Morning Shorts

No sooner did iff find out about the existence of a grilled cheese specialty shop in NYC than we sadly hear of its untimely demise, via Eater. Beyond sad bastard music, there's nothing iff likes more than gimmicky restaurants highlighting a single dish or ingredient. Tragically, Grilled Cheese NYC is off to the frying pan in the sky, but aficianados can always head west to Denver's Chedd's Gourment Grilled Cheese, which promises "you've never had grilled cheese like this!!". Meanwhile, NYers missing culinary gimmicks can continue to feed at the Peanut Butter Company. Today's comments thread is officially open for any readers who can suggest similar nosh halls around the world.

Meanwhile, MPR has posted an awesome in-studio set by M Ward, whose Post War is getting lots of time in iff's car. Ward performs "Eyes on the Prize," "Today's Undertaking," and "Magic Trick."

In related M Ward news, Rake claims to have uncovered "A Legitimate B-Movie Gem" in 2004's Dead Man's Shoes, whose soundtrack features Ward, Smog, Will Oldham and Calexico. Netflix queue's a callin'.

Finally, Bishop Allen's new July EP is out, and this great track is available for download. Buy July here.

MP3: Bishop Allen, Click Click Click Click

Morning shorts

• The Village Voice snarks on the NYC Book Eaters show, drawing an unfavorable comparison between the sets of John Roderick of the Long Winters and Sufjan Stevens:
  

  So there's John onstage, playing to several more thousand people than he is perhaps accustomed, singing gorgeous grad-school folk ballads in a high, keening voice, but also looking a bit menacing at six-foot-plus, lumbering around like he'd wandered in between bar fights. He noted that he'd bumped into Sufjan and his crowd of prim and proper accompanists backstage—"They seem happy and full of life, and their clothes fit so well." The crowd was clearly unnerved. Was this a compliment? Is this guy gonna beat someone up?
  He played three songs.
  Should've played 30.
  Sufjan and his daisy Mafia played five. Should've played . . . well, actually, five's about right. You gotta admire the intricacy and anthemic power of his best tunes—"Chicago" especially. And he doesn't force his backing crew of horns and violins and tambourines to dress like cheerleaders anymore, thank God. But there's still no threat of his beating anyone up. Too bad. His tunes are little dollhouses of orchestral splendor, ingeniously complex but emotionally distant. Model railroad vistas with no actual locomotion. Tea that isn't brewed too strong. His last tune was entitled "That Dress Looks Nice on You." Right.

  It's about time the Stevens backlash began in earnest. "Emotionally distant" is as good a description as any for how most of Stevens' catalogue sounds to these ears, and it's time the press gave more ink to other folks.
• Pitchfork gives M Ward's Post War an 8.2, calls it "consistently rewarding".
• Pop Matters goes maybe a little bit overboard in dubbing Lambchop's Damaged "their greatest achievement", rewarding it a 9.
• Dusted Magazine's excellent college chart is back after a month-long hiatus. Dusted's charts are valuable because they survey a select group of stations most dedicated to pumping out great music and less likely to be bought by promo reps; Dusted's lack of any advertising gives extra sheen to their reliability. The first charts of the semester see M Ward at #2, Six Organs of Admittance at #3, and the Mountain Goats at #4. Sady, Dave Pajo's excellent new album is lagging at #40 - c'mon, DJs, give this another listen.
  

New Release Tuesday

• M Ward's Post War CD is out this week on Merge, a week after the LP edition. His cross-country tour begins Sept. 1.
• Two Daniel Johnston reissues, holding three vintage albums that have long been nigh impossible to find. First up is Continued Story/Hi How Are You, the former being Johnston's first album recorded in a studio. Also out is the semi- legendary Yip/Jump Music from 1983. Buy 'em direct from Daniel's site, Hi How Are You.
• Smithsonian Folkways reissues Sam Hinton's 1962 children's album Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts? All Music writes:

  A respected marine biologist and a director of the Scripps Oceanographic Institution, Hinton brings a kind of scientific exactness to the folk songs he performs, and what sounds offhand in his performances is actually carefully considered. Even at that, Hinton still manages to sound incredibly casual and relaxed on this charming set of twenty folk songs intended for children... Unhurried, unruffled, playful and often elegant, the album is nigh near perfect, easy and calm as a cloudless summer day.

MP3:M Ward, Jim James and Conor Oberst - The Girl from North Country(via Chromewaves)