I was listening to June McDoom’s new reggae-influenced psychedelic folk self-titled album yesterday after reading her interview with Aquarium Drunkard. Websites like Aquarium Drunkard, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and The Quietus still introduce me to new music.
More often than not, though, it is still word-of-mouth that stirs my musical interest. Like book discovery, social media has expanded the number of voices recommending music. In the past couple of years, newsletters have turned me on to a surprising amount of music, notably S/FJ by Sasha Frere-Jones, Made You a Mix, The Nelson George Mixtape, and Hear Hear.
Of all sources, it is my friends who know me well who make the best suggestions.
Many artists, labels, and publicists send me music to feature on Largehearted Boy, and I listen to as much as I can.
How do you discover new music?
Largehearted Likes
Headphones as earwarmers - Last year, I started wearing my headphones while walking and commuting. The bluetooth, over-the-ear Bose 700s offer great sound whether I am listening to music or podcasts, but better yet, I discovered they keep my ears warm in winter! Now I just need to find some gloves that are both warm and allow me to turn pages.
Leah Umansky’s online poetry class for teens - Leah Umansky is a poet, educator, and friend, and she excels in all three disciplines. Her new workshop for teen writers promises to be a valuable and unforgettable experience for budding writers.
Courtney Maum’s Before and After the Book Deal - Author Courtney Maum’s newsletter lives up to its title in every way. Writers will benefit from her experience and advice. Also worthwhile: her book with the same title.
Astra House - Astra House is quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers. This morning I shared Vanessa A. Bee's playlist for her brilliant memoir Home Bound, and this afternoon I am reading Jamie Marina Lau’s marvelously odd debut novel Gunk Baby. I have loved everything Astra House has published, and look forward to reading many more books from them.
Hungry Thai - Greenpoint’s best Thai restaurant has become my go-to takeout destination. We first tried it Sunday night, then ordered a follow-up yesterday. Drunk ‘n hungry noodles for the win!
Bookselling - This week, I return to bookselling at Columbia University’s bookstore. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and talk books.
Boulevard Whiskey Barrel Stout - Cooler weather means more stouts in the Largehearted fridge. Boulevard’s Whiskey Barrel Stout stands out for its bold bourbon flavor and vanilla and chocolate notes. At 11.8% ABV, this is a slow sipper, but one bursting with deliciousness.
Philadelphia restaurants refuse to cater meals for the visiting Houston Astros - Philly sports fans being the best. Go Phils!
Andrew Bird’s song inspired by Emily Dickinson (with Phoebe Bridgers) - Check. Check. Check. So much to like.
Writing Exercises from Matt Bell - If you are writing a novel, or if you write anything, Writing Exercises from Matt Bell is a must-read. Matt brings his brilliance as a teacher and knowledge as a writer to full effect in this Substack.
Pierogis - One of the best things about Greenpoint, Brooklyn is the variety of pierogis available. Since my partner is vegan, I have become partial to any combination of mushroom and sauerkraut.
Largehearted Links
Lynn Melnick interviewed about her new memoir
Writing each chapter felt a lot like writing a poem. When I write, I always get this sense that everything is going to be connected, and I just have to keep researching and writing until I figure out the scope of how.
Hilma Wolitzer on publishing a short story collection in her 90’s
But after I developed the habit of writing novels, I seemed to have forgotten how to write short stories, as if I’d made a pact with a literary devil. I read poetry for its lessons of musicality and economy, and I was still reading stories with intense pleasure, but I couldn’t compose one.A conversation between Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O and Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner
Karen O: Everybody should have a memoir as a companion piece with their records. Especially these days, because of the way we consume everything. Things just wash over you like droplets on the surface, and it’s a shame. Making a record, you’re putting every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears, and really going to wherever music takes you, which is almost like a spiritual thing. And then the way people consume, it’s lucky if you get past skin deep. Having the memoir to go along, I’m so glad that you do have that.
Zauner: I would read the shit out of a Karen O memoir.
Dani Shapiro interviewed about her new novel
Hourglass is one of my own books that’s closest to my heart, and I learned a lot about structure and writing in a mosaic-like form for that book. After Hourglass, I would say to people, “I’ve broken up with straightforward narrative, I’m done.” And I was excited by that. I wanted to write fiction that allowed for that kind of shuffling of time. The work that I’m drawn to, whether it’s fiction or memoir, tends to be kaleidoscopic or collage-like.
King Princess’s Mikaela Straus profiled
“The original Facebook was just lesbians writing their names down on a tablecloth,” Straus tells me of the lesbian speakeasies (Patricia) Highsmith frequented, part of that tapestry. The Price of Salt was “huge” for Straus when she was in high school and “feeling unrequited love.” Highsmith’s text is rare queer representation from the ’50s, Straus explains: “We struggle now. And this bitch managed. She wrote The Price of Salt with a happy ending, under a pseudonym, Claire Morgan. It was the first book of that type to be published as a hard copy. I thought about that a lot when I was writing ‘1950’: coded queer love, the way you’d have to subvert your signs to someone you were romantic with.”
Michael Pedersen interviewed about his memoir of friendship with Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison
The plan was to create this big archive of our friendship in prose form and then to manipulate it into a poetry collection. Then, as the archive grew, the book just refused to be sculpted into poetry. I was met with this really stubborn opponent, and it’s like, “Well, shit, I’ve got a prose book now.” I’d written this pretty candid, unguarded form of prose, which—had it become poems—would have been obfuscated, would have been turned into metaphors, the masks would have been up. They might have been less direct in their parlance and their confessions. By then I didn’t want to meddle with the chemistry of the way that the book more viscerally came out.
Last Week’s LHB Feature Posts:
Agustin Maes's playlist for his novel Newborn
Christine Sneed's playlist for her novel Please Be Advised
Gary Lippman's playlist for his story collection We Loved the World But Could Not Stay
Christopher Locke's playlist for his essay collection Without Saints
Stephanie McCarter's playlist for her translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses
Thank you for the mention and ongoing support!