musicOMH interviews Jenny Conlee of the Decemberists about the band's new album, The King Is Dead (out tomorrow).

All Things Considered interviews the band's frontman Colin Meloy.

Music Ruined My Life shares a soviet punk anthology covering the years 1981-1990.

Undertheradar interviews Alex Scally of Beach House.

Pop & Hiss talks to legendary surf guitarist Dick Dale.

On sale at Amazon MP3: Telekinesis's Parallel Seismic Conspiracies EP for 99 cents.

52 Tapes shares a new streaming themed mixtape every week.

NPR is streaming Gang of Four's new album, Content (out January 25th).

The Bend Bulletin's Frequency blog shares a two-disc mp3 compilation of 2010's best songs.

The Denver Post interviews Liz Phair.

Marathonpacks shares sales numbers of Pitchfork's 2010 top 50 albums.

The Beatles' Abbey Road was the bestselling vinyl album in the US in 2010 (and 2009 as well).

In the Telegraph, Neil McCormick examines whether rich kids can rock.

One Thirty BPM lists the most anticipated albums of 2011.

Writers on Process has changed its name to Songwriters on Process, and just finished its 50th interview on the craft of writing.

On sale at Amazon MP3 for $3.99: Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope album (one of my favorite albums of 2006).

The Guardian on pop stars releasing a great album then retreating:

It's not exactly a mystery why this happens. Chart pop, even more than most of the music business, is thoroughly market-driven, and in the case of Spears and Clarkson a return to Cheeky Britney and Fun Kelly was exactly what the market demanded. But it's still a shame – in all three cases the more interesting record wasn't some kind of misguided experiment, it was an organic progression from the music the act had made before.