Prince Rama Bridges the Unknown Gap Between Kurt Vonnegut and Animal Collective

Posted by Jason Diamond Prince Rama, whose new album Shadow Temple, comes out on Animal Collectives Paw Tracks label on Sept. 14th, makes a sound that brings to mind Werner Herzog soundtracks done by Popol Vuh mixed Gang Gang Dance off-kilter beats. I guess the fact that it was recorded in Kurt Vonnegut’s grandson’s cabin also merits some mention.  But I’m not sure exactly why. Listen: Prince Rama – “Lightning Fossil“

Continue Reading

Bites: Bolaño and Borges, Nin on LSD, Nick Cave Photoshopped, the Greatest Metal Tour EVER, and More

  I’ve loved just about every installment of “What Bolaño Read” over at MobyLives.  Today, the late Chilean writers fondness for Jorge Luis Borges. Lit. Anais Nin on LSD’s value at Arthur. I only wished people had had time to study drugs as they studied religion or philosophy and to adapt to this chemical alteration of our bodies. Token magical realism “seems not just forced, but fashionable” says Alastair Harper of the Guardian. Go on over to My Old Kentucky […]

Continue Reading

Bites: Don Amazon, young adult steampunk, 2666 gets the paperback treatment, Johnnie Walker kicks Glenn Beck to the curb, 3rd Ward home cookin’, and more

“Amazon’s a modern day Don Quixote.” (Thanks Gawker) Lit. So now book bloggers have to report the books they get for review or face an $11,000 fine.  Ed Champion ain’t gonna stand for it! Is the term”young adult steampunk” at all related to The Pains of Being Heart song “Young Adult Friction”?   (Thanks Boing Boing) HTML Giant really likes writer Sarah Manguso A little book named 2666 is now in paperback. Lit Kicks does an eloquent job of summing […]

Continue Reading

Dear Sasha Frere-Jones,

I don’t always agree with you, but man, you are 100% dead on with your critique of Animal Collective.  Amen brother!  Preach the good word! I could love the band as much as their loyal fan base does if I heard some genuine synthesis. But, show after show, all I’ve seen and heard are gestures. The noises are spiky enough to be better than nothing, but they don’t bowl me over with detail or texture, nor do they have the […]

Continue Reading

Bites: The homosexual undertones of Harry Potter, Atlas Sound and Panda Bear destroy indie, Salman Rushdie and Thomas Pynchon eating dinner together

Gawker on “The Homosexual Undertones of Harry Potter“. Worth it just for the picture, and the line “Alan Rickman looks like a New Wave lesbian in a cape.” There should be a law against Atlas Sound and Panda Bear (of Animal Collective) colaborating on this song, it’s really not fair to everybody else (except maybe Woods). The new Atlas Sound album, Logos, in October on Kranky. On the flipside of that, not so sure how I feel about Death Cab […]

Continue Reading