Out of commission until mid-November

This whole dissertation thing will literally consume every minute of my time until job applications are sent out in mid-November (though I will celebrate the completion of my job talk by seeing these guys in their sold out concert that evening, basically the minute after my presentation is over. I think I'll go in my suit. Aaaaaand...that's the break for the next month). Hence, all human contact - and blogging - is on hold until mid-November. Heaven help any distractions: new music, addictive TV, the ALCS, fantasy football, or people (my office mates will attest, distractions make me angry. You don't want to see me angry)

Not that I ever have anything exciting to share anyhow, but here is some free music to tide you over until I return.

• Stereogum presents: Drive XV, a Tribute to Automatic for the People
• Black Kids, Wizard of Ahhhs EP (free 4 track EP on their myspace site).
• Oh yeah, and this is almost free. I haven't had very much time to enjoy it yet (it really requires uninterrupted listening to fully absorb, I imagine), but from what I've heard...I'm ambivalent.

And, before I go, new albums that I've recently enjoyed and can recommend:

• Shout out Louds, "Our Ill Wills"
• Phonograph, "Hiawatha Talking Machine"
• And especially, Bishop Allen, "The Broken String"
• The 1900's "Cold & Kind" wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be, but is still a solid first effort (discounting the EP)

Still digging Jose Gonzalez's latest, but Iron & Wine's newest never really clicked with me.

That is all, goodbye for now, internet. I shall return in mid-November.

Wegmans and the Office: 4.2, "Dunder-Mufflin Infinity"

Loved much of last night's ep (favorite part: Kelly's two headshots, "We have a date!"). Only one Wegmans product appearance, near as I can tell:

Above the fridge, sure enough: Wegman's brand Corn Flakes!

This got me thinking: what Wegman's brand products am I most fond of? WPOP, definitely, and Wegman's brand ice cream has always been an important part of my life. I had my parents bring me an entire crate of Wegman's brand chicken noodle soup when I lived in DC. Wegman's apple cinnamon oatmeal, and lemon yogurt - all crucial ingredients to my youth.

Josh Ritter Thursday!

Short post today: Josh Ritter's playing the Somerville Theater tomorrow and Friday (I'm going tomorrow). He's probably my favorite musician behind M. Ward. The Animal Years, released last year, is one of my all time favorites. The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter, released a few weeks ago, is also quite good.

One of his recent concerts was recorded and is streaming in entirety here.

Pam Beasley (or Jim Halpert) Drinks WPOP!

And I have proof:

Myself, I prefer Mountain-W, but you can't go wrong with W-Up. I'm pleased to see that the can design is the same that it was when I lived in NY 5 years ago. Ah, delicious generic soda.

Wegmans+"The Office"=the greatest things get even better!

Word arrived to me today from back home in Webster that "The Office" would begin showing Wegman's products throughout the season this year, in order to remain as authentic as possible. This makes sense because the show is set in Scranton, PA, which Wegmans (greatest grocery store - nay! greatest shopping experience! - and based in Rochester, NY thank you very much) must have infiltrated by now. With this information, I returned to the first episode of Season 4 with an eye for discrete product placement:

The episode begins with Michael enjoying breakfast.

...which Jan has graciously made for him (well, at least she bought the soy milk).

But not just any milk! Organic Soy milk, Wegmans brand! And behind it, Wegmans Raisin Bran?

Here's hoping for a WPOP appearance, even though Jim had given up grape soda as of last season.

Stunning news of the week

So this news is going to be reported EVERYWHERE by tomorrow, but pitchfork has the word on the subject at the moment. For the past week or so, Radiohead has had cryptic messages on its website and http://www.radioheadlp7.com/ indicating news was upcoming.

Boy, is it!

Radiohead's 7th LP is being released, online, on October 10th! Apparently they haven't resigned to a label, and they're distributing it themselves, online. The new LP is titled In Rainbows, is 10 tracks long, and will be available in only 10 days.

Also:

• You can preorder a music pack that includes the actual CD, the album on vinal, a second CD with additional songs, and some added artwork. The thing is shipped on December 3rd, but costs 40 pounds.
• If you only want the new LP, apparently you can pay however much you want for the download. Yes, it appears that Radiohead is not setting a price for download.

More details here.

Thoughts:

1. Radiohead's giving the finger to the major music labels. Thinking that even if everyone only pays $1 or $2 for the whole album, that's about how much they'd get from every CD sold through a major label. Thinking that their concert revenue is astronomical and that album sales drive ticket sales.
2. Only 10 days between album announcement and release date? This means that Radiohead is even more secretive than Bill Belichick, Steve Jobs, or John Lasseter. I guess something like this would be impossible to pull off with a music label, since there would be too many people in the know to keep such a plan secret.

Wow. It's been, what, two or three years since Hail to the Thief? Guess we have something to look forward to on October 1oth!

Albums I purchased in September

No stunners this month, so no "album of the month." That said, I've been quite pleased with everything that I did purchase:

September releases:

• Beirut, The Flying Club Cup. See my earlier posting for a review. French-inspired, brass, strings, accordian, ukelele, what's not to like. Oh yeah, Zach's crooning. If you can get past that, then this is good stuff. I like it better than Beirut's debut album (cause even the well-done Eastern-European flavor doesn't float my boat).


• Jose Gonzalez, In My Nature. A guy and his guitar. No, quite literally, that's about all this is. But with Gonzalez, the emphasis is on the guitar rather than his voice, so if you appreciate talented guitaring, give him a try. Though this album isn't stylisticly different than his debut Veneer, I like this one more. For fans of Veneer, or people who almost liked Veneer, but not quite.


• Devandra Banhart, Smoky Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. So the reviews on this aren't great, but I really like it. He's expanding his sound a bit more past Cripple Crow, and sounds even more accessible than before. Still, Devandra's the Peter Jackson of musicians: desperately in need of an editor, but filled with lots of good ideas. (Smoky Rolls is 16 tracks long, and a good 5 or 6 could be chopped with no loss). Here's one of my favorites, performed on Conan.


• Iron & Wine, The Shepherd's Dog. Sam's expanding his sound here, even beyond what was suggested from Woman King. Dabbling in Middle-Eastern, Balkan sounds. He's no longer naked and acoustic; his music is now fuller and larger and more instrumental, but as a result, it feels less personal. In the past, lyrics have taken center-stage. Here, there are some tracks in which over half is purely instrumental.

And, an older album, but purchased this month:

• Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy (+ Appendices EP). Not as rocking as The Stage Names, but for fans of The Stage Names, worth a listen or two before the purchase.

My music consumption seems to have fallen this month. And I still have 50+ emusic downloads to burn through in the next two weeks...