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Nico

New York

The Velvet Underground Members’ Top 10 Post-VU Albums

By Jason Diamond on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

While there is no dearth of books, magazine articles, blog posts, and record store conversations as to just how important the LPs put out by The Velvet Underground were and continue to be to modern music, the various members of the group have also amassed a pretty remarkable string of albums since the band’s first record came out in 1967. Below, we rank the band members’ top ten most essential post-VU releases. … Read More

New York

John Cale Restores Nico’s Musical Legacy in All-Star Tribute

By Judy Berman on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

With all the tribute albums and concerts (and art shows and dance parties, etc.) on offer these days, it’s easy forget that they can be more than just shallow attempts on the part of their organizers to cash in on a name more famous than their own. Last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the consistently thoughtful, uncompromising John Cale reminded me. Not only did he amass an appropriate and diverse set of musicians for Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico, but his clear-eyed and unsentimental celebration of his one-time Velvet Underground bandmate did what any worthwhile tribute should do — broadened and deepened our understanding of its subject. … Read More

New York

A Stunningly Diverse Selection of Great Records Produced by John Cale

By Tobias Carroll on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris, 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

John Cale’s career has spanned decades. His own music has ranged from surreal drones to lush, baroque pop to exercises in proto-punk paranoia, and his collaborators have included La Monte Young and Terry Riley. Yet Cale’s work as a producer is equally notable: he has worked on everything from bona fide classic albums to much more esoteric work. What follows is a look at five works that give a sense of the breadth of Cale’s experience as a producer. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. The first full trailer for Ang Lee’s film adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Life of Pi has arrived online, and while it doesn’t reveal much about the plot, boy oh boy is it pretty.

2. Speaking of highly-anticipated adaptations of critically-acclaimed books, Entertainment Weekly has posted some… Read More

Books

Literary Mixtape: Jon Snow

By Emily Temple on

If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: George R.R. Martin’s most lovable bastard, Jon Snow. … Read More

Music

Wanted: Women Who Rock Coloring Book

By Nicole Rallis on

Who could resist the opportunity to color in our favorite rock ’n’ roll gals while supporting a great cause? The non-profit Girls Rock! Rhode Island recently published a killer coloring book loaded with pictures of women musicians who kick butt. Illustrated by a slew of local artists — including Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females  — who donated their work, the coloring book is loaded with 22 ready-to-color drawings featuring the lady pioneers of rock present and past like Nico, Patti Smith, Kim Gordon, Bethany Cosentino, and Sharon Jones. Every copy sold supports programs Girls Rock! Rhode Island provides, including empowerment workshops and camps where young girls and women to learn to play instruments, form bands, and perform original songs for a live audience. Have a peak at thecoloring book below, and purchase it on Etsy. … Read More

Music

10 Appealingly Warm Albums to Make You Love Fall

By Judy Berman on

The crackle of a log on the fireplace is nice for those with cozy log cabins in the woods, but for those of us who live in the city, the crackle of a well-loved album on the record player makes a similarly comforting substitute. Now that Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is still over a week away, and sunny, 67-degree weather seems just as likely as a few inches of snow (at least in New York), it’s time that we forced ourselves to embrace this transitional season. After the jump, in an attempt to help you do just that, we’ve rounded up 10 great albums that go perfectly with teapots, cardigans, and end-of-year contemplation. … Read More

Film

10 Way Overdue Biopics We’d Like to See

By Jason Bailey on

Yesterday, HBO Films announced plans for the upcoming movie The Day the Laughter Stopped, based on the true story of Fatty Arbuckle, the wildly popular silent movie comic (second only to Chaplin) whose career was brought to a screeching halt when he was falsely accused of raping and murdering a starlet named Virginia Rappe at a Labor Day party in 1921. Though he was ultimately acquitted of the crime, Arbuckle’s reputation was ruined forever, and in the wake of the scandal, Hollywood studios cracked down on both on-screen sex and the off-screen lives of their stars.

Good movie material, yeah? We’ve thought so for years, and look forward to seeing what John Adams writer Kirk Ellis, You Don’t Know Jack director Barry Levinson, and Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet (we’d always seen Oliver Platt in the role, but that’s neither here nor there) come up with. Meanwhile, the recent, surprise release of the West Memphis Three has provided filmmaker Atom Egoyan with an unexpectedly upbeat ending to his already-in-the-works WM3 film. Both of these tidbits got us thinking about some of the real lives we’d like to see get the biopic treatment. Check out our picks after the jump, and add your own in the comments. … Read More

Daily Dose

Daily Dose Pick: Anika

By Doug Levy on

While Anika’s self-titled debut is ostensibly a solo album, it’s actually a collaborative effort initiated by Geoff Barrow of Portishead fame.

Barrow brought Anika, who spent her days as a political journalist, into the studio with his post-punk trio Beak>, banging out a nine-track album of dub-heavy ’60s and ’70s covers by artists ranging from Yoko Ono to Bob Dylan in less than two weeks.

As a singer, Anika bears a startling resemblance to Nico, both in delivery and tone, while the stripped-down quality of the recordings makes the album sound like an actual time capsule from 40 years ago. It’s a bass-drenched retro trip that spits in the face of modern production, embracing the rawest, most visceral elements of timeless sound. … Read More

News

The Hotel Chelsea: A Cultural History

By Judy Berman on

Although it’s been embattled and its legacy tarnished in the past few years, Manhattan’s Hotel Chelsea remains a spiritual landmark for those who remember (or simply romanticize) the old, weird New York. So it’s jarring news to learn that the Chelsea is now up for sale. Its owners claim that the place’s legacy will be preserved, and we sure hope they mean it.

To understand exactly what’s at stake here, we’ve put together a timeline of cultural events that took place at or were inspired by the Hotel Chelsea in the past 60 years. Of course, since its relationship to the art, music, and literary world is too enormous to measure, we’ve had to leave a lot out. Add your favorite Hotel Chelsea moments in the comments. … Read More