Dark Was The Night (2-Disc Compilation)

While I'm getting to tell you glorious creatures about a book I liked but felt was lacking something I can't name and another book I fell wildly in love with this past week, I'm going to take a break from being my word nerd self and pretty much order you to download something: the two-disc various artists compilation Dark Was The Night. They talk about it constantly on XM43, and you can download it illegally or pay $15.99 for it on iTunes, which is what I did because I am a bleeding-heart liberal and I like that my money went to programs which will promote AIDS/HIV prevention. Also, it is a bargain because you actually get 32 songs, so it's like you get every song for fifty cents!

Also, there is a rumor it's only $9.99 on Amazon but it's probably roughly $16 when you factor shipping in and everything? Unless Amazon is high-tech and you can download music off it now. I don't know. I only ever buy used books from there. You figure that out.

Anyway, the guys from The National curated (that is, I'm told, the correct word) this collection and it is awesome. Get it ASAP. There are a few weak spots, but they are "weak" in the sense that it's just not the artist's strongest song ever-- not "weak" in the sense of the new Flo Rida song, which makes me want to never bring children into a terrible world where something like that can become popular.

If you're broke but still want to donate money, get individual songs. A few tracks are album-only on iTunes, but the most awesome ones are not. My personal favorite is "Train Song" by Feist and Ben Gibbard, but I would also highly recommend "Brackett, WI" by Bon Iver, "Hey, Snow White" by the New Pornographers, and "Another Saturday" by Stuart Murdoch (it is to the tune of my favorite church song! but not churchy! hence the exclamation points and lack of capitalization oh god am I sleep deprived!).

But, really, you should just get the whole thing. As quickly as possible.