New Releases Tuesday

Is there really any other release today bigger than this?

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Apparently only being offered for a limited time, the entire album is available for free streaming on the group's Myspace page.

Also, for a limited time, when you purchase the album at your local record store or from Nonesuch Records, you'll receive for free, Stephen Merritt's "The Man of a Million Faces" single which he performed on NPR's All Songs Considered.

So, hurry up!

Edit: If you go the Nonesuch route, you get the actual copy of the CD as well as a downloadable album. However, there is the pain of having to download all the songs separate. What's up with that, Nonesuch? Still, the mp3 files are of a higher quality than those on iTunes (320kbps vs. 128kbps). However, you still might want to check out Distortion on iTunes since its bonus track replaces the NPR song with an alternate vocal version of "California Girls".

Free Music Mondays

The Postmarks, everyone's new favorite indie band from Miami FLA, are starting the new year with a personal challenge, to release a new cover every month until the end of 2008. The experiment, referred to as By The Numbers, starts off with "One Note Samba," which according to The Postmark's website is a song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. While I have never heard the original, the song has been covered by a number of artists including Sergio Mendes, Elle Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, and Frank Sinatra.

The Postmarks' version plays like a slowed down of this typically playful tune. Don't expect to be showing off any of your best Samba moves with this one, but do expect to be seduced by the dreamy, breathy vocals of singer Tim Yehezkely (yes, the female singer is named Tim). To hear it for yourself, you will need an account with emusic.

The Postmarks - One Note Samba