February 9, 2010
Try It Before You Buy It (February 9, 2010 Music Releases)
Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal mp3 downloads and full album streams from this week's music releases:
Allison Moorer: Crows
full album stream
ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra): Man of the World
full album stream
Bluebrain: Soft Power
full album stream
"Ten By Ten" [mp3]
Continue reading "Try It Before You Buy It (February 9, 2010 Music Releases)"
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
February 9, 2010
Note Books - Ian Vanek of Japanther
The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Previous contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.
Japanther's lo-fi aesthetic, eclectic samples and legendary high energy live shows combine to make these Brooklynites one of my favorite bands.
The band's new album, Rock 'n' Roll Ice Cream, is out March 2nd.
Japanther has also published a book, Don't Trust Anyone Over 30.
In his own words, here is the Note Books entry from Japanther's Ian Vanek:
1. Naked By the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta by Robert Katz
This look into a 1980's art scene murder is endlessly fascinating to me. It's like reading a Chandler or Carver novel about all the gallerinas and art egos we swim amongst in the NYC. I highly recommend it to anyone who might have art handled or worked in Chelsea. I'm not going to point fingers but this book could also be called: "How To Throw Your Wifey Out The Window And Get Away With It." Died much too young.
2. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
This novel about a language born virus remains one of my all time favorite works of fiction. Stephenson predicts things like the social networking, adaptations to the energy crisis and the future of nationalism.
T.V. snow is falling, no ones really calling...
3. Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia by Richard Hertz
Jack Goldstein made the best video art going in my humble opinion. He utilized Hollywood film studios to make a variety of recordings and films with unique drive and passion. He was a part of the Chanard school (CalArts Pre-Disney) in southern California that took the art world by storm in the late seventies and early 80's with sculpture, paintings and video that pushed social and economic limits. Oh you selfish kid...
4. Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs by Brendan Mullen
For fans of poetry, semi-secretive gay sex, Queen, Bowie and mind control. Out of f**king control music bio that makes you squirm a bit. L.A. UR A Mystery to me...
5. You Can't Win by Jack Black
This tail of an American hobo is both enthralling and educational. Recommended to those witty crooks out there who show a spark of intelligence. Who's side you on? The crooked coppers or The Hamburglar? 1-2-3-4 f**k the cops.
Japanther links and free and legal mp3s:
the band's website
the band's MySpace page
the band's book, Don't Trust Anyone Over 30
the band's Facebook page
the band's Twitter
Japanther: "Spread So Thin" [mp3] from Rock 'n' Roll Ice Cream (out March 2nd)
Japanther: "Radical Businessman" [mp3] from Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt
Japanther: "Bumpin' Rap Tapes" [mp3] from Tut Tut Now Shake Ya Butt
Japanther: "Challenge" [mp3] from Skuffed Up My Huffy
Japanther: "Fuk Tha Prince A Pull Iz Dum" [mp3] from Skuffed Up My Huffy
Japanther: "One Hundred Dollars" [mp3] from Skuffed Up My Huffy
Japanther: "Gravy" [mp3] from Yer Living Grave
Japanther: "Wolfenswan" [mp3] from Yer Living Grave
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Shorties (Local Natives, Alton Brown, and more)
NPR is streaming the new Local Natives album, Gorilla Manor, in its entirety.
At the Wall Street Journal, Alton Brown lists his favorite cookbooks.
The New York Times examines the trend of adapting novels into graphic novels.
The Montreal Gazette lists three of the Residents' best concept albums.
Book Lovers Never Go To Bed Alone is a blog devoted to bookshelves.
At the Barnes & Noble Review, Robert Christgau reviews the new Vampire Weekend album, Contra.
Don DeLillo talks to NPR's Morning Edition about his new novel, Point Omega. An excerpt from the book is also presented.
NPR Music offers a mix of make-out songs.
At Drowned in Sound, Yeasayer's Anand Wilder offers a track-by-track analysis of the band's new album, Odd Blood (out today).
The London Free Press profiles cartoonist Jeff Lemire.
The A.V. Club interviews Stephin Merritt about the new Magnetic Fields album, Realism.
Passion of the Weiss shares a winter mixtape.
The Book Smugglers interview Peter Straub about his new novel, A Dark Matter.
