Adam Gnade’s (say it “guh-nah-dee”) describes his work as “a series of books and records that share characters and themes”, in which fiction and song mingle in an attempt “to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life.” Solid theory, no? What this looks like in practice is equally as exciting.
First there’s “The Darkness to the West”, Gnade’s 42-page novella zine which you can scope out at our favorite zine distro, Microcosm. Then there’s “Hymn California”, a full-length novel that wound up a bestseller at Powell’s Books. Gnade also records cassettes on a 4-rack machine and has a CD called “The Wild Homesick”, which he calls a “strange, warm, troubled summer record full of doom and affirmations.” So much good work emanating from one soul is always an inspiration.
Trying to describe artist/musician Keiji Haino is like trying to hear a dog whistle. It doesn’t work. Our equipment isn’t prepared to handle such a sensation. In lieu of description, check out the video above and the interview (conducted by Alan Cummings) here, plus the excerpt below.
Alan Cummings : I’d like to ask you a bit about your childhood first. What were you like as a child?
Keiji Haino : I was definitely different from everyone else. Looking back now it sort of seems to have been inevitable, but I was different from everyone else. My first memories are from around the time I went to kindergarten. It seems very symbolic now, but I remember that when all the other kids were playing in the sand pit, I’d be playing with building bricks. And when they were all playing with the building bricks, I’d be in the sand pit.
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