anal bum cover.

So I've been thinking a lot about album covers lately. Perhaps it was a delightful mention by mitochandrea of some lego parodies. Or all of the chatter about Britney's Rodarte dress (swoon) in the art for Circus. Or maybe it's the upcoming Nasher exhibit The Record (curated by the one, the only, the adorable, Trevor Schoonmaker; on display in fall of 2009) which encompasses album art as well as literal album art-- sculpture created from LPs.

These things all made me wonder (cue introspective Carrie- Bradshaw-is-typing-on-her-Macbook-music), in this day and age of digital music, how relevant is album cover art anymore? Unless I happen to glance down at my iPod or read a review of a new release, I am ashamedly unfamiliar with the graphics chosen to represent the band's work. So readers, is this true for you too?

photo credit: 1

now streaming

The Cold War Kids' sophomore album Loyalty to Loyalty may not be out for a few more days, but head on over to MTV for a streaming sneak preview: the entire thing is available for your listening pleasure.  

I was going to listen to the whole thing and list my favorites, but for some reason, my Mac doesn't like the player and only lets me hear the first track (which I like).  Perhaps you will have better luck.

photo credit: 1