So So Indie: Wilco Makes A Licensing Deal With Volkswagen

Wilco have brokered a deal with Volkswagen to use songs from the band's new album, Sky Blue Sky in car commercials. The first song will be "The Thanks I Get."

I'm sure Jeff Tweedy and the boys are getting quite a few thanks (read: $$$) from the German carmaker. Forgive me for being so cliche and decrying the whole "selling out" issue, but what is it with so-called indie bands selling their wares to become muzak and commercials? I know there's a lot of cash involved, and if I were the artist, yeah, I'd probably go for it. I just hope the indie scenesters aren't too far gone to understand that this move is decidedly un-indie. Wilco is not an indie band, folks. They are major, both in label and in marketing value. Same with Of Montreal and all the other bands you think are so pure and wholesome.

Free MP3: Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

As you know, the new Of Montreal came out this past Tuesday. eMusic is allowing free downloads of the track "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse". If you haven't picked it up on eMusic, download it here:

Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" From Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

If you like the track, click on the album cover to buy the CD.

Today's New Release Picks: The Shins, Deerhoof, Of Montreal, Etc.

A couple releases worth noting today:


The Shins - Wincing The Night Away - getting buzz since "Garden State" and Natalie Portman, this album seems calculated to distance The Shins from people who fell in love with the Chutes Too Narrow sound.


The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Damon Albarn brushes aside The Gorillaz and joins forces with Simon Tong (of The Verve), Paul Simonon (The Clash), and Tony Allen (influential Afrobeat drummer).


Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity - Full of blogger buzz, let's see where it goes.


Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? - A different sound on virtually every album, this is their third release on Polyvinyl


Rob Crow (of Pinback) - Living Well - this one precedes an expected new album from Pinback this Spring.

Click the album cover to purchase online.

NPR All Songs Considered for January 5, 2007

On this week's All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen delivers stuff you've probably already heard, but even so: The Arcade Fire - "Intervention", Of Montreal - "We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling", yesterday's AGT MP3 from The Shins - "Phantom Limb", and more.

You can subscribe to All Songs Considered as a podcast at the link above. I can't stress enough how wonderful this program is for all you indie hipsters who think The Shins are indeed "music that will change your life." Thanks, Zach Braff, for Garden State and that now-overused line.