Perhaps you noticed the way we fawned over local band Blitzen Trapper in our Fall Arts issue this month? Well you can see why we are all stutters and red-faced ogling starting today when their new album, Furr, becomes available at your local purveyor of rock n’ roll.

You can click elsewhere to hear somebody much more qualified than us ramble on about its greatness, but suffice to say: Furr is the best local album we’ve heard since The Thermals’ The Body, The Blood, The Machine. And you don’t need to have a funny haircut or have a PhD in indie rock to appreciate it. This is an album of clique-free music, owing more to stalwarts like Dylan, The Band, Wilco, and R.E.M. than any current strain of underground rock. In other words, you don’t have to try and "get it." It’s there in handy three-minute chunks. And it’s kind of amazing.

Have a taste-test at www.myspace.com/blitzentrapper. If you don’t fall in love with the title-track, "Furr," it’s quite possible you have no soul.