February 19, 2009
Book Notes - Mary Miller ("Big World")
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published books.
This past weekend I ran a contest asking readers what book they would like to have in a pocket-sized edition. The over 140 responses made me think, what book would I want to slip in my back pocket?
Mary Miller's Big World would be a good choice. At 4"x6", it easily fit in my jeans back pocket and the stories were filled with sharp dialogue and an incredible amount of emotional tension that always brings her humanly flawed characters to life.
Time Out Chicago wrote of the book:
"If you’re not ready to commit to reading e-books on your iPhone, you could practically fit Big World—published as part of Hobart’s Short Flight/Long Drive series—snugly into your iPhone case as a simulation. But putting aside the physical size of the book, inside we find characters confined in small towns and the agonizingly small expectations such places generate."
In her own words, here is Mary Miller's Book Notes essay for her short fiction collection, Big World:
Disclaimer: Most of the music I listen to is circa 1995, the year I graduated high school. Somehow I stopped collecting CDs after this and I'm not very tech-savvy so my iPod holds whatever songs my little brother puts on it, which are pretty good but not very motivating at the gym. My sister is horrified by my CD collection. There's no David Bowie, no whatever else it takes to make a person cool. My collection consists primarily of Ben Folds Five, The Cranberries, The Cure, and Pearl Jam. What I'm saying is that I'm going to try and make this list as decent as possible but it will probably suck. I don't even know enough about music to ensure that it will suck.
"Leak": "Monkey Gone to Heaven" (The Pixies)
According to Wikipedia, this song is about environmentalism but I'm just going to pretend it's about death and heaven and a probably metaphorical monkey since environmentalism was pretty much unheard of in Mississippi in 1989, which is the place and year this story is set, as well as the year of Doolittle's release. I doubt the narrator will listen to The Pixies until about 1993, however, which is also the year she'll start smoking cigarettes and letting boys feel her up after she's had too many wine coolers.
"Even the Interstate Is Pretty": "Fate of the Human Carbine" (Cat Power
I'm obsessed with this song, about a man who comes home from work and turns on the TV: "[He] watches the film about the evening sky/It was someone else's dream." It reminds me to keep writing because I like to write, but also because I don't want to be watching somebody else's dream all the time. The narrator in this story, Audrey, reminds me of the man in the song. A lot of the characters in my stories are like the man in the song—all they can do is sit and watch their lives pass them by.
"Fast Trains": "Jodie" (Saves the Day)
Like the couple in this song, the characters in this story would like to let each other go but can't because they love each other. I don't think I made this clear but they do. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not clear. This is my fault. I love this song. It makes me want to dance in my car. The story doesn't make me want to dance in my car but I like it for reasons I don't want to get into and which you can probably all figure out.
"Pearl": "Westby" (Kathleen Edwards)
Both of these couples are in hotel rooms. The men are both married older drunks and it's basically the exact same scenario except Jillian doesn't steal Robert's watch. Like me, my narrators don't steal. It sort of looks like I stole this song, though. This is eerily creepy: The girl in the song is "a little bleeder with white pants on," and Jillian is also wearing white pants, her period set to start. Maybe this means Kathleen Edwards and I should be best friends forever.
"Aunt Jemima's Old Fashioned Pancakes": "Popular" (Nada Surf)
Leann isn't happy being popular. She's just dumped the boyfriend she likes because he's in the band and her friends can't have their friend dating a band nerd. She's not rich enough or pretty enough and she still uses her childhood spend-the-night bag that has a yellow balloon on it. I was a bit like Leann—trying to find the party but mostly riding around with my friend Ashley eating Junior Whoppers on Friday nights—and then I came to the realization that all my friends were assholes and I hated them and I found some real friends. My life was a lot better after that.
"Temp": "Jolene" (Dolly Parton)
This one is a copout. "Jolene" is playing in the truck while the narrator is on the way to Jason's house and I needed an easy one. I love Dolly Parton. She's just the cutest little peanut. I was going to try and work "Hard Candy Christmas" into this list but it seemed a bit forced. I love the idea of a "hard candy" Christmas, though. It makes me think of poor people with a box of KFC and a styrofoam container of too-smooth mashed potatoes. There, I did it.
"My Brother in Christ": "Bleeders" (The Wallflowers)
I like it when Jakob Dylan sings, "Well I did the best I could I guess/But everything just bleeds." It sounds really cool.
"Big World": "American Girl" (Tom Petty)
"American Girl" makes me want to dance my balls off. I know, I don't have balls. Whatever. I shouldn't have read the lyrics, though, because now all I can think about is the "one little promise she was gonna keep." We never find out what it is, which is a problem, in my opinion. This song reminds me of being an undergraduate in college, dancing to my brother's band at Rick's Cafe in Starkville, Mississippi. I'd hang out backstage and drink free beer and flirt with the drummer because lead singers were too obvious but more importantly not interested. If they had been interested I doubt I would have found them so obvious. Anyway, they'd play this song and my friend Jane and I would go crazy, all of which has nothing to do with "Big World" except that the feel is right. And how perfect is this?: "After all it was a great big world."
"Full": "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (Simple Minds)
Also a copout because this song is mentioned in the story. I'm not crazy about this song even though it makes me want to have an eighties movie festival and hook up with a young Andrew McCarthy.
