am all "hey there..."

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit (listen) This album is so good, it is actually better than I think it is. I am blinded by how much I love it that I need distraction to allow me to hear it. Like I was walking the dog this morning and nearly stepped in the reason we bring bags with us when we walk dogs and heard a new complicated horn and guitar fill deep in a crevice of one of these songs I'd listened to countless times before. We chose the dog we did because in the Craigslist ad was "Her name is Sukie" and "Sukie in the Graveyard" is mine and my daughter's jam on this record. Hearing that little fill in the corner is like when I catch sight of my lovely wife and am all "hey there..." and that is love.
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Madonna - I am in the apparent minority for liking this band's more expansive side, but this record is a corker.
Micachu & the Shapes - Jewellry (comes out on Tuesday; MySpace) This record has dominated my weekend listening, as I suspect it has most that have encountered it. On one hand, it is a little tuneless, or at least tone-deaf, cantankerous and prickly; on the other, it is all those things except in the most wonderful and refreshing way. It might be the new M.I.A. in that I never though M.I.A would catch on and it did. While M.I.A clearly has the eye on the prize, Micachu is after some fleeting artpop intangible, and the chase gets better with each listen.