New music day!

Today, a bunch of new recordings came out. For instance, Ben Folds Five's album The Sound of the Life of the Mind,  a reunion album coming about twelve years after the band split up in 2000. Slate had a piece about the recording (in the series called "Where to Start with..."). I frankly disagree with the writer--she thinks Folds writes solely from his own life, whereas I think he writes in the tradition of Robert Browning in the dramatic monologue. However, pay no attention to any of that. I am hoping for awesome piano chops and superb pop melodies, which I believe is eminently possible.

Also, Brad Mehldau has a recording of covers, Where do you start? I have pretty much never heard a Mehldau track that I didn't love or at least respect. So I am really looking forward to this. On Saturday, I listened to a recording from 2010, Highway Rider, while I was driving to and from the mall, and it was so beautiful. Bonus: it has Joshua Redman. And there is another recording from earlier in the year, Ode, that I also need to acquire. There's a lot of Mehldau to listen to right now.

Rickie Lee Jones, one of my all-time favorites, released a new recording today, also an album of covers, called The Devil You Know.  Who loves cover albums? I know I do. And there are a lot of good songs on here--"Reason to Believe," "Sympathy for the Devil," and "Only Love Can Break Your Heart."

Also: new Killers, and Band of Horses, and Grizzly Bear, and there's also the new Dylan and the new Springsteen (read this). I've got some listening to do.