Today's gonna be my dancing day

Hey Neutral Milk Hotel fans - your favorite band just put out a new album! Their first in nine years! This is huge!

Rock Plaza Central - My Children, Be Joyful.

Okay, so this isn't Neutral Milk Hotel, and I'm kind of an ass for focusing on the similarity, but isn't it kind of uncanny? Also, I think this record, Are We Not Horses, is damn solid work. I don't know if they had NMH in mind when they wrote and recorded, but there seems to be a torch-passing thing going on here, and it's really well-done.

That's Rock Plaza Central singer and guitarist Chris Eaton, backed up by six musicians. The press info says the record is about "robotic horses who think they are real horses - for real," and I haven't listened close enough to the whole thing to confirm that plotline. But sure, why not? The more important thing here is that these guys are on the crazy side, and we're all better for it. Are We Not Horses is one of the best records I've heard this year, and I recommend you pick it up.

You can order the record directly from Yep Roc, the label who released Are We Not Horses last week.