Song Logic - buy this book

A little while ago I mentioned that my internet associate and fellow music nerd Rino Breebaart had released his first book named Song Logic (which you can buy here). I got my copy in the mail today and have read three quarters of it already (I had an electronic version but decided to wait for my print edition to really devour it). I'm not going to review the book here but I have no hesitation in recommending you buy Song Logic and here's why:

1. I think Rino and I have many similar ideas about music. Where I go off into expletive riddled rants about music, he articulates his thoughts with clarity and composure. Further, there's a depth here which is like a savvier Greil Marcus before he disappeared up his own arse. This is seriously good writing about music and if you're a music fan with a sense of history, there are many thought provoking pieces here.

2. Reading these essays makes me immediately want to listen to the music being talked about. Rino is a classicist in many ways but not in that snobby kind of way - the writing is aware of the inherent contradictions of liking U2 (damn you Bono!).

3. Rino is a self-published so essentially he's an indie rock band in the publishing world - support local music/writing.

4. He has a chapter dedicated to the merits of ABBA. This is the second such essay I've read this year (the other being in Chuck Klosterman's Eat the Dinosaur). Rino's is the better of the two.

5. Reading this book has reminded me of a whole bunch of things I had forgotten or not thought about for a long time. Some of these things are:

a) I will argue to the death that Achtung Baby is U2's best album.

b) That being said, the Edge was so boring in that film about guitars. However, I really love Adam Clayton's bass line in Helter Skelter.

c) I will argue to the death that Kid A is Radiohead's best album.

d) That being said, In Rainbows is better than you think it is.

e) I once met Owsley at Glebe Markets. He berated me about the sound quality of some Grateful Dead live albums (long story).

f) Jimi Hendrix is undeniably awesome but I prefer the Radio One compilation to any of his studio albums.

g) The Ramones ruined my hearing in 1994.

h) Really, are Abba that good?

Any writing that makes me think this deeply about music is worth reading. Seriously, you should buy a copy.

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Song Logic

While I incessantly think, argue and listen to music, I often feel that I cannot adequately articulate in writing what I'm thinking about (even this sentence is poorly written ha!). This is part of what this blog is about - essentially allowing me to work through my ideas about songs and the other useless bullshit I think about.

Fortunately, there are people in this world who can intelligently dissect and discuss music far better than I can. Rino is one of these people - a wise music sage and typewriter enthusiast who has just published his first book which you can buy here. So head over to his blog to see how this is really done - songlogic.blogspot.com. Also, make sure you check out his lovely typewritten blog here.

So many levels of awesomeness to enjoy.

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