Before you thought about beginning, you didn't

In preparation for their Nov. 6 show at Toad's, I picked up the new Band of Horses album, Cease to Begin, the other day and was pleasantly surprised by both the songs and the packaging. I guess it's been a while since I bought a CD, so it struck me that this one had a series of CD-sized pictures instead of liner notes, all taken by the band's photographer. If one were so inclined, the set might make a tasteful addition to a wall near you. Hadn't seen anything like it, but it's got to be a necessary step in the post-"In Rainbows" era. Add something to the aesthetic experience or just give me the tunes.

As for the music, "The General Specific" and "Detlef Schrempf" are personal favorites in the South-Carolina-by-way-of-Seattle rock genre. Nice, melodic stuff, some of which is named for this former Sonics stud. If this were NBA Jam, he'd be on fire, with Shawn Kemp hooking up a sweet alley-oop.