The band survives this scrutiny with music that can be frightening in its sincerity.

But out of all of the ‘Head’s gloomy tunes, could one actually stand out as the gloomiest? Yes! and frontman Thom Yorke singles out Street Spirit (Fade Out) from the album The Bends for this honor.

Yorke is quoted as saying:

“Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didn’t write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn’t ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It’s called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn’t play it. I’d crack. I’d break down on stage. That’s why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That’s what’s meant by ‘all these things you’ll one day swallow whole’. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn’t have it in me to articulate the emotion. I’d crack…

Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don’t realise what they’re listening to. They don’t realise that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he’ll get the last laugh. And it’s real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I’d crack.

I can’t believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That’s why I’m convinced that they don’t know what it’s about. It’s why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you’re going to have your dog put down and it’s wagging its tail on the way there. That’s what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn’t picked us as its catalysts, and so I don’t claim it. It asks too much. I didn’t write that song.”

Jeez…For once, I’m all out of jokes…

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Yes, the stage is a very small place indeed, only several square yards, and many an artist, in the throes of either sincere musical expression or affected posturing, lives life dangerously close to the edge.

From former presidential candidate Bob Dole to countless runway models and Miss USAs, it seems pretty clear that no amount of fame can keep you immune from the inexorable strength of that tyranical god–gravity.

Which leads us to the cringe-worthy videos below. I really don’t know why, but it is just hilarious to see famous people falling over!

However hot the girl is or howevermuch street cred the hardened rapper has, they are humanized in these moments which, thanks to modern technology, will steadily increase in YouTube viewcounts ad infinitum. If it were anyone else falling over, we’d be immediately concerned with their well-being, but for some reason, a celebrity’s physical “lowering”  to “the level” of “the groundlings”  is also an instantaneous social leveling which reveals a definite amount of envy mixed in with our adoration…

#1: Joaquin Phoenix falls off the Stage

Acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix made headlines after a bizarre Letterman appearance where his monosyllabic replies, bushy beard and budding rap career made him the butt of hollywood jokes. Some suspected a drawn-out publicity stunt, but this video shows Phoenix at one of his debut rap performances:

#2 Beyonce Falls off the Stage

The popular songstress ate it hard at this Orlando concert:

#3 Lil Wayne Falls off the Stage

Lil Wayne’s success is a sad commentary on the musical tastes of modern youth…but luckily the gods were so offended by his sonic outrages they snuck a karmic banana peel onstage….Wayne reportedly has $150,000 worth of diamonds attached to his teeth (not making this up) which surely saved the young rapper’s choppers from being knocked out during this spill:

#4 Metallica’s Jason Newstead falls in concert

Erstwhile Metallica bassist Jason Newstead has had a tough time of it. Recently replaced by Robert Trujillo and never quite able to step out of the shadow of original bassist Cliff Burton, Newstead had to endure being the “outsider” throughout Metallica’s most mainstream days. Here, falls onstage and hilariously continues playing as a sort of “i meant to do that” reflex:

#5 Jennifer Lopez’s Close Call

A conveyor belt + an elevated stage + J Lo anyone? But what sounds like the perfect storm for this post is sadly thwarted by the singer’s nimble recovery. (Although her massive gluteal cushion would likely have provided enough padding to prevent any injury…)

#6 The Jonas Brothers’ Repeated Falls

The Jonas Brothers’ saccharine-pop-rock stylings are clearly a form of noise pollution, and yet their clean cut looks and simple songs have fueled the unspeakable fantasies of a legion of pre-pubescent whitebread admirers.

As for falling onstage–the tween heartthrobs have done it so many times that a fan actually put together a compilation clip:

#7 Akon Oversteps His Bounds

Modern R&B juggernaut Akon’s voice  is as smooth as buttah. Unfortunately, so was the floor at at this concert:

#8 The Game Steps Up…and is Humbled

The rapper known as the Game appeard on the scene destined for success. He was after all, the product of the 50 Cent-Eminem-Dre hit factory, but his rhymes tended toward boasting about rims, his shoe collection and various shots out to mentors…

When watching this video, you could say the comeuppance of hubris has triumphed over streetwise braggadocio, but because the Game plays off the fall with just the right mix of charm and swagger, I wouldn’t call this one a total fail…

#9 John Petrucci’s Slide Guitar

John Petrucci’s soulless technical shred guitar work in Dream Theater has made him a fixture of the prog-speed metal underground. But his neither his lightning fast hands nor his metronome could have prepared him for the wiles of his arch-nemesis: a slippery floor:

#10 Mya Wipes Out

Faded R&B crooner Mya’s best performances may be behind her, but her behind’s best performances are clearly yet to come!

