Largehearted Boy: Shorties (Seamus Heaney, Neko Case, and more)

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July 19, 2009

Shorties (Seamus Heaney, Neko Case, and more)

The Observer profiles Irish poet Seamus Heaney.

With three score years and ten behind him, Heaney is in a quasi-mystical mood, ready to take stock of his life and to address the question of growing old as a poet. "The problem as you get older," he says, "is that you become more self-aware. At the same time you have to surprise yourself. There's no way of arranging the surprise, so it is tricky. You're either obsessed or you're surprised. There's no halfway house."

LexGo.com interviews singer-songwriter Neko Case.

"I don't want to be ghetto ized by some term like 'alternative country,'" Case told me before that performance. "I've listened to country music growing up, and that's the music I want to play. I don't feel I have to justify it by saying it's 'alternative' or anything else."

The Sacramento Bee profiles Dengue Fever.

Dengue Fever might just be the only band in the United States that has serious cred on the streets of Phnom Penh. That's because the band has stayed true to the Cambodian style of rock. And its synthesis of East meets West has also earned a loyal following on L.A. streets.

The Toronto Star reviews two books about indie culture, Kaya Oakes' Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture and Bill Wasik's And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture.

Plugged In is counting down the top 50 albums of the "aughts."

Film Director Wes Anderson talks music with This Recording.

Poet Thax Douglas is alive and well.

USA Today is posting an exclusive Superman serial comic.

The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests summer reading for young adults.

Some bargains at Amazon MP3:

The Bird And The Bee's 5-track Please Clap Your Hands EP
Fiery Furnaces' 12-track I'm Going Away for $3.99
Rx Bandits' 12-track Mandala for $2.99
Tori Amos's 17-track Abnormally Attracted To Sin for $2.99

BBC News reports that Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys is unhappy with the termination of Top of the Pops.

An mp3 download of Patterson Hood's solo performance has been added to the 2009 Bonnaroo show downloads page.

NPR features a streaming live set from the reunited Meat Puppets.

Aquarium Drunkard recaps day two of the Pitchfork Music Festival. NPR's All Songs Considered is also covering the event.