Remember when I used to be a music blogger?

No, you probably don't. It's tough to believe it's been more than a year since Radio Free Internet, my little slice of musical heaven, closed down for good. Those were the good ol' days, though. Back when Dreamhost was actually worth $10 a year.

I say it's time to resurrect a little bit of music blogging love, just once. Who knows, maybe it'll get me back in the habit.

First up is (are?) Tegan and Sara, who have an album coming out on the 24th called The Con. It's a CD/DVD, actually, and the music is produced by indie-King-Midas Chris Walla, so there's two good reasons to check it out. Here's a preview of the DVD, for those interested.

The album's definitely pretty standard T&S fare, but that's far from bad. The title track is especially catchy, and at least half of the songs could easily be singles. I still don't know what it is about them that makes all of their songs so infectious, but if we could bottle it we'd be half way to world peace. Have a listen:

• Tegan and Sara - The Con


• Tegan and Sara - Back in Your Head

Iron & Wine is also releasing an album, The Shepherd's Dog in September, which has me pretty pumped.

From what I've heard of the album, Sam Beam's definitely continuing the trend of filling out the band's sound a la Woman King EP. Long gone are the sounds of a single guitar in a dusty basement on badly-recorded tape, that's for sure. I kind of miss that down-home feel, honestly. The album sounds a bit too polished to be Iron & Wine.

I do like the rhythmic direction they've taken, though, toward a more African sound and away from their Southern roots. I think "Boy With a Coin" proves my point pretty well, especially:

• Iron & Wine - Boy With a Coin


• Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth

And if that wasn't enough for you, then there's just a little more. Below is the video for Rilo Kileyr's new song "Moneymaker" from their upcoming album Under the Blacklight. Be warned, though, the song and video are all about porn stars so it's borderline NSFW. But the song's so catchy I couldn't help but share it.