Swinging Modern Sounds: Observations on the Occasion of a 100th Column
The clash of opinions about music is music itself.
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Posts Tagged: lou reed
Wanted/Needed/Loved: Thurston Moore’s 12-String Guitar
Even though I’ve only had my 12-string for two years, this is my favorite guitar.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #103: Song Turned Blue
I’m not writing confessionals; I’m trying to write hooks.
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Everything Is Happening All of the Time: Talking with Sven Ratzke
Sven Ratzke discusses his new show, WHERE ARE WE NOW.
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The Queer Syllabus: Velvet Goldmine by Todd Haynes
In The Queer Syllabus, writers nominate works for a new canon of queer literature.
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Sound & Vision: Anthony DeCurtis
Allyson McCabe talks with Anthony DeCurtis, author and music journalist, about the art of the interview, his friendship with Lou Reed, and teaching in the digital age.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #79: The Rhythm Section Speaks
Maybe there is something important about rock and roll now, rock and roll the neglected past tense of a musical form, and that is that it is the music of adults.
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Sound Takes: You Want it Darker
There are hard lessons about aging and dying and living on You Want It Darker that we’re not going to ever be done with until we either cure death or forget Leonard Cohen.
...moreRemembering Lou Reed
It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since Lou Reed’s passing. In remembrance of his work and legacy, Laurie Anderson organized a day-long tribute to her late husband on Saturday, with readings, exhibitions, film screenings, and concerts. Readers of Reed’s lyrics included Steve Buscemi, Anne Carson, Willem Dafoe, A.M. Homes, and Natasha Lyonne. Performers included Anohni, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), David Johansen (New York […]
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Sound & Vision: John Holmstrom, Roberta Bayley, and Chris Stein
John Holmstrom, Roberta Bayley, and Chris Stein discuss punk music, legendary rock venue CBGB, the philosophy of punk, and Johnny Power Ranger toys.
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A Ringing in Your Ears That Would Disappear by Morning
Soon, you would discover the local isle of misfits. Every town has at least one if you do some digging. Yours was The Boathouse.
...moreSong of the Day: “Harlem River”
Of the countless homages to New York City, a multitude of styles and approaches could be cited, from Billy Joel to Lou Reed to Jay-Z. A 2013 album by guitarist Kevin Morby, known for his work with Woods and The Babies, adds an important and unique chapter to the story of New York-inspired art. The hypnotic bass and […]
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Swinging Modern Sounds #72: Urban Pastoral
It’s like a landscape that you can’t know until you’ve seen it through four seasons, until you’ve seen it on days gray and bright.
...moreDavid Bowie: A Rumpus Roundup
Musical and creative icon David Bowie died Sunday night, succumbing to cancer at the age of sixty-nine. Bowie and his persona Ziggy Stardust produced more than two dozen studio albums—transcending rock stardom by scoring films and television shows, writing off-Broadway musicals, lending his voice to animated characters, and collaborating with other creative masterminds like Lou Reed […]
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Sound & Vision: Spencer Drate & Judith Salavetz
Spencer Drate and Judith Salavetz on their long collaborative career designing for artists like John Lennon, the Talking Heads, and more.
...moreSong of the Day: “Fountain Stairs”
The influential indie group Deerhunter have allegedly described their unique music as “ambient punk.” Founding member Bradford Cox—known also for his side project, Atlas Sound—provides eerily beautiful vocals to accompany compositions boasting everything from pop-friendly melodies to reverb-laden psychedelia. All this makes the more straightforward rock song “Fountain Stairs,” off Deerhunter’s record Halcyon Digest, more memorable […]
...moreLou Reed Will Set You Free
For Poetry, artist Tony Fitzpatrick talks about how Lou Reed’s “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” opened him up to “another side.” Fitzpatrick shares some of his memories of Reed and a slideshow of his Reed-inspired work.
...moreLou Reed’s Discobiography
This week in The New Yorker, Nick Flynn writes a poem about Lou Reed. There have also been some other great articles about Lou Reed. “Discobiography” might sound like the title of a cheesy 70s memoir, but according to Erich Kuersten it’s the perfect name for the genre in which Lou Reed’s Great American Novel resides. Did […]
...moreRIP Lou Reed
Lou Reed, who changed the face of rock music both with the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist, passed away yesterday at the age of 71. We trust you know where to find his music, but you may also be interested to see some of his poetry, printed in the Paris Review. A preview: 1. […]
...moreLou Reed, the poet
Lou Reed, member of The Velvet Underground, wrote a poem, “O Delmore how I miss you,” to his college professor Delmore Schwartz in Poetry Magazine. “Reading Yeats and the bell had rung but the poem was not over you hadn’t finished reading—liquid rivulets sprang from your nose but still you would not stop reading. I […]
...moreLou Reed Does it Again
You’ve probably heard about Lou Reed’s multilayered Poe ventures which have taken on various artistic forms—a concept album, formerly a theater piece, and now a graphic novel. And that’s not all. The latest of his Edgar Allen Poe-themed projects is a collaboration with Metallica. How can Lou Reed take on Poe so multi-artistically? It’s stressing […]
...moreThe Velvet Underground’s Not-Quite-a-Reunion Reunion
“They can’t make us wait in lines,” my friend said when we were told the doors weren’t open yet. “This is punk rock.”
...moreNotable New York, This Week 12/7 – 12/13
This week in New York Malcolm Gladwell and James Wood talk about Evangelicalism and the Contemporary Intellectual, members of the Velvet Underground reunite at the New York Public Library, 60 Writers/60 Places screens, Anne Carson performs, Andy Warhol films get shown at Anthology Film Archives, Mark Doty and Marie Howe read, and Voice 4 Vision […]
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