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New TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio's new album isn't titled yet, doesn't have a release date, and somehow managed to already leak. I love the internet. I don't think this is mastered, but it's already pretty amazing sounding. Easily the most solid TV on the Radio record yet.
MP3 TV on the Radio - Playhouses
Junip
I found this compilation the other day of great folk/country music from Scandinavia called Cowboys In Scandinavia: The New Folk Sounds From Northern Europe. You knew that all great American country music comes from Scandinavia these days, right? There are a lot of really strong cuts on it, and I'll probably be posting about a couple of the artists in the near future (although it seems like they might not have the internets in Scandinvia yet, as a lot of artists I was looking for don't really have much of a web presence). One song I really liked was this cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Junip. Jose Gonzalez, who you probably already totally into, started Junip as a vehicle to write songs with a bigger and fuller sound. And that is pretty much all anyone knows about them. They have a new record out in Scandinavia, but good luck finding that in the U.S.
MP3 Junip - The Ghost of Tom Joad
Technorati Tags: scandinavia jose gonzalez junip mp3 musicTwo quick mp3s you should love
If you are not dead inside, you will thoroughly enjoy these mp3s.
MP3 Max Tundra - So Long, Farewell
From Fluxblog comes this delightful remake of a The Sound of Music song. I've never heard a bad Max Tundra remix, and would love to get my hands on Max Tundra: Interpretations + Remixes 1998 - 2005, which this supposedly is off.
MP3 Starlight Mints - Seventeen Devils (from You Ain't No Picasso)
When Drowaton comes out, I will be pimping the hell out of it. You have been warned.
The Flaming Lips: At War With The Mystics
I know everyone has already covered the new Flaming Lips record (or at least "The W.A.N.D." and "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"), but I just wanted to post what I think is one of the best and saddest Flaming Lips songs ever. At War With the Mystics is a big change for the Lips, and so far from what I've seen it's pretty polarizing, invoking knee-jerk love/hate reactions from fans. I've been drifting somewhere between the two but am now firmly planted in the Love camp. If you've been listening to The Soft Bulletin religiously for the last seven years (I can't believe it's really that old now), it may take you a little while, but you'll come around.
Also, check this pretty cool song-by-song rundown by Wayne Coyne at Amazon.
MP3 The Flaming Lips - The Sound Of Failure / It's Dark... Is It Always This Dark?
New Calexico: More "Cal", less "exico"
I've written three entirely separate drafts about Calexico's Garden Ruin, which is scheduled to be released April 11. If you are a long-time Calexico fan, the first thing you will notice is the alarming lack of Nylon guitars and Mariachi horns. Calexico has been the backing band for what seems like every A-list indie rock side project in the last year, and that inter-mingling with gringos seems to have worn off on them. Several songs on Garden Ruin would feel at home on Summerteeth or XO. This seems like a record full of compromise. While it may be the album that proves Calexico is in the same song-writing league as Wilco, it may also be the album that lands them on an OC soundtrack.
MP3 Calexico - Cruel
Technorati Tags: music mp3 calexicoYahoo is the new Google
I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but while Google seems to be faltering at nearly every step, Yahoo is doing lots of little things that I think will have a big reward soon. Such as releasing their UI Library and their Design Pattern LIbrary. Obviously this isn't something you are going to be interested in unless you are a web developer, but if you are it's a pretty exciting release. The UI Library includes your standard animation effects, AJAX calls, and also a really polished calendar that took me about 20 seconds to incorporate into a web app I'm working on. Everything has been released with a BSD license, which means you can use it for anything anywhere.
Michael Scott's Valentine's Day Romantic Playlist
This is just too perfect. Michael Scott's Valentine's Day Romantic Playlist at the iTunes music store. I love the iTunes celebrity playlists, and I love The Office. This is like a Valentine's gift from the Internet Gods themselves.
Songbird preview released today
Songbird, which I loved even before I ever saw it working, released a "proof of concept" release last night, which quickly swamped their server and generated a large amount of love and hate. While I don't recommend downloading it yet (it's very buggy), it was pretty exciting to see where the very accomplished Songbird team is going with this. I really think it could be a huge (and much needed) development in the relationship between music and the internet. Seriously, it's high time someone improved on the winamp/iTunes model. The best overview I've seen so far is in this interview at BoingBoing.
The Dreadful Yawns
I liked The Dreadful Yawns when I first heard them. Then I found out they were from Cleveland and now I officially love them. I grew up there and at the time everyone was all punk/hardcore, and I can imagine the challenges The Dreaful Yawns must have faced trying to get a footing in that kind of environment. They sound like they were influenced equally by late-60s pyschadelic country and mid-90s indie rock. Some songs seriously sound like a collaboration between Yo La Tengo and Gram Parsons.
MP3 The Dreadful Yawns - Better Things
Technorati Tags: music mp3 dreadful+yawns4 things I learned about Mike Love today
- The reason the title of "Hang On To Your Ego" was changed to "I Know There's An Answer" was because Mike was afraid the song was about LSD.
- The biggest reason SMiLE was dropped was because Van Dyk Parks wouldn't tell Mike what the song "Cabinessence" was about.
- Mike has sued Brian Wilson for $13 million dollars (and won), and is suing him again. But it's only to protect Brian from predators! Here's Mike: "Once again the people around Brian, my cousin and collaborator on many hits, who I love and care about, have used him for their own financial gain without regard to his rights, or my rights, or even the rights of the estates of his deceased brothers, Carl and Dennis, and their children... Unfortunately, history repeats itself. Because of Brian’s mental issues he has always been vulnerable to manipulation. I simply want to stop the infringers and stop the deception!" Wow.
- Here are some titles of actual Mike Love solo albums: First Love, Country Love, Looking Back With Love, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and David Marks of the Beach Boys salute NASCAR and Union 76 Gasoline, Unleash the Love, Mike Love Not War. I did not make up any of those.
Wikipedia is pretty much the greatest thing ever.