(More than) Five Things

The D Man recently enjoyed another great road trip to sunny SoCal. The music was solid as always. We led things off with Iron & Wine's latest release (a natural extension for Sam Beam into a warmer realm of 70's-era folk-pop), hit the night stretch with The xx (easily one of the best late-night driving albums from the last several years), and enjoyed the starry-eyed splendor of Jonsi's Go (how did that album not squeeze into my Top Ten?).

The next morning, we cruised to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals III/IV, wound through the Virgin River Gorge to Band of Horses' Infinite Arms, and throttled through the open desert to the sounds of Ivy and Josh Rouse. The descent into California materialized with Beach House and Camera Obscura. The streets of San Diego called for Admiral Fell Promises and "Half Moon Bay" delivered acute atmosphere. A drive up the coast was assisted by The Drums. Ditto for the drive back down.

The way home was littered with long stretches of blessed silence, more Ryan Adams and Josh Rouse, R.E.M., an aborted album or two, and finally the soothing sounds of the kings.

• So Arcade Fire won Album of the Year. The Grammy's finally got it right after apparently reading The D Man's Music. Whatever happened, it was cool that more than 95% of the viewing audience had never heard a song from The Suburbs. Hopefully a few of them will be smart enough to pick up the album.
• Radiohead releases album number eight, The King of Limbs, by digital download this Saturday. The cover artwork is phenomenal. Fans can pick up the CD or vinyl in May. Check out a solid list of the band's greatest songs. Some of the The D Man's personal favorites are not even on the list, which tells you how impossibly dense the band's catalog is. The D Man agrees with the placement of "Idioteque," of course.
• Panda Bear's "Last Night at the Jetty" is pretty cool.
• The Strokes fourth album, Angles, could revive the band's short-lived reign as the it guitar band of the early 2000s. Check out first single "Under Cover of Darkness."
• Enjoy a solid fan video to accompany "Downtown," a track from Destroyer's ridiculously cool Kaputt.