Henry Owings sending you a subliminal message

Chunklet's proud to present its third book and first that is being self-published. Written by the collective staff at Chunklet Magazine (http://www.chunklet.com/) and edited by its founder, Henry Owings, "The Indie Cred Test" is a broadly written and obsessively crafted multi-faceted standardized exam to pick apart the reader and underground culture in general. What's cool? What's not? Did you pass? Does it matter? Of course! You need to maintain your cred to preserve....well, your cred!

Individual exams dissect the readers book shelves along with their DVD and record collection. It's not just about the test subject's lifestyle, it's about where they work, who they know, how they spend their free time, what they put in their body, on their body and who they surround themselves with. Indie cred is serious business. And by "serious" we mean, of course, it's "subject to ridicule" the way only Chunklet can serve it -- over ice...with a tongue planted in cheek. Or is it?"

Henry Owings needs money, not to keep Chunklet afloat, but to get the above-described book published. Click that link to get to the Kickstarter page where you can find out more info and donate.

And speaking of indie cred and needing money, it definitely annoyed a lot of people when Paste Magazine started a big campaign a while back to collect money to keep their magazine afloat. Regardless of your opinion of Paste, it worked. They apparently collected a buttload of money, though it apparently wasn't enough because today it was leaked that they're going under anyway.

Someone who is probably celebrating Paste's downfall right now is fellow Southerner Henry Owings who has gone on record with his hatred for Paste, and especially their little campaign to save themselves (which I guess is slightly ironic in the context of this post, though that wasn't my original intent). Read Henry's rant against Paste, below...

Continue reading "Chunklet probably happy about Paste, need $$ for indie cred"

"We heard earlier today that Paste Magazine was in imminent danger of folding. Looks like it's already happened.

A tipster tells us "They announced it internally yesterday in an afternoon meeting, giving employees approx... 2 hours notice." Rough. A few (former) Paste editors took to Twitter:" [Gawker]

--
UPDATE: a message from Paste below...

Continue reading "Paste Magazine, RIP"

M Ward @ Bumbershoot 2008 (more by Chris Graham)

"Singer-songwriter and modern-day troubadour M. Ward announces plans to hit the road this winter and bring audiences on both sides of the Atlantic tracks from his highly-anticipated release, Hold Time (February 17th, Merge Records). Amidst producing and arranging Zooey Deschanel's indie pop gems and being the "Him" of She & Him's critically-acclaimed Volume One this past year, M. wrote and recorded Hold Time, the fully realized follow up to the internationally praised Post-War. It features stunning guest performances by Lucinda Williams, Jason Lytle (ex Grandaddy) and Zooey Deschanel."

That blurb of course was written by M's peeps, who probably could have also mentioned that Paste Magazine declared She & Him's Volume One The Best Album of 2008...

M Ward's new album comes out a couple of weeks before Neko Case's new album which he guests on.

And like his friend Jenny recently did, and like he, Jenny, and Zooey all did for the taping of an episode of the new Elvis Costello show (that airs February 7th), M Ward will play the Apollo Theatre in NYC - on February 19th. Tickets for that show, and all shows, go on presale Tuesday at 10 AM (password = holdtime). All dates below...

Continue reading "M. Ward - a new album, 2009 Tour Dates (Apollo) & presale "

photos by Ryan Muir

STEREOGUM: I was forwarded a link to Manos: The Hands of Fate. Who wrote it? Were you somehow involved?

MARTY MARQUIS: It was Brian, our drummer, who did the adaptation of a terrible B-movie of the same name. I don't know who the original writer was -- if Brian wanders in while I'm answering these I'll tell you (Hal P. Warren). He does a lot of writing, little skits, comedy routines, etc. This was his first adaptation and he worked with a producer; the two of them were basically Last Rite Productions (along with a web guy, maybe?).[Blitzen Trapper to Stereogum]

Blitzen Trapper are on tour with Fleet Foxes. They play Bowery Ballroom in NYC Saturday night. Ryan didn't stick around to see them at the Sub Pop showcase at SXSW, but he did manage to catch them at one of the Stereogum/Paste day shows. More photos from that below.....

Continue reading "Blitzen Trapper -- NYC this weekend & Paste party pics"

Olof Arnalds

1. The National - Boxer
2. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
3. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
4. The White Stripes - Icky Thump
5. Feist - The Reminder
6. M.I.A. - Kala
7. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
9. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
10. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
11. Radiohead - In Rainbows
12. Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
13. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

I'll have to try and find that Ólöf Arnalds disk they have at #38.

Ólöf Arnalds, Múm's collaborator for the past three years, recently released her debut solo album, Við og við, on 12 Tónar. The release was produced by Sigur Ros' Kjartan Sveinsson and is avalaible here. [getecho]

The whole list of 100 @ Paste, and check out the Ólöf Arnald video below...

Continue reading "Paste's Top 100 Albums of 2007 (includes Olof Arnalds)"