May 15, 2008
Note Books - Jonathan Zeitlin (Mezzanine Owls)
The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Past contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.
The Mezzanine Owls are one of the most interesting Los Angeles bands to pop up in the past few years, and definitely one of the most talented. Their 2006 self-released album Slingshot Echoes was an impressive debut and their recently released "Snow Globe" single is one of 2008's musical highlights for me.
Thanks to Mezzanine Owls guitarist Jonathan Zeitlin for sharing some of his favorite novels with Largehearted Boy readers.
In his own words, here is the Note Books entry from Jonathan Zeitlin of Mezzanine Owls:
A common question asked of bands by music journalists (an enthusiastic lot, however spotty their record of ingenuity) is, “Who would like your music”, and one of the finest answers I’ve ever heard is “People who like to read novels”. Some of my favorite musicians are writers who seemed to wander absent-mindedly (this seems to be a common affliction among these word-obsessed folk) off the glue-bound path and into the tangled wilderness of noise and songs. From opaque image casting to deliberate (if somewhat concise) storytelling, I like music made for people who love novels. That said, here are a few novels worth clearing off some shelf space for next to all that treasured vinyl.
Warlock – Oakley Hall
I’m not a genre miner -- a lot of the formal elegance of Mysteries and Westerns seems formulaic, the worn in sweater feel of conventional structure is lost on me as, um, conventional -- but Warlock transcends the archetypal gunslinger narrative. Oakley Hall was an inspiration for the king of lunatic laffs himself, Thomas Pynchon, but writes with a far more steady and deliberate hand. For all its revolutionary stylings, both in the structure and content of the novel, Warlock is some of the cleanest prose of the 20th century. I read the bulk of it while stranded for a day in Zurich after missing a connecting flight in the sleepy haze of transatlantic travel, and slipped effortlessly through some fold in the curtains into that old companion, the American West. I slurped down duty free liqueur and airport priced Euro-beers and ripped through the chapters under the audio blanket of monotonous trilingual flight announcements and a Switzerland tourism video looped in the terminal. Threatening vibes ripple through the pages as a small town dances drunkenly on a high wire, chaos and violence seething everywhere like black inevitability. As outlaw ranchers and a merchant committee wrestle over the fate of town, hired guns and citizen lawmen, peripheral vision Indians and the dangerous idiot pair of government and military collide and disintegrate, consume and give birth to each other. Idolaters beware, in Warlock all those principles of civility touted by today’s flag pin fanatics are marred and scarred in this sorta allegorical struggle for society.
You Bright and Risen Angels – William Vollmann
Did I confess my undying love and all-consuming obsession with Thomas Pynchon yet? This thing would quickly collapse into over salivated ramblings if I took up Gravity’s Rainbow as a topic, so I defer to You Bright and Risen Angels. Vollmann reads like a shy scientist with a mujahideen heart. The novel is both wildly cartoonish and painfully intimate, like a slapstick comedy about the unmitigated veil of sadness that drapes over this modern existence. I read You Bright and Risen Angels working my first job in a cubicle, tearing through 12 packs of diet Cokes and sleeping in my car on my lunch break. I was fired amid suspicions (false suspicions, I’ll have you know) about drug use, but my relentless craving to escape from the industrial carpeting and low radiating computers made me the perfect victim for Vollmann’s first and most freely experimental novel. In You Bright and Risen Angels ruthless jaw-jutted men strangle technology out of the ether; men with an acid bellied need for total dominance over nature and the universe. Vollmann’s time in Afghanistan in the 80’s during the Soviet invasion is made plain in the spirit of his revolutionaries – elementary school teachers blasting automatic rifles into hostages, guerilla warfare on the streets of San Francisco, solitary journeys through the artic wilderness, and dogged pursuit by the relentless forces of industry and men of destiny. Yes, it is about insects versus humans, but c’mon, this thing is a shimmering epic that has the roar and electricity of a blockbuster special effects blitz in Dolby 5.1.
The Fermata – Nicholson Baker
Parental warning: The Fermata isn’t just a dirty book; it is at times sincerely pornographic. Above all else, however, it is sincere. Nicholson Baker may be more curious about putting various objects in various orifices than is typically healthy, but he is anything but a misogynist. Baker is painfully absorbed in the minutia of our tender existence (this is, after all, the guy who wrote an entire novel that takes place in the narrator’s mind as he travels up an escalator from the first floor to the second in his office building) and this ass-obsessed book pushes his obsession with the intimate to its furthest potential. Our narrator has possessed, for most of his life, the ability to freeze time and move freely in what he calls “the Fold” (astute LA scenesters take note: there is no evidence to date that the folks of “The Fold”, who book bitchin’ shows at the Silverlake Lounge, El Cid, the Bordello, etc. are connected in any way to Mr. Baker or his works of fiction). While the sole purpose our narrator can divine for his gift involves a lot of voyeurism and unauthorized exposure of the female populous, he comes off bizarrely more as a humanist than a pervert. He will string you spellbound for pages of staring into a time-frozen laundry machine in mid-cycle. He obsesses over the intimate details in the face of a woman in mid-orgasm. He is a giver, not a taker, to say the least. You will needlessly hide this book when friends or family come over, even though you know there is nothing to be ashamed of. You will read and re-read it and agonize over whether it is the wordplay or the foreplay you are drawn to. I am actually feeling the guilt of committed sin just typing this. I’m actually sort of blushing.
