Longer reads on independent music, film, art and the ideas behind the work.
The Mars Volta and the Board They Buried
An antique talking board, a troubled recording and the friends who helped The Mars Volta finish The Bedlam in Goliath.
Corita Kent’s Lessons in Looking
At Immaculate Heart College, Sister Corita sent students out with a small viewfinder and plenty of work to do. Supermarket signs, a hundred drawings and one tantalising billboard became part of their education.
Lotte Reiniger’s Prince Achmed, Made by Hand
A hundred years after its first screenings, the making of Prince Achmed brings us into a garage attic with Lotte Reiniger and the artists who helped her cut, move and photograph its tiny figures.
Jawbox and the Lives They Built
The members of Washington, D.C., band Jawbox went on to run a record label, teach, record other bands and start new groups. Their stories follow the friendships and work that outlasted the touring.
Sylvia Beach Had a Book to Get Printed
When James Joyce couldn’t find a publisher for Ulysses, a Paris bookseller offered to do the job. Then came the proofs, the bills and the readers wondering where their copies were.
Badfinger Had Already Made It
Pete Ham and his bandmates had the hits, the songs and the Beatles’ support. Their recollections trace the gap between Badfinger’s success and the money they could actually reach.
Atelier 105: helping experimental filmmakers finish the film
Light Cone’s Paris residency gives filmmakers access to scanning, editing and sound equipment, along with people who can help them use it. Here is how that support works, and what artists still have to arrange themselves.
Ian Curtis and the Bookshop He Never Opened
Joy Division’s singer lent records to his bandmates, filled notebooks with lyrics and once talked of opening a shop with his wife. The people around him remembered a life larger than the tragedy that ended it.
How Rhizome keeps digital art from disappearing
Old websites and computer games can stop working as technology changes. The arts organization Rhizome preserves the software they need and records the repairs made along the way.
Small File Media Festival: making films that use less data
The Vancouver festival encourages filmmakers to make video files small enough to store and send with very little data. Its guide shows how choices about camera movement, colour and detail can help.
How Unwound’s homemade studio shaped Leaves Turn Inside You
The Washington rock trio built a recording space that gave them time to develop their 2001 double album. Adding parts in the studio changed the songs—and meant recruiting two more musicians to play them live.
Courtney, Kurt and Billy
Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan made music through romance and rivalry. Their recollections lead from a backstage joke in 1991 to a collaboration that kept surviving its quarrels.
