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August 29, 2007
Shorties
The AV Club lists 15 television sensations whose popularity faded fast.
Five Chapters is serializing "Liz & Lauren," a new story by Ann Packer.
Author Matthew Pearl talks to BostonNOW about writing fiction wet in the 19th century.
"It is a challenge to write in the first person," Pearl said. "Sometimes, it feels to me like writing science fiction." He says it happens to be history, but it's another universe, one that requires all sorts of new rules imposed on the text. To do it, he compiles files, sometimes hundreds of pages long, of the language as it was used in the 1800s. He even has a subset devoted to insults. As he researches, he continues to note new expressions and words, and he's been known to occasionally subject himself to reading a 19th-century slang dictionary. He jokingly calls it cheating" to read the dictionary, but I think he'd agree that anyone willing to read through such dense writing earns his spoils.
The AV Club interviews Matt Berninger of the National.
AVC: You've said you rarely write an entire song at once. Why?
MB: When I have, they just usually haven't been any good. When it comes to lyrics, I just write down a lot of things, and only a very tiny fraction of it, I think, is any good. When I have just sat down and tried to write the lyrics of a song, usually about half of it sounds like bullshit. I just have to go away from something and come back to it again later. I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished. That's the way I'm comfortable writing. I never sit and think, "Okay, I need a first verse, okay, I've got a couple verses, now I need a chorus." It's too limiting. It would probably take me longer to write a song that way than the way I do it.
Stereo Total's Francoise Cactus talks to NewCity Chicago.
The Cleveland Free Times reviews the new Josh Ritter album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter.
The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is, quite simply, a terrific document. It clearly marks Ritter, a heretofore talented and evolving alt-folk artist, as a maturing pop songwriting master. He now completely understands his ever-expanding muse to be one that sees no difference between Nick Lowe ("Right Moves" and "Real Long Distance" are real '70s Stiff nuggets), Spoon ("Mind's Eye" is more ga ga ga than anything Spoon has done since Girls Can Tell), Paul Westerberg ("Empty Hearts" beautifully mimics Westerberg's vocal cadence for its verses) and John Lennon.
The Guardian lists the top ten books left in UK Travelodges over the past year.
1. The Blair Years by Alastair Campbell
2. Don't You Know Who I Am? by Piers Morgan
3. A Whole New World by Jordan
4. Wicked by Jilly Cooper
5. Dr Who Creatures & Demons by Justin Richard
6. The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown
7. I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna
8. Humble Pie by Gordon Ramsay
9. The Story Of A Man And His Mouth by Chris Moyles
10. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
The Contra Costa Times reports that a California brewer is creating beers to celebrate the 40th anniversary of every Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention album.
He's issuing special beers, marking the 40th anniversary of the release of each Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention album. The first beer: Freak Out Ale (HHH) came out last year. This month, Lagunitas released Kill Ugly Radio (HHH), marking the 40th anniversary of the second Zappa album, "Absolutely Free."
Bob Mould responds to the MSNBC Ads of the Weird blog post, "When Good Music Happens to Bad Ads."
43 Folders shares the "perfect" iTunes equalizer setting.
Minnesota Public Radio's The Current features an in-studio performance by singer-songwriter Ben Lee.
WXPN's World Cafe features an in-studio performance by singer-songwriter Devon Sproule.
At ">NPR's All Things Considered, Robert Christgau reviews the new Rilo Kiley album, Under the Blacklight.
Nothing on the new album is quite as brilliant as the Bush-bashing "It's a Hit" or the triple-POV "A Man/Me/Then Jim" on the last one. But the band's new musical tack suits Lewis' crucial thematic preoccupation. Unlike the average Hollywood hussy, Lewis has not just the beauty but also the brains to be searching about her own sex appeal. She is not vain about it, but she is not apologetic about it, either. Just like the male Justin Timberlakes that pop always throws in our faces, this female will try to love you. She will wonder who is at fault harder than the average matinee idol when things do not work out, too. But in the end, que sera sera.
The San Antonio Express also reviews the album.
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 Lollapalooza downloads
this week's CD releases
