Links and new purchases

No mp3 tonight, since I'm ridiculously tired, but here are some quick links:

• The Independent gives Bright Eyes' Cassadaga 5 stars. Still haven't picked that up - I'll get it tomorrow, I guess. Looking forward to it, anyway; I love the Four Winds EP (I think I mentioned that earlier) so I'm hoping for similar quality on the full record.
• Rolling Stone (really) gets excited about the Springsteen tribute show. It sounds amazing - particularly:
  

  Immediately afterwards, Brooklyn indie rockers the Hold Steady took the stage and played the most joyous version of “Atlantic City” I’ve ever seen. Dancing around like Talking Heads-era David Byrne on speed, frontman Craig Finn delivered the sorrowful tale of a desperate man like it was “Joy to the World.” If not for the show’s finale, it would have been the greatest performance of the night.

Along with aforementioned finale, of course.

• Hot news of the week: Indie rock compilations. Why hasn't this happened before? I'm vaguely excited, though I'm not sure if I see myself buying a lot of these.
• The Louisville Courier-Journal reviews the Decemberists. I'm a bit baffled - where are all these guys who apparently chat up girls in Sufjan Stevens t-shirts? Granted, I don't live in Kentucky, but I've certainly worn my Sufjan shirt plenty of times and never run into any Decemberists-listening, huge-bearded men. (Also, where are all the cute girls in Sufjan shirts? I guess they're in Kentucky.)
  
• Pitchfork hangs out with Ted Leo. Great interview. Another record I haven't managed to pick up yet...

But here's what I did find this weekend! Mostly cleaning up stuff I didn't manage to buy last year, with some other strange picks in-between:

CD:

• The Dears: Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts, 2006)
• The Decemberists: The Crane Wife (Capitol, 2006)
• Frog Eyes: The Golden River (Absolutely Kosher, 2002)
• Of Montreal: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (Polyvinyl, 2007)

Cassette:

• The Chameleons: John Peel Sessions (Strange Fruit, 1990) [I can't tell if this is a bootleg or not. It might be, but it was only $3.]

Vinyl:

• Band of Horses: Everything All the Time (Sub Pop, 2006)
• Devendra Banhart: "Heard Somebody Say" b/w "La Pastorcita Perdida" (XL, 2005)
• Camera Obscura: "If Looks Could Kill" b/w "I Love How You Love Me" (Elefant [Spanish import], 2007)

Pretty excited about all of these!! OH, and I also ended up getting a burned copy of Sunset Rubdown's Shut Up, I Am Dreaming from one of the clerks. Haven't listened to it yet though.