. Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno - 4/5⭐

42. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers - 4/5⭐

43. I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee - 5/5⭐

44. Was fehlt, wenn ich verschwunden bin by Lilly Lindner - 5/5⭐

45. Dracula by Bram Stoker - 4/5⭐

46. Hamlet by William Shakespeare - 4/5⭐

47. Die Farbe der Rache by Cornelia Funke - 4.5/5⭐

48. Star Wars: Siege by Karen Miller - 5/5⭐

December

49. The girl who decided to go for it by Alice Bromell - 5/5⭐

50. Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen - 4/5⭐

51. Star Wars: Jedi Quest - Path To Truth by Jude Watson - 4.5/5 ⭐

52. Macbeth by William Shakespeare - 3.5/5 ⭐

53. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - 5/5⭐

54. Murtagh by Christopher Paolini 4.5/5⭐

55. Star Wars: Jedi Quest - The Way of the Apprentice by Jude Watson 4/5⭐

56. Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray 4.5/5⭐

57. Just eat it by Laura Thomas 5/5⭐

58. The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 5/5⭐

59. Star Wars: Padawan by Kiersten White - 5/5 ⭐

60. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

61. Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

62. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

63. Star Wars: A New Hope Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

64. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

65. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Graphic Novel - 4/5⭐

66. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - 5/5⭐

67. Star Wars: The Trail of the Jedi by Jude Watson - 4/5⭐

68. Star Wars: The Dangerous Games by Jude Watson - 4/5⭐

69. Über mir die Wolke by Clara Louise - 4/5⭐

70. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater - 5/5⭐

71. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater - 5/5⭐

Dnf:

✖️ Star Wars Episode I

✖️ A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J Maas

✖️ A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

✖️ Luft nach unten by Aron Boks

#updated #read in 2023 #reading wrap up #to be updated #for later

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nateconnolly · 9 months

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You are going to be baffled at first; there's no way around that. It is absolutely okay—unavoidable, in fact—not to get everything that's going on in a modern superhero comic. To not want to fail to understand any part of a story is a reasonable desire on the part of readers, but one of the great pleasures of reading Marvel's comics is the pleasure of being confused and then finding a way out of confusion.

Sometimes that confusion is just the effect of a narrative that doesn't spell everything out at first—withholding information and then revealing it later, or revealing it in sidelong ways is one of the most effective tools in a storyteller's arsenal. More often, a new reader's confusion comes from recent comics allusions to older ones, the the history piled upon history that pushes readers who are too wary of not-knowing all the way back to the beginning, or all the way out of the story. The only comics that assume the reader already knows the relevant background, though, are poorly constructed comics, because that assumption is an actual barrier to understanding.

Modern superhero comics don't often explain up front who everybody is or what their relationships are, but that doesn't mean they don't explain at all; a story whose antecedents will have been seen by some but not all of its audience has to get across essential information subtly and in passing, rather than through clumps of potentially redundant exposition. And no creator expects that their readers are familiar with the whole of Marvel story to date. (This can seem odd if you're used to relatively self contained sorts of stories.) There is history behind what's happening in the story, and it's drantic effect is often greater if you know more of that history, but most of the dramatic effect remains in tact if you don't. What the story wants from you is not your knowledge but your curiosity. You are not "unprepared"; you are already the ideal reader.

-excerpt from All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk.

GREAT perspective. Yeah, back when I was into comics, I would just buy from those big bins of fifty cent used comics and read a huge stack with absolutely zero context.

I wouldn't consider myself "well read" when it comes to the art form, so if anyone has recommendations, dm me or send an ask. (I tend to like "artsy"/pretentious stuff the most)

My favorites that I've read so far are Saga, Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body, and the Tom King versions of Mister Miracle and Vision. I also really liked Tom King's Cold Days, but I haven't read any of his other Batman stuff

#asks

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aimmyarrowshigh · 9 months

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Just casually sobbing over how well All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk explains the neurodivergent brain and intertextuality and metatext and fandom and creating your own meaning through purposeful interaction with media.

