BOOKS!

I love to read books by music critics and fans. My all-time favorite book is "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby (the John Cusack film is also one of my favorite movies). I have read it more times than I can count. The copy of "HF" that I own is a wreck- pages are falling out, lines are underlined, and there is some slight water damage. I love it.

Below is a list of other books by music critics/fans that I love and recommend.

• "Songbook" by Nick Hornby

This collection of essays about Nick Hornby's 31 favorite songs is essential reading. He writes so well about the songs he loves, which range from Ben Folds Five to Rufus Wainwright to Teenage Fanclub. I think that I especially love this because many of the songs he counts as his favorites (Badly Drawn Boy's "A Minor Incident," Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road") are my favorites as well.

• "Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield

This heartfelt little memoir about Sheffield (who used to write a column for Rolling Stone and now writes for Blender, I believe) and the death of is fiance, Renee, is both a love story and a reflection on how music has shaped his life. Every chapter includes the track list of a mix tape he listened to during that time.

• "Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life" by John Sellers

One part music-based memoir, two-parts Guided By Voices love letter, John Sellers's reflection on the music that meant most to him (including 80's hair metal, U2, straight-up pop, and lots of GBV) is a witty look at how the songs you hear can change who you are. At times, the pages-long footnotes were irritating, but overall this is a really enjoyable book.

• "Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a True Story" by Chuck Klosterman

As the title suggests, it's tough to tell which parts of this memoir are fact and which are fiction. Initially, Klosterman sets out to write about dead rock stars, but then the book veers into a look at his past and present girlfriends. Sometimes Klosterman's writing got to be too narcissistic but overall I enjoyed it.

• "The Show I'll Never Forget" by Various Authors

In this essay collection, 50 writers reflect on their most memorable concert experiences. The essays are alternately hilarious, thought-provoking, and just plain weird.

• "I Like Food, Food Tastes Good" by Kara Zuaro

My sister got me this cookbook for Christmas. Every recipe is written by bands like Yo La Tengo, Smoosh, Ben Kweller, and the Hold Steady (there are TONS more). Most of the recipes seem disgusting, but it's funny just to read the stories about food.

Thirteen

"Thirteen" by Big Star has been one of my all-time favorite songs for years. The simple lyrics are absolutely perfect, the acoustic picking is charming, and the wavering harmonies tie the song together as probably the best song about young love, ever. Naturally, a song this good can't survive without being covered. Luckily, the covers I've heard are beautiful takes on the original that would make Alex Chilton proud.

From Wilco's piano-laced take on the tune to Elliott Smith's earnest rendition to Garbage's moody pop-rock ballad, these interpretations of the flawless song prove that it may be perfect, but it isn't without equal.

Which is your favorite cover?

Latest BYT Posts

Here are a few of my latest posts on Brightest Young Things, including two "In Defense of Top 40" columns.

IDOT40: "My Life Would Suck Without You"
IDOT40: "Heartless"
Sunny Songs for a Winter Day

Writing the IDOT40 column is so much fun and I always love reading the comments on those. Pop music can, ironically, be pretty polarizing.

TV on the Radio on the TV

I'm very puzzled.

TV on the Radio is a front-runner in the never ending "America's Radiohead" contest, and they released probably the best reviewed album of 2008 (the unbelievable Dear Science). They've also been known to put on mind-numbingly awesome live shows. But this weekend on Saturday Night Live, they sounded awful.

TVOTR played "Golden Age" and "Dancing Choose." The latter was better than the former, but both sounded sloppy and unbalanced. Apparently, SNL has a sketchy history with sound so I think I can chalk up the lackluster performance to poor sound technicians. Thank goodness. I had been really looking forward to their set and was pretty disappointed to hear them sound so muddy.

My Week In Musical Review

This week, I...

• Bought the new A.C. Newman album, Get Guilty. I had been listening to all the tracks on YouTube. It's wonderful fantastic awesome.
• Bought the new Andrew Bird album, Noble Beast. It only came in the mail yesterday, so I've only heard it once, but so far so good.
  
