Tired of reading the same recommended books from the usual sources? Just think of our weekly What We’re Reading column as your non-committal book club with The FADER and some of your favorite bands. For this installment, FaltyDL (the crown prince of this year's Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival) writes about some recent highlights.
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy: I hate embellishment. I embellish the shit out of my tracks, but I also hate a lot of my music. Cormac writes in that understated way that Hemingway wrote, and most ex journalist of the time wrote. Simple, clean, precise. Moving and frightening at the same time. I don't now how I got this book, it appeared on my night stand one morning. I am done reading it. It was good for me... "A crazed gymnast laboring over a cold corpse. He poured into that waxen ear everything he'd ever thought of saying to a woman." I also read the entire book in the voice of Josh Brolin.
The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died by Michael Largo: My friends who know me, know I don't read often. I have many friends in the book publishing industry, which is something that happens when you live in New York. One ex-editor at Harper Collins gave me three books two years ago for my birthday. This was one of them. It is nice to know who Nokola Tesela left to bereave, and how Maria Montessori died. Not essential knowledge, but good in those conversations at CMJ with complete pricks who don't understand why you are even on the lineup in the first place. I don't know, I imagine that might be helpful. It probably would never actually become of any use. Except for the middle paragraph of this interview.
Love Saves The Day by Tim Lawrence: Another mystery possession of mine. If you are reading this, and it is your copy, get in touch. Unless it is Dave Q's, in which case enjoy South Africa, and I'll keep it safe for you until you return, brother. This is essential reading for anyone who wants more than to just scratch the surface of America's dance history. New York, Chicago, Newark, SF etc. David Mancuso chats a lot. I think I felt at this point in my career, I needed to get into this. I did a lot of interviews a few years ago about making a UK sounding music in NYC, and where was it all influenced by and why did I release it over there. It's all important, I guess, but at this point where can you say an influence derives from? I stopped trying to figure it out, but as NY's parties got even better this past year, a part of me felt really good to know we are taking it back a little. You don't have to read this one cover to cover; skip around it's fun. After this, read Tim Lawrence other book, Hold On to Your Dreams, the Arthur Russell book.
