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August 30, 2007
Shorties
Boston's Phoenix examines the growing connection between authors, their looks, and book sales.
Literature, unlike so many other media industries, is technically a meritocracy. But that won’t stop book marketers, bloggers, critics, and the literary community at large from collectively slobbering over a pretty author. No, the literary rules changed ages ago. Books no longer need to be serious in order to be published; there are fewer and fewer venues available for reviews (rendering competition more intense with every passing catalogue season), and critics aren’t doing their job unless they are merciless. Perhaps as a response to all of this, publishers have begun to count on their authors to do double-duty — to act as sex symbols as well.
Will Sheff of Okkervil River talks to the Arizona Daily Star.
Perspective is important at a time like this, when you're a hardworking band, with a terrific new album, being discussed by music junkies around the world like never before. You have to realize most of the writers, talented or not, posting things about you are just unpaid fans, Sheff said.
"When you realize that, it becomes sort of like this 'Wizard of Oz,' man-behind-the-curtain," he said. "Where there's all these gigantic, floated, inflated, green heads barking and booming reverberated voices at each other across the expanse of the Internet.
NME reviews Shearwater's remastered and partially re-recorded Palo Santo.
Meandering piano and plucked banjo laments wind towards dramatic crescendos, songs fracture and split as if powered by dream logic. Looking for tunes to whistle to? Look elsewhere. But if you're looking for the face of God, you might find it in here. Somewhere.
St. Vincent's Annie Clark lists some of her favorite things for Pitchfork.
Deerhunter's Bradford Cox explains the band's sound to the Washington Post's Express.
My Old Kentucky Blog features three downloadable in-studio tracks from Bowerbirds, whose Hymns for a Dark Horse is by far my favorite debut album of the year.
see also: Bowerbirds' Phil Moore's Largehearted Boy Note Books essay
Members of Cansei De Ser Sexy talks to Popmatters.
“That’s one of the reasons why people like us,” yells Lovefoxxx. “We never arrived as a big thing with posters all over the place. That’s not a friendly thing. We were coming through blogs and small things, like it should be. People were charmed by it. We never expected anything. And we’re from Brazil. There are no bands from Brazil!”
LAist lists 21 albums to look forward to.
IGN lists 25 essential back to school albums.
The Lime Wire Music Blog offers a video interview with Anthony Volodkin, mastermind behind the music aggregator The Hype Machine.
NPR's All Things Considered remembers CBGB and Village Vanguard founder Hilly Kristal, and singer-songwriter Patti Smith remembers him with a poem..
Author Tao Lin is auctioning original artwork on eBay. From the items' descriptions:
SHOULD I FEEL INHIBITED WHEN I BID?
NO, I WILL USE THE MONEY TO BUY ORGANIC VEGAN FOOD AND PAY RENT AND MAYBE BUY SOME BOOKS
see also: Tao LIn's Largehearted Boy Book Notes essays for EEEEE EEE EEEE, Bed, and you are a little bit happier than i am
New York magazine's The Comics Page blog is excerpting from the graphic novel Undertown, by Jim Pascoe and Jake Myle.
De Novo Dahl's Joel McAnulty talks to the Nashville Scene about the band's signing to a major label.
Atlanta's Creative Loafing previews this year's AJC Decatur Book Festival, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles some of the participating authors.
Seattle's Stranger examines several options for the Shins' attack to their next album using previous bands as examples (including Pavement, Oasis, Talking Heads).
Seattle Weekly examines the rebirth Arthur magazine,
Paste's band of the week is the much-deserving Tiny Vipers.
Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell talks to the Knoxville Metro Pulse.
"I mean, I'm not starting from scratch,” he concludes. “I have a fan base that listened to the Truckers and what we did, and I feel like a lot of those people are now coming to our shows and buying our record. So wherever I go, I've probably been there before.”
Isbell also talks to the Augusta Metro Spirit.
The Futurist recaps the recent Sea Wolf WOXY Lounge Act performance, complete with couple of in-studio mp3s.
NPR's Jazz Profiles examines the life of Charlie Parker.
Artist/author Craig Thompson has a website and a blog.
Southern Shelter is sharing mp3s of a recent Patterson Hood solo show where the singer-songwriter previews several songs off the next Drive-By Truckers album.
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 Lollapalooza downloads
this week's CD releases