• Bought Creedence Clearwater Revival's Chronicle for only $5 on iTunes. I've been listening to "Hey Tonight" on repeat.
• Bought Sweetheart, the Starbucks (I know...) Valentine's Day compilation featuring covers of classic loves songs. It makes me so happy. DeVotchKa covers "Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy)," Death Cab covers the Cure's "Love Song," Rogue Wave covers "Maps," and (the reason I bought the album in the first place) A.C. Newman covers a-ha's "Take On Me." It's a fun compilation. Also, the packaging is awesome.
• Bought Bruce Springsteen tickets ASKJAHSKJASGSHDSHDASAHSKJ!!!!!!!AKJSH!!!!!!
• Went broke (see all of the above).
  

He's Just Not That Into You

Love Actually is probably my favorite romantic comedy ever. I love all the criss-crossing stories and its unabashed schmaltz and Christmas spirit. On Friday, America's answer to that fantastic collection of love stories, He's Just Not That Into You, arrives in theaters. I actually can't say with confidence that it's the US Love Actually, but based on the fact that it's 12 love stories crammed into one flick and jammed with stars, I think it will do.

I'm ridiculously excited to see it, and my excitement only increased when I saw the track list for the soundtrack. Some of my all-time favorite bands are listed (Wilco, The Replacements, My Morning Jacket) as well as the song that my friend proclaims "the greatest love song of all time" (Talking Heads's "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"). Also listed is Keane's instant-classic (at least in my head) "Somewhere Only We Know", The Cure's "Friday I'm In Love" (which I blogged about recently), and cuts from singer-songwriters Corinne Bailey Rae, Erin McCarley (whose track "Love, Save the Empty" is also featured in the trailer), James Morrison, and Tristan Prettyman.

Rounding out the bunch (of which I haven't even fully described) is Scarlett Johansson's cover of Jeff Buckley's classic (in everyone's head) "Last Goodbye." I'm not a fan of Scarlett's Tom Waits cover album (I thought it was dull and pretentious) and so I'm not too keen to hear her take on this gorgeous song. Except in the case of "Hallelujah," (which is not even a Buckley original, and has been covered beautifully by both Rufus Wainwright and a friend of mine at my high school's talent show), I'd prefer people to keep their paws off of Buckley's songbook. His voice and style is too beautiful to tamper with.

Scarlett aside, I can't wait to buy the soundtrack and see this movie.

101

I just realized that that post was #100! Neato!

Vling!

One of my favorite websites for music and music accessory shopping is Insound. A little while ago I happened upon a cassette-shaped necklace made out of recycled vinyl. I ordered one right away, and now I've found that the brand who makes it also makes tons of other pendants and pins- all out of old records. There are tons of shapes to choose from (I love the tree, skull, gramophone, and headphones) and they even make limited edition pieces with colored vinyl. Order away!

CLICK!

Major Label Mayhem with Fleet Foxes

I love Fleet Foxes! :)
Fleet Foxes do not love major labels! :(

In a post to their MySpace, frontman Robin Pecknold expressed not-so-subtly his distaste for major labels after a Seattle journalist wrote that the FF's had not only signed to Virgin Records, but were planning on releasing a special edition of their debut album. Here's what Pecknold said:

So, I went to the (truly insane and heart-swelling) Dept of Eagles show at Neumo's tonight (sang along and bought a Tee) and a couple people said something about hearing we signed to Virgin Records and they are reissuing a "special edition" of the CD LP. This is false. I think a Seattle Weekly blog post started this fire, which I will now extinguish, with this statement - "Fleet Foxes will never, ever, under no circumstances, from now until the world chokes on gas fumes, sign to a major label. This includes all subsidiaries or permutations thereunder. Till we die." I just don't see the point. Most major labels seem anti-music. We've pursued no such deal with Virgin (or been pursued to my knowledge, I think it was just a bit of news they reported) and would be idiots to be unhappy with our fam of label folks. It is true though that all copies of the CD LP will now include a free copy of the EP (like it is currently with the vinyl), but that's not a "special limited edition," it'll be that way in perpetuity, no extra cost or packaging change. That's all! Also I cut all my hair off.

I think it's great that Fleet Foxes are sticking with Sub Pop, because it seems they've formed a great relationship. But, this opens the eternal question of whether the major or indie route is better for bands. Clearly, the FF's have their opinion. What's yours?

P.S. Here's Robin without his hair!


P.P.S. All this info snatched from Pitchfork!

NO.

NO NO NO NO NO.