If you don’t remember the whole Superman fiasco with Sufjan Stevens newest release Illinois, you’re probably not a fan of Sufjan’s and you probably don’t frequent too many indie music blogs. To summarize for those of you that don’t know, Sufjan’s legal reps advised him to withhold selling the copies featuring the Superman image on the cover of the album. The problem was that they were already shipped, and some record stores went ahead and sold them in defiance of a temporary order not to. Anyway, my local music store had a bunch, and I picked up a couple for my friends and I.

The whole point of this is to offer a copy of the Sufjan Stevens Illinois album w/Superman cover to you, the readers of Muzzle of Bees. There are no rules other than you cannot currently own a copy with the Superman image on the cover, and you don’t have intentions of selling it on eBay. So, in effect you can leave a comment below telling me why you are deserving of the album, and if you are chosen you will receive what is to be many people’s album of the year at no charge to you! Plus it’s a nice little collector’s album. In the event that your reason is personal, your shy, or for any other reason, you may also e-mail your entry to me using the contact e-mail address located to the right. The winner will be announced August 5th.

Last night I went to the University of Wisconsin’s Union Terrace and saw the Benevento Russo Duo. It’s a organ and drum group that is probably best classified as a jazz jam band. They weren’t as amazing as I was hoping, but they did do a pretty awesome cover of Radiohead’s “Myxomatosis.” They followed that up with what they said was an Elliot Smith cover, but I couldn’t distinguish what song it was.

There is plenty of stuff to read on the old internet. One of the most interesting Sufjan Stevens interviews I’ve seen lately is from Nerve. Thanks to Stereogum for pointing me to that. I wasn’t able to hit Intonation or Lollapolooza, but from what I heard from friends that were at Intonation, they said that the Les Savy Fav was quite a sight to be seen. Stylus magazine has an interview with the members of Les Savy Fav, and here is the link for ya.

I’ve been listening to Wilderness a lot recently. Their new self titled album is pretty decent. Everyone complains about their lyircs. Ok, so they’re not Bob Dylan. You can click here and here to listen to streams of two of their tracks. An interesting side note, when I was trying to find the Wilderness website, this was the first one that Google brought me to. Some people may be down with that too, but I doubt it.

Lucero is another band that I’ve been listening to non-stop. I went about their records backwards from the most recent Nobody’s Darlings (which is fantastic and just released this year), to their self-titled debut. Anyway, I couldn’t find any studio MP3′s so, I found a live concert of theirs from the Cat’s Cradle (North Carolina) on September 29, 2004. I’ve personally witnessed these guys in concert and they rock pretty hard. Nobody rocks a Whiskey bottle harder than these boys either. Make sure to check them out, because they are always on the road. Click here for 5 streaming tracks from Nobody’s Darlings.

Then get a taste of them live from the MP3′s below.

Across The River
Tears Don’t Matter Much
And We Fell
That Much Further West
Drink Till We’re Gone
Hate and Jealousy
Hold Me Close
Kiss The Bottle
Raising Hell
Bikeriders
The War

Finally some new concert announcements for Madison:

9/25 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – The Annex, Madison
10/21 – The New Pornographers – Barrymore, Madison

Pitchfork has all the details.

Tracklist:

01 Drive My Car – The Donnas
02 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) – The Fiery Furnaces
03 You Won’t See Me – Dar Williams
04 Nowhere Man – Low
05 Think for Yourself – Yonder Mountain String Band
06 The Word – Mindy Smith
07 Michelle – Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
08 What Goes On – Sufjan Stevens
09 Girl – Rhett Miller
10 I’m Looking Through You – Ted Leo
11 In My Life – Ben Lee
12 Wait – Ben Kweller
13 If I Needed Someone – Nellie McKay
14 Run for Your Life – Cowboy Junkies

Razor & Tie

Here’s some songs to get you through the day, and guide you through the weekend:

Sufjan tracks had to go bye bye
Buena Vista Social Club – Dos Gardenias
Troubled Hubble – Ear Nose and Throat
If you don’t own Making Beds In A Burning House, you are missing out on one of the best 2005 releases. Check out Troubled Hubble.
Troubled Hubble – Traffic
Troubled Hubble – Airplanes
Iron and Wine – Naked As We Came
Mike Doughty – Looking At the World Through The Bottom of a Well
Mike Doughty – Your Misfortune
Former Soul Coughing frontman has a really fun new record, go here to check him out, and read his blog
Ray LaMontagne – Burn In My Skin (demo)
Ray LaMontagne – You Ain’t Nothing Like You Used To Be –
This is my favorite Ray song, I hope he releases it someday.
Magnolia Electric Co – The Dark Don’t Hide It
Magnolia Electric Co – Leave The City

If Old School didn’t make up your mind that Vince Vaughn is one of the funniest men in America, Wedding Crashers should seal the deal for you. I’m still laughing the next day at all the stuff the guy said.

There is some really beautiful, sad, and interesting stuff all the in form of postcards right here.