The first event of the 2014 Mission Creek festival saw poet Adam Fell and author Leslie Jamison reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore downtown. Fell read from his newest collection of poems, entitled “Dear Corporation”, a series of open letters to the increasingly corporate world we find ourselves in. Jamison read from her new book, The Empathy Exams, a study into one of the hardest, most intangible human emotions.

Fell’s reading was heartfelt, his voice full of emotion and meaning. He read poems on love, on feelings of helplessness in response to tragedy, and the heartlessness and insincerity of corporate emotion. His writing is characterized by building, twisting runs of words and phrases, sincere sentiments, and occasional splashes of irreverent humor. He uses quick switches of direction and words with double meanings to add depth and structure to his poems.

Jamison read an excerpt from an essay about Morgellons disease, a condition which causes suffers to believe that they are suffering from parasites when no parasites are present. The piece centered on sufferer’s struggle to get their condition recognized medically. and the lack of empathy on the part of the medical professionals they spoke to.

She also read a piece about voyeurism and schadenfreude, enjoyment and consumption of other’s misery. It describes a writer, James Agee, and his writing about unrequited desire and pain; and the how Jamison was profoundly affected by her reading of Agee’s achingly empathetic piece.

While Fell’s reading was spattered with laughter and reaction to his poetry, Jamison held the audience enraptured, no one spoke until she had finished. She varied the tone, speed, and volume of her voice masterfully, coaxing volumes of emotion from a reading only minutes long. Even the brief snippet of The Empathy Exams that she read drips with meaning and emotion. It makes you want to be a better, and a more empathetic person.

The event was an excellent kickoff for the literary portion of the Mission Creek festival. and I’m looking forward to the rest of the readings.

The post Mission Creek: Leslie Jamison/Adam Fell Reading, 4/1/14 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Damage Control is a stellar piece of electronic music. It splits its fourteen tracks between driving, danceable beats and laid-back chill rhythms. Somewhere on the album is a track to suit most any mood.

The opener, Superman Lost, is defined by understated tones and wordless vocal moans. It spends its two minute run building a sense of anticipation, paid off by the sudden transition to the much more beat-focused second track and album highlight Only For You, featuring Welsh singer Rachel Collier, who provides a pleasant if simple vocal track backed by masterful mix and production work by Zo.

Lead single Little Damage is an intriguing piece dominated by a wonderfully atmospheric flute part which lends the track a rather Kill Bill-like aesthetic.

Another standout of the album is the nearly eight minute long track, The Sky, combing beats evocative of early Daft Punk with ethereal vocals from Swedish performer Linnea Schossow.

Zo shows off some skill with album structure as well as musical production in the minute-long track following The Sky, titled Like It Used To Be. Although it isn’t lengthy, its an easy and effective palate cleanser that ranks as one of the highlights of the album. 

Moderate Stimulation mixes sweet, plucky guitar over a strong beat with excerpts from Jack Weinberg’s famous speech, The Generation Gap, making for the most interesting piece of music on the album.

The last quarter of the album is four straight strong tracks, including my personal favorite, Lucid Dreams, the fastest and most danceable track provided by the album, and EZ, a new spin on earlier Mat Zo favorite, Easy. The song is a tightly wound barrage of sound, heavy on the effects and the appeal. The albums ends well, with Pete Josef’s mellow, resonant vocals over light guitar sending the listener out and directly into another listen-through.

Overall, Damage Control sits as one of 2013’s strongest releases, and bodes well for Mat Zo’s career. I for one hope to hear more from him very soon.

You can listen to the album in its entirety below via Mat Zo’s SoundCloud account:

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