6.24.2005
Random pop notes
The Believer has been taking some hits for its new music issue, including this dressing down from the New York Times and this likeminded piece from blogger Michaelangelo Matos, who agrees that the magazine's focus on indie rock leaves a lot of uncovered territory and makes over-generalized assumptions about bookish people and their music tastes. I wonder why magazines find it necessary to do "music issues." Is the lure of a cover-mounted CD and new advertisers once a year really enough?
Salon has a Q&A with Brian Wilson, conducted ostensibly to promote the new 2-DVD set from Rhino that includes the film Beautiful Dreamer and some footage of the recording of Smile. In it, the writer seems to have unwittingly stumbled across the explanation for Wilson's addled state long these many years:
Q: And Paul McCartney is your favorite of the Beatles?
A: Oh yes. He's written so many songs, it can make your head swim. If you listened to the whole Beatles catalog in one sitting, you'd wind up feeling dizzy. That's how good he is at music. He can make you feel dizzy."
Yup. Too much Macca. That'd do in anyone. For further proof that Brian has been listening to a lot of Beatles music lately, read the rest of the interview. For evidence of earlier dizziness, go download his rejected solo album, Adult Child, which features the ridiculous ("H.E.L.P is on the Way") and the sublime ("Still I Dream of It").
The Posies, have a new disc, Every Kind of Light coming Tuesday, and Billboard gets the scoop. Not much new for fans who are intimately familiar with the ins and outs in the relationship between Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, but it does offer a nice recap.
Lastly, Fountains of Wayne will perform its new single, "Maureen," on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight. It's a bit of advance publicity for the band's new odds and sods collection, Out-of-State Plates, also out Tuesday. Having diligently downloaded and/or purchased many of these songs over the years (or sponged off friends who did), I can attest that this 2-disc set is chock full o' goodness.
Salon has a Q&A with Brian Wilson, conducted ostensibly to promote the new 2-DVD set from Rhino that includes the film Beautiful Dreamer and some footage of the recording of Smile. In it, the writer seems to have unwittingly stumbled across the explanation for Wilson's addled state long these many years:
Q: And Paul McCartney is your favorite of the Beatles?
A: Oh yes. He's written so many songs, it can make your head swim. If you listened to the whole Beatles catalog in one sitting, you'd wind up feeling dizzy. That's how good he is at music. He can make you feel dizzy."
Yup. Too much Macca. That'd do in anyone. For further proof that Brian has been listening to a lot of Beatles music lately, read the rest of the interview. For evidence of earlier dizziness, go download his rejected solo album, Adult Child, which features the ridiculous ("H.E.L.P is on the Way") and the sublime ("Still I Dream of It").
The Posies, have a new disc, Every Kind of Light coming Tuesday, and Billboard gets the scoop. Not much new for fans who are intimately familiar with the ins and outs in the relationship between Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, but it does offer a nice recap.
Lastly, Fountains of Wayne will perform its new single, "Maureen," on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight. It's a bit of advance publicity for the band's new odds and sods collection, Out-of-State Plates, also out Tuesday. Having diligently downloaded and/or purchased many of these songs over the years (or sponged off friends who did), I can attest that this 2-disc set is chock full o' goodness.
