{"title":"David Keenan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"xstabeth","title":"Xstabeth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book spoke, it said \"read me\" from the very first sentence as if it were alive, it gave me visceral joy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eReading [\u003ci\u003eXstabeth\u003c\/i\u003e] feels like being cut open to the accompanying sound of ecstatic music\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrepare for more of that inimitable Keenan narrative voodoo brilliance\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn St Petersburg, Russia, Aneliya is torn between the love of her father and her father's best friend. Her father dreams of becoming a great musician but suffers with a naivete that means he will never be taken seriously. Her father's best friend has a penchant for vodka, strip clubs and moral philosophy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen an angelic presence named Xstabeth enters their lives - a presence who simultaneously fulfils and disappears those she touches - Aneliya and her father's world is transformed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving from Russia to St Andrews, Scotland, \u003ci\u003eXstabeth \u003c\/i\u003etackles the metaphysics of golf, the mindset of classic Russian novels and the power of art and music to re-wire reality. Charged with a consuming intensity and a torrential rhythm that pulses with music, it is an offering of transcendence and a love letter to the books of Chandler, Nabokov and Dostoevsky, by a writer who is rewriting the rulebook of contemporary fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"White Rabbit","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50417293492555,"sku":"1095229","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/62438d10-7908-4708-a7f5-5c862f5fd1ac_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726724809"},{"product_id":"industry-of-magic-and-light","title":"Industry of Magic and Light","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe prequel to the critically acclaimed and award-winning This is Memorial Device\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndustry of Magic and Light is a love letter to the counterculture of the 1960s and a requiem for its passing. The much-anticipated prequel to Keenan's cult classic debut, This is Memorial Device, Industry of Magic and Light is set in the same mythical Airdrie in the 1960s and early 70s and centres on a group of hippies running their own psychedelic light show. Told in two halves - the first in the form of an inventory of the contents of a caravan abandoned by one of the hippies, the second in the form of a tarot card reading - it is not so much a book about the 1960s as a direct channelling of the decade's energies, bringing to life how even the smallest and dreariest of working class towns felt so full of possibility in the wake of the psychedelic moment. Via artefacts from the time - everything from poetry chapbooks, record reviews and musical instruments through bubblegum wrappers, bicycle repair kits and mysterious cassette recordings - the book opens out into adventures along the hippy trail in Afghanistan and behind the Iron Curtain that leads a cast of new and returning characters - as well as the authorities - to believe that they are literally making magic. Simultaneously a forensics of the 1960s, a detective novel, an occult thriller, a vision quest, and the hallucinatory exposition of a moment where it felt like anything was possible, Industry of Magic and Life brings to life the streets of small working class towns as transformational sites of utopian joy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"White Rabbit","offers":[{"title":"Hardback - 1152345","offer_id":50426237518155,"sku":"1152345","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":50426237944139,"sku":"1152505","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/090b0ecd-0930-4d89-91a1-6520d9a7fb94_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726805435"},{"product_id":"england-s-hidden-reverse-a-secret-history-of-the-esoteric-underground","title":"England's Hidden Reverse: A Secret History Of The Esoteric Underground (Revised and Expanded Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn expanded edition of the classic exploration of the English esoteric musical underground - with the first biography of \u003cstrong\u003eCoil\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eCurrent 93\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eNurse With Wound\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis newly expanded edition of \u003cem\u003eEngland's Hidden Reverse\u003c\/em\u003e, the classic exploration of the English esoteric musical underground that includes the first, and only, biographies of \u003cstrong\u003eCoil\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eCurrent 93\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003eNurse With Wound\u003c\/strong\u003e, is based on exclusive interviews and unprecedented access to all three bands' personal archives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTogether, these genre-defying bands and their circles represent the English underground in all its cultural, artistic, and sexual variety. Over four decades, the three intertwined groups have maintained a symbiotic, yet uneasy, relationship with the mainstream of popular culture, even as their music, beliefs, and practices have repelled them from it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTheirs was a clandestine scene whose work accents the many occulted peculiarities of Englishness that flow through generations of outsiders, channeling personalities as diverse as Aleister Crowley, Arthur Machen, Joe Orton, Shirley Collins, Björk, and Marc Almond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story of this Hidden Reverse has, necessarily, remained a secret. Until now. This new volume contains almost 100 pages of extra material culled from \u003cem\u003eFurfur\u003c\/em\u003e, a collection of interviews with musicians and artists whose careers intersected with the bands', initially published alongside Strange Attractor's first limited edition of the book.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Strange Attractor","offers":[{"title":"Paperback | Signed Copy | Rough Trade Exclusive","offer_id":50426253902155,"sku":"2019275","price":31.