October 27, 2009
Shorties (Kings of Convenience, Chuck Klosterman, and more)
Erlend Oye of Kings of Convenience talks to PopMatters about the band's new album, Declaration of Dependence.
The A.V. Club interviews Chuck Klosterman about his new essay collection, Eating the Dinosaur.
The Louisville Courier-Journal examines the growing appeal of young adult fiction to adults.
The Guardian's books blog profiles the London Review of Books, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
The London Review of Books this week celebrates its 30th birthday – and does so with a fortnightly circulation still steadily rising towards the 50,000 mark. A fact that at once gives hope for the future of criticism and, in its curious anomaly, seems entirely suited to a magazine that has always made a virtue of exceptionalism.
NPR reviews Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics.
Dark Horse Comics has commissioned short stories from several creators behind the current crime comic renaissance, as well as several authors known for their non-genre "indie" work. The result, Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics, is a seamy, exploitative walking tour through man's basest desires. Which is to say, it's a lot of fun.
Drowned in Sound reviews two recently reissued and expanded Bauhaus albums, In the Flat Field and Mask.
The Guardian profiles British indie music label Hyperdub on its fifth anniversary.
The thing DJ, producer, writer and academic Steve Goodman wants you to know about his record label is that it's not really a record label: it's a virus. "That's the way I understand music culture. There's a history of music, particularly dub and reggae, being described as a virus – Hyperdub is a mutation of British electronic music, infected by Jamaican soundsystem culture: from dub and reggae, through jungle, right up to grime, dubstep and funky. It's a way of thinking about how musical change and evolution takes place."
Time interviews Augusten Burroughs about his new book, You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas.
The complete U2 Rose Bowl concert is now on YouTube.
NPR Music shares a streaming Halloween mix.
The California Literary Review profiles singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins.
NPR reviews and excerpts from Michelle Huneven's novel, Blame.
Read Huneven's Largehearted Boy Book Notes playlist for the book.
NewsHour interviews author Michael Chabon.
NPR lists three "hauntingly unforgettable" houses in literature.
Antville lists the 101 best videos of the decade (2000-2009).
NPR reviews my favorite music reissue of the year, the remastered edition of Betty Davis's Nasty Gal.
Wired's Epicenter blog lists the best ways to share a mixtape online.
Win a copy of They Might be Giants' new children's book, Kids Go!, in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie
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October 27, 2009
Daily Downloads (Peter Squires, Pearl and the Beard, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Beloved Rogue: free and legal Polaurora EP [mp3]
other Beloved Rogue posts at Largehearted Boy
The Chairs: "Charlotte Pipe" [mp3] from Nine Ways (out November 17th)
other Chairs posts at Largehearted Boy
Housewives: "Dirty Dancing" [mp3] from Dirty Dancing EP
other Housewives posts at Largehearted Boy
Leif Vollebek: "In the Morning" [mp3] from Inland (out January 19th)
Leif Vollebek: "Don't Go to Klaksvik" [mp3] from Inland (out January 19th)
other Leif Vollebek posts at Largehearted Boy
Little Girls: "Growing" [mp3] from Concepts
other Little Girls posts at Largehearted Boy
Oh Darling: "I Like You, Baby" [mp3] from Oh Darling
other Oh Darling posts at Largehearted Boy
Pearl and the Beard: "Oh, Death" [mp3] from God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson
other Pearl and the Beard posts at Largehearted Boy
Peter Squires: "Witch" [mp3] from Woe Is Me
other Peter Squires posts at Largehearted Boy
Rubblebucket Orchestra: "Bikes" [mp3] from
other Rubblebucket Orchestra posts at Largehearted Boy
*registration required
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Birds + Wire: 2009-10-15, Athens [mp3]
other Birds + Wire posts at Largehearted Boy
Dawes: Luxury Wafers session [mp3]
other Dawes posts at Largehearted Boy
Magnolia Electric Co.: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Magnolia Electric Co. posts at Largehearted Boy
Real Estate: 2009-10-24, New York [mp3,ogg,flac]
other Real Estate posts at Largehearted Boy
Sondre Lerche: 2006-05-20, Hollywood (Borders in-store) [mp3]
other Sondre Lerche posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
October 26, 2009
This Week's Interesting Music Releases (October 27th, 2009)
R.E.M.'s live album, Live at the Olympia (2-CD), finally hits stores tomorrow, along with Devendra Banhart's major label debut What Will Be and The Swell Season's Strict Joy.
