Morning Shorts: New National

Let me be the 5,293rd music blog to hurriedly post up the new song from The National's upcoming album Boxer, due May 23rd on Beggars. This follows up their nigh-unassailably great Alligator. Plenty o' upcoming dates, too.

MP3: The National - Fake Empire

Kirstiecat has another installment in her wonderful ongoing series, "Awkward Conversations About Music".

Amy Annelle talks to Willamette Week:

I've been a laborer, a forest ranger, a cook, a carny, cleaning lady, bartender. I've done drug studies and medical experiments, I've busked on the street and in the subway. I can't hold down straight jobs. It's just a matter of time before I get the guillotine.

A new blog discovery I've been enjoying is Records I Buy. See their recent posts on stalking Yo La Tengo in Hoboken and a review of the bonus track on the new Innocence Mission vinyl.