The Guardian Music Blog finds little political edge in "blog rock."
Win a $100 Threadless gift certificate 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:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Daily Downloads (Sharon Van Etten, Bettie Serveert, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Bettie Serveert: "Semaphore" [mp3] from Pharmacy of Love (out March 23rd)
Bettie Serveert: "The Pharmacy" [mp3] from Pharmacy of Love (out March 23rd)
other Bettie Serveert posts at Largehearted Boy
Blue Beard: "Losing You" [mp3] from Looking Towards The Sky: Progressive, Psychedelic And Folk Rock From The Ember Vaults
other Blue Beard posts at Largehearted Boy
Ghosty: "Secret Language" [mp3] from A Mystic's Robe EP
other Ghosty posts at Largehearted Boy
Jen Wood: "Pills" [mp3] from Finds You in Love
Jen Wood: "Zeppelin" [mp3] from Finds You in Love
other Jen Wood posts at Largehearted Boy
Okapi: "Love Him" [mp3] from Love Him (out February 23rd)
other Okapi posts at Largehearted Boy
Old Man Luedecke: "The Rear Guard" [mp3] from My Hands Are on Fire and Other Love Songs (out March 30th)
other Old Man Luedecke posts at Largehearted Boy
Sharon Van Etten: "Love More" [mp3]
other Sharon Van Etten posts at Largehearted Boy
Virgin of the Birds: free and legal Banquet Years EP [mp3]
"Let Me Be Your Bride" [mp3]
other Virgin of the Birds posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Follow That Bird!: WOXY Lounge Act session [mp3]
other Follow That Bird! posts at Largehearted Boy
Jason Edwards: Planet Claire session [mp3]
other Jason Edwards posts at Largehearted Boy
No Age: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other No Age posts at Largehearted Boy
The Year Zero: 2010-02-04, Long Beach [mp3]
other The Year Zero posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
February 8, 2010
This Week's Interesting Music Releases (February 9, 2010)
This week brings new albums by The Watson Twins (Talking to You, Talking to Me) and Yeasayer (Odd Blood), but I am more excited by the new releases by singer-songwriters Gil Scott-Heron (I'm New Here) and Kath Bloom (Thin Thin Line).
Among the week's music releases, I can already strongly recommend Allison Moorer's Crows, Phantogram's Eyelid Movies, the incredibly soulful Georgia Anne Muldrow's Kings Ballad, and Hot Chip's One Life Stand.
Putumayo Presents: Rhythm & Blues is yet another strong compilation from Putumayo World Music, combining R&B classics with the latest generation of up and coming talents.
Aside from the three Buzzcocks remastered albums (Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Different Kind of Tension, and Love Bites, all with bonus CDs), this is a slim week for reissues.
What new music can you recommend this week? What's on your shopping list?
This week's interesting CD releases:
The Album Leaf: A Chorus of Storytellers (vinyl)
ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra): Man of the World (vinyl)
Allison Moorer: Crows
AM: Future Sons & Daughters
Angelo Spencer: Et Les Hauts Sommets
Beach Fossils: Daydream
Bear McCreary: Dark Void (soundtrack)
Ben + Vesper: LuvInIdleness
The Besnard Lakes: Albatross b/w Four Long Lines (vinyl)
Best Coast: Something in the Way (vinyl)
Bigga Haitian: Sak Pase
Black Cobra: Chronomega (vinyl)
Black Keys: Big Come Up (vinyl reissue)
Blessure Grave: Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Bluebrain: Soft Power
Buzzcocks: Another Music in a Different Kitchen (remastered with bonus CD)
Buzzcocks: Different Kind of Tension (remastered with bonus CD)
Buzzcocks: Love Bites (remastered with bonus CD)
The Cute Lepers: Smart Accessories (vinyl)
Dave Matthews Band: Live in Las Vegas
Dessa: Badly Broken Code
Fair: Disappearing World
Fear Factory: Mechanize
Field Music: Them That Do Nothing (vinyl)
Fionn Regan: Shadow of An Empire
Four Tet: There Is Love in You (2-LP vinyl)
Galactic: Ya-Ka-May (vinyl)
Georgia Anne Muldrow: Kings Ballad (vinyl)
Gil Scott-Heron: I'm New Here (vinyl)
Grant Hart: Intolerance (vinyl)
HIM: Screamworks: Love in Theory & Practice
Hot Chip: One Life Stand (CD & DVD)
Icarus Witch: Draw Down the Moon
Interference: Interference (vinyl)
Jay Dee: F**k the Police (vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix: Valleys Of Neptune (vinyl reissue)
John Coltrane: Giant Steps (vinyl reissue)
Jurassic 5: Influence (vinyl)
K.D. Lang: Recollection
Kath Bloom: Thin Thin Line
Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose: Bridge Carols
Lionel Loueke: Mwaliko
Maccabees: Empty Vessels (vinyl)
Magnetic Fields: Realism (vinyl & CD)
Massive Attack: Heligoland
Miike Snow: Silvia (vinyl)
Neon Trees: Animal (vinyl)
Nurse With Wound: Space Music (vinyl)
Ok Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (vinyl)
Os Mutantes: Jardim Eletrico (vinyl reissue)
Overkill: Ironbound
Pantha du Prince: Black Noise (vinyl)
Phantogram: Eyelid Movies
Phoenix: 1901 (vinyl)
Pretenders: Live In London (CD & DVD)
Sade: Soldier of Love
Screaming Females: Singles
Theodore: Hold You Like a Lover (vinyl)
Undersea Poem: Undersea Poem
Various Artists: Instrumental Tribute to Lady Gaga
Various Artists: Looking Towards The Sky: Progressive, Psychedelic And Folk Rock From The Ember Vaults
Various Artists: Putumayo Presents: Rhythm & Blues
Various Artists: Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Journey
Various Artists: Rough Trade Shops' Counter Culture 2009
Various Artists: Valentine's Day (soundtrack)
The Watson Twins: Talking to You, Talking to Me (vinyl)
Yeasayer: Odd Blood (vinyl)
You Say Party We Say Die: XXXX (vinyl)
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous CD & DVD release lists
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's CD releases)
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
This Week's Interesting DVD Releases (February 9, 2010)
Emma, the BBC's adaptation of Jane Austen's comic novel is at the top of my DVD shopping list this week.
Another literary adaptation in stores tomorrow is the animated Dante's Inferno.
Among the week's more interesting theatrical releases are the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man and Bronson, the gritty story of Britain's most violent prisoner.
The extended edition of The People Speak is a film inspired by Howard Zinn's epic A People's History of the United States, and a fitting tribute for the recently departed historian and activist.
Sarah Silverman Program: Season Two, Vol. 2 is the television release I am most excited to rent.
New Blu-ray editions out this week include the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Running Man.
What new releases are you picking up or adding to your Netflix queue this week?
This week's interesting DVD releases:
9 Lives of Mara
All Together Now: The Beatles
Army Wives: The Complete Third Season
Bad Girls of Film Noir, Vol. 1
Bad Girls of Film Noir, Vol. 2
Becoming Human
Best of Penn Says: Religion
Blade of the Ripper
Boobs: An American Obsession
Bronson
Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai
Butchered
Cayman Went
Charlie Chaplin Collection (10-DVD box set)
Couples Retreat
Dangerous Man
Dante's Inferno
Dare
David Lean DVD Collection Box Set (9-DVD box set)
Dead Tone
Drop Zone [Blu-ray]
Emma
Endgame
For Love of Liberty
Forest Warrior
The Four Minute Mile
Free Style
Gabriel
Gaogaigar Season One Litebox
Gary Unmarried: The Complete First Season
The Guild: Season Three
Hard Rain [Blu-ray]
Heist
How Weed Won the West
Hurricane Season
I Can't Think Straight
I Hate Valentine's Day
Ice Castles
JAG (Judge Advocate General): The Complete Series
JAG (Judge Advocate General): The Final Season
Jockeys: Season 2
The Life and Times of Tim: The Complete First Season
Lo
Madonna- Do You Think I'm Sexy Unauthorized
Meshuggah: Alive
Naruto: Shippuden, Vol. 6
Night of the Flesheaters
Oasis (AKA Desert Spring)
One Hot Summer
The Patty Duke Show: Season Two
The People Speak (Extended Edition)
Peter and Vandy
The Phantom [Blu-ray]
Polar Storm
The Pretenders - Live in London [Blu-ray]
Rad Girls
Rod Serling - Studio One Dramas
Running Man [Blu-ray]
Sarah Silverman Program: Season Two, Vol. 2
Second Sight Complete Collection
A Serious Man
Serious Moonlight
Shoot First and Pray You Live
Small Town, Big Dreams: Lake Placid's Olympic Story
The Song Of Sparrows
Soul Eater: Part 1
Stargate SG-U: 1.0
The Stepfather
Stephen Romano Presents Shock Festival
That's How We Do It: Anjelah Johnson
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Trial Begins
Troubled Water
Vega$: The First Season, Volume 2
When Soldiers Cry
XIII: The Conspiracy
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous CD & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Shorties (Shearwater, Daniel Handler, and more)
NPR is streaming the new Shearwater album, The Golden Archipelago (out February 23rd).
