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January 5, 2006
Shorties
The New York Times examines end-of-year online best album lists.
It sometimes seems music lists are the only way to keep track of the year that was; even more than film lists or book lists, music lists pit genres and cultures and generations against one another. Plus they usually stir up a little debate.
LA Weekly lists "ten albums that stank up the room."
2. Lou Barlow,Emoh (Merge). Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh) is such a sensitive man-child that pussycats appear to him to be menacing beasts, and a polite question from a friend is not so different from a crack over the head with a baseball bat. An O.G. indie-rock wuss, Barlow was shedding tears over misplaced sweaters and writing precious songs about his feelings back when Death Cab for Cutie were still collecting Pokemon cards. On the unfortunately titled “Emoh,” Barlow displays a variety of emotions, from slightly perturbed to pensive to not very spunky.
Fifteen authors share their "must-read" books with LA Weekly.
Edmonton's Vue Weekly staff lists their favorite 2005 albums, as does the UW Daily.
The Guardian tracks down 43 former members of the Fall.
I finally found the perfect case for my iPod nano: the iKitty (being a cat person, and all).
Aropax Nation names their best music singles of 2005.
Ted Leo is asking for web design advice (thx).
Charles Bert, singer of Math And Physics Club, says: "I think community is a really important part of being in an indie band, especially for those of us on small labels and even smaller budgets. Competition between bands is pretty silly. I've never understood that, and luckily, at least where we're from, we don't see much of it. I want people to hear other new bands just as much as I want them to hear mine."
USA Today examines the current trend of authors phoning book clubs.
Nancy Bolchalk surprised fellow members of the Roosevelt Book Club in Hubbard, Ohio, when she arranged for author John Searles to talk with them by phone at one of their meetings. The group had just read his novel, Strange But True, and Bolchalk had responded to an invitation on Searles' website to request a call-in.
"It was wonderful to be able to ask him questions about why he put certain things in the book," Bolchalk says.
Newcity Chicago interviews comic book writer Harvey Pekar.
On a typical day, when do you decide, I've got a story--today is a story day?
There are a lot of factors in it that aren't on the surface for me. I sort of go through my day and weigh my experiences, because now I'm gonna have to be coming up with a lot more short stories than I did in the past, when I just published one sixty-page book a year. And, I sort of weigh my experiences and I think, can I shape that into something, can I structure it into something?
Toronto's Eye Weekly column, Totally Wired, lists their favorite blogger "best of 2005" lists.
JoBlo lists their top ten DVDs of 2005.
Donewaiting's Andrew Patton lists his top 20 albums of 2005.
Buy an iPod, get a box of raw meat instead.
Coolgorilla offers a free downloadable rock & pop quiz game for your iPod.
Jockrock is the self-professed "home of Scottish indie music."