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cada-atletismo · 11 months

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Cierre Listado de Participantes de los GPS

La CADA anuncia el listado de participantes de los GPS “Andres Calonge” y “Hugo Mario La Nasa” en Concepción del Uruguay para los días 9 y 11 de junio. 100 metros llanos mujeres GPS 11.45 de Jesus Azevedo BRA 11.52 De Bassi Anny BRA 11.64 +0.7 María Florencia Lamboglia FAM 11.67 Torrez Torrez Guadalupe BOL 11.68 +0.1 María Victoria Woodward COR 11.71 Martina Coronato URU 12.03 Gimenez Gustale Macarena PAR 12.04 0.8 Belén Fritzsche FAM 12.06 Hiebert Klassen Xenia PAR 12.06 0.6 Valentina Napolitano FAM 12.08 0.8 Sofía Tamara Casetta FAM TOTAL 16 12.17 1.0 Noelia Giselle Vera PAR 12.22 0.7 Leslie Tamara Lucero COR 12.47 1.1 Malena Arantza Gobbo SF 12.60 Baez Barrios Ruth Andrea PAR 12.52 Iara Milagros Aro SL 200 metros llanos mujeres GPS 23.69 de Jesus Azevedo BRA 23.69 De Bassi Anny BRA 23.87 -0.5 María Florencia Lamboglia FAM 24.23 -0.5 María Victoria Woodward COR 24.44 Torrez Torrez Guadalupe BOL 24.46 Hiebert Klassen Xenia PAR 24.55 -0.5 Camila Roffo FAM 24.77 1.3 Melanie Soledad Rosalez FAM 24.93 0.0 Sofía Tamara Casetta FAM 25.41 1.6 Noelia Anahí Martínez COR TOTAL 18 25.44 1.0 Sofía Ximena Ibarra FAM 25.45 1.0 Valentina Napolitano FAM 25.46 1.6 Leslie Tamara Lucero COR 25.47 1.3 Camila Molocznik FAM 25.53 -0.7 Iara Milagros Aro SL 25.59 1.0 Malena Arantza Gobbo SF 25.59 1.1 Paulina Knees FAM 25.66 Contrera Rivas Araceli PAR 400 metros llanos mujeres GPN 54.84 a Leidy Lorena Sinisterra COL 55.76 Camila Roffo FAM 55.81 Noelia Anahí Martínez COR 56.21 Martina Daniela Escudero RN 56.96 Camila Leonela Correa FAM 57.04 Sofía Ximena Ibarra FAM TOTAL 10 57.24 Paulina Knees FAM 57.66 María Emilia Batalla FAM 57.92 Celeste María Molina BA 57.99 Gisela Hernández ER 100 metros con vallas mujeres GPS 13.70 -0.1 Leticia de Lima Gaspar BRA 14.02 1.2 Helen Bernard Stilling FAM 14.55 -1.7 Valentina Polanco SL 14.81 -1.7 Candela Beláustegui FAM 14.87 -2.0 Violeta Antonella Aranda FAM 15.06 -0.6 Miranda Recalde FAM TOTAL 9 15.08 -0.6 Camila Luciana Zita FAM 15.69 1.3 Lucía Aylén Zurdo BA 15.77 1.7 Malena Bustamante BA 100 metros llanos varones GPS 10.14 Deliser Espinoza Arturo PAN 10.31 Almiron Escobar Cesar PAR 10.35 Zalazar Ayala Misael PAR 10.43 1.8 Franco Florio FAM 10.47 -2.1 Daniel Rodrigo Londero FAM 10.52 0.5 Tomás Pablo Mondino SF 10.56 0.5 Lucas Adrián Villegas SL 10.60 WolK Retmer Jonathan PAR 10.61 a 1.6 Gustavo Alejandro Mongelos PAR 10.63 Maidana Pedrozo Fredy PAR 10.63 Adrian NIcolari URU 10.69 0.5 Tomás Ariel Villegas SL 10.72 0.7 Pedro Rodríguez Merlo FAM TOTAL 22 10.76 Agustín Nahuel Pinti MZA 10.76 Matías Agustín Elizaincin FAM 10.80 Facundo Santos URU 10.82 0.7 Felipe Harte ARG 10.87 Tobías Pereyra FAM 10.89 Alejo Pafundi SF 10.90 Alvaro Piñeyro URU 10.93 Francisco