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Eugene Mirman’s Guide To Modern Life: Alina Simone

eugenelogoAlong with David Cross, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt, Eugene Mirman has liberated stand-up comedy from the zany fratboys and sweater-clad neurotics. Mirman’s latest album, God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger’s (Sub Pop), isn’t representative of a “new breed” of comedy or a supposedly edgy advancement in humor; it’s a collection of smart, imaginative bits that embody the anger, absurdity and awkwardness of everyday life. You might also say it’s full of guffaws. Mirman, who also published a book this year (the mock-advice tome The Will To Whatevs) and regularly appears on HBO’s Flight Of The Conchords, is guest editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our Q&A with him.

Alina-Simone2

Mirman: I’ve known Alina Simone since the first grade. We’re both Russian. She was always a wonderful singer. I remember having a cassette (it’s like an mp3, but it could normally only store Van Halen on it) she made me with a Madonna cover and an original song (that I believe was about opening a door) when I was 12. Her last album, Everyone Is Crying Out To Me, Beware, was beautiful covers of the music of Yanka Dyagileva, a Soviet punk singer/songwriter who died tragically. (From drugs, just like American musicians; we are not so different.) Instead of poorly describing her music (she sounds like two different lady-based bands put together with elements from other genres), I will simply include a track from her new album, Make Your Own Danger, which is due out some point after right now. The track is “Beautiful Machine.” On a side note, Alina and I were recently talking, and she told me (which I never knew!!!!) that our third-grade teacher at Harrington Elementary School told her to stop being friends with me because I was a “loser.” I know it doesn’t sound that bad, but when you add the fact that as proof this teacher then revealed to Alina my very low standardized test scores, it does seem inappropriate. Oh, 1983, you were a silly time.

“Beautiful Machine” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/BeautifulMachine.mp3

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