Sebastian Castillo’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Fresh, Green Life – Largehearted Boy
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Sebastian Castillo’s Fresh, Green Life is dark, funny, and profound, and features a fascinating anti-hero protagonist.
Kirkus wrote of the book:
“[A] combination of highbrow references and deadpan comedy clicks resonantly throughout the book, and admirers of Thomas Bernhard’s work will find plenty to savor here. The gulf between the narrator’s intellectual ideals and lived reality . . . gives this short novel plenty of energy. Castillo navigates an emotionally fraught narrative with empathy and dry humor.”
In his own words, here is Sebastian Castillo’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Fresh, Green Life:
My new novel, Fresh, Green Life, has nothing to do with music. In fact, one of the novel’s lines that was cut by my editor—an aside of no consequence—stated: “I uniformly dislike all music.” The narrator is a deranged, anhedonic ascetic, and so the pleasures of organized sound are likely beyond him.
But not for me! In fact, music was my first great love. I started playing guitar at 14 and dedicated myself to the pursuit of music for a good ten or so years. I still play it for fun, but now more like a video game. Well, anyway, given the narrator of my novel is obsessed with exercise, I thought I’d provide a fun workout playlist, songs that have raised my own blood, with a salutary benefit for your heart and spirit both.
Akufen – “Deck the House”
Probably the track I have listened to most this year. Have long had a soft spot for early 2000s micro stuff, but I never really got into the cut + paste side of it, until listening to Akufen’s My Way. I read a Marc Leclair interview recently where they asked him about his micro sampling technique—it truly is impressive—and his response was something like, “Worry about making your own music.” This is funny to me. Kind of a Lou Reed-style thing to say, very mean.
Stephen Encinas – “Disco Illusion”
Good warm-up music. Move your joints, distribute your blood differently.
Skye, “Ain’t No Need”
We move on to more vibrant but still blissful disco. Now you hit the weights.
Pepe Bradock – “4”
Everyone’s a fan of “Deep Burnt,” rightfully so, but this track seemed to have passed me by until recently. Lots of great filtering and other buttery processing. Still upbeat enough to get you through another tiresome elliptical offering.
System Olympia – “Night Rise”
Find this is good when you need to enter into that fugue state while exercising where you forget where you are, who you are, what you’re doing. You can become the Spinozan automaton you were meant to be, at least at the gym. Mine is $70 a month, which feels criminal.
Blawan – “His Money”
Not really a hard techno guy so much (it is too frightening) but once in a while it’s important to approach this kind of bleak emotional territory, especially when you are elevating a large weight over your head.
Daniel Wang – “In the Street”
Daniel Wang is sort of like an impish house music uncle who you enjoy seeing at Thanksgiving. A vivacious and canny spirit. Love this early track. The Dr. Dre interpolation toward the end makes me laugh. You see—house is a feeling.
Ricardo Villalobos feat. Jorge González – “4 Wheel Drive”
My first techno love; Alcachofa really felt epiphanic for me when I listened to it in my early twenties. Imagine this was the case for lots of young bucks. The Fabric mix off which this comes is probably my all-time favorite Villalobos release. The vocals of this track sound like my friend Robert’s dad, which is why I like it. “The smell of creams” is a great line.
Dem 2 – “Reach”
Nothing makes me dance like UK Garage, don’t know what it is about it. I guess the skitter-step. Funny, England not a country I would associate with dancing. They were certainly daft for this one.
Sweely – “Home Grooves”
Enjoy this guy. Love the person dancing in the background, too. Funky-nervy groove. I just bought an MPC, actually. Wish I knew how to use it; learning a new machine fills me with dread. All this said, I must caution against smoking indoors—it’s unsafe, and a nasty habit to boot (I’m trying to quit).
Sonny Jenkins And The New York Potpourri Strings – “That Friday Pay (Eagle Flying Day)”
A great song to listen to on the day your employer gives you money in exchange for all that labor.
Made in USA – “Never Gonna Let You Go (Theo Parrish edit)”
The buildup on this one is ecstatic—there’s a great clip of Motor City Drum Ensemble playing a Boiler Room set and when the build finally hits and crescendos some guy in the audience goes up to the turntable readjusts the arm so that the buildup plays again—he needed to hear it once more. He was right to do it.
Peven Everett – “Stuck (Phil Asher’s Soul Heaven Version)”
This is an all-timer for me—pure joy music.
Lil Ugly Mane – “can sex me”
Lil Ugly Mane is better known (perhaps rightly) for his rap output, but his beat variety is both impressive and inspiring. Had this one on repeat for months; great old-school house vibe made for the gym and bedroom (like when you’re cleaning your room, not sex stuff, despite the song’s title).
Moodymann – “Why Do U Feel”
I’ll close with another life-long favorite—it may sound like a bit of a downer for the gym, but the energy this track builds toward is unreal, glutted with melancholic feeling.
Have a good workout.
Sebastian Castillo is a writer and teacher living in Philadelphia. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and grew up in New York. His work has appeared in New York Tyrant, Peach Mag, Electric Literature, Joyland, Epoch, BOMB, and elsewhere. He is the author of 49 Venezuelan Novels, Not I, SALMON, and The Zoo of Thinking.
