--Newman plays tennis?

-He is fantastic.

The week is over and finally friday is here. Time for some good new tunes from the reliable boys of Outkast.



After about 50 download attempts today, I finally stumbled upon some pretty good music. Considering it is the new Outkast, I wasn't too suprised...These guys have been making great music for a while. I'm happy to see that they did not split as was rumored. The first track is from Andre 3000 and is named Idlewild Blues. It centers on a basic blues riff and relies upon Dre's catchy/absurd lyrics. Unlike other Outkast tracks, especially supposed singles, this track doesn't contain much besides the blues riff.

Idlewild Blues


Big Boi's effort, Morris Brown, is much more Outkast sounding than Idlewild Bues. This song has potential to become a big hit single. These songs are set to appear on the soundtrack for the boys' new feature film, Idlewild directed by Bryan Barber, who directed Outkast in Hey Ya! and The Way You Move. Andre has proved himself big-screen worthy in last years Four Brothers and the shitty Be Cool.


Morris Brown


Bounus tracks I found today:

Radiohead (New Songs...Live at Bonnaroo)

Nude

Bodysnatchers








Holy hoax and talk show hosts...
According to Billboard, the Jeff Mangum message on E6 Townhall was indeed a hoax. This news comes from long time friend and frontman for The Apples in Stereo, Robert Schneider, who reported to fans that Jeff claimed not to have written the post.


Although we will not be treated with new music from Jeff Mangum, who I have believe is the second greatest song-writer of all time, there has been so much good music this year that everyone can keep their heads up. Here are some of my favorite songs so far this year.


Cold War Kids
These guys are my favorite new band. Originally a blog favorite, these kids have gained some serious creditability. Their 2006 ep offers six fantastic tracks and 2007 is looking even better. They are very indie sounding, but it works out.

We Used to Vacation

Saint John


Arizona
great track Diventa Blu


oh no! oh my!
Jane is Fat


Islands
The first effort from super-group Islands provides a plethora of catchy pop songs. Rough Gem is a standout.

Rough Gem


Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan plans on releasing his outtakes to last years Illinois, called The Avalanche, this July. Although he did not seem too happy about the quality of the record, from what I've heard it is just as good as Illinois There is a touch of hyperbole in there, but a lot of the songs on the album are amazing.

Adlai Stevenson


Beruit
Postcards from Italy


Mason Jennings
If you need a reason


+/-
Steal the Blueprints


The Flaming Lips
At War With the Mystics was a bit of a disappointment due to the amount of time since the release of Yoshimi. There are, however, a handful of classic
lips songs.

The WAND



Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is fantastic. He is one of the best living song writers and his new album, The Animal Years, did not disappoint.

Kathleen











news and fish and meaningful messages.




This has quickly become old news, but I thought that my first post in months should be about some great news. Originally a blog phenomenon, then swallowed by Billboard and Pitchfork, Jeff Mangum (supposedly) is making new music! Ever since the release and sucess of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in 1998, Jeff Mangum has Salingered himself away from the public eye.

Sunday night I was perusing the E6 message boards whe I came across a new user, Nigh, claiming to be Jeff Mangum. At first I wrote it off but now with all of the attention it is getting, there must be some substance to the post. If in fact that was Jeff and he really is making new music and planning on playing shows, then that is the greatest thing I've heard all year

anyway, here is the original post by Nigh:

"hello again.

for the past few months ive been putting together the pieces of everything ive written in the past three years and its been a revelation. whenever i had the time ive been writing melodies and keeping them in my head for later, and songs just accumulate, im not waiting as some have said. i still dont know how we’re going to put it all together, the songs will have more noises and collages in them. because of that we dont know whether this will be korena pang or neutral milk hotel or michael bolton but that doesnt really matter. names are just a box we put things in to separate them, and we’re figuring out what box these songs go in.

we dont have a timetable for releasing the album yet, so dont get your hopes up for new songs now. if you want more “aeroplane” just ignore all of this, the songs are songs but they’re longer and more free. when jeremy came down after his tour we just spent days playing noise while screaming and it was incredibly liberating.

it has been so much fun that we will for sure be playing a show or two, probably more. freedom is a wonderful thing but at a certain point you need the routines of normal life. ive had that for a while but i realized last year at the show with the livys that the best sort of normal ive ever had was on the road with my friends. getting to gigs late with cars coughing and trombones smacking on doors, the giant egg leaks over the masses, the yolk sustains us, we eat whites for days. it can never be the same but i need to get as close as i can to that again.

so thats all. everything is happening soon, this is the year.
thanks for listening. jeff."

i'll celebrate by posting some Jeff mp3's:


Engine


Sailing Through