• Coolfer was under the impression that iTunes had a U.S. exclusive on the new Mercury Rev album, The Secret Migration. It doesn't. The correct wording, I suppose, is that iTunes has the U.S. download exclusive. Why am I being so pedantic? Because I checked Rhapsody today and saw the album there, all 13 songs, but available only as audio streams (the burn option is not available). The Secret Migration was released in the UK, Europe and Japan earlier this week, but the CD's U.S. release date isn't until May. Until then, the (legal) options are a pricey, dollar-weakened import, $9.99 for an album download on iTunes or nothing (outside of the standard $9.99 montly fee) to listen to it on Rhapsody. I'll use Rhapsody until May.

• Conor Oberst, who must have purchased Ryan Adams' self-help book/video course "How To Improve Your Career by Moving to Lower Manhattan" while pondering his future in his hometown of Omaha, is all over the place this week. He's mentioned in Hits' Rumor Mill today. Today the NY Times' ran Jon Pareles review of Mr. Oberst's show at NYC's Town Hall. On Monday, Pitchfork ran reviews of both new Bright Eyes albums. Yesterday, a picture of Connor looking like Charles Manson sans facial ink ran in Gothamist's Cabaret License, the replacement to Coolfer's Weekly Music Picks. To be honest, I haven't heard either new album, though I'm looking foward to checking them out.

• Coolfer's not sure about the upcoming Filter/Urban Outfitters benefit CD. Depends on the price. It does have a radio session recording of The Go! Team's "Huddle Formation. That's good. But live tracks by Wilco are a dime a dozen, and quite a few of the worthwhile songs aren't exclusive. In this era of cherry picking tracks from online music stores, buying an album for a few songs is anachronistic. (There will be no cherry picking, though. The CD will be sold only at Urban Outfitters' physical and online stores.) There's a remix of Franz Ferdinand's "Matinee," and that may turn a few heads, but any Franz fan should be more interested in the upcoming Domino Records label sampler Semper Satago--priced at $5.98, by the way--that has a studio version of the unreleased Franz song "Love & Destroy" (it was a B-side to the UK "Michael" CD single). Semper Satago will be out February 8th.

• Coolfer keeps listening to Razorlight's heralded debut album Up All Night but just doesn't love it like they do. (They being the UK press, who toss out the word brilliant as frequently as American critics employ articles like the and an.) Now Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield is part of they. He gave the album four stars and called it "a masterpiece." Well...I must be missing something, so I'll give it a few more listens and pray for an epiphany.

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