checkin' in

luna - Lunafied: Collection of cover songs spanning their carrer. I'd been waiting for something like this for a while, since I'd always had trouble finding their version of donovans 'season of the witch' after I heard it playing while browsing at criminal records eons ago.

...and you will know us by the trail of dead - So Divided: With an exponentially shorter album hiatus than with world's apart and source tags, the Trail return a bit more pissed off than usual. Now it could be that their critically acclaimed major label debut only fell on the ears of only 50,000 or so, or it could be something they ate. Either way, we see the band striking new steel with the inclusion of some female vocal colabs and a couple of almost bluesy tracks. I've been caning this one while I run around the foothills - certainly a motivator.

the black neon - Arts & Crafts: I don't even remember what this sounded like, but it warranted me jotting down the title in my pending review page. Flip a coin.

decemberists - The Crane Wife: Their best yet. I just can't listen for more than one or two tracks at a time cuz me no likes dude's voice for too long.

trey anastasio - Bar 17 & 18 Steps: The first disc is the 'proper' new release, where the second is outtakes/leftovers. In the past that kind of stuff was cherry. Now, not as much, especially since Bar 17 is thrown together at best. The lead-off single, 'dragonfly' is rough, like a drunken rage-up. Making an encore are older live gems, cincinatti and goodbye head, which of course are not as good as the versions I've become accustomed to. The best moments of the 'new' material hint at some good things to come in a live setting (i.e. double header at the fox in a couple of weeks), but this release will likely get slim to nil plays after I pull down a couple of tapes from those nights.

the evans - get evans: Ummm, bring back fugazi already, guys.