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July 15, 2011
Shorties (69 Love Scenes, Raymond Chandler, and more)
Austinist reviews 69 Love Scenes, a play inspired by Magnetic Fields' album 69 Love Songs.
69 Love Scenes, which opened last week at Salvage Vanguard Theater, is to a Magnetic Fields fanatic as X-Men: Generation X is to a die-hard Marvel fan. Written by Monique Daviau and Avimaan Syam (who also directs), with additional writing contributions by other members of Gnap! Theater Projects, the piece embodies perfectly the ideas, concept, and emotion of the album, while also bringing a new, clever interpretation.
The Los Angeles Times recaps the life of author Raymond Chandler.
At Shelf Life, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Mary-Louise Parker, Tift Merritt, and others read aloud the first chapter of Josh Ritter's debut novel, Bright's Passage.
The Salt Lake Tribune profiles Ritter.
The list of online 2011 summer reading lists has been updated with funny books recommended by NPR and much more.
The Exhibitionist reports that the literary touring group Sister Spit is partnering with City Lights to publish books.
Chicago Reader interviews singer-songwriter Kurt Vile.
I've read a bunch of interviews, and it seems like they bring up kind of Americana-type comparisons, like Tom Petty, Bob Seger. But I'm also hearing a bit of Cocteau Twins-type production. You want to talk about other influences?
A major influence was definitely Sonic Youth, that feeling when it totally drones out. But also the line, "Society is my friend, he makes me lie down in a cool bloodbath"—I came up with that quick, but it sounds like "Society Is a Hole," an older Sonic Youth song, where it's like, "It makes me lie to my friends." It's funny because I know Thurston [Moore]; he got "Society Is a Hole" from mishearing Black Flag. He thought they said, "society is a hole," and when he realized they didn't, he just put it in the song. It's like a subconscious torch-catching scenario.
Vulture offers a brief history of the music genre chillwave.
Vulture recommends five ongoing literary series "you can painfully await now that A Dance with Dragons is here."
PopMatters reviews the five recent Suede reissues.
At Stereogum, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart share a playlist that illustrates the influences behind their latest album Belong.
Guided By Voices have announced their September Hopscotch Music Festival show will be their last.
The Independent profiles The Horrors.
If The Horrors' new album hints at 1960s and 1970s psychedelia and experimental music, while strongly recalling 1980s bands such as The Psychedelic Furs and Echo & The Bunnymen, that is because you won't find them listening to contemporary bands. They are known for their obsessive collecting of old 45s.
Aquarium Drunkard points out an online stream of the documentary Tom Waits: Under Review 1983-2006.
On sale at Amazon MP3 for $3.99: Friendly Fires' self-titled album.
The Guardian series "A Brief Survey of the Short Story" profiles the medium's standout writers.
DIY lists the best albums of 2011 so far.
At the Huffington Post, author Kieran Fitzgerald ponders the future of storytelling.
The Guardian wonders who will make the next "Great British Rock Album."
NPR recommends five funny books to beat the heat.
World Cafe streams a live performance by Thurston Moore.
Dean Buonomano talks to Fresh Air about his new book, Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives.
World Cafe interviews Will Sheff and Patrick Pestorius of Okkervil River.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (news and links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
