Episode 32: Ben Arzate with David Novak
‘Music is Over’ Book Trailer
Ben Arzate
Ben Arzate lives in Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of the novels ‘The Story of the Y’, ‘Elaine’, and ‘Music is Over’.
He's also written the poetry collections ‘the sky is black and blue like a battered child’ and ‘dr. sodom and mrs. gomorrah’. His first book of plays, called ‘PLAYS/hauntologies’, was released through Madness Heart Press.
David Novak
David Novak is Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music. He is the author of the award-winning ‘Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation’ (2013) and the host of Selectric Davyland, a weekly radio program broadcast on KCSB-FM in Santa Barbara. His new book project, ‘Diggers: A Media Archaeology of Global Popular Music’, theorizes musical globalization among networks of record and cassette collectors, informal sound archives, reissue labels and sound recording digitization projects in Southeast Asia and beyond.
About the Episode
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Ben Arzate is in the cyber house to talk about his short novel ‘Music Is Over’, published by Malarkey Books in 2022. Malarkey describes ‘Music Is Over’ as “a picaresque surreal horror novel” that “imagines the lost years of musician Juntaro Yamanouchi [of the Japanese Noise band The Gerogerigegege]. It is weird, bizarre, violent, and surprisingly sweet.”
If you’re into Japanese Noise, trains that lead to nowhere, industrial wasteland cities filled with strange doctors, mysterious foreigners, psychotic policemen, and unfriendly residents, this is the book and episode for you.
If you don’t know much about this kind of music, not to worry. In the last segment of the episode, David Novak, author of the award-winning book ‘Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation’, drops by to talk with me about it.
MEDIA AND MUSIC IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Noise—Royalty Free Sample Pack
“Da Da Da” by Trio
“Roygbiv” by Boards of Canada
“Smell the Medicine” by Melt-Banana
Excerpt from the “Talking About Noise Music” episode of Oliver Kemp’s YouTube show ‘Deep Cuts’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgI082zbtM
From the 1989 album by The Gerogerigegege, ‘Showa’
From the 2001 album by The Gerogerigegege, ‘Saturdaynight Big Cock Salaryman’
From the 1988 album by The Gerogerigegege, ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Male’
From the 1999 album by Boredoms, ‘Vision Creation Newsun’
From the 1996 album by Merzbow, ‘Pulse Demon’
From the 1989 album by Boredoms, ‘Soul Discharge’
From the 1989 album by Boredoms, ‘Soul Discharge’
Hanatarash—live at Bears, Osaka, Japan
LINKS:
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Goodpods: https://goodpods.com/podcasts/rock-is-lit-212451
Leave a rating and comment for Rock is Lit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rock-is-lit/id1642987350
Trio banned video of “Da Da Da”: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x43dxly
Ben Arzate on Twitter: @BenArz13
Ben Arzate’s blog: https://dripdropdripdropdripdrop.blogspot.com/
Purchase a paperback copy of Ben’s novel ‘Music is Over’: https://malarkeybooks.com/music-is-over
Purchase the ebook of Ben’s novel: https://godless.com/products/music-is-over-by-ben-arzate?_pos=1&_sid=9c00e6f1d&_ss=r
Ben’s work on Substack: https://benarzate.substack.com/
Read David Novak’s book ‘Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation’ for free and find out more about him: https://www.japanoise.com//
Juntaro Yamanouchi, leader of The Gerogerigegege
Eye from Hanatarash/Photo by Gin Satoh
Boredoms with Nirvana in 1993
