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Haunt the House - Rural Introspection Study Group CD

Haunt the House is Will Houlihan. This album is a collection of songs that have been referred to as deep woods gospel and painfully delivered spirituals. Six tracks, the digital download of the album is available here or you can pick up a copy of the CD at the label webpage.

High-Rise - J.G. Ballard (Liveright)

High-Rise is set in a 40 story self sufficient apartment complex. For about a year (preceding the actual pages of the book) the operations of the building and the community within operate harmoniously. Things then take a turn for the worst. Floors throughout the complex form fighting factions and a tribal warfare begins; pitting 3 main characters (one from each social strata) against each other. Conditions degrade quickly, as the organization devolves into factional fighting and finally guttural individual desires and needs. This book was written in 1975, but it is a timeless observation on class, and repressed human instinct. What kind of high-rise do you live in?

How Did This Get Made? podcast

Hosts Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael and comedy guests watch a film and then rip it apart. Personal favorite episodes so far featured Vanilla Ice's 'Cold As Ice' with the one and only Vanilla Ice in-studio, while other standout episodes feature Danny Trejo, 'Weird' Al Yankovic, and the Superman III episode. Mostly in-studio shows with occasional live shows, How Did This Get Made? is funny and entertaining even if you haven't ever seen the film.
Updated: weekly
Running Time: 60 minutes
Guests: Every show
Twitter: Jason Mantzoukas
Twitter: June Diane Raphael
Twitter: Paul Scheer
This is part of the Nerdist network

Pete Holmes - You Made It Weird podcast

Best known as the voice of the precocious E-Trade Baby from those beloved commercials, Holmes is also the owner of the most infectious laugh in podcasting. Matter-of-factly divorced and wide open for any conversation no matter how heartbreaking or absurd, Holmes is a true weirdo, regularly expressing wonderment and joy as he interviews his guests. Episodes usually run over ninety minutes. Be prepared to stick around until he begs his guest to keep it crispy.
Updated: Twice a week
Running Time: 100 minutes
Guests: Every show
Twitter: @peteholmez
This is part of the Nerdist network

Hollywood Babble-On podcast with Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman

Movie director and podcast network pioneer Kevin Smith teams up with LA radio dj/actor/voice over specialist Ralph Garman to bring you Hollywood Babble-On, a weekly live show that covers all things movies and entertainment. Ralph Garman is the star of the show and Smith is the good natured sidekick. Picture Entertainment Tonight if the hosts hated the people they were reporting on, as Garman's outright hatred of all things Chelsea Handler, Kim Kardashian, and talentless but privileged Hollywood children is cruel and pure comedy gold. Regular segments include Hollywood Stiffs, Lindsay Lohan, Porn Star Kim Kardashian, Things That Should Not Be, Exquisite Acting, Hollywood Helper, Shout Outs, Kev-In, and each show ends with Liam's Neeson's Cock (which replaced the Anne Hache's Butthole segment.) Regular impressions include the ever-evolving creepy clown, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, Ed Wynn, Harrison Ford, David Lynch, Aaron Neville, David Bowie, Bill Cosby, and John Travolta's "Gay Ghost" . When Smith is out promoting his films, fill-in hosts who have subbed in for Kevin Smith include Jon Lovitz, Patton Oswalt, Kathy Reitman, and others. After nearly one hundred episodes over two years, there is now talk of a tv show. That should end well, probably with Garman's assassination.
Updated: Weekly
Running Time: 90 minutes
Guests: Never but occassional co-host fill-ins for Smith
Twitter: Ralph Garman
Twitter: Kevin Smith
Twitter: Hollywood Babble-On
Part of the Smodcast network

Hope Anchor - Pile On The Dirt (75orLess Records)

Emerging from a musical heritage steeped in the sounds of The Clash, the Pixies, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, Hope Anchor delivers a potent batch of guitar rock songs populated by swirling soundscapes and infused with the melodic drive of American power pop. 'Pile On The Dirt' has ten tracks and you can pick up a copy at the label webpage postpaid for only $10.00

Husker Du The Story of the Noise-pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock by Andrew Earles (Voyageur Press)

Written with the cooperation of Grant Hart and Greg Norton, Earles relies on many old interviews with Bob Mould for his input (Mould has his own book in progress.) There's lots of background on the fertile midwest scene, the groundbreaking touring contributions from the Suicide Commandos and a full chapter to the label the band started, Reflex Records. After moving on to New Alliance and then SST, Husker Du quickly became SST's biggest selling band and the revenue they generated funded the second wave of SST bands. This also examines decisions that changed the future of the band, especially sticking with SST for Flip Your Wig and the details of the major label choosing two Hart songs as singles for their debut 'Candy Apple Grey', while the follow-up 'Warehouse' had two Mould songs for selected for singles. A brief summary of the post-Husker Du musical output raises the question that while Mould has undoubtedly has more success, Hart may have an superior post-band musical catalog. Seeing this in print is important because the secret clique of people who also feel this way have long been banned from the cool kids musical debate club. There is very little to complain about when looking at the overall story Earles tells and the format he uses. The song-by-song, album-by-album dissection is a little much, but this is nothing more than a small complaint. What makes this book great is not only what it contains, it's what it ignores. The focus is on the albums themselves, the circumstances under which they were made, and very little space is devoted to the stuff of Husker folklore - the really non-existent feud with The Replacements, the drug use of the band, the sexual lives of the band members, or the exact circumstances of the breakup. The very nice hardcover first edition is available at Amazon, while it appears a much smaller second edition (also hardcover, but with corrections) of 1,500 was released in April 2011.