We got a huge amount of snow which has cancelled most of my weekend plans.  About a month ago a bunch of bloggers were posting about Finian McKean, and I had gotten his CD right before I left for Japan.  I finally gave it some proper listens last night, and I think it’s a pretty solid album.

For me the standout track is “Black Hole,” which I have an MP3 of posted below, but I also can’t stop listening to “Small Request” or “Nuthin’ Matters”

I was browsing Finian’s website this morning, and couldn’t help but enjoy his “Intimate Details” on his website.  See for yourself:

i live in red hook, brooklyn, a neighborhood surrounded by water. after the warehouses close and the trucks go home, it’s pretty peaceful by new york city standards: you don’t fall asleep to white noise, you fall asleep to individually audible noises: a “yo!” drifting across the rooftops, a cellphone conversation on speaker, a dumspter being dropped off, a speedfreak twiddling through the entire FM dial with her speakers facing outside. not peaceful enough for me, though. i’m tired of the city, yearning for the deep woods. i used to think i could just close my windows & draw the shades & keep it all out: the songs on “shades are drawn” are all broadcast from that walled off innerspace, my den of iniquity–if i close my eyes i can still see turtles with gems glued to their shells scaling the green walls & tin ceilings. that works for awhile, but then the room gets hot and you start to go crazy. so nowadays i record with the windows open and if a garbage truck roars past, i just leave it in or do another take.

Finian McKean - Shades Are Drawn (MP3)
Finian McKean - Black Hole (MP3)

You can purchase the “Shades Are Drawn” album right here.

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The Postal Service is upset with Apple’s Intel advertisement, check it out.

Ben Gibbard has posted a statement regarding the controversy on the band’s Web site.

“It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers’ new television commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for ‘Such Great Heights’ made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original,” said Gibbard. “We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent.”