Mixtape 3

The Terribles - "Those Songs"
The Papertiger Sound - "Magnetic North"
Samamidon - "Saro"
Xiu Xiu - "In Lust You Can Hear the Axe Fall"
Chris Walla - "Sing Again"

The New Pornagraphers and Okkervill River Tour Together

Good News: The New Pornographers and Okkervill River are teaming up for several dates in early 2008.

Bad News: Only the Okkervill River side of this awesome coin will make it to my neck of the woods, but I will take what I can get.

04-05 Dallas, TX - Granada (Okkervill River Only)

Ida - Lovers Prayers

Ida releases its 7th album Lovers Prayers today and it is garnering well deserved attention around the blogosphere. Lovers Prayers is a warm and inviting album and will surely receive more of my attention in the coming weeks.

Ida - Lovers Prayers
Ida - The Killers 1964

The Bad Plus - "Flim" (Aphex Twin cover).

I know little of jazz trio The Bad Plus other than what I read of them here at indiemuse.com. That being said, I have always enjoyed Aphex Twin's beautiful song "Flim" and to find that someone took the initiative to cover the song much less do a fantastic job of it is all the more exciting. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. Thanks to indiemuse.com for pointing me to this.

More Greatness from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Smashing Pumpkins - "Disarm" Rocked Out!

The whole "unplugged" thing is so overdone. Let's take an acoustic ballad and rock it out! This version of "Disarm" can be found on the Vieuphoria DVD. Oh, I miss the days when the Smashing Pumpkins were good...

My Morning Jacket reveal new album title.

My Morning Jacket has revealed the title for their newest album which is to be called Evil Urges. There is not a tracklist yet but the album will be released June 10, 2008.

Upcoming Shows:

03-10 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
03-13 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall (SXSW)
03-15 Austin, TX - St. David's Church (Jim James solo) (SXSW)

MGMT-"Time to Pretend"

OMG! Scarlett Johansson Album

OMG ya'll! Scarlett Johansson's new album Anywhere I Lay My Head is set to drop on May 20, 2008 and will feature 10 Tom Waits cover songs. No Way!

If I'm excited at all about this it is solely for the reason that I now have an excuse to post a picture of Scarlett Johansson. Tommy Likey!

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

From Andrew Bird's graceful voice to Armchair Apocrypha's cover art minimalism or a 'less is more' approach is ever present in this album. I will be the first to admit that a photo of a bird on the cover of an Andrew Bird album is as cheezy as Warrant's "Cherry Pie" analogy, but the simplicity of this photo is a simple and powerful representation of Bird's music. While I say that Armchair Apocrypha takes a minimalist approach, what I mean by this is that the instrumentation of the album is not overrun with synthesizers and electric guitars, but only with what seems at every given moment just the right amount of noise producing devices (including Bird's whistling). It is a good thing that Bird does not choose to overpower his music with noise as his lyrical prowess is second to none. I picked up Armchair Apocrypha after the new year but if I had this album before making my 2007 Top 10 Album list it would have easily snuck into the mix. Furthermore, the song "Scythian Empires" would easily have made my 2007 Top 10 Songs list with "Plasticities" not far behind at all (both very good songs). (8.5/10)

Andrew Bird - "Scythian Empires"
Andrew Bird - "Plasticities"
Andrew Bird - "Heretics"

Bose SoundDock Portable

To celebrate my new raise I decided to splurge on something for myself. So far, the SoundDock has really impressed me by the sound it puts out for its size. Additionally, the SoundDock maintains a good sound quality the louder you turn it up. It is also portable as it has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery which will be nice for long drinking days in the backyard. Now the portable SoundDock is $100 more than the regular one, but hey I just got a raise. At least I didn't spend it on hookers and blow!

New Albums Coming Soon In 2008.

1. Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams: If this album is anywhere near as good as Destoyer's Rubies we are in for a treat .

• "Foam Hands".

2. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular: Put in CD, Shake Ass! -

• "Time to Pretend"

3. Hello Blue Roses - The Portrait Is Finished & I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty...- More Dan Bejar?! Well as the kids say these days 'woot'! -

• "Hymn"

4. Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride: Better than being Billy Goats? -

• "Sax Rohmer #1"

5. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: Did Paul Simon go Indie? May grow on me... -

• "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa".

Mixtape 2

Feist - I Feel It
Caribou - Melody Day
Andrew Bird - Plasticities
Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning
Sunset Rubdown (Xiu Xiu Cover Song) - Apistat Commander