Largehearted Boy: Note Books - Michael Carreira (Cryptacize)

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May 7, 2008

Note Books - Michael Carreira (Cryptacize)

The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Past contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.

Cryptacize features Nedelle Torrisi, Chris Cohen (formerly of Deerhoof) and drummer Michael Carreira.

The band's album Dig That Treasure, was released February 19th on Asthmatic Kitty and is as refreshing a debut as I have heard all year. Popmatters captured the essence of the band's music in their review of the disc:

"Cryptacize’s music is disarmingly spare. Although both Cohen and Torrisi sing, they tend to stay out of each other’s way, harmonizing only when necessary. Drummer Michael Carreira provides faint hints of backbeat with an array of nonstandard percussion, employing a restraint and creativity that would make Maureen Tucker nod in approval. Bass is nowhere to be found, and negative space frequently acts like a fourth member of the band. This band knows how to do a lot with a little, though, taking great pains to construct musical backdrops that perfectly match the emotions expressed in their lyrics."

Many thanks to Michael Carreira for sharing some of his recent reading with Largehearted Boy.

In his own words, here is the Note Books entry from Michael Carreira of Cryptacize:

Lone Wolf: Eric Rudolph: Murder, Myth, and the Pursuit of an American Outlaw by Maryanne Vollers

Vollers tells the fascinating tale of Eric Rudolph, the guy who bombed the Atlanta Olympics and several abortion clinics. She covers the whole story; his childhood, a disappointing stint in the military, his running circles around the FBI and ATF as they fruitlessly hunt him, his capture and trial. My favorite part tells of his early survivalist explorations. As a teenager he would often leave school on Friday afternoon and spend the entire weekend in the mountains with little more than a decent knife, returning directly to school on Monday morning in the same clothes but otherwise healthy.

Although Vollers mostly writes Eric Rudolph off as a lunatic religious extremist, she does manage to make you wonder. This is a man who risked everything in order to make the world (in his twisted eyes) better. In a different time or place he could easily be a hero. Don't most of us wish we had the kind of courage to sacrifice everything in service of our own sense of right and wrong?

On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

More than two thousand years ago this Greek really tried to figure things out - a lot of things; sight, hearing, taste, smell, sleep, dreams, love, sex, the seasons, day and night, thunder, lightning, hail, rain, snow, ice, cold, heat, wind, earthquakes, volcanoes, atoms, death, the universe, etc. Considering the vast advancements in scientific knowledge over the past twenty centuries it is hard to believe the number of things he seems to get right. I wonder if two thousand years from now people will be as amazed by our current understanding of ourselves and the natural world.

Imagination in Chess: How to Think Creatively and Avoid Foolish Mistakes by Paata Gaprindashvili

This instructional book contains over 700 diagrams of critical moments from chess games played over the past fifty years. I love this book because it works in so many different ways. It is very useful as a guide for improving your game. The wide variety of problems get your brain seeing big patterns and basic concepts while building the kind of stamina and confidence necessary to be competitive.

Each group of diagrams is prefaced by a short introduction. The chapter called "Imagination" not only describes the kind of thinking necessary to find the best move but also grapples with some big issues: "We may say that imagination is endangered not by knowledge but by generalization from it, for they entail various subconscious inhibitions. And yet generalizations from knowledge are a human characteristic that is essential to life. How can this contradiction be resolved?" In the pages following Gaprindashvili works out his answer via several dozen chess diagrams.

Also, the sustained concentration necessary to think just a little beyond the fringe of your current abilities can be thrilling. Gaprindashvili manages the difficulty of the problems in such a way to encourage these thrills at every turn.

Cryptacize and Dig That Treasure links:

the band's MySpace page
the band's page at Asthmatic Kitty

Crawdaddy! review
Glide Magazine review
Harp review
Popmatters review
Tiny Mix Tapes review

Cryptacize posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)