Uncategorized | Nate East

February 8, 2010

red brick chimneys and pigeon colored roofs

I put together a top ten albums of 2009 list a couple weeks ago for the “customer favorites” at Aquarius Records, and thought I might at as well share it on here too:

Favorites of 2009:
Krallice – Dimensional Bleedthrough
Girls – Album
DOOM – Born Like This
Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – S/T
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Wavves – Wavves
Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

Other 2009 records I really really liked:
ducktails – backyard
grand lake – nevermint EP and louise EP
true widow – true widow
sun araw – heavy deeds
deerhunter – rainwater cassette exchange
sun 0))) – monoliths and dimensions
raekwon – only built for cuban linx… pt. II
xeno and oaklander – sentinelle
bill callahan – sometimes i wish we were an eagle
blank dogs – under and under

Word. Other news: recently started a book by Sam Shepard; more on that later; also been spending lotsa time still looking at photos/art online, which led me to re-visit one of my favorite spots in SF that I actually hadn’t been to in months and months, Needles and Pens
They’re a really great shop filled with DIY goods, interesting zines/books/journals/artwork, and even a rad gallery with monthly rotating exhibits. The folks who work there are great too, and even have carried some of my poetry zines for a while! There are still copies of ‘Serious Culture Bastards’ on the shelf, which I think I photocopied in like June… not selling too well apparently!!

Anyway, they have lots of especially good stuff now, and I had a big list of to-buy stuff including the new issue of Cometbus, the Sandy Kim photo book, and an issue of Scam, but I settled on On the Lower Frequencies, the recent book by zine-guy/writer Erick Lyle. I’ve read a number of his articles in the Chronicle and heard some NPR podcasts and am super hyped to check out the book!

In terms of writing I’ve been getting a lot done in terms of material for larger pieces, and also have some stuff in submission queues at websites/journals, so as always if you’re interested shoot me an email and I’ll forward the latest along. Bigger update soon!

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February 1, 2010

desert wind forgot your name / jungle woods and river side

I just finished Bed by Tao Lin:
which brings the number of Tao Lin books I have read in the past few months to a shocking THREE. I would say it’s the most ’emotional’ book of his I’ve read and also the one with the most overtly ‘literary’ language (?) and certainly emotionally heaviest-hitting. Like, super depressing, in an accurate and too-familiar way. Really good and worth a read.

I found photographer/musician Nick Wortham’s website recently while flipping through old Fecal Face POTD posts:

There are lots more arrestingly beautiful and inspiring photos at his site, ‘this is not a story.’

And, finally, I’ve recently been listening to a lot of:

January 23, 2010

rattling heaters and reverb and murky cold night without

Am super hyped; some of my writing just went up at a couple of hella cool journals!

First, a poem appears in the first issue of So and So Magazine, a new project from the organizers of the So and So reading series and publishing imprint in Raleigh, NC. The other work in the issue is super rad, and the web design is nightmarishly cool/classy as well; check it out here!

Second! A short story of mine was published in the latest issue of the always-hardcore Dogzplot Flash Fiction, alongside some really killer other work. Definitely check out the new issue! I think my piece is the longest one I’ve had published so far… which might mean… something.

In other news, the performance-art/print-making/gnar-event-planning collective known as ASTEROID HEAD ART CLUB just put up a rad new website!

I first heard about these dudes through Sam Owen’s photo-essay of their July 4th art-happening out in the wilderness, AKA Summer Camp:

Definitely check out the whole photo set here… pretty insane.

There’s been lots of other stuff going on too – new music – new shows – new books, etc, but I gotta run, so will leave ya with this cassette which is playing right now:

Robedoor – Raiders . such great psych/drone wildness. This one in particular is sold out, but look for upcoming stuff at their ill LA label, Not Not Fun!

…speaking of which, can’t wait for the new Magic Lantern LP… okay really going now!

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January 13, 2010

but forgotten, lost in old caves and desert caverns of the earth

I’ve been sending out more and more lit journal/website submissions, but haven’t heard back from anywhere since like November. Hoping!

I finished reading Blood Meridian yesterday

which was an utterly mind-wrecking read.

I’d previously read McCarthy’s The Road, which I also really enjoyed, and which I saw as this kind of perfectly gaunt and streamlined vision/story that ended with a real banger of a paragraph that stayed with me for days.

Blood Meridian, in contrast, is an entire novel length “banger of a paragraph,” that is, the whole thing reads like some kind of insane Biblical-language fever dream, ultra-graphic and shocking violence, ultra-beautiful and terrifying descriptions of nature, and ultra-dense and hell-and-brimstone philosophical dialogue between extremely interesting characters. I would highly, highly recommend it, and, if that’s not enough, Harold Bloom also totally digs it, calling it the best American novel ever, or something. Super-worth a read.

