music notes

Music roundup:
Sufjan Stevens covers R.E.M. (To so-so effect.)
Sufjan Stevens covers the Beatles. (And kinda kicks ass.)
Sufjan Stevens plays a full concert, now illicitly available for convenient download. (And covers Francis Scott Key again.) Better sound quality at this show.
16, Maybe Less, the first track to leak from the inconceivably anticipated (by me, at least) Calexico/Iron & Wine collaboration. I think Sam Beam’s voice and John Convertino’s drums were meant for each other.
Jeff Mangum lives! This can only be good news, since it brings us ever-so-incrementally closer to the day that a followup to “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” hits stores. Krappy video here.
Newish Decemberists song, “Kingdom of Spain.” And, for the hell of it, “The Bandit Queen,” originally planned for the last album but declared too silly. (This version, from a live performance on Austin’s KUT, is the only I know to exist.)
Dallasites, prepare for the arrival of the Wrens on August 27. Decemberists and Built to Spill in September, and Calexico & Iron & Wine in October.
Finally, it’s about time someone created a Katrina Kerns Appreciation Society, in honor of the finest fashion model/Sufjan backup singer of All Time.