This Just In...

News-worthy items for Thursday, March 20th:

The War On Drugs...
No, not Nancy Reagan's war on drugs, the Philadelphia-based indie rock band The War On Drugs have just signed to Secretly Canadian Records (home to Musicologists-approved favorites Jens Lekman, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness and Damien Jurado). Funny story about this band; before I moved to Berkeley, I was a staff writer for The Compendium Magazine. I went to interview band member Kurt Vile and catch his solo act at The Khyber, I'll just say that he's one of the more eccentric characters in the Philly music scene. Anyway, he was pretty incoherent and I ended up with very little content, so the article was nixed. Anyway, he reappeared on-stage later, joining The War On Drugs, who I was also supposed to do a piece on. And once again, that never happened... Anyway, congratulations- and here's a link to download their EP Barrel Of Batteries. For free!

All you can eat iTunes? I freakin' wish...
There's been some talk lately of Apple offering a subscription service, basically a monthly fee for unlimited downloads. Hmmm, is this enough to get me to stop stealing music? Probably not... [read the article on Silicon Alley Insider]

Shameless self-promotion...
Okay, so the website I've been writing for (besides this one) is going public March 31st. We're called JamsBio, and our content is obviously music-based, meaning that I'm actually being paid to write about my own musical memories. Is that not freaking sweet or what? I write about songs that have affected me deeply (or not) in some way and they send me checks. I'm actually going to write my next memory about something that happened a few weeks ago, which was; coming home from work and opening the mailbox to find my first check sitting in there waiting for me. You'll have to wait to read it, I'm not going to tell you what song I was listening to on my iPod. But that song and I are now linked in this weird way forever. Life is funny, just like that. But life is hilarious, just like someone giving me money for my writing...

Bad move, Interscope Records...
Dear Jimmy Iovine, CEO of Interscope:
You are a god-damned retard for dropping Simian Mobile Disco from your crappy label today. You make $2.4 million a year and you don't have enough sense to know talent when you hear it. "Oh, but I discovered Eminem" Yes you did, but he sucks and I wouldn't brag about that. How the fuck is you gonna drop SMD, they're one of the few listenable dance artists out today, everything else in that genre pretty much sucks. Way to go, asshole. I hope your ears are plugged up with piles of steaming dog crap. Oh wait, they already are...
Sincerely,
The Musicologists

Two-minute warning: Jack White and Friends' harried rush for the end-zone...
The Raconteurs' new album Consolers Of The Lonely was leaked onto the interwebs a few weeks ago, and in response (although they say that has nothing to do with this) they've moved the release date forward to next Tuesday, March 25th and that it's going to be available in all formats simultaneously (vinyl, CD, digital, Victrola, microfiche, etc...) [read the entire article on Yahoo! News]

...And this just may get The Musicologists shut down...
Okay, you like free music? Here's two links to songs that haven't been released yet (or have been released overseas):
Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart (from the forthcoming Narrow Stairs LP)
Vampire Weekend - Arrows (from the Japanese version of Vampire Weekend)

That's about all the items worthy of "news" in my little corner of the world...