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January 15, 2008
Shorties
The Yorkshire Evening Post points out the new must-have indie haircut.
INDIE rockers be warned – that scruffy, just-out-of-bed look is so last year.
Dedicated followers of fashion reckon short and neat is the way to go for 2008 and have even invented a new haircut to prove it.
Christened the 'Glitterati', it comes fresh from the catwalks of the London, Milan and Paris fashion shows.
The key principle of the short look is neatly sculpted and perfectly waved hair swept across the forehead.
Women's Wear Daily covers the recent fashion makeover of singer-songwriter Ben Harper.
At the Huffington Post, Mike Miley recaps 2007 in film.
Rob Sheffield, author of Love Is a Mixtape, talks to C-VILLE.
Sheffield’s Charlottesville ties are still strong, and maybe that’s how local post-punkers Bucks and Gallants made it into a November Rolling Stone spread depicting the “Indie Rock Universe” (which has caused controversy for being coupled with Camel Cigarettes advertising). When we posed this to Sheffield, he laughed. “There are a lot of Bucks and Gallants fans, you know?” he says. “They played this phenomenal gig in Brooklyn [in 2006]. It was definitely the most fun that I had at any gig all that summer.”
Prefix interviews Tim Kasher of the Good Life.
Like his Saddle Creek compatriot Conor Oberst, Kasher has recently moved out of Omaha -- Oberst to New York, Kasher to Los Angeles -- and it may be that his new locale has put the question of authenticity into his head. His interest in writing screenplays, he says, predates the move. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do forever,” he says. “If I wasn’t doing that, I was writing songs. I was trying to get as much narration out of songs as I could. But with every record, you just feel the confines of it. It’s great, now, writing things narratively that are more complete, because it makes the songwriting less frustrating.”
The New York Times reviews and excerpts the first chapter from 30 Ways of Looking at Hillary: Reflections by Women Writers.
Cigar Aficionado offers a cigar quote primer.
"Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds."
–Wallace Stevens, "The Emperor of Ice-Cream"
The Village Voice examines the effects the hit Juno soundtrack has had on singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson.
Yes, Kimya suddenly has a lot more friends. Too many, perhaps. By the time you read this, the relentlessly childlike, cringingly sincere thirtysomething folk singer may be the driving engine behind Billboard's No. 1 album. This is gonna feel really, really weird. For everyone—and particularly for her.
Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields talks to the New York Times about his latest album, Distortion.
Like many of Mr. Merritt’s projects it is bounded by a theme, described in its title. “I always have to put strictures on myself because otherwise the possibilities are too unlimited,” Mr. Merritt said. (The song titles on “i,” from 2004, all begin with the letter I.) “Distortion” is more self-consciously pop than much of his earlier work, though the melodies are tucked under layers of feedback. Its 13 songs are built around piano, accordion, cello and guitar, looped through ad hoc feedback devices, like cigarette-pack amplifiers tied to the instruments with shoelaces. He rejected the easy way out — using a distortion box — because it sounded “cheesy,” he said.
The Boston Globe, New York Sun and Washington Times review the album.
Spinner features Earlimart with an in-studio performance and interview.
Publishers Weekly lists the 2008 winners of the Caldecott and Newberry awards for children's literature.
NME reports that Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler supports Barack Obama for the US Democratic presidential nomination.
Comics Should Be Good lists its best comics of 2007.
ZB's A-Z of J-Music is a music blog devoted to indie Japanese music.
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 online music lists
Daily Downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases
tags: music books popculture indie news
