Amazon MP3 download of The Head and the Heart's new album: $9.49.
Amazon CD order of that same album, which includes a free MP3 download: $7.99.
OK then. Of course, if I bought the CD, I'd either have to pay shipping, or find another $27 worth of crap to order to get free shipping (not $17, because Amazon just jacked the amount you need to spend to get free shipping). In any event, I'll wait until next month's eMusic credits to order that.
With this month's eMusic credits, I ordered the new Avett Brothers record, and the acoustic solo record by Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning. I just got tickets for the Avetts at the end of February--have never seen them live, so I'm very much looking forward to that.
Other recent pickups:
Okkervil River "The Silver Gymnasium"--really like this.
Neko Case "The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You." An interesting album that I suspect will grow on me over time. She makes some unusual lyric choices, I think.
Iron & Wine, "Ghost on Ghost." More than any artist I can think of, you can hear Sam Beam's music changing and branching out with each subsequent release. And to a fair degree, I appreciate that; he's not just putting out the same album over and over like some bands I could name. But on this one, with some crazy jazz horn section shit going on, I find myself thinking, "Remember that sparse, pretty acoustic stuff you used to do? Maybe you could do that again."
Volcano Choir, "Repave." The Justin Vernon songs sound just like Bon Iver, imagine that.