Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Two Cool Things Today

...and we need them, since it's 8:30 and already over 70.

The new Fountains of Wayne comes out today: Out of State Plates. It's B-sides, throwaways. But there's some great stuff, including a cover of ELO's "Can't Get It Out of My Head" and Britney's "Hit Me Baby One More Time." "I Want an Alien for Christmas" is one of my favorite Christmas songs. There's also live stuff and a sort of surprising amount of country-flavored stuff. (But the pop-country thing is something I've never really gotten, I confess. I blame Ringo.) You can hear some of every song here, and pick it up here. They're releasing "Maureen" as a single.

Also, The (re-formed) Posies have a new one coming out today. According to Billboard:
But something happened along the way to breaking up. The pair got together, sans any other auxiliary band members, to select material for a box set. "In doing this," Auer explains, "it was necessary for us to go through piles and piles of old tapes -- we didn't just want to leave it to someone else. So we basically reviewed our entire history together, from the earliest demos to the last thing we ever did, and it was pretty amazing. We had a really good time doing it; we laughed a lot. Ken and I share a kind of a sense of humor, which has gotten us together over the years."

This rekindled friendship led to an agreement to play and record an acoustic show (released on Houston Party records as "Alive Before the Iceberg"), which in turn led to a three-month acoustic "world tour" in the summer and fall of 2000.

You can find selections from that one here and pick it up here. (Thanks, Steve L., for the heads-up!)

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