Santinelli Ildarraz BA 11.06 1.5 Matías Agustín Castro LRI 200 metros llanos varones GPS 20.61 Zalazar Ayala Misael PAR 20.73 Almiron Escobar Cesar PAR 21.12 1.1 Bautista Diamante FAM 21.16 1.2 Tomás Pablo Mondino SF 21.19 Maidana Pedrozo Fredy PAR 21.25 1.1 Matías Falchetti FAM 21.26 Deliser Espinoza Arturo PAN 21.36 0.1 Juan Ignacio Ciampitti FAM 21.46 WolK Retmer Jonathan PAR 21.47 0.1 Agustín Nahuel Pinti MZA TOTAL 17 21.73 0.5 Tomás Ariel Villegas SL 21.78 1.5 Francisco Santinelli BA 21.90 1.6 Julián Pereyra FAM 21.99 1.0 Pedro Rodríguez Merlo FAM 22.09 -0.2 Lucas Adrián Villegas SL 22.17 Renzo Salvatore Cremaschi MZA 22.58 Alvaro Piñeyro URU 400 metros llanos varones GPS 45.53 Eliean gaspar Larregina BA 45.75 Padrino Villazana Kelvis VEN 45.98 Mendes Da Silva Douglas BRA 46.91 Alfredo Emilio Sepúlveda CHI 47.63 Rodriguez Osorno Jonathan COL 47.58 Matías Falchetti FAM 47.79 Pedro Emmert FAM 48.58 Matías Gónzalez URU 48.65 Julián Pereyra FAM TOTAL 12 48.86 Marcos Andrés Villagra CHU 49.28 Mateo Durán FAM 49.49 Oscar Santiago Castro FAM 110 metros con vallas varones GPN 14.21 -0.3 Renzo Salvatore Cremaschi MZA 14.78 -1.7 Julián Berca MZA 15.04 0.3 Santiago Ezequiel Riveira SL 15.20 -0.1 Joaquín Olmos FAM TOTAL 8 15.74 -0.3 Guillermo Quintero MZA 16.02 2.0 Matías Ledesma BA 16.06 0.3 Lorenzo Rossetto COR 16.39 1.5 Germán Rivero Fernández BA 400 m con vallas varones GPS 49.62 Sepulveda Alfredo CHI 51.18 Bruno Agustín De Genaro SL 52.09 Damián Gabriel Moretta FAM TOTAL 6 56.56 Andrés Mendoza SF 56.77 Rodrigo Joel Bordón FAM 51.50 Guillermo Ruggeri MZA 800 m Mujeres GPS 2:05.47 Calderon Maza Andrea ECU 2:08.19 Martina Daniela Escudero RN 2:09.06 Poma Mendoza Anita PER 2:09.24 a Leidy Lorena Sinisterra COL 2:10.09 Evangelina Luján Thomas CHU 2:11.35 Fabiana Salomé Gramajo FAM 2:12.26 Juana Zuberbuhler BA 2:13.33 Sandra Maia Gómez FAM 2:13.57 Karen Ailén Rocca BA 2:14.21 Nazarena Firpo URU 2:14.31 María Paz Romero CTS 2:14.87 Delfina Olivero FAM TOTAL 17 2:16.62 Victoria Olives SF 2:18.99 Joaquina Durá BA 2:19.33 Celeste Pampillón ER 2:19.54 Delfina Morena Molina BA 2:20.09 Camila González FAM 1500 m Mujeres GPS 4.20.16 Micaela Levaggi BA 4:20.80 Daiana Alejandra Ocampo FAM 4:25.29 Poma Mendoza Anita PER 4:28.24 Antonella Janet Guerrero FAM 4:32.14 Fabiana Salomé Gramajo FAM 4:37.48 Karen Ailén Rocca BA 4:38.80 Sandra Maia Gómez FAM 4:42.64 Noeli Vicintin BA 4:43.01 Juana Zuberbuhler BA TOTAL 15 4:44.26 Karen Marianela Cejas BA 4:45.72 Iara Becker FAM 4:47.15 Camila González FAM 4:47.29 Brisa Nicole Trecanao RN 4:47.60 María Paz Romero CTS 4:47.68 Renata Dolhare FAM 3000 m c/obstáculos Mujeres GPS 10:13.63 Carolina Lozano SF 10:15.03 Clara Macarena Baiocchi COR 11:23.31 Shalom Eunice Lescano BA 10:39.58 Stefany Paola López COL 11:58.58 Emilia Gigón SF TOTAL 8 12:16.11 Juliana Itatí Romero CTS 12:18.79 Greta Victoria Rodríguez ER 12:45.22 Luana Ayelé