Nov 25th, 2008 · The Chicago rapper's new album, 808s and Heartbreak features him singing instead of rapping, but he's filtered his vocals through the voice processing system known as Auto-Tune, an increasingly popular trend among pop artists. The result is a melancholy, intimate and decidedly quirky effort.
Nov 6th, 2008 · Ever since the success of her hit "Fidelity," singer-songwriter Regina Spektor has attracted widespread attention for her smart, quirky, emotionally engaging music. In a session from WFUV, Spektor talks about growing up in the Bronx and performs some of her new music.
Nov 5th, 2008 · Louisiana native Brooke Waggoner studied composition and orchestration at LSU before moving to Nashville to advance her career as a performing songwriter. Her quirky sense of song structure and her experimental nature bring to mind the wide range of influences that Mountain Stage host Larry Groce mentions in his introduction: from Chopin to Simon & Garfunkel to Rogers & Hammerstein.
Oct 23rd, 2008 · Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaption) is known for his disjointed narratives and quirky characters. Now he brings that off-beat sensibility to his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.
Oct 10th, 2008 · Sarah Silverman's Comedy Central show — quirky, snarky, often wildly inappropriate — strikes some audiences as clueless and tasteless. To fans, including Fresh Air host Terry Gross, it's really funny satire.
Oct 9th, 2008 · Writer Alix Kates Shulman remembers the 1960s as an age where men dominated the literary scene — that is, until Grace Paley's quirky urban voice and modernist short stories began to challenge the notion of what constituted great reading.
Oct 6th, 2008 · The lg Nobel Prizes were announced last week. They are a parody of the Nobel prizes and recognize quirky, funny and sometimes legitimate scientific achievement. The winners? In nutrition: scientists showed people will eat stale chips if they're crunchy. In biology: a French team proved dog fleas jump higher than cat fleas. In cognitive science: researchers showed slime molds can solve puzzles. And the lg Nobel for archaeology goes to the team that showed one armadillo can change the course of history.
Sep 30th, 2008 · John Moen, best known as drummer for Portland, Oregon's The Decemberists, steps into the spotlight with his side project, Perhapst. On Perhapst's self-titled debut, Moen sings and performs most of the quirky, 1960s-influenced pop music himself, with the notable exception of a guest spot by Stephen Malkmus on guitar.