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September 4, 2008
Shorties
Hour interviews singer-songwriter Angela Desveaux.
Hour: What is the underlying story/theme behind the new record?
Angela Desveaux: The title track, The Mighty Ship, is a song about my grandmother losing her first husband at sea. She was quite young and had a three-month-old baby at the time. These tragic events weren't uncommon in those parts of Nova Scotia, a small coastal village called Cheticamp, and as a result, it makes the people stronger... I think a lot of the tunes on this album reflect situations that put the human heart to the test.
MiX offers an autumn music playlist.
The Globe and Mail profiles Airborne Toxic Event.
Jollett calls the 10 songs a carefully ordered series of "pits and valleys and revelations."
The literal telling of tough tales - every story on the record is as it happened, not just Sometime - was in part inspired by Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Roth, whose works Jollett read while holed up in a desert ranch working on The Great Novel.
"These guys, so much about what they do is about trying to find some beauty in some of the darker moments," Jollett said.
"I don't know if you've ever read Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth. He finds a way to make pissing on his ex-lovers' grave this super-romantic image. That takes some serious mental gymnastics. ..."
Popmatters interviews Alan Sparhawk of Low and Retribution Gospel Choir.
Postcard.fm lets you send audio e-mail postcards to your friends.
Authonomy is a social network for writers from publisher HarperCollins.
Peter Murphy's Blog of Revelations interviews comics legend Alan Moore.
“But there’s something about the Hollywood thought process that I think will forever elude me. The reason that things are done or not done never seems to have any connection to any sort of reality that I recognize. That’s why I actively dissuade any contact with Hollywood."
Drowned in Sound creates a summer '08 music megamix.
Time interviews Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the novel, American Wife.
It's clear when you read the book that it's about the first couple, but it feels equally like a book about relationships and how you fall in love and how your character forms.
I agree one hundred percent. And if I'd wanted to write a book that was a hatchet job on Laura Bush — if that was my big goal — I could have made it 200 pages. But I wanted to explore the human heart much more than I wanted to explore politics. Some people have said to me, why did you not write more about Charlie Blackwell's political ascension and his becoming governor, and the campaign, and I feel like there are excellent books out there on political campaigns and mine wouldn't add anything to the mix. There are so many people who are so much better qualified to write about politics than I am.
Independent Weekly offers a shortlist of artists for Rick Rubin to possibly resurrect.
USA Today previews fall's anticipated bestselling books.
Weekly Dig interviews David Berman of the Silver Jews.
The Independent Weekly examines the appeal of remixes to indie music fans and artists.
Remixing has long been de rigeur in most electronic/ dance genres and hip-hop. It's been embraced by mainstream rock bands, too, especially electronically inclined ones: Radiohead, Bjork and Nine Inch Nails all have extensive remixes in their catalogs, many of them by amateurs and fans. Indeed, the remix is often seen as a way not only to sell more records or iTunes singles but also to increase fans' sense of investment in a band. Many bands offer contests between fans. Deliver the best remix, for instance, and win free tickets. In that, the remix form is just about the most populist genre imaginable, which raises the question: Why did it take indie rock, a nominally populist genre, so long to catch up with it?
In the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg interviews Michael Chabon about Sarah Palin.
Jeffrey Goldberg: Isn't it great that Michael Palin's sister is running for vice president?
Michael Chabon: Jeffrey, I fear it might actually be kind of sad that I had exactly the same thought when I first heard her name. At least we can safely assume, at this point, that Governor Palin fully appreciates the deep wisdom contained in that old axiom: nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Dane101 interviews Rachel Nagy of the Detroit Cobras.
NPR's All Things Considered excerpts from Brad Meltzer's latest novel, The Book of Lies, and also talks to the author about the book.
Brad Meltzer jokes that his new novel, The Book of Lies, is a "vain attempt to gain hair and youth." The book, which threads together the biblical story of Cain and Abel with the actual details of Superman creator Jerry Siegel's life — explores, among other things, the origin of the iconic comic book character.
Nerve interviews Graham Vickers, author of Chasing Lolita: How Popular Culture Corrupted Nabokov's Little Girl All Over Again.
Why do you think our culture has focused on Lolita instead of Humbert?
Humbert is wonderfully invisible, isn't he? He's a series of attitudes and cerebral musings. And why would people find a middle-aged European a more interesting cliche than what they imagine to be a sexually charged teenager?
Tumbltape turns Tumblr blogs into music playlists.
Glen Campbell performs cover songs at WXPN's World Cafe.
Dolphin Music lists the top 100 music related blogs.
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
