Good Afternoon Yellow Birds,

I have been listening to such lovely new music lately, which I will tell you about in a sec. But first, during my random cruising of the net I stumbled upon the Daytrotter website, and was so happy to see Aimee Mann on the cover, and does she look good as a cartoon or what? Anyway, she performed a few excellent songs from her new album @#%&*! Smilers. If you haven’t heard this album yet you should really give it a listen. Here are a couple of songs from that performance:

Aimee Mann – Little Tornado (Live on Daytrotter)

Aimee Mann – Pheonix (Live on Daytrotter)

To hear the rest of the songs she performed click here. And I’d like to give a shout out to Karen, Will, Stuart and Michael over at MHAM. I miss you guys!

As for that lovely new music I was talking about, if you haven’t heard these two albums you should really check them out:

Blitzen Trapper – Furr

This album has been pretty much the only thing I have been listening to for the past two days. I have known about Blitzen Trapper for a while now. I had the opportunity to see them play a little while back when I saw Fleet Foxes opening for them (yes Fleet Foxes was opening!), but I didn’t end up staying for their set. I am regretting that decision now that I have heard their amazing new album Furr. They actually remind of me a bit of Dr. Dog, with a more country feel to them. They even remind me of The Kinks at times or pre-Satanic Panic Of Montreal. In short, it isn’t something I’ve never heard before, but it’s just so catchy that I can’t help loving it. My top songs on the album are probably “Furr”, “Saturday Nite” and “Sleepy Time in the Western World”. This album, in my opinion, is their best work yet, and I dare you to listen to this album and not love it.

Blitzen Trapper – Furr

Blitzen Trapper – Saturday Nite

Blitzen Trapper – Sleepy Time In The Western World

Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer

You may know her as one half of The Dresden Dolls. Or if you don’t know who the Dresden Dolls are you may not know who Amanda Palmer is at all. Well my friends, you have reason to be excited, because this Palmer character happens to be one hell of a musician. Who Killed Amanda Palmer, her first venture as a solo artist just may be my favourite of her works to date. This may have something to do with the fact that Ben Folds produced the album, and we all know what he can do when he collaborates. Anyway, this album is stellar. Songs like “Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing” and “Leeds United” really get me pumped. There are a couple of songs I could live without, but for the most part, this album rocks.

Amanda Palmer – Astronaut: A Short History of Nearly Nothing

Amanda Palmer – Leeds United

So be sure to check these two out. Something else you should be really excited for is the new Dears album. I have heard some things, and let’s just say you’re gonna like it.

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner