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Caribou recommended Karma by Pharoah Sanders in Music (curated)

 
Karma by Pharoah Sanders
Karma by Pharoah Sanders
1969 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"If this list was only five albums long, this would definitely be on there. It's so incomparably good. I think spiritual jazz coming out of America in the late 60s and early 70s is my favourite music in the world. It has everything - big melodies, big production ideas, a heavy kind of rhythm, a really wide palette of sound, so you get that kaleidoscopic playground kind of feel because the texture is so dense and interesting… I guess it's funny how much it shouldn't connect with me because I'm an atheist, but so much of the music on this list is explicitly spiritual music. There was a Brian Eno Red Bull lecture, and Kieran was there and he asked him this very question: ""Why is it that so much of my favourite music is spiritual music?"" and Brian Eno's answer was pretty good. It's about that sense of release, disposing of your ego, and opening yourself up to be more receptive to different musical ideas. I don't mean that you're receiving some kind of spiritual energy - at least that's not my take on it - I just mean you push aside considerations of ego and being cool, maybe that's what it is. This record just seems elemental. It seems to have come from somewhere deep down and really says something about being human. Music means so much to me, it's so central to my life, and the music of Pharoah Sanders is so committed to the potential of music - what music can do, what it can say and how it can communicate with people. It's in no way cynical. It's inevitably going to resonate with me, because I believe in music so much."

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I read the first book in this series a few months ago and really quite enjoyed it so when I got my KU subscription and saw this was in the catalogue I decided to grab this one, too.

This one picks up not long after the events of the first with Raine now being persona non grata in Dark River apart from her four guys. It's going to take some time for the townspeople to come to terms with Raine being the victim of their well-loved, long-term resident (who I won't name.) It seems that what went down in their little town has drawn the attention of the Vampire Nation and they are on their way to investigate.

I did enjoy the first one, this one wasn't quite as engaging. I felt this one was getting a little too complicated with all the new lovers she was acquiring. Four men I can cope with - and have read several books with four males in reverse harems - but I think that at the end of this Raine was quickly verging on about 7 or 8 men that she would happily share her bed with and the others not be bothered about. It was getting a little ridiculous for me.

I can't say the storyline of this one pulled me into it, either. It was rather reminiscent of the first. Someone wants her dead, various attempts on her life and then saved by her guys - only the number of them has multiplied a little. There was quite a lot of sex in this, with various partners and combinations of men. It felt rather heavy on the erotica side of romance and I wasn't entirely convinced by the feelings floating around.

As much as I liked the first book I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
  
Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
1971 | Rock
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I thought I don't like it as much as the one I mentioned before, and maybe I still don't, but then once I heard it in the 'phones again, there's something. Then I was listening to that one a lot in the car when I was driving around LA. It just opens your mind. It's undeniable music, untouchable music. Those three people, you just can't really touch them. If you were supposed to pick the greatest musician in the world, I suppose I would have to say John Coltrane. But they're all lumped together because obviously Alice Coltrane does things that John Coltrane can't; same with Pharoah Sanders, it's an extension of John Coltrane. They were put on this planet, they were special beings. I'd appreciated jazz since high school, I played in the jazz band. Then I got some jazz records and enjoyed them, for sure. Growing up, I think the Miles Davis later records hit me first, when I was a late teen, early twenties, Bitches Brew, the classics like Kind Of Blue, and then someone in Boston that I knew turned me on to In A Silent Way, which I really like, it had that Fender Rhodes on it and Chick Corea. But then I read the Miles Davis autobiography, circa 2004: that's like a lesson in jazz in a way, in his cocky way; he saw it all. I remember when I was in Boston, I bought this Thelonius Monk record, Underground, and there's a scatty song on there called 'In Walked Bud' and that always blew my mind. I got heavy back into jazz, and then back into Coltrane circa 2005, 06, 07, I just had some resurgence recently."

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The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3)
The Wedding Party (The Wedding Date #3)
Jasmine Guillory | 2019 | Contemporary, Romance
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A hate to love romance that's heavy on the hate
Maddie and Theo are both close with Alexa. Maddie's her best friend and Theo is her best work bud. But they hate each other, ever since a terrible interaction that left them both offended. But when the two meet again at Theo's birthday party, they somehow wind up kissing and feel an undeniable spark. And with Alexa getting married--and Maddie and Theo the two main members of her bridal party--they are stuck together for awhile. So they agree to hook up (and hook up only) for the duration of the wedding preparations. No falling in love allowed. Right?

So this was a cute and fun entry in the series, per usual, but I did not care for Maddie and Theo as much as some of the other couples. There was not as strong as a supporting cast, either, though Alexa had some good moments. I think I cared for Maddie and Theo as individuals, ironically, but together, they just didn't get me as romantically invested. For one thing, Maddie and Theo were mean to each other! Really mean. This was haters to lovers with a lot of hate, like cringe-worthy hate, at times, and I didn't find that funny or sexy. So between the copious amounts of mean, plus secret romance hidden from your *best friend*--I was a little tense. I needed more happy go lucky romance!

Overall, this was a light and fluffy romance, but I had a hard time always rooting for the couple, and sometimes Maddie and Theo just didn't seem right for each other. I was mostly smiling by the end, but I didn't always enjoy the ride. 3 stars.
  
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Hamilton Leithauser recommended The Sellout in Books (curated)

 
The Sellout
The Sellout
Paul Beatty | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"About 15 pages into Paul Beatty’s The Sellout: A Novel, I had the great realization that this book was different, so I started over to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. It’s laugh-out-loud funny over and over because it’s shocking and unpredictable, but even more amazing is the feeling of familiarity that comes from the narrator’s voice. Why do I feel like I know this guy? I don’t. According to Wikipedia, Beatty is from Los Angeles and (also according to Wikipedia) I am from Washington DC, so it’s not some hyper-local humor (that was my first guess). Also according to Wikipedia he was born in 1962, and I was born in 1978… so we’re not of the same hyper-small generation (apparently “X-enial” is the lame term for me… Caught between those damned cynical Gen-Xers and those damned faux-sincere Millennials [Wikipedia]). So there goes my second guess. So what is it? The truth is, I’ve thought about it and I don’t know. Apparently he said he wrote it “because he was broke,” and something transcends in the back-to-the-wall, earnest rawness that could only come from someone who feels like they might have nothing to lose. This book takes on the very sensitive and heated subject of race relations in America. A New York Times interview quotes him as saying “I feel like there is a point to be made… [but] I don’t know what it is.” I will leave it there and not try to analyze what the book’s point might be. I will say that it is profoundly powerful and heavy, precisely because it is so funny and unpredictable — and that is why I think it’s the greatest piece of art created this decade."

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