New At Online Stores
Not that you can listen to it, but this column must mention that iTunes is carrying the VOID (Video Overview in Deceleration), the new video compilation by The Flaming Lips. The 18-track set collects the band's videos from its stay at Warner Bros. Recors -- which pretty much covers all their best albums save their last one for Restless Records. Oddly, Rhapsody has an audio version of this DVD compilation. Since Warner Bros. hasn't issued a greatest hits of the band this will do just fine.
Just added to iTunes is Badfinger's Airwaves. The 1979 album is out on Wounded Bird and for whatever reason this Rhino Records version just popped on iTunes. No mention of it at the Rhino website, and no trace of it on other online stores. Oh well. Enough investigation. For power pop lovers who want to branch out beyond those albums typically heralded as part of the genre's must-have canon.
It's hard to believe any online music store's hip hop catalog could be without classics like The Notorious B.I.G.'s Born Again and Life After Death. They were both just added to iTunes.
One podcast that caught my attention was the live in-studio at KEXP by Amusement Parks On Fire. The young band is a favorite of morning host John Richards, who can be heard praising the band as he introduces the band at the beginning of the podcast. Its songs blend a bit of emo with a love for sounds of the past (upbeat shoegazer and Dinosaur Jr's love of feedback and distortion). Check out the KEXP podcast page for four more in-studio podcasts.
Another podcast worth checking out is the inaugrial One Little Indian Records podcast. For kicks, check out Seth and Jessica's Worst Music You've Ever Heard podcasts. They two play only music created by themselves, their friends or amateur bands.
At Rhapsody, a blast from the alternative rock past: Dumptruck's 1985 album Positively Dumptruck. All Music's bio says the Massachusetts band was "among the favorites of U.S. college radio in the mid '80s."
Herbie Hancock's new album Possibilities is exclusively at Rhapsody. It's a star-studded affair that finds the music legend paired with such pop stars as John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Annie Lenox, Sting, Trey Anastasio and Paul Simon. The album comes out next Tuesday.
Music Groups