From what has already been sent my way, I can strongly recommend BOAT's Setting the Paces, Gemma Ray's Lights Out Zoltar!, Hem's Twelfth Night soundtrack, and Tegan and Sara's Sainthood.
U2 has remastered and expanded its The Unforgettable Fire album. Other reissues of note include five Of Montreal vinyl reissues (Aldhils Arboretum
Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy, The Bird Who Ate the Rabbit's Flower, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse,Early Four Track Recordings) and a 2-LP (with CD) reissue of Wilco's Being There album.
What new music can you recommend this week? What's on your shopping list?
This week's interesting CD releases:
Aarktica: In Sea
Awesome New Republic: Hearts
Barzin: Notes to an Absent Lover (vinyl)
Bassnectar: Cozza Frenzy
The Blind Boys of Alabama: Duets
Blondie: Blondie Singles Collection: 1977-1982 (remastered)
BOAT: Setting the Paces
Bob Dylan: Self-Portrait (vinyl reissue)
The Breakaways: Walking Out on Love: The Lostsessions
Broadcast & The Focus Group: Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Broadfield Marchers: Displayed in Reflections
Bryan Scary: Mad Valentines EP
Chet: Chelsea Silver Please Come Home
Chuck Prophet: Let Freedom Ring
Cub Country: Stretch That Skull Cover and Smile (vinyl)
Deleted Waveform Gatherings: Ghost, She Said
Depeche Mode: Get the Balance Right (reissue)
Depeche Mode: Leave In Silence (reissue)
Devendra Banhart: What Will Be
Eagle Twin: Unkindness of Crows (vinyl)
Echo and the Bunnymen: The Fountain
Gemma Ray: Lights Out Zoltar! (vinyl)
Glass Ghost: Idol Omen (vinyl)
Gov't Mule: By A Thread
Group Bombino: Guitars From Agadez Vol. 2
Guano Padano: Guano Padano
The Heavy: The House That Dirt Built (vinyl)
Heavy Trash: Midnight Soul Serenade (vinyl)
Hem: Twelfth Night (soundtrack)
Holy Sons: Criminal's Return
Horse Feathers: Cascades
Hudson Mohawke: Butter (vinyl)
I Love You: Bell Ord Forrest
James Husband: A Parallax I (vinyl)
Jesu: Opiate Sun
John Adams: Nixon in China (3-CD box set)
Jon Shain: Times Right Now
Junk Culture: West Coast
Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights
Lover!: No Dreams Please
Marillion: The Singles 82-88 (3-CD box set)
Merzbow: Bird Series Volume Ten
Morningwood: Diamonds & Studs
Morrissey: Hmv/Parlophone Singles '88-'95 (3-CD box set)
Mother Hips: Pacific Dust
The Nerves: Live at the Pirate's Cove (vinyl)
Of Montreal: Aldhils Arboretum (vinyl reissue)
Of Montreal: Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy (vinyl reissue)
Of Montreal: The Bird Who Ate the Rabbit's Flower (vinyl reissue)
Of Montreal: Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse (vinyl reissue)
Of Montreal: Early Four Track Recordings (vinyl reissue)
Paul Weller: Paul Weller (remastered with bonus dsc)
Pelican: What We All Come To Need
Pink Martini: Splendor in the Grass
Pugwash: Giddy
Pyramids w/ Nadja: Pyramids w/ Nadj
R.E.M.: Live at the Olympia (2-CD) (2-CD & DVD)
Rosie Flores: Girl of the Century (vinyl)
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family: Go Waggaloo
Sean Lennon: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Undead (soundtrack)
Seven Storey Mountain: Seven Storey Mountain EP
The Sight Below: Murmur EP
Sole and the Skyrider Band: Plastique (vinyl)
Spandau Ballet: Heart Like a Sky (reissue)
Status Quo: Pictures: Live At Montreux 2009
Stephen Stills: Live at Shepherd's Bush
The Swell Season: Strict Joy (2-CD & DVD)
Talk Normal: Sugarland
Talking Heads: Little Creatures (reissue with bonus tracks)
Tegan and Sara: Sainthood
Those Poor Bastards: Abominations
U2: The Unforgettable Fire (remastered) (3-CD) (2-CD & DVD)
Various Artists: An All-Star Salute to Christmas
Various Artists: The Four Kings of Blues Guitar
Various Artists: Putumayo Presents: Jazz Around the World
Various Artists: Songs From The Point!