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9781913689452_acb35059_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726805769"},{"product_id":"this-is-memorial-device","title":"This is Memorial Device.","description":"\u003cp\u003eRoss Raymond and Johnny McLaughlin are two fanboys dedicated to the Airdrie post-punk scene of the early '80s - the glory years - when anything and everything seemed possible. Looking back on that time - the people, the bands, the underground legends - they piece together a story which has at its core Memorial Device, the greatest band you've never heard of. Featuring a cast of misfits, artists, drop-outs, small-town visionaries and musicians, \u003ci\u003eThis Is Memorial Device\u003c\/i\u003e is a dark, witty novel depicting a moment where art and the demands it makes are as serious as life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Faber","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50444549914955,"sku":"1078040","price":5.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Paperback - 1028265","offer_id":50444552208715,"sku":"1028265","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9967679a-397c-4b38-9605-326df612fb3b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727028434"},{"product_id":"what-then","title":"What Then?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat Then?\u003c\/em\u003e is the second album from Irish singer-storyteller \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Keenan\u003c\/strong\u003e. The follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2019 debut \u003cem\u003eA Beginner's Guide To Bravery\u003c\/em\u003e, which charted at Number One on the official Irish independent album charts, and Top 10 on the national album charts. It was also one of the best-selling vinyl album releases by an Irish artist of 2019.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the end of 2019, \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Keenan\u003c\/strong\u003e premiered his concert film \u003cem\u003eAlchemy \u0026amp; Prose\u003c\/em\u003e at the London Doc'N'Roll film festival. \u003cem\u003eWhat Then?\u003c\/em\u003e has been produced by Jonathon Mooney of Portland, OR cinematic-indie rockers Other Lives. Guests on the album include celebrated Scottish author, namesake, and soul brother David Keenan, Irish poet Stephen Murphy, and Nashville drummer Aaron Steele, best known for his work with Portugal. The Man and Hayley Williams.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDavid Keenan\u003c\/strong\u003e will be touring America in September as a special guest of Rodrigo y Gabriela before returning to Europe to headline his own tour through October to December.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rubyworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50465508294987,"sku":"1132891","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50465509278027,"sku":"1132892","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/aee7c355-6096-465b-8a89-b7386cc33337_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727290565"},{"product_id":"a-beginner-s-guide-to-bravery","title":"A Beginner's Guide To Bravery","description":"\u003cp\u003eDavid Keenan is a twenty-six year old solo artist from the border-town of Dundalk in Ireland. His burgeoning reputation in his native country has been fuelled by a handful of self- released EPs and live shows which border on religious experiences. He counts Hozier, Gary Lightbody, Glen Hansard and Dermot Kennedy among his growing number of fans. \u003ci\u003eA Beginner's Guide To Bravery\u003c\/i\u003e is his debut album. Recorded live in the studio, it is an audacious, unfettered introduction to his singular sound world. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rubyworks","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50478649934155,"sku":"1082593","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50478650294603,"sku":"1082594","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f6974aa1-1648-4841-8887-65666332f5d9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727487605"},{"product_id":"alchemy-and-prose-live-recordings","title":"Alchemy and Prose: Live Recordings","description":"\u003cp\u003eA collection of previously unreleased recordings from \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Keenan\u003c\/strong\u003e. The songs are drawn from a series of live performances including live in studio, solo live acoustic, and live full band performances from his show at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin in January 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rubyworks","offers":[{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50483416170827,"sku":"1090394","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/af0db811-c8bf-486a-9f78-59f149010f40_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727566793"},{"product_id":"monument-maker","title":"Monument Maker","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/blog.roughtrade.com\/uk-books-of-the-year-2021\"\u003eRough Trade Books of the Year #24\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIs it possible for books to dream? For books to dream within books? Is there a literary subterranea that would facilitate ingress and exit points through these dreams?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese are some of the questions posed by David Keenan's masterly fifth novel, Monument Maker, an epic romance of eternal summer and a descent, into history, into the horrors of the past; a novel with a sweep and range that runs from the siege of Khartoum and the conquest of Africa in the 19th century through the Second World War and up to the present day, where the memory of a single summer, and a love affair that took place across the cathedrals of Ile de France, unravels, as a secret initiatory cult is uncovered that has its roots in macabre experiments in cryptozoology in pre-war Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Monument Maker' straddles genres while fully embracing none of them, a book within a book within a book that runs from hallucinatory historical epics through future-visioned histories of the world narrated by a horribly disfigured British soldier made prophetic by depths of suffering; books that interact with Keenan's earlier novels, including a return to the mythical post-punk Airdrie landscape of his now classic debut, 'This Is Memorial Device'; whole histories of art and religion; books that are glorious choral appendices; bibliographies; imagined films; tape recorded interviews; building to a jubilant accumulation of registers, voices and rhythms that is truly Choral.