In literary works where you are not encountering a lot of conflict, you must keep up with the details. In 1985's "White Noise," Don DeLillo is throwing a lot of characters and various levels of backstory into the mix. For Jack and Babette, it is comforting that the pair seem to recharge their lives from having such a massive and scattered family. Eleven-year-old Denise hangs on to her Physicians' Desk Reference for a reason. Two-year-old Wilder dominates almost an entire chapter with a crying spell that introduces uncertainty into their world and functions to demonstrate Jack as resourceful and dedicated to his brood.
However, this is the Great Midwest after industry has been drained from it. From their safe perch in Blacksmith, it seems that only the outcast son Heinrich even knows about the remnants of the history of the region which to everyone else is as distant as the trains that still pass through outside of their sleepy college town.
Beyond learning German, green visors, and hiding items in the garbage can, most of the characters of DeLillo's manicured world exist in a state of consumerist-pacified happiness. Grocery stores and malls are houses of worship. The church itself is a place for Babette to teach the elder population better posture in their basement. If the world seems topsy-turvy, perhaps DeLillo wants it to. Even in the most controlled circumstances, the loss of it always seems to be circling it.
One winter afternoon, Babette is complaining about Heinrich climbing out on the roof from the attic window. When Jack goes to investigate, he discovers that Heinrich is watching trains far across town that seem to be the cause of alarm. Before you know it, a wisp of black smoke grows into "an airborne toxic event." Inside the Gladney house, the children go through various symptoms that seem to be secretly collected from radios. The girls worry over "sweaty palms," as Babette works on a meal ("Shall I do some chili-fried chicken?" - remember this is a satire.) Jack discovers that Heinrich is a fountain of knowledge about this once "feathery plume," now characterized as "the black billowing cloud."
Over "canned peaches and sponge cake," the family grows more frightened and concerned. The smallest details ("It was a fire captain's car with a loudspeaker and it was going pretty fast.") swell into sirens wailing so loudly that the family is unable to hear the helpful words in the emergency announcement. With a handful of facts, as many worldly goods as they can carry, and Jack shielding the easily-influenced girls from the new side effects of "heart palpitations and deja vu, they have to hit the road for shelter.
At this point, you have invested so much in this family that you feel like they could be your own. Packed like sardines into the car, they can only drive away. We have all been here. We know that claustrophobia and the stunned silence only too well. So DeLillo leads us into a miles-long traffic nightmare where we may move a couple of inches or so. Then this bottleneck horror clogs up into one lane. In the car, there is no real conversation (Nine-year-old Steffie tries to avoid crying by reading a coupon.) Around them snow is falling, which quickly turns into rain. The radio says they have to go to the abandoned Boy Scout camp. The drive suddenly highlights how empty all the fast food places, drugstores, and movie theatres are. The comfortable hum of their suburbia is gone, replaced by Jack switching stations on the radio. On their way away from the threat, the gauge is touching the first leg of the E and they finally hear the announcement booming from a speaker far away.
Abandon all domiciles, Now, now. Toxic event, chemical cloud.
Is it snowing because of the chemical cloud? Is it raining remnants of the Nyodene D. from the train upon them? Are those sirens distant because we are driving away from them, or are they from other towns who are all about to join them on this crowded journey to safety? Steffie says "This happened once before. Just like this." Suddenly, something is looming in the sky ahead of us.
We are reminded of a trip Jack took to the old burying ground. Trying to read the old marble headstones, he realized that he could no longer hear "traffic noise, the intermittent stir of factories across the river." As he listened, the crisp wind calmed down and he thought:
May the days be aimless. Let the seasons drift. Do not advance the action according to a plan.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
CARDI B. - Am I The Drama? [BABY BLUE LP/CD WITH ARTCARD](Atlantic)
Cardi is back and taking no prisoners. Her weird flow agrees with both old school Nineties-style Hip-Hop ("Imaginary Playerz") and the new skittering Trap-based grooves. As blatant as N.W.A. (and ribald as her true spirit animal Millie Jackson,) "Drama" is all Cardi. If you aren't up to her requirements, she will toss you out like a room service cart
NINE INCH NAILS - Tron:Ares [WHITE 2LP/CD](Null Corp)
Now famous for Oscar-winning scores ("Soul" and "The Social Network,") "Tron:Ares" meets between "Pretty Hate Machine"-like songs ("As Alive As You Need Me To Be") and a tough, Electronic-based soundtrack that glows as much as the computer graphics inside the machine.
SARAH MCLACHLAN - Better Broken [BLUE LP/CD](Concord)
Back after a bout with laryngitis, McLachlan resurfaces with an album of breathy adult Pop that echoes her Nineties fame (the Electronic midtempo title cut) and big ballads that push her voice away from her tender wisp ("Gravity.")
