Discoveries on a day home sick.

Say what you want about NPR's news coverage (I'm not saying anything, but if you were to, you could), you can't fault their ongoing efforts to put good music and ground-breaking artists in the spotlight. For real, if you're an appreciator of fine music, there are few pages more addicting than that NPR Music homepage. It's digital crack, I swear.

Perhaps the best feature is that you're actually able to listen to big upcoming releases in their entirety BEFORE THE ABLUM HAS BEEN RELEASED. That's too good to pass up, am I right? I am. Here's some samples:

You may know that there's a new one coming out for Gorillaz, Plastic Beach, which features such artists as Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, and Lou Reed, just to name a few. It's decent, but not as good as there sophomore release, 2005's Demon Days, which was produced by Danger Mouse, of Gnarles Barkely fame (and Grey Album infamy) who is perhaps the best producer in the game today...

Speaking of: maybe you've always wondered what you'd get if you combined Danger Mouse with James Mercer of The Shins... Wish granted. May I introduce you to Broken Bells? May I also add that it sounds great? Peppy beats and Infectious synth work mix with Mercer's homegrown vocals to produce a record that, despite the electronic layers, feels very organic. An album worthy of a road trips and dance parties alike.

And finally, here's another mashup of sorts. Do you like Peter Gabriel? How about Bon Iver? What's that -- both, you say? Well, what if I told you Peter Gabriel recently covered "Flume" by Bon Iver? You'd be ecstatic.... Be ecstatic.


Wow... Lot's of links on this one. Hope you click on them all. Nothing wrong with a little exploration, after all.



[Have I found you, flightless bird?]