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July 30, 2008
Shorties
Paste interviews Frank Black.
Paste: What made you want to take the Black Francis name again last year? Is it a name recognition thing, a throwback to the time you spent with the Pixies?
Black: Part of it’s name recognition. You may have lots of people who know you as Frank Black, but there’s an army of fans out there who know you as Black Francis. But it’s risky, because it’s a name I haven’t used in about 15 years. It’s a personal thing too, because I feel like there’s a different energy when I use the name.
Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste talks to Velocity Weekly about the live debut of the band's song, "Two Weeks," on The Late Show with David Letterman.
"It was a bit strange debuting a song on late night TV, nobody having heard it, never having done it live in front of people, only us in our rehearsal space," Droste said the day after. "So we were more on edge than usual, but after a shot of tequila, everyone's nerves calmed a bit."
Radar lists ten notable instances when music and politics collided.
The New Republic profiles singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo.
The Charleston City Paper profiles Amos Lee.
Bursting with soul-filled enthusiasm and Al Green-styled flair, songwriter Amos Lee's new album Last Days at the Lodge is filled with thought-provoking lyrics — the kind sure to make fans sink helplessly into their seats. Last Days at the Lodge reminds the pop world that just because Hannah Montana is selling out arenas, true artists are still as abundant as ever.
The Chicago Daily Herald previews the Lollapalooza music festival.
ReadWriteWeb lists lessons business startups can learn from author Haruki Murakami.
Drowned in Sound interviews Ladyhawke's Pip Brown.
In the Guardian, Danny Fingeroth lists the top ten graphic novels.
Cracked lists the 6 worst comic book super-husbands.
Exclaim! interviews Fleet Foxes singer Robin Peckold.
For you, what comes first? The lyrics or the music?
Again, it all depends on the song. I think some of the songs are more lyrics focused and then it comes first and the music is built around the lyrics but then on the songs where we want to do a song that’s musical and has a lot of changes, you can’t have the lyrics done first until you have all the structure of the song worked out. So some of the songs have them first and some come after the music is in place.
Liz Phair talks to Billboard about recording her new album.
"They literally look at me and say, 'Here's your budget, don't go over, bring us something good,"' she says. "It's a f---ing mind-bending experience after the last 14 years."
AfterEllen examines the "chick lit" label.
The Cleveland Free Times profiles Gogol Bordello and the band's frontman, Eugene Hutz.
Hutz fled to the Ukraine as a teenager, in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, and it was along that path that he discovered his family came from gypsy stock, a revelation that would shape his growth as a traveling musician/artist/actor. After a succession of refugee camps, his family ultimately immigrated to Vermont, but Hutz made his way to New York City very quickly and began forging a musical identity based on the punk sounds he loved as a teenager and the ethnic music that had surrounded him all his life. He would eventually christen this sound “gypsy-punk cabaret.”
http://www.freetimes.com/stories/15/65/gogol-bordello
The National Post offers plot synopses for the novels shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker prize.
The Daily Mail shares the opening odds for the prize.
Chicken Spaghetti is a litblog about "books for children and the rest of us, too."
Drowned is Sound has opened voting for its "Pluto Prize" for albums not nominated for the Mercury Prize.
The always entertaining Hillary Carlip talks to NPR's Day to Day about her book, A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers.
see also: Carlip's Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay for her memoir, Queen of the Oddballs
Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste talks to Drowned in Sound about music, recording, and gardening.
NPR is streaming Tom Waits' Atlanta performance from earlier this month.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 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
