we got it for cheap

Today, Okkervil River posted a free mixtape of covers/holiday songs on their official website. It’s pretty damned great, and nine free songs at that! One thing to note: they cover “I Want to Know,” easily my favorite Fugs song (I wrote a loooooooong piece on it on my old, now-defunct, blog, but I should revisit here). They don’t do it all that well, but good for them for knowing it! PS: please please please download the Fugs original here. The kinda song that just affirms life. For realsies. Oh, and download Okkervil’s The Stage Names while yr at it. They’ve earned it.

On another bargain-hunting note, today on eMusic we posted a new, free holiday EP from Snowden, a band that I love dearly. The songs are all hazy and melancholy, and he picks the best Christmas songs to cover. A nice addition to eMusic’s holiday canon. But get it quick: it will only be available for the next month or so. So yay to Snowden, too.