Huzzah! Halloween O'Seven is up at Buffistarawk2.

I guarantee that "The Lurch" will cause you enjoyment.

As a bonus, I am working on an extra seasonal mix, October Nocturnes.

It'll be a mix of dread inspiring folk rock, dark cabaret and other pretty acoustic maladies.

Pretty! Quiet! Melancholy! Good red-wine-by-firelight music. (Or Scotch if your prefer.)

Has anyone listened to the new Hold Steadys album? That's been on consistent rotation this weekend too, and it's really good.

YES! I got it the day it came out (had to actually buy it even though it's available on emusic because they are a "must have the actual CD in my hand" kind of band). I looooove it so much.

I think the whole thing is super solid, but if it was just "Party Pit," "You Can Make Him Like You" and "Massive Nights" I would be just as happy.

I am loving the new Decemberists as well. But an album I bought last week that I cannot stop listening to is the new Thermals. It came out a few months back I think, but it only came on my radar after someone sent me the link for the video of "A Pillar of Salt." . The whole album sounds pretty much like that song and that is actually a GREAT thing.

Yay, new Halloween mix! David, you're so good to us. (Um, and have I given you a giant virtual hug and congratulations yet? I have the sinking feeling that I have not, so: CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the world, baby Matilda!)

Pink Martini is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands, Sean, so I would reccomend them beyond their rendition of "Brazil."

YES a bajillion times to this.

Thanks Hec! Batty s'mores and gingerbread corpses to you! Now I have something as an earworm that isn't Nellie McKay.

Which, have y'all discussed Nellie McKay here, because brilliant. And how many new artists get a double album for their first?

That whole post-punk era has been in vogue for the last several years and very influential. Rhino did three compilations under the name Post Punk Chronicles that I like. Mojo did a good sampler on that period. There's another comp called Senses Working Overtime (from the XTC song) that's good.

Thanks for the recs, David, I knew I could count on you. I'll have some fun looking these up...

I think the whole thing is super solid, but if it was just "Party Pit," "You Can Make Him Like You" and "Massive Nights" I would be just as happy.

I've just been listening to the whole thing on repeat, and man does it really set the mood. I like "Party Pit" and "First Nights," though I really do like the whole thing. There's no tracks I want to skip.

I am loving the new Decemberists as well.

I heard the bonus tracks before I got the album, and I freaking adore the bonus tracks--they have that usual Decemberists edge, but with a little more sophistication than they showed in Picaresque. Without making a grand pronouncement, it feels like the kind of surly adolescent from Picaresque has grown into a more circumspect (if still dangerous) adult.

But an album I bought last week that I cannot stop listening to is the new Thermals. It came out a few months back I think, but it only came on my radar after someone sent me the link for the video of "A Pillar of Salt." . The whole album sounds pretty much like that song and that is actually a GREAT thing.

Hm. Have to look into them.

Which, have y'all discussed Nellie McKay here, because brilliant. And how many new artists get a double album for their first?

I think we did, Raq, but it was a couple years ago when the double-disc first album came out. I remember because I bought it when I was living in Chicago and it didn't come out of my cd player for like three weeks. Of course, the consequence is that I get tense when I listen to it now, but it's still technically accomplished with a side of controlled lushness that seems to embody Nellie McKay."Pretty Little Head," her sophomore album that hasn't been released on a label yet, showed up on the net (much like Fiona Apple, actually) and tracks from that have been trickling down for the last couple of years. I've liked what I heard. It's hard to believe she's only two years older than I am.

Thanks for the recs, David, I knew I could count on you. I'll have some fun looking these up...

Alas, if Jim Eaton-Terry were still around he'd drop in and say, "Those are fine (if obvious) choices but what I really think sums up that era is...[_______}"

Also, Corwood will pop in any second to point out that the Rought Trade Post Punk comp is the one to have, not the dippy Rhino one with the crap-ass synthpop numbers mixed in.

Hey, the Rough Trade Post Punk comp is the one to... ah, never mind.

I haven't yet fallen for the new Decemberists album, and downloaded the new Hold Steady last week, but have yet to listen to it. Does this make me a bad person? Perhaps. I'm digging the new Yo La Tengo, and can't quite recommend the new Eric Matthews, which breaks my heart, because I love to recommend that guy's work. This one's only ok, not quite up to his previous two full-lengths. I'm a bit so-so on the new Mountain Goats, too, but those albums always take a couple of weeks to really sink in.

Anyway, I heartily second the Gang of Four's Entertainment!, which blew my socks off when I first heard it and still does today, nearly two decades later. And, on that note, to hell with poverty! Let's get drunk on cheap wine!

Don't click on the link. I posted it before I realized that the video is gone now. Here's a blurry, inferior substitute.

Two steps forward...
six steps back
six steps back
six steps back
six steps back

Love will get you like a case of anthrax

The Gang of Four's drummer now teaches at the Art Institute of Boston, btw.