Britez MNS 5000 m Mujeres GPS 15:49.90 Micaela Levaggi BA 15:57.24 Daiana Alejandra Ocampo FAM 16:06.66 Carolina Lozano SF 16:47.02 Florencia Lorena Cuello MZA 17:08.78 Antonella Janet Guerrero FAM 17:12.32 Stefany Paola López COL 17:12.69 Nélida del Carmen Peñaflor SDE 17:30.70 Nair Gisele Dianes BA 17:35.15 Karen Marianela Cejas BA 17:53.60 Catalina García Paul FAM 17:59.56 Renata Dolhare FAM TOTAL 18 18:06.59 Constanza Garrido BA 18:20.78 Gisela Cristina Díaz SDE 18:38.41 Ainhoa Roldán BA 18:39.77 Ximena Anahí Simeone ER 18:48.05 Camila Farinelli FAM 18:50.27 Sofía Ailín Costa SL 18.51.05 Maria Belen Cordoba BA 800 m varones GPS 1:45.42 Abreu Paes Lutimar BRA 1:49.25 Julián Alberto Gaviola FAM 1:50.41 Gonzalo Gervasini URU 1:50.35 Montes de Oca Santamaria ECU 1:50.67 Jairo Moreira URU 1:50.70 Rodriguez Osorno Johnatan COL 1:51.56 Uriel Rodrigo Muñoz BA 1:51.69 Leandro Ismael Paris SL 1:51.69 Franco Gastón Peidón BA 1:52.32 Augusto Mariano Cochet FAM TOTAL 22 1:52.46 Diego Matías Leones SF 1:53.09 Estanislao Mendivil FAM 1:53.09 Pedro Emmert FAM 1:53.20 Leonardo Leonel Pérez-Lazarte BA 1:53.46 Edgar Emanuel Valdez CAT 1:53.66 Tomás Mirón FAM 1:54.07 Víctor Fabián Colazo FAM 1:54.09 Preciado Moreno David COL 1:54.82 Rodriguez Espinel Santiago COL 1:54.64 Vicente Gómez FAM 1:55-58 Matias González URU 1:55.85 Fabricio da Rosa URU 1500 m varones GPS 3:39.94 Abreu Paes Lutimar BRA 3:43.00 Matías Antonio Reynaga ARG 3:45.29 Leandro Leonel Pérez-Lazarte BA 3:45.78 José Zabala SF 3:46.40 Fabián Manrique FAM 3:48.96 Gonzalo Gervasini URU 3:49.18 Montes de Oca Santamaria ECU 3:50.56 Agustín Alejandro Contreras BA 3:50.92 Sebastián Agustín De Zan FAM 3:52.00 Pablo Agustín Toledo SDE TOTAL 19 3:52.00 Rodriguez Espinel Santiago COL 3:54.23 Uriel Rodrigo Muñoz BA 3:55.34 Manuel Rojas BA 3:55.90 Alexis Gabriel Corrías RN 3:56.56 Lautaro Ocampo SF 3:56.66 Franco Gastón Peidón BA 3.57.83 Juan Ignacio Dutari COR 3:58.00 Preciado Moreno David COL 3:59.81 Edgar Emanuel Valdez CAT 3000 m c/obstáculos varones GPS 8:41.91 Palomino Greta PER 8:55.24 Tomás Vega BA 8:55.89 Carlos Augusto Johnson SF 8:57.30 Fausto Alonso FAM 8:58.03 Germán Vega BA 8:58.63 Marcos Julián Molina SF 9:15.00 Bolivar Latorre Camilo COL 9:29.16 Jerónimo Pedro Peralta COR TOTAL 12 9:32.03 Jonathan Ezequiel García BA 9:37.71 Hipólito Pereiro FAM 9.49.09 Gabriel Corda BA CT Daniel Oscar Penta ARG 5000 m varones GPS 13:44.58 Matías Antonio Reynaga SAL 13:47.00 Marcos Julian Molina ER 13:57.82 Fabián Manrique FAM 14:14.49 José Zabala SF 14:15.97 Edgar Felipe Neri-Chávez SDE 14:21.80 Daniel Toroya BOL 14:28.04 Ninavia Mamani BOL 14:29.61 Alan Esteban Niestroj FAM 14:30.37 Ezequiel Chavarría TUC 14:31.97 Pablo Agustín Toledo SDE 14:34.82 Rodriguez Espinel Santiago COL 14:37.12 Tomás Vega BA 14:43.85 Agustín Alejandro Contreras BA 14:43.86 Gustavo Martín Villafañe SJ 14:44.71 Read the full article