Wilco: Being There (2-LP vinyl & CD reissue)
Wolfmother: Cosmic Egg
Wrinkle Neck Mules: Let The Lead Fly
You & Yourn: It Would Make Things Worse (vinyl)
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous CD & DVD release lists
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's CD releases)
tags: music cd list indie album releases
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This Week's Interesting DVD Releases (October 27th, 2009)
The magical combination of Woody Allen directing Larry David in Whatever Works puts the film at the top of this week's DVD release list (and my own rental queue).
The feature-length Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is also in stores tomorrow.
Monty Python fans can enjoy the group's reunion, Monty Python: Almost The Truth, along with The Best of Monty Python and Monty Python: The Other British Invasion.
A trio of documentaries caught my eye among the week's releases. You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84 captures the emergence of punk rock in the Windy City, Chanel, Chanel profiles designer Coco Chanel, and Lioness examines the roles of women soldiers in the U.S. military.
Beef up your Blu-ray library with the 15th anniversary edition of Stargate.
What new releases are you picking up or adding to your Netflix queue this week?
This week's interesting DVD releases:
42nd Street Forever 5: Alamo Drafthouse Edition
Adult Swim in a Box (Aqua Teen Hunger Force Volume 2 / Space Ghost Season 3 / Moral Oral Season 1 / Robot Chicken Season 2 / Metalocalypse Season 1 / Sealab Season 2)
Afterwards
The Asphyx
Ax Men: The Complete Season One
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
The Best of Monty Python
Black Devil Doll
Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet
Born of Fire
Chanel, Chanel
Christmas & A Christmas Carol
Claymore: Complete Series Box Set
COLLISION: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson
Death Note: Relight 2 - L's Successors
The Diary of Anne Frank (Movie Version)
Different Cinema - Volume Three
Dr. G: Medical Examiner - Season 1
El Sistema: Music to Change Life
Evil Face
Fear(s) of the Dark
For Sale by Owner
The Fugitive: Season Three, Vol. 1
Genshiken 2, Volume 2
Graveyard Disturbance
The Guardian: The First Season
Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge
I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Il Divo
Into Temptation
Jazz Icons: Series 4 (8-DVD box set)
Jin Won Kim's The Butcher
Late Fee
Leonard Bernstein: Reflections
Lioness
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue [Blu-ray]
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
Luis Bunuel's Death in the Garden - La mort en ce jardin
Mannix: Seasons 1-3
Mannix: The Third Season
Medicine for Melancholy
Messiah of Evil: The Second Coming
Montreal Main
Monty Python: Almost The Truth
Monty Python: The Other British Invasion
Naruto: Shippuden, Vol. 2
Night of Death!
Night of the Creeps
Nothing Like the Holidays
On the Road with Charles Kuralt, Set 1
Orphan
Pandemic
Patton 360: The Complete Season 1
Perestroika
Popotan: Complete Collection
The Prisoner: The Complete Series
The Pyramid Code
The Sam Fuller Film Collection
Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 2
Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2
Sauna
Shameless, Tasteless: Trash Cinema From The Soviet Underground
Shonen Onmyouji: The Complete Series Box Set
Soldiers of Conscience
Stan Helsing
Stargate (15th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]
Tales from the Darkside: The Second Season
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
Tougher in Alaska: The Complete Season One
Trial and Retribution: Set 3
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
Whatever Works
You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-84
Z (Criterion Collection)
What can you recommend buying or adding to your Netflix queue from this week's DVD releases?