Mezzanine Owls links and mp3s:
"Snow Globe" [mp3] from "Snow Globe" 7" single
"Lightbulb" [mp3] from Slingshot Echoes
the band's website
the band's MySpace page
Mezzanine Owls posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music literature mezzanineowls fiction indie
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May 15, 2008
Shorties
The Georgia Strait profiles Zach Condon of Beirut.
What makes this struggle surprising is that the 22-year-old seems like he’s never had to work at taking the music of other countries and shaping it into something new. In 2006, the soft-spoken Condon went from Williamsburg–via–Sante Fe nobody to blogger-blessed breakout artist, thanks to Beirut’s Balkan-flavoured debut, Gulag Orkestar. As Gorilla vs Bear devotees know, at the age of 17 Condon visited Paris, where he discovered throwback-Gypsy artists like Goran Bregovi? via roving street bands. He then set about the process of assembling a band and trying to do justice to the music he’d heard.
The National Post's Soundcheck blog offers a video interview with Bry Webb of the Constantines.
Popmatters profiles Tickley Feather's Annie Sachs.
Sachs builds her songs with drum machines, samples, and dense layers of keyboards, making them at once murky and iridescent. The songs are strange and beautiful off-kilter bits of thick, distorted synth composition. But what gives the music its body is Sach’s vocals—she has a breathy, urgent delivery that shimmers over the swampy, industrial backdrop and creates an ethereality that mesmerizes the listener.
Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers talks to the Charleston Post and Courier about the vinyl version (out June 24th) of the band's latest album, Brighter than Creation's Dark.
'The sides break down really well,' Hood explains, 'and even the sequencing is to where there was a definite side one, two, three and four, and there was a lot of thought that went into that order and how it broke up.
'Each side is like a story, and with that long of a record, it might make sense that you just want to play one side. ... All of our records have been an attempt at making that record.'
io9 lists 7 reasons why Scifi book series outstay their welcomes.
Rhett Miller of the Old 97's talks to the Dallas Observer about the band's career.
"During the course of our band, we've had to weather a lot of weird stuff," the lead vocalist says over the phone, as he's vacationing at his parents' Dallas-area home. "Being a part of the alt-country movement and then trying to distance ourselves from it and being on a major label... and then being ousted from that label and then sort of being along for the ride at the end of the major-label reign...
"It's made for a lot of storm-weathering."
Eye Weekly interviews British Sea Power frontman Yan Wilkinson.
Your songs pay careful attention to historical events and details — is that a reaction to cultural cycles moving so fast, and that so many bands are ripping off what came out last week?
You get so many generalized songs about very general things like, “I love you baby” or “I’m getting over you,” and I like detailed songs that relate to the world outside of music. I like listening to BBC Radio 4 a lot, I find it relaxing — in a history program or a science program, I just think the words and stories are more interesting. I’ll take a lot of notes, steal them all, and mix them in. If you can understand something from the years gone by, you can get a better picture of where you’re at nowadays. Everything is very “instant” nowadays — it’s good to get a bit of distance, time-wise.
Newsweek examines the biggest growing segment of publishing, young adult fiction.
Levithan and others cite several reasons for this perfect storm for teen lit, the most obvious two being the increasing sophistication and emotional maturity of teenagers and the accompanying new freedom for writers in the genre to explore virtually any subject. Another is that bookstores and libraries are finally recognizing this niche and separating teen books from children's books. "Teenagers don't want to walk past the Curious George books to get to their books. They want and deserve their own section," says Levithan, who points out that "because of MySpace, Facebook, blogs and authors' and publishers' Web sites, young readers are communicating interactively now with each other and with authors." Another reason for the YA boom cited by Levithan and others is that teen books have become an integral part of today's overall pop-culture entertainment menu. They segue into television series, movies, videogames, cartoons and the Internet. If teens see that, say, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" is coming out in theaters, they'll read the book in advance of the movie.
Bostonist interviews author Augusten Burroughs.
So this is the beginning of your tour, do you like the touring the aspect of being an author?
