eMUSIC ROUND ELEVEN

I waited until after the first of the year to use my eMusic downloads this time around. I wanted to get through Christmas and see what new music I might end up with and also have time to process some of the previous downloads. I love being able to get all this music but sometimes it's hard to digest it all. Anyway, here's what I grabbed in the first few days of 2007...

Cold War Kids/Robbers & Cowards - I'd been digging this band when I heard them on KEXP, so I finally ordered their 2 EPs from earlier this year. While they were on route, I learned that they had a full-length coming that included almost all of the songs from those EPs plus 2 new ones. I was a bit annoyed. But I finally decided to grab this and gave the EPs to Graham. Now he's a fan as well and we're going to go see them in concert in March (Tokyo Police Club is playing too).

Canasta/We Were Set Up - This was Trevor's favorite album of 2006 over at Creekside, so I had to give it a shot. Of course, it's quite good. They do that nice indie rock epic sweep kinda thing as well as the more contained songs. Hmm, did that make any sense?

Tom Waits/Orphans: Brawlers - Can you believe I've never bought any Tom Waits before this? My brother is a huge fan and I've always liked Waits' stuff. So I grabbed just the first disc of his new compilation with plans to get the other 2 discs in subsequent months. Not every song is a winner but many of them are. Love that rasp.

The Mountain Goats/Tallahassee - I have become obsessed with John Darnielle and I have made it my mission to get as much Mountain Goats music as I can in 2007. Seriously, obsessed.

Superchunk/Here's to Shutting Up - I'm a big fan of Mac's other band, Portastatic, but I thought I'd give Superchunk a whirl. I like it, of course. Quite a bit. Another band I wish I'd paid attention to years ago...