Thanks and Goodbye.

Bill Evans - Peace Piece

Everybody Digs Bill Evans [Riverside; 1958]

This marks the end of Bows + Arrows, a venture I began on a whim a few years ago which would prove itself worthwhile many times over, in wonderful and often strange ways. Thanks to everyone who has …

My Favorite Records of 2008

10. Frightened Rabbit

The Midnight Organ Fight

"The Modern Leper"

Essential Reading for the End-of-Year List Season

"Listless" at the Catbirdseat. With any luck, mine will be ready by '09.

Like, Like, Like, Like, Like

The third installment of the Decemberists' Always the Bridesmaid singles series is a downcast affair- both sides have rainy titles- and my favorite of the bunch. It's a return to their first form: neither proggy nor overproduced nor a period piece, all of which are …

No Here

Where are all you people who pretended to like Wilderness in 2004? (k)no(w)here is an awesome album- all I'm saying is there's time yet, and you might want to reconsider giving that third spot on your end-of-year list to Chairlift or whatever.

Wilderness - Chinese …

All The Fun Stuff

Dodge shared some covers by the Rosebuds from their ltd Tour EP/Fun Book, including the duo's take on Spoon's "Change My Life." They do a good job of turning the original's stylized darkness, which pre-empted much of Girls Can Tell's sound, into an appropriately spooky …

UPDATE

Looks like Bon Iver listened!

JAGJAGUWAR is proud to announce the worldwide release of a new, four-song 12-inch/CDEP by Bon Iver entitled "Blood Bank". (It will be released in the U.K./Eire on January 19 and in the U.S. on January 20. Release dates in other …

Hey Bon Iver

I appreciate all the special sessions you do, but is it really too much to ask for a song not from For Emma?

P.S. these don't count because they're not yours:

The Rosebuds - Get Up Get Out (Bon Iver Remix)

Bon Iver - Blue Tulip (Okkervil River cover)

Today is a special day. Fill it with music.

Until 12:00 Midnight EST, the Catbird Records catalog is free for downloading.

Get Guilty

Perhaps A.C. Newman finds this reaction hurtful- after all, someone voted down all those who've said the same at Stereogum- but with Get Guilty he's affirmed his penchant for horrible artwork.

Whatever- The Slow Wonder gets more play around here than any New Pornos …

Somniloquy

I can only guess as to why Ben Folds Five were prompted to reunite to play The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner for MySpace's Front To Back full-album concert series. It's a strange album with no appeal outside true BFF fans; unapologetically dark and zany, it …

Day & Night

I slept on Bill Callahan's Woke On A Whaleheart last year, and totally missed its remarkable "Day" & "Night" movement.

Bill Callahan - Night

Woke On A Whaleheart [Drag City; 2007]

Beautiful, right? And check him out literally at night singing "Sycamore":

Seeing that …

EastRiverBagMan

Yesterday Moistworks gave us a story by Alex Waxman of the band Conversion Party, neither of whom I was familiar with. Fortunately I downloaded their free album before Googling the group's namesake (hint: don't). It's thoroghly good despite its considerable variety; …

Ye

Oh what the hell, you're gonna listen to it no matter what anyone says, and you'll probably like it eventually. - I Guess I'm Floating

Kanye West - Heartless (unmastered)

808s & Heartbreak [Roc-A-Fella; 11.25.08]

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Dearly Intended

We were hungry;

There was no food

Starving to death, starving to death

For the low-hanging fruit

To hear John Darnielle sing it, hunger is a portent of transcendence. The wretched characters inhabiting the Mountain Goats' best songs- four of which comprise the new …

I Remember

Photo: bstrand

I saw Stars last night (har) and the evening's only remarkable moment occurred when the band requested that we acknowledge them as the ones responsible for our awareness of the opening act, Think About Life. "In three years when all the hipsters are …

Hallelujah

The front-to-back classic album concert is an attractive gimmick, though only enough to be considered a bonus to a show I'd attend anyway. That was my sentiment until Van Morrison announced he will be playing Astral Weeks in its entirety next month at the Hollywood …

New Secret Machines

The Secret Machines don't seem to have lost much of their formidable force after losing their guitarist (one-third of the Machine), as evidenced by the brand-new "Atomic Heels." It's a short song by the band's standards, with all the old bells & whistles; including, …

Mississippi

Amazon mp3 has the leadoff track from Bob Dylan's forthcoming Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8 available as a free download through Monday. Nobody asked me, but I say it's a good sign when artists of Dylan's stature (or, more accurately, the promotions behind …

Sweet Release

I've called Astral Weeks a (the?) favorite before and I've come to regard the Molina/Magnolia/Ohia complex with a similar, if understandibly less fanatical, reverence. Little did I know that the two aren't actually so far apart, that echoes of Morrison's mystic soul …