Yeah, I do. I like people, I like meeting people. The actual touring; the flights and the hotels and all that sort of thing is complicated. Thank God they handle it or I’d end up in the middle of nowhere somewhere. But yeah, it's great, because its when I get to actually meet the people who read my stuff. It's such an intense experience…even though the exchanges are pretty quick, at a signing, it's just quick. It's so intense, it's indescribable, you know you can’t make someone who’s not an author understand how much information you can get across emotionally that quickly.
The Augusta Metro Spirit profiles Dead Confederate.
That’s because they take the best of related genres, like psychedelic and noise rock, and blend it till the batter is smooth. They create an amalgamation of Southern rock storytelling and chord-heavy grunge, with a rainbow tossed in for good measure. In short, Dead Confederate creates a soundscape of its own that conjures both beauty and intensity.
Newsweek profiles Sloane Crosley, author of the essay collection I Was Told There'd Be Cake.
She's no Sedaris yet, but she strikes a chord, particularly among twentysomethings living in New York. And for those of us who'd love to hate her, maybe we should follow her lead. PR sure is a good way to sell a book.
see also: Crosley's Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay for the book
Creative Loafing compares the recently published memoirs by Rick Bragg and Augusten Burroughs.
In one of those flukes of the publishing world, both authors have released memoirs about their fathers at roughly the same time, and they'll be speaking in Atlanta within days of each other this month. In their new books, both writers dearly hope that the sins of their fathers will not be visited on them. Burroughs' The Wolf at the Table (St. Martin's Press) feels like an attempt to exorcise his father's memory, while Bragg's The Prince of Frogtown (Knopf) seems more like a bid to make peace with his father's spirit.
Hypeful lists the top super hero songs.
The Chattanooga Pulse interviews Claire Campbell of Hope for Agoldensummer.
P: Give me your take on your music and what it means to you. And what do you want it to mean for your fans?
CC: Writing songs feels like the most natural thing in the world to me; it comes when it comes, but it’s in my nature. I’ve tried to walk away from (music) before and I keep getting drawn back into it. Somehow the opportunities to do a show or record almost always take precedence over everything else. But I hardly ever write for the fans. I think of songwriting as storytelling; songs are glimpses of life. People can relate to that and feel a sense of community; that’s probably the most important thing to me.
The Art of Manliness lists the 100 books in the essential man's library.
Minnesota Public Radio's The Current features Clinic with an in-studio performance and an interview.
KCRW launched its Guest DJ Project yesterday, featuring celebrities including Conan O'Brien and John Cusack spinning tunes and talking about music.
NPR's All Things Considered profiles Beatles' Apple Records on its 40th birthday.
"As far as I can tell, the idea behind Apple was a tax dodge," music journalist Douglas Wolk says. "The top tax rate in England at that time was enormous. And John Lennon said something to the effect of, 'We talked to our accountants. We realized we could either give the money to the government or we could put it into a business.'"
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 online music lists
Daily Downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases
tags: music books popculture indie news
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Bittorrent Brunch (Kathleen Edwards, Patti Smith, and more)
Today's free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos available via bittorrent:
Battles: 2008-04-25, Coachella [flac]*
other Battles posts at Largehearted Boy
Black Kids: 2008-05-12, Boston [flac]*
other Black Kids posts at Largehearted Boy
Dexateens: 2008-05-06, Pontiac [flac]
other Dexateens posts at Largehearted Boy
Elvis Costello: 2008-05-11, Grand Rapids [flac]*
other Elvis Costello posts at Largehearted Boy
The Fall: 2008-05-10, Bexhill on Sea [flac]*
other Fall posts at Largehearted Boy
Jason Isbell: 2008-02-29, Louisville [flac]
other Jason Isbell posts at Largehearted Boy
Kathleen Edwards: 2008-05-10, Aspen [flac]*
Kathleen Edwards: 2008-05-09, Boulder [flac]*
other Kathleen Edwards posts at Largehearted Boy
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: 2008-04-28, Amsterdam [flac]*
other Nick Cave posts at Largehearted Boy
Patti Smith: 2008-04-04, Bologna [flac]*
other Patti Smith posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Bittorrent Brunch entries
2007 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival downloads
2007 Lollapalooza downloads
2007 Bonnaroo downloads
previous music festival downloads
tags: music download flac bittorrent bittorrents torrents
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Daily Downloads (Mates of State, Rob Dickinson, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
The Bosch: free and legal Serious Entertainment EP [mp3]
"Serious Entertainment" [mp3]
other Bosch music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Death to Anders: "Camera Lens" [mp3] from Fictitious Business (out July 15th)
other Tim Fite music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Haley Bonar: "Big Star" [mp3] from Big Star (out June 10th)
other Haley Bonar music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Mates of State: "My Only Offer" from re-arrange us (out May 20th)
other Mates of State music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Rob Dickinson: "End of the World" [mp3] from Fresh Wine For The Horses (reissued with bonus EP)
other Rob Dickinson music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Swervedriver: free and legal B-sides & Oddities Live [mp3]
"Volcano Trash (Peel session)" [mp3]
other Swervedriver music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
The Takeover UK: free and legal It's All Happening album [mp3]
other Takeover UK music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Tall Firs: free and legal Too Old to Die Young album download (one week only) [zipped mp3s]
"Hairdo" [mp3]
other Tall Firs music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Terra Diablo: "Captain of the Simpletons" [mp3] from Deluge Songs
Terra Diablo: "Setting Sun" [mp3] from Deluge Songs
other Terra Diablo music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
previous Daily Downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD releases
tags: music download indie mp3
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May 14, 2008
Book Notes - Jeffrey Brown ("Little Things: A Memoir in Slices")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that is in some way relevant to their recently published books.
