the life and times of joel w duggan
what i'm reading, spinning and getting up to
I was hoping to have my article on American Psycho done by last week but it’s turning out heftier than I thought and I have been preoccupied with twelve-hour days for most of the week, so that might come next week. Instead, I’m gonna phone it in and just talk life and opinions on stuff I’ve consoooooomed recently.
what i’ve been reading
I always have multiple books on the go because I’m one of Those People and need to vary what text and form I’m reading several times a day. At any given point, I try to have one book of fiction, two of non-fiction (one for casual reading, one for serious note-taking), and one book of poetry. I have way more than that currently — let’s get into it!
Urban Choreography: Central Melbourne 1985—, edited by Kim Dovey, Rob Adams and Ronald Jones
Dipping my toes into some urban design literature. I finished this one the other week during the quiet periods of my ASCP shifts. I like reading on Melbourne because I think it’s important to know the city you live in, and we have an especially interesting history of being a culture capital post-Gold Rush to being a “doughnut city” (because there was nothing in the centre!) to then being “the most liveable city in the world”. Or something. I’ve also developed an interest in housing policy and urban planning,1 so this book just generally seemed up my alley.
Among this essay collection’s central theses is that the history of the Melbourne CBD becoming actually kinda cool is intertwined with the social and political contexts which allowed for effective urban planning to take place. But also how the lame parts of the Melbourne CBD were made possible by perverse incentives which drove governments to neglect the public interest — looking at you, Crown and the Docklands.
As a student, I enjoyed reading on how Melbourne’s development is also tied to its universities. Places like Melbourne Uni and RMIT provided much of the intellectual content for the CBD’s urban design revolution. The push for international students also saw the CBD grow as a place for people to live rather than just work.
Other highlights were reading on Ruth and Maurie Crow, the communist activists who got people interested in effective urban design — the same people who would go on to join the local councils and push for a better city! They also published a newsletter called Irregular which had a massive influence on how the intellectuals of the inner suburbs saw the CBD. It was like Substack but in real life!
For a city that likes to pride itself on being cultured, it’s also pretty fucking funny that we basically complained about a sculpture being a bit out there until it was removed from the CBD. To be a typical wanky Melbournian, it shows that, despite our desperate attempts to indicate otherwise, there is a vicious streak of philistinism in the culture of our city. Our architecture has gotten a bit edgier, but not much has really changed deep down!
Oh, and there was the history of the greening of Swanston Street. This was fuckin based — a team led by Sonja Peter and James Lunday in David Yencken’s Ministry for Planning and Environment rolled grass onto Swanston Street in 1985 to make a political point about the benefits of pedestrianisation. The grass didn’t remain, but the point was made: the CBD was ceding too much public space to cars. It set the stage for reforms like the pedestrianisation of Bourke Street.
Monolithic Undertow: In Search of Sonic Oblivion by Harry Sword
Man, this fuckin bangs. Picked it up earlier this week from Metropolis, which has one of the better shelves of music writing in Melbourne, after wanting to check it out for a while. It’s a history of the drone in music, seeking to understand how and why it is that humans are drawn to sustained sounds. It cuts across genres, going from touches of personal essay to interviews with scientists and historians and of course there’s plenty of music writing.
Harry locates the drone’s origins in places like the womb, the thrum of an expanding universe, the ceaseless vibrations of movement. In Hindu philosophy, it is through sound that the Absolute makes itself known: in repetition of the Om we come to understand our place in the universe. Harry is no Hindu, but he does spin a compelling narrative of human self-actualisation often being connected to the drone — just think of all the hippies who had mind-expanding acid trips to sitar music or jam band psychedelia.
Harry’s thesis is sick as fuck, and he has the knowledge and panache to pull the whole thing off. He’s researched virtually everything that is even adjacently relevant to what he’s talking about. And then on the stuff that is directly relevant, he’s an expert — he knows about the folk music traditions of Moroccan tribes, the harrowing training procedures to become a certified sitarist, the archeoacoustics of ancient ritual grounds in Ireland, contemporary industrial and metal music. Most of what Harry has talked about so far has been historical, but I’m super keen to see what he has to say once he does get to the modern stuff I’m more knowledgeable on. Stuff like Throbbing Gristle, Merzbow, Sunn O))), Earth, the myriad stoner doom bands out there with names in the vein of “Bong Jesus”.
It’s also been fun to listen along as I read. The ambience of drone music fits well with the act of reading, so I’ve had a lot of Ravi Shankar and Sufi trance music from Joujouka going in the background.
Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia by Dan Mulino
Dan is a sitting Federal Labor MP and one of the few politicians with a PhD in Economics. Good for him. Safety Net is an ambitious book that does a few things: provide a history of the welfare state, offer a defence of the welfare state, and argue for prioritising the welfare state’s function in offering social insurance (the eponymous “safety net”) as opposed to prioritising other functions such as redistribution – such a priority then leads Dan to offer a series of recommendations to reform the Australian welfare state.
I’m only a few chapters in but am largely enjoying it. Although there is an underlying sense of Dan feeling the need to justify Labor policy (y’know, as you would expect from a sitting politician), I think the argument he makes for the political necessity of a “pluralism” of safety nets is one of the stronger justifications for policies like mandatory superannuation (which I’m personally not massive on).
In most respects, Dan is preaching to the choir with me because I’m already bought into a lot of these classic social-democratic arguments for the welfare state but I’m still learning some cool stuff. I thought it was funny that, even way back in the Roman Empire, governments were engaging in massive, unexpected blowouts on infrastructure like aqueducts – a fact which is especially pertinent in light of recent debates over the cost of Victoria’s plans for a Suburban Rail Loop.
Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin
Is this where I out myself as a Game of Thrones guy? I became quite disinvested in the world after years of waiting for the next book and then, like many, resenting the ending of the television adaptation. Which is a shame because I do genuinely love George’s world and his books played a pivotal point in my childhood (yeah, might have read these a bit young but tbh reading books you’re too young for is an important part of any kid’s development!). So, I’m glad that House of the Dragon actually being good has gotten me back in into it, despite some initial doubts I had. Also, it looks like George has made something resembling progress on the next book? Hesitantly hopeful.
Fire and Blood is written as an in-world history book; hence, it’s more of a completionist read for the fans than it is an engaging work of literature. Still, I’m big into this universe and its history so no complaints here. I’m up to one of the chapters on the rule of King Jaehaerys I, which is where things slow down somewhat in terms of the drama — the dude’s called “the Conciliator” for a reason!
George’s writing has always been inspired by history, and it’s cool to see him take this direct, meta-historiographical approach to storytelling. Unfortunately, it does make the characterisation less precise — something I’ve always loved about A Song of Ice and Fire is his ability to consistently write such compelling characters. Now, we’ve got less “characters” and more just “historical figures”. Comes with the territory, I guess.
A Lifetime on Clouds by Gerald Murnane
Real Murnaneposting hours. If I’ve learned anything from Gerald Murnane, it’s that once you leave the state of Victoria, you are no longer capable of writing good literature.
I read The Plains a few months ago. Had a real cryptic wit to it and I had the sense of always reading through a haze. It was great. I read a more recent collection of Murnane’s poetry — rare from him — a few weeks after, Green Shadows and Other Poems. He writes bluntly about philosophy and his life. Also great!
Now, I come to A Lifetime on Clouds, which I picked up because it was one of those cheap, yellow editions and because the blurb mentioned something about “elaborate orgies” and I decided I needed to see Murnane write about horny teenagers. I’m like, a few pages in. Hence, not too many thoughts.
Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
I read American Psycho earlier this year, so Less than Zero was the natural next step, especially upon recommendation from George. I’m likely going to make my way through most of Bret’s early work in the next few months, culminating in a read of Lunar Park so that I can fully appreciate that whole meta-experience.
Less Than Zero is the kinda book I wish I had read a little earlier in my life; it would have been a fitting accompaniment to Trainspotting as one of my reads on schoolies. Has real schoolies vibes. Everyone’s a drugged-up dick willing to transgress basic morals for a good time.
I have described Less Than Zero as being a real “cumulative” reading experience, and I stand by that. The plot is a full-tilt accretion of depravities, plumbing deeper and deeper the extents of human amorality until we reach the inevitable climax, the nadir of broken innocence. This accumulation is reflected in the myriad phrases Clay picks up and repeats in the narration, all hinting at the impossibility of human connection in the face of the unfettered hyperconsumerism internalised by our characters.
Anyway, time to pick up Rules of Attraction, I guess?
Conversations with Friends and Normal People by Sally Rooney
rooneypill rooneypill rooneypill
These were pretty good. It’s interesting how both novels end with an embrace of some alternative romantic arrangement; cool way of going somewhere different within the trappings of romance. It’s like, for Rooney, the myriad relationships we all pursue in our lives are too meaningful to restrict in the name of monogamy, and these novels follow her protagonists as they nudge toward that realisation. Or maybe I’m misreading the endings. Happy to be told off by any Rooneyheads among my Joelstackers.
