largehearted boy: a boy, a girl, and his radio

February 7, 2012

Try It Before You Buy It - February 7th, 2012 Music Releases

Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal mp3 downloads and full album streams from the week's music releases:

Air: Le Voyage Dans La Lune
full album stream

Bahamas: Barchords
full album stream

Ben Kweller: Go Fly a Kite
full album stream

Big Sir: Before Gardens After Gardens
full album stream

Continue reading "Try It Before You Buy It - February 7th, 2012 Music Releases"

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February 7, 2012

Shorties (The London of Charles Dickens, Liam Finn, and more)

CNN takes a tour of Dickensian London.

PopMatters interviews singer-songwriter Liam Finn.

"It became a philosophy of mine, of trying to capture the music in the same way you might record a demo," he said, explaining, "When you start to write a song and you record it on a little four-track, quite often, you catch an atmosphere and those weird sonic things that make it very hard to recreate in a studio. But those sounds—that's where it becomes unique." He added, "You can write a really nice little pop song, but it’s the way that you color it in and, I guess, subvert it that makes it unique to you. I think what makes people latch onto it in a different way."

The Telegraph recommends new novels that recast Oliver Twist for children.

NPR is streaming the new Field Music album, Plumb (out February 14th).

Robert Harris talks to Morning Edition about his new thriller, The Fear Index.

"I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power," he says. "And now I think that if you want to write about power, go and look at computers, go and look at the financial markets. It seems to me ... that's nearer the cutting edge of what's guiding our lives now than conventional political parties."

The Record explores Madonna's musical legacy.

Madonna, ever the feminizing force in pop, is doing what all queen dowagers do: turning the world's attention to her heirs.

My Name Is Not Bob lists the best blogs for writers to read in 2012.

Drowned in Sound interviews Dylan baldi of the Cloud Nothings about the band's new album, Attack on Memory.

Comic Alliance interviews the former Pizza Island cartoonists (Kate Beaton, Domitille Collardey, Sarah Glidden, Meredith Gran, Lisa Hanawalt, Deana Sobel and Julia Wertz) about their future plans.

On sale for $3.99 at Amazon MP3: Air's new album Le Voyage Dans La Lune.

In the New York Times, authors Donald Antrim, Chad Harbach and Susan Orlean discuss the appeal of sports in our society.

Win Sharon Van Etten's new album Tramp and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.

Amazon MP3 has 100 digital albums on sale for $5.

Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)

List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists

100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists

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Daily Downloads (The Unthanks, Ani DiFranco, and more)

Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Ani DiFranco: "Which Side Are You On" [mp3] from Which Side Are You On
search for more Ani DiFranco posts at Largehearted Boy

Denison Witmer: "Brooklyn" [mp3] from The Ones Who Wait (out March 6th)
search for more Denison Witmer posts at Largehearted Boy

Diehard: free and legal 4-track Old Habits covers EP [mp3]
search for more Diehard posts at Largehearted Boy

Jay Farrar/Yim Yames/Anders Parker/Will Johnson: "Old LA" [mp3] from New Multitudes: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie (out February 28th)
search for more Jay Farrar/Yim Yames/Anders Parker/Will Johnson posts at Largehearted Boy

Lux: "The Window" [mp3] from We Are Not the Same (out April 3rd)
search for more Lux posts at Largehearted Boy

Orienteers: "Regret (New Order cover)" [mp3]
search for more Orienteers posts at Largehearted Boy

Sourpatch: "Cynthia Ann" [mp3] from Stagger and Fade (out February 28th)
search for more Sourpatch posts at Largehearted Boy

Susurrus Station: "Play the Fool" [mp3] from Antinomie (out April 17th)
Susurrus Station: "Keep Up Your Spirits" [mp3] from Antinomie (out April 17th)
search for more Susurrus Station posts at Largehearted Boy

The Unthanks: "Lullaby for Hamza (Robert Wyatt cover)" [mp3] from The Songs Of Robert Wyatt And Antony & The Johnsons, Live From The Union Chapel (Diversions Vol. 1)
search for more Unthanks posts at Largehearted Boy

Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:

Grandfather: 2012-02-01, Brooklyn [mp3]
search for more Grandfather posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists

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February 6, 2012

This Week's Interesting Music Releases - February 7th, 2012

Sharon Van Etten's Tramp has spent more time in my headphones than any other 2012 release so far, and at this point is by far my favorite release of the young year.

Air's soundtrack to the 1902 silent film Le Voyage Dans La Lune, A Place To Bury Strangers' Onwards to the Wall EP, Bahamas' Barchords, The Twilight Sad's No One Can Ever Know, and The Unthanks' The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons: Live at the Union Chapel (Diversions Vol. 1).