Jeffrey Brown is one of my favorite cartoonists, and his new graphic novel Little Things: A Memoir in Slices is an exquisite collection of highly personal vignettes. These comics are a literary bunch, and can be read as short stories as much for their true to life dialogue as for the drawings.
Of the book, the New York Daily News wrote:
"'Little Things' offers readers a more well-rounded portrait of Jeffrey Brown. Instead of focusing solely on his relationships as his earlier works have done, he explores a variety of themes including friendship, health, love, death, nature and fatherhood. Brown also treats fans with the occasional full page illustration, breaking away from his six-panel format to emphasize certain visual moments during his narrative."
In his own words, here is Jeffrey Brown's Book Notes essay for his graphic novel, Little Things: A Memoir in Slices:
My newest book, Little Things, is a collection of autobiographical comics, that try and take the every day moments of insignificance and show how they give life meaning. One theme that comes up repeatedly is music. Partly this is because for long time I was working at a Barnes & Noble store as manager of the music department, and partly it's because I'm a big music lover and I tend to write about things I love (hence my other books about girls, cats, mixed martial arts, etc.). Anyway, with music there's a tendency for songs, albums and artists to be tied to particular feelings or events in life. The first story in the book, 'These Things, These Things' takes its title from the lyrics to the song 'Headsoak' by Andrew Bird, and the story itself traces my discovery of Bird's music over a kind of emotional map of my life at the time. Music continues to be referenced throughout the book, sometimes explicitly and sometimes not. These are just a few of the references...
"The Mysterious Production Of Eggs" Andrew Bird
When I first listened to this album, I was in the midst of breaking up with girl, which would normally overshadow everything for me and justify many of the criticisms people tend to level against my character after reading my other books about relationships. At this time though, I was starting to mature, and also, the album was like some sort of spiritual revelation to me. The only thing I wanted to do then was absorb it, listen to it again and really let it soak in, and it left me with some kind of feeling that it's a really small world even when it's really big.
"From Blown Speakers" The New Pornographers
I already liked Neko Case's solo work and Dan Bejar's other band Destroyer, but for some reason when friends tried to get me into The New Pornographers with their first album, it didn't grab me enough. This song singlehandedly changed that. In the book, I'm driving with a car full of other people. If I had been alone I probably would've played this song over and over the rest of the drive.
"Green Typewriters" Olivia Tremor Control
Before I really understood how great the Elephant Six bands were, I saw Olivia Tremor Control play in Chicago, a couple years before moving to the city. The band broke up, but had a little reunion tour, and I was happy for one more chance to see them play. They didn't play this song that night, I don't think, but it's one of my favorites. Of course, they named a good dozen tracks 'Green Typewriters.' This one is a minute long but I'm not sure what track number it is. Anyway, this is a band whose music I listen to, forget about, suddenly get the urge to listen to again, and then forget about again, and there's a parallel there to how people come in and out of our lives, and we never know if we'll never see them again.
"Pastry Sharp" Califone
In the beginning of the title story of Little Things there's a scene of hanging out with my friend Jeremy and his wife Jennifer and some other friends, just drinking and hanging out, completely relaxed, on a nice cool summer night. It was a night like that - not the night in the story, specifically, but that kind of night - where Jeremy asked me if I had heard the band Califone, and he played this song for me, and that song is forever and ever inexorably tied to that friendship, and it's one of my favorite songs of any band.
"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" Bob Dylan
My favorite Dylan song. I got into Bob Dylan way later than someone who's a self described music lover had any business getting into his music. I've always been a late bloomer.
"After N. Young" The Microphones
I used part of the first lyric from this song in the subtitle to one story section, but changed it - from "I'd like to shake your hand, disappointment" to "I'd like to hold your hand, disappointment." I'm not sure why I changed it, because I was listening to this song the other day and 'shake' is the right choice of word there. Maybe it's because I misremembered the lyric when I sang it in my head, and after that it was too late to change.
