Songs of Our Lives: Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy”
It’d be a stretch to say that Johnny Cash and Iggy Pop are connected in any meaningful way.
...more
music
Deep Throat #4: On Being and Unbeing a Singer
It is not a coincidence that among the synonyms for “practice” is “ritual,” and for “ritual,” “practice.” When you do a thing over and over—even if it is only so banal and small as lighting a cigarette—it will assume a shape and a meaning, a weight and a force.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Julianna Barwick
With her haunting voice looped in a wordless glossolalia over pianos, keyboards, and other instruments, Julianna Barwick makes music like no other artist working today.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #36: “Dead Joe”
Even though we’re in the month of May, we can always use a little bit of Christmas spirit. The Birthday Party, Nick Cave’s pre–Bad Seeds band, gave us a song that we can sing anytime of year.
There was this dude named Joe.
...more
ALBUMS OF OUR LIVES: BOB DYLAN’S BLONDE ON BLONDE
The album was the warm yellow window of someone else’s house as you walk by on a cold night. Listening to it was the feeling you get when you look into this stranger’s window and wish you lived there.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #35: “The Lyre of Orpheus”
Happy Mother’s Day. And a big hug to Dawn Cave, the mother who gave us the King of The Bad Seeds.
Thank you, Dawn, and thank you, Calliope. Calli-a-who?
Calliope was the mother of the greatest musician of all time, Orpheus.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #34: “The Ship Song”
“The Ship Song” can induce emotions of love, lust and affection. It’s a sexy and soft ballad. If you listen to the song and no one is around to kiss or fondle, there is no shame in showing your affection to a soft pillow.
...more
Rock Out with Your Book Out #2: Writer Ariel Gore’s Steely Dan Detox
Hip Mama, which started as Ariel Gore’s student project at Mills College in Oakland and debuted as a zine in 1993, elevated Gore to rockstar status
...more
Nick Cave Monday #33: “I’m Gonna Kill That Woman”
Have you ever been harassed by a bully? Someone who comes up to you on the school playground. And all you’re trying to do is eat your ice cream cone in peace.
So the bully comes up to you and first asks why you’re wearing a fitted suit and have your hair slicked back.
...more
THE RUMPUS INTERVIEW WITH OLOF ARNALDS
Iceland’s Ólöf Arnalds (cousin to contemporary classical wunderkind Olafur Arnalds) is only in her early 30′s, yet has already charted an impressive career path that is only gaining traction with the release of her latest full-length, Sudden Elevation.
...more
Swinging Modern Sounds #44: And Another Day
David Bowie, who isn’t doing press for his new album The Next Day, provides Rick Moody with a workflow diagram for the album. A Rumpus exclusive.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #32: “West Country Girl”
What do you do when you think a girl is hot and you really want to get with her? You write her a song.
Nick Cave did that for PJ Harvey and “West Country Girl” was released on “The Boatman’s Call” in 1997.
...more
RECORDS OF YOU
He didn’t own a record player because he didn’t need to hear anything. He wanted only to maintain what the vinyl represented: ties to his childhood, ties to New York.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #31: “Deanna”
Deanna was a girl from Melbourne, Australia. She meant so much to Nick she got her own song on the 1988 album, “Tender Prey.” If you have ever seen The Bad Seeds live in the last 25 years there is a very good chance “Deanna” was on the set list.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #30: “Heathen Child”
Grinderman announced their breakup about a year ago. But guess what Bad Seeders? Grinderman is performing two sets at Coachella in the coming days.
Let’s revisit the first single from Grinderman 2, “Heathen Child.” At the core of this humorous song is a message…In the end, we are all alone on this giant explosion that we inhabit called Earth.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #29: “Avalanche”
Around the year of our Lord 1984, there were fans of The Birthday Party wandering aimless through the streets. Their post-punk gods vanished. But, just like a dude named Jesus, there would soon come a resurrection, into a different body of sorts.
...more
ALBUMS OF OUR LIVES: TO THE EXTREME BY VANILLA ICE
We all had braces. When we smiled or laughed, we flashed steel and colored rubber bands. We shared a language.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #28: “Jack The Ripper”
Jack the Ripper killed women in real life. He is known as Jack the Ripper, and was never caught for his violent crimes.
Nick Cave kills people in his music. He is known as the greatest singer in the world, and is in a band called The Bad Seeds.
...more
Albums of Our Lives: Songs: Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co.
The news of Jason Molina’s death came to me in a storm. I was about to teach a class when I saw the first posts announcing that he was gone.
...more
Swinging Modern Sounds #43: Formative Experiences
Often, I find, the musical experiences that have had the most lasting impact on me were not immediately apparent to me at the time.
...more
Sympathy for the Devils: Review of Crossfire Hurricane
The Rolling Stones, who as a band turned fifty in 2012, have survived almost everybody.
...more“Has the Vinyl Revival Gone Too Far?”
A.V. Club contributor Jason Heller places his bets on the (suspected to be short) future of the vinyl revival in this article about the reissue of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler.
Observing a risky trend in artificial rarities, Heller argues new traditions like Record Store Day are leaning more towards manipulative marketing than celebration of nostalgia.
...more
Deep Throat #2: On Being and Unbeing A Singer
My face burned with rage, with shame, with humiliation. I was failing openly, blatantly, at the one thing I still somehow, in the back of my mind, expected to be perfectly capable of doing after more than a decade’s silence.
...more
“A Secret of the Heart on the Sleeve:” Jason Molina, 1973 – 2013
Now I’m in that rootless void of grieving the loss of someone I never really knew.
...more
ROCK OUT WITH YOUR BOOK OUT #1: JOLIE HOLLAND
I once read an interview with Jolie Holland in which she mentioned how her songs come through her from some other world.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #27: “Tupelo”
It was a dark and stormy night in April 1936. The city of Tupelo, Mississippi was ravaged by a tornado that killed more than 230 people. It is ranked as the fourth deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
Tupelo is also the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
...more
Nick Cave Monday #26: “Brother, My Cup is Empty”
When the the relationship is over, when your heart is cracked open and leaking blood on your pinstripe suit, when you’re out of cash and you need something to numb the pain of a break up, tell that wretched dude at the bar to buy you a drink.
...more
Diamonds and Rust #1: Nostalgia, Form and Noise
“We both know what memories can bring, they bring diamonds and rust.” –Joan Baez
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Jesse Sykes
The first thing you notice about Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter is Sykes’s voice. It’s a stunning blend of contradictions, cutting and vulnerable, breathy and scratchy, enigmatic and bare.
...more