To promote their soon-to-be-released album, In This Light and On This Evening (coming October 27), British indie rockers Editors have made an interesting hack of Google Maps Street View. If you go to the Editors website here, you can wander through the streets of London looking for landmarks set out by the band. [more inside]
posted by rocket88 on Oct 19, 2009 - 9 comments

Omaha rockers Cursive are selling their new album for just $1... No wait, it's $2... $3... $4... WTF?? In yet another twist on the whole, name-your-price (Radiohead), fan-financed (Jill Sobule), take-shrooms-and-cruise-hollywood (Josh Freese) tiered pricing experiment being carried out by what's left of the music industry, Cursive are increasing the price of their new record by $1 each day until its "official" release. Given the popularity of sites like Did it Leak (and the corresponding file-sharing forums that I won't link to here) it seems to me like this is a pretty good way to reward well-intentioned but impatient fans who might otherwise resort to less honorable means of getting the latest stuff from their favorite bands. Or maybe it's just another hare-brained scheme that will only hasten the end of record labels as we know them. Either way, they got my $1... And that was after I already got my hands on the mp3s!
posted by idontlikewords on Mar 2, 2009 - 23 comments

Josh Freese shows all how to promote an album in 2009. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Feb 20, 2009 - 48 comments

Spinal Tap reforms to record a new album. Entire planet quivers in anticipation.
posted by chuckdarwin on Feb 5, 2009 - 42 comments

Imagine if millions of people had seen you naked before you were old enough to say "embarrassing." That's the story of Spencer Elden. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Jul 27, 2008 - 51 comments

LP Cover Lover The world's greatest LP album covers. Groovy, man. [some nudity, some total insanity]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Jul 18, 2007 - 29 comments

Some album covers with comments. [related]
posted by tellurian on Dec 21, 2006 - 14 comments

Your favorite album sucks. It's December, so you know what that means - best of 2006 album lists! While everyone eagerly awaits the latest Christmas card from Ignited Minds pass the time deriding/praising your favorite/hated indie/hipster/industry site for recognizing/snubbing (fill in the blank with band of choice here)! Lists, lists and more lists. While some think EOY lists are pointless or conceited, others find worst of lists are much better. This Mefite finds them an early Christmas list of torrent downloading goodness. And if you're having problems making your list please refer to this handy dandy cheat sheet.
posted by daHIFI on Dec 4, 2006 - 33 comments

The 23rd Century is a sweet band that just released their new CD, "Take A Trip Though Time With...The 23rd Century", for free online in mp3 format. The album was created by metafilter user tcobretti and his cousin. You can purchase the album here to support them, or you can buy their tshirt, obviously inspired/ripped off from the John Titor insignia. There is also a cool schematic-based navigation to the site, presumably from the same great mind who brought us runoffgroove.com. [via mefi projects]
posted by banished on Mar 17, 2006 - 12 comments

Pitchfork's Worst Album Covers of All Time. (Previous discussions of worst and best album covers)
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Nov 15, 2005 - 107 comments

George Russell, jazz's first theoretician, has released a new album to commemorate his 80th birthday. When Miles Davis remarked that he "wanted to learn all the changes," Russell responded by conceiving his Lydian Chromatic Concept. First published in 1953, the Concept resulted in the most influential album in jazz history. Today Russell turns 82.
posted by cribcage on Jun 23, 2005 - 10 comments

"Man, I DO love a good album cover!" -- Dana Countryman
posted by breezeway on Mar 18, 2005 - 21 comments

Art rock/metal band A Perfect Circle are releasing a new album consisting of mostly politically orientated covers, including John Lennon's Imagine. With so many bands pumping out the politics recently why is this strange? Because for so many years the band, and frontman Maynard James Keenan (also the lead singer for Tool) have usually kept right out of politics, opting for a more mysterious and individualistic approach to their music. Interesting to read what some of their fans think?
posted by Jase_B on Oct 19, 2004 - 16 comments

William Shatner's new album hits the stores today. Produced by Ben Folds, of course.
posted by eustacescrubb on Oct 5, 2004 - 45 comments

'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned' is a trashy, adrenalised, sleaze-funk masterpiece. After six years of silence, The Prodigy have released their new album. Is the electronic music finally getting its head out of its ass? Most of us think so, but some don't.
posted by orelius on Sep 16, 2004 - 47 comments

"Loved Like a Milkshake" is an 18-track tribute album to the beloved outsider musician Wesley Willis. It's a joy-ride. It really whips the camel's ass with a belt.
posted by starkeffect on Jan 17, 2004 - 17 comments

One hundred established graphic and fine artists were approached to create the definitive album cover of their favorite recording artist. Each chose an iconic musical subject from the 1940s to the present and from the genres of rock, blues, jazz, country and soul music. The result is an original and highly creative collection of contemporary art. The Greatest Album Covers That Never Were.
posted by riffola on Nov 16, 2003 - 25 comments

Worst Album Covers Ever. It is either "Let me touch him" or "Julie's Sixteenth Birthday." I'll let you decide.
posted by gen on Nov 4, 2003 - 40 comments

The Eminem Show reached #2 on the Gracenote charts last week, even though the album was not officially released until Sunday. Gracenote doesn't give exact figures on traffic, but it said the No. 2 slot in its charts represented a total figure of listeners in the "mid-tens of thousands" over the course of the week.
posted by ry on May 28, 2002 - 15 comments

Gee, this a good idea (NYT reg req) - The New York Times discusses the growing popularity of .zip whole album downloads on Audiogalaxy. The article is also kind enough to include a step-by-step how-to for idiots like me who want free music but haven't thought of this before. Thanks!
posted by dydecker on Feb 25, 2002 - 37 comments