Things I am really enjoying right now:

1) The James Rabbit blog, which Matthew linked to today, is just a wonderful little look into the process of musical creation, and is certainly something I'd do here all the time if I wasn't afraid it would bore the hell out of y'all. The songs are good too, but wow! That blog!

2) This article on the Fiery Furnaces by Nashville Scene writer Jonathan Marx. I'm mentioned in it, but I think it's one of the best summations of the band I've read, and he makes a number of very good points. Well worth a read. (Note: this was not why I was complaining about Nashville yesterday.)

3) The forthcoming !!! covers disc, which has the Magnetic Fields' "Take Ecstacy With Me" on one side and Nate Dogg's "Get Up" on the other. I've never been the biggest !!! fan--actually, at one point I despised them--but this is good. I think they really benefit from having a pop song's focus. The Magnetic Fields cover is particularly interesting because of the way they use layering and effects to evoke the echoy, distant feel of the original track, but the Nate Dogg cover is fantastic too, starting groovy and slowly crossfading to noisy.
posted by Mike B. at 11:29 AM 0 comments