#11 Method Man Misses the Mark

Wu-Tang stalwart Method Man loses his balance, flails, then decides why fight it? He falls, yes, but it’s all good–his homies in the audience have literally “got his back”.

#12 Bonus Fall: Yes, A Horse!

The nauseating level of pretension at a fashion show is unquestionably the perfect location for a fall. But models tripping is passe…we need animals dammit! And here we have horse proudly strutting down the catwalk until…well, watch for yourself:

The best thing about this clip is how calm and collected the horse is compared to the hysterical onlookers. No embarrassed apology or awkward recovery here, just one chill, laid back steed…

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The vocals of many a death/gore band are a nearly indecipherable string of shrieks, snorts and belches which have earned songs featuring them the derisive nickname of “cookie monster” metal.

Never one to be outdone, the cookie monster himself can be seen in his metal video below

(featuring Bert & Ernie on drums):

A couple of bands have capitalized on these inhuman sounds by handing the vocal duties off to an actual animal! Enter Hatebeak, which I’m guessing is likely the only group in existence that is fronted by a parrot. “Waldo”, a Congo African Gray parrot takes the mic in wing and lets loose a stream of brutal, face melting vocals to a background of speedy guitar and double bass drumming. Hatebeak is an exemplar of the nascent “Feathergore” genre and the group has released a few albums including “Beak of Putrefaction”, “Bird Seeds of Vengeance” and of course, “The Thing Which Should Not Beak”.

Unlike a moody rockstar who trashes his hotel room and is always demanding, Waldo asks only for a handful of birdseed and that the newspaper in his cage be changed at regular intervals before he’s once again back on stage, ready to “rawk”. Clearly, for this bird, it is all about the music.

But Hatebeak had better watch out, for the competition is a bitch…literally. The grind metal band Caninus is fronted, by yes, you guessed it, a pooch! Well actually two. The pitbull terriers, and their owners (New York Band Most Precious Blood) have teamed up to create chaos that sounds like the hounds of hell!

Whew! This band is a beast!

Caninus exists partly to to raise awareness about cruelty to animals and to promote vegan causes. Check out the band’s site for more details.

Caninus official site:
http://www.pitbullgrindcore.com/

Hatebeak’s myspace page and above images:
http://www.myspace.com/beak666

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Remember those times when you heard a song and swore it sounded like another?

Well turns out you may have been right. Tunes often get recycled intentionally or unintentionally and turn up in another musician’s repertoire. It’s especially interesting when the song in question is popular or has reached cult status…..The following 4 songs are well known examples of “borrowing” which made these artists immortal.

Round 1: Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” VS. Killing Joke’s “Eighties”

The 1991 release Nevermind was a bold statement of angst and apathy that shook the music world to its very foundations. In one stroke, Kurt Cobain’s constipated moans and simple guitar riffage wiped away a decade’s worth of glam metal and eighties synth-pop. Plus, the album is really catchy and plays almost like a greatest hits collection. The song “Come As You Are” was the second single to be released, and contains a very distinctive riff which sets the mood of the song:

Maybe too distinctive? Several years before, British dance/punk band Killing Joke released as song called “Eighties” which contains an all too familiar riff:

Verdict: Yup, if you thought the similarity a little too strong to ignore, you’d be right. The members of Killing Joke claim that their song was ripped off, but they supposedly never filed a lawsuit for Cobain’s obvious “borrowing”.

Round 2: Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” VS. Baligh Hamdi/ Abdel Halim Hafez’s “Khosara”

Think of the song Big Pimpin’ and what comes to mind? Oh yeah baby… the good life…a boatful of babes, gallons of Cristal poured out like so much piss, and debauchery on the high seas with none other than his royal Jigginess Jay Z!

