by Ruth Milne

Cassadaga, that new album by Bright Eyes, is indeed available at Wal-Mart — but some comfort remains: you can’t get the vinyl there.

Here’s what the album looks like.

The cover, insert, etc., are plain gray static.

But when you use the super-special Spectral-Decoder, included free with every CD and LP purchase…

You see a bunch of other stuff that doesn’t photograph well. Neato.

(Cereal box novelties aside, the LP also comes with a one-time free mp3 download of the album, a fantastic idea.)

Of course the music is what counts, but packaging can be interesting too. Always read those liner notes; how else will you know what brand of eyeliner Aiden recommends?

Anyway, what’s the coolest, most gimmicky CD, cassette or album cover you’ve ever seen? I’m only remembering Sticky Fingers, that Rolling Stones record with the zipper on the cover.

I know you can do better.

by Ruth Milne

The Forecast will appear in concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, at Venue 8 in Rapid City, with opening act Aida and locals Gabe Gibson and Special Guest. Doors open at 6 p.m., and admission is $6 all ages.

Guitarist/vocalist Dustin Addis of The Forecast says the band’s goal is to touch listeners, to hit a chord with them. Sharing similar roots makes it easy for South Dakotans to relate to The Forecast’s compelling, honest indie rock.

The Forecast is a four-member band from Peoria, Ill., an industrial town with an economy based around a Caterpillar tractor plant. Young people who grow up there either get a job at the factory or try to leave town, Addis said.

That bleak situation mirrors the state of many Midwestern communities and fosters a desperate, bittersweet mood on The Forecast’s newest album, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen,” a work focused on friends, family and the familiar aches of small-town life.

The album title refers to the band’s “catch-22,” Addis explained. The musicians felt cornered between their home lives and touring — while on the road, they longed to return to their families and friends, but after a few days at home all they wanted to do was go back on tour.

“You feel like you’re in the middle of a gunfight, and you’re not sure what to do,” Addis said.

“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen” was written last December in Peoria, and the dreary weather and the emotional atmosphere of holidays with family influenced its subjects and tone. The finished product was released in May on Victory Records, a label famous for hardcore music. With alternating boy-girl vocals and a poppy indie sound reminiscent of The Anniversary, Mates of State and Braid, The Forecast goes directly against that trend.

“People expect us to sound like something and we definitely don’t,” Addis said, but added that it works in the band’s favor. “People are always up for something different, for a change, and we provide that for Victory.”

A gunfighting album title, lyrics flush with whiskey and dust, and a subtle twang to some numbers — country music gently permeates “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen.”

Country is an influence, Addis said, but the band doesn’t listen to Nashville’s newer offerings, preferring Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and the other classics they were raised on.

“It (old country) had a lot of grit to it that I really latch onto and really enjoy,” he said.

It’s more than just the music; the method must match. Addis prefers to listen to older music on original vinyl, not re-releases on CD. “It loses something from the original version,” he said. “There’s just something there (on vinyl) that’s not there on a compact disc.”

Although “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen” currently is not available on vinyl, he hopes it eventually will be. For now, the album is available on CD through their website at www.theforecast.com.

By Ruth Milne

Today I found a copy of “Meet the Beatles” at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Nowhere near mint, of course, but it plays.

That was a dime well spent, I must say.

What was your most amazing music find?

 By Ruth Milne

Some people buy two copies of each record they buy — one to play, and one to keep in perfect condition and speak of in hushed tones and touch reverently every few years. These people will talk your ear off about superior sound quality, and analog vs. digital, and waveforms, and so on. If they own a decent copy of a Johnny Cash record, and they find a second, slightly better quality copy of the same album, chances are they will buy that second one. And a third, if the opportunity presents itself.

Okay, not everybody who listens to records is that extreme. But some are. And even the ones who aren’t fanatics are still pretty passionate about the subject of vinyl.

Turntables seem like dinosaurs in the age of cute little iPods and ear buds. However, in the battle of analog vs. digital, the vinyl side has not completely shunned new technology; they’re just holding onto the old. They also have iPods and play music on their computers, just like the rest of us. But to have it both ways, must someone buy the same album twice – once on vinyl, and once as a CD or mp3? Can they have their cake and play it on their iPod too?

I’ve heard the argument that if you buy an album on vinyl, it’s okay to then illegally download those songs on mp3. Technically you’ve paid for the music already; you just want to be able to listen to it in your car too, they say.

At least one record company — the indie label Saddle Creek Records, from Omaha, Neb. — has directly addressed that dilemma by including a one-time-only free mp3 download with most albums purchased on vinyl.

What do you think, dear readers? Feel free to approach this from any angle — analog vs. digital, the morality of illegally downloading a song you already own, or whether Saddle Creek bands are any good.

(My answer to that last one is: usually, but the latest Cursive album stinks. Enough already with the horns.)