I wouldn’t have instantly thought to use the word ‘groundbreaking’ to describe the upcoming new release from Radiohead. For my tastes, they peaked somewhere in between Kid A and Amnesiac. Then again, I sounded the death knell on Pearl Jam a while back, and then their last album went ahead and was pretty decent, so who knows.

Still, this is groundbreaking. And I’m all for it.

Come next Wednesday we’ll all be able to go out to the internets and download the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, and when it’s time to pay up for the privilege we’ll be presented with the statement: “it’s up to you”. Pay as much or as little as you like. Or pay nothing. If this doesn’t speak to the fact that bands generally get screwed on album deals with record companies, I don’t know what does.

I’ll be very interested to see what the fallout is from this. Will other established bands follow suit? How much money will Radiohead make on the honor system? Will I be able to download first and then pay if I like what I hear? Regardless, I hope this is the start of a trend.

I’ve been meaning to do this since Tuesday, and since it there is some actual time-limited content, I’m throwing this together even though I don’t have time to do it justice.

Matthew Good’s third solo album, Hospital Music, was released on Tuesday. Two cool things: The first single, Born Losers, is available for free from the iTunes Music Store. It’s the single of the week. And, the album itself is available for sale… for $7.99. Seven-freakin’-ninety-nine! It’s worth twice that, at least. Hehe. (Links above will launch the iTunes Music Store for you.)

Also available for sale at the iTMS are his first two solo albums, Avalanche, and White Light Rock and Roll Revue, as well as the Matthew Good Band release Beautiful Midnight, which is pretty much usable as a definition of rock and roll, if you ask me. Avalanche, however, is one of my top ten all time albums, no question. So check it out, man.

B-Sharp.

Thank you folks, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal. Sir, how’s your steak?

Ahem. Irrelevant, because I’m coming about fifteen years late to this party, but I’m ready to proclaim that The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, the sophomore effort by The Black Crowes, is quite possibly superior to their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. Considering that I gave SYMM an honorable mention way back when, I feel that this is a fairly noteworthy statement for me. Speaking of, that ‘best discs’ column is due for a serious revision. Somebody put that on my To Do pile, will you? Thanks.

Feel free to chime in, if not about this, then about underrated albums, or albums that it took you a long time to appreciate.

…And I am smelly!

If you haven’t heard, Prince is throwing a show here in the Twin Cities on 7/7/07. But what you may not have heard is that he’s putting on a show earlier in the day at the Macy’s in downtown Minneapolis.

The reason for the concert at a Macy’s? Prince will be promoting his new perfume line called 3121. For a measly $250 you can partake in the “Ultimate Prince Xperience”. For you money you will get a ticket to both shows (Macy’s during the day, Target Center that evening), plus two “special-edition” bottles of his women’s perfume.

Start lining up now, the ticket sale starts at 10 am Friday… at the cosmetic counter at Macy’s.

I was driving home yesterday and flipped on my usual first choice in FM radio, Drive 105. It’s an alternative station that isn’t the best station, but here in the Twin Cities FM radio pretty much sucks.

At any rate, they were playing a song from Offspring, which I thought was pretty odd. Their staples are new music like Kings of Leon and plenty of old REM. So I flipped up through my stations, and hit 93.7 (93X)… and they were playing the same song. So I started flipping back and forth and they were playing the same song at almost the exact same point. How odd. Anyway, I don’t really care for the Offspring, so I moved on.
Read the rest of this entry »