« older | Main Largehearted Boy Page | newer »
August 25, 2009
Shorties (Margaret Atwood, Imogen Heap, and more)
Author Margaret Atwood is blogging her book tour for The Year of the Flood.
The Telegraph interviews singer-songwriter Imogen Heap about her new album, Ellipse.
I am intrigued by your existence outside the pop limelight. You get lots of songs on films and TV shows, and you have a huge presence on the internet, but you’ve never had an old fashioned hit record.
It’s a fantastic place to be as an artist, as a musician, cause you don’t have to worry about having a radio hit. I haven’t had to worry about that since the success of ‘Let Go’ (by Frou Frou, a duo with producer Guy Sigsworth) in the film ‘Garden State’ (in 2004). That’s the thing that made the biggest impact ever. I love that song but it would never have been a hit single. The revelation that a song can have a life outside of the charts is creatively liberating.I can really enjoy exploring different areas musically, not having to worry if it is up-tempo enough, short enough, or catchy enough for radio. I don’t have to worry about radio programmers thinking ‘is this right for our audience?’. All I need to concern myself with is the song itself and making it as good as it can be.
I Like Music interviews Charlie Fink of Noah and the Whale about the band's album and film, The First Days of Spring.
A.V. Twin Cities interviews Throw Me the Statue's Scott Reitherman.
The Louisville Courier-Journal profiles the Great Lake Swimmers.
In 2001, Dekker formed Great Lake Swimmers, filling out his folk songs with a complete band but retaining the music's rural, demure aesthetic. Great Lake Swimmers — which plays with Cracker and Will Hoge at this week's Waterfront Wednesday concert — draws inspiration from Dekker's earliest memories of music, growing up in Wainfleet, Ontario, a small farming town over the Canadian border from Buffalo, N.Y. Dekker's family received just a single AM radio station clearly, one that played old country and early rock music — Buddy Holly, Hank Williams.
Ars Technica lists ways to discover new and interesting music online.
Rolling Stone examines why the Beatles really broke up.
NPR is streaming in its entirety first disc of the New Lost City Ramblers 3-CD compilation, Volume 1: The Early Years, 1958-1962 from Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go?.
Chicago Subtext lists three books that feature Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz.
Bill Callahan talks to Filter.
In 2007, Bill Callahan released his first record under his own name. Prior to that, he’d released 11 full-lengths under the title “Smog,” a moniker that suggests a dirty, hazy outlook on life. For years, he’s been a cult-followed singer-songwriter and admits that something as simple as changing his name might have wrinkled the noses of some of his clingier fans. “I have met people who have named their horses and dogs ‘Smog,’” Callahan says. “I wonder if they changed the animals’ names to Bill Callahan, too.”
Gadling lists 10 musical destinations that will "rock your world."
Paste lists ten songs inspired by books.
Stop Smiling shares a William S. Burroughs interview excerpt from 1966 as part of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch's publication.
RockFREE is an online, free Guitar Hero-like game.
The blog of Dublin's Chapters Bookstore interviews Peter Murphy, author of one of the year's best novels, John the Revelator.
Follow me on Twitter for links that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
tags: music books popculture indie news
