Had Enough of Illinois?

Neither have I. If you loved Sufjan's last album as much as I did, you'll be excited to know that he has a second album of material from the Illinois sessions coming out July 11. The album is called "The Avalanche." Props to Zalm for finding this--if you can't wait a few more weeks for some fresh Sufjan, you'll be happy to see that Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of "The Avalanche" are available for streaming online RIGHT NOW. Woohoo!!

In other music news, I have really been enjoying the new Gomez album, "How We Operate." Good song craft--poppy but not too poppy. I also like the 'everyone does everything' approach that Gomez takes. A few different guys sing lead, and I think all the band members can play just about any instrument with equal greatness. My two favorite tracks are probaby "Notice" and "Girlshapedlovedrug." Clever Brits.

In other, other music news, if you're a fan of David Bazan (former lead singer of Pedro the Lion), you will likely appreciate this. I like tape-friendly artists! His new E.P can be found here, or you can listen to it for free online here.

Artists that are coming out with new albums in 2006 that excite me:

• Dashboard Confessional, David Crowder* Band (June)
• Ani Difranco, Thom Yorke, John Mayer (July)
• Pete Yorn, M Ward (August)
• Jars of Clay (September)
• The Decemberists, Evanescence (October)

There is also talk of a new Smashing Pumpkins record that may or may not come out this year. Either way, it should be a good Summer/Fall for music.