The Indie Buzz - January 30, 2007

This is the word of the Blogs, Amen: 

•  Microsoft Zune costs Bill Gates and friends $268 million. Is anyone really surprised? When you have a poor product, poor marketing and even worse branding, you usually lose the dollars.  [Crunch Gear}
  
• Andrew Bird finally gets the buzz he deserves.  We loved his last record and the new one, Armchair Apocrypha, is supposed to be even better.  All the Bloggers are talking about it so it must be good, right?  Sometimes they're actually right about the hype.  This is one of those cases.  Side note: Andrew Bird is a World Champion whistler. No joke. [Idolator]
  
• The New Releases this week aren't quite as exciting as last week, but you can pick up new ones from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Lily Allen, Norah Jones, The View and Youth Group.  Click the artist to find MP3s for each! [Largeheartedboy]
  
• You will hear Elvis Perkins whether you like it or not, because sooner or later he will be playing at the end of Scrubs or Greys Anatomy.  So why not listen to him on your own terms.  In all honesty you'll probably be happy you did. [MOKB]
  
• In "Shut-Up!" news, the Shins latest record, Wincing The Night Away, will debut at #2 on the Billboard charts. The highest ever charting for a Sub Pop release.
  The Police have announced that hell has indeed frozen over, and they will reunite to open the 49th GRAMMY Awards show. Funny thing is the show will still suck. 
  US weekly reports that Paula Abdul might be getting a little too loopy for the show's liking so they have approached Courtney Love as a replacement.  No, I'm not kidding. 
  And in a last ditch effort to try and regain some indie cred, Coldplay have announced that Brian Eno will produce their next record. Let's hope it sounds more like Low and less like Coldplay.
  
• The Klaxons, who you are probably not familiar with...yet, do a pretty awesome Justin Timberlake cover. [i was there]
  
• And finally, what's better than a fat Jared Leto, Lindsay Lohan and Sean Lennon telling both of them to piss off? Absolutely nothing.