What I've been listening to this week

Office - Mecca

Do you work in a cubicle environment? Maybe you keep the radio on NPR real quiet-like all night for your desk plant to help you feel more humane and in touch with nature’s rhythm. This is because you can’t even tell if it’s sunny or dark out from where you sit, let alone see a tree. When you go home at night, you are too exhausted to do anything but watch TV and heat up a Lean Cuisine (which is the same thing you had for lunch). It’s rough, but at least you have a job, yes? Either way, you totally deserve a break once in awhile – so maybe download Mecca, the new album by Office. For free. It is so, so good and not boring like your life.

Most Serene Republic - ...And The Ever Expanding Universe
Did you know that in Canada, all musicians report directly to the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) who then just give them like, so much money every time one of their songs is played in a commercial or covered by a lesbian at a coffee shop’s open-mic night? Also, if your band has seven or more members, you can apply to SOCAN to become an official Canadian province! You probably have not looked at a map of Canada lately, but because of underuse, Saskatchewan has recently been divvied up into mini “indie provinces” including Arcade Fireland and Broken Social Scene-ica. The Most Serene Republic’s application is still pending, but once SOCAN hears ...And The Ever Expanding Universe they’ll know these guys have finally gotten their affairs in order and that application will totally be streamlined.

Nurses - Apple's Acre

Growing up I am almost positive that I had a children’s book called The Lady With the Lamp. The cover featured a realistic recreation of what it must’ve been like for Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War. In the picture, she is on this battlefield at night holding a lamp and looking calm, yet, you know, freaked by war, as she wraps bandages around a soldier’s injured head. Also, the band Nurses totally reminds me of all the things I love about Prussia. The band, not the state. Which had nothing to do with the Crimean War. That was Russia. Learn your history.

Olden days record bonus!

Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams - Laverne & Shirley Sing (1976)

I really don't know why this exists, but it is way better than you think it is. There is something so incredibly charming about hearing Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams belt out girl group numbers like "Do Do Ron Ron." Granted, Melissa "Don't Cry Out Loud" Manchester sings on the record as well to kind of fill in the cracks, but I like to pretend that Penny and Cindy totally did it all on their own. Also, fun story. My aunt once made me a bathrobe on which she embroidered the letter "L" ala Laverne... However, she decided she wanted it to be "unique" and opted for a creative font rather than the big loopy cursive "L" synonymous with Laverne. So she decided to embroider it in sign language. Of course, the sign language version of "L" is made with your thumb and your pointer finger. Which is, of course, also the symbol for "loser." And yes, I still have it and call it the "loser bathrobe." Don't be jealous.