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January 19, 2023
Josh Riedel's Playlist for His Novel "Please Report Your Bug Here"
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, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Josh Riedel's novel Please Report Your Bug Here is a profound debut that sharply examines technology and how it affects our relationships.
Vulture wrote of the book:
""Please Report Your Bug Here is a gripping literary thriller that forces us to confront our complicity in the technologies reshaping human connections, and it asks how far we will go to maintain those connections. Dark, funny, and highly inventive, Riedel’s debut is as addictive as the apps it criticizes."
In his own words, here is Josh Riedel's Book Notes music playlist for his debut novel Please Report Your Bug Here:
Please Report Your Bug Here is the story of Ethan Block, an employee at a dating app startup who discovers a glitch in the app that transports him to other worlds. The novel takes place in San Francisco circa 2010, when I knew more people on Rdio than Spotify. Although Ethan is obsessed with work—and with reproducing the bug that transports him to other worlds—music still plays a big part in his life. He overhears songs at the bar down the street from his apartment as he works late into the night. His friend obsesses over The National’s new album. And he has a habit of playing songs on repeat as he commutes to the office. This playlist is a mix of what Ethan and I listened to in 2010, along with a few more songs that I listened to while writing this novel, and that I think Ethan would too, in whatever world he may be in.
Robyn, “Dancing on My Own”
Ethan, still reeling from a breakup, hears this song playing at the karaoke bar down the street from his San Francisco apartment at the start of the book as he works on a mission statement for DateDate, the dating app he works for. It’s a song he consciously does not stream on Rdio, the former Spotify competitor, because it’s not compatible with his publicly visible aesthetic preferences.
Dirty Projectors, “Stillness Is the Move”
After his dating app startup is acquired by the all-powerful Corporation, Ethan’s forced to commute by shuttle to the company’s campus in Menlo Park, about an hour south of San Francisco. Ethan plays this song on repeat as the shuttle cruises south on the 101. I have a habit of playing songs on repeat as I write. Like the glitch in Ethan’s dating app, a song on repeat can transport you to another world, and I love when I find the right song to put me in the mindset I need to complete a scene or a chapter.
Pete Rock, “Everyman (Instrumental)”
My novel is about technology, but it’s also about friendship—and it’s most often through friends (rather than apps) where I find my favorite music recommendations. My friend Rachel turned me on to the newsletter Flow State. Every weekday, the people (not algorithm!) behind Flow State recommend two hours of music that’s perfect for writing. I’ve discovered lots of new artists and albums through this newsletter. Pete Rock’s album The Original Baby Pa (Instrumentals) was a recent suggestion, and I’ve been writing to it ever since. Also, my first creative writing teacher is the author Peter Rock, and I can’t help but think of him whenever I see “Pete Rock” flash across my screen.
Haruomi Hosono, “Boku Wa Chotto”
Andrew Neerman, the owner of the Portland record label (and former record store) Beacon Sound, delivered records by bicycle during the lockdown-era of the pandemic, when I was revising my novel. I’d recently discovered Japanese City Pop, thanks to my friend Krish, and asked Neerman for a couple recommendations. He dropped off this record, and I fell in love with this track. A part of my novel takes place in Japan, so this feels appropriate. Looking at a rough translation of the lyrics on reddit, I feel this song is a cousin to Smog’s “Let’s Move to the Country.”
Smog, “Let’s Move to the Country”
I moved several times while writing this novel. Twice I moved to a rural seaside town north of San Francisco. This was my unpacking song.
Cassandra Jenkins, “Hard Drive”
After an hour or two of writing in the morning, I make breakfast, usually some kind of oatmeal. This is my oatmeal-making song. I read that Cassandra Jenkins wrote the album on which this song is featured, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, after the death of David Berman, just before they were to go on tour together.
Purple Mountains, “All My Happiness Is Gone”
I bought a copy of Purple Mountains singer David Berman’s poetry collection Actual Air on the recommendation of a friend when I was in college, in Portland, Oregon. I love his poetry and his lyrics. My favorite line in this song reminds me of that college friend: “It’s not the icy bike chain rain of Portland, Oregon.”
Arthur Russell, “I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face”
Aside from the sci-fi/tech elements of my novel, it’s also about love and longing, like many of the Arthur Russell songs featured on the compilation album Love Is Overtaking Me. I feel like off-page my protagonist, Ethan, definitely listens to Arthur Russell. His ex probably does too.
The National, “Terrible Love”
Ethan’s friend Allie is obsessed with this album. Ethan listens to this song on repeat on a long bus ride through San Francisco and gets tripped up by what exactly lead singer Matt Berninger means when he sings “It takes an ocean not to break,” sending Ethan on a search through internet comments to find the true meaning of the lyrics.
Phoebe Bridgers, “Garden Song”
I spent winter 2020 housesitting for my professor in Tucson. I’d drive from her house to a dried-out river where I’d run in the hot desert winter sun. This is the song I blasted both ways. Towards the end of my day, I noticed a collage on a wall that I suspect her daughter had made: at its center was Phoebe Bridgers.
Dirty Projectors, “Overlord”
This is one of those songs I can’t help but play on repeat. Yes, another Dirty Projectors song! It’s this decade’s “Stillness Is the Move” for me. I can’t listen to this one without being transported back to February 2020. I was at Yaddo, an art residency in Saratoga Springs, when the song and video were released. I listened to Maia Friedman on repeat as I revised the novel, before the pandemic shut down the residency. It became a kind of calming anthem for me as I finished the book.
Josh Riedel was the first employee at Instagram, where he worked for several years before earning his MFA from the University of Arizona. His short stories have appeared in One Story, Passages North, and Sycamore Review. Please Report Your Bug Here is his first novel. He lives in San Francisco, California.
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