Critic Turns Musician: Alex Cook from The Rakers

NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW

Alex V. Cook is a journalist and music critic who has written for an assortment of publications including The Believer, The Oxford American, DownBeat, and Paste Magazine.

His book Darkness, Racket and Twang: Essential Listening from the Fringes of Popular and Unpopular Cultureis a compilation of his music essays, which includes commentary on artists ranging from Lou Reed to Bob Dylan to the Mountain Goats. He has also written a book on Louisiana's Juke joints, honky-tonks, and dance halls called Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky-Tonks, and Dance Halls.

Alex also sings and plays guitar for The Rakers, a Baton Rouge band that has played at a number of prominent venues around town including The Baton Rouge Gallery. The band describes itself as "The thinking man's drinking band."

He's one of the few critics I know of who started playing music after working as a critic. As you'll hear from Alex in the interview, he got started as a musician relatively late, compared to other musicians, but he still holds his own amidst musicians who have been playing far longer.

Some of the things we discuss include

• What makes for a great album
• Why a good critique can be a gift to person receiving it
• The relationship between critic and artist and how they influence each others
• What popular bands Alex likes and dislikes and why
• How his background as a music critic informed his music sensibilities
• Why showmanship and point of view matter to an artist

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For more tips on how to succeed as a musician, check out this interview I did with Bree Noble, a musician who got to sing at Dodger Stadium and who now coaches other musicians and interviews industry luminaries.

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Sponsor for this Episode nsavides productions– I make videos and tell stories. Some of my videos are here. Say hello: [e-mail]

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Related Things

• Alex's site

  • Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

• The Rakers, other band members: Lance Porter (guitar, drums, vocals), Lewis Roussel (bass, guitar, drums, mandolin), Leon Lejeune (guitar, bass), Anna Byars (drums)

  • Facebook

• Baton Rouge Adult Music Club, where Alex developed his skills as a musician
• Teddy's Juke Joint, where the Rakers had their album release party

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

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Book Mentioned

• Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truthby A.O. Scott
• Darkness Racket and Twang- Essential Listening from the Fringes of Popular and Unpopular Music by Alex V. Cook

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Bands & Musicians Mentioned

• Belle and Sebastian
• Bob Dylan
• Dean Martin
• Devo
• The Fall
• Glyn Styler
• Johnny Cash
• Lydia Lunch
• Kenny Rogers
• Kiss
• KC and the Sunshine Band
• Moby
• The Mountain Goats
• Nancy Wilson
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• The Rakers
• Rolling Stones
• Ruyter Suys
• Ryan Adams, albums mentioned
  • Demolition
  • Prisoner
• Tony Cobb, "Share My Whiskey"
• The Velvet Underground, albums mentioned
  • Loaded
  • The Velvet Underground & Nico

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Other People Mentioned

• Amanda Petrusich, music journalist at The New Yorker
• Greil Marcus, music journalist for Pitchfork, Rolling Stone
• John Ruskin, Victorian-era art critic
• Lester Bangs, music journalist for Creem, Rolling Stone
• Rick Rubin, music producer

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Shows & Movies Mentioned

• Big Bang Theory
• Hustle & Flow
• Lawerence of Arabia
• Raging Bull
• Ratatouille
• Taxi Driver

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