Seth Falkner
Urban Coffee Podcast
Seth, along with his friend Dave, host the extremely popular Urban Coffee Podcast. Their witty insights on politics, technology, and music provide the listener with a truly interesting hour+ program. The way that they relate to one another is truly entertaining, a modern take on the classic comedy team which includes the straight man (Dave) and his whacky counterpart (Seth). What makes it work so well, is that they fill these roles naturally. There is no acting involved and the comedic effect is never contrived.
Seth, who is a recording engineer when not hosting the cast, presents a special segment on each episode known as "Seth's Music Cafe" in which he highlights notable artists. Another semi-regular feature on the show is R&B poetry, which features Dave and Seth reciting lyrics from mainstream R&B acts in an academic style, providing their listeners with a good laugh, and a look at how vulnerable the naked lyric actually is. We can only hope that some of our entries will live up to these standards.
Jad Fair
Jadfair.org
Punk Rock, New Wave, Indie Rock, Alternative, what have you, Jad Fair either invented, helped define, or at the very least was a pioneer of all these things. He is most famous for his work with Half Japanese, the band that he formed with his brother in 1975. He has also released a plethora of solo albums, and has collaborated with artists such as Daniel Johnston, Yo La Tengo, Kramer and Teenage Fanclub. Jad is the perfect judge for a song poem contest, not only because he has extensive knowledge of the genre, but simply because the songs that he writes are so poetic. As the band wails in any number of directions, Jad will release streams of imagery about love, sea monsters, wishes, love, and love. If you ever find yourself feeling apathetic towards your pursuit of music listening, or feeling like you're tired of it all, put on a Half Japanese record, or cassette, or even an mp3, and float on it, for days.
Franklin Bruno
Franklin Bruno on Wikipedia
Franklin Bruno is a Philosophy professor, songwriter, music critic, and a pretty damned amazing guitarist as well. He's been releasing solo projects since the cassette only days and has worked in a number of bands including Nothing Painted Blue, The Extra Glenns (with John Darnelle of the Mountain Goats), and most recently The Human Hearts. He has also worked with such indie rock heavy hitters as Beck, Guided by Voices and The Gobetweens. Jenny Toomey (from the band Tsunami) along with Calexico released an entire album of Franklin Bruno covers.
One of the things that I like most about Franklin's lyrics is that they are not only intelligent, but make me feel smart for understanding them. They manage to fare the slippery slope of being lofty in content yet clear in meaning. His classic song "Levitate" (later released under the title Masonic Eye) is one of my favorites of all time.
In addition to all his talents as a musician, Franklin also writes music criticism for The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and Salon.com.
More Human Hearts Songs on Large Hearted Boy
David Gutowski
Large Hearted Boy
Large Hearted Boy is a fantastic piece of internet pop culture. David Gutowski mines the web and presents his readers with snippets from (and links to) all sorts of articles relating to music and literature. You can find out what Lemony Snickett is listening to, learn about John Waters' latest compilation album, get the scoop on the forthcoming Silver Jews movie and more. All of these things are found in the "Shorties" section of his blog, which is only one portion of what he presents to us daily. In addition, we also get the "Bittorrent Brunch" which gives us links to download live performances from some of indie rock's finest. And of course there are "Daily Downloads", legal mp3s that form a virtual feast for the ears. Hours and hours and hours can be spent on Large Hearted Boy, and it's hard to believe that David also maintains a 24 hour streaming Guided by Voices radiostation and a food blog ( Too Much Pork).
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