Damn, Son.

what i'm listening to right now: Some Beginner's Mind by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

from Pitchfork

The Arcade Fire's second album, Neon Bible, claimed the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts this week, stomping all over new LPs from Daughtry, Relient K and Robin Thicke. According to Billboard, the album sold 92,000 copies this week; only Notorious B.I.G.'s Greatest Hits sold more.
That album, which was released ten years after the rapper's death, sold
99,000 copies. This position is miles ahead of Funeral's chart ranking,
which peaked at #131. The album also topped the Independent and Rock Album
charts. Neon Bible also took #2 in the UK, coming in second to the Kaiser
Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob.

That's some serious shit, man. It's huge. It's huge for Merge, it's huge for indie rock, and it's definitely huge for Arcade Fire. It's an amazing album. It's not watered down, it's no more easily accessable or poppy than Funeral, their previous album. It's fantastic, it's a giant of an album that is going to be the best album of the year barring a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion.

This shows the power of the internet. If the internet can make a band from Canada with a bad name second only to Biggie, then it can pick the next President, it can cook your clothes and wash your food. It's big time.

On an unrelated note, I'm listening to a promo copy of the new Ted Leo album. It's really good, very political, very well written. But, it's tracks are divided into 45 second parts to discourage people burning the album onto their ipods. That's some ol' bullshit. Thumbs down, Touch And Go. Thumbs down.