Stream Midlake’s The Courage of Others in its entirety at NPR.Org

Coma Cinema – “Flower Pills”

This Columbia, South Carolina band’s first album, Baby Prayers, is available as a free download at Coma Cinema dot Com.

The Clientele
Piecemaker Design, 2010

Four Tet - “Angel Echoes” A lot of minimalism and electronic music can sound sterile, utilitarian, and uninviting, as if recorded music was simply the most logical presentation method for the artist’s concepts. This isn’t the case for Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden, who manages to invest his compositions with a loose, “live” sound despite the distinctly non-live nature of his craft. “Angel Echoes”, the first track on his latest (and best) album There Is Love In You, doesn’t try to convince you that you’re hearing something entirely organic, but there is a subtle tension in it that implies spontaneity. It could just be the specific sound of the percussion sample, some perceptible trace of humanity that offsets the more mechanical aspects of the piece. Either way, Hebden finds some soulful fragment, and builds up from there, always balancing the physical and the cerebral. It sounds like healthy music, if that makes sense.

Buy it from Amazon.

The new Hype Machine/SoundCloud streaming player is extremely awesome.

The Baltimore Sun profiles Beach House, and talks to the band about their new album, Teen Dream (out tomorrow).

Scally's excitement manifests itself on "Teen Dream." The new record is spontaneous and energetic, the melodies propelled by a fresh sense of urgency. Part of this comes from the duo's decision to bring in live percussion. With the first two albums, Beach House relied on electric drumbeats generated from Legrand's keyboards. "Teen Dream" has live drums and drum machines, side by side.

The Telegraph notes two new music biopics, Nowhere Boy (about a teenage John Lennon) and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (about Ian Dury).

The A.V. Club lists 25 great songs, books, films, albums, and TV shows in which cancer plays a major role .

Drowned in Sound interviews Gareth Los Campesinos! about the new Los Campesinos! album, Romance Is Boring (out tomorrow).

Clash Music interviews Tom Campesinos!.

WXPN's World Cafe features an interview and live performance by Devendra Banhart.

Spoon frontman Britt Daniel talks to NPR's All Things Considered about the band's new album, Transference.

Remember Nick Hornby's review of Kid A by Radiohead when the album was released?

Bradley's Almanac lists its favorite albums of 2009.