There's a lot of good new music out there lately, and my two most recent purchases are wonderful.
Beirut's new double EP (download) lives up to my high expectations. The first EP, March of the Zapotec, is the kind of music you expect from Beirut, with lots of horns and emotion.
Holland, the second EP, is mostly the work of Beirut creator, Zach Condon, working under the alias "Realpeople." It's electronic music that seems far from his Beiroots. Truth is, Condon's electronic music is very much at the root of Condon's musical background and a big part of his teenage years. Pitchfork loves the EPs and has a helpful review.
Dark Was The Night (download) is a compliation for the Red Hot Organization that funds the fight against AIDS. Compilations often look better than they sound and are too often only worth a few individual downloads. The artist list for this 2 disc album made me believe it would be better than most, and it is. There are a few *meh* songs as expected, but as a whole it's a great collection of songs by some of the best bands and songwriters around. I highly recommend it. Check out this review, and the Dark Was The Night website for more.
If you haven't heard Bruce Springsteen's great song from The Wrestler (download) you are missing out on something special. Here's a new video for it (via)...
This isn't the best performance I've seen from The White Stripes, and there's a Marty McFly humm, but it's neat ending to Conan O'Brien's show finale (via)...