Besides reading this guy, I’ve been very into looking at photos these past few weeks, especially some new joints from:

1. tenderloin is the night

2. mr. sam owen

3. mike brodie / polaroid kidd

And, even more than usual (since I’ve been working a ton), I’ve been listening to some new music.

1. Obsessed with Neurosis these days, and have recently bought three of their albums and one side-project LP… so far this is the one I’ve listened to most:

2. Look at those outfits:

3. Have had this for almost a year, but only recently begun listening to it all the way through a lot. Really amazing record:

December 31, 2009

Let the desert night swallow you up

Top five things I learned during long bike rides thru forest:

Tenderloin is the Night – new photography blog with awesomely clever name and really rad photos. Check it out!

Free the City blog has a wonderfully imagined aesthetic. Bookmarked!

My friends in Grand Lake from Oakland have a new EP out and new music up at their Myspace. Go listen!

I have been lately obsessed with Swamp Donkey’s Flickr page. Amazing photos of freight hopping, forest exploring, and gnarly street art. Check it out! My favorite section is the Medium Format photo-set.

Been re-reading a lot of Blake lately – specifically prophetic books stuff from Marriage of Heaven + Hell and Urizen. The dude wrote truth on his soul and hands with firey diamond ink and dreamed mad visions of beauty and apocalypse. Rad town.

And!

Music:

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December 21, 2009

December 20

The Dirty Pond, a small lit / art review based in New Haven CT, recently picked up a short story of mine which went up on their website last week, along with some rad artwork/prose from other contributors. Check it out here!

My friend Sean Croft, who needs no introduction (although it must be mentioned that he is known by some for his work with A Born Idler as “the Lou Reed of the South”) has been recording/performing in Europe lately, and he’s put a bunch of awesome new music up at his website here! Definitely worth checking out. Additionally, Sean’s started a blog to post writing-excerpts/thoughts/hilarious “year end lists,” which is here. Word.

My friend J bought me a copy of this guy:

for an (early) x-mas present, and I’ve been reading it during spare moments. Currently about halfway through (just finished the interview with Murakami.) Some super interesting insights in there for sure; I think my favorite parts so far are Jonathan Lethem talking to Paul Auster (I’m a fan of both Fortress of Solitude and NY Trilogy) and also the interview with Edward P. Jones where he throws down a quote to the effect of “when I’m writing I think about only one reader. Myself.” which is hella awesome.

I’ve also been re-reading some of William Blake (Marriage of Heaven + Hell and Urizen, so far) but full report on that later.

In closing: records!

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December 12, 2009

unedited spur-of-the-moment 12/11/2009

OKAY so have a couple hours before going out into that rainy night so going to try this (again): just off-the-cuff kind-of write-what’s-in-my head. Haha (?) Here goes:

Who performed with a scarf over his face and mouth to obscure it? the scarf? I hid behind a mic stand I’d modified with some cardboard I bought at Walgreens so it was a big old screen with some google-imaged Celtic knot drawings and Shakespeare lines scrawled on it – worth that extra money for the extra-thick Sharpies and the twenty dollar stereo headphones to play Def Jux or industrial noise records on the freezing walk over to the event-friendly bookstores and little literary bars. Ultra-slashed copy of The Faerie Queen in the back pocket – honestly I had hoped for years that these jeans would rip enough so the author’s name was revealed when I was just chillin waiting for busses or riding my bike – and then it finally happened! like “one day I woke up and.”

And on that subject busses just run forever – there’s the owl and then the night owl and then the dead of night owl and then the that-new-moss-record owl and then it’s pretty much morning and the five o’clock rolls around again and you can ride this shit forever. For like a dollar! What is it about that repetitive electric riff. I shadow boxed a little on the hill-climb to the yuppie shinto monastary. Anyone else heard the clickety synthesizer alien noises that been popping up around Mission street in the early evenings? On the under-construction sidewalks round the block from the noodle place that’s only open in the dead of night and has no door or lights or chairs to sit on so every order’s to go from a faceless chef in the night behind the counter with the howls of steam and occasional flash of cooking knives in the thick darkness?

That’s the street with the Turkish cafe! With the scaffolding over the sidewalks and the walkway supports made out of green pipes that are always tattered with flyers like fell-off pigeon feathers! You seen that bank that just got built there? It’s like from the wachovia merger or something? The front’s built out of raw pine or something so the damn thing creaks and drips like a ski lodge. Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s like a porch or a wooden-beam balcony and a firebowl no doubt

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December 11, 2009

Quick Update

Some quick updates, and I’ll be sure to post some cooler stuff soon. Expect at the very least some new published flash fiction around December 15th at an AS YET UNNAMED location!

