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"This is how we roll" - These guys

I hope no one else in the world needs snow because my little mountain town has it all. All of it. We got it all. There is no more snow for anyone else anywhere. It’s all here. And while we dig our selves out of all the snow, here are some new songs that you can listen to.

“Polish The Broken Glass,” a new track from Matt Pryor’s new solo album, May Day, is streaming over at Spin.

You can listen to the new Guided By Voices song “Doughnut for a Snowman” over at Rolling Stone.

A new track from Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa is streaming here.

A couple new (and live) The National songs are streaming on Stereogum.

Stereogum also has new tracks from Choir Of Young Believers and R.E.M..

A new track from Imperial Teen is streaming here.

And a new Cranberries song is streaming right here.

That should hold you over for a little while.

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"We are all faking this" - These guys

R.E.M. broke up. When you heard that did you cry? You totally cried didn’t you? You fell to your knees and asked the gods “why?” We all did. We all asked “why” even though we kinda maybe shoulda asked “why now and not a couple albums ago?” But they are gone now and that kinda sucks but at least they left us with a sizable amount of decent music.

Before they gave up on us they did leave us with a new song and now that new song has a new video. The song is “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” and it’s great. One of the better songs I’ve heard from R.E.M. in a long time. The video… less so. It (the video) stars Kirsten Dunst’s face. That’s about it. The whole video is Kirsten Dunst’s face “acting.” OK. Everyone’s gotta make a living I guess.

Check out Kirsten Dunst’s face in R.E.M.s video for “We All Go Back To Where We Belong” right here:

What happened to Kirsten Dunst’s face? It was everywhere a couple years ago but now… nowhere. This is literally the first time I’ve seen Kirsten Dunst’s face in years. Did Kirsten Dunst’s face go to rehab or something? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t really care. At all.

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"We're just chillin'" - These guys

Tomorrow music comes out. It’s tradition at this point I guess. It’s not like albums have to be prepared and shipped to some big warehouse/distribution center and then forwarded on to the iTunes store. You can just upload that shit directly now. It’s 2011. We don’t have flying cares but we have instant access to music.

Whatever.

But since tomorrow a bunch of albums come out that means that a bunch of albums are streaming today to get you excited about the albums that are coming out tomorrow. Yay!

Here’s a rundown of what we found.

NME is streaming a new album from The View.

NPR is streaming new albums from:
The Dodos
R.E.M.
Trap Them
The Joy Formidable

Spinner.com is streaming new albums from:
Beth Ditto
Beady Eye
Neil Diamond
Starfucker
… and many more.

MySpace (suck!) and is streaming a new album from Raekwon.

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"That shirt gives me a headache" - The other two guys

The more I hear from R.E.M.‘s new album the more I am struck with a sense of nostalgia. The songs kinda sound like the R.E.M. we (I) grew up with and I think that’s where it (the nostalgia) comes from. I wasn’t ever the hugest (totally the right word) R.E.M. fan but they were part of the “college rock” thing that started it all for a lot of us.

This new song and new video keep that nostalgia going. The video is real simple and a little artsy – just like R.E.M. video’s use to be. Maybe it’s the beard on Michael Stipe or maybe they themselves are on a bit of a nostalgia kick. Either way, I’m good with it – for whatever that means.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s R.E.M.‘s “Mine Smell Like Honey” video:

R.E.M.‘s new album, Collapse Into Now, is due out on March 8

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"That shirt is totally ugly" - Two of these guys

R.E.M. keeps the new tracks coming! A dude I knew for a semester in college is probably peeing himself with excitement right now.

The band has released another (the third) song from the new album. The song, “Oh My Heart,” is up right now on NPR (look at NPR getting all over the hip, new stuff this week!). If you want to check the song out you should click here.

The band’s new album, Collapse Into Now, is still two months away so I expect the old dudes to release at least a handful more of the tracks in advance of the release date. That’s good news I guess if you are an R.E.M. fan.