"Animal Bite": "The Scientist" (Coldplay)
Coldplay reminds me of my ex-husband. He didn't like them, called them coldplate. I think he felt this way about all my music, though he was stuck in the nineties, too. He was just on the Nirvana end of things. This story makes me kind of sad because my ex-husband was a great guy and our lives were sort of like this (minus the messing around with the boss part). I was mostly unemployed and stuck-feeling, which wasn't his fault. It's just the way it was. I'm going to go cry now.
"Not All Who Wander Are Lost": "Sweet Marie" (The Anniversary)
The narrator, Kate, doesn't have "a hole where [her] heart should be." She's just lost, blah, blah, blah. I'm in the process of listening to this song until I can no longer listen to it ever again.
Mary Miller and Big World links:
the author's MySpace page
the publisher's page for the book
Goodreads page for the book
Goodreads page for the author
Esquire review
Time Out Chicago review
HTMLGIANT profile of the author
Storyglossia flash fiction by the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book)
Online "Best Books of 2008" Lists
Largehearted Boy Favorite Novels of 2008
Largehearted Boy Favorite Graphic Novels of 2008
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Why Obama (musicians and authors explain their support of the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music fiction literature short stories
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February 19, 2009
Shorties (Blitzen Trapper, Eugene Mirman, and more)
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle profiles Blitzen Trapper.
Indeed, I hear Bigfoot in the music of Blitzen Trapper, which plays Tuesday at the Bug Jar. I hear darkness, and menace, and the solitude of vast stretches of nature. It is a rock band, but a rough-hewn, low-fi one that finds darker trails than most, with an indie-band's GPS for following the songs to where they lead. Blitzen Trapper put out an album in 2007, Wild Mountain Nation, that earned some critical attention, drawing an audience of "music-nerd type people, people actively seeking out unusual music," Early says. Last fall the band released Furr, drawing further applause. National Public Radio featured the band, and its audience expanded to, as Early puts it, "normal people."
The Telegraph profiles author Anita Brookner.
Clickmusic interviews Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison.
Does brutal honesty in songwriting ever get you into trouble in real life?
Not too much. My mother wasn't too enamoured with the suicide song from the last record though. Writing honestly (and maybe brutally) is really the only way I know how to do it, though this time around my personal life is far too content for me to be focusing on it. People would find it boring, so I'm shifting that focus away somewhat.
In the Charleston Post-Courier, Patterson Hood mentions a possible Drive-By Truckers cartoon.
As far as the future is concerned, Hood and the band are as busy and ambitious as ever. "There could be as many as seven Truckers-related projects on the horizon for the next 15 months," says Hood. "Lot's of shows, Booker T.'s album and some shows with him. Maybe a cartoon and a documentary, which is kinda a cartoon also. I love cartoons."
Ars Technica examines the state of negotiations for internet radio royalties.
Left out in the cold are the pure webcasters, like Pandora. According to The New York Times' tech blog, negotiations had been close to a resolution over the weekend but fell apart because of disagreements over a potential two-tiered pricing structure. Depending on size and income, webcasters might pay either per-song fees or a flat percentage of revenue or expenses. The Times suggests that the smaller Internet broadcasters viewed the fee structure as punishing success—if they managed to grow their business, they'd quickly break through a ceiling and wind up paying much higher royalties for their content.
Pitchfork reports that the Hold Steady will open for the Dave Matthews Band for six shows this June.
The Hartford Courant examines the effect of the bad economy on live music ticket sales.
In the http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-palmer/on-abortion-rape-and-humo_b_166782.html, Amanda Palmer discusses the UK censorship of the video for her song, "Oasis."
I sat down one day in or around 2002 and wrote a tongue-in-cheek, ironic, up-tempo pop song about a girl who got drunk, date raped, and had an abortion. She sings about these things lightly and happily and says that she doesn't care that these things have happened to her because Oasis, her favorite band, have just sent her an autographed photo in the mail. If you cannot sense the irony in this song, you're about two intelligence points above a kumquat.
Amazon MP3 is selling the classic 8-track MC5 album, Kick Out the Jams, for $1.99.
The Guardian profiles Dischord Records as the music label celebrates its 30th anniversary.
nyctaper has mp3s from a Lucero performance earlier this month.
Daytrotter's Thursday session features in-studio mp3s from Greg Laswell.
io9 lists science fiction books that deserve to be films.
Tucson Weekly profiles singer-songwriter A.A. Bondy.
Although he's arriving late to the indie-folk party--Iron & Wine, Cat Power and Will Oldham have already clobbered that pinata--Bondy's influences are more varied and less insular. American Hearts owes as much to Bob Dylan as it does to novelist Cormac McCarthy, filmmaker Guy Maddin and any number of contemporary painters. I say that, because it's these and many other non-musical artists Bondy would prefer to discuss, and because the minimalism he displays in his songwriting has little to do with today's "nu-folk" (or whatever you want to call it). Even Bondy's analogies extend into other media, especially on the issue of why he engineered his own album.
The Frisky notes that mix CDs have become a trendy gift for those in love.
Seattle Weekly interviews Eugene Mirman about his new book, The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life.
Speaking of huge corporations, how did working with a publisher like Harper Collins differ from working with an "indie" label like Sub Pop?
With standup, you hone an act over time and your feedback is your audience. By the time you record an album, you know that most of what you're doing will work. With a book, you're mostly sitting alone and then submitting drafts to an editor or showing what you've written to a small number of friends. They're different, but both great. However, I think working with Sub Pop and Harper isn't really that different necessarily, though I've known the people at Sub Pop much longer, and stay at their houses when I'm in Seattle. That's probably the main difference...I wrote some of my book in the little cabin in back of Megan Jasper's house, but I didn't work on my record in back of Rupert Murdoch's. Still, I've only just begun editing my next Sub Pop album, so Rupert could still invite me to his villa.