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dustedmagazine · 2 years

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Listening Post: The Tall Dwarfs

The Tall Dwarfs emerged out of Toy Love in the early 1980s. It had two members. In the beginning, Alec Bathgate set up the basic instrumental foundation for duo’s pop-slanted, fuzz-crusted oddities, while Chris Knox wrote the lyrics. Later, their roles overlapped, as Bathgate sang the lyrics he wrote, and Knox began playing instruments beyond the loops around the second or third EP.

The two of them had a knack for compressed, transporting lyricism, hitched to eccentric, roughly recorded production, in line with the fuzzy tunefulness of the rest of the Flying Nun roster, but quirkier and more eccentric. The duo never had a drummer or a bass player and were known for MacGyvering a rhythm section out of whatever was at hand, banging on boxes and stomping on floors to improvise a beat. They were also early experimenters with tape loops, often splicing recorded fragments together with scotch tape, playing them back and recording to two- or four-track recorders. The pair of them lived in different cities, Bathgate in Christchurch and Knox in Auckland. As a result, they saw each other infrequently and often arrived at one or the other’s house to with only the vaguest framework, writing and recording their songs at the same time.

Their very first EP, the 3 Song EP, was meant to be a one-off. Instead, it initiated a 30-some year collaboration that ended only when Knox had a debilitating stroke in 2009. Alongside, their friends and fellow Flying Nun artists the Clean, the Chills, the Bats and others, the Tall Dwarfs defined the outer edges of New Zealand lo-fi. Douglas Wolk, in his Trouser Press entry on Chris Knox summed up their influence, stating, “Chris Knox is the godfather of the New Zealand alternative-music scene — if Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, Robyn Hitchcock and Lou Reed were all the same person, that’s how important he is to Kiwi pop.”

For Unravelled: 1981 – 2002, Bathgate compiled a roughly chronological sampling of 55 Tall Dwarfs songs, from this giddy, serrated-edged glory of 1981’s “Nothing’s Going to Happen” to the jaunty garage stomp of “Gluey, Gluey” from 1998. It was too much of a joy to assign to a single writer, so we decided to all listen to it together and share our thoughts with you.

Intro by Jennifer Kelly (with some help from Bill Meyer)

Unravelled: 1981–2002 by Tall Dwarfs

Jennifer Kelly: How are you all getting along with the Tall Dwarfs compilation? I've just listened to "Life Is Strange" four times in a row, marveling at the way it balances scrappy raw-ness and lyricism, oddity and a universal hook. What are you guys liking the best?

Jonathan Shaw: I listened to Tall Dwarfs a ton through the late 1980s to late 1990s (my wife loves Knox's music, the solo stuff as much as Tall Dwarfs, and I like the band a lot, too). What's really knocking me out is the early stuff, which I felt like I knew very well. I suppose some time away from those records is giving me fresher ears, but holy shit, songs like "Paul's Place" and "Turning Brown and Torn in Two" are just as confounding as they ever were, even with so many, many bands working out of similar bags of tricks. I didn't expect to be so floored again by those early tunes. It's really fun.

Bill Meyer: Like you, Jon, my acquaintance with the Tall Dwarfs goes back to the 1980s. I started with the Hello Cruel World LP and the Dogma EP. Those songs you picked are ones that also stay with me, because they are simultaneously as pop-catchy as a good Beatles tune, and constructed with pop-music-rules-disregarding Kiwi ingenuity. The MacGyvering that Jen refers to, I think connects to that ingenuity. There’s a certain cultural pride in the ability of a typical New Zealander to make things work using fencing wire and the contents of your toolbox.

However, when it came to music, people in the 1970s were expected to pay a lot of dues and do things a certain way. Tall Dwarfs arose from Bathgate and Knox deciding they would never do that shit after the miserable experiences their previous band, Toy Love, had while making an album and playing to hostile, uncreative audiences in Australia. They did it there was, with the gear they had, and put the songs together in ways that sounded right to them.

