In honor of the father-daughter relationship of 1990's "Vineland" appearing in Paul Thomas Anderson's new film "One Battle After Another," and in anticipation of Thomas Pynchon's first novel in twelve years, "Shadow Ticket," we dive into where the wild-eyed creation process officially began, 1963's "V." With his Cornell degree in hand and time in the U.S. Navy behind him, Pynchon wrote his debut work between 1960 and 1962 while working as a technical writer for Boeing (often represented in his bibliography under the absurd moniker Yoyodyne.) By 1964, Pynchon would report to his agent that he was busy on four novels, "V." is highly representative of his innate ability to balance disparate stories and voluminous characters on his stages.
"V." is above all a mystery. However, it is not cloaked in too much intrigue, although it loves to toss you details (skin-peeling sunburn faces, blue eyeglasses, and a girl carrying a rock) to make sure that you are paying attention. For that reason, Pynchon is building his narrative and carefully leading you into his ridiculous funhouse-mirrored world.
In small part, a lesser character presents the opportunity to gorge on all the salient aspects of their weird, reductive life and understand how confidently Pynchon manages the mechanics of their story. "The laziest being in Nueva York," Fergus Mixolydian is a Kerouac-ian dilettante. Never completing his abstractly constructed culture mash-ups ("a western in blank verse,") his kitchen time is spent "generating hydrogen." When he finally decides to sleep (again, a strange notion for someone characterized as being "lazy,") he fills a balloon with a giant Z upon it to tie to the post of his bed. We have still not said enough about Fergus, wait until you hear how he watches TV.
Who is "V?" is a question that haunts you as you read, re-read, and devour these transmissions of information. Out of the Whole Sick Crew, we know the most about the evasive Herbert Stencil, who is entirely committed to the task of discovering this identity, and how it connects to his own. 1946 New York is starting to fill with cognoscenti types from upper middle class homes as well as an underbelly of those of less-cultured circumstances looking to fill in the blanks. With so many people packing into the jazz clubs and coffee shops, Pynchon characterizes New York as a true beehive of not only activity but people looking for connection.
So it makes perfect sense that Pynchon would open his work with another character. First we encounter the AWOL sailor Benny Profane escaping the sailor-based mayhem of Norfolk, VA to land in "Nueva York" where his struggle is portrayed as a known way of life. No matter what class, occupation, upbringing even - most of these creations are either publicly or privately "surviving."
As the narrator keeps us well aware of the most important details of this vast intersection of lives, the question "Who is this?" pulses beneath every page. Profane has only as his identity the ability to "yo-yo" between groups and people, perhaps never fully belonging. Stencil has his father's journals as an avid traveler with a mysterious occupation to discern a life he may never know.
His journals, his unofficial log of an agent's career. Under, "Florence, April 1889" is a sentence, young Stencil has memorized it: "There is more behind and inside V. than any of us had suspected. Not who, but what: what is she. God grant that I may never be called upon to write the answer, either here or in any official report."
Stencil is coping with this massive hole regarding his father and how it possibly relates in some manner to the loss of his mother. His entry into the Whole Sick Crew is one of opportunism (honestly, they all are.) We find out that as he has given up sleeping to devote himself to connecting the dots through the second generation of names that match those his father recorded, the story switches into the Pynchon construction of a dream-within-a-dream.
Stencil is taken with the notion that he can somehow change "perspective" and reconstruct the written events of his father's time in the vast Middle East. (One is reminded of "jumping into other's people fantasies" from 1973's "Gravity's Rainbow.") Episodically with attention to a "main" cast of characters, we travel to Cairo where Pynchon poetically assembles a chapter from the past replete with sinister vaudevillians and interpersonal intrigue where even in the dream, no one quite seems to know who the other is (as the patriarch of the overlapping Bongo-Shaftsbury family first appears in a mask "used in ancient rituals.")
Along the way as you snicker at the names, the comedic situations (Porpentine & Goodfellow take a pratfall for you,) and the clash of cultures (unlike "Nueva York") is reflected by the Egyptians as well as the other nationalities that have settled in this oasis separating two barren deserts. In Pynchon's widescreen vision of parallel urban beehives, even the native factotum Yusef serves all of the Yanks and their blustery ignorance with the knowledge of its futility ("Let them make holiday while they could.")
Like later Pynchon works, paths are being drawn to be crossed and the notion of not knowing who you are leads to an overwhelming (and prescient) battle with discovering others. The idea of characters in any work choosing actions or opinions that seem to counter their actions is commonplace. However, in a Pynchon novel, the absurdity of any action illustrates how even reality can resemble and follow what could appear (often through the lens of paranoia, central to most of his work) a false translation of an ongoing narrative. Within these multiple levels of you receiving signals via your antenna, the truth often reveals itself concisely and binary enough to stop you in your tracks.
