Music
New song from Mumford & Sons, "I Will Wait," with footage from their Red Rocks concert (a beautiful venue in the Denver area). This is exactly why Mumford & Sons fans love Mumford & Sons. (HT) Babel comes out on September 25th. Sigh No More is $7.99. Crank it UP!!
A whole bunch of good albums are streaming free at the moment. May I suggest you try out The Dandelion War. I'm quite interested in that one. You should know that I consider Grizzly, Avett, XX to be must-listens. But try out some of the new names you see. I've listened in part or in whole to all of these and they are worth checking out...
The xx: Coexist is out next Tuesday, but streaming in full and free on Reformissionary today. Enjoy! By the way, it's great as an audio backdrop for work, reading, etc.
Tuesday is when new albums come out, and here are some worth checking out this week...
Animal Collective: Centipede Hz | Their 2009 album, Merriweather Post Pavilion ($5 right now!), earned the #2 album of 2009 spot for me. It's getting good reviews.
Two Gallants: The Bloom & The Blight | Forgot about this one too! Loved it while it was streaming. Now buying it. It's like Jack White & Nirvana & The Black Keys created a band.
Deerhoof: Breakup Song | Some of the quirkiest music out there. It won't be your favorite album for reading a book, but these guys are clever and interesting and cool. You are getting an experience with this album. And the reviews are good too.
Stars: The North | Hip indie band. Catchy and fun!
Cat Power: Sun | Her 2006 album, The Greatest ($5), is an enduring favorite of mine and it was my #7 album of 2006. Solid reviews and a new edge to her music.
Lecrae: Gravity | If you haven't found Lecrae yet, you should. Christian rap & hip-hop, the way it should be done. Stream it free here if you need an introduction.
Derek Webb: Ctrl | Oops! Forgot one. Check it.
STREAMING FREE
CHEAP
BURNING UP MY iPOD
As a blogger who faithfully tweets out great deals every month when Amazon lists their $5 albums, I'm afraid I have to say this month's crop is not good. Sorry, but Pink, and Katy Perry, and Asia just aren't doing it for me. I had to work hard to find the gems, and there are a few diamonds in the rough. Here's my short list of albums worth checking out, but I'd love for you to check out all 100 and let me know what I'm missing. Maybe I'm wrong! :)
Best of the Best
Worth Checking Out
I've been telling folks about Vespers music for a few months now, hoping you would check it out. Now that The Fourth Wall is only $5, I hope many will pick it up. I love it, Molly loves it, and our kids love it.
The new album from The Avett Brothers, The Carpenter, is now streaming FREE in full at NPR Music First Listen. Go listen and let me know what you think. One of the best bands in the world right now, in my opinion. Both a personal and family favorite. I own everything they've done and will buy this one when it releases on September 11th.
Also check out their recent 9+ minute interview with NPR Music: Matters of Life & Death. Check out The Avett Brothers' website for more.
New Andrew Peterson album, Light for the Lost Boy, is out today.
STREAMING
CHEAP
BURNING UP MY iPOD
In September The Avett Brothers are releasing a new album, The Carpenter. CAN'T. WAIT. Here's "Live & Die" as played on their tour bus for an NPR Music Field Recording. You can get some of their albums for $5 right now: Emotionalism | Four Thieves Gone | Mignonette | Live Vol 2. All excellent.
A few nights ago in Chicago Mumford & Sons and Dawes combined for a Beatles cover of "With A Little Help From My Friends." No, I wasn't there, but this is something I would love to see live. Wow.
STREAMING FREE
CHEAP
VIDEO - If you like Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (and you should, especially for $5.49!), here's a "Pop-Up Video" for the song "The Suburbs." Directed by Spike Jonze...
Now that I'm back from vacation, I can highlight my favorite $5 albums out of Amazon's 1,000+ $5 albums for August. A bunch of good stuff!
Neil Young
Greatest Hits
Michael W. Smith (The Second Decade) | The Cars | ELO | Chicago | Ramones | The Doors | Kansas | Otis Redding | Johnny Cash | Poison | Van Halen | Alice In Chains | Heart (another, another) | REO Speedwagon | Elvis | MC Hammer | Bob Dylan | Drive-By Truckers | David Allen Coe | Crowded House | ZZ Top | Billie Holliday | Living Colour
If you like Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, or just like indie music and great melodies and harmonies, you should check out 5 free songs from Wayfarer below. I got one of those "Hey, can you check out our music" sort of emails, which I get a lot. Most of that stuff just doesn't work for me. This does. It really, really works.
Wayfarer creates "repurposed hymns and spiritual songs," or as Dan of Wayfarer told me, these are "old and beautiful lyrics, entirely re-written." All I know is that into my second listen through and I'm enjoying it enough to stop other important things to tell you about it. Download for free, right now...
TONS of excellent music on sale right now. The scope of the sale is blowing my mind. Here are my recommendations.
If you have a genre or "sounds like ___" request, let me know in the comments. I put a * next to albums and artists I want you to try most of all, and may be a discovery for you.
$2.99
$3.99
$4.99
Getcha some Avett Brothers goodness for cheap! These are $3.99...
MUSIC WEBSITES (you might wanna check out)
STREAMING FREE
CHEAP
BURNING UP MY iPOD
J.D. McPherson: Signs & Signifiers ($4.99)
VIDEO
From the earlier mentioned Dead Rat Orchestra, you probably haven't seen something quite like this. So cool.
Grab the B-Sides & Remixes from Josh Garrels' excellent album, Love & War & The Sea In Between below. Also check out the new Josh Garrels website.
