https://uvamagazine.org/articles/testing_grounds_for_indie_greatness
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 29 February 2020 22:35 (four years ago) link
https://youtu.be/nsjQ3Gblzys?t=177
― enochroot, Thursday, 26 March 2020 19:50 (four years ago) link
Weeeiiiird. I've never been able to get into Avalanches, but I guess it's cool to see them pay tribute to David.
― ☮️ (peace, man), Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:03 (four years ago) link
i'm sure this is in this thread elsewhere, but
https://youtu.be/7XTrz0yvxe0
― circa1916, Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:08 (four years ago) link
Oh, I didn't know they had worked together.
― ☮️ (peace, man), Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:14 (four years ago) link
i'm sure this is in this thread elsewhere, buthttps://youtu.be/7XTrz0yvxe0🕸
― Fizzles, Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
i've listened to this album far more than any other over the past 8 months.
― treeship., Thursday, 26 March 2020 20:27 (four years ago) link
good album. one year. miss him.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, 7 August 2020 18:12 (three years ago) link
<3
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Friday, 7 August 2020 18:16 (three years ago) link
It doesn’t seem like a year but here we are. On 8/7/19 the world lost one of the greats. I was lucky to call him a friend & a mentor; he was that & more for so many. Tried to think of a way to mark the date w/o focusing on the awful end. Here’s my idea. Tomorrow at @tresgatosjp. pic.twitter.com/VIYESE6T7l— Ryan H. Walsh (@JahHills) August 6, 2020
― mizzell, Friday, 7 August 2020 18:16 (three years ago) link
From someone's private collection:
"Dime Map Of The Reef"https://i.imgur.com/ah2mX4l.jpg
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 8 August 2020 05:41 (three years ago) link
And housed within the song's designIs the ghost the host has left behindTo greet and sweep the guest insideStoke the fire and sing his lines
― Mule, Sunday, 9 August 2020 12:51 (three years ago) link
that's a very nice image. but somehow i find self-referential lyrics still very heavy especially when they anticipate the disappearance of the songwriter. there is something coquettish about it. on the other hand there is also something very resolute about it. but of course i would have preferred him to be inconsistent, i.e. to write that song and not do it.
― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Sunday, 9 August 2020 20:03 (three years ago) link
I don't take those lines as self-referential, or anticipating his suicide, necessarily. It's just a lovely way of saying that something of the songwriter lies within every song, forever. Taken with the lines before it, and the overall theme of the song, for me it evokes how a great piece of music can make you feel less alone, warm, comforted, human.
― triggercut, Monday, 10 August 2020 00:47 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I agree with that. There’s of course added poignancy following his death, but the lines stand out for me first and foremost because his songs are really like that, they are places you can go and experience the sensibilities, wit and intellect of a really special songwriter.
― Mule, Monday, 10 August 2020 06:34 (three years ago) link
I find PM to be quite a hopeful record for the most part tbh
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 10 August 2020 15:00 (three years ago) link
I dunno. Songs 1, 2, 3 and 8 are pretty devastating.
― Duke, Monday, 10 August 2020 15:55 (three years ago) link
of all the songs on the snow is falling in manhattan is the least grim to me and the most pretty and kind
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:05 (three years ago) link
I agree
― Duke, Monday, 10 August 2020 16:18 (three years ago) link
I also thought the new record seemed hopeful, then and now. Obviously presenting super heavy stuff, but in a way that felt like ripping off a band aid rather than diving into the abyss or w/e. Ending it with "Stoyline Fever" and "Maybe I'm the Only One For Me" seemed like a big statement to me, a powerful combination of songs that seems to have something to say about how with some work you may discover that you're bigger than your problems. I couldnt really get on board when after his death people started parsing the lyrics for any reference to absence, exit, or finality as saying that the record felt like a suicide note, I just didn't see it. (Also I feel like if David Berman actually sat down and wanted to do a Blackstar-style album about his own impending death, it would be like 100x more scary and intense than PM.)
That being said I've barely been able to listen to it since his passing, aside from "Snow" which I'm more & more convinced is the best thing he ever did.
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:28 (three years ago) link
^all OTM
― Washington Foosball Team (morrisp), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:33 (three years ago) link
That's a take I would like to believe in even if I'm not sure. Definitely OTM about "Snow", however.
― Mom jokes are his way of showing affection (to your mom) (PBKR), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:43 (three years ago) link
I don't find the album that depressing, there's a lot of funny stuff
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:49 (three years ago) link
depressing is never depressing because it's ~relatable~
― Thicc Nhat Wanh (rip van wanko), Monday, 10 August 2020 16:57 (three years ago) link
I still have trouble listening to it (or any Silver Jews, to be honest). i'll dig back in at some point, but for now it feels rough.