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous CD & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)
tags: movies dvd list indie film
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
Shorties (The Flaming Lips, Jonathan Lethem, and more)
Pitchfork interviews Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.
Two new short stories at the New Yorker: Jonathan Lethem's "Procedure in Plain Air" and "While the Women Are Sleeping" by Javier Marias.
Gothamist interviews Fugazi's Guy Picciotto.
The Korea Herald profiles South Korea's growing indie music scene.
The Columbia Spectator examines the world of NYC music blogs.
PopMatters explains how "the Zach Braff stereotype is slowly killing American music."
The Times Online excerpts from David Simon's essay in the book about his television series, The Wire: Truth Be Told.
This week Five Chapters is serializing a new short story by Vestal McIntyre.
As a response (and addition) to a recent Mashable list, The Book Oven Blog lists 15 (more) Twitter users shaping the future of publishing.
The Telegraph interviews author Malcolm Gladwell.
Guardian critics explain how to get your children to love art (music, film, the theater, dance, visual art).
Journalist Christiane Amanpour shares her media predilections with the Guardian, including her music collection.
I have a real mix on my stereo at home and in the carI like a real mix including Bowie, U2, Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Clapton, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Francis Cabrel, and Scissor Sisters, Annie Lennox, Dixie Chicks and much much more. I tend not to like rap as much, but my son does. My mission for Christmas is to make him a wonderful iPod full of the great musicians (some of those listed above) the rockers and pop stars whose music and message endure despite the times.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune profiles author Barbara Kingsolver.
Author Nick Hornby talks music with the Globe and Mail.
As proof of his view, Hornby takes out his iPod and notes that of the 16,326 songs he has stored in the device, there is no British music older than the earliest Beatles songs. “Of course, I have a lot of American songs from the same period. It wasn't until 1963 that you would really want to listen to any kind of English music. They were all listening to ( How Much Is) That Doggy in the Window? ” Hornby says.
Jacket Copy remembers the good and bad choices the Nobel committee has made when awarding its prize for literature.
The Columbia Free Times interviews So Many Dynamos drummer Clayton “Norm” Kunstel.
Win a copy of They Might be Giants' new children's book, Kids Go!, in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
Daily Downloads (The Orange Peels, The Antlers, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Brown&Blue: free and legal Second Chances album [mp3]*
other Brown&Blue posts at Largehearted Boy
Dubious Ranger: "Heart of Glass (Blondie cover) from Butchers: Volume 1
other Dubious Ranger posts at Largehearted Boy
Ernest Gonzales: "Self-Awakening" [mp3] from Self-Awakening EP
other Ernest Gonzales posts at Largehearted Boy
The Honeypies: several demo tracks [mp3]
other Honeypies posts at Largehearted Boy
The Orange Peels: "We're Gonna Make It" [mp3] from 2020 (out November 10th)
other Orange Peels posts at Largehearted Boy
The Plimptons: "I Hate Hallowe'en" [mp3]
other Plimptons posts at Largehearted Boy
Rivulets: "Lazarus" [mp3] from Menagerie
other Rivulets posts at Largehearted Boy
Tahiti 80: "Unpredictable" [mp3] from Activity Center (out November 24th)
other Tahiti 80 posts at Largehearted Boy
Wait. Think. Fast: "Cien Fuegos" [mp3]
other Wait. Think. Fast posts at Largehearted Boy
*registration required
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Antlers: 2009-10-20, New York [mp3,ogg,flac]
other Antlers posts at Largehearted Boy
The Donkeys: Luxury Wafers session [mp3]
other Donkeys posts at Largehearted Boy
Elfin Saddle: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Elfin Saddle posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
October 25, 2009
Shorties (Chuck Klosterman, R.E.M., and more)
The Wall Street Journal reviews Chuck Klosterman's new essay collection, Eating the Dinosaur.
