Múm - “Sing Along” I imagine a lot of the thrill of being a band and going on tour comes from the validation of seeing people respond to your music with a positive familiarity. These are the songs they love, and they’ve come to see you perform them in the hope of some kind of communion with the music, and with you. This isn’t always what happens, though. A lot of the time you’re just playing for people who have no particular interest in you, and you have to try to win them over, and try to get them to sing along to songs they don’t know. This song is specific to this experience, but I think there’s something universal in this as well, at least as much in that we’re all going through life with the hope that people will understand and appreciate us, and even if you go into every experience with the fullest, most hopeful heart, you’re constantly risking rejection and indifference. This is a song about putting everything on the line, and staying optimistic against all reason that one of these days people are going to start singing along with you.

Visit the Múm MySpace page.

Download “Micromix #21,” a mix by Bradford Cox featuring stuff from Juana Molina, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, and (surprise) Atlas Sound

White Rainbow – “Demon Sweat” From his upcoming record New Sounds, out on Kranky on 10/19.
(via Fader)

Crystal Antlers – “Tentacles” The second single (and title track) from their latest, Tentacles. And go here if you still get confused re: Crystal Stilts vs. Crystal Antlers.

Colin Meloy of the Decemberists talks to the Chicago Tribune's Turn It Up blog.

“Most rock musicals don’t work because of the music,” he says. “The Broadway musical used to be an art form that was financially viable even on the margins, and there were more people practicing it, more people invested in making it great. Now the musical is a niche that’s only really happening in New York, at least the financially viable stuff, and it’s run by huge corporations catering to tourists. It panders to the lowest common denominator, with schlock music that just gets worse and worse."

Exclaim! interviews Jessica Hopper about her book, The Girls' Guide to Rocking.

Read Hopper's Led Zeppelin-centric Largehearted Boy Book Notes playlist for the book.

NPR talks to the Posies about how bands make money in today's music industry.

Newsweek interviews Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces.

The Stranger lists the twelve best songs by Seattle band Throw Me the Statue.

The Quietus discusses what's wrong with the Dirty Projectors and the "hipster mentality" in a tellingly-titled article, "Dirty Projectors & The Curse Of Brooklyn's Hipster Ephemera."