Well, now think of the total opposite, because that distinctive melody that sounds like an Indian flute or a seagull being choked by strong hands is actually of Middle Eastern origin. Abdel Halim Hafez recorded composer Baligh Hamdi’s original song Khosara… and anyone can hear the obviously unchanged melody:

Verdict: Ok, this one is easy because no one is disputing that Timbaland stole sampled re-recorded Khosara for use in the album Volume 3…..Life and Times of S. Carter. The real issue is the possible copyright infringement that occurred. Jay Z, Timbaland and others have been hit with lawsuits regarding the song, but so far nothing has come of the matter…

Round 3: Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” VS. Spirit’s “Taurus”

Say it ain’t so! Could it be the most popular and successful song of all time is actually a ripoff! Is nothing sacred? Well I guess not…

The verses of Stairway are made of up a gentle set of chords which are required to be played by every beginning guitarist who walks into a guitar shop:

Now the band Spirit released the song Taurus a couple years earlier, and those same haunting chords clearly make their appearance.

Randy California, the writer of Taurus gave an interview to listener from which I’ll quote:

Listener: Speaking of Led Zeppelin, the guitar introduction to your 1967 composition, “Taurus,” is a dead ringer for Zeppelin’s introduction to “Stairway to Heaven,” released in 1971. Did they ever acknowledge their artistic debt to you? They must of known “Taurus,” having performed as your warmup band.

California: Well, if you listen to the two songs, you can make your own judgment. It’s an exact… I’d say it was a rip-off. And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said, “Thank you,” never said, “Can we pay you some money for it?” It’s kind of a sore point with me. Maybe some day their conscience will make them do something about it. I don’t know. There are funny business dealings between record companies, managers, publishers, and artists. But when artists do it to other artists, there’s no excuse for that. I’m mad! [laughs]

Listener: Well, take comfort in the fact that you’re the true author of one of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs in rock history.

California: Yeah, right…

Verdict:

There is just too much closeness in sound and timing of the release to ignore. Though Stairway is way better than Taurus, it owes its father a tip of the hat at least…(and a buttload of royalties….)

Round 4: Green Day’s “American Idiot” VS. Cho Young-Nam’s “Dosiyo Annyung”

American Idiot, the single, was released in 2004 to kick off the Green Day’s album American Idiot. The “punk-pop opera” was a melodious middle finger aimed squarely at “the man” and it showcased the band at the height of its powers.

But what’s that I hear? Is it a Korean businessman singing some Green Day karaoke after one to many shots of soju? No! It is Cho Young-Nam’s “Dosiyo Annyung”

Verdict: There’s no question here that the chord progression is nearly identical. A western listener (me) would go so far as to think Dosiyo Annyung is the Korean version of American Idiot. But undeniably, Cho Young-Nam’s song was released a full 3 years before Green Day’s. Does this mean GD are plagiarists? Well, no one knows, but the progression (chorus: C#5, G#5, D#5, G#5) is extremely common and made up of simple power chords (resonant partial chords commonly found in rock and metal guitar) so the whole thing could plausibly be a coincidence…

The moral of the story? Great artists steal! And stealing is good! And even if they don’t steal, there are only a finite number of notes and arrangements of those notes in the audible spectrum and duplication of patterns is inevitable! Where is part II of this post?! I haven’t compiled it yet! But stay tuned!

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Find a friend with explosive diarrhea, punch him in the stomach, and deftly catch the resultant  on a few black t-shirts. What do you get? Yes! The latest crop of illegible metal logos! AC’s first illegible metal logo post was really popular, so I thought I’d compile a second list of the finest, splattery examples of the art form.

Drawn from the cartoonishly twisted world of extreme metal, goregrind and related genres, these band logos try their best to hide their names from the viewer–after all, only sell-out bands have names that you can actually “read” or lyrics you can actually “understand”…..

