Party Ben’s Music Picks (For People Who Still Buy CDs)

All those cool bands you’ve been hearing about, and a few you’ve never heard of – but will.

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I’m not sure how much relevance actual release dates have any more (in this era of internet leaks) but if you’re the type who likes their CDs and mp3s legit, the next few months promise some breathless Monday nights. I thought I’d sneak on here while all the Mother Jones employees are nursing their hangovers and tell you about some upcoming albums I can’t wait for, along with a brief explanation, similar artists, and a link to a preview (if available) or some recent material.

  • 02/06/07: Bloc Party – Weekend in the City (Vice/Atlantic)
    The UK quartet follow up their acclaimed debut with a more mature (and apparently more openly queer-ish) album
    For fans of: The Cure, Franz Ferdinand, being wistful
    Stream the whole album already on their Myspace page

  • 03/06/07: Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (Merge)
    Adored Montreal band face dreaded sophomore slump

    For fans of: Talking Heads, Neutral Milk Hotel, going to funerals

    Download the first single, “Interventions,” here

  • 03/06/07: Air – Pocket Symphony (Astralwerks)
    French band swings back to the more “difficult” sound of 10,000 Hz Legend
    For fans of: Burt Bacharach, Zero 7, spacing out
    Buy the first single, “Once Upon a Time” at iTunes

  • 03/13/07: Ken Andrews – Secret of the Lost Satellite (Dinosaur Flight)
    Producer-geek former member of Failure uses own name for once
    For fans of: Autolux, Nine Inch Nails, wearing headphones
    Hear a loop from Track 8 off the new album at his website

  • 03/20/07: Chamillionaire – The Ultimate Victory (Universal)
    Southern rap superstar returns with more smooth guest star-laden hip-hop
    For fans of: Paul Wall, Weird Al, ridin’ dirty
    Download a recent mixtape here

  • 03/20/07: LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver (DFA)
    NY dance-rock dude & friends bring back the funk
    For fans of: New Order, The Rapture, ironic disco dancing
    Hear earlier versions of some of the new songs in the Nike mix 45:33 available on iTunes
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    WE'LL BE BLUNT

    It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

    The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

    Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

    The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

    Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

    And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

    Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

    If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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