John Hodgman! Knower of things! Goer of places! Final arbiter of disputes! Minor celebrity! To help celebrate the recent release of John Hodgman's brand new book, Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms, he kindly chose a few favorite recommended albums and books of his own to share with everyone. We're giving the collection of his choices away to one lucky winner along with his new book as well!
Here's what John chose for us:
- TUNE-YARDS - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life
- CLIPPING. - There Existed An Addiction To Blood
- WILCO - Ode To Joy
- HIP HOP FAMILY TREE - Vol 1 1975-1983
- X-MEN - Grand Design
- DMITRY SAMAROV - Music To My Eyes
- JOSH GONDELMAN - Nice Try: Stories Of Best Intentions And Mixed Results
1. ODE TO JOY by Wilco. There’s a reason dads love these guys. They have never stopped growing, exploring, testing, and expanding their tastes. They make maturing seem like an adventure. I host the comedy stage at their semi-annual SOLID SOUND festival in North Adams, Mass and I am constantly amazed at how vibrant their taste is, from the stage lights to the acts they choose to the socks they sell. This is a great new challenging album.
2. THERE EXISTED AN ADDICTION TO BLOOD by Clippng. The thing I was mad at missing the most at this year’s SOLID SOUND was Clippng.’s 11PM set. Daveed Diggs is such an incredibly dextrous performer and awesome dude, and Clippng. is one of my favorite bands. But I’m a dad now and my son wanted to go back to the hotel to watch game shows and fall asleep and that was hard to resist.
3. X-MEN GRAND DESIGN. I remember going to Newbury Comics to buy comics. It was the first place I saw Art Speigelman and Francois Mouly’s RAW magazine, introducing me to artists who would shape my head for decades. But mostly I was buying X-Mens. I was a weird young teenager, and people forget that Professor X’s School for Gifted Children was Hogwarts before Hogwarts: a place where the young weirds could let their weirdness show. Ed Piskor’s loving and induplicable retelling of early X-Men history is an astonishing work that uses nostalgia to push the art forward. Oh, and Piskor’s HIP HOP FAMILY TREE is equally indispensable.
4. Though MERRELL GARBUS of Tune-Yards resides in the west, she started in the west of the east (Northampton) and remains a true hero to me, completely fierce, beguiling, sensitive, and unafraid. I CAN FEEL YOU CREEP INTO MY PRIVATE LIFE is her latest.
5. WHAT ELSE WHAT ELSE WHAT ELSE? My old Brookline High School friend Dmitry Samarov has a great book of memoirs and essays about music of his own now called MUSIC TO MY EYES. And local boy made good Josh Gondelman’s NICE TRY is just as warm and smart as the sweaters he always wears.
Buy John's recommendations from us from John Hodgman's SELECTOR Collection!
And make sure to order his new book Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms as well!
Follow us on the Newbury Comics Instagram Account for a chance to win this SELECTOR collection and more from other artists!