A Yak Caravan is Coming

Geir Jennsen. Field recordings from Tibet. Listen.

A Yak Caravan is Coming

Neighbors on Oxygen

Track of the Week: "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray

Jeez oh pete! '09's shaping up to be a great year for new music from some of my old favorites.

Yep, Bob Dylan.

But also, Wilco's got a new one slated for June.

Andrew Bird just released a fine album Noble Beast.

In addition to the remastered reissues of Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head, word on the street is that the Beastie Boys have a new one in the works (my prediction: a "punk" album).

Animal Collective are relentlessly assaulting us with good stuff: beyond the truly excellent Merriweather Post Pavilion, they're re-releasing nearly everything they've recorded on Direct Metal Mastering vinyl (see, for example, the reissue of Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished) as well as a long-awaited vinyl-only, live box set from Catsup Plate Records.

And that says nothing of the newer bands busting out on the scene.

Dreijer Andersson may not be new to the scene, but her solo project Fever Ray is. I'll admit it, I picked this one up thanks to Pitchfork's "Best New Music" section: So sue me (and, haters, just have a look at their 10 most recent best new albums and disagree with them. I dare ya).

"If I Had a Heart" is the haunting opener from Fever Ray's self-titled album.

Enjoy!

Thru You: The YouTube Mash-Up, ReMix, Megajam

Do yourself a favor while you're slacking off at work or procrastinating on that essay, book, project, Spring cleaning, yoga practice, feeding the kids, etc., and check this out.

Titled Thru You: Kutiman mixes YouTube this fascinating project seamlessly mixes together strange little, digital odds and ends into some decent music. Even more, it highlights what's best about collaborative digital environments: together, we can make some cool shit.

As explained by the man himself:

Together for Life

From Pitchfork:

If I were Bob Dylan, I would spend my days in sweatpants watching "The Price Is Right", eating fresh strawberries and cream, and maybe getting up to sign off on a few official bootlegs every few months.

It's a good thing I'm not Bob Dylan. After revising what it means to be a rock star, bringing the idea of rock'n'roll to something close to high art, and becoming the legend among legends, Dylan is still going at age 67. As previously reported, he's coming out with a new studio album-- his 46th-- called Together Through Life. The LP comes out April 28 via Columbia. That picture of an old-school couple making out in the backseat of a giant car is the sure-to-be-scrutinized cover.

The self-produced affair (under Dylan's Jack Frost alias) follows 2006's Modern Times and was inspired in part by French director Olivier Dahan's upcoming film My Own Love Song with Renée Zellweger, Forest Whitaker, and Nick Nolte. Dylan wrote the new song "Life Is Hard" for the road trip flick and then Together Through Life "sort of took its own direction," according to an interview with the songwriter now up on his site.

In the chat with longtime rock journo Bill Flanagan, Dylan talks about the heavy influence of Chess Records on the new album and how his recent artistic resurgence has changed his creative viewpoint: "If there's an astrologer with a criminal record in one of my songs it's not going to make anybody wonder if the human race is doomed. Images are taken at face value and it kind of freed me up."

Dylan invented and then figured out how to break almost every rock stereotype there is, so it's only right that he continues to age with striking grace.

Dylan's never-ending tour continues this spring with a six week trek through Europe.

I'm giddy.

Mojito Weekend

Happy Weekend!