So, I got to see Spoon twice yesterday. They played a set for a select group of 101X peeps (and for kgsr before that, but I sadly missed it) before heading down for their hour-long gig at Waterloo. I love me some Spoon, perhaps an inappropriate amount given how many times I’ve actually met Britt, so yesterday was pretty much entirely awesome.

Also, the fact that 101X had Tuaca shots set out at the door for before and after the set didn’t hurt any.

(as usual, there are more pics available if you click through to my Flickr page)

And if you made it this far, you should go listen to the two new Midlake tracks… They are utterly gorgeous and I’m obsessed with them. It looks like they will probably be playing SXSW, but I’m not being greedy to want an Austin date outside of the conference, am I? Come on, they’re practically local!

The Courage of Others comes out Feb. 2, and I can’t effing wait.

Yeasayer’s new album, Odd Blood, is supposedly even trippier than the first, and though it drops February 9th, you can check it out weeks ahead of time this Friday at both Waterloo Records and End of an Ear. And while you’re thinking of them, you should probably buy your tickets for one of their two Parish shows before they sell out.

NPR is streaming Spoon’s new album in its entirety, and what I’ve listened to so far is pretty kickass. You can catch them live for free at a Waterloo Records in-store Monday the 25th at 4pm, but if you want to actually make it in the building, I’d recommend showing up very, very early. They’re also kicking off SXSW with a show that Wednesday at Stubbs.

Vampire Weekend’s Contra is also streaming, and there’s a listening party for it Tuesday night at Scoot Inn. Sadly, I don’t have any pics of them yet, though they are playing Stubbs April 10th so I can maybe remedy that.

Oh yeah, and my Free Week photos will be up asap.