David Keenan

[holyzombiejesus]

In the interest of having more threads on this sub, thought I'd start one for DK. His new one has just come out and loads of people are tweeting about how big it is, like that makes it any cop. I can't stand DK.  His bands were always shitty bandwagon jumping flotsam, his look and his stupid fucking insistence on referring to friends as 'brother ____' rattles my tits something silly and the only book of his that I attempted (Memorial Device, possibly the most unintentionally funny books I've (partly) read) was given away after I'd managed about a third. But still he keeps getting great reviews, albeit mainly from 'normal' people and record shops, but I still don't get it. Probably the same people who rate Ben Myers' stuff.

Would be interested in the views of those who rate him.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

One of the most arrogant sods I've ever met. A silly man.

I've only ever met him once, admittedly, but the memory still lingers. He postively reeked of contrary smugness.

[holyzombiejesus]

I think 'silly' is a great word for him, as is 'wally'. What phase was he going through when you met him?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Oh, God knows. This was 20 years ago. I remember him saying something about how The Beatles were overrated, in that sort of tediously elitist "actually, I think you'll find" pub bore way.

[holyzombiejesus]

The Telstar Ponies period then. My friend followed Jandek round the UK, possibly a tour of the Scottish Highlands and islands and said both Keenan and his partner were utter dickheads. Made a big deal about how he was some kind of educator and that people were there because of the scene he had created. I never got round to visiting Volcanic Tongue but heard someone spray painted something abusive about him on the wall , so at least he's responsible for some amusing writing.

[Inspector Norse]

His music writing is pseudy bollocks but I liked Memorial Device. It was affectionately parodic - perhaps not deliberately - and I enjoyed the fantasy nostalgia of it, capturing that smalltown wish to be part of a scene, something more significant. I think that the deliberate implausibility and Keenan's genuine knowledge of music counterculture meant it sidestepped the problems of music fiction (see: David Mitchell's last one), particularly the feeling that the writer doesn't "get it".

Haven't been interested in any of his other fiction though. Looked at the blurb for the new one and it sounds a bit silly.

[cosmic-hearse]

For ages I got him mixed up with David Keegan of the Shop Assistants.
I liked 'England's Hidden Reverse' & I think he once gave my band a good review so I think he's a good egg.

[sardines]

I thought For The Good Times was excellent and even the deviations into the occult held together well when they could have been huge oh fuck off moments.

Keenan gets a let off from me due to Volcanic Tongue and his involvement in that enter underground world circa 2000. He pushed a lot of fantastic  music firstly into a slightly stuffy Wire magazine and then out of London and up north.

At some point his ego appeared to have lifted off and he started banging on about being the only fashionable person at underground gigs. He did an interview with William Basinski recently where a good chunk was Keenan discussing his collection of Chelsea boots.

Edited to say i rate Ben Myers stuff so opinions n all that...

[Famous Mortimer]

My friend followed Jandek round the UK, possibly a tour of the Scottish Highlands and islands and said both Keenan and his partner were utter dickheads.

He may have done one I'm unaware of, but he did a tour of Northern Ireland in...2009? I went to all the shows but the last one, made some nice friends and, honestly, wouldn't know this Keenan fella if I ran over him, so he may have been there too.

Looks like it's "thanks for Volcanic Tongue, no thanks for all the other stuff" about this chap.

[holyzombiejesus]

He may have done one I'm unaware of, but he did a tour of Northern Ireland in...2009? I went to all the shows but the last one, made some nice friends and, honestly, wouldn't know this Keenan fella if I ran over him, so he may have been there too.

Looks like it's "thanks for Volcanic Tongue, no thanks for all the other stuff" about this chap.

Was there a guy from Manchester called Gavin and his wife Rebecca on all the dates?

[dissolute ocelot]

His music writing is pseudy bollocks but I liked Memorial Device. It was affectionately parodic - perhaps not deliberately - and I enjoyed the fantasy nostalgia of it, capturing that smalltown wish to be part of a scene, something more significant. I think that the deliberate implausibility and Keenan's genuine knowledge of music counterculture meant it sidestepped the problems of music fiction (see: David Mitchell's last one), particularly the feeling that the writer doesn't "get it".

Haven't been interested in any of his other fiction though. Looked at the blurb for the new one and it sounds a bit silly.

Yeah, I liked Memorial Device. It was basically a bunch of very short stories of various quality, so I'm not sure how he'd do at sustained fiction or stuff that was less plucked from life. He does know his shitty west of Scotland small towns, which is something I enjoy vicariously, and obviously a good eye for the silliness of people involved with indie music. But I have very little interest in reading his opinions of The Troubles or whatever the new one's about.

I quite liked his work with Melody Maker in the 90s where he seemed one of the more knowledgeable and interesting writers, although "good writer by Melody Maker standards" or "better than Everett True" possibly is faint praise. Musical output was certainly variable, but at his best he ripped off some good music; I still like the Telstar Ponies' "Voices From the New Music" which is like a compilation album of left-field early 90s alt rock from Tortoise to Nick Cave.

[Quisby]

One of the most arrogant sods I've ever met. A silly man.

I've only ever met him once, admittedly, but the memory still lingers. He postively reeked of contrary smugness.

Based on my interactions with him and those of my friends he's the living embodiment of that Spike Milligan gag - Q: Why do people take an instant dislike to me? A: Because it saves time.

[dissolute ocelot]

There's a savage takedown of him in the new London Review of Books (paywalled), mostly on his new novel Monument Maker:

It's difficult to grasp exactly what all this means or what it's for. The novel's 808 pages make a mockery of straitened attention spans, and the book is provocatively underedited. Keenan wants all your time, space and energy. Monument Maker is the literary equivalent of manspreading.
...
Unfortunately, he is most interested here in disorienting his readers. Long passages begin with interesting statements that fritter to nothing. Multiple pages are given over to single sentences into which are crushed all dialogue and incidentals. These sentences are punctuated only by commas – three or four words then a comma, a maddeningly repetitive phrase then a comma, until the reader is begging for a full stop. Eventually, I was seeing only the commas, all other meaning having departed, along with my patience. The final part of the book is incomprehensible.

It's clear that, for great stretches of Monument Maker, Keenan is choosing to mutilate his prose, because at other points he proves himself capable of writing brilliantly on art, architecture, music, literature, religion, the occult. What is far less clear, across all his work, is why he takes such pleasure in the expression of ugly social attitudes.
...
Is there anything interesting beyond the I-don't-give-a-fuck, open-shirted, one-of-those-beards male posturing?

It concludes with a long bit on sexism, caricatures of ethnic minorities, and racist remarks. But the first paragraph I quoted seems most relevant.

[convulsivespace]

I didn't have any prior familiarity with David Keenan, but I'm approximately 90% of the way through Monument Maker and overall I think it is quite good. It feels like he intended for it to be his Infinite Jest, and obviously he is not in the same league as David Foster Wallace as a writer, but it's still enjoyable for what it is. There are cringeworthy moments throughout, including a lot of clumsy sex fantasies that remind you this was written be a bearded music journo, but the frequency of those moments is forgivable in such a sprawling book.

Haven't read that LRB review yet, I'll wait until I've finished the book, but aside from the perennial issue of an author like David Keenan having zero interest in writing women characters who are not sex objects, I'm not sure I get the suggestion that the book displays politically regressive "ugly social attitudes."