The Telegraph profiles author Daniel Handler.
About his family life, though, he is guarded, revealing only everyday details: he likes cooking, walking his son to school, playing music. It’s this discordance that is most intriguing about him: the shadow between the goofy, real-life Handler, and his ravaged, obsessive alter ego. Flashes of dry humour bubble up. When I ask him about the hugely successful film of the first three books, he replies: “I was hired to write eight drafts of the screenplay and then I was fired. But I have a policy that I can’t say anything nasty about a movie that bought me a house.”
BlackBook interviews author Adam Haslett about his new novel, Union Atlantic.
On sale at Amazon MP3: Yeasayer's new 10-track Odd Blood album for $3.99.
Author Daniyal Mueenuddin shares his influences at The Story Prize.
Tiny Mix Tapes is counting down its favorite albums of the decade.
The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the Apple iPad's possible effects on the publishing industry.
PopMatters interviews Yoko Ono.
The New Yorker features a new short story by Claire Keegan.
The Globe and Mail profiles singer-songwriter Owen Pallett.
Much of Heartland has a spacious, orchestral feeling – Pallett recorded the string tracks with an orchestra in Prague – though the scoring usually sounds (intentionally, I think) like an acoustic translation of something written on a synthesizer. Pallett’s high, cool voice floats over the chunky surface of the instrumental rhythms like an elfin creature flying over the sea, and he often has a good melodic zephyr to carry him along. The man has a flair for distinctive tunes – not a common thing in pop these days. The rules of classic song-writing have left their mark on Pallett, who in most other ways seems like a hipster’s hipster.
The Financial Times reviews the new Martin Amis novel, The Pregnant Widow.
This is Amis’s finest novel for a long time. It is close to a masterpiece, only undermined for me by frequent over-striving, which produces some false images and enervating repetitions; unlike his hero Saul Bellow, Amis is unfamiliar with restraint. But read it: it is hilarious, often wonderfully perceptive, uncompromisingly ambitious and written by a great master of the English language. In a time when many of our novelists are hedging their bets, Amis is gloriously undaunted.
BBC News reports that Neil Gaiman will write a Doctor Who episode.
Radiohead At Ease has new information about Radiohead's next album.
This week Five Chapters is serializing a new short story by Sam Lipsyte.
Win a $100 Threadless gift certificate 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:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Daily Downloads (Unbunny, Jason Boesel, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Awesome Color: "Transparent" [mp3] from Massa Hypnos (out April 6th)
other Awesome Color posts at Largehearted Boy
Jason Boesel: "I Got the Reason #1" [mp3] from Hustler's Son
other Jason Boesel posts at Largehearted Boy
Lord Numb: "I Dream of Bowie" [mp3] from Numbskull (out February 15th)
Lord Numb: "Eileen" [mp3] from Numbskull (out February 15th)
other Lord Numb posts at Largehearted Boy
The Paparazzi: "Hi" [mp3] from Rococo
other Paparazzi posts at Largehearted Boy
Pretty Good Dance Moves: "Leave Me Alone" [mp3] from PGDM (out March 9th)
other Pretty Good Dance Moves posts at Largehearted Boy
So Cow: "Halcyon Days" [mp3] from So Cow
other So Cow posts at Largehearted Boy
Unbunny: "Countersign" [mp3] from Moon Food (out May 2010)
other Unbunny posts at Largehearted Boy
Various Artists: free and legal White Whale Records 5 Year sampler album [mp3]
Young Sinclairs: "Tribe" [mp3] from Songs of the Young Sinclairs (out March 30th)
other Young Sinclairs posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
The Glands: 2003-12-06, Athens [mp3]
other Glands posts at Largehearted Boy
La Strada: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other La Strada posts at Largehearted Boy
Midnight Masses: 2010-01-29, New York [mp3]
other Midnight Masses posts at Largehearted Boy
Shark?: 2010-01-28, New York [mp3]
other Shark? posts at Largehearted Boy
Silver Apples: 2008-11-15, Athens [mp3]
other Silver Apples posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
February 7, 2010
Shorties (George Orwell, Gil Scott-Heron, and more)
The Philadelphia Inquirer looks back on the literary career of George Orwell, 60 years after his death.
