How Many White Lies? - and Freebies!

Hot Brit trio the White Lies are listed as playing the Black Cat in DC tonight and appearing tonight on Letterman. Yeah, they’re good, but are they spectral spirits who can be two places at one time? I suspect that Dave, perhaps on his honeymoon from his surprise marriage last week (congrats, my favorite 11:30 talk show host!) taped tonight’s episode a day or two ahead.

Anyway, I was lucky to get a copy of
WHITE LIES -To Lose My Life (Geffen/Fiction)
as a zip file last night, and said I would blog, and offer a free mp3, but I couldn’t extricate the sharable title track single from the rest of the album. Sorry.
But there seems little doubt we’ll all get a chance to hear White Lies again soon.   The band already performed at Lollapalooza last August and have headlined Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York as well as festivals across Europe. The buzz from SXSW is at a low roar. You didn’t hear it hear first, but I’ll add to the chorus.

But I can offer some other good freebies.
NPR is offering a free SXSW sampler featuring some fine artists, old and new, people like David Byrne with Dirty Projectors, Thao (good track too: "Bag of Hammers"), Blitzen Trapper, something from the new Decemeberists album, and one of my new favorites, Blind Pilot. It comes via iTunes, so you'll need to have/create an account, but then you also get album art and all, easy peasy.

A nifty bonus, too - the list of artists included on the sampler has many clickable links to shows that the acts played in Austin, and you can listen to them, too. Given that these were SXSW shows, they tend to run on the shorter side - 30 minutes or so - so you get a quick sampling featuring key tunes. A great way to catch some of the other, musical, March Madness. And speaking of the latter, even for someone like me, who isn't a big b-ball follower, watching Obama do his bracket is just too cool! (I had a link ready to go to the video here, but the site pulled it. Sorry. Again.)

Amazon also regularly offers freebies. And today they, too, have a nice SXSW sampler featuring Sub Pop artists like Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine.

And while you're at amazon, especially if you have kids, grab Dan Zanes’ 7-track CD, “Smile Smile Smile”.

ALL IN A DAY’S MAIL (yesterday's booty):
CRACKER - Sunshine in The Land of Milk and Honey (429 Records)
I was only a few songs in when hubby arrived home from a long work day and asked if he could have some quiet time, but I liked what I heard, especially “Show Me How This Thing Works.” That title, and others like “Hand Me My Inhaler” show that Dave Lowery is still a smart ass, god bless him. And now’s a good excuse to post some of the pics I took at the band’s January show at the State Theatre.


SARIAH - The Lethal EP (Rock Ridge Music)
Two copies in two envelopes, addressed identically (someone should check with the fulfillment company to make sure they’re not wasting lots of money). Six tracks of generic female-voiced urban dance pop, the kind of stuff that washes over me when I hear it driving on those days when Grace picks the stations. Give props to the girl for making a point of writing her own material, but tis stuff rarely makes an impression on me, even when Beyonce is singing it. And one song is titled, “Let’s Bump Tonight.” Oh dear.
EILEN JEWELL - Sea of Tears (Signature Sounds)
A duplicate of the cardboard advance I bought last week at the trade-in store,sent in conjunction with Jewell’s upcoming IOTA date, Saturday, May 9th.
23 RAINY DAYS - Wonderful Disaster (self-released?)
I requested this when I saw a press release with a Herndon, VA reference. That’s the town right next door, so I want to hear what the local guys are up to. Self-described “post-punk indie dance metal,” the trio has a bit of a Goth-y look and made their live debut debut opening for 10,000 people at a Live on Penn (Ave) show featuring the Violent Femmes. Lead singer/guitarist Ian Kaine MacGregor gripes in the press kit that local bands get some radio play in DC, ” I’ve always felt that good rock music has been ignored by the local printed press.” Well, now that I have some music and a contact, maybe I can prove him wrong.

MY OWN CASH MONEY:
FRANZ FERDINAND - Tonight (Domino)
It’s all Apple’s fault - again! I kept hearing “No You Girls” on the iPod Touch commercials and had to have the whole song for my own. I can’t say yet that FF is tilling breaking new ground, but they till their trademark angular pop turf with skill. A wildly successful band that doesn’t make you feel stupid when you listen to them.
The WHO - Who’s Next (MCA)
I had no intention of buying music on a visit to the Richmond Rite-Aid during a visit to pick up College Girl, but there we were, picking up a prescription, when I spotted a small racj of CDs marked “Special Sale.” Of course, I had to flick through them. R.E.M.’s “Accelerate” for $5?! There were a few others that I would have grabbed had I not already got them, but this Who classic was a piece of vinyl that could stand replacing. What’s more, it was the version with extra tracks. On the ride home, I popped it into the player and found myself stunned again at some of the amazing moments in this (dare I say it?) seminal set. The slow-burn build of “Baba O’Riley,” the always relevant suspicions of “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” the road-worthiness of “Going Mobile” and the still utter lameness of “Love Ain’t for Keeping,”...all good reminders of what the Who could do when they set their mind to it.
And I was glad to be reminded, having just watched the live DVD that came with “Endless Wire” and finding Daltrey’s performance a sad echo of his former self. He was even wearing a T-shirt and baggy cargo shorts, like he’d just wandered onto the stage from a hackey-sack game. Dude, you’re a member of the Who, not the Dave Matthews Band!

And so, adding up the downloads and promos and purchases, the new O/CD YTD Tally: 97