By Adam Vincent
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
12/02/19
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
12/02/19
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Monday, December 2, 2019
ACROSS
1 Peruvian home
5 German
philosopher
who wrote “The
Phenomenology
of Spirit”
10 Microsoft Surface
competitor
14 Chopped down
15 Amazon assistant
16 Italia’s capital
17 Imperfection
18 *Lucrative
business
20 Mai __: cocktail
22 Hard to erase, as
markers
23 *Medieval
entertainer
26 Ave. and tpk.
27 Hard to believe
28 Word with York or
Jersey
30 In shape
31 Forgetful moment
35 First part of a play
39 Doing as told, in
the military ... or
what the starts of
the answers to
starred clues can
literally have?
43 Mario Kart
console, initially
44 “__, but no cigar”
45 Pencil eraser,
e.g.
46 Christen, as a
knight
49 Hurry up
51 ISP option
54 *Hostel audience?
58 How chops or
ribs are served
60 That girl
61 *Comedian’s
suppliers
63 Modern in-flight
amenity
66 Earl __ tea
67 Etsy’s biz, e.g.
68 Supply-and-
demand sci.
69 Cravings
70 With a long face
71 Stink
DOWN
1 Campus eatery,
for short
2 Guns N’ Roses
frontman Rose
3 Slow-moving
coastal critter
4 Bothersome
browser apps
5 __ and eggs
6 Slip out to tie the
knot
7 Heredity units
8 Apply, as
pressure
9 Joes who aren’t
pros
10 Persia, now
11 Rod for stirring
a fire
12 Change for the
better
13 Pub game
19 Former filly
21 Prefix for
Venice’s country
23 Perp’s
restraints
24 Bagel flavoring
25 “The Hunger
Games” star, to
fans
29 Roll of bills
32 Insta upload
33 NBC late-night
weekend staple,
familiarly
34 Freudian focus
36 Heart of the rink
37 More faithful
38 13-digit pub.
codes
40 ’60s hallucinogen
41 Org. providing
workplace safety
posters
42 Attain
47 Lyft competitor
48 Bottle-fed tykes
50 Backyard chef’s
stick
51 Pooch, to a tyke
52 Drum type
53 Three-star mil.
officer
55 Panna __: Italian
dessert
56 Work with dough
57 Danger
59 “I-” rds., e.g.
62 Crafty
64 Hardly a friend
65 Confident
crossword
solver’s choice
6A — Monday, December 2, 2019
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
If anyone’s lyrical progression throughout the decade
warrants a chronological volume, it’s Mark Kozelek’s. “Nights
of Passed Over II” collects the words from the singer-
songwriter’s prolific musical career over the past 10 years.
The book picks up where his first previous collection left off.
The cutoff point between the two anthologies
may at first seem arbitrary, though Kozelek’s
decision to begin in 2010 makes “Nights”
an excellent documentation of arguably the
most controversial lyrical progression of the
decade. Love it or hate it, the collection is the
best showcase of the artist’s singular lyrical
journey.
Kozelek got his start in the late ’80s as
the lead singer and songwriter in Red House
Painters. The group was as close to a boy
band as a band could get and still be beloved
by future Elliott Smith fans. Kozelek left
Red House Painters and started releasing
songs under the name Sun Kil Moon in 2002.
If any of those original Red House Painters
fans were still on board by 2010, it’s hard to
imagine they’re still here a decade later.
This
anthology
shows
Kozelek’s
contentious lyrical shift from traditional
poetry laden with metaphor to increasingly
literal accounts of his daily life. After a
brief prologue, the book begins with Sun
Kil Moon’s Admiral Fell Promises. The
traditional poetic style of the lyrics sticks out
when compared with the following works,
but the contrast makes provides a nice pivot
point. Jumpstarting the change is 2012’s
Among The Leaves. Lyrics from “Sunshine In
Chicago” and “I Know It’s Pathetic But That Was The Best
Night Of My Life” show Kozelek writing episodic accounts of
experiences during tour.
