Madame Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress:

Mr. Randy Newman!

Whatever bad reference/pun may get thrown your way in the headline above, your SAK correspondent in no one way means to discourage you from checking out “Baltimore”–an advance track off Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks‘ upcoming full length Real Emotional Trash–currently posted at Paper Thin Walls.

You’ll have to take notes while you listen, but the Times wants to clue you in to where there’s free music to be had. It’s worth a listen, your SAK correspondent supposes, but they neglected to mention the cafe/bar portion of Williamsburg’s Sound Fix, and East Village classic jazz destination Detour, both of which never have covers and pretty seldom have sub-par performers.

Your SAK correspondent, being a blogger and all, is somewhat obligated to be pro-Vampire Weekend. So it should be no surprise that I’m directing you to take the M79 over to MTV’s The Leak and give their self-titled debut an (encoded, uploaded, streaming) spin.

That said, what desk-dweller over at Viacom decided that the songs streamed on MTV’s site should be family friendly? (To find out what I’m talking about play “Oxford Comma” and listen for those muted swears.) Who gives a fuck about an obscene curse word? And whose ears are there left to protect (on the internet, no less)? The kids don’t stand a chance.

UPDATE: Watch the Columbia-Alum-Foursome rock before noon at Other Music.

In the short time your SAK correspondent has spent interviewing New York City bands, he has come to understand just how important finding a decent and affordable practice space is to local musical talent, and how New Yorkers have to go that extra mile to rock (bands in Portland have houses with basements that they can practice, after all).

Beat The Devil recorded an interview with me in their tiny, triangular Greenpoint rehearsal space, which was a bit smaller than the average Manhattan bedroom, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart used to practice at their employer’s Chinatown offices after hours.

Hence the New York Times story on the subject, with an economic breakdown (some groups, who one assumes have never heard of Bushwick, pay $40 an hour for a place to practice). One more reason to pay the $7 cover Tuesday night at Glasslands (instead of having your bassist friend put you on the guestlist).

Okay, that headline’s just a hypothetical song title from Sufjan Stevens‘ non-existent six-disc box set about the history, people, and government of Australia–but The Suf is currently touring down under, and just because he’s plucking his banjo on the other side of the equator doesn’t make it any less newsworthy.

Aussie blogger Oceans Never Listen has an account of a recent performance at Sydney’s State Theatre here. Sufjan’s set has expanded to include an excerpt from last year’s BQE, and, better still, he’s continuing to perfect epic, jaw dropper The Majesty Snowbird (if we had to guess, we’d say Stevens next record will be about avians, not Alabama) on his current run.

(photo by Kelsie Moore)

If you want some pics of the twee one hula-hooping on his Australian jaunt, as well as photos of both Shara and Annie rockin’ out in the backing band, check with On The Sunny Side.