The Scotsman interviews Kathleen Edwards about her new album, Voyageur.
Is this your most personal album to date?
I don’t really know how else to write songs but this time round I definitely broke the bank. I ended up writing songs about a period of my life that was really difficult. I had just split up with my partner of seven years and there is something that happens to you – you get a feeling of starting over that makes you feel ready to try anything musically.
Edwards also shares her literary influences with Clash.
Do your literary influences have a direct impact on your songwriting?
Not so much. I see songwriting as such a different craft as short stories or novels. I am in awe of the elaborate process that writing a book or short story must entail. I feel like a sprinter, and authors the marathon runners.
The Globe and Mail offers a brief history of “great book to bad film” adaptations.
CHARTattack offers a primer to the albums of Tom Waits.
IGN lists the top 25 indie rock love songs.
The National Post profiles Canadian independent publisher House of Anansi Press.
“In this commercial climate, if a writer hasn’t broken out, in terms of sales, by a certain time, the big houses do have trouble hanging on to them,” says Jackie Kaiser, a Toronto literary agent who represents Hough. A place like Anansi, she notes, can take a chance on such a writer. “So a writer who might get lost between the cracks at a big commercially driven house, like Random House, can in fact be really appreciated, and get a lot more time and attention and space, from a place like Anansi.”
The New Yorker deciphers the rules for the Oscars’ “best original score” category.
The New York Daily News reports that actor Billy Bob Thornton is writing a memoir, and that his ex-wife Angelina Jolie will write the forward.
The Guardian profiles the band Sleigh Bells.
You could argue that the whole idea of Sleigh Bells depends on a considered trashiness. Their music is obnoxious and anarchic, a crossbreed of pop, beats and hardcore that’s half pumping jock-rock and half rave abandon. “Most of my tastes are middle to low,” he agrees. “I’m uncomfortable with sophistication. I’m inherently drawn to things that are inclusive like pop music. Or pizza.”
Scholars and Rogues explores the intersection between sports and songs.
The New Straits Times lists “gimmicky reads,” books that “successfully blend style and substance, form and function.”
St. Vincent’s Annie Clark tells the New Zealand Herald the genesis of her stage name.
“I’m a big Nick Cave fan, and on There She Goes My Beautiful World, he’s kind of singing about the glory and the squalor of being an artist. And he sings ‘Dylan Thomas died drunk at St Vincent’s hospital’ and to me, that kind of encapsulated the darkly comic aspect of being an artist, I guess. I love Dylan Thomas and Nick Cave, and I guess it’s my subtle way of implanting myself among my heroes.”
The Telegraph examines digital books’ current effects on the reading experience.
NME lists the 10 worst songs of the 90s.
Thomas Mallon talks to Weekend Edition about his new novel, WatergateThomas Mallon talks to Weekend Edition about his new novel, Watergate.
Shearwater visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.
Amazon MP3
has 100 digital albums on sale for .
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also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
List of Online “Best Books of 2011″ Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week’s best new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week’s best new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week’s CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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