CAMPY: Nina Persson was a teenage crush of ours, back when she was producing brilliantly guileless pop with her band the Cardigans. So it's nice to see she's back on the road with a new band, A Camp, which began as a collaboration between her and soundtrack artist/husband Nathan Larson (damn you!) and Niclas Frisk. Now they're touring with a veritable who's who of American rock, including Kevin Marsh of Guided by Voices and James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle, all in support of a brilliant new album called Colonia (their second) that's somewhat akin to what would happen if Abba bred with the Carpenters. more ›

The trio of authors Akashic's showcasing includes the novelists Felicia Luna Lemus and Joe Meno, neither of whom we've read and therefore can't comment on. But trust us--it's worth going for Chris Abani alone. An exiled Nigerian playwright and novelist, Abani was such a thorn in the military regime's side that they even tried to assassinate him in London (prompting his move to the US, where he currently teaches at UCLA). more ›

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