Google recently commemorated the 78th birthday of electronic music pioneer, Dr. Robert Moog, with a doodle of Moog’s most famous invention, the synthesizer.

In an interview with the LA Times from 1981 archived in Rock’s Backpages, Moog recounts the unexpected success of his invention in 70′s pop music and reacts to “recent” synthesizer hits from Jeff Beck, Bowie, and Funkadelic. Even in 1981, only 17 years into its long history, the instrument had already gone through one cycle of ascendancy, decline, and resurrection in the music world. Moog, a great believer in the vitality and musical possibility inherent in his invention, isn’t afraid to get philosophical about its use, either: …more

Various Artists
We Are the Works in Progress (Asa Wa Kuru)

Songs that belong together make each other better. …more

“Some barriers aren’t as impermeable as we think. Telling a story on a page and telling a story against a backing track certainly are different, but they’re not irreconcilable.”

The Line interviews writer and rapper Dessa of the Doomtree collective. Dessa discusses collaboration, what attracts her to hip-hop, and the Twin Cities music scene.

(Via Hazel and Wren)

Laura Gibson
La Grande (Barsuk; Jealous Butcher)

I recently heard someone on NPR use the term “desert noir” to describe the band Calexico. Having never heard the term before, I immediately took to it. …more

Boris
New Album (Sargent House)

If, like a lot of Boris listeners in the United States, you were introduced to the band through its heavy yet accessible Pink in 2005, you’re probably aware of Boris’ ability to shift gears from album to album, even song to song. …more

White Fence
Family Perfume, Vol 1 & Vol 2 (Woodsist)

The first thing you have to accept when you listen to White Fence is that Tim Presley sings like George Harrison. …more

The NYT‘s section Books of the Times reviews RJ Smith’s biography of James Brown, The One, which came out earlier this spring: “This book’s sparkle speaks for itself, as does Mr. Smith’s ability to take on his screaming, moaning, kinetically blessed, unbeatably shrewd subject.” Smith covers Brown’s life from his childhood in the rural South to his post-glory troubles with the law while dropping stories about the idiosyncrasies and many talents of the late great “Soul Brother Number One”.

The band Aeroplane Pageant and novelist, musician and Rumpus contributor Rick Moody have collaborated on a new version of a song from the band’s recent album, Float Above the Yard. Moody’s remix of the song “Big Little Wolfs” is ambient and drifting without being lulling, a place (near the docks) as much as a song. Have a listen here.

The song is also set to appear on Occupy This Album, which benefits OWS and also features music by Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Devo, Blondie, Michael Moore (!), Patti Smith, Ladytron, Yoko Ono, Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Crosby and Nash, and others.

Ben Von Wildenhaus
Great Melodies From Around (Riot Bear Recording Co.)

In Retromania, Simon Reynolds quotes Brian Eno from a 1991 Artforum article: “Curatorship is arguably the big new job of our times. … In an age saturated with new artifacts and information, it is perhaps the curator, the connection maker, who is the new storyteller, the meta-author.” …more

An oldie but a goodie: Nick Cave on why he won’t appear in a Gap commercial.

(via @LettersOfNote)

Featuring a slide guitarist that used to tour with Dylan for his Rolling Thunder Revue, Melaena Cadiz minces no words in her new song, “Hometown.”

Featuring a rhythm sometimes reminiscent of “Me and Bobby McGee,” the song is an infectious and immaculately penned plea for salvation.  ”Hometown” appears on Cadiz’s forthcoming record, Deep Below Heaven. Catch it after the jump: …more

Well this is exciting! Carrie Brownstein’s memoir is making its way into the mediascape! She’s rocked us in Sleater-Kinney, The Spells and Wild Flag, broadcast hyperarticulations on her beloved Monitor Mix music culture blog, and wowed us with her comedic and improvisatory pizzazz on Portlandia. Will all of this and more fit in one memoir (even one reported to be about her life in music)? Stay tuned…

In Largehearted Boy’s “Cross-Media Cultural Exchange Program” series, author Emma Rathbone interviews musician Adam Brock. The two discuss gracing a podium as an author versus taking the stage as a musician, writing lyrics versus fiction, and top secret current projects.

Various Artists
Luz de Vida (Fort Lowell Records)

1. A Little Context
Tragedy can define a city, coloring not only the way it is perceived by outsiders but, inevitably, the way the city’s people see themselves.  …more

Sean Rowe
Magic (Collar City)

It might be hard to get past the first song on Sean Rowe’s Magic it if you have a real aversion to guitar-based songs written in what is commonly referred to as “adult contemporary” style: competent music writing and playing, extending just to the edge of what is comfortable. …more

All good dates are alike; all bad dates are bad in their own way. …more

Angel Olsen
Strange Cacti (Bathetic Records)

Reverb and other effects make Angel Olsen’s voice, accompanied only by guitar, sound otherworldly on Strange Cacti. …more

Conversation Hearts

Two Words. Infinite Meanings. True Love. Missed Connections. 50% Divorce. First Date. Happy Nights. Sad Days. Star Crossed. Wedded Bliss. Bad Breakup. Holding Hands. Making Out. Great Sex. Poly Love. …more

Making a Pie  (Instructions for Pie and Life)

1.  The act of reading poetry is a fine thing to incorporate.    Begin, say, with Cornelius Eady’s “Gratitude” and take it from there. …more

You can see the architecture of things in winter.

Structures glisten. Naked trees drip with clear popsicles. We find ourselves alone with ourselves. Everyone else has gone away to someplace warmer/better/more fun or else they are tucked indoors. Even when you live in a relatively warm place, winter still haunts. …more