Short Attention Span Theatre

Listening to
Oh, sequels. They unilaterally suck, right? David Byrne and Brian Eno have sidestepped the whole thorny issue by following-up their legendary 1981 collagist-funk masterpiece My Life in the Bush of Ghosts with something completely different in tone — namely, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, an optimistic, brimming-over pop record with duties neatly split between Eno (music) and Byrne (words + singing). Done exclusively via email, the results have their own quirky, laid-back charm. Available via download on August 18th. Also released this week: Byrne’s Big Love: Hymnals.

Reading
Urban Outfitters’ ubiquitous album cover frames are a thoroughly depressing curio, because to me they suggest nothing so much as the lost heyday of the album. Despite being mute objects, their very existence raises a valid point: Who listens to a record all the way through anymore? I reluctantly raise my hand while decrying the depressing state of affairs. I, too, have fallen victim to the relentless iPod-ification of the long-playing LP —this mixtape culture we live in.

Black Dog must have been thinking along the same lines when they green-lit Old Rare New, an oversize tome dedicated to rapturous recollections of the (nearly) endangered species, the Record Store. It looks like great fun, with contributions from fans like Chan Marshall, Bonnie Prince Billy, St Etienne’s Bob Stanley, and The Wire’s Byron Coley. (Old Rare New, Emma Pettit, editor. US $29.95.)

Watching
Guy Maddin’s delirious Brand Upon The Brain (Criterion). Or at least, I will be, just as soon as Amazon sees fit to send it my way. (Such are the perils of the free shipping option.)

David Byrne & Brian Eno, “America Is Waiting” [from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 1981]