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May 28, 2010
Shorties (Grizzly Bear, Jonathan Franzen, and more)
The Guardian profiles Grizzly Bear.
The New Yorker features a new short story by Jonathan Franzen.
The New York Times reviews Evgenia Citkowitz's short story collection, Ether.
"Our best recyclers are in California," declares one of the characters in Evgenia Citkowitz’s coruscating story collection. "That sadly includes its writers." Meant as a barb, it's also an archly self-deprecating gesture, since Citkowitz happens to live in California. But, really, what writer doesn’t recycle? Although Citkowitz trawls familiar territory (a schoolgirl engineers a sexual encounter with a teacher; a blocked writer marries a starlet half his age; an aimless, privileged woman is abandoned by her husband), what she does with this material is unexpected and often startling.
Paper Cuts interviews Citkowitz.
Read Citkowitz's Largehearted Boy music playlist essay about the book.
American Songwriter lists its 10 most anticipated Bonnaroo acts.
Singer-songwriter Diane Birch puts her iPod on shuffle for the Boston Globe.
Heard Mentality recommends six protest songs to support Zack de la Rocha's boycott of Arizona.
Starbucks is giving away 10 free mp3s via iTunes.
The Hold Steady's Craig Finn tells the Daily Record he'd like to hold a Last Waltz-like concert.
"That would be really fun," he said. "It's something I have always had in the back of my mind. The Band played at such a level of musicianship, they were the perfect backing group for so many people. The Hold Steady have got to a place where it would be fun to do something like that."
The Albany Times Union profiles Phantogram.
In a world with more outlets than ever before offering ways to distribute music, it takes a unique sound to stand out. Headquartered in a barn in rural Easton, Phantogram combines ethereal drum loops and spacey vocals with straight ahead guitar and keyboards. Barthel said their influences -- Serge Gainsbourg, Detroit hip hop and even the Talking Heads -- are in their records, but the truth is their song "Mouthful of Diamonds" doesn't sound like any other music on your iPod. As film buffs, Barthel said they write songs that are soundtracks for imaginary movies.
West Coast Sound lists the 10 strangest covers of Michal Jackson's "Billie Jean."
The Wall Street Journal interviews Aimee bender about her new novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.
The Arcade Fire's Win and Will Butler talk to Morning Edition about the band's forthcoming album, The Suburbs (out August 3rd).
Morning Edition interviews singer-songwriter Josh Ritter about his new album, So Runs the World Away.
The Guardian ponders the iPad's effects on reading, writing, and publishing.
Esquire excerpts from Bret Easton Ellis's new novel, Imperial Bedrooms.
Name your favorite song of 2010 and win a $100 Threadless gift certificate and a CD of Sleigh Bells' Treats album in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
