Andre Hardy’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Tear the City Down

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. Andre Hardy’s novel Tear the City Down is a stunning noir debut. S.A. Cosby wrote of the book: “A fantastic journey through mean streets and shattered hearts. Full of vibrant prose and incredible characters. An unforgettable experience.” In his own words, here is Andre Hardy’s Book Notes music playlist for his debut novel Tear the City Down: If you read or write noir, you know the aesthetic. Down to his last buck, the hard-boiled detective sits in a dim office with a glass of rye, a trail of cigar smoke curling toward the ceiling, listening to jazz while contemplating how to pay the bills. It’s classic. It’s comforting. It’s also cliché. The single biggest challenge in writing Tear…