Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacementsby Bob Mehr Sure, we’ve reviewed this book already, but something this awesome deserved to be revisited. So, here’s a special edition of I Wanna Be Literated. I don’t quite understand why I never made this book a priority. I’m a very big Replacements fan and this is quite possibly the definitive biography on the band. Also, it’s critically acclaimed (5 stars on Amazon!?) and my favorite podcasts talk about its greatness (Bob...

Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthoodby Lucy Knisley I’ll be the first to admit that becoming a dad has made me soft. It comes as a surprise because I’ve been a cynical bastard for most of my life. And although I never wanted to become the guy who flaunts picture of his kid to people – and I still haven’t exactly – I will expound on stories of my kid when asked. I’m...

BeckColors The man Beck Hansen is an enigma. The only thing you can predict about him is that he’ll do something completely unpredictable. His catalog is consistently all over the place in a way that there’s something for everyone if they explore it. Myself, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Beck for being the first artist to expose me to good music. With Odelay, he taught me that if you put in the work, music can open new...

Hello there dear readers and welcome to a new edition of our Back to School Guide. We know, it’s been a crazy year, right? For most students, Back to School this year means school from home (at least for the Fall semester), which means now more than ever, it’s important to create the right environment to stimulate those neurons. Like with every year we have some old favorites and some brand new goodies that seem to have come completely out...

Wild Flowers of AmericaLost in the Salvation Army The Best Show giveth and giveth. I’ve always respected Tom Scharplin’s music taste. And as host of the Best Show I knew that when he would air his grievances about a band (which would be constantly), the man knew what he talked about. On one of my regular weekly listen, Scharpling played the opening track of Lost in the Salvation Army and I was hooked right away. I had to find this...

WHO: New Bomb Turks WHAT: Nightmare Scenario (Diamond Edition) WHY: I know that the New Bomb Turks album everyone drools over is Destroy! Oh Boy!, and sure, that’s a great one, but people seem to forget the magic in Nightmare Scenario. It’s catchier, better crafted, and easier to handle. Oh, it’s also a way better album. The NBT have now rereleased it as a Diamond Edition for its 20th anniversary. If you loved the rawness of the original Nightmare Scenario,...

Beastie BoysPaul’s Boutiquephoto: turntablelab.com I don’t know if the Beastie Boys get too much credit or not enough. One thing’s for sure, they’re not spoken about too much among the current mainstream rapper greats. Of course, that’s kind of a misnomer: mainstream rap isn’t really great. And as a Beastie Boys fan, that suits me just fine. Sophomore albums really define a band, don’t they? That first album can make as big an impact as you want, but if you’re...

WHO: Personality Cult WHAT: New Arrows WHY: New Arrows is nothing new but it’s got that sound that I happen to absolutely love. It’s raw, fast, poppy, and full of guitars. I’m not quite sure how Personality Cult mastermind Ben Carr did it, but he figured out a way to distill a buzzpop album down to the essentials. Of course, a good way to do that is to let the Marked Men influence you a bit. You don’t have to...

Republic, Lostby Lawrence Lessig Republic, Lost was a book that’s been on my watchlist for years. I don’t know exactly how I became interested in it but I’m kind of disappointed I never got around to it until now. Maybe Lawrence Lessig was on the Daily Show back in the day and I thought I’d check it out? But anyway, it took just a few pages (or a few dozen) for me to realize what an essential book this is...

CzarfaceThe Odds Czar Against Us Sometimes, as a music fan, things happen that can only be described as magic. We’re going through a vinyl revolution (or a vinyl bubble, depending on how you want to look at it), but we’re not going through a record store revolution. People are glad they can collect just about everything on vinyl (even the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack on llama color), but they’re not very interested in visiting their local record store. I would know,...