{"title":"Ryan Pinkard","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRyan Pinkard\u003c\/strong\u003e explores the rich intersections of music and culture with a keen eye and vivid prose. His works delve into iconic albums and movements, offering insightful perspectives that resonate with both casual listeners and devoted fans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect thoughtful narratives that illuminate the artistry behind landmark records like \u003cem\u003eShoegaze\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe National's Boxer\u003c\/em\u003e, celebrating the emotions and stories that shape the musical landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-nationals-boxer-by-ryan-pinkard-9781501378010","title":"The National's Boxer","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Pinkard’s account... brings to light the ambition and artistry, the stress and frustration, and ultimately the joy of making this very special album.\" —Peter Katis, The National’s engineer, and mixer on \u003ci\u003eBoxer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“I am spooked by how well [Pinkard] has captured these characters and this madcap project. I am not sure how he did it.” —Carin Besser, co-lyricist on \u003ci\u003eBoxer\u003c\/i\u003e and wife to Matt Berninger\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Accessible, perceptive, sometimes hilarious, but more often harrowing, Pinkard’s book gets a running start on its subject, tracing The National’s trajectory from their first notes together to the creation of \u003ci\u003eBoxer\u003c\/i\u003e.” —Stephen M. Deusner, music critic and author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe all know the Boxer. The fighter who remembers every glove but still remains. That grisly, bruised American allegory who somehow gets up more times than he’s knocked down. This is the fight that nearly broke The National. The one that allowed them to become champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReleased in 2007, The National’s fourth full-length album is the one that saved them. For fans, \u003ci\u003eBoxer\u003c\/i\u003e is a profound personal meditation on the unmagnificent lives of adults, an elegant culmination of their sophisticated songwriting, and the first National album many fell in love with. For the band, \u003ci\u003eBoxer\u003c\/i\u003e symbolizes an obsession, a years-long struggle, a love story, a final \u003ci\u003egive-it-everything-you’ve-got\u003c\/i\u003e effort to keep their fantasy of being a real rock band alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on extensive original interviews with the fighters who were in the ring and the spectators who witnessed it unfold, Ryan Pinkard obsessively reconstructs a transformative chapter in The National’s story, revealing how the Ohio-via-Brooklyn five-piece found the sound, success, and spiritual growth to evolve into one of the most critically acclaimed bands of their time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47432987082988,"sku":"9781501378010","price":21.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781501378010.jpg?v=1774765886"},{"product_id":"shoegaze-by-ryan-pinkard-9798765103418","title":"Shoegaze","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat the hell is shoegaze? \u003ci\u003eA scene? A movement? A sound?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBack in the Nineties, many would have said the so-called genre was entirely fabricated. The term itself, an offensive piss-take given by the notoriously catty and scene-obsessed British music press, was plainly rejected by the absurdly small collection of bands to which it supposedly applied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eToday shoegaze is undeniable. As a descriptor and as a source of influence, it is used in more ways and by more bands than anyone could have dreamed of 30 years ago. Between those periods of invention and ubiquity, the term, along with the bands it first described, all but disappeared off the face of the earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this ambitious oral history of a genre that has eluded definition for three decades, Ryan Pinkard unearths the first wave of shoegaze, following the core bands, their sounds, their influence, and their journeys in and out of obscurity. His analysis is woven through dozens of original interviews with artists, label heads, and critics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat he discovers is the unlikely odyssey of this esoteric, experimental music form, which nearly became a mainstream entity, only to be viciously killed off, forgotten, and rediscovered by a new generation that regards it as one of the most influential alternative music events since the Velvet Underground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47461354340588,"sku":"9798765103418","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9798765103418-shoegaze.jpg?v=1774966791"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/ryan-pinkard.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}