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"Our futures are so bright we gotta wear shades. The other dude? Not so much" - Two of these guys

R.E.M.‘s new album, Collapse into Now, doesn’t come out until next year (remember when that seemed so far away?) but the band has released a new song that you can download for free if you are willing to sacrifice your email address.

Click here to head over to R.E.M.‘s official website and to download the new song “Discoverer.”

I didn’t download it. I’m not that big an R.E.M. (or at least new R.E.M.) fan so let me know what you guys think.

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I can honestly not believe we have never run a video both featuring R.E.M. We’ve been doing this for ever (not literally) and we’ve never run a video bout featuring R.E.M. Wow. Well, we are gonna resolve that right now.

This week’s bout takes us back to the heyday of college radio and features R.E.M. versus Violent Femmes. Remember when college radio was awesome and only you and your friends knew who R.E.M. was? If you are over the age of 30 then you totally know what I mean and if you are not over the age of 30 then you missed some great times. Sucks to be you I guess.

Anywho… go, watch and vote.

Last week’s winner, Kanye West, has been sent to the winner’s circle.

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In case you didn't know...

Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol) and Peter Buck’s (R.E.M.) side project, Tired Pony, is finally ready to release the band’s debut album, The Place We Ran From, next week. Finally! We’ve only been hearing about this thing for, like… ever. We have literally been hearing about this project since the beginning of time. OK, that’s obviously not true but we have literally been hearing about this project for months.

While we haven’t heard too much from the album we have heard bits and pieces. I’m digging what I’ve heard so far but I will reserve full judgement until I get my hands on the full album… which will be next week. Unless some awesome label person reads this and sends me the album early! ‘Cus that would be cool. Just sayin’.

Anywho, check out this performance by Tired Pony of the song “Get On the Road” from Spin.com:

I guess the album track will feature Zooey Deschanel. Neat?

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"What? Huh? Speak, up! I can't hear you. Because I'm old" - These guys

R.E.M. is making some news today. About time. Where the hell have those guys been? They’ve probably been sitting in their castles counting all their money. Unless they hired shady managers like everyone in the 80s. Then they might be making appearances at casinos and county fairs. Well, according to reports hitting the interwebs today, one place they’ve been is recording a new album and according to these same reports that new album will be “old school.”

I’m not sure what that even means. The last three U2 albums were supposed to be “old school U2” and they weren’t and they sucked. So… whatever. I’ll believe it when I see it. Or hear it I guess.

But in real “old school” R.E.M. news, the band released a previously unreleased song from the band’s Fables of the Reconstruction album sessions. The song, “Throw Those Trolls Away” can be listened to on the band’s website or by just clicking here.

I’ll admit, it’s been awhile since I really gave a shit about R.E.M. but I’m going to try to keep my mind open on this new album. But I swear… if they burn me I’ll totally U2 their ass. And by “U2 their ass” I mean I’ll kick them out of my heart and tell everyone I know that listening to them will give you brain cancer.

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Gary Lightbody sings a song about one time when he was sad.

Does Gary Lightbody (lead singer of Snow Patrol) have Jack White Syndrome? It seems the dude is all over the place creating side project after side project. Whatever… we like Gary Lightbody so it’s not a big deal, we just don’t want him to get super exhausted and get addicted to drugs. Because that’s how you get addicted to drugs – starting a shit ton of bands and always having something to do. Ask Courtney Love. She knows what I’m talking about.

Anywho… Mr. Lightbody has teamed up with Peter Buck (yes, that Peter Buck) to form an “alt-country” band named The Tired Pony. Sure, whatever. Today we have our first listen/look at the output from this (dynamic?) duo.

Check out the video for “Dead American Writers:”

Hmmm… other than the slide guitar, I’m not really feeling the “alt-country” thing. Whatever. I like the song so whatever. That’s all I’m saying. Whatever.

The Dead Pony (who in addition to Lightbody and Buck, includes Richard Colburn, Iain Archer, Jacknife Lee, Scott McCaughey and Troy Stewart with appearances by Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward, and Tom Smith) will have a new album hitting the US interwebs in September. If you live in other places you can get it earlier. Click here to head to the band’s official webpage.

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