It's been a while, I know (aka The Free Music Bribery Post)

So, it's been, like, over a week since I posted anything on this site...and I apologize. Like the title of the post says, I want to post some kick-awesome music to make up for it. A lot of great albums have come out in the last two weeks and I was too busy soaking in their utter brilliance and majesty to be bothered writing anything in my blog. I've already been singing praises about The Flaming Lips and their new disc, At War With the Mystics, but I can't stress this enough: the album is great, better than Yoshimi and just a hair under the utter awesomeness that is 1999's The Soft Bulletin (which has also been re-released in 5.1 surround sound!) And while hits like "Mr. Ambulance Driver," "The W.A.N.D," and "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" are all utterly amazing, I have really fallen in love with this one song, "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion." So pretty, so psychedelic, so Flaming Lips-ish. It could almost be seen as a sequel to Yoshimi's track "It's Summertime (Throbbing Orange Pallbearers)". Naturally, the Lips give "Autumn" its own subtitle, which reads "The Inner Life as Blazing Shield of Defiance and Optimism as Celestial Spear of Action." You'll just have to listen to it yourself.

The Flaming Lips - "My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion"
from At War With the Mystics

Also worth mentioning are the new releases from two of my favorite alt-rockers, Josh Rouse and Sondre Lerche. While Rouse takes his already brilliant brand of pop-folk into Spanish territory with his album Subtítulo, Lerche defies all expectations and delivers Duper Sessions, a surprisingly solid jazz album. Here are a couple highlights from both:

Josh Rouse - "Givin' it Up"
from Subtítulo

Sondre Lerche - "(I Wanna) Call It Love"
from Duper Sessions

And finally, the Tuesday before last marked the debut release from Band of Horses, the beautiful and utterly anthemic Everything All the Time. If you plan on buying this album, I strongly recommend that you actually purchase the physical CD, not buy it off iTunes or anything. I will admit, I am a sucker for cool CD packaging, and Everything All the Time does not upset. The liner notes fold out to reveal three color prints of photographs by Christopher Wilson. The three I got were of a telephone pole, a hand waving at an airplane passing by, and an antique-looking living room, which leads me to the question: Does everyone get the same three photos when they buy this album or do they change from copy to copy? Someone please provide me with the answer! In the meantime, here's one of my favorite new songs off the record:

Band of Horses - "Weed Party"
from Everything All the Time

Alright, I hope that more than made up for my absence. I promise it won't ever happen again...until it does.