Friday Linkage

[mp3] The Big Sleep | Bad Blood
New Record, Sleep Forever, out February 19th.

[mp3] Say Hi | Northwestern Girls
Hitting D.C. on March 4th at the Black Cat. New album The Wishes And The Glitch, in stores February 5th.

[mp3] The Whigs | Right Hand on My Heart
Their album, Mission Control, is out January 22nd.

[mp3] Headlights | Cherry Tulips
New album Some Racing, Some Stopping out on Polyvinyl on Feb. 19th.

[mp3] Del the Funky Homosapien | Bubble Pop
Eleventh Hour to be released on March 11th via Definitive Jux.

[mp3] Bodies of Water | I Guess I'll Forget The Sound, I Guess, I Guess
U.S. tour With Sons & Daughters starts in February.

Also, about that Yeasayer/MGMT show...Yeasayer is totally not my thing. I like music with, you know, actual hooks, which were not exactly in plentiful supply when they were on the stage. MGMT, on the other hand, were fabulous. They're a total anachronism, an indie band from Brooklyn straight out of the 70's mixing Mercury Rev with Spinal Tap (seriously), CSN, Christopher Cross and Hall and Oates. I don't know if I would sit around and listen to their CD, but they were great live. I would definitely go see them again.

Also, big ups to the Black Cat for putting on a great show. Everyone was making this big fuss about getting the show upstairs in the main room, but Yeasayer went so far as to say they like playing small rooms more right now and it was actually a really smart move on their part. Instead of a barely half-filled bigger room, we got an intimate and cozy performance that left people wanting more. And for the record, there were plenty of people there just to see MGMT.

The show was not oversold (which pleasantly surprised me given the ticket demand) and there was plenty of room to move about near the back of the room. The sound in the Backstage has also improved by leaps and bounds. Other than maybe the Beck show from last year, that was the best sounding show I've ever heard in the Backstage. It's easy to tell the club has made some major improvements to that room.