Xasthur

Wolves in the Throne Room

Waking the Cadaver

Vomitory

Summoning

Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition

Spermswamp

Senthil

Nightbringer

Nagaroth

Methadone Abortion Clinic

Korgonthurus

Katharsis

Gutrot

Goat’s Ass Trumpet

Embryonic Depravity

Bosque

Bloodbath

Bestial Summoning

Abyssmal Nocturne

Be sure to check out Illegible Metal Logos Part I

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I’m a little late in running across pixlr’s amazing photo editor, surely a godsend if you’re po’.

Photoshop would be hard to improve upon– the industry heavyweight has everything a casual user, a professional graphic designer and everyone in between could ever want.

But of course there is a drawback–unless you’re “young, black and famous, with money hangin’ out the anus”, buying a legit copy is a major investment. There are of course other methods *cough* demonoid *cough* but that would of course be wrong…

Enter pixlr.com, a site which allows the user to access an amazing photoshop-esque interface and many of the familiar features of Adobe’s cash cow. And all at the charming price of $0.00! No longer will people toil in the dark ages under the tyranny of the retarded child emperor known as MS paint. A reasonable editor is now within the grasp of anyone with a internet connection and basic PS skillz.


You have Swedish programmer Ola Sevandersson to thank for the application. He spent over a year refining it in his spare time and the result is something very functional and very free. I wonder if he’ll get sued? I hope not. I think its far more likely Adobe would buy the software…but who knows….

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It seemed that nobody knew about this movie and it was incredibly difficult to find, but I knew I had to see it after reading Roger Ebert’s review where he stated:

“Tarsem’s The Fall is a mad folly, an extravagant visual orgy, a free-fall from reality into uncharted realms. Surely it is one of the wildest indulgences a director has ever granted himself.”

and called it:

“…a movie that you might want to see for no other reason than because it exists. There will never be another like it.”

Strictly speaking, there is a plot but its purpose is to facilitate magnificent visuals. The movie opens with a a movie stuntman named Roy who wishes to kill himself and who enlists a young girl named Alexandria to help him do the job. He slowly gains her trust by telling her a story involving fantastical characters and exotic locations.

Now when I heard that no CG effects were used in the film, I was stunned. There is a scene where birds fly out of a man’s mouth as he is killed, and another where a man is shot with hundreds of arrows and dies lying atop them. In yet another, masked warriors swarm across a dizzying and complex stair structure.

If you’re an arthound like me, you’ll want to see this movie simply for this visual feast.

Tarsem’s personal story is also very interesting. He first came to LA to study film making against his father’s wishes and eventually became a top commercial and music video director. However, he had always wanted to create a visually impressive film and so he began working on what would eventually become The Fall. 28 countries and four years later, his work was finished, debuting in 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

It takes a lot of guts to self-finance such an offbeat fantasy movie. Thank God there are visionary directors like Tarsem who’ll take some potent shrooms, give two middle fingers to the man and follow their own artistic vision…

(images: the fall official site)

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Ever since A Perfect Circle broke up, I’ve been on the lookout for a band that that combined elements of hard rock and progressive rock with heavy effects and melody. Tool, while very different from APC, ventures into artistic realms largely unexplored by mainstream hard rock, and it was a major plus that the two bands shared a vocalist, but it still wasn’t enough….

Lightweights such as 10 Years and Evans Blue emerged, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon the Seattle based Rishloo, that I felt I had found something closer to the mark.

Rishloo has a great amalgamation of styles and techniques: tempo changes, vamping, and subtle atmospherics which all set the ‘artsy’ tone. In fact, the criticism most often leveled at the the band is their similarity in sound to Tool and APC.

The band acknowledges their many influences, but defines themselves in their own way:

“For the Seattle-based AMPH (artistic, melodic, progressive, hard) rock band RISHLOO, music is an adventure without a destination, and the only wrong course is backwards. Starting with a sound reminiscent of artists such as Dredg, Tool, and The Mars Volta, RISHLOO layers their music with the emotional depth and beauty of Tori Amos, the furious honesty of Rage Against the Machine, the soul, songwriting, and social conscience of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and the sonic deviousness of Mogwai to create an aural experience that pushes Rock’s envelope while staying true to the genre’s roots.” (from Rishloo.com)

Song:
Rishloo – Freaks and Animals

Freaks and Animals is the standout track from Rishloo’s sophomore album Eidolon. The song’s subject is unique: a carnival sideshow where nothing is as it seems. A mad barker gathers a crowd together and urges them to come into his world and witness “freaks, fools and fire”. The band’s frontman switches from narrator to flamboyant ringmaster as he promises the audience the “vision of their lives” and finally delivers it to them in an unexpected way.

