The Bird and The Bee – “My Love”Sweet, mellifluous indie-pop duo The Bird and The Bee (Inara George and Greg Kurstin) return with a new record for Blue Note, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, on 1/27.

This is the sort of song where it really doesn’t matter much if you can’t understand the words because it’s all right there in the music, and in Veronica Maggio’s lovely, soulful voice — the heartbreak, the regret, the doubt, and the guilt. Nevertheless, I went through the effort of getting a rough translation of the lyrics from a Swedish-to-English online language tool, and it just confirmed what I’d already gleaned. The title translates loosely to “Nothing Can Change That,” and though the words come out all scrambled, it’s pretty obvious that it’s about a crumbling relationship. (Cheating may be involved, but I can’t be certain.)

To a certain extent, we already know this song, or at least its archetype. Maggio draws on that instant, Pavlovian emotional response and carves out her own niche in its familiar, comforting melodramatic melancholy. Her phrasing recalls a young Michael Jackson — warm and human, but carefully controlled and never overwrought or over-sung. Maggio sings to convey precise emotion, not to showcase her formidable voice, and the result is a piece of music that is both gorgeous and casually devastating.

Visit the official Veronica Maggio website.

Acid Mother’s Temple
Delicious Design League, 2008

Amazon is selling the mp3 version of The Bird and the Bee's Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future album (released today) for only $3.99.

The Los Angeles Times reviews the album:

Building crisp pop imbibements that can stand up to several listens is no easy task, but the Bird and the Bee has found the trick: Complex melodies constructed of several simple, shiny parts, all revolving around George’s breathy voice, the calling card of a nocturnal party sprite who might be cooing her songs at a flirty soiree.

BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat examines the rise in popularity of band blogs.

The Miami Herald and Forbes review Azar Nafisi's latest memoir, Things I've Been Silent About.

Decider Milwaukee interviews Muzzle of Bees music blogger, Ryan Matteson.

D: You’ve said that Muzzle Of Bees will no longer write about shows happening at the venues you work at. Does it ever get awkward reconciling being both a music blogger and a music PR guy?

RM: It’s just a matter of making sure that there’s definitely a line drawn between what I do on the website and what I do at the Pabst. I think that’s the best way to position it. As much as I’d love to talk about some of the great experiences I have at these shows, hopefully other people are in those crowds and can write about their feelings.

Daytrotter's Tuesday session features in-studio mp3's from Koufax.

The Scotsman profiles singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle.

These grittily timeless qualities in Earle's music – as heard on last year's debut The Good Life, and mined further on his follow-up, Midnight at the Movies, due out in March – have certainly proved efficacious in distinguishing his sound from his father's more rock-oriented style, and winning him widespread plaudits in the American press.

USA Today reports that music festivals are adapting to the bad economy by offering layaway options for tickets.

Johns Hopkins Magazine profiles the two members of Matmos.

For compositional purposes they have recorded the flapping pelt of a rabbit, Daniel's wrist being burned by a cigarette, and an old mechanical adding machine. A microphone rubbing across human hair. Snails wagging their eye stalks across a laser beam that in turn changes the pitch of a light-sensitive theremin. Surf guitar, a classical string quartet, and the sampled sounds of plastic surgery. The latter resulted in what is surely the first-ever music derived from rhinoplasty.

NPR's Morning Edition examines how music videos are adapting with more people watching them online and on portable devices.

SPIN asks, "Is Animal Collective the new Moby?"

Broken Spindles – “Introvert”The new Broken Spindles record, Kiss/Kick, is coming out on 2/17 on blank.wav (the fledgling label of Neo/New/Nu/No Wavers the Faint).

elbow.co.ukMy relationship with Elbow has been circuitous to say the least. Their debut Asleep In The Back failed to engage and I didn’t give them another chance until 2005’s Leaders Of The Free World, a record liked well enough, but it wasn’t until last year’s The Seldom Seen Kid that they really finally clicked - partly thanks to them crafting a terrific album but also because of my finally being able to reconcile expectation with reality.

And so it’s kind of ironic that the one album of their four that I skipped in all this, 2004’s Cast Of Thousands, would turn out to maybe be my favourite of their catalog.

Video: Elbow - “Ribcage”
Video: Elbow - “Fallen Angel”

Spinner’s Interface welcomes Glasvegas for a session.

Magnet’s “Wrens Watch” begins to yield some real dividends as they’ve got a new song, still untitled but recorded just last week, available to download. And I daresay that even in such a rough form, it sounds GREAT.

Crooked Fingers will be opening up for Neko Case on her upcoming Spring tour, including the two Toronto dates at Trinity-St Paul’s despite what ANTI-blog says (well their MySpace says so, anyways).

Blurt chats with Cut Off Your Hands about working with Bernard Butler on their debut album You And I.

Drowned In Sound interviews Of Montreal.

Paste catches up with Peter Bjorn & John.

Asobi Seksu – “Me and Mary”