I thought Conversations with Friends was better than Normal People. I am unsure if this is a controversial opinion? I believe people tend to prefer Normal People. Every single character in Conversations with Friends felt fully realised — at various points throughout, I found myself loving, hating, empathising, pitying each of our main cast. They were ambiguous, these humans who did shitty things to each other but were too vibrant in their characterisation to truly dislike. With Normal People, Marianne and Connell felt like that, but other characters appeared one-dimensional. That dude Marianne dates — Jamie? — winds up just being this cruel, sadistic asshole designed to drive resentment and jealousy in Connell. There’s not really anything to the guy, he’s just there to propel the development of characters more interesting than him. And despite the non-monogamy implied by the ending (in my reading, at least!), there seems to be this conservative sexual ethic underlying Marianne turning to BDSM at her low point, a contrast to the pure, effortless sex she has with Connell. It felt a bit much, like the book was exploiting the intensity and taboo of BDSM instead of generating its own power.
Not to say that not being into BDSM is sexually conservative LMAO. But this just seemed like an unnecessary potshot? BDSM’s functional role in the plot is to spell out the emptiness that Marianne experiences with sex when she can’t have Connell, whose dick game is apparently so good that he doesn’t need to resort to the chains and whips to excite her. There’s no serious engagement with the concept and the whole arc seems to fall back on these played-out tropes of Bondage is Bad rather than finding some unique way to integrate this into the character development. It reminds me of Ursula Robinson-Shaw’s review of Ella Baxter’s New Animal in the Sydney Review of Books, which similarly criticises the novel for coming close to saying something interesting about BDSM but ultimately falling into another tale of the chastened deviant who can only begin healing once they have Stopped Doing That.2
Still, I enjoyed both! They were breezy reads, and I do appreciate a simple, unambitious story done well.
what i’ve been spinning
The “spinning” is hypothetical because my turntable is broken.
Spotify Wrapped
Looks like my indie softboi credentials are indisputable!
Good job to Katie Crutchfield for making it on there twice as P.S. Eliot and then as Waxahatchee. Honestly, P.S. Eliot are pretty underrated — they’re this pop-punky indie rock band with a riot grrrl vibe that Katie did with her sister before starting Waxahatchee. Their debut, Introverted Romance in our Troubled Minds, is so fully formed despite being performed by twenty-year-olds. Song-for-song, it’s nothing but bangers — choruses you can shout, vocals effusive with both playful sarcasm and genuine emotion at various points, introspective lyrics with a lot to say about relationships, bright guitars and a surging rhythm section. I’ve been going back to this album again and again since 2018 and only finding more I like. Their second album, Sadie, is pretty good as well but not as consistent. I probably prefer them to Waxahatchee, however it’s worth noting that I have never listened to a Waxahatchee album beyond their debut, American Weekend, because I heard the production gets better and I love the lo-fi vibe of the album too much!
Anyway, check out ‘We’d Never Agree’.
The Mountain Goats are an obvious one. They’ve probably appeared on my Spotify Wrapped multiple times over the years. I’ve been going back to their early, lo-fi stuff more recently — my favourite album of theirs is All Hail West Texas which I consider to be the culmination of that period. Lo-fi fucking perfection. I also checked out their 2017 album, Goths, for the first time, which is about Darnielle’s love of goth music and an exploration of what happens when goths grow up. That was fun.
‘Distant Stations’ an underrated track though, check it out.
Big Thief released a double album this year, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, which is a very easy way to find yourself on my Spotify Wrapped if you pack it with bangers! I hadn’t truly loved a Big Thief effort until this came out, although I had gotten really into some of Adrianne’s solo stuff. This is just indie rock excellence though.
As for the Carly Rae Jepsen, I need to make it immensely clear that I am this kind of fan:
I started going back to Emotion prior to her new album though — I actually wasn’t massive on it when I first listened years ago, but on my return I got pretty deep. It’s just track-for-track really great synthpop. ‘Gimme Love’ and ‘Love Again’ were my most-listened.
I know everyone says this but it might be worth noting that my Wrapped probably doesn’t provide the most accurate picture of my music taste because I don’t tend to listen to the same stuff over and over. I try to branch out and listen to new albums rather than returning to old ones too much — that’s just my style of music engagement.
Now, beyond the Wrapped.
The Fall’s discography
The Fall’s 1979-1986 run is fuckin indisputable. I return to This Nation’s Saving Grace regularly because it’s easy to chuck on one song and then be dragged into listening to the rest. But every other album in that run is a classic as well — Live at the Witch Trials, Hex Enduction Hour, Bend Sinister, god damn.
The Fall, to me, epitomise what working-class art can be. There’s something dirty and industrial in their sound, and underpinning it is this driving rhythm that repeats with a krautrockian machinism. Mark E Smith’s vocals stumble drunkenly over the top, but his lyrics cut through. It’s music akin to a madman raving in a Manchester factory, the production lines alive around him. But The Fall never condescend, nor was Smith ever consumed by his punk clout: the lyrics drip with a self-reflective acumen that embodies a working-class intellectual spirit.
