Songbook

A (brief) interview with Jay Farrar of Son Volt, whose new CD is out next month. I saw Son Volt live a couple of years ago and enjoyed the show, but Tweedy has it all over Farrar in the charismatic frontman department. (Muzzle of Bees)

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth has weighed in on the "Radiohead method" of CD distribution and doesn't like it. Whatever you think of Sonic Youth's new CD (I like it)they'll always be the superior band to me; Radiohead has never come up with anything as bewitching as "Teen Age Riot" or "Kool Thing." That said, I'm not sure a band is under any obligation to its "brother and sister musicians" in the way it releases music. Maybe it's the memory of those lean years on the Lower East Side that makes Gordon blanch at the thought of giving something away for free. Might I suggest a subscription model? $50 a year gets you a few exclusive downloads and maybe a T-shirt. $250 gets you brunch with Thurston and Kim and $2000 a ride on the bus during the next European tour. (At Ease)