NPR's All Songs Considered previews its SXSW coverage.
Amazon MP3 is selling the Grateful Dead's 7-track Wake of the Flood album for $1.99.
Independent Weekly interviews John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats about Jandek.
What did you think about Jandek coming into public to play after 26 years of avoiding it all, especially since your obsession with him had just grown so intense?
I feel weird talking about it because there was a lot of discussion when Jandek played live. People said, "Well, I don't know if he should have done this." And then others, I think rightly, said, "Look, he can do whatever he wants to do. It's his music. It's his f**king business." But at the same time, let's imagine it's 150 years in the future, so we're not talking about a guy who's alive and what he does or doesn't want to do. We're talking about a historical figure now.
The Brooklyn Eagle profiles Grizzly Bear and the band's frontman, Ed Droste.
As something of an elder statesman of the Brooklyn scene (at the very wizened age of 30, no less), where does Droste see things headed? Although “excited about where things are,” Droste—who is an active blogger, provoking a minor imbroglio late last year when he unwittingly posted a leaked track from Animal Collective’s much—anticipated Merriweather Post Pavilion-is equivocal in his praise of the blogosphere, citing its mystifying” elements and going so far as to compare it to high school.
T-shirt of the day: "Rocksteady"
Touch and Go Records will cease new signings and distribution according to Billboard. In a 2006 feature, Pitchfork named the 24 seminal releases by the indie label.
LaundroMatinee features in-studio mp3s and video from Backyard Tire Fire.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Online "best of 2008" music lists
Online "best of 2008" book lists
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
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Daily Downloads (Pomegranates, Throw Me the Statue, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
The Acorn: "Crooked Legs (live n XM Radio)" [mp3] Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: "Beware Your Friend (Skel) (demo)" [m4a] Doctors & Dealers: "On the Dancefloor" [mp3] from Lost Friends And Newfound Habits (out April 21st) Drew Andrews: "I Could Write a Book" [mp3] from Only Mirrors The Fems: "Go to a Party" [mp3] from Go to a Party (reissue) Leopold and His Fiction: "Ain't No Surprise" [mp3] from Ain't No Surprise Pomegranates: "Corriander" [mp3] from Everybody, Come Outside! (out April 21st) Ruby Isle: "Now We Can See (Thermals cover)" [mp3] Throw Me the Statue: "Ship" [mp3] from Purpleface EP Today's free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos available via bittorrent: Fugazi: 1988 demos [flac]* Juana Molina: 2009-02-17, KCRW [flac]* Leonard Cohen: 2009-01-28, Sydney [flac]* Magazine: 2009-02-14, Manchester [flac]* Miranda Lee Richards: 2009-02-10, Los Angeles [flac]* REM: 1982-10-06, New Haven [flac]* Slowdive: 1991, Holding Our Breath demos [flac]* *registration required also at Largehearted Boy: previous mp3 and bittorrent downloads 2008 Lollapalooza downloads Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases) tags: music download indie mp3 bittorrent Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published books. The Rose Variations may be Marisha Chamberlain's debut novel, but her experience as both playwright and poet are evident in this book that captures the mid-70's and the feminist movement of the day through its perfectly drawn imperfect characters. In her own words, here is Marisha Chamberlain's Book Notes essay for her novel, The Rose Variations: Rose Buoyed Up and Cast Down Rose MacGregor, composer, the title character in my novel, lives in music—it's her livelihood and her life. And it's a good thing she's got music, because, as she goes through her variations, trying to get a life and love, she blows it, oh so many times. Trial and error, with an emphasis on error, is her way, and so she is frequently in need of the grief/solace/brokenness/buoying up and casting down that can be found in music. As she packs up from grad school in Philadelphia to go out to her first teaching gig in St. Paul, Minnesota, a place she has never seen, she fortifies herself by listening to Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony, which is more Iowa-related than anything to do with Minnesota, and also Aaron Copland's Ballet, Billy the Kid, which would be, uh, Arizona and New Mexico—the far West, not the Midwest. But she's in a westerly direction. Broke when she arrives in St. Paul, she has only her cello on which to play music: Bach's Suites for Solo Cello, of course, and also solo cello works by Krenek, Bloch and Cassado. With her first teaching paycheck she buys, in addition to lady professor clothes, a tape recorder, ear phones, and blank cassette tapes (this is 1975, before iPod, before Walkman) so she can use a borrowed stereo to make cassettes of recordings in the college library of the Mozart and Verdi requiems, which she plays in her sublet bedroom to help her fall asleep at night, music in tune with her mood after she makes the disastrous mistake of going to bed with her new friend, Alan, a fellow music professor who happens to be gay. When she meets and begins to fall for stone mason Guy Robbin, she staves off making love to him, at least for awhile, by listening to a scratchy recording of Gregorian chants sung by the Benedictine Nuns of St. Cecelia's Abbey, Suffolk England. An English Ladymass by Anonymous Four would suit her mood perfectly, if only it had been in existence then. She lets herself go in Guy's arms, and then it's rock'n'roll and soul: Aretha Franklin, (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman; Carole King, I Feel The Earth Move, Joni Mitchell, You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio, which she plays when Guy is with her. When he's not around, she plays women's music, love songs all about being in love while holding on to independence: Cris Williamson, The Changer and The Changed; Holly Near, You Can Know All I Am. Ah, but she gets pregnant by accident, ends the pregnancy and breaks up with Guy. So she goes for several months playing only minimalist music: Philip Glass, Strung