After the bumper release schedule in September, the music industry seems to be starting its slow pre-Christmas wind-down this month — but even though there’s not quite the surfeit of quality new records that there was last month, there’s still plenty of interesting new releases in October. As we do at the start of every month, we’ve sat down and picked out the 10 albums that we’re most interested to hear over the next four weeks — and just for posterity, this doesn’t include the albums we covered last month which had their release dates sneakily pushed back (yes, Zola Jesus and Björk, we mean you). What’s on your listening schedule in October?
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Every Monday morning, we sit down with our good friend Google and search diligently for the best and/or most notable albums that are streaming for free this week. There’s a good haul to be had this week — the line-up is led by the spectacularly good new Zola Jesus album, which has had the Flavorpill office very excited indeed ever since we got a copy of it. There’s also the new Wilco album, surf-rocky goodness from Dum Dum Girls, a new record for synthpop survivors Erasure, and the return of Ryan Adams. All this awaits you after the jump, so click through and start listening!
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Under the spell of verse, alliteration, rhyming and rhythm, musicians have long been enchanted by the masterminds behind poetry. Whether it be the mention of a poet’s name, appropriation of lines from their works, or some other tribute, literary references pervade many bands’ lyrics. It’s always inspiring to hear how one artist’s work can open the doors to creativity across other art forms, so throw on your headphones and dig out those poetry anthologies as we recount some killer music that was influenced by the likes of Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings, and John Donne.
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1. Weezer’s new album Hurley, which includes guest appearances by Ryan Adams and Michael Cera, is now streaming on MySpace.
2. The Man Booker Prize shortlist has been announced, with Tom McCarthy’s novel C as bookies’ favorite to win. [via Independent]
3. Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has run out of funding, but he refuses to give up the project: “Robert Duvall is Quixote, Ewan McGregor is also there, and we are looking for new financing right now.” [via Variety]
4. Pavement is looking for someone to play guitar with them on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on September 23, and it could be you. [via Pitchfork]
5. The first cast photo from the US version of Skins leaves us feeling underwhelmed about the remake. How about you? [via Digital Spy]
Bonus link: DragonCon Parade 2010
1. Facebook head of public policy Tim Sparapani says that the company will roll out new “simplistic” privacy options for its users in the coming weeks. You know, so now we can all feel stupid and violated. [via Wired]
2. So this is how he’d rather spend his time: Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement will play Yaz, the villain in Men in Black III. (If you’ll remember, Jemaine and Bret turned down HBO’s offer of a third season.) [via Deadline]
3. Axl Rose is suing his former manager Irving Azoff for $5 million, claiming that he sabotaged the release of Guns N’ Roses long-awaited Chinese Democracy album and lied about a potential tour with Van Halen. [via ArtsBeat]
4. Get a first look at The Future, Miranda July‘s first film project since 2005′s Me and You and Everyone We Know. [via The Playlist]
5. Ryan Adams has dropped his “sci-fi metal concept album” ORION early; pick up one of the “extremely limited copies” here. [via 24Bit]
Ryan Adams, he of the heartbreak, the (former) Tumblr and concert outbursts, and the incessant songwriting, has put his thoughts into pictures for his first solo show of paintings at Morrison Hotel Gallery. The gallery’s Bowery location is a fitting nod to Adams prolific and sometimes troubled past as a musician, which saw him leave his North Carolina roots to bring his particular brand of alt-country rock to the mean streets of New York.
Notably, two weeks before the opening on September 23, Adams was installed as the gallery’s first “artist in residence,” creating a new body of work that was auctioned off to benefit Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, a charity dedicated to fighting AIDS and homelessness. The show is up until October 15, and we’ve got a preview after the jump.
Bonus: we’ve crunched some numbers to figure out a master rubric for scoring your own gallery residency, affectionately titled The Ryan Adams Equation. Read More »
1. Ellen Degeneres will be American Idol‘s fourth judge in the show’s upcoming ninth season. [via The Daily Beast]
2. The New York City Planning Commission chopped 200 feet off of Jean Nouvel’s midtown tower, assuring that it will not rival the Empire State Building in height or muck up the Manhattan skyline. [via ArtsBeat]
3. Warner Bros. hopes DC Entertainment will be able to match the success of the powerful Marvel/Disney beast. [via LAT]
4. TextsFromLastNight.com is becoming a TV show about aimless twentysomethings on FOX. [via THR]
5. Ryan Adams’ record label Pax-Am is back. Does this mean The Awl will release an album? [via Paste Mag]
Today at Flavorpill, we discovered our new favorite iPhone app. We made a mental note never to land on Shepard Fairey’s bad side. We lusted after this colorful calendar. We argued about this list of the worst blockbusters ever. We wished we hadn’t thrown away all of our old cassettes. We laughed out loud over Frank Bruni’s top 20 one liners. We knew this wouldn’t end well. We wondered how The Awl got Ryan Adams to write their theme song. And more importantly, who we can get to write ours (we’re looking at you Das Racist). We were stressed. We met the real family Evelyn Waugh based Bridehead’s Revisited on. And finally, we weren’t sure what to think about this Tiesto/Tegan & Sara collab from his upcoming studio album Kaleidoscope. Any thoughts?
Today at Flavorpill, we realized that it’s better to be a hipster than a scenester. You get to eat more tacos. We wished the Manhattan Bridge had less swagga. We had the ending of Orphan spoiled for us by Vulture — but that’s OK, were going to see Harry Potter tonight anyway. We wondered if it makes Ryan Adams sad to watch his band moving on. We were excited to hear Maurice Sendak’s generous take on Spike Jonze’s upcoming Where the Wild Things Are adaptation. We couldn’t believe that Gary Oldman let some serious Batman gossip slip at Comic-Con. We vowed never to eat an insect — at least not on purpose. And finally, we were amused by this video of Wayne Coyne fact checking the Flaming Lips’ Wikipedia page.
1. Sarah Palin has an Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post about President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan. [via Gawker]
2. Quentin Tarantino plans to retire from filmmaking at age 60: “I don’t want to have to watch the movie I made to pay for my pool.” [via NYDN]
3. The producers of Hair announced that the show will go dark on October 11 so cast members can march for marriage equality in Washington. [via NYT]
4. Now that his contract with Lost Highway has ended, is Ryan Adams planning to re-launch his Pax Americana vinyl label? [via TwentyFourBit]
5. The future of independent film: Beginning today, Chipotle will sponsor free screenings of Food, Inc. in 32 U.S. cities. [via THR]