The new and the not so new: Pounding drums, muscular guitars and sweeping keys, rousing melodies, and a lad accent . . . The Courteneers come from a long line of Britpop forbears. Falcon, their sophomore album, contains enough sparkling tunes, with grounded lyrics, to justify their sudden prominence in England. Writer and singer Liam Fray’s [...]
I listened to an advance track from the upcoming CD High Violet from The National. How exciting these lyrics from the song ‘Blood Buzz Ohio’: I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees / I’ll never marry but Ohio don’t remember me
The review by NYT’s Ben Sisario of Bill Flanagan’s Evening’s Empire is not totally glowing but the novel’s subject matter – 40 years in the life of a rock band named the Ravons – is just what I’m a sucker for. Onto the list it goes.
Also posted in Literary Fiction |
Last week’s reading: My first Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs, is a refreshing revelation. Moore’s highly individualistic writing style, all quirky similes and metaphors, laced with lyricism, is nothing like what I tend to read. As with other stylistic writers like Cormac McCarthy, I found the going slow because I needed to roll [...]
Last week’s reading: Parrot and Olivier in America is Peter Carey at his most exuberant, wild almost. Recounting the fictional tale of the trip to the new, troubling democratic nation of the United States of America by French nobleman Olivier-Jean-Baptist de Clarel de Barfleur and an artistic servant thrust upon him, John ‘Parrot’ Larrit. Carey succeeds marvellously in [...]
Last week’s reading: ‘What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?’: Jimmy Carter, America’s ‘Malaise,’ and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country is an intriguing single-topic book by Kevin Mattson, an Ohio historian. He tells the story of the critical speech given by Carter on July 15, 1979, covering the energy crisis [...]
Three films over the last year captured my heart because, I belatedly recognized, they’re set in the 1960s music scene. Make no mistake, The Boat that Rocked, Taking Woodstock, and Nowhere Boy are all superbly crafted movies, but what tugged at my emotions was their overt affection for the period. Nostalgia had struck me! Nostalgia [...]
Last week’s reading: Robert Harris’s Lustrum is the second of two novels recounting the life of Roman philosopher/orator/lawyer/politician Cicero. Harris can write smoothly and entertainingly about any subject, modern or ancient, Lustrum being a good example. It’s an enjoyable and intriguing read, although the five-year period covered by this book is telescoped at the end, [...]
It hadn’t struck me until I posted on my Best rock albums of 2009 – I’m losing touch with new music! I did my best but consider the artists I enjoyed: Idlewild, Jason Lytle, John Wesley Harding, Paul Dempsey, Grant-Lee Phillips, Conor Oberst and M. Ward have been around for yonks Others – Peter Hammill and [...]
How easy to get swamped by the visual, especially in the age of online plenty! I’ve listened to less than I am comfortable with, but here are the highlights: Jason Lytle’s Yours Truly, the Commuter – the return of Grandaddy in more pensive form, chockers with sweeping melody, wonderful keyboards and bass, and societal commentary [...]