eMusic, indie fans’ hands-down favorite digital service, kicks off their ambitious new redesign effort today. The main focus is on specific album pages, which now are much larger, and feature new supplemental content contextually pulled from Youtube, Flickr, and Wikipedia. There’s also better integration for SocNet posting for sites like Facebook, Digg, and Twitter, and updated AJAXy functionality to allow smoother, faster interaction on the page. Updates throughout the rest of the site are to trickle in soon.

Forgoing the physical release for just digital has been done. The “Radiohead” model is no longer newsworthy. You packaged your CD free with Britain’s Mail On Sunday newspaper? No one cares. So what’s an artist to do these days to grab your attention? How about releasing a single mp3 containing three-quarters of an hour’s worth of music? For 49 cents. That’s what Paul Westerberg just did. Of course, it helps to be a legendary musician… this would have passed right under everyone’s radar if it was done by a no-name artist (or if it was done by quasi-schizo rocker-cum-blog-oversharer Ryan Adams).

But it’s a pretty cool idea! Besides featuring a wide selection of new(ish) Westerberg material, the track is also apparently interspersed with random 1-2 second sound clips, and has a peppering of covers thrown in, to boot. Sort of like a music podcast, but more interesting for being wholly original.

So go grab it already; aren’t you curious? Only 49 cents!

And words of advice to the next artist who’s thinking about doing this: no one will care. Think of something else.

Dischord quietly released its entire discography as 320k MP3 downloads this week. There are a few ways to use the Dischord Download Store: You can buy albums on vinyl and a get free download, you can buy pretty much any album as a download for the set price of $7, or you can buy a block of “Digital Credits,” 15 for $10. The credits system was “chose[n] … to avoid the the gratuitous surcharges that make credit card companies rich… [and because] we also thought a credit system would encourage people to experiment with various tracks from different artists.”

Here are some Catbird picks for you to use up those credits:

Beauty Pill - Cigarette Girl From The Future
Ex- Smart Went Crazy guys’ 2001 debut EP

Dag Nasty - Can I Say and Wig Out at Denko’s
From ‘86 and ‘87, two softcore hardcore gems from a band that was “emo” back when “emo” didn’t mean “terrible”

Minor Threat - Complete Discography and Fugazi - Thirteen Songs
Duh.

Yeah, that’s right: Forest Fire are playing their first show since the release of their wildly successful new Catbird full-length Survival (which you can download for FREE here if you’re a cheapskate). Swing by Southpaw in Brooklyn tonight to catch FF, Susu and The Kiss Off. And in case you were wondering what everybody’s been saying about the new album? Here you go:

As of 4:10PM Eastern Standard Time, July 17, 2008, every band you can possibly imagine is now scheduled to play at one or more gigantic music festivals which are scheduled to take place somewhere in your vicinity at some point in the next 3 months. More details as they emerge.

Jeff Hanson, the really talented artist who’s most widely known as “that dude that sounds like a chick” is set to release his third album, Madam Owl, just one month from now, but you’d be hard pressed to find much in the way of promo or info for the record online. Every time I get a Kill Rock Stars List email in my inbox, I jump on it, thinking “surely, there will be something about Jeff Hanson’s new album in there,” but there never is… so I’m starting to fear that this release is gonna get buried and everyone’s gonna miss it. I mean, even though I haven’t heard *anything* from Madam Owl, I can tell you, that would be a very bad thing. Because the guy’s 2 prior releases, Son and Jeff Hanson, have both been great records.

Madam Owl is out August 19th, and I’d wager that it’s well worth your attention.

A belated Happy Birthday to Catbirdseat.Org’s very first really-successful internet meme, Hipster Bingo, which actually turned *5* years old last month. Believe it or not, fresh links to this STILL come in many times each week– it actually accounts for a full 25% of Catbirdseat.Org traffic. I know, I know, you’d think I’d have updated Hipster Bingo at some point, to include “beards,” or to replace “ironic trucker cap” with “$50 New Era ‘Fitted,;” but thing is, you gotta know when to let something go. You gotta know when to stop. The last thing in the world I want is to become the Jeff Foxworthy of indie rock (”If TWO-THIRDS of yer outfit comes from American Apparel… you maht be a hipshter!”)

…and while we’re on the topic of Seattle, here’s your new favorite “on-repeat-all-afternoon” pop nugget, from those consistent and dependable Seattlites BOAT:

The song is from their new 7-inch, Topps. In a move after my own heart, it comes packaged with a Topps™-y looking cover, a stick of that brittle, powdery pink gum, 6 handmade baseball cards, and free mp3 download (incl. a bonus track). There’s even a deluxe limited edition, in clear vinyl, with a complete set of 25 cards, which is available only at shows.

Now, you know that typically, I couldn’t care less about any of the 9 trillion music festivals occurring across the US at any given time, but I feel that I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t point out The Stranger’s coverage of the Sub Pop 20 event, which I actually find a really worthwhile read.

SP20: Eric’s Trip, Pissed Jeans, The Vaselines
Re: SP20: Eric’s Trip, Pissed Jeans, The Vaselines
SP20: Saturday in Photos
SP20: Seaweed, the Helio Sequence, the Fleet Foxes, and Mudhoney (and Some Other Stuff Too… Like Back Tats)
Back Tats I Saw at SP20 While Waiting for the Vaselines to Start

It’s taken more than 8 years, but I’m finally really excited for a new Lambchop album. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed the band’s output all throughout the early aughts, but 2000’s Nixon was really the last one that I was really into. Anyway, the new album: it’s called OH (ohio), and Merge will have it out for us to enjoy on October 7th (which is good; Fall is Lambchoppiest time of year, I find). The MP3 is lovely, and I can’t wait to get my ears around the full album.