NPR's All Things Considered profiles poet and singer-songwriter Gil Scott-Heron.
In the Los Angeles Times, Dani Shapiro examines the pressures on young writers to be successful.
The Calgary Herald remembers singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt.
The Chicago Tribune lists its three favorite football books.
Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt talks to the Toronto Sun about his new album, Realism.
"(As for this one), I have a lot of British Isles folk, and actually, I was trying to make sure I was including other parts of the world. There's a lot of kalimba; you can't necessarily tell because there are a lot of things on the record. But I put a lot of kalimba on the record thinking African folk music is where the entire town comes out to play the kalimba, and I love that stuff."
The Times Online profiles The Drums.
It’s a cliché, I know,” says their front man, Jonathan Pierce, on the top floor of the two-storey flat that he shares with the rest of the Drums (and sundry friends and animals) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, “but the person who said everything I ever wanted to say is Morrissey. What a poet. He literally changed my life, swept me away.” The greatest single of the past 30 years, according to Pierce, is the Smiths’ This Charming Man; the most perfect song, Morrissey and Marr’s There Is a Light That Never Goes Out. On his bedroom wall hangs his proudest acquisition, a sleeve of the Smiths’ debut single, Hand in Glove, given to them by the Smiths’ drummer, Mike Joyce, that bears the message: “To the Drums from the Drums” (this was how Morrissey insisted Joyce be described on the original sleeve
The Los Angeles Times reviews DC Pierson's debut novel, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To.
As Ann Beattie did in "Chilly Scenes of Winter," Pierson captures the effortlessness of daily life without the sluggish pace. Where Beattie worked with the conversational ennui of the 1970s, Pierson draws upon the ungraceful, un-literary language of contemporary boys who wield ordinary powers of observation: "A movie about frat boys trying to see boobs is playing on ' Comedy Central,' " Darren notices.
The San Francisco Chronicle profiles legendary musician Van Dyke Parks.
Parks, 67, has always specialized in individuality. Born in Mississippi and educated in prep schools, Parks has a genteel manner, authentic erudition and magnolia blossoms on his tongue. He is a rock 'n' roll version of Mark Twain, often wearing white. Parks, one of the great behind-the-scenes figures in the Southern California music scene since he quit playing folk music in pop's Paleolithic era, is also making his San Francisco performing debut next week at the Swedish American Hall on a brief joint tour with Clare and the Reasons, a band led by Clare Muldaur, daughter of an old friend, musician Geoff Muldaur, his first real tour since he played keyboards with Ry Cooder more than 25 years ago.
The Boston Globe reviews Jami Attenberg's new novel, The Melting Season.
“Everyone’s a little damaged, honey.” No truer words are spoken in the small world of “The Melting Season,” a quirky soap opera that proves surprisingly endearing.
Book Army lists the best book blogs.
Publishers Weekly gathers comics publishers' responses to Apple's iPad announcement.
The Book Show is a wonderful Australian podcast about authors and their work.
The Toronto Star reviews Joe Sacco's new nonfiction graphic novel, Footnotes in Gaza.
Deftly darting back and forth from the past to the present – perfectly highlighting how little has changed in this war-torn region in the intervening half-century – Sacco uses gripping, often heart-wrenching first-hand accounts of witnesses to the bloody events and of those still struggling to survive as perpetual refugees.
IGN lists the 10 most memorable Super Bowl halftime shows.