Out. When her teaching job ends and she goes out to the women's communal farm for the summer, the only music available is what they make themselves, but fortunately several excellent musicians there are only too happy to play Rose's work, and so she has the unusual treat of herself being the Top 40 at the farm that summer. Part Two of the novel jumps ahead six years. Rose now has a steady gig now and enough money to listen to whatever she wants. On her Walkman, a mix tape of songs for long distance running: pounding movie theme music from Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. When she falls in love with her piano tuner, Graham, she imagines she's coming down from her high classical music horse to be a simple country girl in love by listening to Bluegrass: the Stanley Brothers, Rank Stranger, and early Emmylou Harris, Too Far Gone. She doesn't really notice that Graham is more into rock of a brainy sort: Talking Heads, Cross-eyed and Painless, Marianne Faithful, Broken English, Neil Young, My My Hey Hey. Where they both can agree, Rose and Graham, is on Bruce Springsteen's album, The River. The hard luck love story in the title song, all five throbbing minutes of it, covers their time together like some sort of strange protection. Marisha Chamberlain and The Rose Variations links: the author's website Mainstream Fiction review The Swivet guest post by the author also at Largehearted Boy: Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book) tags: books music fiction literature novel Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published books. Impetus Press closed its doors late last year year the same week Nick Antosca's second novel was to be published, but luckily for Antosca (and readers everywhere), Word Riot Press quickly stepped in to publish Midnight Picnic. Antosca is one of the country's most promising young writers, and with Midnight Picnic he has produced a modern ghost story as compelling as it is bone-chilling. Jami Attenberg called Midnight Picnic “a thrilling follow-up to his contemplative debut, Fires. His imagination makes an astonishing show in this macabre, bizarre and witty story of ghosts and revenge. Impossible to put down until the extremely satisfying end, Midnight Picnic conjures up the mounting tension of the finest Bradbury story.” In his own words, here is Nick Antosca's Book Notes essay for his novel, Midnight Picnic: Midnight Picnic is a ghost story and the original idea for the novel didn't even involve a ghost. It was something else entirely... it began with an anecdote about a man having to kill his dog after accidentally injuring it. (Also I used to edit college admissions essays for extra money, and I once got one that was about how the applicant had accidentally stomped on his kitten, and then, "to put it out of its misery fast," closed his eyes and stomped on it again, on purpose.) When I was 22, I wrote the first chapter of what would have been that other novel called Midnight Picnic, the chapter that ends with a little boy's bones being found, and then I didn't touch it for a year. Then my friend Helen sent me "3000 Miles" by Tracy Chapman, and I thought of a journey at night, the journey that my characters Bram and Adam would eventually take in the final version of Midnight Picnic. Tracy Chapman - 3000 Miles: This is the song, off Where You Live, that caused Midnight Picnic to exist. It sounds like it's being sung by a ghost, like she got killed--she was one of those "girls who walk alone" who "aren't found for days or weeks," and now, being dead, she's "three thousand miles away." Or maybe the 3,000 miles are in her head. That's the psychological distance she feels from her body when she's being attacked, killed. Like Adam Dovey, the little boy in Midnight Picnic, gets attacked, killed. The best thing about the song is the tone of her voice, the hope which seems undermined by the resignation. (Or is it the other way around... glass-half-empty/full sort of thing.) It made me think of a ghost traveling on dark roads with a sense of resignation. In the book I wrote, it's not the ghost who feels the sense of resignation, it's the ghost's human companion--but that's where I got started. Cat Power - The Moon: This album, The Greatest, came out after I started working on Midnight Picnic, and I listened to it a lot, especially when writing the scenes with Marian. "The Moon" is a weirdly hopeful song, which is unusual for Cat Power, and it reminds me of my ex-girlfriend, who has nothing to do with Midnight Picnic except that she was around when I was writing it. It reminds me of being away late at night, feeling peaceful and hopeful but also eerie and aware that nothing ever really works out. "The moon is not only beautiful/It is so far away"... what does that mean? It means love is unsustainable. What I would do while writing Midnight Picnic in summer 2006 was: Come home from work, go to sleep immediately, wake up at midnight, and write for six hours in the dark, undisturbed, then go to sleep again. It's an extra secret day. Erik Satie - Gymnopedie III: This was the piece I put on repeat and listened to for hours, particularly while revising and, long before that, when writing the first sections of Bram and Adam's long night drive through the deserted countryside. Sometimes I'd wake up the next morning and it would still be playing. It's not as pretty as the first Gymnopedie but it gives you a sense of the eternal. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: One of the greatest soundtracks of all time to one of the greatest films of all time. This came out well after I had finished the first draft of Midnight Picnic, but I listened to it constantly while revising. Certain tracks - "Moving On," for example - were particularly good for the transition between the first and second half of the novel, when Bram and Adam are leaving West Virginia and moving into the afterlife. Others - particularly the hushed, wandering "Counting the Stars" - were good for the more somber scenes later on, scenes filled with the quiet menace of being on the road at night, the sense of being close to death or perhaps having already died. And listening to the soundtrack reminded me of how good the film was, which reminded me of how good any art can be, and what it's worth trying for. Cat Power - Werewolf: Midnight Picnic is partly about revenge. How badly you can want it, how desultory it can be. The creepy, almost apologetic speaker in "Werewolf" is changed into something... a being that creeps through the woods looking for prey, a being that used to be "somebody like you and me." Sometimes if a person does something ugly to me, I hardly notice. But sometimes I want revenge... very badly. I've learned it's better to resist. This song also makes me think of the Jacob Bunny character in Midnight Picnic... he did something awful... now he stalks through the woods, changed forever from the man he used to be. I listened to the song a lot while writing him. Also, I like werewolves, and will one day write the story of a werewolf. Pearl Jam - Fatal: I have no idea what this song is actually about, really, nor am I super anxious to learn (same with many great Pearl Jam songs). It was probably the most important individual song to Midnight Picnic after "3000 Miles," but the words are incidental, except for the title, which I suppose does seem relevant to a book about a little boy who's drowned and an old man who's burned. It's a sorrowful song with a simple, epic guitar riff, and it seemed to perfectly the mood of Midnight Picnic as I saw it. That mood is the mood you would feel if you were overcome by a sense of resignation and you made friends with death in the belief that nothing mattered, but then at the last minute something flickered in you and you changed your mind but were already lost. Nick Antosca and Midnight Picnic links: the author's blog Fantasy & Science Fiction review Bat Segundo Show interview with the author also at Largehearted Boy: Previous Book Notes submissions (authors create playlists for their book) tags: books music fiction literature novel Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Cincinnati CityBeat profiles Alex Lilly and her band, Obi Best Lilly and Obi Best live up to those stellar accolades on Capades, as they seamlessly weave together chirpy dream Pop, ephemeral Electronica, propulsive Indie Rock and expansive Synth Pop, like a Vulcan mind meld of The Cardigans, The Cranberries, Feist and ARS, co-produced by Brian Eno and Todd Rundgren with equal appreciation for quirk and accessibility. Drowned in Sound is profiling Low's career by reviewing the band's albums over the years. AbeBooks lists 30 novels worth buying for the cover alone (I admit to having 13 of these in my library). paidContent.org examines the conflict between digital music companies and music labels. Mania interviews Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Mania: When you and Alan were creating 'Watchmen', did you ever think it would be this big? Gibbons: No, we had worked together before, on '2000 A.D.', I thought there was some chemistry. We just wanted to do something that was longer, and we got the chance to do 'Watchmen', and we just wanted to do the best book that we could. We could never have imagined that it would’ve been collected into a graphic novel. We thought the 12 comics would go in to the back issue bin and that would be the end of it. So even the fact that it’s a graphic novel is amazing. I think if we ‘d known we were doing something that was going to live forever it wouldn’t have been as good. We would’ve been too worried. Play the Watchmen online game. Daytrotter's Wednesday session features in-studio mp3s from Ireland's Bell X1. Southern Shelter is sharing mp3s of an Athens Elf Power show from earlier this month. Today is the last day to enter my contest to with three Harper Perennial Olive Edition classic modern novels.
other Acorn posts at Largehearted Boy
other Bonnie 'Prince' Billy posts at Largehearted Boy
Doctors & Dealers: "Rock 'N' Roll Dream" [mp3] from Lost Friends And Newfound Habits (out April 21st)
other Doctors & Dealers posts at Largehearted Boy
other Drew Andrews posts at Largehearted Boy
other Fems posts at Largehearted Boy
other Leopold and His Fiction posts at Largehearted Boy
other Pomegranates posts at Largehearted Boy
other Ruby Isle posts at Largehearted Boy
other Throw Me the Statue posts at Largehearted Boy
other Fugazi posts at Largehearted Boy
other Juana Molina posts at Largehearted Boy
other Leonard Cohen posts at Largehearted Boy
other Magazine posts at Largehearted Boy
other Miranda Lee Richards posts at Largehearted Boy
REM: 1982-04-14, New Haven [flac]*
REM: 1981-09-23, Athens (with soundcheck) [flac]*
other REM posts at Largehearted Boy
Slowdive: Just for a Day (rough mix) [flac]*
other Slowdive posts at Largehearted Boy
2008 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
other music festival downloads
weekly CD release lists
February 18, 2009
Book Notes - Marisha Chamberlain ("The Rose Variations")
the author's book tour events
the publisher's page for the book
Goodreads page for the book
Goodreads page for the author
LibraryThing page for the book
Shelfari page for the book
Minneapolis Star Tribune review
MORE Magazine review
Publishers Weekly review
Twin Cities Daily Planet review
Online "Best Books of 2008" Lists
Largehearted Boy Favorite Novels of 2008
Largehearted Boy Favorite Graphic Novels of 2008
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Why Obama (musicians and authors explain their support of the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
Book Notes - Nick Antosca ("Midnight Picnic")
the book's page at the publisher
the book's video trailer
GoodReads page for the author
GoodReads page for the book
PopMatters review
Probably Just a Story review
The Scowl review
Bookslut interview with the author
Identity Theory profile of the author
Largehearted Boy Book Notes music playlist for Fires by the author
MOBYLIVES interview with the author
Online "Best Books of 2008" Lists
Largehearted Boy Favorite Novels of 2008
Largehearted Boy Favorite Graphic Novels of 2008
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Why Obama (musicians and authors explain their support of the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
Shorties (Obi Best, Morrissey, and more)
Amazon MP3 is selling Morrissey's new 12-track Years of Refusal album for only $3.99.
SF Weekly shares 25 unknown facts about 2009 Noise Pop artists.
MusicTwitters.com aggregates Twitter posts from indie musicians, labels, and bloggers.