My favorite element is the vocal morphing: cronelike urgings and whispers that later give way to the soulful highs that round out the song. And unlike most 1-D mainstream songs, the lyrics are able to evoke strong imagery while telling a story:

Under this canvas he hides a dream
A trick of the type too cheap to be free
makes your burgeoning inquiry
more easily answered
Oh a sight they have come to see
we shan’t disappoint, they’ve paid for a scene
And a scene they shall have indeed
This dark, dark evening.

Join us inside, that’s the way here
Come now, just step right-up in line!
It’s freaks, fools, and fire!
Come nearer, come closer, it’s nearly time!
You there, and you there, come one and all!

It looks better in Red my calico friend
Let us brood on the hue of need
What finds your favor?
No, the show must go on instead
With hundreds of eyes at two to a head
and the blindness is thrice complete
When all stand watching.

Step aside make way for the stars’ presence!
Better beware, there’s lights and glittering!
Gaze deeper, stare harder, it’s nearly time!
You there, and you there, come one and all..

So plain…

So have you ever wondered where were the demons they told us of?
Be patient, they’re coming, shortly revealed to you
and I do think you’ll find a dead-ringer
much still hides you curious minds
There’s no hurry.

Now where are my manners?
Round and around..
Why, I believe they’ve all arrived..

Out, out, from the wings.
Set all the props in place, lower the lights and wait.
Now, bring them in, let them watch, let the spectacle rise.
Hold your breath, this suspense lead the arrogant dead eyes.
More than them will you spend for the vision of your life.

Let the curtains fall down
Look now, and see, that’s quite the motley
disguise you’ve borrowed.
My friend, it seems quite odd
but you are the show you’ve paid for!
Step through the mirror and now the circus spins on and on so,
come one, come all, tonight…

(images: rishloo.com)

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And there was something else that I didn’t realize about the author until coming across it in Stephen King’s excellent On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. In a passage on writing dialogue, King noted that:

“H. P. Lovecraft was a genius when it came to tales of the macabre, but a terrible dialogue writer. He seems to have known it, too, because in the millions of words of fiction he wrote, fewer than five thousand are dialogue.” (p. 181)

But Machen’s work The Great God Pan reads the way you wish Lovecraft’s would. The novella begins with a girl’s disastrous brain operation which is performed in the hopes of her coming into contact with the pagan god Pan. The rest of the story deals with a strange woman’s involvement in the mysterious death’s of several London gentlemen.

Upon its release, the work was considered controversial for its grotesque and decadent themes, as well as its implied sexual content.

So if you’re a fan of turn-of-the-century Gothic horror, (and who among us isn’t…), check out this minor masterpiece of the genre. The text is available on Gutenburg, but I also made a pdf version for easy readability:

PS: Quick tip for reading pdfs: hit ctrl+k and change the document text to white and the page background to dark and then hit ctrl+shift+h, then up and down to scroll….

PPS: The pics are from the movie Pan’s Labyrinth – They aren’t related to Machen’s story, but seem strangely appropriate.

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But Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi’s debut would be a little more stunning if you didn’t feel it had been done before by Arundhati Roy. Love it or hate it, The God of Small Things’s (TGOST) Booker win brought more attention to the genre and you get a feeling of deja vu. (Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is on a level of genius so far removed from Roy or Shanghvi, I’m not including it.)

Here’s the story of The Last Song of Dusk: beautiful main character Anuradha Patwardhan gets married to Vardhmaan, a doctor, in what seems to be the perfect marriage. But tragedy strikes when their first child, a prodigy, dies in an accident and plunges their lives into a prolonged poetic depression. Later a wild girl named Nandini stirs up their lives with her antics, and the arrival of another child leads to more poetic feelings and thoughts on love and loss.

