Old News/Music Roundup

Things have been moving a little slowly around here as of late, but that's ok; we're more concerned with quality than quantity, anyway. New music releases have hit a bit of a lull recently, other than the excellent new Retribution Gospel Choir album (thanks to Kyle for giving us the heads up on that one). There have been a few interesting developments here and there, though, so here we go:

1. The National is releasing a new album in May. No title, tracklist, or artwork yet. There's an interview with lead singer Matt Berninger @ Pitchfork discussing the album, etc.
2. Ditto for The New Pornographers. It's also coming out in May (4th to be exact); they do have a title ("Together") and artwork ready to go. Check it.
3. Our buddies in New Ruins have posted a couple new tracks on their myspace page, and they're really good. I especially dig "Stance". If you've never heard them you really should check them out. Look for big things from these gentlemen in the near future...
4. Broken Bells (The Shins' James Mercer and Dangermouse) have released a video for the ridiculously good track "The High Road" (their debut is set to be released in March). It more or less consists of the two encountering various whacked-out events as they walk along a road at night, which is actually cooler than it sounds:
   The High Road
   
   Broken Bells | MySpace Music Videos
5. Jimmy LaValle's one-man project The Album Leaf is set to release a new LP in March, entitled A Chorus of Storytellers. It's floating around out there in cyberspace already, and it's more of the same (in a good way). If you've never heard of LaValle or his "band", his claim to fame is doing some work with Sigur Ros. His music is predominantly instrumental, and when he does sneak vocals in there, they're usually used as part of the landscape as a whole.
   
   "Falling From the Sun"
   
6. Finally, the "Hope For Haiti Now" Telethon aired on pretty much all of the major networks last Friday, and there were several notable performances. In case you missed it:

Coldplay "A Message"

Justin Timberlake covering Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah"

Jay-Z, Bono & The Edge of U2, and Rihanna with a new track, entitled "Stranded"

There were several other notables as well, and you can check them all out here.