Jeffrey Brown and Little Things: A Memoir in Slices links:
the author's page at Holy Consumption
the author's Wikipedia entry
the author's page at Top Shelf Productions
the author's upcoming book tour appearances
the book's page at the publisher
Comic Book Resources review
Hour review
Powell's Books review
Comics Bulletin interview with the author
Ed Champion interview with the author
National Post profile of the author
New York Daily News interview with the author
p-->dirt interview with the author
Washington Post Express interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
directors and actors discuss their film's soundtracks
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music comics graphicnovel
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Book Notes - Mike Edison ("I Have Fun Everywhere I Go")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that is in some way relevant to their recently published books.
I Have Fun Everywhere I Go is a whirlwind of a memoir. Capturing his experiences as a touring musician, writing pulp pornographic novels, covering professional wrestling and writing for mens magazines and editing High Times, the book is alternately funny and tragic, and a clear snapshot of alternative culture in the late 80's and 90's.
This week Edison released an album of spoken word performances featuring excerpts from the book. The album, produced by Jon Spencer, offers an excellent preview of the book, here is one of the tracks:
"GG Allin Died Last Night" [mp3] from I Have Fun Everywhere I Go (the album)
Mike Edison's book tour starts next week, complete with performances by his band Edison Rocket Train:
* 05/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Book Soup
* 05/20 San Francisco, CA @ Book Passage
* 05/21 Seattle, WA @ University Bookstore
* 05/22 Portland, OR @ Powell's Books
* 06/04 Philadelphia, PA @ Tritone
* 06/16 New York, NY @ Half King Reading Series
* 06/19 Brooklyn, NY @ Pete's Candy Store
* 09/30 New York, NY @ KGB Reading Series
Publishers Weekly said of the book:
"This hilarious insider look at fringes of journalism and magazine publishing is written with a gleeful burning-his-bridges-behind-him vibe."
In his own words, here is Mike Edison's Book Notes essay for his book, I Have Fun Everywhere I Go:
I know my book is largely about punk rock (and pot and pornography and pro-wrestling), but I wrote the entire thing listening to Mozart. I can’t listen to rock or jazz when I write (with the odd exception of Dexter Gordon, who is both interesting and non-confrontational). Mozart fills the room with energy and I can absorb it while I work. My favorites are the late symphonies, especially No. 40, and also No. 25, interestingly enough (at least for music wonks) the only two symphonies that he wrote in a minor key. (No. 25 is the music used at the beginning of the film Amadeus, and I generally refer to it as the “Sonic Reducer Symphony” because the four-note figure at the beginning of the first movement sounds just like the bass line to the Dead Boy’s song.)
I could probably draw up a good soundtrack just from the pages of the book, beginning with the artists who left their sonic stamp on the right side of my brain (Capt. Beefheart, The Stooges, Rolling Stones, early Who, Hendrix, the Troggs, Sex Pistols, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, James Brown, etc. etc.) or the bands I used to gig with and who are mentioned in the text (Reagan Youth, Mudhoney, GG Allin, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Ramones, the Mekons), or just my favorite Sun Ra records, which would give me a pretty good excuse to smoke one of those jazz cigarettes and get out my copy of Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy.
And then I considered making a list of my favorite songs about professional wrestling (starting with “The Crusher,” by the Novas, obviously, and my own version of “I Like to Hurt People” featuring Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators, which was the theme song of the film of the same name about the legendary Sheik from Detroit, who used to carve people up with a sharpened wooden tongue depressor), or my favorite songs by professional wrestlers (e.g. “Pencil Neck Geek” by Classy Freddie Blassie, and the incredibly fucked-up version of “Memphis” by Jerry “The King Lawler,” produced by Jim Dickinson, apparently during a pretty severe tranquilizer jag, available on the It Came From Memphis CD).
But in the end I thought I could make a good playlist of the CDs I like to listen to while drinking beer in the shower (in cans, ice cold, and never bottles, for safety reasons), which is my favorite place to listen to music, my own private spa (described in I Have Fun as a crucial ingredient of “the Edison Cure”), until I can afford better. Herewith, the Top Ten.
Physical Graffitti – Led Zeppelin
Zeppelin is all about the drums and they never sound better than blasting out of a boom box, bouncing around the bathroom. Side One is the default — crushingest guitars ever, and that gigantic beat. Runner Up: Led Zeppelin IV. The only part that sucks is when I have to get out of the shower to skip over “Going to California” to get to “Misty Mountain Hop.”
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony — Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic
This is what I listen to when I am getting ready for a date. The tympani part really kicks my ass. And I am always sure to turn it off before the “Ode to Joy” part begins (I can’t stand the sound of those voices), although I can drink an entire six pack before I get there. Always on deck: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic), one of the few things in life that are not overrated. (Both on Deutsche Grammophon, of course, the best label ever, better even than K-Tel).
