Ever since The Rumpus began reviewing albums, you knew the day would come when they’d review Vanilla Ice. (If you’re wondering, the writer tackled his major label debut.)
This song turned Buzz Poole into a Dead Head.
Indeed, at times it seems as if every writer I’ve met since 2003 is also a musician, and most of the musicians I’ve met are, or would like to be, writers. Literary works are now routinely accompanied by purpose-made soundtracks; bands are calling upon literary writers to supply lyrics. It is not uncommon for literary readings to be bookended by musical acts, and one of the most popular current literary blogs, The Largehearted Boy, is also among the most popular music blogs. The worlds of rock and lit appear to be merging. How did this happen?
What Makes a Writer Want to Rock Out? by J. Robert Lennon
“It’s fiction,” Frank Ocean says of the book he might be writing. “And it’s about brothers.”
“There is no musical act in whom I have a greater emotional and sentimental investment than OutKast. Southernplayalistic was the first album that ever blew my mind.”
- Bomani Jones writes about ATLiens, his first car, and the way things seem different the older you get.
It is ultra-quaint and ultra-post-modern simultaneously.
This is a really fantastic book.
Did I mention it sounds good? I mean, I sound good when I read the pages out loud, and that’s saying a lot. The songs are user-friendly, in easy musical keys, consciously written for people like me. Thank you, Beck!
Beautiful and Exciting and Profoundly Different: On Beck’s Song Reader by Alan Levinovitz
“Have you heard Beck’s new album? After about 20 hours with it I’ve still only heard seven songs out of 20.
That’s because I’m a mediocre musician, with poor sight-reading skills and no piano handy, and Song Reader, if you didn’t already know, is just sheet music. No CD, no link to downloadable MP3s, nada. I have to puzzle out the melodies on my guitar, drawing on long forgotten undergraduate music theory to get the rhythms right. It is a pain in the ass. The album would sound better if it were professionally recorded, by a real artist.
And yet. When I finally manage to play through ‘I’m Down,’ and ‘America, Here’s My Boy,’ and ‘Do We? We Do,’ it is revelatory. I have just channeled Beck’s spirit through printed paper! The first versions of Beck’s songs I hear are my own! This is an amazing feeling.”
- Beautiful and Exciting and Profoundly Different: On Beck’s Song Reader by Alan Levinovitz
The soulful, determinedly eccentric New Orleans r&b crooner Ernie K-Doe’s contributions to the American Songbook might be considered marginal by most musicologists, but the man who referred to himself as the ‘emperor of the universe’ took a more generous view of his own musical legacy. ‘There aren’t but three songs that will last for eternity,’ he often told audiences. ‘One is ‘Amazing Grace.’ Another is “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And the third is “Mother-in-Law,” because as long as there are people on this earth, there will always be mother-in-laws.’
“All Music Comes From Louisiana” by Chris Rose for The Oxford American, which is basically “The New Yorker with a side of hot sauce.”
“Gangnam Style” is over. The next Korean musical craze should involve the return of the sijo.
Guys, remember when Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan did a Year In Reading write-up for us last year???
