Albums-
Open your Heart- The Men
What a goddamn great rock record. Makes me want to don my flannel and denim, pop open a PBR, and headbang alone in my apartment..
Crazy Rhythms-The Feelies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05GTWKu4uU8&feature=related
This is one of those records I’ve periodically seen mentioned in interviews but for some inexplicable reason never checked out. I think the first time I heard about it was in a Johnny Marr interview, and after seeing it recently referenced by Noah Baumbach my interest was piqued once more. Great album, self-conscious lyrics suffused with goofy white people guitar fills.
Dustin Wong
I went on a pretty heavy Ponytail/Ecstatic Sunshine binge last month, and Dustin Wong never fails to blow my mind. I recently saw him play, and while talking to him after his set I asked “Dustin Wong, what is the secret to the electric guitar?” which resulted in him whispering something largely unintelligible into my ear, the only part I made out being “There are seven levels.”
Books-
You are not a Gadget- Jaron Lainer
This is one long diatribe against Web 2.0. Lainer coined the term “Virtual Reality,” and is basically a genius. This book reflects his concerns about how Wikipedia, Facebook, and Youtube have homogenized culture into an ahistorical slush.
Pretty gnarly book, it seems to be in vogue now to complain about how the Google generation seems to have no cultural identity of their own, as evidenced by artists *cough* "Girl Talk" recycling the detritus of the past in lieu of creating new stuff.
Slanted and Enchanted- Kaya Oakes
I’ve been meaning to read this for awhile, it’s a good companion to Michael Azerrad’s sprawling treatise on the 80s underground scene, Our Band Could Be Your Life. Going back to the late 50s, Oakes attempts to connect the different stages of Indie culture (starting with Frank O'Hara/Allen Ginsberg, going over SST, and ending with, for lack of a better word, Hipsters).
Cool interviews with Mike Watt, Mission of Burma, and an awesome/illuminating section on Operation Ivy. It ends with a chapter dealing with the current stasis of indie culture, and laments the fact that every cool underground movement seems to eventually be chewed up and spat out in a castrated, marketable form by the Man.
Game of Thrones/A Clash of Kings/A Storm of Swords- George R.R Martin
I think the last fiction book I read was Norman Mailer's The Naked and The Dead last October, and fantasy has always seemed insufferably lame to me, but after being impressed with the HBO series I figured I’d try these.
They’re actually really damn good. The writing’s crisp, the plot's engaging, and a major character gets dismembered every 10 pages or so. Each book totals around 1000 pages, but they’re addictive to the point that I read the first three in around a week and a half on top of midterms.
