it's May Day, Law Day, Clint Malarchuk's 50th birthday

(also Will Kimbrough's not 50th birthday as well as Charlie Froelich's not 50th birthday, and you're welcome for me not posting the most famous (and completely gruesome) pic of Mr. Malarchuk) and the start of another month (the "Month of May" according to Arcade Fire (and yes, I love the parenthetical)), which means another 500 $5 MP3 downloads at Amazon.
except this month it's more like another 1500+ MP3 downloads for $5 each.
and I would list them individually, accompanied with a separate, well-thought out if not well-written, 1000 word review for each and every title, but I think I'd rather go for a walk today since the sun's actually out and it's kind of beautiful, plus I have an interview scheduled for 6 this evening and, well, there's just other stuff I'd rather be doing.

so here are some truncated highlights (and don't forget that the initial purchase gains an upgrade to the 20GB tier of Amazon's new Cloud Player system): lots and lots and lots of material from Merge (Durham's own), including all three Arcade Fire albums (Funeral, Neon Bible and The Suburbs), several selections, including Dents and Shells and the Edgar Lee Masters' homage The Hill (but not Devotion + Doubt), from the near criminally overlooked Richard Buckner, all Wye Oak (including their newest, Civilian, and their first, If Children), some Destroyer (Dan Bejar of New Pornographers), including Streethawk: A Seduction and 2011's Kaputt, the Love Language's Libraries and All Eternals Deck, the latest by the Mountain Goats.

also: Radiohead's King of Limbs, King of the Beach by Wavves, the Smith Westerns' Dye It Blonde, the brand new Silos' album Florizona, Boys and Girls in America by the Hold Steady and Sound of Silver by the recently defunct (yes, I love the e.e. cummings at times) LCD Soundsystem.

and you really, really should already have the Violent Femmes' debut, Husker Du's Zen Arcade, the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, Sparkle and Fade by Everclear (I'm particularly fond of, and once even drove past, "Nehalem") and the Smiths' The Queen is Dead.
and if you don't I'm surprised you're here.

classic classics (a/k/a music for old people): Neil Young's Zuma, Boots by Nancy Sinatra, Hunky Dory by David Bowie, The Band's Music from Big Pink, Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris, Dusty in Memphis, Queen's News of the World and The Who's Live at Leeds

soundtracks? soundtracks? I've got your stinking soundtracks right here, buddy: Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, True Grit and Dead Presidents, Vol. 1 (neither by Ennio Morricone).

and then there's like another 1000+.
enjoy.