There has never been a better record to sing-along with. Period.
There’s a Riot Going On – Sly & the Family Stone
It was listening to this that inspired me to invent a method of snorting cocaine in the shower. It involves a version of Archimede’s lever and is far too complex to go into here.
Good hangover music. Actually, the whole drinking beer in the shower thing started as a hangover cure, but kind of grew into a lifestyle component.
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy
This was the best record of the entire 1980s. What a racket! I never get tired of this.
Tear It Up! — Johnny Burnette Rock’n’Roll Trio
I have been obsessed with this record since I was a teenager. How did they get the guitar to sound like that?? This features the original version of Train Kept A Rollin’, the best version, Aerosmith’s take on Double Live Bootleg notwithstanding.
Songs the Lord Taught Us – The Cramps
The last good record they made, before they got all paisley and chick friendly and ran out of ideas. Just a fuzzed-out, mean-spirited mess. Remarkably, the sound of the shower is actually in the same key as this record.
Plastic Fang – Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Another enormous-sounding, brain-smashing record that benefits from being played at top volume in a small, tiled room. The book on this is that it was too much “blues” and too little “explosion,” but it holds up next to any rock ’n’ roll record of the last twenty years. Great Saturday morning soundtrack, and much more fun than the cartoons they show on TV these days.
Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revival
When I listen to this I like to leave the fan off and get the bathroom good and steamy, an urban replication a Louisiana swamp.
Mike Edison and I Have Fun Everywhere I Go links:
the author's Wikipedia entry
the author's current band, Edison Rocket Train
the author's upcoming book tour dates
the book's page at the publisher
BPM review
Lost in a Supermarket review
Publishers Weekly review
Dig It! interview with the author
Harp articles by the author
Metromix Los Angeles interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
directors and actors discuss their film's soundtracks
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music nonfiction memoir
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Shorties
Destroyer's Dan Bejar talks to the Calgary Herald.
"I could care less about that," he says about a glowing, four-star review his album recently received in Rolling Stone magazine. "That magazine is . . . you know, I don't go out of my way to say positive or negative things about it. It has no effect on anything I think about. A four-star review may move more units in some instances. But I don't think that's the case here."
SF Weekly profiles the Dirtbombs.
Collins offers high-intensity performances both onstage and in the studio: The singer isn't one to waste his breath eking out a pity party. On Surrounded, the Dirtbombs' most fully realized album yet, Collins uses his hefty baritone to cheekily assess the wreckage. He cries out about the "sandpapery feeling across my skin lets me know ... you got what you wanted" on "It's Not Fun Until They See You Cry." On "Ever Lovin' Man," his voice cracks as he wails about wanting to hold his lady tight while "the empire falls." And an itchy bassline gets scratched on "I Hear the Sirens" before he warns, "I hear the sirens calling out to me/They are saying you will never be free/Long as you hear me."
The East Bay Express profiles Vetiver.
Vetiver's last album, To Find Me Gone, was one of my favorite records of 2006. For some reason, I felt like I was supposed to like Califone more at the time, but Vetiver kept drawing me in with its folky, spooky, knock-your-socks-off songs. So it was with both enthusiasm and trepidation that I approached the band's new covers album, Thing of the Past. It's not too often that a band pulls off the covers concept in a satisfying way, but if anyone, Vetiver's talented leader Andy Cabic could carry the band through.
Wikipedia lists actors who have played comic book characters.
Defamer lists the top five most cringeworthy facial hair moments In cinematic history.
First Second offers a 21-page excerpt from Jessica Abel & Matt Madden's new book about creating comics and graphic novels, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures.
see also: Abel's Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay for her graphic novel, La Perdida
Minneapolis City Pages interviews Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.
RIP artist Robert Rauschenberg.
WXPN's World Cafe features Kaki King with an interview and in-studio performance.
Former Chavez and Zwan member Matt Sweeney talks to Billboard about working with Neil Diamond.
In general, I'd love to have your thoughts on the experience. Were you a fan of his music before you started working on the album?
I've been a fan of Neil Diamond since before I could talk; my mom still always plays his music. In high school my friends and I would freak out to [Diamond's famed 1973 live album] "Hot August Night" -- my friend Lee Hetfield could lip-synch the entire album. I am a giant fan.
The Los Angeles Times' Jacket Copy blog lists its favorite books about presidential campaigns.
CMJ's staff blog interviews Kristin Hersh about her live spoken word project, "Paradoxical Undressing."
What made you decide to present the readings in this mixed media/music style? And is there any chance you’ll take this show on tour?
