Sundry Sunday

Every Sunday, I sound off on events from the previous week that have come to my attention. It's also a chance for me to throw things at the inter(spider?)web and see what sticks.
Thank God for Congresswoman Giffords's progress.
I feel like that pretty much sums it up. This was a slow news week, mostly filled with daily updates on the Congresswoman's condition, which thankfully is improving drastically.

And not to beat this one into the ground, but I told you so.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, alcoholic beverages that have been enjoyed for centuries may become illegal in Iowa. A Democratic Iowa state senator has proposed a bill that would ban the sale of drinks mixing caffeinated and alcoholic ingredients. You know, because the government is better at determining what people can drink than the people themselves. Or something. Thankfully, it doesn't look like this bill will go very far, but the fact that rules like this are even being suggested scares me.

Once again, this was a slow news week. Forgive me for the extreme lack of news-iness in this post. I'm going to continue to keep these weekly roundups short, and save the bigger pieces for stand-alone posts.

This week in rock 'n roll:
Do I even need to say this? The Decemberists are dropping their new album "The King is Dead" on Tuesday. Colin Meloy and company have succeeded in making yet another fantastic album. If you haven't streamed it yet, do it now. The biggest disappointment about this album? It's over in the blink of an eye. Clocking in at a mere ten tracks, I felt cheated out of more rootsy-goodness. Rather than the almost overwhelmingly large sound of The Hazards of Love, this album settles into a wonderful position in the roots and folk-Americana tradition. Cannot wait to see these guys when they come to Los Angeles in February.
Also noteworthy is the release of the music video for Pepper Rabbit's track "Harvest Moon." These guys are LA natives who make some excellent dream/psych-pop. (I can't believe I just typed that. Genres are such a necessary evil.) Anyway, the video is excellent, and the song is pretty great as well. Thought y'all could use some visual stimulation amidst all this text.

This week in hip-hop:
Hova and Yeezy teamed up on a truly embarrassing track. It's understandable that Kanye's creative powers would be all dried up for awhile, but this track is beyond atrocious. I don't even want to link to it, because it's that bad, but if you absolutely must hear it, click here. I fully believe that the rest of the album will be better than this, but I can't see past this terrible beat and truly uninspired wordplay.
Phew. Now that we got that out of the way, lemme show you this awesome lead single from Actual Proof's album "The Talented Tenth," which dropped yesterday. 9th Wonder just signed these guys to his label, and if the rest of the album holds up to this cut, he made a fantastic choice.