The reissue highlights are five Queen albums (Innuendo, A Kind of Magic, em>Made in Heaven, The Miracle, and The Works ) all with additional CDs of bonus material.

What new releases are you picking up this week? What can you recommend? Have I left anything noteworthy off the list?

This week's interesting music releases:

also at Largehearted Boy:

other weekly CD & DVD release lists

List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists

100 online sources for free and legal music downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's CD releases)

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This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - February 7th, 2012

Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey Season 2 (Original U.K. Unedited Edition) is easily the week's DVD highlight for me.

Other television shows include the animated Rocko's Modern Life: Season Two.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I, the historical Shakespeare drama Anonymous and the comedy A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas are the most anticipated theatrical films.

The More Business of Being Born is a documentary that picks up where its predecessor left off examining the childbirth industry in the United States.

Nine Types of Light is a collection of music videos for TV on the Radio's album of the same name.

On Blu-ray this week the Criterion Collection the Chris Marker films La Jetee/Sans Soleil on Blu-ray, and many classic movies like It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Love Story are also available.

What new releases are you picking up or adding to your streaming queue this week?

This week's interesting DVD releases:

Anonymous
Bizarre Foods: Collection 5, Part 2
Breaking Man
Brontes of Haworth
Casino Royale (1967) [Blu-ray]
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2
Coming & Going
Cyberbully
Dangerous Liaisons [Blu-ray]
Day of the Dead 3D [Blu-ray]
Deadmau5: Meowingtons Hax 2K11
The Elephant in the Living Room
Ethos: A Time for Change
Father Dowling Mysteries: The First Season
Fireflies in the Garden
A Fish Called Wanda [Blu-ray]
Gasaraki Complete Series DVD Collection
Geek Charming
Hell's Kitchen: Season 6 Raw & Uncensored
Holy Smoke!
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World [Blu-ray]
The Jazz Singer (Jerry Lewis) (1959)
K-ON!
Karen Cries On The Bus
Knuckle
La Jetee/Sans Soleil (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Lady and the Tramp (Diamond Edition Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)
Laramie - The Second Season
Last Man Standing
Lindsey Buckingham with Special Guest Stevie Nicks: Live
Love Story [Blu-ray]
Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey Season 2 (Original U.K. Unedited Edition)
Masterpiece Classic: Far From the Madding Crowd
Metal Shifters
Mobile Suit Gundam Complete Collection 2 (Anime Legends)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Complete First Season
More Business of Being Born
New Tricks: Series 6
Nine Types of Light
Northern Lights: The Complete Collection
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
Police Woman: Complete Second Season
Poolboy: Drowning Out the Fury
Project Nim
Rebound
The Reunion
Rocko's Modern Life: Season Two
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings The Complete Series (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
The Song of Lunch
A Star is Born (Kino Classics Edition) [Blu-ray]
Steve Coogan Live
Stormhouse
Story of a Love Affair: 2-Disc Special Edition
The Sunset Limited
Super Shark
Time Traveller - The Girl Who Leapt Throught Time
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I
Umphrey's McGee: Live
Vasermil
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
What Happens Next
Xam'd: Lost Memories Complete Collection
Yakuza Weapon

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous weekly music & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)

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Shorties (Stream the New Shearwater Album, Alan Hollinghurst on The Stranger's Child, and more)

NPR is streaming the new Shearwater album, Animal Joy (out February 14th).

Alan Hollinghurst talks to The Australian about his latest novel, The Stranger's Child.

"I think I always play games with putting bits of myself in different (characters)," Hollinghurst says. "I don't think I've ever . . . well, I know I've never written a character who sort of was me."

TIME recommends the top 10 non-Dickens books for Charles Dickens fans.

Former 120 Minutes host Matt Pinfield lists his favorite NYC music venues at the New York Post.

The Millions interviews interviews Ben Marcus about his new novel, The Flame Alphabet.

Ad Hoc, a new music blog collective and community headed by the former editors of Altered Zones, is raising funds via Kickstarter.

The Book Bench offers a primer to the works of author Roberto Bolano.

Drowned in Sound interviews of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes.

An interactive map of Charles Dickens' London.

Win Sharon Van Etten's new album Tramp and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.

Amazon MP3 has 100 digital albums on sale for $5.

Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)

List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

Daily Downloads (Hospitality, Leland Sundries, and more)

Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Admiral Fallow: "Delivered (alternative version)" [mp3]
search for more Admiral Fallow posts at Largehearted Boy

The Coathangers: "Smother" [mp3] from The Coathangers/Davila 666 split
search for more Coathangers posts at Largehearted Boy

Guy Capecelatro III: "Girlfriends" [mp3] from North for the Winter (out february 21st)
search for more Guy Capecelatro III posts at Largehearted Boy

Leland Sundries: "Apparition" [mp3] from The Foundry EP (out February 21st)
search for more Leland Sundries posts at Largehearted Boy

Oy Vey: "When I Was Young" [mp3] from Recession Girls (out February 14th)
search for more Oy Vey posts at Largehearted Boy

Roomtone: "Your Golden Crown" [mp3] from Turkish Saddle
search for more Roomtone posts at Largehearted Boy

Softoft Techech: "Sonic Tooth" [mp3] from Softoft Techech EP (out February 27th)
search for more Softoft Techech posts at Largehearted Boy

Stars in Coma: "Dismantle Your Heart" [mp3] from Midnight Puzzle (out April 24th on CD, February 27th digitally)
search for more Stars in Coma posts at Largehearted Boy

The Sugarettes: "Destroyers of Worlds" [mp3] from Destroyers of Worlds
search for more Sugarettes posts at Largehearted Boy

We Are the Woods: "Ballet Shoes" [mp3]search for more We Are the Woods posts at Largehearted Boy

Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:

Hospitality: 2012-020-03, Brooklyn [mp3]
search for more Hospitality posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

February 5, 2012

LHB Weekly Wrap-Up - February 4th

A list of the past week's Largehearted Boy features:

Book Notes: (authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates to their book)

Alan Glynn for his novel Bloodland
Courtney Talor-Taylor for his graphic novel One Model Nation
Hanne Blank for her book Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality
Steve Erickson for his novel These Dreams of You

Contests:

Win Sharon Van Etten's new album Tramp! and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate

Weekly New Book Recommendations:

Atomic Books Comics Preview (recommended new comics and graphic novels)
Largehearted Word (recommended new books)

New Music Recommendations:

Try It Before You Buy It (full album streams and mp3s from this week's music releases)
The Week's Interesting Music Releases

New DVD recommendations:

The Week's Interesting DVD Releases

And of course, the daily music and news posts:

Daily Downloads (10 free and legal mp3 downloads every day, plus links to free live recordings online)
Shorties (news & links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)

also at Largehearted Boy:

100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines
Atomic Books Comics Preview
Book Notes
Book Reviews
Contests / Giveaways
Daily Downloads
Largehearted Word
Lists
music & DVD release lists
musician/author Interviews
Note Books
Soundtracked
Try It Before You Buy It
Why Obama

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Contest - Win Sharon Van Etten's New Album Tramp and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate

This week Sharon Van Etten releases her latest studio album, Tramp. Of all the music released so far in 2012, this album is the one I have most recommended to family and friends. To celebrate the album's release I posted a collection of studio tracks and live performances by Sharon Van Etten today.

To enter, name the last musician or band you recommended to friends. If you feel there hasn't been a decent album released since Jethro Tull's Aqualung, feel free to state that.

One winner, chosen randomly from the commenters, will receive the following prizes:

Sharon Van Etten's album Tramp (your choice of mp3, CD or vinyl)

A $100 Threadless gift certificate to buy book-related t-shirts like A Voyage of Discovery, A Book Lover, November Was a Good Month, Brainy Rainbow, or Word!, music-related t-shirts like The Official Guide to Music, Boom Box, Sound of the Dark, or anything else.

The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight ET Friday evening (February 10th).

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy

2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists

100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks (my yearly reading series)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Daily Downloads (daily free and legal music downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)

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Shorties (Liz Phair on Lana Del Rey, John Hodgman on Writing, and more)

At Speakeasy, Liz Phair weighs in on Lana Del Rey.

Rolling Stone asked me to speak about Lana Del Rey. I wanted to know how big my participation in the piece would be–was it substantial or just a quote? Just a quote, they said, to which I replied that I wasn’t super interested. Which was a lie. I have a lot to say about her, but no sound bites. You see, Lana Del Rey is exactly what I was hoping to inspire when I took on the male rock establishment almost twenty years ago with my debut record, "Exile In Guyville."

The Morris Sun-Tribune interviews author/actor John Hodgman.

Sun Tribune: How did you make the jump from literary agent to writer and comedian?

John Hodgman: I was a literary agent, but I always wanted to be a writer. I always wanted to write sincere short stories. I appreciated that no one wanted to really buy those things, so I took a job in book publishing in order to work with writers.

As I was working in book publishing and representing people, I got an e-mail from Dave Eggers who was starting a literary journal on a website, McSweeney's. I started to write little missives from the world of book publishing in which I portrayed a completely deranged literary agent who was not very far from the truth. I really enjoyed writing these things because book publishing was and is an extremely bizarre, backward, tie-bound industry with a lot of eccentrics in it, and I got to enjoy being one of them.

