As Smart As We Are is the latest album from New York-based “acid klezmer” group One Ring Zero. I confess, I am pretty far out of the loop as far as anything NYC goes, and that includes both hip (and very cool) musicians, and hip (and very cool) authors. As a result, I wouldn’t have known anything about this CD if not for the likes of Maud Newton and Neil Gaiman, both of whom plugged it on their sites.
Why do authors matter on a CD? Well, this is something of a gimmick album (and I mean that in the best possible way). See, ORZ is hooked up with luminaries of the literati, so they asked a number of their friends and other admired authors to write lyrics for them. They then took these lyrics and set them to music. The authors who participated are:
Jonathan Ames, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Clay McLeod Chapman, Dave Eggers, Amy Fusselman, Neil Gaiman, Myla Goldberg, Ben Greenman, Daniel Handler, A.M. Homes, Denis Johnson, Lawrence Krauser, Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Aaron Naparstek, and Darin Strauss.
Now I am sufficiently unhip as to be largely unfamiliar with many of the people on that list. However, I knew enough of them be curious about the result, curious enough to plunk down my $16 and check it out.
It was a worthy investment. ORZ has a sound that’s difficult to pin down, but undeniably cool. Many (if not most) of their instruments are hand-made, toys, obsolete, or just strange, lending their music a familiar but off-kilter edge. Couple these unique sounds with highly literate and downright peculiar lyrics, and you have a highly entertaining listening experience.
As an example, here is the first song on the album. It’s one of my favorites on the disc, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is my abiding admiration for its author.
Natty Man Blues
by Paul AusterThere ain’t no sin in Cincinnati
Since I been in Cincinnati
I gotta get out of Cincinnati
Or else I’ll go plumb dumb and batty
Since I mean to sin wherever I am
Since I mean to sin whenever I can.I’ll cross the river into old Kentuck
Find me some skirt and a change of luck
Drink some shots and roll in the muck
Raise some hell and remember to duck
Since I mean to sin wherever I am
Since I mean to sin whenever I can.There ain’t no sin in Cincinnati
Since I been in Cincinnati
Its face ain’t natty and its heart is ratty
So I gotta get out of Cincinnati
Since I mean to sin wherever I am
Since I mean to sin whenever I can.
If you are any kind of a fan of interesting or experimental music, or of peculiar literary experiences, you’ll want this disc.
*My apologies for the lousy pun. Sometimes I can’t help myself.
