New Throwing Muses Song "Bluff/Blurry" Posted Online

Kristin Hersh and Throwing Muses have been recording new tracks lately that you can stream and download. Photo:  Seattlequest.

Throwing Muses founder Kristin Hersh announced today through her Twitter account that a new song by the band has been posted online. You can stream the new Throwing Muses song "Bluff/Blurry" here, and also at the Throwing Muses website, where you can download the song and make a contribution to pay for the download. You can also stream and download other recent Throwing Muses songs.

Hersh has been recording new material with the band over the last couple of months, at least. This is good news for fans of the influential band, which had broken up a number of years ago because of a lack of funds to keep going as a band. (Speaking of which, Kristin Hersh gives an interesting interview here in which she talks about record labels, getting funding from fans, and related issues.)

It's kind of amazing that Kristin Hersh has found time to record with the Muses, considering all the other irons she has in the fire: she recently came out with a memoir, "Rat Girl," and has been making appearances to promote it, in addition to her solo recordings and performances. She also came out with a recent album, "Crooked," which was released as a book.

Free Music: Mellow Music Podcasts for Thanksgiving Weekend

Sixteen-year-old Canadian singer Nikki Yanofsky is featured in a live concert podcast from CBC Radio 2. Photo: Florian Kragulj

Since many of us here in the U.S. (including me) are still recovering from Thanksgiving dinner and are in a groggy turkey coma, here's a selection of mellow music podcasts for free download, much of it recorded live in concert. And interestingly, much of it is from Canada (where they celebrate Thanksgiving in October).

The Acoustic Long Island podcast has three new episodes in the last month with live performances by singer-songwriter Kat Mulvaney and the folk-blues duo Nini and Ben.

The Canada Live podcast from CBC Radio 2 has several good recent podcasts with singer-songwriters from up north:
* the Great Canadian Song Quest 2010 concert;
* the Rootstock concert featuring Sarah Slean, Joel Plaskett, Steven Page, Hawksley Workman, and others; and
* a concert from 16-year-old singing phenom Nikki Yanofsky, who wowed viewers around the world with her rendition of "O Canada" during the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics earlier this year.

I'd never heard of the Canadian singer-songwriter Al Tuck, but apparently he's one of those individuals who is much-loved by his fellow musicians but is underappreciated by the masses. CBC Radio 3 devoted a recent podcast to Al Tuck, with songs by Tuck himself and covers of his tunes by a variety of Canadian artists, who also talk about what he has meant to them and their music.

MP3 Specials Today Only: $1.99 for New Albums by Gorillaz, John Legend, KT Tunstall, More

The new album by John Legend & The Roots is one of the MP3 albums you can get for $1.99 on Tuesday, Nov. 23rd only.

I know it seems like I'm writing about Amazon.com's MP3 albums every week, but they are having some great Black Friday deals this week. Here's the story: every day this week they're offering five different MP3 albums for $3.99 each. And most of these are new albums.

For Tuesday, however, the five albums are only $1.99 each. Four are new albums (the latest from John Legend & the Roots, KT Tunstall, Gorillaz, and Belle & Sebastian) and one classic album, "Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Check the Amazon Black Friday MP3 albums sale page each day this week for the latest deals.

"LennoNYC," Film on John Lennon in New York, Premieres Tonight on PBS

"LennoNYC," the documentary about John Lennon's life in New York that I wrote about last month, finally gets its premiere on PBS TV tonight. It will air at 9 p.m. in New York.

You can learn more about "LennoNYC" and see a video preview at its page at the PBS website. The movie has gotten very positive notices from a number of reviewers, including the New York Post.

"LennoNYC" features concert footage and home movies of Lennon that have never been seen before, audio outtakes from the recording sessions for the album "Double Fantasy," exclusive interviews with Yoko Ono, and much more.

Great Music Cheap: MP3 Albums for $5 (and Less) from Amazon.com

Radiohead's "The Bends" is one of Amazon.com's $5 MP3 albums for November.

Amazon.com is offering its usual slate of 100 or so $5 MP3 albums this month, but I noticed that they also have a big selection of MP3 albums for prices ranging from $3.99 to 4.99.

Like the $5 album selection, this lower-price collection spans all genres and includes new releases as well as older albums. Unlike the $5 MP3 albums, there isn't any apparent period of time that the prices are good for, so you might want to snap these up in case they're only available for a short time.

Amazon.com $5 MP3 albumsfor November:

• Funeral by Arcade Fire
• Fantasies by Metric
• Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan by Sarah McLachlan
• Be My Thrill by The Weepies
• The Bends by Radiohead
• The Story by Brandi Carlile
• Dark Night of the Soul by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
• The Best of Warren Zevon by Warren Zevon
• Eye to the Telescope by KT Tunstall
• On the Beach by Neil Young
• The Other Side Of Zero by Elizabeth & the Catapult
• Suzanne Vega Close-Up, Vol 1, Love Songs by Suzanne Vega
• Swim by Caribou
• Genius of Live by Tom Tom Club (featuring more than 10 remixes of "Genius of Love")
• and, as you'd expect for this time of year, a number of pop Christmas albums, including ones from Bob Dylan and Bette Midler

Amazon.com $3.99 to $4.99 MP3 albums:

• Lungs by Florence + the Machine
• Holy Roller Novocaine by Kings of Leon
• Acoustic by Lights
• Pete Yorn by Pete Yorn
• Strobe by Deadmau5
• Happy Sad by Tim Buckley
• The Velvet Underground & Nico by The Velvet Underground
• Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty
• Rainwater Cassette Exchange by Deerhunter
• It's Blitz and Yeah Yeah Yeahs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Maya by MI.A.
• The Union by Elton John & Leon Russell
• Recovery by Eminem
• The Place We Ran From by Tired Pony

Free Music: KCRW Live Streaming Sets from School of Seven Bells, Pete Yorn, Best Coast, & More

KCRW's great in-studio performance program Morning Becomes Eclectic has a new podcast up of a live set with School of Seven Bells, the project that features Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines with the twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza.

I first heard of them in their previous visit to Morning Becomes Eclectic, but while the music in that performance was more electronic and dance-oriented, this latest appearance has a more stripped-down, acoustic sound. The band plays tunes from its latest album, "Disconnect from Desire," which came out this summer. You can download the School of Seven Bells live set here, or through iTunes.

School of Seven Bells will be playing live in New York at the Zero Film Festival in Brooklyn on Sat., Nov. 20th and at Terminal 5 on Thurs., Dec. 2nd (supporting The Walkmen).

Other recent MBE performances that you can stream (but not download) include: Pete Yorn (from Nov. 19th), Best Coast, Clinic, and KT Tunstall.