TEENAGE BLACKOUT - Berlin Record (Starfish L.E.)

An impossible record to categorize, Teenage Blackout is essentially musician/author Darren Callahan. Appropriately perhaps, the album - a mix of sampled street sounds, and voices awash in keyboard splashes, and melody lines - has the feel and scope of a novel in that each song sounds like a chapter that tells part of a story. To my ears, that story (and the song titles bear this out) is a random collection of impressions from everyday life, and the world around us. Eno is obviously an influence, but his music is clearly a starting point for further explorations. An earlier CD, "Theories of Jet Propulsion" (Starfish) is more conventional, and Pop influenced - Callahan once was part of a terrific Pop band called Oo Oo Wa - but no less interesting. Both are available from the website www.darrencallahan.com.
And while you're there, you might take a look at the list of self-published novels, screenplays, a radio drama, and one short story collection (not to mention several more musical projects) available for order. I've only just begun to explore a couple of the books, but it's obvious to me that here is an undiscovered author with a clear voice, and a distinctive writing style, and point of view. The website is itself a fascinating place to wander. (Online ordering is secure, and my order arrived in only a few days. Check it out. When the rest of the world catches up, you can say you knew him when.)

- Tim Frueh,
THE RECORD CHANGER
The E-Mail Digest of Music & Pop Culture