Jack White and First Listens

So last week The White Stripes broke up. It's not a huge surprise since it's been years since their last album, Meg had some anxiety issues during the last tour, and Jack had at least 3 side project + producing work. So no surprise, but it seemed like a little bit of a big deal to me that they officially announced it. Anyway, I tweeted something like "s'okay with me so long as there's another project like the Jack White produced Loretta Lynn album." Van Lear Rose is still one of my favorites. Anyway, apparently I am not doing such a great job keeping up with Jack White, even though I try, cause:

It's a cover of the Bob Dylan stream of consciousness track "Thunder on Mountain" from the 2006 album Modern Times (so fair warning if you're not really into that sort of thing, it is a bit long.) I think it's worth at least a partial viewing because I'm loving the coordinating outfits. And they look like they are having lots of fun.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the album, but apparently I missed the free preview last week over on NPR's First Listen. So I've vowed to pay a bit more attention to that. This week we've listened to a few of these sorts of album previews to make up for lost time, and I thought I'd share a few links here. We recently listened to each of these:

• PJ Harvey - Let England Shake Pretty much always like her stuff.
• Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean   Oh, I guess this one expired already! Enjoyed it recently though, it's more upbeat than their previous stuff. They were, however, recently on KCRW's Morning Becomes Ecclectic (MBE) for a set promoting this album.
• Bright Eyes - The People's Key As I tweeted I think their 2005 album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is still my favorite, but I might give this another listen or so.
• Jesca Hoop on MBE - first heard about her on MBE, apparently she was Tom Waits's Nanny at one point.

Still on my list to listen to:
Adele - 21
Cold War Kids on MBE
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will