Some who read TGOST because of the hype felt the first half was basically a long list of pointlessly creative metaphors, though with a redeeming end. And like TGOST, the Last Song of Dusk’s style is in your face.

In the battle of style vs. substance and the author has to find his own balance, but there is definitely a point when the style can overshadow the substance to the point that it feels the writer wants to show off his writing more than let his characters live. At that point “original writing” becomes just a distraction. Shanghvi walks this line but slips less often than Roy. Most of his metaphors are apt and only a tad distracting. Other facets of his style are evident. He is prone to melodrama (though with a purpose), he is very fond of words like “sartorial” and “nape” (“nape of the neck” is redundant and you realize that Shanghvi, we get it already.) Also, the author wears his gay agenda on his sleeve, and nearly everyone dude in the novel has a set of nice buns.

In addition, mentioning “mercurochrome” and “suitable boys” on the same page is a little mischievous for an author who most certainly has read Rushdie and Vikram Seth. Another time he speaks of a character’s “infinitely beautiful collarbones” which remind a reader of the Roy’s description of “absurdly beautiful collarbones” in TGOST. I’m being anal here, but to readers of the small magic-realism/Indian-West subgenre these things stick out.

Readers of this book, especially Indians, will notice something about it that it has in common with Midnight’s Children and The God of Small Things.
The characters always have ties to England or America, mix with whites freely, quote and listen to English authors and Western composers, have more than a bit of American savvy and slang etc. I suspect because the authors themselves have such an East-West hybrid nature they try and insert all the details of their own personal identity crises into their novels.

Would the average small city doctor in 1940’s India waltz and listen to Handel? I’m not sure, but remember these authors are shooting for emotional punch over reality and any distortions in The Last Song of Dusk just add to the hybrid insider/outsider feel that you might have felt if you read Midnight’s Children and TGOST. The Anglicized view of these novelists represents just a few percent of the Indian Experience. There have been only a handful of Indian novels in English (not translations) that capture the other 95%, which India actually is.

Anyways, other stuff happens: a girl walks on water and mates with a panther, artsy parties are held, portraits are unveiled, characters sigh endlessly and ask themselves ‘why’? The cameo by Gandhi is a little goofy, and with the parade of odd characters that stream in nonstop, sometimes you feel the author is trying too hard to cast a freakshow worthy enough for ‘originality’. But there are positives, and they all deal with hallucinatory images and poignant insights. In the end the novel is really about images rather than events, and the love, loss, and sex aplenty is always presented as part of the search for ultimate meaning.

One of the reasons this has to be a dreamlike novel is that if it used straight realism somebody at some point would say “snap out of it” and life would move on. But in Shanghvi’s construction, characters are free to artistically pose at the window, watch the dying sun and whisper ‘it can never be’. When we as readers ask why not, they answer ‘because it can never be…’

Reading The Last Song of Dusk is like eavesdropping on a dream.

You know what I mean: when you wake up from a dream, deeply moved babbling something about bright lights and a purple elephant that loved you, while an observer laughs his head off at your absurdities…Then you come to your senses and eventually laugh off the dream which progressively becomes more and more absurd to you yourself…..

“Capturing the dream’s emotion” is what Shanghvi is best at, but because I’m rating this novel on all factors: plot, sincerity, philosophical content, the final feel or ‘vibe’ etc, etc, I have to average the good and the bad, hence a rating of 3 out of 5. But if I had to rate this on Shanghvi’s emotional sincerity alone, or his attempt to capture the beauty and mystery of love and loss, I would give it 5 out of 5. He clearly feels these things very deeply, and these ideas are just so damn abstract and hard to explain to others that his haunting conveyance of them is remarkable. He is a poet through and through.

Here’s an excerpt from the book: “But even after her words were folded and put to one side, they would continue staring at each other in the knowledge that the endurers of a common fate have an association that outlives calamity and joy, strengthens over time, and deepens into a clarity that allows them to accept that love was nothing but the fragile excuse that enjoined them in the first place, and that after its cessation, after the haunting emptiness of its passing, this silence they were now sharing was, in fact, nothing short of divine eloquence.”

Preach it brother.

Shanghvi is a poet trapped in a novelist’s body. ‘Nuff said.

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