All Things Considered interviews Sharon Van Etten about her new album, Tramp (out Tuesday).

Just Like Honey is covers compilation (of versions of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey) that benefits a good cause, Breast Cancer Care.

The Los Angeles Times profiles Best Coast.

Best Coast's untitled new album is set for a mid-May release on the Mexican Summer label and will include deeply personal songs by Cosentino, balancing the kind of sunny, fuzzy tunes that dominated the debut with quieter ballads of melancholy and reflection on the whirlwind of the band's last two years as fast-rising indie-rock stars.

At the Huffington Post, creative writing professors answer questions about their craft.

The Independent asks members of four bands (Wilco, The Black Keys, The Alabama Shakes, and EMA) about the future of guitar rock.

The Observer examines the recent resurgence in interest in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

RA previews March's top 10 music festivals worldwide.

Scotland on Sunday interviews the man behind the fake Cormac McCarthy Twitter account.

Pretty Much Amazing recaps January's best albums and singles.

Weekend Edition looks back on 200 years of Charles Dickens.

On sale for $3.99 today at Amazon MP3: Madonna's greatest hits collection Celebration.

Author Henry Miller's 11 commandments.

Weekend Edition interviews singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster.

Pop Culture Happy Hour interviews NPR Books editor Parul Sehgal.

Amazon MP3 has 100 digital albums on sale for $5.

Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)

List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

Daily Downloads (Sharon Van Etten)

Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.

Sharon Van Etten releases her new album Tramp on Tuesday.

To celebrate the occasion, here are 13 live performances and five studio tracks from one of my favorite singer-songwriters.

Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:

Sharon Van Etten: 2011-04-16, Brooklyn [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2011-04-14, Boston [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2011-01-08, New York [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2010-10-08, New York [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2010-08-02, Brooklyn [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2009-12-15, New York [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2009-11-07, Brooklyn [mp3]
Sharon Van Etten: 2009-01-11, New York [mp3]
search for more Sharon Van Etten posts at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

February 4, 2012

Shorties (Sherman Alexie, Sharon Van Etten, and more)

The Believer features a conversation between author Sherman Alexie and singer-songwriter Neko Case.

The Washington Post profiles singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, whose new album Tramp is released Tuesday.

The Christian Science Monitor lists 10 sequels based on a famous book.

Singer-songwriter Cass McCombs visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

William Boyd talks to the Telegraph about his new novel, Waiting for Sunrise.

Book Stalker interviews Caryn Rose about author readings.

Dose.ca profiles the band First Aid Kit.

Like many of the songs on First Aid Kit's second album, The Lion's Roar, current single "Emmylou" rings with a bittersweet tune, carried by pedal steel and acoustic guitar. The closely blended voices of sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg are one key reason why the piece stands above so much modern folk-pop. The song's sweet and simple chorus is another -- a dual tribute to the joy of making music with a partner, and the artists who've inspired them to do so: "I'll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June, if you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny, too," the sisters sing of classic C&W duet duos Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, June Carter and Johnny Cash. "Just sing, little darling, sing with me."

At Speakeasy, writer and bookseller Emma Straub offers tips for author readings.

Now, about the reading itself. I can count the times on one hand—no, make that one finger, and name it Colm Toibin—where an author has read for forty minutes and no one has fallen asleep. Call me dictatorial, but I don’t think anyone should read for longer than twenty minutes, maybe thirty if you’ve recently won a Pulitzer Prize.

NPR is streaming video of a live performance by The Kills.

David Finch talks to All Things Considered about his new memoir The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband.

"It was very cathartic. It was this unbelievable moment of self-recognition," David Finch tells NPR's Melissa Block. "It gave me such insight into who I am, how my mind works and why certain things have been such a challenge."

Amazon MP3 has 100 digital albums on sale for $5.

Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)

List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

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February 7, 2012

Try It Before You Buy It - February 7th, 2012 Music Releases

February 7, 2012

Shorties (The London of Charles Dickens, Liam Finn, and more)

Daily Downloads (The Unthanks, Ani DiFranco, and more)

February 6, 2012

This Week's Interesting Music Releases - February 7th, 2012

This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - February 7th, 2012

Shorties (Stream the New Shearwater Album, Alan Hollinghurst on The Stranger's Child, and more)

Daily Downloads (Hospitality, Leland Sundries, and more)

February 5, 2012

LHB Weekly Wrap-Up - February 4th

Contest - Win Sharon Van Etten's New Album Tramp and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate

Shorties (Liz Phair on Lana Del Rey, John Hodgman on Writing, and more)

Daily Downloads (Sharon Van Etten)

February 4, 2012

Shorties (Sherman Alexie, Sharon Van Etten, and more)

Sponsors


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