My husband/manager convinced me to perform excerpts from the book as readings. Again, talking out loud, of all things! He’s very smart but also very mean. I had to be allowed to play guitar throughout, as it’s a physical imperative for me. I also play pieces of solo and Throwing Muses songs. This means that I’m not entirely out of my comfort zone. If the right kinds of spaces are available to me, I may in fact tour Paradoxical Undressing because I think the effect of this performance is more convincing than either music or readings alone. The accompaniment colors the text and the interspersed songs refer to the material in the readings. The artist Molly Cliff Hilts, whose paintings I use as backdrops, paints to my music. It all intertwines nicely, and none of it is as hard to understand as an evening of fairly complex music might be if you don’t speak the language ‘music.’
Yuppie Punk offers a "(not so) complete history of literary tattoos.
Muchmusic's blog lists the ten worst ways to behave at concerts.
Drowned in Sound interviews Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords.
Are there any 'serious' artists out there you think have a comedic touch that gets overlooked?
A lot of my favourite songwriters have a sense of humour in their songs; Paul Simon captures moments in conversations that I find funny. Like in ‘America’, "She said the man in the gabardine coat was a spy, I said be careful his bow tie is really a camera". Leonard Cohen has so many great, dark, funny lyrics - "I fought against the bottle, but I had to do it drunk". Then there’s others, people like Tom Waits, Snoop Dogg... and Beck.
Minnesota Public Radio's The Current features singer-songwriter Cameron McGill with an in-studio performance and interview.
At Drowned in Sound, Explosions in the Sky drummer Chris Hrasky offers a guide to the bands playing the All Tomorrow's Parties festival the band curated.
Animal Collective
It kinda just turned out that a lot of the bands we picked go well with each other, like Animal Collective and Broken Social Scene. It really was very much like, “If we were going to go to a festival, who would we wants to see?” Whether or not they sounded alike or had anything in common wasn’t important to us, but all of these bands are bands we love and we want other people to see them as well.
T-shirt of the day: "Comma Sutra"
At her Monitor Mix blog, Carrie Brownstein has created an "underdogs" mixtape.
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 online music lists
Daily Downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases
tags: music books popculture indie news
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Bittorrent Brunch (Breeders, Arcade Fire, and more)
Today's free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos available via bittorrent:
Arcade Fire: 2004-10-02, CBC Radio 3 [flac]*
other Arcade Fire posts at Largehearted Boy
Breeders: 2008-05-01, San Francisco [flac]*
other Breeders posts at Largehearted Boy
British Sea Power: 2008-05-11, Brooklyn [flac]*
other British Sea Power posts at Largehearted Boy
Elbow: 2008-05-08, San Francisco [flac]*
other Elbow posts at Largehearted Boy
Elvis Costello: 2008-05-11, Grand Rapids [flac]*
other Elvis Costello posts at Largehearted Boy
Gary Louris: 2008-03-28, Chicago [flac]*
other Gary Louris posts at Largehearted Boy
Lou Barlow: 2005-01-26, Berkeley [flac]*
other Lou Barlow posts at Largehearted Boy
Man Man: 2008-04-22, San Francisco [flac]*
other Man Man posts at Largehearted Boy
Radiohead: 2008-05-11, Bristow [flac]*
other Radiohead posts at Largehearted Boy
The Republic Tigers: 2008-05-12, KCRW [flac]*
other Republic Tigers posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Bittorrent Brunch entries
2007 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival downloads
2007 Lollapalooza downloads
2007 Bonnaroo downloads
previous music festival downloads
tags: music download flac bittorrent bittorrents torrents
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Daily Downloads (Dandy Warhols, Joan as Police Woman, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
The Dandy Warhols: "The World The People Together (Come On)" [mp3] from Earth to the Dandy Warhols
other Dandy Warhols music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Electrocute: "On the Beat" [mp3]
other Electrocute music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Joan as Police Woman: "To Be Loved" [mp3] from To Survive (out June 10th)
other Joan as Police Woman music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
The Long Blondes: "Here Comes the Serious Bit" [mp3] from Couples
other Long Blondes music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Ryan Miller: Borrowed, Bought, & Stolen free and legal EP [mp3,flac]
"Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch cover)" [mp3]
Ryan Miller: "Evidence" [mp3] from Union Pacific Gospel
Ryan Miller: "The Rainmaker" [mp3] from Union Pacific Gospel
Ryan Miller: 2007-10-25, Clinton [mp3,ogg,flac]
"London Time" [mp3]
other Ryan Miller music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
The Submarines: "You, Me & The Bourgeoisie" [mp3] from Honeysuckle Weeks
other Submarines music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
Tim Fite: "Fair Ain't Fair" [mp3] from Yesterday's Garden
other Tim Fite music blog posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
previous Daily Downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD releases
tags: music download indie mp3
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May 13, 2008
Book Notes - Steven Gillis ("Temporary People")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that is in some way relevant to their recently published books.
