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February 27, 2007
Shorties
Digit points out the new origami-heavy video for Asobi Seksu's "Thursday."
Lou Barlow talks to the San Jose Mercury News about the Sebadoh reunion.
``It was definitely the most dynamic lineup of almost any band that I've ever been in,'' Barlow says as the trio prepares for its first tour in more than 13 years, with stops in San Francisco on Wednesday and Santa Cruz on March 7. ``It's pretty cool to realize that we had that, and that we could actually have that again if we keep it going.''
The Guardian profiles the Rakes, calling the band the "thinking person's drinking band."
The Rakes make virtues out of both their intelligence and their normality. Their debut album, 2005's Capture/Release, astutely documented life on the hamster-wheel of nine-to-five employment and weekend hedonism. Songs such as 22 Grand Job and Work, Work, Work (Pub, Club, Sleep) feature narrators too bright for the jobs they're doing, and too self-aware to fully enjoy the fun they're supposed to be having, but not quite motivated enough to find something better.
Author Steven Hall talks to the Yorkshire Post about his new novel, The Raw Shark Texts.
"Everyone" included A-list actress Nicole Kidman, who was sent a copy of the book and rang Hall to congratulate him.
"Luckily I knew she was calling, otherwise I would have thought someone was playing a joke on me," he says. "I think she wanted to chat about a few ideas, but mainly it was to tell me she thought it was a great book. It was really nice of her to take the time to do that."
Later, he was asked if he would consider changing the lead character into a woman so that Kidman could play the part. He politely said no.
"Ultimately, because of all the games in the book, it's really a character story and a love story so to take a lead character and swap his sex changes it quite dramatically."
Stylus interviews Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn.
Paul Scott: You talk about being a rock ’n’ roll band, so would you take offence to being called retro?
Craig Finn: Retro would suggest something insincere, which we’re not. Dressing up in uniforms rather than what you’d wear walking down the street. We’re classic rock with a small “c.” This is straight rock ’n’ roll. If you form a band that are part of a movement, people are gonna stop showing up when the trend cycles out. The Hold Steady are exciting to me because you’re not gonna be able to do that to us. We’re not gonna become more “in” or more “out” than we are now.
ThrowawayyourTV features ten protest song videos.
Public Enemy's Chuck D talks to Pop Candy about getting in the comic book business.
Why a comic book? "It's art. Music is art," he said. "(The book) is about truth, justice and the international way." Considering Chuck D has a degree in graphic design and Public Enemy was inspired by comic-book imagery, he said it's not so far-fetched that he should create a comic.
No Love For Ned has a new streaming radio show online (and is another notable omission (in my eyes) from Q's list of "best places to get free music" online).
Carnegie Mellon's Tartan traces the history of the zine from 1690 to the present.
Pinback's Rob Crow talks to AM New York about his latest solo album, Living Well.
Singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins talks to the Boston Herald.
"What’s lucky about being a songwriter is that nobody can typecast you into anything," he said. "You can do anything because you do your own casting. You can cast yourself into various voices, and nobody is telling you what to do next."
Newsday reviews Jane Smiley's novel, Ten Days in the Hills, and its similarity to Giovanni Bocaccio's The Decameron.
Substitute Hollywood for Florence and the Iraq war for the Black Plague, and you have "Ten Days in the Hills," a modern take on the medieval compendium of popular stories, which in this case are mostly movie plots and stories from the newspaper.
Grist lists former presidential candidate Al Gore's "surprisingly hip" iTunes playlist.
The San Francisco Chronicle previews the city's Noise Pop music festival.
Daytrotter features an interview with Tokyo Police Club, as well as an in-studio performance from the band.
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