Some of us are afraid of dying; others of human loneliness.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
MARIAH CAREY - Here For It All [PINK LP/CD](Gamma/Vydia)
For the first time in seven years, Mariah Carey sailed back on to the singles chart with "Dangerous Type." Her fifteenth Hot 100 entry celebrates Carey's Nineties union of Hip-Hop sensibility (she samples Eric B. & Rakim) while continuing the age of Pop prowess. However, "Here For It All" is more dedicated to Carey today as she tangles with fellow fantastic females Shenseea and Kehlani before going Gospel with The Clark Sisters.
NEKO CASE - Neon Grey Midnight Green [FROSTED LP/CD](ANTI/Epitaph/AMPED)
Neko Case has always been a singer-songwriter who could speak truth in a batch of carefully-selected metaphors. A shining example of phrasing and injecting emotion without seeming to overemote, "Neon Grey" takes all the melodic twists you have grown to expect (the galloping girl-group chime "Wreck") and still pull triumph out of the hidden places (the outstanding "Winchester Mansion of Sound" which switches from ghostly elegance and a delicate motif to a Fifties-styled Doo-Wop ending that provides genuine thrills.)
TBONES will have a LISTENING PARTY for NEKO CASE with giveaways and prizes, Saturday at 5PM.
AKASHIC 45s - Hollow Earth [CD/CS](self-released/local)
Jackson/Hattiesburg's Akashic 45s may have haunted forests and creepy cryptids on the brain, "Hollow Earth" builds upon their ongoing love of Surf-based Rock and Eighties jangle. Rachel Raborn's vocals harken back to the Bangles, even as Megan Hitt helps her with background singing and coloring the songs with eerie keyboard washes. As Isaac Hitt and Anne Freeman tangle guitars, Raborn and drummer Adam Ray maintain the high altitude for this UFO-loving Rock band. "Parallel Universe" throws back to the big swings of Nineties Alt. Rock like Ivy or Liz Phair, while the dramatic "Chipped" goes for personal/romantic unease with Hitt whispering behind Raborn. "Hollow Earth" arrives just in time for Halloween as a treat suitable for all.
WHISKEY MYERS - Whomp Whack Thunder [SMOKE LP/CD](Wiggy Thump/Firebird)
Whiskey Myers is one of the small passel of AOR-style Rock groups that can thread the needle and find success on both the loud Active Rock and older-skewing AAA radio. Helped by the ongoing bump of their music appearing on FOUR episodes of "Yellowstone" even has Country fans in the mix for their Southern Rock. "Whomp" is serving up Meat & Potatoes-style Rock thump. The Texas band has always shown an affinity for classic Skynyrd-style writing. With producer Jay Joyce, they indulge as much as possible with a Black Crowes-ian opener ("Time Bomb,") and some juicy Stones-ian swagger ("Midnight Woman.") Given those heavy 90s outro songs on "Alien:Earth," their Taylor Sheridan connection is even safe for "Thunder."
AMANDA SHIRES - Nobody's Girl [LP/CD](Silver Knife/ATO/Universal)
After their messy divorce, Jason Isbell's "Foxes In The Snow" landed first with its acoustic, stripped-down, bare-knuckle anger and frustration. After the brutal misstep of "Take It Like A Man," Shires and producer Lawrence Rothman have a visceral response on the blistering Fleetwood Mac-ish "Piece of Mind." As much as Shires' quivering voice wraps around her hate-filled words like a boxing glove, the string-laden Mazzy Star-ish drawdown of "A Way It Goes" is the most affecting as she communicates her pain and feeling like a ghost with honesty.
GEESE - Getting Killed [BLUE LP/CLEAR LP/CD](Partisan/Virgin/AMPED)
On just their third album, Geese have exposed their music as transformative. The days of the very New York-resembling "Low Era" (from 2021, believe it) are over. Cameron Winter (especially helped by the surprise success of his brilliant solo album "Heavy Metal" - one of 2025's best) leads Geese into shambolic, almost purposefully-destructive textures here like a warbling, moaning, bellowing shaman. "Taxes" is the most challenging single of 2025 as it demands you wait out its wandering haze through the forest of musical delights to arrive at its cathartic point. On the flipside, "Trinidad" means to go too far as a means of showing how far this young band will go away from the basic structure or even melody of their composition. With a notable halfway point as the strange yet earthly delight of "100 Horses," we all have an idea that "Getting Killed" is going to be more of a grower than the magnificent, religious/personal exploration of "3D Country."
JOY CROOKES - Juniper [RED LP/CD](Sony UK)
British songstress Joy Crookes leans heavily into the politics and swath of feelings that govern relationships on her new album. Like Sade or Amy Winehouse, Crookes' silky voice infuses the songs with the woozy, dreamy side of classic Soul. Yet, the production is simple enough that it could even leave Hip-Hop fans with bobbing heads (the sing-song chorus on "Perfect Crime" and where Vince Staples joins her for "Pass The Salt.") However, do not misread that because "Juniper" works because of its familiarity inside relationships ("Mathematics" (feat. Kano)) not its sound. Crookes controls her voice and knows that the best Soul needs to simmer and never boil over. "House With A Pool" is built and ready to find her an audience on US Adult R&B Radio, while the jumpy "I Know You'd Kill" is a perfect Outkast-ian style breakout for everyone else.
