My Lincoln-Sense is tingling!

Welcome to the all-singing, all-dancing, all-music (almost) edition of the Mustard. Figured it’s been long enough and my music collection keeps growing so:

So the HUGE Apple press conference was today. The big news: the current iPod is seeing an upgrade where it will be brighter and play games with an option for an 80 GB edition. Also a bunch of nano updates (colors) and even a new iPod shuffle (that thing is still around?). ITunes is also getting an update with higher res video playback, different views like cover view (so we’ve caught up to Windows Media Center?) and there’s also a service to find missing cover art (this is actually very cool). Even bigger, you can finally use your iPod to transfer content between computers (provided the computer is authorized on the same account, sorry people, no stealing your friends’ entire music collection just yet). This is going to make my life so much easier with my home and work computers.

And of course there are now movies… Disney studio movies to be precise. Now before you freak out it’s all Disney owned studios so it’s also Touchstone, Miramax, etc. 75 to start with and counting. I like the new releases being 12.99 preorder and first week and then moving up to 14.99. Best Buy does the same exact thing. And most titles (aka old titles) will be $9.99. They’ll be at near DVD qualities and in Dolby surround. But you won’t be burning them to DVD so start work on hooking up your computer to the TV. I like this price point better than Amazon's at least and F- you other Hollywood studios who want to charge normal DVD prices for downloads. If it’s of a lesser value than DVD (and, with slightly lower video res and no special features, it is), we shouldn’t be paying DVD prices. Moving on…

Now I’ve commented before on my near obsession with the Mountain Goats’ Sunset Tree album. Well here’s the video (unofficial I believe though I’ve yet to confirm that) to the fantastic song Dance Music:

Tremendous.

So October 3^rd is officially the day to lose money on music. We’ve got new albums coming out that day by Beck, the Killers, Jet and the Decemberists. Ouch.

Mark down your calendars: January 23^rd. The release date for the oft rumored new Shins album, Wincing the Night Away. Is it refreshing that there’s a band out there who isn’t releasing a new album every year or just frustrating cause the Shins are that good?

Reviews! Recommendations! Redactionals!

Snow Patrol – Final Straw

Alright so the album’s song Chocolate is getting huge airplay now thanks to the trailer for Zach Braff’s new movie The Last Kiss. And it should cause it’s a great song. The opener, How to be Dead has a nice easy pace to it reminiscent of a more produced Matt Nathanson track. Run shows a strong Coldplay influence while still managing to be better than anything on their last album.

Rogue Wave – Descended Like Vultures

This band has a good diverse sound that’s very Death Cab-esque. Publish My Love in particular has the pounding guitar interludes reigning back into a low key verses that Ben Gibbard has perfected. The acoustic California has some great, haunting vocals that a reminiscent of Lost and Gone Forever era Guster.

Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock & Roll

Take the sound of Ramones or the more contemporary Franz Ferdinand, add a satirical disdain towards self indulgent rock while somehow celebrating it at the same, and you’ve got the entertaining debut of Art Brut. We Formed a Band nails this one the head with lyrics such as “And yes, this is my singing voice. It's not irony and it's not rock and roll. I'm just talking to the kids.” But the real gem of the album comes from My Little Brother with its biting guitars and straight minded lyrics of “My little brother just discovered rock & roll”. Great album.

Cat Power – The Greatest

The title track (and opener) is one of the strongest piano pieces I’ve heard in a long time. Living Proof livens things up with a more blues-crossed-with-gospel influence. Empty Shell swings into a more country mood that could’ve been pulled off of Bright Eye’s Wide Awake It’s Morning. Strong recommendation for this album.

Well that should hold you up for a while. True I’ve gotten a helluva lot more music than that since last I updated but we’ll get to that later.

News and non-music related Notes:

Speaking of The Last Kiss, it’s out this Friday. I’m quite looking forward to it. I’m not a HUGE Paul Haggis fan (though his guest appearance on Entourage brought me closer) but I’ve heard Zach Braff did a little work on the dialogue and if nothing else his writing on Garden State was excellent.

2 day countdown to Wii Day. Supposedly the big announcement of the price and date will happen at Nintendo’s press conference on Thursday. Rumored pricing of under $200. Please let it be true…

Joss Whedon, master of all that is good, has been announced as the new writer of Runaways taking over for the departing Brian K. Vaughn. Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-men was the reason I actually started paying attention to comics. I’ve read Vaughn’s first 2 volumes on Runaways and it’s excellent and I think Whedon is the only reason that fans of the series aren’t going to go on strike once he leaves.

Go Irish!

Until next time:

“Peter, what is that?”

“Well, I got the idea to build a panic room after I saw that movie The Butterfly Effect. I thought, wow, this is terrible. I wish I could escape to a place where this movie couldn't find me.”