sinking around your neck
Two mp3 blogs I've been into of late to check:
Welcome to the M!dwest! (live tracks from the National posted today)
JOONR consistently has stuff I've never heard before and some other gems.
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Two mp3 blogs I've been into of late to check:
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the Flaming Lips were scheduled to appear on the new Queen tribute album, Killer Queen. Well, even though the album is nearly a month from release, the contents inevitable have already leaked out. The Flaming Lips contribution, a cover of the classic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (could you really picture them doing anything else but that?), is as good as I could have hoped. It stays pretty close to the original (why mess with a good thing?), but does offer that distinctive Lips sound, which is often rather theatrical like the original. Thanks to the Radio Free Internet blog, you too can check out this great cover, along with a few other tracks from this upcoming release.
One of my favorite bands of the past few years, Q and Not U, have decided to disband. In a news release on their website (link) the band explained it's reasoning. Fortunately it is one of those amicable splits, and there seems to be no ill will between the members. In fact, they still have a handful of dates in the coming months which will now be their "farewell shows". They were a very good band mixing some upbeat danceable rock music with a message. They skated that fine line of being political but not being in your face, and did so rather well. So it now seems that the last time I will see them was last October at the Grog Shop. I have a couple pictures from that show posted here.
Yet another Sufjan post, my last for a while. I promise. Sufjan did have a new song debut on NPR today on 'All Things Considered'. To listen to the whole story, which clocks in around 13 minutes and tells the story behind the ivory-billed woodpecker which is the inspiration for the song, you can go here. On the same page, there is also a link to download an exclusive mp3 of the new song, 'The Lord God Bird'. It's actually a really good song, so check it out.
As it is plainly obvious by now given the quantity of posts I have regarding him, I am a big Sufjan Stevens fan. And there has been plenty of news regarding him as of late, so here's what you need to know:
I would like to take this post to congratulate Alternative Press magazine on making it for 20 years. While I can't say that I've looked at one in almost 10 years (other than to gawk at the cover in disgust at the nu-metal band of the moment), at one time it did provide me with exposure to a lot of cool bands. Since my friend Will interned there in high school, I was able to go up there a few times and hangout with the staff who were all really cool and had amazing tastes in music (yeah, who would have guessed given the crap they cover) and were very nice to me despite only being a dumb kid. It sounded for a while like they weren't going to make it, but I think a string of wildly successful Marilyn Manson covers ( *gasp* ) helped pull them from the edge.