Another media critic, Neil Postman, once argued—in the title of one of his books—that we are "amusing ourselves to death." But Mr. Klosterman's relentlessly thoughtful prose makes a case that our arts and entertainment are more suffused with meaning than ever before. Even as he's fretting over the direction of the culture, his writing stands as an eloquent defense of it.
R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe talks to NPR's All Things Considered about the band's new album, Live at the Olympia.
"We were trying to rehearse songs that we had never recorded," Stipe says. "And we kind of — we went back to a template from the 1980s, when we toured nonstop for the entire decade, of writing a song, kind of trying it out live onstage before actually going into the studio and recording it. And so with our last record, we tried to do the same thing with [these] five nights at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. ... A lot of the songs wound up to be, I think, fan favorites, or songs that we had not heard nor even thought of ... in 25 years."
Actor Bill Pullman shares his favorite books with the New York Post.
Author Nicholson baker talks to the Toronto Star.
Plugged In continues its countdown of the 50 great albums of the aughts."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reviews Marie Mutsuki Mockett's novel, Picking Bones from Ash.
As the story lines converge, Mockett combines the best elements of a mystery story, ghost story, magical realism and the complex difficulties in deciding what is "best" for our elders and offspring.
The New York Post profiles The Swell Season.
Comic Book Resources excerpts from Alex Robinson's forthcoming comics adaptation of L. Frank Baum's A Kidnapped Santa Claus.
The Wall Street Journal examines the literary legacy of bestsellers.
The Toronto Star reviews Jonathan Lethem's new novel, Chronic City\.
Chronic City is like a Dungeons and Dragons game for postmodern hipster-intellectuals: compelling, complex, involving and ultimately unresolvable.
The Daily Beast interviews author Philip Roth.
Paste lists 10 songs inspired by movies.
The New York Times reviews R. Crumb's new graphic novel, The Book of Genesis Illustrated.
The Telegraph examines the fad of celebrity novels (and why this is a boom time for ghostwriters).
Publishers have to make a profit, and novels by celebrities sell. Indeed, they might shift around 100,000 in hardback, compared with less than 1,000 for the average hardback literary novel. And, in theory, for every celebrity book that makes money, the publisher is given the chance to take a risk on a dozen literary novels which deserve publication, but which may well make a loss.
Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar talk to NPR's All Things Considered about their film soundtrack, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur.
The Guardian reports that Morrissey is in stable condition after collapsing on stage.
Win a copy of They Might be Giants' new children's book, Kids Go!, in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
Daily Downloads (Tegan and Sara, Backyard Tire Fire, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Backyard Tire Fire: 2009-10-17, Madison [mp3,,ogg,flac]
"Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young cover)" [mp3]
other Backyard Tire Fire posts at Largehearted Boy
Chatham County Line: 2009-10-10, Pittsboro [mp3,ogg,flac]
other Chatham County Line posts at Largehearted Boy
Cracker: 2009-10-13, Freiberg [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Brides of Neptune" [mp3]
other Cracker posts at Largehearted Boy
The Gourds: 2009-10-17, Greer (late show) [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Waxie's Dargle (Pogues cover)" [mp3]
The Gourds: 2009-10-17, Greer (early show) [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Caledonia" [mp3]
The Gourds: 2009-09-19, Tulsa [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Thurman" [mp3]
other Gourds posts at Largehearted Boy
Hackensaw Boys: 2003-04-26, Spotsylvania [mp3,ogg,flac]
other Hackensaw Boys posts at Largehearted Boy
Hamell on Trial: 2009-08-21, Stroudsburg [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Sugarfree" [mp3]
other Hamell on Trial posts at Largehearted Boy
Jonathan Segel: 2009-09-12, Pioneertown [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Enough Air" [mp3]
other Jonathan Segel posts at Largehearted Boy
Tegan and Sara: 2007-11-25, Cleveland [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Burn Your Life Down" [mp3]
other Tegan and Sara posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Mat Kearney: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Mat Kearney posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
October 24, 2009
Contest - Win Kids Go! (A Children's Book by They Might Be Giants)
They Might Be Giants have become invaluable assets to parents with their children's albums like Here Comes Science, Here Come The 123s, Here Come the ABCs, and No!, all of which share the sense of humor the band is known for and keenly teach while they entertain.