It’s hard to say anything about 2014’s Benji — Kozelek’s
next album — that hasn’t already been said, including the
lament that there’s nothing left to say. The album showcases
the power of direct nonfictional storytelling in addressing
loss. Prompted by his aunt losing her father and daughter in
two unrelated freak explosions of aerosol cans, the album is
Kozelek’s tribute to his original home in lower-class Ohio.
Without instrumentals, not one lyric’s gut punch is lost: “Was
it even you who mistakenly put flammables in the trash? / Was
it your kids just being kids? / If so oh the guilt that they will
carry around forever.” The brilliance of Benji is in its ability to
focus on diary-like accounts of life when affected by tragedy.
Even as the lyrics forgo analysis for direct accounts, the
choice in which stories will be told says everything. Alongside
each other, the stories lament that humans’ fragile, expiring
bodies are categorically underqualified to hold the lives that
permeate through them.
The lyrics in Universal Themes, when pushed onto paper,
seem to stray further away from poetry and toward prose.
But without the heavy subject matter of the preceding Benji,
the stories feel inconsequential at times. Kozelek allegedly
spent much of the album writing bored on a film set, and the
resulting lyrics are about as fun to read as Mark is having
writing them. “This is My First Day and I’m Indian and I Work
at a Gas Station” is a highlight. The lyrics read much like the
title: a long, drawn out account of random life moments. The
song and all its sporadic lyrics really shouldn’t work, but it’s
hard not to love something so unflinchingly unique.
2017’s Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood
should also, not by any means, work. Perhaps it only does due
to its varied subjects: the 2016 election, the mysterious death
of Canadian Elisa Lam and gun control (to name a few). By
this point, the poetry of Admiral has all but disappeared and
has made room for long, winding prose. Kozelek reads full
letters from fans or promoters, which are less surprising in
book form. In theory,
the last thing the world
needed was another take
on 2016 politics. And
yet,
Kozelek
himself
is
the
reason
these
long
diatribes
stay
interesting. The appeal
of
his
work
beyond
2017 is similar to the
appeal of blogging. This
is
especially
true
in
book form, without the
varying instrumentation
with each record. Song
topics drift further and
further into Kozelek’s
daily
life.
The
long,
dairy-like entries will be
too much for some. For
those who have already
put in the time to get to
know Kozelek through
his
earlier
releases,
the records can feel like catching up with a new friend.
Increasingly, Kozelek’s avoidance of poetry and metaphor
works to his favor: their presentation with daily subject
matter would enter melodramatic territory.
One issue of the book’s form that does hurt the experience
is the lack of true cohesion. The book makes sense as a
memoir which doubles as an account of artistic progression.
However, there’s a certain amount of whiplash from putting
the disparate albums together. Without walling off each
album, there’s too much proximity between a lyrics like “she
wanted love like anyone else … she had dreams like anyone
else” and a song called “Suck My Cock War On Drugs.”
The latter song came from one of Kozelek’s rants, which
vary from defending transgender rights to critiquing music
bloggers. The over-aggression of some of
these songs is established by Kozelek’s
grounding of the majority of them in
sympathy with the experiences of his friends
and family. These often come alongside
the rants, like linking his disdain for San
Francisco techies with gentrification and
aggression towards homeless people.
In “Shut Up and Play the Hits,” James
Murphy highlights the surrealism of popular
artists like David Bowie: “In my mind he
was from outer space, like, he’s not a person.
Like this isn’t a person that would wake up
and whose foot would hurt because they
kicked a couch the night before … The best
you could do is just act like them … But you
couldn’t be that.” It’s often jarring to find
art that solely expresses themes contained
in everyday life. Perhaps because popular
artists don’t lead “normal” lives, or perhaps
because people aren’t interested in the ones
that do.
But daily life outside of tragedy also
should have its place in the artistic canon.