Seattlest has the 2009 Sasquatch Festival lineup.
Amazon MP3 is offering a free 4-track Stax Records sampler album.
TIME's list of 2009's top 25 blogs includes one of my favorite music websites, Said the Gramophone.
WNYC features a solo in-studio performance by M. Ward.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Online "best of 2008" music lists
Online "best of 2008" book lists
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
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Daily Downloads (Faunts, Plants and Animals, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Drive-By Truckers: 2008-03-26, New York [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Rebels (Tom Petty cover)" [mp3]
other Drive-By Truckers posts at Largehearted Boy
Dylan Connor: "Breakaway & Burn" [mp3] from Breakaway Republic
other Dylan Connor posts at Largehearted Boy
Extra Golden: "Anyango" [mp3] from Thank You Very Quickly (out March 3rd)
other Extra Golden posts at Largehearted Boy
Faunts: "Feel.Love.Thinking.Of (Mexicans with Guns remix)" [mp3]
other Faunts posts at Largehearted Boy
Fol Chen: "Cable TV (Liars remix)" [mp3]
other Fol Chen posts at Largehearted Boy
Gangi: "Commonplace Feathers" [mp3] from A
other Gangi posts at Largehearted Boy
Gavin Castleton: "Coffelocks" [mp3]
other Gavin Castleton posts at Largehearted Boy
Jason Zumpano: several tracks [mp3]
"Beggars of Blue Sky" [mp3] from Roses $9.99 a Dozen
other Jason Zumpano posts at Largehearted Boy
Plants and Animals: "Bye Bye Bye" [mp3] from Parc Avenue
other Plants and Animals posts at Largehearted Boy
Wolves in the Attic: "Loss of God" [mp3] from Electronic Hearts
other Wolves in the Attic posts at Largehearted Boy
Bittorrent downloads of free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos will resume tomorrow
*registration required
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous mp3 and bittorrent downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
2008 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3 bittorrent
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February 17, 2009
Try It Before You Buy It (February 17th Music Releases)
Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal music downloads and full album streams from the week's music releases.
MP3 downloads and full album streams from music released this week:
Abe Vigoda: Reviver
full album stream
"Don't Lie" [mp3]
Continue reading "Try It Before You Buy It (February 17th Music Releases)"
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Note Books - Eleni Mandell
The Note Books series features musicians discussing their literary side. Past contributors have included John Darnielle, John Vanderslice, and others.
Eleni Mandell's new album, Artificial Fire, is out today, and showcases the singer-songwriter's intriguingly dark lyricism and diverse musical styles.
"Artificial Fire" [mp3] from Artificial Fire
In her own words, here is the Note Books entry from Eleni Mandell:
My favorite book is Shadows on the Hudson by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
My affair with an Alaskan fisherman was coming to an end. Although he was also an artist and very smart, he'll always be known as The Fisherman to me. I remember crying when the relationship was falling apart and he very sincerely said "you think I like being this way? It's like driving a broken-down truck all the time." That was the most insightful thing he ever said about himself and his shortcomings (showing up three hours late; acting inappropriately etc.). When I first read Singer's novel, it felt almost like a coded communication between myself and The Fisherman, a way to understand him and what had happened between us.
The book follows a group of Jewish immigrants in 1950s New York and focuses on Grein, the anti-hero. He is tortured by his lack of faith in God, humanity and his own behavior. Similarly, my fisherman was Jewish and was tortured by his inability to function as a part of society. He had trouble with basic life skills. When he first wrote down my phone number he put it in his hat and then put the hat on his head. He promptly lost my number so would just show up periodically and jump in front of my living room window. Like Grein, he also had a way with women. Grein lied to everybody; his wife, his lovers, his friends and his children.
The title alone gives me a feeling of sadness, highlighting the difficulties of life but pointing to small wonders, too. I do love what I call "Jew Books" (another favorite being The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon). I am also Jewish, though not religious, and I relate to Singer's twisted tales of my complicated group. Many of his characters have also assimilated and have left religion behind but still have a nagging connection to their people.
Grein has become a secular Jew, turning his back on his Hassidic upbringing. He is married with grown children but he barely relates to them or to his wife. The book opens with a discussion between intellectual, Jewish friends who escaped the Old World and love to talk about whether God can exist after the horrors they've seen. Before we know it, we are witnessing the beginning of one of his two tumultuous affairs, prompted by the suggestion that he view a portrait in the bedroom. He wants to do the right thing by being a loyal husband but feels helplessly in love with these two other women. They both seem to have complete power over him when he's in their presence. Everything he does is wrong yet there is something endearing about him; he's charming, smart and sexy. The women he destroys are smart, too, and I related to their inability to extract themselves from a messy relationship.
Singer writes plainly yet I can really see and hear all his rich characters. "Their weariness evaporated and they stood against each other with the self-absorption of those who are consumed by lust." He also paints a portrait of Jews in America and the effect that assimilation and the Holocaust had on them. There are many broken characters in the book but they limp along, some of them finding love, others just finding the will to live despite the unattainability of what they truly want.
In the end, Grein's women become hysterical, impatient and all leave him. He decides he has no other choice but to live out the rest of his life as an observant Jew in Israel because "one loose knot and the wild beast springs free again". He also says "the whole point to Jewishness is isolation, after all" and that "there can be no connection between a bound animal and an animal that roams free". It's hard to imagine the lustful Grein reining himself in so completely in the end. At the same time, he has made such a horrible mess of everything that it also makes perfect sense. He's accepted that he needs restrictions in order to exist peacefully.
