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• Hypebot reports the latest study results on teen’s relationship with music and piracy, this time from the UK.
• Ben Hewitt has a chat with FRS hero Peter Hook.
  “That was the wonderful thing about Joy Division. From its inception to its demise, we never earned a single penny. We started it broke and finished it broke. There were no arguments about publishing, no arguments about money. It was very straightforward. It was just four kids loving playing, loving music, against the world. I’ve never had such an easy relationship as the one in Joy Division. It was when we started New Order that it got very complicated. ”
  -Peter Hook

• Imogen Heap understands new media.
• Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth talk with Vish Khanna about various things. I found the discussion on the diminishing advantage to signing with a major label fascinating. Also, want to know why Sonic Youth has been around for so long? They understand the business side.
  “That situation has changed so much at this point that a small, home-grown label like Matador can easily compete in distributing hard copies on vinyl or CD and internet downloading, which, I mean anyone can sell record from their bedroom now. So, the whole reason to have gone with a major has changed and made it easy for us to make the decision to go to a home where we felt more connected to the other things they were doing.”
  - Lee Ranaldo, Sonic Youth

• I don’t really listen to The Breeders but I thought the Onion AV Club interview with Kim Deal was intriguing, especially when she wonders if The Pixies are really that popular outside of a small group of hardcore music obsessives.
  Onion AV Club: Do you still follow The Prodigy?

  Kim Deal: You know, it’s like, now I root for them since they used a song of mine and stuff. Now I’m like, “You go guys! ” It’s like I’m in the biology club and they’re in the football team, you know?

  
  

• Michael Carlson has some thoughts on one of my favorite jazz cats: Thelonious Monk.

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• Curt Purcell wonders if something is getting lost in contemporary horror with all this too-cool-for-school jadedness we see in the heroes.
• Amy Argetsinger of the Washington Post attempts to help classification of those who are famous for being famous by introducing the term “famesque.” Also included therein is an interesting explanation for why Sienna Miller began appearing everywhere.
• FRS favorite Cliff Chiang offers a comic-centric tribute to John Hughes.
• I think we all need an Internet Happy Box. Especially after seeing it in action. (John Gabriel figured out how things work online a while back.)
• Speaking of which, does anyone remember a time when everyone didn’t think they had to publicize their every annoyance and inconvenience? I’m getting really sick of all this anti-fat diatribe.
• 30 Ways To Lose Your Job on Twitter. With examples!
  

• Publisher’s Weekly has some preview pages for the new Richard Sala book Cat Burglar Black

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• Matt Kanelos & The Smooth Maria – Yellow Rose
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• Bestrack – Wishmaker (Worship Remix)
  [via][Worship]

• Office – Sticky Dew
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• Memory Cassette – Asleep At A Party
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• Erin McKeown – The Foxes
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• Jessica Lea Mayfield – Call Me
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• Amy Millan – I Will Follow You Into The Dark (Death Cab For Cutie cover)
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• Luxury Wafers offers up a particularly choice collection of Black Sunday tracks. Don’t miss their interview with A Place To Bury Strangers (some great tracks here) and their session with Flowers Forever.
• Songs, By Toad showed us how it’s done, dropping three top tracks in a single post.
• Last thing for the week: I’m not a huge fan of what Scarlett Johansson has put out, but I have to admit I’m digging this song with Pete Yorn:
  
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• Kyle Bylin explains why I find music so disposable these days. Also makes frequent and distracting use of italics and bold type.
• The Stranger notes albums are getting shorter. Anyone who has tried to listen to a recent Manic Street Preachers album in one sitting will agree this is a positive development.
• Captain Beefheart’s 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing.
• Def Jam is going to put ads in Mariah Carey’s new album packaging. Hypebot snarks, “what better artist to embrace ads on her CD booklet than someone who sold out long ago.”
• Luxury Wafers has an awesome session with Sean Bones. I was wavering on buying their album but this sold me.

Other News of Note

• Richard Sala posts a story (Part 1)(Part 2). [via]
• Sean bought an organ for $5 that used to belong to Don Ho*!

  * Well, we’re believing the story that it did, anyway. Besides, it’s called the Fun Machine, and that’s worth the 5 bucks right there!

  

• John Freeman reviews Tamara Drewe.
  

• Nina Stone reviews the new Muppets comic.
• British lawmakers call for a ban on Photoshop in ads.
• Rex Parker snarks on a bad cover to a good book.

Music For The Weekend

• MP3: Ben Harper – Burn One Down (iamxl Remix)
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• MP3: Inspector Tapehead – I Am Your Pedigree
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• MP3: Mickey Gang – Horses Can’t Dance
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• MP3: Brown Recluse – Contour And Context
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• A bad week for dead tree music journalism as Christopher Weingarten said it’s dead (read Andy’s excellent analysis here as a companion piece), ex-Blender writer Jonah Weiner said it’s dead, and John Vanderslice not only said it’s dead, but also said he’s not authorizing any print advertising and is now relying on mp3 blogs to promote his albums.
• The band Barcelona noticed documentarian Jon Rawlinson used their song “Please Don’t Go” in the viral hit Kuroshio Sea aquarium video. It wasn’t authorized but when the band looked closer they noticed an upswing in sales, so they recorded a YouTube video thanking Rawlinson and introducing themselves to new fans. Isn’t that nicer than calling out the lawyers?
• Turns out pirates buy more CDs than average music fans. But everyone except the RIAA already knew that, right?

Art & Literature

• The always fabulous Lucy Knisley has put the comic diary of her recent trip to Paris online.
  

• Curt Purcell has an excellent review of Gilbert Hernandez’s “Speak Of The Devil” up at The Groovy Age of Horror.
  

• Another slice of life piece from Natasha Allegri that will induce envy in all the artist friends I know, including myself.

MP3s Worth Noting

• Bluebrain – Ten By Ten
• Jesse Matheson – Make Out
• Spiral Stairs – Maltese Terrier