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten over the course of 10 years, Monument Maker represents the apex of Keenan's project to create books that contain uncanny life and feel like living organisms. It is a meditation on art and religion, and on what it means to make monument; this great longing for something eternal, something that could fix moments in time, forever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"White Rabbit","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":50486160785739,"sku":"2240689","price":5.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/909eb957-c97d-4e9b-9441-92010734c413_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727605935"},{"product_id":"volcanic-tongue-a-time-travelling-evangelists-guide-to-late-twentieth-century-underground-music","title":"Volcanic Tongue  A Time-Travelling Evangelists Guide to Late- Twentieth-Century Underground Music","description":"\u003cp\u003eA collection of multi-award-winning author David Keenan's best music writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVolcanic Tongue presents the first ever collection of multi-award-winning author David Keenan's music writings. Keenan has been writing about music since publishing his first fanzine, inspired by The Pastels and by Glasgow (and Airdrie's) DIY music scene, in 1988.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSince then, he has written about music for Melody Maker, NME, Uncut, Mojo, The New York Times, Ugly Things, The Literary Review, The Social and, most consistently, The Wire. Volcanic Tongue was also the name of the record shop and mail order that Keenan ran with his partner Heather Leigh in Glasgow from 2005-2015.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVolcanic Tongue features the best of his reviews, interviews and think pieces, with exclusive in-depth conversations between Keenan and Nick Cave, members of legendary industrial bands Coil and Throbbing Gristle, krautrock legends like Faust, Shirley Collins, the first lady of English folk, Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, German auto-destructives Einstürzende Neubauten, as well as discographical analysis of the back\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecatalogues of groups like Sonic Youth and musicians like John Fahey, extensive writings on free jazz and obsessive in-depth digs into favourites like Pere Ubu, Metal Box-era Public Image Ltd, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, guitarist and vocalist John Martyn and many more. It is an essential addition to any music fan's bookshelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis first collection of his legendary criticism functions as an extended love letter to the revolutionary music of the 20th century and the incredible culture that sustained it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"White Rabbit","offers":[{"title":"Hardback | Signed Copy","offer_id":50861754253643,"sku":"2233402","price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":50861754876235,"sku":"2233403","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/VT_FINL_01_1_be83f1f1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1732037178"},{"product_id":"boyhood-2","title":"Boyhood","description":"\u003cp\u003eCult author David Keenan's most mature, magical and profoundly realised novel yet, centred on a young boy in Glasgow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGlasgow, 1979. A young boy is abducted outside a football ground. Nine years later. The boy's brother, Aaron Murray, is facing the final days of his youth. His own journey of grief and recovery has been guided by an angel, The Precious Gift - perhaps imagined, perhaps real - who has blessed Aaron with redemptive, messianic powers. These have enabled him to see through the past and present, joining the dots between a vast array of characters; ballerinas, soldiers, burlesque dancers, East End gangsters and the Vampire of Derry, all tied up in each other's fate.\u003cbr\u003eAs Aaron's visions span cities and decades, from wartime Paris to the Troubles in the 1970s and Mexico City in the 1980s, Boyhood builds to an extraordinary, intense, climactic moment of redemption.\u003cbr\u003eA book of great joy, of laughter in the face of horror and delight in storytelling by the beloved and critically acclaimed author of This Is Memorial Device, Boyhood is a hymn to the resilience of youth, to the brave dreams of artists and lovers and a love letter to Glasgow - a city where magic happens.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"White Rabbit","offers":[{"title":"Hardback | Signed - Art Print","offer_id":55788372459851,"sku":"R2489-0542","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9781399624992.jpg?v=1761639955"},{"product_id":"modern-mythologies","title":"Modern Mythologies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eModern Mythologies\u003c\/em\u003e is the fourth studio album from Irish singer, songwriter, poet \u0026amp;amp; composer, David Keenan. The album is a testament to an inventive storytelling tradition, told through the lens of a modern world. A working class kid from Dundalk, Keenan has spent his life forging his own artistic path driven to write lyrical songs that play out like stories, soulful outsider anthems that celebrate the sacred and profane and aren’t afraid to cut to the core of things. His live shows are praised for their soaring ability to uplift and connect audiences, whether solo with guitar and piano or with a full band, he’s one of those rare raw voices to be heard and felt.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Good Form Recordings","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":55804685517131,"sku":"R4502-0313","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/DavidKeenanpackshot.jpg?v=1761835163"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/david-keenan.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}