A Kim & Kelley Deal Playlist and much more

A playlist of music by the Deal twins, interviews with ANOHNI & Patrick deWitt, an excerpt from Alexandra Chang's magnificent story collection, and more

I’ve been thinking about siblings lately, especially where talent runs amok in families.

Kim Deal is indie rock royalty. Though best known for her time in the Pixies and the Breeders, I am most fond of her Pacer album with the Amps (the best Pixies side project ever in my eyes, a stride ahead of Frank Black’s first solo album).

Kim’s twin sister Kelley also played in the Breeders, and in the projects the Kelley Deal 6000, R. Ring, and The Last Hard Men. Her KD6K albums Go to the Sugar Altar and Boom! Boom! Boom! are two of my favorite ‘90s indie releases.

Enjoy!

The Deal Sisters - A Kim & Kelley Playlist (24 songs, 1 hour and 8 minutes)

Largehearted Likes:

1. Wirecutter’s list of the best pens

   I am all in with a stationery list, but missing is my favorite writing instrument, Muji’s stick pens (in all colors and line thicknesses).

2. The McCarren Park Farmers Market

   My vegan partner might still be volunteering in Africa, but contrary to popular belief, I am not subsisting on Popeye’s chicken sandwiches, pierogies, and pizza. This morning I walked to north Brooklyn’s McCarren Park and filled my bag with locally grown tomatoes, arugula, green onions, squash, and more. Healthy eating and supporting local farmers are always good things.

Largehearted Links

1. Marjane Satrapi on the need for activism and no longer writing comics
   The problem with comics is—and it will sound like I’m sending myself flowers, but—from the first comic I made, I got all this press and hoopla, hoopla. I made a couple more and it was the same. It’s something I know how to do. It’s not that I know a secret ingredient—I can’t give a formula to someone else. But it’s not challenging anymore because I know how to do it. My life is about the search, not getting comfortable.

2. Sample Breakdown: The Most Iconic Hip-Hop Sample of Every Year (1973-2023)

3. The Clothes Behind the Books: How to Dress Like a Writer
   Meghan Mayhew Bergman, Paul Tremblay and others shared their writing wardrobes with The Coachella Review.

4. New music from Sun June

5. Tom Gauld’s comic on creating a literary legacy

6. New music from Hannah Diamond

7. Read a story from Cleo Qian’s story collection Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go

   Then listen to Qian’s playlist for the book

8. Stereogum interviewed ANOHNI
   Lou Reed had a reputation as a sort of curmudgeon – did you find that was true working with him?

   ANOHNI: I would never use the word curmudgeonly to describe him, because he’s so dynamic. He is very volatile, he is very emotional, and very intense energy and sometimes very, very warm energy. He just had it all, like he was intense across the board.

9. Patrick deWitt talked books and reading with the New York Times.
   I loved the pair of Gwendoline Riley novels NYRB put out last year, “My Phantoms” and “First Love.” I enjoy reading about awful, sickening people, and these books are filled with them. But they’re awful and sickening in a way that, while not unfamiliar to my life experience, felt new — they’re awful and sickening in a way I’d not seen in literature before.

10. BrooklynVegan interviewed the OSEES’ John Dwyer

11. The Millions interviewed Alexandra Chang about her brilliant story collection, Tomb Sweeping
    Alexander Sammartino: How do you think about the way the stories in Tomb Sweeping come together?

    Alexandra Chang: I tried organizing them a few different ways. I initially liked the idea of stringing them together chronologically, mostly so I could see how I’ve changed as a writer over the years, but then I didn’t like how they read in that order. I tried to organize them thematically, kind of clumping stories with similar concerns together (e.g. family, self, work, friendship, etc.)—that got repetitive. Eventually I landed on a more intuitive and mood-based organization, balancing between familiarity and change from story to story. I also had a couple contenders for the first story and a couple contenders for the last story. I like the idea of the beginning and end being bookends of the collection, then filling in the rest.
    

Last Week’s LHB Feature Posts

Adam Steiner’s playlist for his book Silhouettes and Shadows

Cleo Qian’s playlist for her story collection LET’S GO LET’S GO LET’S GO

Julie Schumacher’s playlist for her novel The English Experience

Keith Rosson’s playlist for his novel Fever House

Kimberly Alidio’s playlist for their poetry collection Teeter