NYLON Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 154) SHOUT OUT LOUDS Our Ill Wills (Merge) There is something to be said for obtuse, metaphor-laden lyrics. There is also something to be said about lyrics that simply tell it like it is, especially when they hit the nail right on the head, as they do in the songs on the Shout Out Louds’ second effort Our Ill Wills. From the opening track, “Tonight I Have to Leave It,” the album swells with familiar feelings and the hurts-so-good tang of nostalgia. Our Ill Wills features plenty of cameos from fellow Swedes such as Björn and John of Peter Björn and John (Björn did much of the production on the record), Lykke Li, and Markus Krunegård, and it has the bittersweet pop feel of melodies used on popular teen drama television shows. On “Your Parents’ Living Room” singer Adam Olenius opines about being in love in the time of parent-approved sleepovers, and sings “I remember those years/ They’re hard not to remember/ And all the things you wrote then/ I know them word by word.” On “You Are Dreaming,” he tells off someone who’s always absent, and when he sings lines like “I was stuck in a conversation about going out/ Oh, no cigarette can cover up the mess I’m in/ But it makes me feel less lonely, again,” you feel like you know exactly what he’s talking about, and that you couldn’t have said it better yourself. KATE WILLIAMS EDI T ED BY KAT E WI L L I AMS FOREIGN BORN On the Wing Now (Dim Mak) How are things on the West Coast? Judging by Foreign Born’s On the Wing Now, fantastic. Three of the band’s four members are Los Angeles locals, and their full-length debut is as purely SoCal as Snoop Dogg and Silver Lake. Foreign Born was founded in 2003, when San Francisco State grads Lewis Pesacov and Matt Popieluch started writing songs together. Not long afterwards, the pair moved back to their shared hometown of L.A. Ariel Rechtshaid, who has produced the likes of We Are Scientists, took on bass duty, and friend Garrett Ray—the only non-California native of the crew, he was raised in Hong Kong—got behind the drums. The resulting album is a jangly, ’60s-via-2007 mash-up that recalls Brian Jonestown Massacre and Arcade Fire. Laced with dreamy synth and shimmering echoes, from the anthemic refrain of opener “Union Hall” to the droning, Jesus & Mary Chain pulse of the epic “The Nights Tall,” the album caught BOOKMARK: MAYNARD & JENNICA The population of New York City is comprised of various archetypes, two of which are represented in the titular characters of Rudolph Delson’s debut novel, Maynard & Jennica (Fourth Estate): Maynard grew up in New York and considers himself an artist, an occupation which is supported by family money, even though he’s 38. Though originally from unglamorous San Jose, CA, Jennica now calls Manhattan home and longs for the only thing she thinks she needs to make her a true New Yorker: a boyfriend. As you might guess, Maynard and Jennica meet and fall in love, in spite of a few obstacles like Jennica frequently being an uptight bitch, and Maynard getting arrested. The story is told through a series of different firstperson accounts, and one of the best, and most sage, narrators is Jennica’s older brother who, though he loves her dearly, thinks most of his sister’s ideas of what she needs to be happy are bullshit. Film rights to Maynard & Jennica have already been optioned by uber-producer Scott Rudin, and it’s easy to see why, as it’s an unusual romance that serves to remind us that love—unlike pregnancy—is better when it’s unplanned. KW the attention of Dim Mak Records, who are releasing it this month. The songs make a fitting soundtrack for the last days of summer, building to muffled, drum-drenched crescendos like waves on the Malibu shores. But don’t fret if you’re stuck on another coast. Like the sounds of their continent-hopping label master, DJ Steve Aoki, Foreign Born translates far and wide. LINDSAY MILLER BOOKMARK: THE WORST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE When Mark Jude Poirier took a job teaching in a middle school, he was reintroduced to the significance of kick ball team drafts and pre-teen lunch table politics. It’s a period we typically look back on with a bit of wincing nostalgia, and The Worst Years of Your Life (Simon & Schuster) is Poirier’s anthology of short stories about the time in which we begin to pack our emotional baggage. The 20 anecdotes delve into the thoughts that crossed our minds when first kisses, school dances, and the location of our lockers were top priorities. The appeal of this book is not necessarily the familiar clichés it digs up, but rather the way that each author remembers and interprets them. Most notably, A.M. Homes’s story involving Barbie’s take on Ken’s curious anatomy—“His head and his hair are all one piece. I can’t go out with a guy like that,” Jennifer Egan’s tale of a young girl’s maiden acid trip, and Stanley Elkin’s poetics for bullies. A light read, The Worst Years serves as literary group therapy and will likely make you glad you aren’t headed back to those school hallways this fall. MALLORY RICE
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