Shannon, Libby, and I spent a long (relaxing) weekend in Virginia with Shannon’s parents. I’m back in Indiana now: Shannon and Libby won’t return until Thursday.

It’s eerie how quiet the house is… it feels still and lifeless. I miss my wife and daughter.

However, until they get home I will be enjoying the solitude. Tonight I’ve been listening to a lot of music and I wanted to share a few tracks that really tweaked my ears:

• Say It Right by Nelly Furtado from Loose
  I love the rhythmic layered sound
• Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne from The Best Damn Thing
  Grrrrl rock rules when Avril sings it.
• What Goes Around…Comes Around by Justin Timberlake from FutureSex LoveSounds
  Shannon’s favorite
• A Violent Yet Flammable World by Au Revoir Simone from The Bird of Music
  A wispy soft ballad
• The Bar Song by Jack Zerby from The EP
  A great, catchy song: worth your time

In case you are wondering where those last two songs can be found the answer is Amie Street, a novel DRM-free online music store. All music starts out free. As more people buy a given song the price inches up (to a maximum of $0.98/track).

If you recommend a song on Amie Street and it continues to increase in popularity they pay you a portion of the price increase, so there is a strong motivation for users to find good emerging artists and recommend them. This has a beneficial effect for the rest of the users, since new (good) music is quick to rise to the top.

Their site still needs a bit of work (I wish the guys from AllOfMp3 would give them some tips), but I can’t imagine buying my songs in any other way. Most songs/albums are cheap as hell, it’s LEGAL, and there is no DRM so you can play the music anywhere (iPod, computer, laptop, stereo, etc)!