LOLA YOUNG [PUNCHING BAG LP/CD](Island)
We all know how "Messy" this brash new singer is. However, Lola Young has a little more grit than most of the Pop singers crowding the chart. Like a multi-tracked Amy Winehouse (think Remi Wolf,) Young keeps "One Thing" simmering above its danceable energy thanks to three separate vocal hooks, some purring British talk, and a peak you can feel. Unlike a lot of today's female Pop blasters, Young shows more control. On "Dealer," she cuts her singing down to more terse lines (over minimal production) that make her real emotional pleas ("I'm not coming back for fifteen years") stand out.
SPECIES - Changeling [LP/CD](20 Buck Spin/The Orchard)
Some of the most challenging Metal today is erupting from the groups who are tinkering in Frankenstein's lab with different subgenres. Poland's Species at heart are a Thrash band complete with old school cymbal bell rings and neck snapping thunder. However, above the fray they front load more than chugging/thrilling runs ("The Essence") and wild, new high screech vocals. As the power trio races through their frenetic ripping, they stop on a dime and shift gears into odd-time Seventies-style Ur-Metal (with a hint of Prog.) If this seems like a lot on paper, it kind of needs to blind you as it whizzes past you ("Born of Stitch and Flesh") with its tritone-meets-Voivod grind.
NATION OF LANGUAGE - Dance Called Memory [PINK LP/CD](SubPop/AMPED)
What does it take to be a SynthPop group that has AAA hits? Hooks. Nation of Language has always been purist about their Eighties-era sound and making their catchy writing work within those parameters. "Memory" sees an expansion of sound to include a hint of Shoegazer ("I'm Not Ready For The Change") as well as sharper focus of minimal classic Mute Records sounds like Fad Gadget ("In Your Head") and Depeche Mode ("Inept Apollo.") Somehow through it all, they never quite sound like they are throwing back to that production methodology, or even borrowing it - "Memory" plays like they just discovered it.
BUCKINGHAM NICKS [BLUE LP/PINK LP/HI FI LP/CD](Rhino)
Finally, the tale can be told. Lindsey Buckingham and his girlfriend Stephanie Nicks were just a couple of young Southern California lovebirds. Working on their music away from roommate Warren Zevon, Buckingham and Nicks centered on a high-harmonious style of Folk/Rock that echoed some of the California sound of the early Seventies. Stephanie waited tables at Bob's Big Boy and cleaned house for producer Keith Olsen. When Olsen heard their homemade tapes, he knew that he discovered something. At his studio, Sound City, Olsen had just purchased a new Neve board and the first song he recorded was with Buckingham Nicks (and some famous session musicians.) Weeks later, showing off the board and its capabilities to Mick Fleetwood who was shopping around for a new location to record Fleetwood Mac. Well, you know the rest.
For an initial burst of songwriting and recording, "Buckingham Nicks" takes a lot of chances. With Olsen at the helm, most of Buckingham's guitar skills come across (the epic "Frozen Love") and you get your first glimpse into how meticulous he will become as a producer. Whether Stephanie was writing about Lindsey, or Lindsey was writing about Stephanie, there is a lot of love in their close harmonies ("Don't Let Me Down Again.") "Crystal" would make its way on to the 1975 "Fleetwood Mac" record, but not with as many guitar overdubs as Lindsey gets away with here. Stephanie, now dubbed Stevie, proved herself to be an adept writer ("Long Distance Winner") and a secret weapon on her own. With Lindsey sick from mononucleosis, each of the pair would have to take to their separate corners to write, leading to tension and chemistry in how they collaborated.
Signing to the major label Polydor, "Buckingham Nicks" fizzled after initial release in September 1973. With no real promotion budget and no singles picking up any heat, it was left to the AOR stations to dig into the full length. Only a handful of stations in the Southeast (namely Birmingham, AL, but WZZQ in Jackson did play it as well) took the time with this fledgling duo. With the promise of a Sunset Strip billboard falling through (they finally received one this year) and the record impossible to find in their home of Los Angeles, Buckingham Nicks managed to play a couple of shows to rapt audiences in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa (bootlegged somewhere.) At home, it was back to the day jobs. At least until New Year's Eve 1974.
Various Artists - PRAISE BE! BOARDING THE GOSPEL TRAIN WITH LUX AND IVY [CD](Cherry Red UK)
In the dizzying array of music that is tossed out on a weekly basis, sometimes it is breathtaking to find a collection of songs from the past that knew they were bottling lightning. This glorious collection of ancient Gospel is a celebration of powerful voices (Mary DeLoatch, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Mahalia Jackson) and even more powerful Spiritual music from Country and traditional Gospel circles. Save the heavenly twang of The Staple Singers as the point of intersection that will lead you from the sanctified Famous Davis Singers and Mighty Clouds of Joy toward the gentle waltz of dulcet voiced Patsy Cline and Ernest Tubb bellowing the hymnal favorite "The Old Rugged Cross." Even as you are struck by the familiarity of many of these tracks ("Ezekiel" done chorally by the Aeolians of Oakwood University is a true thrill,) bear in mind how well everyone has to perform around the limitations of the day. So, bells chime along side LaVern Baker and organs have never sounded better. "Praise Be!" is well-selected (by the Cramps!!) and sequenced around its biggest stars (Johnny Cash, B.B.King, George Jones) and the songs you have always known and loved.