I read a couple of books:

1. Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

This was a super, super fun read and I finished it all in literally one sitting. It helps that it’s also pretty short. I also laughed out loud ~10 times during the read while I was alone in my apartment. All in all definitely recommended!

2. The Girl on the Fridge by Edgar Keret

This one was amazing. Mind-blowing. I had been meaning to buy and read this FOREVER since it seems to be featured in the “staff pics” section of every indie bookstore in the Bay Area. Seriously I have vivid memories of considering this purchase like last January at Pegasus Berkeley (hollatcha Simon!).

But seriously – believe all of the hype. Keret is like, super famous in Israel, and it’s immediately clear why from these ultra short (like two pages each) stories / flash-fiction pieces. Each one is a little funny, there’s a little “restrained magical realism” (to quote some reviewer) from time to time, and each one is twisted in an extremely subtle yet mind-bending, stick-with-you type of way, so you end up thinking about them over and over again. Really really great read, especially if you don’t have lots of time to devote to a new novel and are looking for something super-satisfying and deep that you can read for only a few minutes at the time.

Some other news:

as per the usual, Sam Owen brings the nightmarishly-rad art like it’s his job. This newish piece is a sweet example of his intersection-of-text-and-visual-art type of style. What does it mean to write something like this as an static “art piece” that addresses like, what is happening in real time as you write it?

And finally some records I’ve been into lately! Pictures are links 🙂

November 30, 2009

Update Update

HIII

First off, a flash fiction piece of mine, “Catacomb Efreet” (kind ridiculous very ridiculous title) just went up at Dogzplot. Check it out here! Also mad thanks to Dogzplot editor Barry Graham for his advice on revisions for this piece.

Also, I set up the domain http://www.nateeast.com with this here site, so if you want to change your bookmark to something shorter go for it!! The nateeast.wordpress.com URL still works too.

Writing stuff: I’m actually really excited about a couple of the things I’ve been working on this past week. I finished two new longish (~30 lines each) poems that I’m going to start submitting this week, and also a good chunk of raw material for maybe a novella maybe some short stories, who knows. But I’m hyped on it! Shoot me an email or whatever if you’re interested in checking any of this out.

Reading stuff: I haven’t been reading too much since been focusing on writing (and riding my bike more), so I’ve been working on this guy for the past lil bit:

So far it’s a pretty weird/cool mix of “cyberpunk” and “sci-fi” whatever the difference really is, and the world created by Mieville is damn interesting. I’m not very far in as of yet. Will give longer (read: shorter) review soon!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: if you didn’t see it yet on the front page of Fecal Face, Sam Owen recently put together a really awesome flash Web ‘Zine of original art from a clutch of different artists. It’s packaged in a really sick multimedia presentation (it’s like the flash version of a moleskine with different work pasted/taped in. must see!!) and you should check it out here on Sam’s site. Takes a bit of time for the flash to load but totally worth it!

A couple still images from the ‘zine:

And finally. As you might know from my twitter I’ve been listening to this record pretty much non-stop for the past week:

Perfect for writing and/or working. Together with their new album Tarot Sport which I picked up a few weeks ago, I’m becoming quite a Fuck Buttons fan.

Also. If you’re not following @BARRR yet on twitter I would heartily recommend it. Constant stream of hilarious updates and also gnarly artwork.

Um and finally for no real reason just wanted to throw out there that I recently bought a Civilian bag from Reload in Philly and it’s rad and can carry hella groceries and books and stuff. OKAY END UP UPDATE.

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November 22, 2009

New Writing! News! Photos! Show!

Above portrait of me by J. Entitled “Eat More.”

Some news: Dogzplot picked up another of my flash fiction pieces, and I’ll link it up as soon as its live!

The ghost story I posted a while ago on this here website was recently featured on Fictionaut‘s recommended stories list, so that’s exciting. On that subject, I have a Fictionaut account set up these days, which is here.

On another note, if you haven’t swung by artist and photographer Sam Owen’s website lately, check it out!! There are always lots of great new projects and photos posted. Examples of mind-wreckingly awesome photos:

WORD.

Stay tuned for some updates to the structure of this site (I’m planning on putting in seperate pages for published/unpublished stuff, etc) and also some more PHOTOS OF THINGS LIKE BOOKS OR CD’S soon!

Lastly, Mr. J and I recently saw the band Girls live in concert, and I’ve gotta say that it was mind-blowingly like, sad. I felt like crying for a lot of the setlist. Christopher Owens seems like a very, very sad guy. Most emotional/(best?) show I’ve been to, ever.

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