It's now been years since The Fisherman has appeared in my window but my love for this book hasn't dwindled. I'm sure he's still making trouble somewhere out there. I'm happy to glimpse it in books instead of living it with him.
Eleni Mandell links:
Eleni Mandell's website
Eleni Mandell's MySpace
Eleni Mandell's Wikipedia entry
Eleni Mandell at Studio 360
Eleni Mandell posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
Previous Note Books submissions (musicians discuss literature)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
guest book reviews
musician/author interviews
Soundtracked (directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2008 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2007 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2006 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2005 Edition)
52 Books, 52 Weeks (2004 Edition)
tags: books music literature fiction indie elenimandell
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Shorties (Laura Gibson, Watchmen, and more)
NPR is streaming Laura Gibson's new album, Beasts of Seasons, in its entirety.
The Buffalo News profiles a local P.G. Wodehouse appreciation society.
The Telegraph reports that Lily Allen is on Twitter, and is already sparring with Perez Hilton there.
Daytrotter's Tuesday session features in-studio mp3s by Ruby Isle.
MSNBC ponders President Obama's effect on pop music (based on previous Democratic administrations).
It’s easy to see why. When musicians are dissatisfied with presidential administrations, they write protest songs, march on Washington and mouth off on stage. When they’re happy, they make dance music. And even if some artists don’t follow this pattern, the public’s buying patterns do. So, for the most part, that’s meant Republican administrations have inspired much of the best pop music of the past decades. Maybe they can put that in their next platform.
imeem lists the top playlisted songs on the streaming music service.
BlackBook lists random things about the Submarines.
NPR's Morning Edition interviews David Denby, author of Snark: It's Mean, It's personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversation.
Toronto's Eye Weekly interviews Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons.
The Financial Times examines Dave Gibbons' covers of the original Watchmen comics.
Drowned in Sound is celebrating "slowcore week."
eHow.com explains how to attend an indie rock show.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Online "best of 2008" music lists
Online "best of 2008" book lists
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
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
Daily Downloads (Lal Meri, Go West Young Man, and more)
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Go West Young Man: "Chinatown" [mp3] from Go West Young Man
other Go West Young Man posts at Largehearted Boy
Henry's Funeral Shoe: "Henry's Funeral Shoe" [mp3] from Everything's for Sale
other Henry's Funeral Shoe posts at Largehearted Boy
Lal Meri: "Dreams of 18" [mp3] from Lal Meri
other Lal Meri posts at Largehearted Boy
Local H: 1997-07-29, New York [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Eddie Vedder" [mp3]
other Local H posts at Largehearted Boy
Matt Nathanson: 2009-02-06, Fredericksburg [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Falling Apart" [mp3]
other Matt Nathanson posts at Largehearted Boy
Redjetson: "For Those Who Died Dancing" [mp3] from Other Arms (out April 20th)other Redjetson posts at Largehearted Boy
Secret Life of Sofia: free and legal Empty Sleeves EP [mp3]
other Secret Life of Sofia posts at Largehearted Boy
Vic Chesnutt: 2009-02-06, James Island [mp3,ogg,flac]
"Phil the Fiddler" [mp3]
other Vic Chesnutt posts at Largehearted Boy
Warren Zevon: 1990-03-02, Atlanta [mp3,ogg,flac]
"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" [mp3]
other Warren Zevon posts at Largehearted Boy
Today's free and legal recordings of live shows, rarities, and demos available via bittorrent:
Andrew Bird: 2009-02-16, KCRW [flac]*
other Andrew Bird posts at Largehearted Boy
Gary Louris & Mark Olson: 2009-02-09, Sellersville [flac]*
other Gary Louris posts at Largehearted Boy
Jason Isbell: 2009-02-14, Florence [flac]*
other Jason Isbell posts at Largehearted Boy
Joy Division: 1979-08-09, Leeds [flac]*
Joy Division: 1979-07-11, Leeds [flac]*
other Joy Division posts at Largehearted Boy
Leonard Cohen: 1979-12-08, Birmingham [flac]*
other Leonard Cohen posts at Largehearted Boy
Lou Reed: 2008-05-05, New York [flac]*
other Lou Reed posts at Largehearted Boy
Oasis: 2009-02-04, Dusseldorf [flac]*
other Oasis posts at Largehearted Boy
Sharon Jones: 2009-02-14, New York [flac]*
other Sharon Jones posts at Largehearted Boy
Son Volt: 2009-02-15, Birmingham [flac]*
other Son Volt posts at Largehearted Boy
*registration required
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous mp3 and bittorrent downloads
2008 Lollapalooza downloads
2008 Bonnaroo downloads
2008 Coachella music downloads
2008 SXSW music downloads and streams
other music festival downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD release lists
tags: music download indie mp3 bittorrent
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
February 16, 2009
This Week's Interesting Music Releases (February 17th, 2009)
Morrissey's Years of Refusal album is out tomorrow in an incredibly strong music release week.
Along with the Moz, the week's music release list is filled with other quality offerings from singer-songwriters. Benjy Ferree's Come Back to the Five & Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee is one of the most pleasantly surprising albums of the year so far for me. I have been a huge fan of Ana Egge for years, and her new album, Road to My Love, is filled with her most personal and intimate songwriting yet. Alela Diane's To Be Still is simply one of my favorite albums of 2009. M. Ward's Hold Time is also in stores tomorrow.
