I’ve been living with My Morning Jacket’s Z for some time now (it’s in stores today), though it hasn’t gotten as much rotation as some stuff simply because the security on the promo copy won’t allow it to be imported into iTunes, thus limiting the amount of spins it gets at work to approximately zero. I could use the player that the disc itself installs, but nuts to that. Anyway, that there? Digression. Back to business. I have still managed to spend a goodly amount of time with the new album and you know what? I still don’t know what I think.

It’s quite a departure from both the southern rock of It Still Moves and the reverb-drenched atmosphere of At Dawn – devotees of either record will probably find something to like and dislike about the new record. It’s certainly a bold move on the band’s part, thanks at least in part to some personnel turnaround and the addition of two new memebers since their last studio record as well as working with legendary British producer John Leckie. An eclectic record to be sure, it sounds like a stylistic dog’s breakfast but somehow very right at the same time. Individually most of the songs are good to excellent, but as a whole I can’t tell if there’s no flow or if it’s so deep that I just haven’t tapped into it yet. There’s little doubt this album is a grower – it just hasn’t hit full bloom with me yet, but I’m willing to bet that it will, sooner or later. Whether it’ll be soon enough to convince me to shell out the $30 to see them at the Guvernment on October 19? Magic 8 ball says: unclear.

Linkage – You can see an electronic press kit which includes an artfully-presented look at the making of the album. Reviews are starting to trickle in and they’re pretty positive so far. On the press side, Reuters has a short-ish piece on Z, PopMatters has a more expansive feature and Velocity Weekly gets them to play dress-up. They’ve also gone to the trouble of scanning a feature story in the new issue of Filter and they like R Kelly.

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab tells Exclaim! that “indie” ain’t nothing but a word.

Free Williamsburg talks to Mac McCaughan of Portastatic, who says Superchunk isn’t dead yet. Via Largehearted Boy.

All the Bob Dylan hoopla has resulted in a tenfold increase in sales, at least in the UK. It’s interesting to note that HMV in Canada made good on it’s promise to remove all Dylan stock from their stores in protest of him giving Starbucks exclusivity rights to his Live At The Gaslight album. Funny they’d make such a stink over a record that you can now find in every used CD shop in the city for $10.

NME has soundbites on what to expect from a couple of 2006’s most-anticipated albums, new releases from The Flaming Lips and The Arcade Fire.

Apologies to anyone who was hoping to find a review of the Posies show at Lee’s last night. I had some other stuff to take care of and really, I just wasn’t feeling up to it. And if you’re thinking I’m too old to handle two shows in two nights, talk to me after this weekend – three in four, yo. Yeah, two are early shows – what of it?

np – The Cardigans / Long Gone Before Daylight