POST NO. 36: A DELAY IN PROGRAMMING

Sorry I've been missing in action lately. Lots of good reasons: I'm helping to build a radio station, work has been keeping me busy, there's playoff baseball on TV and my Redbirds are once again in the hunt, and there's been a flood of good concerts in my humble little town. Why just last night I caught The Mountain Goats, and over the past few weeks I've seen Catfish Haven, Sufjan Stevens, Saturday Looks Good to Me, and Dungen--to name but a few. (That doesn't even count the ones I missed: Xiu Xiu and Sleater-Kinney chief among them.)

In case you're curious, Dungen is without a doubt the best rock band on planet Earth right now. Seriously, their live show is simply psychedelicious. I took a rookie with me -- a guy who isn't necessarily a big psych rock fan and who had never heard Dungen -- and he was blown away, too.

Coming up, I've got Spoon and Cat Power (pictured above) to look forward to. Unfortunately, Cat Power isn't touring with her new Memphis session musician backing band. Still, she'll be playing material from her forthcoming release, The Greatest, due out in January. The title track makes me incredibly anxious for the real deal. Check it out:

Cat Power - "The Greatest"

Everyone is saying that this song is Chan Marshall gone Dusty Springfield. At any rate, it certainly is a striking song with Chan's familiar worn-in feel, and you gotta love those "Moon River"-ish strings! Peep Cat Power on the web.

Coming next week: My thoughts on the new My Morning Jacket record, a bit about the new album by The Living Blue, and a second look at '70s garage rock from India.