Writer, singer, composer and poet Rick Moody first gained widespread acclaim with his 1994 novel, The Ice Storm, a portrait of dysfunctional suburban life that plays out over the course of a long Thanksgiving weekend. In 1999, The New Yorker named Moody one of America’s most talented new writers, with a voice that constantly pushes the stylistic boundaries of modern literature. He has published five novels, three collections of short fiction and two nonfiction works. He also performs with the Wingdale Community Singers, an acoustic band that blends the sounds of old-time folk, gospel and bluegrass, with hints of rock and baroque chamber music to augment their arch, literary lyrics. Their most recent album is Night, Sleep, Death, released only on LP by Drag City. Moody will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Moody: This is owing to Gail Zappa’s release schedule at Zappa Records, for which she is regularly pilloried by a bunch of guys (with their heads up their asses) who think they should be sole authorities with regard to Frank Zappa’s legacy. Bat Chain Puller languished for a long while, presumably while Don Van Vliet was ill, but now it’s out, and it’s an incredibly gorgeous album, somewhere between the campier Shiny Beast release that borrowed some from the sessions, and the later albums like Doc At The Radar Station. Essentially, that is, it has a spoken-word aspect to it, a sort of a beatnik spoken-word aspect. It’s not a rock ‘n’ roll album, and that must have been its crime at the time. But now, in some ways, its even more uncompromising than its subsequent brethren.
Video after the jump.
