Random News

The new year seems to be bringing a decent amount of music news and new music. It's been a slow few months, so it's good to see 2008 getting off to a quick start. Here's a quick rundown of several recent news items that interest me.

- New York-based Insound.com has been acquired by the Alternative Distribution Alliance, an independent distributor owned by WMG. The site will continue to be run by founder Matt Wishnow, so hopefully it will remain the high-quality indie destination that it's been for the better part of the last decade.

- Merge Records has a busy Spring ahead of it with new releases from Destroyer as well as two recent signings, Wye Oak and Radar Bros. The label is streaming music from all three bands now:

Destroyer, "Foam Hands"
Radar Bros., "Warm Rising Sun" (you can stream the entire album at Merge's home page)
Wye Oak, "Warning"

- Another SXSW band -- The Black Crowes. Given the show I saw them put on in New Jersey last year, I think it's safe to say that I can skip this, and that this show (taking place at Stubb's) should help draw a bunch of people away from other shows going on simultaneously. Works for me.

Oh, and Product Shop points out that a new Crowes song called "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution" is streaming at the band's website. It's actually pretty damn good.

- Rogue Wave are playing the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tomorrow night (Tues., 1/8). They also have a new Daytrotter Session up for download. Also be sure to check out recent Daytrotter sessions from Papercuts and Oakley Hall.

- Finally, my friend Matt recently pointed out that The Broken West have a blog. It hasn't been updated in a few weeks, but it's well worth keeping an eye on.