By removing the artistic musical style, the
bare lyrics depict daily life in a tone that
reflects what it actually feels like for most
people. Many people will find these lyrics
self-indulgent. And perhaps they are. But
it also allows Kozelek to touch on important subjects that
wouldn’t otherwise be addressed. Life isn’t lived in the
grand, memorable outliers expressed in most art. For the
most part, it’s lived in the moments in between them. “Nights
of Passed Over II” is a progression of an artist learning to
express those moments.
Mark Kozelek chronicles decade of lyrical progression
BOOK REVIEW
LUKAS TAYLOR
Daily Arts Writer
Nights of Passed Over II
Mark Kozelek
Carlo Verde Records
October 27, 2019
CARLO VERDE RECORDS
South Africa (as I covered in a previous profile of House
producer Black Coffee) has cemented its place as one of the
world’s most innovative producers and exporters of dance music.
By now, the particular brand of deep house championed by the
aforementioned Black Coffee as well as producers such as Da
Capo are mainstays at clubs pretty much everywhere. One of
the newest and most exciting waves of music coming from the
country, in particular the coastal metropolis of Durban, is a
genre called gqom.
Gqom, roughly pronounced “qwom” (although it involves a
click sound present in the Zulu language), is one of those forms
of brilliant dance music that harkens and
celebrates an apocalypse or impending
doom, a far cry from the sunny House of
an Ibiza dancefloor. A typical gqom track
builds around only a few elements, typically
a single synth pattern or mangled sample
as well as a powerful, decidedly atypical
4/4 drum pattern. The latter in particular
creates a lack of stability that gives rise to
a rather hypnotic and disorienting feeling,
one unlike any other I’ve ever heard or
experienced. While UK Garage is notable
for its rhythmic “pushes,” even it has a very
solid and noticeable rhythmic core. Gqom,
on the other hand, features a similar type
of “broken” beat but with a more intricate
system of polyrhythms floating in and out
and interacting with each other all at once.
The sounds of gqom were discovered
and developed by teenagers in these
Durban townships (apparently often using cracked copies of
FruityLoops production software) and spread in a labyrinthine
network of music hosting sites, Facebook and WhatsApp groups.
In some instances, tracks spread without the help of the internet
by just being played by groups of people out and about or even in
taxis. With regards to the latter, DJ Lag, one of the genre’s most
successful practitioners, mentions that “If a track is being played
in a taxi, you should know that your track is a hit,” since “taxis
are a symbol of dancing mood, especially taxis that work in the
heart of Durban. And taxis actually are the heart of Durban
especially in promoting gqom music.” One of the most intriguing
and appealing aspects of the genre is the fact it is, for all intents
and purposes, completely organic and DIY, a rarity in a world of
industry plants and mega-studios.
Durban itself is the third largest city in South Africa after
Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the
province of KwaZulu-Natal. Like many large South African
cities, the horrors of apartheid still remain under the surface,
and many of the “townships” surrounding the city remain, on
average, much poorer and less developed.
However, they remain a source of much
of the new music being produced in the
countries and provide an invaluable
audience and party scene for dance music
producers. Many producers note that the
inherent darkness of their music reflects
the uneasy tension between the desire to
celebrate and the poverty, violence and
lack of opportunity that are widespread in
the areas they grow up in.
Gqom’s spread outside of South Africa,
on the other hand, was facilitated in
largely by a Rome-based DJ named Nan
Kolè, who helped start a label called Gqom
Oh! that released a compilation of gqom
music created in the Durban townships
for audiences outside of South Africa that
doesn’t involve navigating the genre’s
complex, fast-changing online ecosystem.
Its success has even spawned the birth of new fusions of
disparate sounds elsewhere in the continent, and points to
an exciting future in which more unconventional sounds are
played in clubs around the world.
The deep, dark pleasure of gqom
WORLD MUSIC COLUMN
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist
GETTY IMAGES
Gqom is one of
those forms of
brilliant dance
music that harkens
and celebrates
an apocalypse or
impending doom