The band's latest endeavor is a children's book, Kids Go! illustrated by Pascal Campion. An animated DVD accompanies this fairy tale, one of the finest examples of books for very young children I have read all year.
To enter the contest, leave a comment in this post with the name of your favorite children's book.
The winner will receive the following prizes:
Kids Go!, by They Might Be Giants & illustrator Pascal Campion
an assortment of books & CDs
The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight CT Friday evening (October 30th).
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2009 Edition)
tags: books music giveaway contest
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
Shorties (Fever Ray, R. Crumb, and more)
The Guardian profiles Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray and The Knife.
AlterNet reviews R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated.
io9 lists 12 interesting unfinished science fiction novels.
NPR reviews and excerpts from Jonathan Lethem's new novel, Chronic City.
On sale for $1.99 at Amazon MP3: The Zombies' 12-track Odyssey and Oracle album.
The Wu-Tang Clan's RZA talks to NPR's All Things Considered about his new book, The Tao of Wu.
Clicky Clicky Music Blog lists its best albums of 2000-2009.
The Albany Times Union interviews Max Brooks about his new graphic novel, Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.
KEXP is streaming Patrick Watson's CMJ performance.
IGN lists Daft Punk's albums from worst to best.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
Daily Downloads (Blitzen Trapper, Alejandro Escovedo, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Alejandro Escovedo: 2009-09-12, Chicago [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Real as an Animal" [mp3]
other Alejandro Escovedo posts at Largehearted Boy
Backyard Tire Fire: 2009-08-15, Joliet [mp3,ogg,flac]
other Backyard Tire Fire posts at Largehearted Boy
Blitzen Trapper: 2009-10-16, Urbana [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Harvest (Neil Young cover)" [mp3]
other Blitzen Trapper posts at Largehearted Boy
Chuck Prophet: 2009-09-25, Glasgow [mp3,ogg,flac]
"I'm Not Talking (Yardbirds cover)" [mp3]
other Chuck Prophet posts at Largehearted Boy
Degenerettes: 2009-10-10, Baltimore [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Female Trouble" [mp3]
other Degenerettes posts at Largehearted Boy
Grace Potter: 2009-10-22, Richmond [mp3,ogg,flac]
"White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover)" [mp3]
other Grace Potter posts at Largehearted Boy
Justin Townes Earle: 2009-10-16, Chattanooga [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Close Up the Honky Tonks" [mp3]
other Justin Townes Earle posts at Largehearted Boy
The Low Anthem: 2008-04-23, Providence [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Charlie Darwin" [mp3]
other Low Anthem posts at Largehearted Boy
Smashing Pumpkins: 1996-11-05, Boston [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Today" [mp3]
other Smashing Pumpkins posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
http://marthawainwright.com/">Ha Ha Tonka: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Ha Ha Tonka posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous free and legal mp3 daily downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
October 23, 2009
Book Notes - D.R. Haney ("Banned for Life")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Every year I read a couple of good books that are neglected by the mainstream press (and often even other bloggers). Earlier this year, I read two of these seemingly orphaned books one after the other, Emma Straub's wonderful novella Fly-over State and D.R. Haney's Banned for Life.
Banned for Life was recommended personally by two authors I admire, so I dug into the book with high hopes. Haney carefully crafts a world of adolescent angst and punk rock in this powerful and affecting novel that hits all the right notes.
Author Greg O'Lear wrote of the book:
"Banned For Life is about punk rock? Sure, just like Moby-Dick is about whales. This is the thrilling story of Jason Maddox, 80s musician turned 90s screenwriter, who embarks on an Ahab-like quest of his own--although the blubbery object of his fascination is a vanished punk-poet. Like Melville, D.R. Haney has created a world so rich in detail, so authentic, so damned cool, you want to take up a harpoon--or, in this case, a guitar--and join the fray. Banned For Life is literary fiction at its best--funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, and every bit as inspiring as the punk music it extols."