Win a $100 Threadless gift certificate 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:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Daily Downloads (Alejandro Escovedo, Chuck Prophet, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Alejandro Escovedo: 2010-01-21, Birmingham [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Velvet Guitar" [mp3]
other Alejandro Escovedo posts at Largehearted Boy
Chuck Prophet: 2010-01-23, Berkeley [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Summertime Thing" [mp3]
Chuck Prophet: 2009-11-07, Santa Cruz [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Bangkok (Alex Chilton cover)" [mp3]
other Chuck Prophet posts at Largehearted Boy
Grace Potter: 2010-01-18, Negril [mp3,ogg,flac]
"White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane cover)" [mp3]
Grace Potter: 2010-01-17 Negril [mp3,ogg,flac]
"One Short Night" [mp3]
Grace Potter: 2010-01-16, Negril [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Big White Gate" [mp3]
other Grace Potter posts at Largehearted Boy
Guster: 2000-10-11, Mountain View [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Airport Song" [mp3]
Guster: 1999-09-26, Morristown [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Great Escape" [mp3]
other Guster posts at Largehearted Boy
Justin Townes Earle: 2010-02-04, Austin [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Gold Watch and Chain (Carter Family cover)" [mp3]
other Justin Townes Earle posts at Largehearted Boy
Low: 1998-10-26, Denver [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Will the Night" [mp3]
other Low posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Quieting Syrup: Daytrotter session [mp3]
other Quieting Syrup posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily free and legal mp3 downloads
2009 Bonnaroo downloads
music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
February 6, 2010
Contest - Win a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate
A couple of weeks ago I ran a contest asking people what prizes would be best for the Largehearted Boy weekly contests. One of the most frequent responses was gift certificates, so I am taking that advice and giving away a $100 gift certificate to Threadless.com this week. The winner can choose between t-shirts and hoodies for adults and kids, even artwork.
Bands always have t-shirts at their shows, but I have yet to see a writer sell shirts at a reading.
To enter the contest, please leave a comment in this post with the name of the author who deserves his or her own rock star tour t-shirt.
The winner will receive the following prizes:
$100 gift certificate to Threadless
an assortment of books & CDs
The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight CT Friday evening (February 12th).
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy
52 Books, 52 Weeks (my yearly reading series)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
musician/author interviews
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Shorties (Sleigh Bells, Laura Barrett, and more)
Seattle University's Spectator Blog profiles one of my favorite new bands, Sleigh Bells.
Miller alleges there’s a full-length Sleigh Bells record in the works, and I can only hope that when it does see the light of day outside Brooklyn, it’ll be just as noisy and jarring and catchy as their EP. This is the kind of band for whom quality production would be a travesty. Lo-fi graininess is an integral part of Sleigh Bells’ style; it keeps their music interesting and challenging without detracting from their songwriting in any way.
Singer-songwriter Laura Barrett talks to Spinner about her upcoming tour with Magnetic Fields.
She also sees the tour as a chance to experiment with her own songwriting. "I'm trying to work on writing in character, which is something Stephin Merritt has perfected. Most people don't realize how hard it is to write from a perspective that's detached from your own. I'd like to write more songs about characters and interactions between people."
Impact lists its albums of the decade.
Paste lists 10 noteworthy February music releases.
Spinner profiles Local Natives.
Yet, sun-bleached and ocean-sprayed though they sound, as four-fifths the product of notoriously affluent and conservative enclave Orange County, Local Natives haven't exactly had the bohemian, Laurel Canyon upbringing of West Coast mythology. "We're not really typical Californians," explains Ayers. "We all come from right-wing Republican families." Nor did they -- despite Rice's deadpan assertion -- "write most of [their] songs on surfboards."
Brainz lists the 10 greatest apocalyptic novels of all time.
Billboard lists the 10 best Super Bowl halftime shows of all time.
Tubular lists the worst.
The Oxford American remembers singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt.
In a Guardian editorial, Google's David Drummond explains the company's aims of the Google Book Search Settlement.
Seaninsound's Posterous lists 15 thoughts on the impact of the web on old media.
Web in Front is giving away mp3s of Radiohead's January Los Angeles performance to aid Haiti relief.
Amazon MP3 has 100 albums on sale for $5.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