Other albums I have heard and can strongly recommend include Asobi Seksu's Hush, Bloodkin's Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again, Eleni Mandell's Artificial Fire, Robyn Hitchcock's Goodnight Oslo, and Tommy Keene's In the Late Bright.
Among the week's reissues are four vinyl Murder City Devils discs from Sub Pop: Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts, In Name and Blood, Murder City Devils, and Thelema.
What new releases can you recommend? Have I left anything off the list?
This week's interesting CD releases:
Abe Vigoda: Reviver (vinyl)
The Acorn: Heron Act
Aidan Moffat & the Best Of's: How To Get From Heaven To Scotland (CD/LP box set)
Air featuring Henry Threadgill: Air Song (reissue)
Alela Diane: To Be Still (vinyl)
Ana Egge: Road to My Love
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (vinyl reissue)
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: The Century of Self
Annie Lennox: The Annie Lennox Collection (w/DVD)
The Appleseed Cast: Sagarmatha
Architecture in Helsinki: That Beep (single) (vinyl)
Asobi Seksu: Hush (vinyl)
Audrye Sessions: Audrye Sessions EP
Azita: How Will You? (vinyl)
Bang Camaro: Bang Camaro
Beirut: March of the Zapotec EP (vinyl)
Beirut: March of The Zapotec and Realpeople Holland
Benjy Ferree: Come Back to the Five & Dime, Bobby Dee Bobby Dee
Between the Pine: Friends, Foes, Mith and Kin
Bloodkin: Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again
Boy Eats Drum Machine: Two Ghosts
Brigitte DeMeyer: Red River Flower
Broken Spindles: Kiss/Kick
Charles Mingus: Night at Cafe Bohemia/Pithecanthropus Erectus Session (remastered)
Circlesquare: Songs About Dancing and Drugs
Clutch (As The Bakerton Group): El Rojo
Cranes: Cranes
Dakota Suite: The End of Trying (vinyl)
Darla Farmer: Rewiring Electric Forest
Death: For the Whole World to See (vinyl)
The Deep Dark Woods: Winter Hours
Eleni Mandell: Artificial Fire
Fake Problems: It's Great to Be Alive
Faunts: Feel. Love. Thinking. Of.
Fol Chen: Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made
Get Up Kids: Something to Write Home About (vinyl reissue)
Gun Outfit: Dim Light (vinyl)
The Hunches: Exit Dreams (vinyl)
Iran: Dissolver
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (vinyl)
Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat: Tijuana Bible
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Smash Hits (remastered)
Joe Jackson: Live at the BBC
John Lee Hooker: 50 Years: John Lee Hooker Anthology
Katie Herzig: Apple Tree
Lal Meri: Lal Meri
Lidstrom: Where You Go I Go Too EP (special edition with bonus disc)
Living Things: Habeas Corpus (vinyl)
M. Ward: Hold Time (vinyl)
Mi Ami: Watersports (vinyl)
Miniature Tigers: Tell It to the Volcano
Minus the Bear: Acoustics (vinyl)
Mishka: Above the Bones
Morrissey: Years of Refusal (deluxe edition w/DVD) (vinyl)
Mountains: Choral (vinyl)
Murder City Devils: Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts (vinyl reissue)
Murder City Devils: In Name and Blood (vinyl reissue)
Murder City Devils: Murder City Devils (vinyl reissue)
Murder City Devils: Thelema (vinyl reissue)
N.A.S.A.: Spirit of Apollo
Neal Casal: Roots and Wings
Obscura: Cosmogenesis
Odawas: The Blue Depths (vinyl)
Odd Nosdam: T.I.M.E Soundtrack (vinyl)
Plushgun: Pins & Panzers
Psapp: The Camel's Back
Psyopus: Odd Senses
Red Box: The Circle & The Square (reissue with bonus tracks)
Robyn Hitchcock: Goodnight Oslo
Sabotage Soundsystem: The Boto Machine Gun
Sam Roberts: Love at the End of the World
Serge Gainsbourg: Aux Armes et Caetera (vinyl reissue)
Serge Gainsbourg: L' Homme a Tete De Chou (vinyl reissue)
Sholi: Sholi (vinyl)
Sin Fang Bous: Clangour (vinyl)
Sleeper: Behind Every Mask
The Sleeping: What It Takes
Sole & the Skyrider Band: The Remix Album
Southeast Engine: From the Forest to the Sea (vinyl)
Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band: The Mountain (vinyl reissue)
Steve Kilbey: Painkiller
Sylvain Chauveau: The Black Book of Capitalism (remastered)
These Are Powers: All Aboard Future (vinyl)
Throw Me the Statue: Purpleface
Thursday: Common Existence
Tombs: Winterhours (vinyl)
Tommy Keene: In the Late Bright
Various Artists: Confessions of a Shopaholic (soundtrack)
Various Artists: Dark Was the Night (vinyl)
Various Artists: Glitter & Gold: Words & Music By Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil
Various Artists: Protected: Massive Samples
Various Artists: Transporter 3 - Original Soundtrack
Vetiver: Tight Knit (vinyl)
Vibrarians: Red Light (vinyl single)
The Waitresses: Live at Hurrah (dvd)
Weird Owl: Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed (vinyl)
William Elliott Whitmore: Animals In The Dark (vinyl)
Zu: Carboniferous
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous CD & DVD release lists
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's CD releases)
2008 Online Year-end Music Lists
Posted by david | Permalink | Comments (View)