In his own words, here is D.R. Haney's Book Notes music playlist for his debut novel, Banned for Life:
Shortly after I finished high school, I drove across country with a woman in her late twenties. We weren't romantically involved at the start of the trip, but that changed by the time we got to Bisbee, Arizona, where I saw a band whose drummer was no older than sixteen. The band was passing through, like me, which made that kid a touring musician, and I remember thinking, as I watched him punish his kit, "Man, he sold his soul to rock & roll."
I think the seeds of Banned for Life were sewn at that moment. Like the kid in Bisbee, Banned's narrator, Jason Maddox, sold his soul to rock & roll. But the exchange didn't take, and years later, as a washed-up director of unseen movies, Jason seeks out Jim Cassady, the mysteriously vanished punk-rock idol of his teens. It was Cassady's music that changed his life, and by finding him, Jason hopes to change his life again. Cultural heroes have that capacity, yet for all their influence, they're usually strangers. To me there's something ghostly about it: the way we're galvanized by disembodied sounds and images—echoes and shadows that reach across physical distance and even beyond the grave—and Banned is very much about being haunted. It's also about history, and in that spirit, I tried to include historical anecdote in the notes on my playlist.
"Indian Summer" by the Doors
Jim Morrison has been characterized as the first punk. Rimbaud, whose poetry inspired Morrison's, has also been characterized as the first punk; and Eddie Brown, a punk poet, emulated Morrison to the point where he changed his name to Jim Cassady in tribute. (Beat catalyst Neal Cassady supplied his adopted last name.) I can't imagine Jim C. warming to the Doors of "Strange Days," but "Indian Summer" is right up his alley: a prototype of the delicate music he's been writing since he abandoned the spotlight.
"Little Sister"/"Forever" by the Sleepers
I'm sometimes asked if I had a model in mind for Jim's band, Rule of Thumb. I didn't, but San Francisco's the Sleepers (1977-1981) are similar to L.A.'s ROT (1975-1982) in that they shifted from punk, as narrowly defined, to an arty, dreamy, spooky sound uniquely their own. "Little Sister" reflects the early Sleepers, and "Forever" is a stellar example of their later phase. Though punk bands rarely toured at the time, those from L.A. typically played in San Francisco (and vice-versa), and hometown-hater Jim surely thought of defecting.
"Way of the World" by Flipper
Ricky Williams, the Sleepers' singer, was briefly in Flipper. He even named the band, following his habit of calling his various pets Flipper, unable to remember which one was named what—a confusion compounded by drugs. Jason in Banned has harsh words for Flipper, which mirror my own initial reaction; but then I heard "Way of the World," and the band's freewheeling sludge finally won me over.
"Homage" by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Jason hears his first credible report of Jim's whereabouts at a Trail of Dead show at L.A.'s Silverlake Lounge in December 1999. I was at that show, and I subsequently became friendly with Trail of Dead, who were notorious at the time for trashing their gear and wounding occasional bystanders. I went out of my way to see TOD in San Diego in November 2001, hours before, back in L.A., I was to leave for Belgrade, Serbia, where I could live cheaply and so afford to work exclusively on Banned. Since TOD appears in Banned, it seemed fitting to use their lyrics for one of the epigraphs that introduce the book's four sections, and the lyrics I chose come from the searing "Homage."
"Too Dead For Me" by Atari Teenage Riot
The video for this track often played on the local music channel when I was living in Belgrade, and I would leave the TV running in the hope of catching it. The TV was upstairs in my two-story flat, and whenever I heard "Too Dead," I would drop whatever I was doing and rush up the metal spiral staircase to watch. The lifelessness incurred by corporate culture is a Banned theme, and that's likewise the subject of "Too Dead," but it's the buzzsaw power chords, machine-gun beats and call-and-response shrieks that gripped and grip me.