Various - A HIDEOUS COLLECTIVE [LP/CD](Hideous Collective UK)
This unique 24-track charity collection to raise funds for touring artists and the business around it that is suffering in the UK is a fantastic starting point for the current best in UK Indie music. With critical and commercial successes side-by-side, Luvcat, Lambrini Girls, TTSSFU, Getdown Services leap out as the new guard, while English Teacher, Wunderhorse, and Mary In The Junkyard offer some excellent non-album jaunts.
JESSE WELLES - Middle [LP](self-released/ThinkIndie)
Arkansas-born Jesse Welles has spent a few years kicking around in search of an identity. Turns out the only thing he needed to do was turn on his phone and go at it like an old Folkie on a new appliance. Heading out of AmericanaFest and Farm Aid with new vocal admirers like John Fogerty, "Middle" is the first physical dose of his affecting Folk-based Rock. Welles benefits from an ear for little filigrees ("Certain") and giant-sized hooks within songs that portray him as a man lost in a large universe ("Wheel.") "Middle" is thankfully not too heavy (it peaks on the dark Elliott Smith-ish "Fear Is The Mind Killer") but always substantial ("Simple Gifts.") The first of his four 2025 albums, "Middle" is the natural successor to the last three generations of Folk.
GENESIS - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [SUPER DELUXE LP/CD](Atlantic)
HAWKWIND - The Hall of The Mountain Grill [SUPER DELUXE LP/CD](Atomhenge/Cherry Red UK)
If Prog Rock in the Seventies had one major problem in the Seventies - it was connecting with a large audience on "human" terms. Genesis channeled their inter-band conflict into the tale of Rael as he copes with being an adolescent shunned by his peers and set adrift in the bustling metropolis of New York City. With lyrics written by Peter Gabriel, Genesis's "jam sessions" created instrumental tracks that were knowingly "dense" in their words (which can now be heard as part of this mammoth set.) The confusion led to a fusion of their ideas that led to Gabriel needing to soar above the busy arrangements (the soaring title track) and fit into the pocket like another instrument (the beautiful, regenerative "The Carpet Crawlers.")Even as the band experimented, Genesis were stumbling into how New York music ("Back in N.Y.C.") was about to influence the entire world. In channeling classic literature and modern music, Gabriel and Genesis found a "sensitive" nexus to communicate how they felt rather than function as yet another flashy Prog Rock band.
Also released in the Fall 1974, Space Rockers Hawkwind devised a new plan that put the band to better use without the services of Robert Calvert. Dave Brock took the reins again and revived the Psychedelic/repetitive looping spirit of their auspicious debut. Reframed in this giant package, the arrival of violinist Simon House and departure of their oscillator-twirling pair makes way for Hawkwind to weirdly influence the growing band of bikers and punks via bassist Lemmy (and co-conspirator Mick Farren.) With a massive yet menacing sound (especially now experienced on the live sets contained here,) "Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)" and "Lost Johnny" were bad-trip remnants that would keep them in favor of followers of Johnny Rotten and his ilk in years to come - while the other Proggers became dinosaurs and easy prey.
Various Artists - YOU'RE NO BIG DEAL: GRUNGE, THE U.S. UNDERGROUND AND BEYOND 1984-1994 [4CD](Cherry Red UK)
It is high time we discussed the American underground. As a new generation pulls in the Nineties offerings of Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, we need to explore how post Punk/AmerIndie led the way - until some dingbat branded it Grunge. Not all Eighties bands were inspired by the big bang of Punk. Several were still savoring the dark spark of Hard Rock that found a home on AOR radio before corporate forces moved in. In fact, so many of these bands rocked just as hard and fast as their Punk brethren. Green River (and their offspring Mother Love Bone also reissued this week) gave us the blackened/crunchy/fuzzy thump that would lead to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but it still sounds today like its genesis has more to do with Sonic Youth. The magnificent Meat Puppets evolved from a Tasmanian Devil swirl of a Punk band into a sunburned Rock hit machine ("Too High To Die" is also reissued this week.) "You're No Big Deal" actually carries a lot of big deal bands in their early years (thanks to compiler Mark Arm of Mudhoney.) Nonetheless, the swampy metallic grooves are what you came for so TAD, The Fluid, Cosmic Psychos and the underrated Seaweed deliver. Digging into early progenitors like Seattle's U-Men and Australia's Celibate Rifles prove how much reach this music had in its time. As the collection expands its focus, you also get pre-Shoegaze (the criminally ignored Ultra Vivid Scene) and its connection (geographically and spiritually) to the K Records-to-Elliott Smith swath of College/Indie Rock (via Canada's Eric's Trip and others. ) At a massive 80 songs on 4CDs, it plays like you are going into orbit and trying to connect each artist to their respective planet - but really just ecstatically floating above everyone on waves of their bottom-heavy distortion-warmed ROCK.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
