Almost Killed Me

Monday morning is gonna land on your head like a ton of bricks. At least it did for me. Here's some help procrastinating at work:

• Salon reviews The Hold Steady's "Stay Positive"
• Muzzle of Bees talks to Centro-matic's Will Johnson about "Dual Hawks"
• Charleston City Paper has a live review of Modest Mouse at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach
• You Ain't No Picasso interviews Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes
• The Onion asks the tough questions

...and my iTunes library just took me from Thelonious Monk Quartet to Third Eye Blind...I am currently attempting to adjust.

I Got the Mixin's that Ya'll Need

Quick roundup of things musical/political (musio-political or poly-musical?). Anyways, let's display the findings of note for the past two days of surfin' the interwebs:

-Read William Bowers' review of the new Destroyer album Trouble in Dreams at Pitchfork. This man is one of the best writers I've encountered in a long time. I'm basing that bold statement on an article he wrote for The Oxford American called "All We Read is Freaks." It's about teaching English at a community college in Florida. Order the issue here and marvel.

-Medialoper has a two part brief history of R.E.M. that reminds me why I still love them so. New Adventures in Hi-Fi is where it's at; Reveal was completely underrated and forgotten, but still worth it.

-The Chronicle of Higher Education has an all-too-brief story about a seven year old who got sued by the RIAA. Read about the event here.

-I like the new cover for Death Cab for Cutie's new album Narrow Stairs. I do not like the album title.

-Fighting the urge to get the new Counting Crows album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings. This interview with frontman Adam Duritz didn't help. What do you think? I feel like I'm over the Counting Crows phase, but I keep coming back. Help.

-And then there's this. I have no idea what to say.
-And finally there's this...

Novelists Strike Fails To Affect Nation Whatsoever

'Nuff said.