Iron Man has really good taste in music

Hey look, the characters in Iron Man quote the Mountain Goats almost as much as we do!

Not so easy to Google

The Sleigh Bells album, Treats, is finally out! You can get it on iTunes for a whopping $6.90. Go, do, right away! Stream some of it here, on their Myspace. It's really, really good, and I'm not big on Electronica, which is not to say that I'm not enjoying the new LCD Soundsystem album, This is Happening, also out yesterday, and available at the Buy More ... I mean the Buy'n'Large ... I mean the Best Buy for $7.99.

This is what happens when all of one's local records stores go out of business. One has to buy on the Internets and at the Big Boxes. It's strange to me how the Big Boxes are filling the niche. One can only hope that the artists are making some small pittance out of my purchases. If anyone knows of a good analysis of the state of the recording industry today, feel free to point me to it. Touring is probably still king, followed by direct internet sales, maybe? Hmm ...

Narcissistic confession time

Sometimes I buy albums for all the wrong reasons. Instead of buying that album my friend enthusiastically and perpetually recommends or buying the EP from that stellar opening band, I buy the album that has that song that's titled after my name.

I'll admit that's what initially piqued my interest in Avi Buffalo's debut self-titled album. But it wasn't just the beautifully titled track 5 "Jessica". It's that it was sandwiched between track 4 "Five Little Sluts" and track 6 "Summer Cum". Oooh "DIRTY!" was my first reaction. I wondered how my name played into all the sexual sexiness of it all. And thus I plunked down ten bucks for one of the most deceptive listens I've found in a while.

First of all, I was expecting something loud, fast and downright filthy, but what I found was light, acoustic and lovely. Nearly downright dainty. I'm talking shimmering harmonies, mellow melodies, some Grizzly Bear-esque atmospherics and a dash of old-school Wilco twang. Of course this is sort of weird juxtaposition when the lyrics refer to the stains of bodily fluids and "shady deals regarding money and girls". Okay so maybe it's dirtier than I thought. Listen for yourself:

Summer Cum - Avi Buffalo
Jessica - Avi Buffalo

And here's the video for one of their best songs, "What's In It For?":

"The enemy is everywhere!"

I'm not sure what else I can say about Titus Andronicus' stellar album The Monitor that hasn't already been said. It's about the Civil War as much as it is about New Jersey as much as it's about disaffected youth. That is to say it is about a lot of BIG things. That is also to say it's gonna take a lot of listens before I can unpack it all.

But that's a beautiful thing, because it sounds about as big as the subject matter it covers. Not in an overblown way though, more like an out-of-breath way. There might as well not even be a track listing because every song just sort of ramshackle-y unravels, verse piled on verse, and spills into the next, but in the best possible way. It kind of sounds like a much punkier, more youthful version of The Hold Steady, with all the Springsteen worship to boot. (Check out the lyrics in epic opener "A More Perfect Union", "tramps like us, baby we were born to die!") In other words, it's the sound of something exciting looking forward and looking back.

A More Perfect Union - Titus Andronicus

First of May!

This is a Spring anthem of sorts. I won't give anything away, but let's just say its dedicated to all the horny college kids out there. It's a damn beautiful day so grab the one you love (or just the one you think is really hot) and start making out on the quad.