The Morning Dump: Arcade Fire’s case for Haiti, the IRL death of @diditleak, The xx’s ability to depress people live, and the New Yorker on Neil Gaiman
2010 January 23
- The earthquake in Haiti has surely brought out the generosity in many people, and no small amount of celebrities have pitched in their fair share. What we haven’t seen though is this, a beautifully written article in the U.K.’s Guardian by Régine Chassagne, a Haitian and member of Montreal’s Arcade Fire. She deals with her violent past growing up there, the pain she feels now, and pleads for more help to fix the two centuries of poverty Haiti has been in.
- Did you follow @diditleak on Twitter? After two years, the account suddenly went quiet on Jan. 5—the last post notifying followers that, yes, Vampire Weekend’s latest was available for download if you did some nifty Googling. Turns out, the anonymous creater of Did It Leak was a 23-year-old Edmontonian. He started the “service” to get through the boredom of his cancer treatment. On Jan. 16, he succumbed to the disease. The Village Voice has a brief, but inspiring, story about a true new music guerilla, Alan Carton.
- A few months back, I saw The xx live and was utterly unimpressed. I was apparently not alone, as the New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones shares about an equally morbid performance where he left the venue “unexpectedly cross”. Unlike Frere-Jones however, who goes on to realize he had “missed the point,” of the English band’s live performance after listening to the album, I kind of feel the opposite. Music should be written to be experienced live and emulated on a recording. I understand how with technology, highly personal music could be crafted beautifully that was never practised on audiences, but I mean, the artist should adapt no? Every good song written in history was played to crowds 20,000 large and accompanied by lasers; suddenly it’s beholden of the audience to accept less because a performer is shy? Let’s not let our feelings ruin the show here — slap on some leather chaps kids. (Full disclosure: I’m seeing The xx again in April. Here’s hoping they’ve grown some stage presence by then.)
- You should be reading Neil Gaiman. If you don’t trust me, ask The New Yorker, they’re more smart than not. My sister is probably laughing at this, if she’s reading at all, because she regards Gaiman as that-dude-whose-books-I-buy-at-the-grocery-store. She’s missing out! Don’t be like her. Also, great quote from the goddamn Alan Moore: “Neil’s writing is kind of fey in the best sense of the word.” Which is maybe what Frank Miller would say about Moore — but let’s not get too Comic Book Guy here. Just go read.
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