You Can’t Pause Toast

I stumbled upon the intriguing, well-archived Elektra “master discography,” cataloguing up to 1973 the stable of the label probably most known for signing the Doors, Love and Tim Buckley. Digging around in their late 50s/early 60s roster, it appeared to me that the label, like several of the larger indies today, cast its net across a wide array of styles and visual presentations. Hence, partially because I don’t have anything else to say, I present “00s Indie Rock as Depicted by Old Elektra Sleeves.”

Here’s yr Joanna Newsom, for instance.
Also, here’s yr Decemberists.
And yr Jens Lekman.
Don’t forget Interpol.
Also: Gogol Bordello.
Our good friends from Deerhunter.
Cornelius
Arcade Fire.
As well as their predecessors U2.

Okay, and then there are the sleeves that are just really cool, like this one. And this one. This one, too. And the occasional inexplicably homoerotic/militaristic comedy cover, like this one.

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Okay one or two more things. First, this great New Yorker piece on The Wire and its creator David Simon. The Wire, for those who don’t know, is like HBO’s version of Friday Night Lights (great show, sprawling cast/storylines, no one watches). I still haven’t seen the latter, but the way people are talking about it (”save it from the gallows”), I need to, soon. Oh yeah, and read the above article.

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Also, since I’ve been watching more baseball than usual lately (read: some baseball), I’ve actually been able to pull meaning from and recognize references within sports conversations. Which reminded me that, in fact, Salon.com’s King Kaufman is easily, far and away, the best sportswriter working today. I mean seriously, I’ll watch PTI with the rest of ‘em, but no one actually removes himself from the facade, if they do at all, with this guy’s ability, humor, and self-deprecation. If I were ever a sportswriter (yee), I’d write like this guy. I mean, one time he dropped a Fall reference into a column, fer chrissakes.

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Oh, and the temporary/scary new banner, courtesy.