Some New(ish) Releases

Low single

So, while looking for those David Cross links today, I found out that Low is releasing a new single/ep-thing, Tonight the Monkeys Die, which is to include (or does include. . . anyone know if this is out yet? The SubPop release date is a little screwed up, and it's not listed on Amazon) remixes of the song 'Monkey' by such great musicians as Bob Mould and Stephen Merrit.

Stephen Merrit

Speaking of Stephen Merrit, looks like he'll be releasing an album of original showtunes that he's composed for various productions by director Chen Shi-Zheng. The album will, conveniently, be entitled 'Showtunes'and be released by Nonesuch Records, which was the home of the last Magnetic Fields album, 'i'. Which is exciting. I'm of the opinion that, now that Elliott's gone, Stephen's one of the last proprietors of what I call Perfect-Pop, which, I think, is self-explanatory.

Rogue, er, Wave?.

So, it looks like Rouge Wave has a new one. I picked up Out of the Shadow on a whim a while back, and really didn't feel one way or the other about it. To me, it was Zach Rogue writing a lot of Elliott Smith inspired songs, complete with a band. Can anyone back this album up for me? Or give me a reason to check out its sequel?