More Salinger

In 1980 a reporter, Betty Eppes, conducted a rare interview with Salinger.

In the interview he said: "I refuse to publish. There's a marvelous peace in not publishing. There's a stillness. When you publish, the world thinks you owe something. If you don't publish, they don't know what you're doing. You can keep it for yourself."

Salinger's last published work was a short story that ran in The New Yorker in 1965.

He went 45 years without publishing. Do you think he stopped writing? I don't.

J.D. Salinger's unpublished works?

J.D. Salinger passed away yesterday at the age of 91, according to National Public Radio.

Now, I'm going to come right out and say it, I have yet to read The Catcher In The Rye. There, I said it. But don't stop reading just yet, it's on my shelf and it's next in line.

But my confession isn't the point of this post. My point is that Salinger was a recluse. In 1953 he moved to a farm house in New Hampshire where he stayed until his death. He effectively cut himself off from the outside world. He even cut himself off from the local high school when an interview conducted by one of the students ran in the town's editorial page instead of it's high school page (and yes, I'm getting all of this from Wikipedia, shoot me).

So the man didn't like attention and was caved away in his New Hampshire home. What if Salinger was a literary dragon, hidden in his cave, crouching over his unpublished novels, protecting them from any would-be publishers? Minus the imagery, I'd say it's possible. The chance there are a few unfinished or unpublished works lying around in that old house is pretty high.

It's a possibility that intrigues me. How will people handle it? Will they respect Salinger's wishes (what were his wishes?) or will the books be published? I'm getting a feeling they'll be published. However, Salinger's people have yet to comment, according to the Associated Press.

In any case, I'll be keeping an eye out. Stay tuned for more.

The Antlers - Hospice

Hospice was one of the most interesting albums to come out of 2009. Why? I'll tell you why.

When you think of a concept album, what comes to mind? Pink Floyd's The Wall, or maybe The Who's Tommy, but how many in the past decade? Alright, Green Day's American Idiot counts (maybe).

How about a 3-piece indie band out of Brooklyn N.Y. that sounds like the love-child of Bon Iver and Arcade Fire? Huh? To me, that doesn't seem like the concept album's scene.

That's what sets The Antlers apart. Hospice, their third studio album, is 10 solid, well constructed songs. Some of them are very good, like "Bear" and "Two." But it's more than that.

With its 10 songs, Hospice tells the story of a man meeting a bone cancer patient in the hospital ward he works in. They fall in love then he watches her die. But their relationship wasn't perfect. She was depressed and abusive, and he didn't know how to handle it.

The story is powerful and the music does it justice; it clearly defines the emotions behind the words. Part of that comes with the track mixings. In the beginning of the album, Peter Silberman's voice is very soft and doesn't come through the music well. It makes him sound small, lost -- a great effect that adds to the story but the lyrics can become difficult hear.

To help with that, The Antlers have provided a downloadable lyric sheet on their blog. It's definitely worth taking an hour or two to listen through this album straight through while reading the lyric sheet. The first time I did it left me in the same place a good (and very depressing) book would.

The only negative thing I can really say is that a lot of the songs sound really similar and bleed together. The album tells one story, so naturally I don't expect much deviation. But still, the similarity of some of the songs (especially the melodies) can make listening a little dry sometimes. But in general, the good in this album way outweighs the bad.

In the liner notes, The Antlers provide a brief introduction.

Sound intriguing? I thought it did. Check out the album to hear the nightmares they wove. Trust me, they'll haunt you.

Coming Up: Contra, Next Tuesday

Vampire Weekend's sophomore effort, Contra, drops next tuesday (1/12). Who's excited? I'm excited.

Their first LP (self-titled) shows definite promise. It's a fun, catchy, poppy album with light ska influence. Almost every song's a sing-along and the album even features some great string arrangements. "M79's" arrangement stands out. With it, the song pulls off a baroque feel. Tell me, how many indie-pop bands out there write a song with legitimate baroque influences? Not many. Maybe the fact that every member of the 4-piece graduated from Columbia University has something to do with it.

That's right. These ivy-leaguers pooled their brain-power to produce one fun, catchy album. Can they do it again?

We'll see on tuesday. Actually, you can pretty much see right now. They're streaming the entire album on myspace.

From a quick listen through on myspace, it's clear the band has progressed.

Contra will be it's own entity, not just an additional 10 songs for the band's first album. They're using more digital

effects (but who isn't these days?). "Horchata" uses some cool digital stuff. The beginning of the song is reminiscent of Radiohead's "Kid A"--at least the type of digital effect used. Not a bad thing to be reminded of.

Though the first single released was "Horchata," the song that seems to generate the most hype these days is "Cousins." It's definitely a cool track. It's fast-paced and funky, reminiscent of surf-rock. The drum-beat is driving, the bass line gets funky, the guitar hooks are great and of course lead singer, Ezra Koenig, delivers a catchy melody with lyrics that don't quite make sense (but the song's so fun it's inconsequential). They played it on Letterman last night and it was bangin'. Check it out.

So Contra's on it's way. Let's see how it goes over.