Afternoon Bites: Marnie Stern’s Latest, Ragnar Kjartansson, Scott McClanahan on “Crapalachia,” and More

“So Marnia is about that too: coming to terms with the person you are, rather than the person you might want to be, or once were.” Zach Baron on the latest from Marnie Stern. Steve Albini remembers Jason Molina. Hyperallergic on Ragnar Kjartansson’s “The Visitors“. Joseph Riippi talked Crapalachia with Scott McClanahan. Harry Taussig made his live debut at the age of 71 last week at SXSW. His new album on Tomkins Square sounds terrific. New fiction from Tim Horvath. Mish Way (of […]

Continue Reading

Afternoon Bites: Brontë in Miniature, Lonnie Holley’s Art and Music, Will Oldham’s Beer Songs, Bowie Collaborations, and More

  “Perhaps best known as a visual artist, Holley began his artistic endeavors in the late ‘70s as a sculptor, carving two gravestones from scavenged foundry stone for his young nieces who had recently died in a house fire. He branched out into painting and found-material collage, using discarded scrap metal, wire, wood, and whatever else he was able to haul. A creative polymath, Holley released Just Before Music in November 2012 on Dust-to-Digital, his first recorded work to see the light […]

Continue Reading

Afternoon Bites: David Bowie’s Latest, Cinematic Bars, Tim Horvath’s Short Fiction Tips, New Waxhatchee, and More

“It’s a sound rooted in a history that includes early Rilo Kiley, the Mountain Goats, Barsuk Records, and Saddle Creek: small-town, big-hearted indie-rock realism. Through unpolished sounds come intimate, unpolished scenes.” Mike Powell on Waxahatchee’s Cerulean Salt. Waxahatchee also played last week’s Indie Pop Prom, which was covered by the likes of the Times’s Jon Caramanica and Impose. Rosie Schaap recommends her favorite cinematic bar scenes. “…from song one, he sounds like he’s working hard, short of the times when he’s […]

Continue Reading

Afternoon Bites: Willie Nelson Interviewed, Moe Tucker Anthologized, Tim Horvath’s Fiction, And More

Victoria LeGrand of Beach House: interviewed at Sound of the City. In related news, said band’s new album Bloom is fantastic. Douglas Wolk looks at the solo work of the Velvet Underground’s Moe Tucker. Jessica Hopper chats with Willie Nelson for The Daily. Tim Horvath’s “The Conversations” can now be read at The Collagist. (For good measure, here’s our review of his Understories.) Sarah Schulman discussed gentrification at St. Marks Bookshop. Nitsuh Abebe discusses his favorite smells. Follow Vol. 1 […]

Continue Reading

Strange Ephemera And Uncanny Cities: Tim Horvath’s Debut Collection “Understories” Reviewed

Understories by Tim Horvath Bellevue Literary Press; 256 p. Peppered throughout Understories, Tim Horvath’s debut collection, are works labeled “Urban Planning: Case Study Number x.” Some of these are short vignettes describing indisputably foreign urban landscapes: a city in which the sidewalks undulate rather than hold rigid, for instance, or one in which restaurants are not only the primary tourist attraction but are also the basis of the form of government. Others are longer, including “The City In The Light […]

Continue Reading