Christian Carey: The Tall Dwarfs operated at the periphery of my listening in the 1990s and 2000s. This boxed set is a great opportunity to acquaint oneself with their earliest, most experimental work. It is clear that their colleagues in New Zealand, as well as the US and UK, listened closely, using Tall Dwarfs’ approach as a template for, successively, college rock, indie rock, and experimental music. It would be interesting to know if Robert Pollard heard the Tall Dwarfs and when. One can also surmise that, if They Might Giants, Yo La Tengo, and Stephen Malkmus weren’t listening to Tall Dwarfs, they truly were missing out on a possible wellspring for their own work. Hard to pick favorites, but “Turning Brown and Torn in Two,” “All My Hollowness to You,” and “Sign the Dotted Line” were on frequent repeat at our house.

Jonathan Shaw: Bill might be able to tell us which American bands were early, enthusiastic listeners of Tall Dwarfs. If Pollard and Malkmus were tuned in, I wish they had picked up on the approach to lyrics. So many Tall Dwarfs songs are disarmingly direct (see "Luck or Loveliness," "Beauty," or in a different way "Crush," a song I love). Don't get me wrong: I really like some of Pollard's early writing ("Marchers in Orange," "Blimps Go 90"), and Malkmus has a way with rhyme. But they were so very, very much of their postmodern moment, bathed in endless layers of ironizing.

Bathgate and Knox could get ironical, too. The mock-heroic guitar of "Nothing's Going to Happen" is comically undone by the lyric's fixation on banality. But the songs that just say it lay me out. So many of the songs from the 1980s do. Check out "The Slide," which is harrowing stuff.

Jennifer Kelly: I am nowhere near as long or as deep a fan as some of you (ahem, BIll), but I had Stumpy on my phone for about a decade (it feel off in one of those data wipes native to the digital listening experience) and it seems to me that the selection in this box, while great in a lot of ways, irons out some of the oddity of the Tall Dwarfs. Am I just imagining it or is it a lot more accessible and pop than the total catalogue?

Bill Meyer: The Tall Dwarfs could be playful and weird, or they could apply spontaneous means to rapidly conceived songs that were as ruthlessly formal as anything by the Beatles. Sometimes the catchy stuff and the goofiness coincided, but I think that as time went on those elements tended to manifest on different songs. Some of the weirder stuff just didn’t make the cut. Also, the gradual accumulation of gear meant that in later years, it was easy to make a pro sounding rhythm track as it was to make a loop out of a spoon whacking a pot, and they’d already hit the pot, so it was probably more interesting to make the pro-sounding track.

I think that Bathgate compiled what he thought were the strongest tunes, and since he did it during COVID and Knox has ongoing communication challenges, he did a lot of the compiling alone, on a deadline, during COVID time. So, I think the perspective of a guy in his 60s looking back on his wild times with his wacky old friend may shape the way this box was compiled.

Jonathan Shaw: Stumpy is a strange one, given the collaborative nature of the record. I like it. "Up" is epic and moving, but it's an outlier.

I think Jen and Bill both have sharp takes on the collection. I wish more of the noisy stuff from Up the Down Staircase had made it onto Unravelled, and more of the quietly freaked out songs like "This Room Is Wrong." There's a fondness to the selection, skewing things toward the charming end of the band's spectrum. As a result, the collection feels quite coherent. It listens well.

Bill Meyer: A month ago, Jon opined, “Bill might be able to tell us what American bands were early, enthusiastic listeners of Tall Dwarfs. If Pollard and Malkmus were tuned in, I wish they had picked up on the approach to lyrics. So many Tall Dwarfs songs are disarmingly direct (see "Luck or Loveliness," "Beauty," or in a different way "Crush," a song I love). Don't get me wrong: I really like some of Pollard's early writing ("Marchers in Orange," "Blimps Go 90"), and Malkmus has a way with rhyme. But they were so very, very much of their postmodern moment, bathed in endless layers of ironizing.”

I do not know how tuned in Pollard and Malkmus were, but I suspect that each of them were set on their own paths as lyricists before they might have heard Tall Dwarfs. The lyrical thrust of the Tall Dwarfs, I suspect, comes more from the extent to which Chris Knox backed up his in your face attitude with a big, bleeding heart, whose sentiments spoke directly through him and onto whatever notebooks he was keeping during the time leading up to a Tall Dwarfs session/whatever microphone he improvised into as he knocked out words while the hours counted down until one of them had to take a plane back home.

#dusted magazine #listeningpost #tall dwarfs #chris knox #alec bathgate #toy love #new zealand #lofi

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