― tylerw, Monday, 10 August 2020 16:57 (three years ago) link
"Nights That Won't Happen" does feel a bit morbid now, I admit.
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 10 August 2020 17:14 (three years ago) link
very much so. i think the album is full of really sad, poignant observations on life, much like his other albums. squint a little bit and you can see hints of the darkness to come, both on PM and the earlier SJ albums, but you can also see him coming to grips with what it would mean to push on. it's all of those things, throughout his work.
― The GOAT Harold Land (Karl Malone), Monday, 10 August 2020 17:17 (three years ago) link
It's very probably not a deliberate "suicide note", but describing an album containing the thoughts of Nights... or That's Just... or All My Happiness... as "hopeful" just seems way off to me. He was in a bad place.
― Duke, Monday, 10 August 2020 20:02 (three years ago) link
it's hopeful to me because, for the most part, it seems like he was making an effort. there's hope in the effort.
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 10 August 2020 20:07 (three years ago) link
the weird thing about people who kill themselves is often that just before they do it, they seem happy and relaxed. when the decision is made there must be a big load coming off their back.
― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 10 August 2020 21:04 (three years ago) link
personally that's not the vibe I get tbh
― the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Monday, 10 August 2020 21:30 (three years ago) link
i think it's an album about facing depression, frankly, with humility and humor. the self-deprecating parts of the album are humane, not self-lacerating, and actually finding that narrow line and walking it.
― treeship., Monday, 10 August 2020 21:36 (three years ago) link
the disease took him in the end but this is the testimony of a survivor. if it wasn't, then "nights that won't happen" would have been the final track rather than "maybe i'm the only one for me."
― treeship., Monday, 10 August 2020 21:37 (three years ago) link
otm
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 10 August 2020 21:38 (three years ago) link
Has this made the rounds? I found it today and it made me smile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXLcpX2xUt4
For all his grouchy reclusive mystique, I get the impression that it seems like he really enjoyed dishing out little bits of himself like that, little painless things that he knew people would find special.
― turn the jawhatthefuckever on (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 11 August 2020 14:59 (three years ago) link
Mounting mileage on the dashDouble darkness falling fastI keep stressing, pressing onWay deep down at some substratumFeels like something really wrong has happenedAnd I confess I'm barely hanging on
― circa1916, Saturday, 15 August 2020 18:32 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I don’t know if it’s worth arguing whether this album is hopeful or resigned. It’s both. Guy was obviously in a battle. Love it to so much though, still finding corners and lines from it that hit me hard a zillion listens in.
― circa1916, Saturday, 15 August 2020 18:36 (three years ago) link
xpost those lines are so good
― alpine static, Saturday, 15 August 2020 20:46 (three years ago) link
Just saw this pop up on Spotify, haven't listened yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDE6_NUqagE
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Friday, 13 November 2020 17:52 (three years ago) link
could not get through more than 10 seconds of that garbage
― a (waterface), Monday, 16 November 2020 13:00 (three years ago) link
some old correspondence from DC Berman to Arthurt, 2004
https://arthurmag.com/2021/10/27/you-cannot-underestimate-how-big-a-deal-this-hair-thing-was-at-the-time-david-berman-on-a-certain-shift-in-punk-culture-in-the-1980s/
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 27 October 2021 23:12 (two years ago) link
is that Shakey’s brother or did I conflate some weird ilx dreams w reality
― caddy lac brougham? (will), Thursday, 28 October 2021 00:19 (two years ago) link
It is.
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 28 October 2021 05:12 (two years ago) link
?
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 October 2021 05:19 (two years ago) link
(Arthur Mag’s Jay B.)
― caddy lac brougham? (will), Thursday, 28 October 2021 12:50 (two years ago) link
Yeah, been going through the old drives and email folders. I also recently posted an Actual Air-era transcript of an interview I did with DCB; only a very small part of it was published. Happy to share it, nice to remember him just riffing and laughing.
https://jaybabcock.wordpress.com/2021/10/25/live-from-mallard-crossing-david-berman-on-actual-air-interviewed-by-jay-babcock-1999/
― jaywbabcock, Thursday, 28 October 2021 18:29 (two years ago) link
nice, thank you for posting that!
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 October 2021 18:42 (two years ago) link
thanks for posting this archival and new(ish) stuff, it's been a real joy to see this stuff pop up on the Twitter timeline
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 28 October 2021 19:31 (two years ago) link
LONG LIVE ARTHUR MAGAZINE
― tylerw, Thursday, 28 October 2021 19:36 (two years ago) link
^^ hell yeah
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 October 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link