"The Racer" by Die Princess Die
I was practically a member of Die Princess Die during my latter years of work on Banned. I lugged equipment; I contributed vocals; I drank with the guys before and after shows. My friend Alison Meeder, a music writer now sadly dead, once likened DPD's sound to "a swarm of razor-blade butterflies to the face"—an apt analogy, as a glance at "The Racer" video on YouTube may prove.
"Tango" by Distortion Felix
Like Die Princess Die, Distortion Felix deserved a wider following. I once asked a musician friend why they lacked it. "Maybe they're lazy," I speculated (they weren't), and my friend said, "A band? Lazy? No!" I'm a sucker for sad songs bathed in fuzz (hence my affection for shoegaze), and "Tango" is one of my favorites.
"Beheaded" by Bedhead
Nobody did downtempo better than softcore pioneers Bedhead, and this song for me recalls Jason as he's driving aimlessly at night after one of his many breakups with Irina, the Serbian heartbreaker with whom he's helplessly in love.
"The Rat" by the Walkmen
I would marry this song if I could. I would buy it jewelry and fly it to luxurious retreats. It captures perfectly Jason's relationship with Irina, and I badly wanted to give a copy of Banned to the Walkmen. In May 2009, when they played in L.A., I raced cross town to the venue, and though I missed the show, I just managed to slip the book to Matt Barrick, whose drumming on "The Rat" is pure gold. And Hamilton Leithauser's singing? Dude! Everything about this track strikes me as brilliant, including the keyboard, and I'm ordinarily put off by keyboards.
"I'm Not a Fool" by Cockney Rejects
As a teenager in small-town North Carolina, Jason was mentored by Bernard "Peewee" Mash, a brainy New Yorker sent to live with his sister after accidentally-on-purpose burning down part of his school. "I'm Not a Fool" was on one of the mix types he made for Jason in the course of converting him to punk. Cockney Rejects, the band that gave Oi! its name, was infamous for its soccer-hooligan fan base, and that would doubtlessly have endeared them to Peewee, who was drawn to anything with the power to disturb or shock.
"It's a Fight" by Iron Cross
Reagan-era punks were routinely battered by redneck types, one of whom is stabbed with a ballpoint pen when he and his friends ambush Jason and Peewee in Banned. Such measures were necessary where punks were outnumbered, but they aren't outnumbered in "It's a Fight," which threatens aggressors with group retaliation. Sab Grey, who penned the song, knew whereof he wrote. To this day, he once told me, he can't bear to hear Devo's "Whip It," since it was playing in the truck full of goons who gave him the business as he walked alone on a D.C. street.
"Money" by Embrace
Both Jason and Peewee have high praise for Ian Mackaye, as do I. There are few living public figures I admire so much; the guy is a beacon of integrity in every way. Embrace was a blink of an eye between Minor Threat and Fugazi, but this anti-materialism anthem is quintessential Ian.
"Caterpillar" by Unwound
After fleeing North Carolina for New York, Jason and Peewee play in a number of bands that disintegrate acrimoniously, only to reconcile and start again. Jason is more of a straight-ahead rock & roll guy, while Peewee is interested in noise à la No Wave, and years pass before they're able to successfully collaborate. Superego—their final band, which ends when Peewee dies in a car crash while touring in the South—is the result, and Jason points to "Caterpillar," which for me has shades of Nirvana, in describing their sound.
"JC" by Sonic Youth
With its lush wall of feedback and incantation-like spoken lyrics, this song is a eulogy for Black Flag roadie Joe Cole, who was fatally shot during a holdup in December 1991. "You're walking through my heart once more/don't forget to close the door," Kim Gordon twice says in "JC," but Peewee has forever settled in Jason's heart, and mine, with the door closed and bolted behind him.
D.R. Haney and Banned for Life links:
the author's website
the author's Twitter account
Goodreads profile of the author
Facebook page for the book
MySpace page for the book
excerpts from the book (the first five chapters)
The Donnybrook Writing Academy interview with the author
The Nervous Breakdown essays by the author
The Nervous Breakdown interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks
tags: books music literature fiction
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