Tunng – “Don’t Look Down Or Back” From …And Then We Saw Land, out 4/1 on Thrill Jockey.

(via)

(Photo via TheIvoryTower)

Hey, do you like the new Animal Collective album?
Yeah, that’s because you’re a mindless, trendmongering hipster. You probably only like the album because Pitchfork likes it. You don’t really love music the way I do.

Hey, do you not like the new Animal Collective album?
Yeah, that’s because you’re a reactionary, emotionally dead jerk. You probably only hate the album because Pitchfork likes it. You don’t really love music the way I do.

Heated arguments over the latest “big” indie releases are nothing new. But these days, such arguments seem less rooted in standard rock crit contentions (original vs. derivative, interesting vs. dull etc) and more like a paranoid and insecure game of shenanigans-calling. I got a whiff of it in 2007, when I was told that “anyone who doesn’t like [The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible] is an asshole and hates music.” In 2009, we have devolved into a state of musical McCarthyism, nervously looking over our shoulders and pointing fingers at those who we suspect of falling victim to, perpetuating, or reacting blindly to “hype.”

(more…)

The Beets
Nick Dupey, 2010

Watch the trailer for the new Mogwai live concert film, Burning.

As mentioned in today's Daily Downloads post, Team B is giving away a free EP, titled The Lost Son. The band is comprised of members of the Arcade Fire and Beirut, and the lyrics on the EP come from the works of my favorite poet, Theodore Roethke.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch profiles singer-songwriter Sarah Borges.

Sarah Borges is that rare artist who can weave striking, personal and original songs with cover tunes and leave the listener wondering which is which, all while jumping genres from new wave, '60s pop and indie rock to classic country and Americana.

At Details, members of Vampire Weekend list their favorite things.

On sale at Amazon MP3: Sarah Jarosz's 13-track Song Up in Her Head album for $1.99

At Drowned in Sound, former Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield gives a track-by-track review of his new solo album, Fly Yellow Moon.

Amazon MP3 offers over 800 albums on sale for $5.

The Telegraph examines the financial viability of the Spotify streaming music service for record labels.

The Rhapsody blog lists the most anticipated indie albums of 2010.

The Birmingham News profiles Electroliner, which includes singer-songwriter John P. Strohm.

Zeropaid notes that the Association for Independent Music feels the need for music blogs to be regulated.

Experimentalists Gang Gang Dance have signed to 4AD

The xx – “VCR”