We here at Indie Schmarm feel it is our duty to not only report the news, but now to also give a weekly recommendation of things that we feel are deemed worthy of our attention. We’ve decided to bring out the big guns and encompass multiple categories such as books, film, T.V., food, and of course music.

This last week’s Indie Schmarm recommendations:

The Music:

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

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Neko Case, born September 8th, 1970 is an American singer-songwriter best known for her solo career and as a member of The New Pornographers. This is according to Wikipedia, who doesn’t lie. In 2006 she released Fox Confessor Brings the Flood  bringing with it some notoriety. The album did well in ‘06 and was in more than a few top 50 albums of the year for magazines and websites alike, and actually made it to number 1 for Amazon.com. I agree with all these magazines and websites alike, and if there were even 50 good records for 2006, I would have put it in there for sure. Neko Case kind of reminds me of a girl version of Ryan Adams, singing about heartbreak and pulling off borderline cheesy lyrics, but it doesn’t matter because it’s all in the delivery. Her pop country sound is another thing I ended up enjoying about the record, and from now on, I’ll always have a little place in my heart for Fox Confessor Brings the Flood  for those rainy sad days when I need something to hold on to, that is of course if Ryan Adams isn’t too busy.

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The Book:

33 1/3 for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

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Who doesn’t have In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in their top 10 records off time? That’s what I thought. Who would want to read a book about how this record came about and about Neutral Milk Hotel as a whole? ME! There have been a lot of books (written by various authors) about albums for a series of books called 33 1/3. The series is published by Continuum Books, and edited by a man called David Barker. If you haven’t gotten the memo on these books, they’re great for the most part. Some do waver in greatness because like I said, it is different authors. I haven’t read a lot of them, but I have friends who have, and here at the office we have probably 15 on the shelf. The best one I’ve read, and it’s been confirmed by others is the one for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The facts are good and well sought out. The research was thorough and the author Kim Cooper went in swinging to get the information and she came out on top. I highly recommend reading some of these books, and even more highly recommend reading the one for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

End Scene,
Dan Tana