(A. S. Hamrah is the sort of man people suggest writing biographies about, most memorable among these as-of-yet unwritten memoirs being, And the Hammer Came Down. Although an outspoken critic of all things, Hamrah is primarily known as a film critic, and it is fast becoming a ritual for him to lampoon the nominated films just prior to the Oscars in the always enjoyable N+1. This year, every film but one suffered at least a slight roasting at his hands, the exception being In Bruges, for which he had nothing but good things to say, but of eight-time winner Slumdog Millionaire, he wrote:)

 

I don’t like movies that cover their heroes in shit. But covering a little boy in shit and having him go up to Amitabh Bachchan to ask for an autograph is audacious even for a filmmaker as crass as Danny Boyle.

 

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Last Sunday at 9pm ET the first ten episodes of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies were aired on WFMU, during the Acousmatic Theater Hour hosted by Jason G and Karinne. The playlist with accompanying download of the show can be found here. It is the first time that a large chunk of the radioplay was aired at once, and we found it amusing to hear, although we did not think to notify any of our loyal fans (whoever they may be) concerning this momentous event in our otherwise mundane lives.

Mutable was first made aware of Jason through the Hermenaut News Group, and several emails were bandied about concerning a possible meeting while the playwright was in Portland, OR, for a conference, but wildfires and other logistical concerns got in the way, but we support Jason both on air and off, and wish the best for him during his on-going exploits. To learn more about who Jason is and what he does go to jasongrote.com.

 

It’s a lazy weekday afternoon, and we’re finishing breakfast at Kevin Micka’s house in Jamaica Plain. The kitchen table is spread with drafts of liner notes. Micka, the beard and glasses behind Animal Hospital, has added a song to his new album, Good or Plenty, Streets + Avenues, since he first wrote the notes, and now he’s trying to figure out where to fit it.

 

”It should probably also say ’Mutable Records’ somewhere too, right?” The liner notes go along with the CD/R version of the record, which he’ll be selling at shows, in addition to the otherwise on-line-only release. The additions are getting pasted on top of the old version; the project will be hitting the copier glass at Kinko’s later on in the day.

 

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Our surreal lives made more surreal by these crazy economic times. Malcolm’s creative energies are blossoming during this time, much like under the Weimar Republic. I don’t know what to do with my life, says Malcolm, while all Gabe remembers of A Clockwork Orange are the milk-dispensing breasts, which of course causes Malcolm to exclaim that he feels we’re bringing the good times back. Tammy Faye Bakker sings as well as weeps, but not on our show she don’t, but what if we could couple Kate Bush with Scott Walker to create the ultimate singing machine? I am music, says Malcolm. We are up to episode 15 of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies made at the art factory that is Mutable Sound. For Book You, this week Gabe reads from The Four Elements, by Benjamin Peret. Gabe talks of surreal moments, both his own and other people’s, and would love to hear yours. Write to him at mail@mutablesound.com. The podcast ends with Gabe’s Guide to Bringing the Spice Back into your Life.

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Dmitry Samarov is a local cab driver and artist who puts out a semi-regular blog called Hack, stories from his hours spent driving a hackney through the streets of Chicago. His most recent entry is about waiting out late-night revelers with a man who’s been driving a cab since ‘73, the man’s scraggly white beard yellowed around the mouth from the nicotine who we learn, through the course of the entry, has been writing science-fiction stories on a manual typewriter for years, the latest involving a human-sized insect who’s also a detective. At the end of the post we learn that the detective has discovered ‘the remains of a person’s arm, chiseled to the sharpest point ever detected on his planet…’

Samarov was born in Moscow in 1970, emigrated to Boston in ‘78 with his family, studied art at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been driving cab for god only knows how long. The story of his first days as a cab driver is some of my favorite stuff, both awkward and lude, the drawings crude and poignant, full of vignettes with hookers and undergrads. That ebooklet can be found here, not to mention his remarkable Dive, images with accompanying stories from his bartending days. Samarov is like a cross between Bukowski and Scorsese as seen through a murky watercolor-drawn world.

 

Love is in the air. In our hearts we sing of love. Love, love, love. Often mistook for another four-letter word, and speaking of misplaced four letter words, this week for Book You, Gabe reads from Love Letters from a Nobleman to his Sister by Aphra Behn (1640-1689). Writing as she did during the swinging renaissance, a lot like the 1970’s, Behn at one time worked as a spy for Charles II, as well as having a long-time affair with notorious rake, lawyer, and possible bi-sexual, John Hoyle. An interesting woman. Awkward romantic moments? Gabe took a date to mass once, which was awkward. There are so many films you should not take a date to, such as Short Cuts, Naked, and Last Tango in Paris, while in other news, this Valentine’s Day Mutable Sound had a baby, Animal Hospital’s Good or Plenty, Streets + Avenues. We think it’s good. You should buy it! In Gabe’s Guide to Accepting Rejection, he recommends our listeners to face the horror. Goodnight.

 

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(This review is by Love and Mathematics, a radio show featuring the very best new rock in rotation at radio station WZBC, as well as college radio gold from the ’80s and ’90s and, when he’s feeling nostalgic, local music from our childhood. The show airs Wednesdays, 1-3pm, on WZBC Newton Massachusetts, 90.3fm, or can be found at www.wzbc.org/listen.html.)

 

My favorite Brian Eno album always has been and always will be “Another Green World.” Anticipating Eno’s ambient work that soon followed in its use of meditative repetition and quiet electronics, that 1975 lp has always been more interesting to me because of its added complexity: the way, for instance, that guitars, bass, drums, and the occasional vocal allow the music to retain contact with the standard rock format even as the compositions moved far beyond. So you might call “Another Green World” an “ambient” album, but it’s much more than that; and you might call it “experimental rock,” but it’s much more than that, too.

 

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Good or Plenty, Streets + Avenues was recorded on Osterville Rd., 16th St., Main St., South St., Capp St., and Palmer during 2007 & 2008 by Kevin Micka. Additional vocals by Katharine Fisk Shields.

 

FREE MP3: March And June

 

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