Redesigns, Big Hits and News Bits

Without warning, I was forced to select a new design and mold it to my liking today after upgrading from WordPress 2.0.7 to the new and improved WordPress 2.1 (for the record, I was using 2cDarkGrey1.1 from GFX, slightly modified. You’re now looking at an altered Andreas Viklund template).

This is hardly an inconvenience as I’ve been waiting for a kick in the ass to lighten up the dark background here at netZoo. The BEST feature about WordPress 2.1 — posts are auto-saved… I can’t tell you how many times I’d mistakenly close the tab I was posting in, or open a new window, only to find the post that I was working on entirely unrecoverable. Thanks Matt and the WordPress team!

I’m rather excited about a few upcoming releases — 2007 really may turn out to be the best new music year ever, before Q1 is even out. And, once again, NYT is reporting the imminent demise of DRM-protected music (“…in the next two to five years,” says Real’s Rob Glaser).

Here’s a glance at some of the brilliant record drops for Tuesday, January 23, 2007, with some audio samples provided for your educational use only.

The Broken West — I Can’t Go on I’ll Go on (Merge)
listen to “Down in the Valley“

Clinic — Visitations (Domino)

Deerhoof — Friend Opportunity
listen to +81

Julie Doiron — Woke Myself Up
listen to You Look So Alive

The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Listen to Kingdom of Doom

Menomena — Friend & Foe
Listen to Wet and Rusting

Of Montreal — Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer
Listen to Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider

The Shins — Wincing the Night Away
Six Parts Seven — Casually Smashed to Pieces