Anyway, check out this track: ‘Gut of the Quantifier.’
If you like, then I would recommend listening to the rest of This Nation’s Saving Grace before just going chronologically through their 1979-1986 run, starting with Live at the Witch Trials. Some of their later output in the 2000s is pretty good as well!
duggan’s doings
I’ve been all done with uni for over a month now. There was a period of about two weeks after in which I was basically just playing video games all day — Persona 5 and Civilisation 6 mainly. But then Stuff started happening and I am now incredibly busy again.
Anyone who keeps up with my Twitter will know that I spent this week at #natcon22 — the Annual General Meeting of the National Union of Students, the peak body for student unions in Australia.3 That meant being stuck in Waurn Ponds, listening to hacks argue, and then livetweeting all about it here. I attended as student media with Farrago News Editor and friend of the ‘Stack, Josh, and I'm quite proud of the coverage we were able to put together. We were approached by a good number of people telling us our livetweets were the fairest and most detailed — perhaps an ambiguous compliment coming from student politicians, but I’ll take it!
Those who kept up with the livetweet will know the conference was messy, and that this has been the norm pretty much the entire time the conference has existed. A journo who covered NatCon in 2003 even reached out to share a memento of what it was like back when there was more than one Liberal in the room:
And yes, those shirts do say “The War on Terror: Afghanistan, Iraq, Who’s Next?”.
I won’t go into too much detail about the proceedings because it’s already been livetweeted and Josh and I will have some more stuff out in Farrago about it soon enough, but yeah. Very interesting time!
Maybe one thing I’ll touch on at an interpersonal level is that there’s a strange vibe at the conference, especially as student media. Almost everyone present is part of a faction, normally a Labor Party-aligned faction. Whenever I was interacting with someone, that loomed over the conversation: they are part of this party machine far bigger than either of us, and it has a great deal of control over them. It bred a suspicion that we couldn’t shake until the conference finally concluded on Thursday — a suspicion that is especially apparent when you’re a journo who could very well report on anything they tell you! I would try to dissipate the tension by saying, quote, “I’m not a shitcunt who will dog you by exploiting our private conversations for good coverage,” but it was still there.
With that said, the piss-up which took place after conference ended on Thursday had a much chiller vibe to it. I had a lot of good talks which were free of the oppressive atmosphere of conference.4 It became so clear to me how conference floor fucks with you: everyone demonstrated a kindness and willingness to explain their politics which had heretofore been absent. I was even able to make a comment about disliking mandatory super without getting the shit kicked out of me!
It reinforced to me the necessity of serious reform for NatCon. A majority of the people there seem to have genuine compassion and principles, but the behaviour on conference floor never seems to reflect that. The first thing that needs to be done is to allow filming; currently, any filming on conference floor is banned. There’s no real reason for this that I could see outside of protecting the reputations of future Labor staffers. I will probably write a Farrago article on this, so keep an eye out!
Oh, I was also accepted as an honorary member of the “Dart Caucus” because of how much people loved Farrago’s coverage. Dart Caucus appears to just be Labor Left delegates getting together to smoke, while also nominating each other for positions such as “Rollies Convenor” in mock elections. Pretty good meme tbh.
I managed to pick up some of the Labor Right faction’s merch as well, which is similarly a pretty good meme!
Otherwise, I’m coordinating the Tutor Support Officer team for UMSU’s VCE Summer School, which means ensuring that we successfully pull off three days of training for about a hundred or so tutors, supervising subject curricula, and later on we’ll be observing a bunch of classes to make sure everything’s optimised. Just completed those training days, and am happy with how they went!
Alright, this post is close to 4k words, so I’ma wrap it up there. I didn’t even cover everything I’ve read or listened to recently lol. Might do more of these to fill out weeks where I haven’t got any solid ideas because it’s pretty easy to just write on random shit without fussing about structure lol.
Weirdly enough, I got an early copy of New Animal because my mother delivered Ella Baxter’s child at the start of this year. Good job, Mum!
“everyone knows about natcon,” is what I was told by friend of the ‘Stack, Shelby, who then proceeded to call me ill for attending.
“The park piss-up is the true free marketplace of ideas in Australia,” remarked Pamela as she read this. Very true, Pamela!
i'm also very very slowly hoping to get through the works of BEE we love that. and i had no idea katie waxahatchee was in another band we love that as well. great wrapped.
CWF > NP for sure the correct take 👍 also I found Lifetime on Clouds super annoying but still enjoy Murnane in general