From The Desk Of A.C. Newman: Antoni Gaudí

“There are maybe 10 or 12 things I could teach you,” sings Carl “A.C.” Newman on his new solo album, Get Guilty (Matador). “After that, well, you’re on your own.” This week, MAGNET lets the New Pornographers frontman steer our website toward 10 or 12 of his own favorite things in music, film, literature and life.

Read our verdict on the orchestral-pop case of Get Guilty and a Q&A deposition with Newman here.

Newman: I was obsessed with Barcelona for years. I was amazed at how beautiful the city was. I couldn’t believe someone with such a strange, surreal, Dr. Seuss-like aesthetic was allowed to build all these landmarks in Barcelona and basically change the face of the city. The architect Antoni Gaudí built Park Güell, which is this psychedelic park in the middle of Barcelona, and the Sagrada Familia. When I went to Barcelona with my wife, [Gaudí] was the main draw. Half the time we were there, we were just looking for Gaudí architecture. If you look around America, there are many beautiful things, but so much of it is artless. At some point in time, Barcelona was saying, “Gaudí, build us a psychedelic cathedral.” I wish more cities were like that. I can’t think of anybody else who has left such an obvious imprint on a city.

A nice Gaudí blog/photo tour of Barcelona here.