If you haven’t heard, Radiohead did a little webcast the other night, playing a bunch of songs from their collection (including a sweet cover of New Order’s Ceremony). What’s better than a drunk band, Joy Division, and a spazzing Thom Yorke? A sober and clean Pete Doherty, maybe. But then again, Pete Doherty wouldn’t be himself without the sex tapes and drugs. I used to say the same about Amy Winehouse (and concluded that she was simply Pete Doherty with a penis), but then realized she was better without the alcohol/drugs (though they do inspire her to write pretty good songs, see Rehab).

The webcast was pretty damn good, and MP3s and ripped recordings of it are floating around the net quickly. As previously said, the New Order cover was, by far, the best song played, and can be found along with a cover of The Smiths’ Headmaster Ritual on You Ain’t No Picasso.

For the past couple of days I’ve been listening to Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective, an experimental rock band. A good friend of mine, Jon Kantro, mentioned this album and said it was his favorite of the year. Of course, if someone says an album is so good that it’s their favorite released in the past ten months, then I’ve got to take a listen. After a few days of letting the tracks sink in (Animal Collective is quite a strange band), I came to like the album as well. Strawberry Jam sounded like a mix between Wolf Parade, Tokyo Police Club, and Native American tribal songs (though I’ve never heard the latter). If giving Strawberry Jam a listen, remember that it takes a bit to sink in. The first listen probably won’t be the best (I know I didn’t like it at all the first time around), but after a few listens, the album really starts to shine.

I’m still waiting for a nice, remastered Beatles collection to appear somewhere, but it has yet to show up. Sadly, their original recording are hard to listen to, as the quality isn’t quite good. For now, I’ll stick to listening to Love and it’s short mashups of Beatles songs. However, I hope to see a Beatles collection that sounds as good as Love in the future (even though Love was remixed a bit).

Person Pitch by Panda Bear (one of the members of Animal Collective) has also made it’s way into my library (thanks to Jon again for pointing it out). The album has a Beach Boys/underwater feeling to it, and for some reason reminds me of winter holidays. Even though Beach Boys/underwater should remind someone of summer, the album reminds me of winter. It’s a pretty ambient album, and is great for lounging and chilling out.

As 2008 approaches, a bunch of new albums do as well. My most anticipated album? The Pigeon Detectives’. Their first album, Wait for Me, was fucking fantastic (thanks again to Jon for pointing it a few months ago) and I have even higher expectations for the second album. Radiohead goes on tour in the spring, which I’m also anticipating. Let’s just hope they play the good version of Reckoner, and not the crappy piece of shit they threw on In Rainbows.