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May 6, 2019
Dmitry Samarov's Playlist for His Book "Music to My Eyes"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Dmitry Samarov's Music to My Eyes, currently available in a signed and numbered limited edition of 800, is an honest and moving account of indie music, its fans, and its venues in both words and art.
Luc Sante wrote of the book:
"If Iggy Pop hadn't gotten there first, Dmitry Samarov might have called this book I Am the Audience. With its evocative drawings, honest reactions, and intermittent slices of memoir, Music to My Eyes conveys a palpable sense of the community of music--its haphazard venues, its marginal economy, its shifting career paths, its highs and lows. Samarov is loyal but not uncritical, sad and funny pretty much at the same time, and passionately in need of music, which always makes him ready for the next thing, whatever it might be."
In his own words, here is Dmitry Samarov's Book Notes music playlist for his book Music to My Eyes:
I used sketches of people playing music over the past thirty years as a jumping-off point for all the writing in this book, so, without these and hundreds of other songs, the book wouldn't exist. The numbers I chose for the list are by no means definitive, or necessarily my all-time favorites, but they are a representative sample of the music which inspired (and continues to inspire) my writing and art. I can't imagine making anything without a soundtrack.
"Hate Your Friends"— The Lemonheads
In the mid-90s, as a young cabbie in Boston, I gave a ride to businessman who turned out to be Evan Dando's dad. Upon learning this, I promptly told him that everything The Lemonheads put out after Hate Your Friends sucked. What an asshole! Looking back, I can't believe the man paid for the fare and didn't smack me in face...
A couple years ago, I was back in Boston and saw Dando play a couple songs the last week a legendary club called t.t. the bear's was open. I didn't recognize him till he started singing. I don't know why I'd been so confident of my expertise on the guy's discography all those years back. I barely know a thing about the man and his music at all.
"Oxygen Thief"— Minibeast
Getting to see Peter Prescott's current band, Minibeast, in Chicago after a last minute text from a friend last summer, was a great bit of bittersweet serendipity. I never thought this band would tour, it seemed like a one-man bedroom project kind of thing. But seeing Pete on stage with a killer rhythm section, unleashing that mighty yawp, brought back memories of seeing his old bands — Kustomized, Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns, and the Peer Group. But it wasn't a retread or nostalgia, just a kind of hat tip to the past as he plowed forward without a net into the future. The worst thing any artist can do is live off past glory; Prescott is much too restless to fall into that trap.
"Tarantula"— Eleventh Dream Day
Had I grown up in Chicago, I'd have been hipped to Eleventh Dream Day much sooner, but I've been a fan ever since I saw guitarist Rick Rizzo sit with Yo La Tengo at Lounge Ax sometime in the early '90s. The band is one of those local mainstays that everyone who loves them think should've been huge. But would we love them the same if they were playing arenas instead of grubby little clubs?
The branches of Eleventh Dream Day helped birth many other bands, a couple of which have since eclipsed their forebearer. But they'll always be close to my heart.
"Breaking My Heart"— Robert Belfour
I saw Belfour in the pouring rain in the middle of a field on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. He took forever getting his guitar in tune just the way he wanted. But once he got going, it was like a portal opening to an era decades and decades back. He had that indescribable feel that every great bluesman has and that millions of pretenders can't ever ape. It's like a direct line to the essence of human longing. I felt lucky to've been there.
"Ruins of Berlin"— Dex Romweber Duo
Romweber is another one with access to the infinite. His duo with his sister, Sarah, was one of the best outlets for his particular genius. I'm glad I got to catch them a few times before her recent passing.
"Olivia"— Fred Anderson
When I was in art school in the early '90s, I picked up a Fred Anderson record whose title now escapes me. It's the one with him standing smiling in front of the Chicago skyline. I feel like he was one of the people who welcomed me to the city, even though I never knew him.
Many years later, only a few before he passed, I remember him greeting people at the door of his jazz club, the Velvet Lounge. So he was welcoming me once again. I love the tone he got out of his horn. It feels like it comes from deep, deep down somewhere. Grounded, yet still searching.
"Nature Boy"— Ran Blake
Watching Blake struggle to walk to the grand piano, then completely transfix the entire room with his haunted, melancholy playing, was one of the more inspiring sights I've ever witnessed. Though his body was frail, his spirit was fierce. It was a testament to perseverance and a great demonstration of how much can be expressed with such limited means. He was just an old man playing a piano, but he could've slain armies with his sound.
"Jumbo's"— Protomartyr
One of my favorite newer bands. They have a knack for mixing a bunch of old sounds into something of their own. Their frontman looks like a substitute teacher who overdid it at happy hour and forgot to go back to work. One of the great talker/singers going. I don't always know what he's talking about but never fail to get the gist from his tone.
"Great Potential"— Freakwater
For awhile I thought there was a conspiracy against my ever catching Freakwater live. Something would always go wrong — show sold out or an unexpected illness, it felt like it was never gonna happen. Then I finally saw them, then saw them again another three times in the following year or two. They write some of the sharpest and saddest songs I know and their simultaneous singing is a thing of ragged beauty.
"Anti-Body"— FACS
I've known a couple of guys in this band for twenty years or more. Not unlike Peter Prescott, who kicked off this list, Brian Case and Noah Leger are tireless explorers, never satisfied churning out carbon copies of what they've already done. This is what makes me excited to go see them play. I don't want to live, rather than relive, and I think they feel the same.
Dmitry Samarov and Music to My Eyes links:
the author's website
excerpt from the book
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for Where To?
also at Largehearted Boy:
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Book Notes (2015 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2012 - 2014) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
guest book reviews
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Books of the Week (recommended new books, magazines, and comics)
musician/author interviews
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Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
weekly music release lists