Temporary People, the latest novel from Steven Gillis, is a dizzying display of genre-bending delight. Blending fantasy, literary fiction, and sharp social satire, the book is as refreshing a novel I have read all year.
NewPages wrote of the book:
"Temporary People is Gillis’s fourth book and his finest work to date. Balancing world-building, a thriller-worthy plot, and high-end political dialogue, Temporary People is the kind of book that forces the reader to fight between turning the pages faster to find out what happens and slowing down to consider its arguments and to savor its sentences."
In his own words, here is Steven Gillis's Book Notes essay for his novel, Temporary People:
I got the idea for Temporary People around the time George W. Bush was elected president. As pissed and surprised as I was, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell this happened. (And not once but twice!) How did a moron become the leader of the free world? It's an astonishing development and one which lead me from there to ask the question: What can we do about it? This is the fundamental question being raised in Temporary People. What can any one of us do to when we find ourselves under an oppressive government, one that is intent on taking away our liberties, distorting reality and messing with our lives. What if the called for response clashes with our personal philosophies? I am by nature a pacifist - though those who have argued with me might disagree. I am against the war, against violence. Yet, what if the only way to get rid of a despot was to put a bullet in his brain pan? Is it ok? Is it indeed the intelligent decision or must one maintain their personal convictions in the face of adversity?
Temporary People has been described as: "A political fable of the first order, sharp and satirical, a hilariously insightful romp." I hope this is true. My intent when writing the book was to examine every option from all sides, the pros and cons of passive resistance, bloody coups and rebellions and collective indifference. The story - I hope - works well in subscribing to what Swift said about relying on humor and a hint of satire when addressing a serious issue. In the end, I reach no easy conclusions. Hell, I'm not so smug as to assume it is in my purview to reach any conclusions at all. I am, as a writer, an observer. The only truth I know is that, at least for me, ultimately, all we can do is follow our hearts. What else is there?
As for the music which makes it way in and out of Temporary People, and what motivated me personally during the process of writing the book, I would certainly list the following:
1. Marvin Gaye's 'Mercy, Mercy Me' and 'What's Going On?'
Gaye was a genius, light years ahead of his time. His music, his lyrics, his arrangements. Man had huge stones. Great artist. Songs still as relevant today as when they first came out. Both tunes are quoted in Temporary People.
2. The Beatles' 'Revolution'
The most ironic, in your face anthem of its kind. Also appears in Temporary People. The sort of song that you can't sit still and be complacent after hearing.
3. Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi'
Dig the song. Another call to arms in its own way. Perfectly pitched and actually nicely redone by Counting Crows.
4. Bob Dylan's 'All The Tired Horses'
Man can't sing but damn the lyrics in this song are about as perfect and moving as anything ever written. His voice is pure angst and makes the song that much more magical.
5. Led Zeppelin's 'The Battle of Evermore'
Another tune where the lyrics are front and center. The music is top flight but its the words that grab me every time.
6. Lifehouse's Whatever It Takes'
Ok, I am a sucker for pop, what can I say? I dig the tune. Its catchy and moves me whenever I hear it.
7. Jackson Browne's 'Doctor My Eyes'
Song is 30 years old but still gets me hopping every time. Just have to hear the first bar of the opening riff and I not only recognize the tune but turn up the radio. My daughter, Anna, is gonna play her version of the song at her gig at the Ark. How cool is that? Only 13 yrs old and already playing pro gigs and banging out dad's favorites.
8. John Butler Trio's 'There'll Come A Time'
Great group, amazing live. Love jazz fusion into pop with strong musicianship.
9. Imogen Heap's 'Goodnight and Go'
Knockout singer and songwriter whose lyrics and delivery are beyond powerful in their honesty and integrity and dead on perspective.
10. Ray Lamontagne's 'Forever My Friend'
Man this dude can sing and write and play guitar. This tune and his underrated second album are worth a listen and make us forgive the radio for playing the song "Trouble' to death.
11. World Party's 'Sooner or Later'
Talent oozes from the disk. Fun stuff with a serious underbelly. Makes you stop and go, "Ahh."
12. Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars'
I told you I am a sucker for pop, but great tune.
13. Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy'
There's a reason the tune was such a smash and these dudes are much better unplugged. Besides a duo that makes me think of the NBA and the round mound of rebound has to be cool.
14. Dan Fogelberg's 'Long Way Home'
Man died much too young this year. His early albums were pure honesty and brilliant. Will be missed.
Steven Gillis and Temporary People links:
the author's MySpace page
the author's page at the publisher
the book's MySpace page
excerpt from the book
Syntax of Things guest blog by the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
directors and actors discuss their film's soundtracks
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music fiction literature
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Try It Before You Buy It (May 13th CD Releases)
Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal music downloads and full album streams from the week's CD releases.
MP3 downloads and full album streams from CDs released this week: