speed of dark

image from BMEink

Our friends at IndieChristoph pack it in after about two years of music blogging. We'll miss you guys!

NPR blesses us with a sweet Valentine's day gift with Thom Yorke as guest DJ.

Hurry on over to B(oot)log for a MGMT giveaway (ends 2/22).

Berkeley Place has some live Clash and Flaming Lips, as well as a ton of covers of Britney Spears' song "Toxic".

Read an LA Weekly interview with Cut Chemist and Kid Koala, currently on tour with DJ Shadow. I'll be at the show tonight at the Wiltern.

Powerpopulist has gathered a bunch of great tracks from the music blog world.

Trendwhore has live tracks and video of Yeasayer and Peter Bjorn and John.

Muzzle of Bees presents The Whigs, Wild Sweet Orange, and features Grand Archives.

The Late Greats has a beautiful mix of love songs and saved me a lot of work finding out what that song was from the diamond necklace commercial that I loved (turns out to be Landon Pigg).

Lost in Your Inbox finds a key to happiness and reviews the always lovely Bon Iver.

And finally, I broke down and bought Vampire Weekend's album and listened to it repeatedly in the car on the way to and from work for about a week. While I understand the comparisons to Paul Simon's masterpiece album Graceland (not to mention his fabulous follow-up album The Rhythm of the Saints - I own both and still listen to them regularly), I was glad to discover that the album does not consist of songs that all sound the same or ruthlessly rip off Paul Simon. I really like the album as a whole and if you like the big single "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", you'll probably enjoy the rest of the album after a few straight-through listens.

paul simon: she moves on [buy]
bon iver: skinny love [preorder]
nada surf: inside of love [live 2005] [buy]
fiona apple: slow like honey [live 1997] [buy]