I love books.  I revel in their weight in my hand, the texture of their pages, the ink and paper smell that escapes when you crack one open.  They are my most favored possessions and instead of tchotkes, I collect books.  Beautiful ones with classic, concise covers and bright ones with bold spines and clean fonts.  I am in in love with the possibility that comes with each one I bring home and comforted by their presence when I’ve finished them.  When I read, I feel more like myself than I do when I am doing any thing else and so, I prefer to surround myself with them instead of any other thing.

This is why I love, love, love this gorgeous poster from FloraFauna. Designed for the band, The Books, FloraFauna elevates PR to the level of art.  If you’ve never seen their stuff before, I highly recommend that you take a twirl around their website.  They produce some of the most incredible show art around.

When it comes to music, I typically gravitate towards the ladies.  Its not necessarily intentional, though I am more inclined to invest my music dollars in a lady rocker over a man of equal value.  This is simply because the women tend to have smaller audiences or at least that is what the record execs think, and I like my money to go towards turning that idea on its head. We need better music in the world, period, but for now, its a purposeful choice to support  the girls as much as I am able.  This practice also extends to movies, books, and businesses that are lady written, produced, directed, or run.

The thing is that I can’t stop listening to boys.  Its a bit unusual, but still more than fantastic.  Who, you ask, has turned the sexist listening tides in my universe this summer?

The first was the Gaslight Anthem, a foursome of New Jersey boys who know how to walk the fine line between Bruce Springsteen’s legacy and their own blue collar backgrounds when it comes to writing (and playing) their songs.  They are beautiful in a rough, ill-fitting sort of way, but it is their obvious worship of women and their full-on committment to nostalgia that makes it so you can hardly listen to anything else.

If you’ve never had a listen, I’d start with their second album.  The whole thing is worth it, but Here’s looking at you, kid and High Lonesome are favorites.  The fact that they played Lollapalooza this weekend is the impetus for this post, but they are picking up shows all the time, touring with Mr. Springsteen himself in Europe this summer.

*The show poster shown above was designed by jrtmcp.com.

The only band that could knock the jersey boys out of the line-up after months of domination is Frightened Rabbit, a pair of massively-talented brothers out of Scotland.  The first time I heard the album, something resonated, but I was pretty much only listening to Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone.  I wasn’t ready.  Upon my return visit to the album though, I fell in love.  Or maybe it would be better to say that I fell in love with falling out of love, which is what the band was apparently doing when they wrote the record, Midnight Organ Flight.  It is almost painful to listen to, but that has never seemed to stop me.  It might be my own brand of masochism, but it is just too good to stop.  If you are new to Frightened Rabbit, stop reading immediately and go listen.  Their sound is grand and in some cases, downright hopeful.  Their energy masks the depth of the heartbreak that must have wrought this album.  I have danced around my kitchen with big fat tears in my eyes to these boys.  I hope you will, too.

**The Frightened Rabbit show poster was designed by James Fouty.