The Psychic Soviet, and Other Works

Name: The Psychic Soviet, and Other Works
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Ian F. Svenonius
ISBN: 9781094108148

Author: Ian F. Svenonius

Narrator: Ian F. Svenonius

Unabridged: 6 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 02/08/2020

Categories: Nonfiction, Humor

Synopsis

A new, expanded collection of both new and previously published essays and articles from one of the mainstays of the Washington, DC underground rock-and-roll scene, The Psychic Soviet is the most complete collection of writings by Ian Svenonius. The selections are written in a scholarly yet engaging style, filled with parody and biting humor that subvert capitalist culture, and cover such topics as the ascent of the DJ as a star, the “cosmic depression” that followed the defeat of the USSR, and the status of rock and roll as a religion.

About Ian F. Svenonius

Ian F. Svenonius is the author of the underground best sellers Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ’n’ Roll Group, The Psychic Soviet, and Censorship Now!! As a musician he has created more than twenty albums and countless singles in various rock and roll combos (Escape-ism, Chain & the Gang, The Make-Up, The Nation of Ulysses, etc.).

Reviews

Goodreads review by alexis on April 19, 2022

While the joke behind this collection of hyperbolic, intentionally antagonistic, leftist political pop culture analysis essays feels pretty straightforward (“Aside from the trilogy’s obvious eugenic overtones and Christo-Masonic symbolism, its hobbits, dwarves, and goblins—supposedly the benevolent......more

Goodreads review by Michael on September 13, 2018

Like Ian Svenonius' now-disbanded rock outfit the Make-Up, there are things to take seriously about The Psychic Soviet and things to disregard. Just as the Make-Up half-ironically fused gospel and punk with liberation theology, the essays of The Psychic Soviet meld Marxist theory with pop culture, a......more

Goodreads review by Rhi on March 14, 2023

What the presentation and preamble promised was a rambling schizophrenic application of neo Marxism, what I got was dark Klosterman. Like, some of the essays in here weren't too bad, and most were at least a little thought provoking, but also it's just shallow musings about classic rock. I can think......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on December 11, 2020

An absolute must-read for anyone with interests in world history, music, culture, and art. Ian F. Svenonius wraps it all in an informative, yet poetic, and witty sarcastic style. His level to articulate is baffling page after page. Anything else I could write just doesn't serve justice.......more

Goodreads review by Adam on November 26, 2022

This maniacal little tome is the perfect cure for your PSD (Post Soviet Depression) procure a copy from your closest propagandist today!......more

Quotes

“In a sense, the book is Mr. Svenonius’s love letter to the good old days of do-it-yourself punk concerts, though it’s cleverly disguised as a series of Marxian essays.” New York Times

“The…book—given Svenonius’s communism infatuation, the parallel to Mao’s Little Red Book is no mistake—contains well-thought-out arguments on a variety of subjects, from vampires to the origins of punk rock. It’s often funny, but never in a self-consciously ironic way." Washington Post

“Ian Svenonius has come a long way since Sassy Magazine first dubbed him the ‘Sassiest Boy in America’ in 1991. The DC singer has never been anything less than political to the extreme.” Village Voice