Low

Just finished the 33 1/3 series’ book on “Low” by David Bowie. Hugo Wilcken is the author.

As a side review, I would say that Wilcken does a fantastic job pulling from various sources, critically exploring each song, and most importantly, involving the reader while creating a definitive link between content and context. At times he gets a bit stiff in the writing, but not often.

Down to the meat. To be honest, the first time I listened to “Low”, I wasn’t as wowed as when I listened to “Station to Station” or “Heroes”. I remember my friend Andrew, who incidentally gave me the book as a present, saying that this was his favorite Bowie album. I played it a few more times, and still wasn’t really listening to the album, just hearing it. Maybe it’s just my pride, but I went in to the 33 1/3 book not wanting my opinion to be changed…but here I am, very much appreciating “Low”. Bowie was coming from a completely different place than I though he was in 1975. “Low” wasn’t just some cocaine experimental album, it was a memoir. It was Bowie talking about isolation while suffering from cocaine psychosis. The album is crafted so finely that each piece of it adds to this isolation. There are no frills, no useless part to it.

I feel like I’d just muck it up more trying to explain the how profound I found this album, or even how good the 33 1/3 book was.

33 1/3 Links:

Continuum (33 1/3 publisher)

33 1/3 blog

B

Richard Harrow's eye.

Upcoming project. Semi secret Christmas/birthday present for a friend. First time writing my own script for a comic, which was exciting, frustrating, and ultimately fun.










A good deal of my time so far has been dedicated in the costumes of medieval Japan. The patterns and layers of clothing are just a joy to soak up. I spent half of the research watching my Kurosawa DVDs and jotting down drawn notes, and the other half, looking at old woodblock prints. No pattern was the same, but each drew its origin from nature. Everything was a play of symmetry and asymmetry, simple and complex, so on and so forth.














I get to draw crazy medieval beards, burns, and staches.

Bandit costume design.















Bandits man, bandits.

Bottom left : Richard Harrow's eye.

The character in the middle really changed it from thuggish barbarian to hipster bandit. I like that.