LHB’s Shorties (Neko Case, David Rawlings, and More)

Paste interviews David Rawlings about his debut solo album, A Friend of a Friend.

Paste: You cover some songs on this record—including a medley of “Method Acting” by Bright Eyes and “Cortez the Killer” by Neil Young. How did that come to be?

Rawlings: A couple years ago, at the end of ’07, Conor [Oberst] called me and asked me if I would come play guitar with Bright Eyes because Mike Mogis was producing a record and it was running on, and they had dates booked and Mike couldn’t do it. I was very excited to go play electric guitar for two or three weeks on his tour. He was playing stuff from all his records, and a couple things form Fevers and Mirrors, including “Method Acting.” I loved the song, and we played it every night. I guess it sunk in, because about six months after that tour. I was sitting playing guitar and I started singing that song. which I didn’t know I had learned. Then I thought about covering it, and I monkeyed with the lyrics a little because I felt like it was important that it stay as autobiographical and as personal seeming as it does when Conor does it—I love that there’s no skin between the singer and the audience.

The Boston Globe profiles singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart.

The Guardian explores the current trend of rock stars writing movie scores.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O composed the music for Spike Jonze's forthcoming adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have composed the score for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, while Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) has written the soundtrack to Caroline Aherne's new full-length feature The Fattest Man in Britain, which airs on ITV over Christmas. Even Jarvis Cocker made a humble offering to Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox.

The Guardian lists websites to stream and/or download live music sessions.

The Boston Herald recommends '80s underground rock bands.

The Tallahassee Democrat profiles singer-songwriter Neko Case.

On sale at Amazon MP3: John Lennon's 10-track Imagine album for $2.99.

John Darnielle talks to the Nashville Scene about the new Mountain Goats album, The Life of the World to Come.

Darnielle has used Bible verses to title songs before, and the idea intrigued him. "There's just something portentous about having a title that refers to this big book that is central to so much culture and so much literature, and has spawned so many big ideas," he says. "To refer to Bible text opens a bunch of internal doors."

The Louisville Courier-Journal lists its favorite albums produced by Steve Albini, and also interviews him.

- David Gutowski