In anticipation of this week’s Mayan apocalypse foofaraw, many people have made apocalypse playlists. But no one has made this one. Enjoy it in the days remaining: http://nyr.kr/WrZhVk

Listen to the podcast of “The Choice,” The New Yorker’s endorsement of Barack Obama for President.

The Toronto trio METZ is rude, severe, and excellent. They make rock music, all of it loud, most of it precise without feeling checked. It’s raucous stuff, heavily indebted to music recorded for the Chicago label Tough & Go in the eighties, and recordings made in the nineties for the D.C. label Dischord. We are happy to be streaming their self-titled début album, exclusively, for one week. A few days ago, I spoke on the phone with the band’s guitarist and singer, Alex Edkins.

Click-through to hear the album, and for more from Sasha Frere-Jones on METZ: http://nyr.kr/PoslIw

Photograph by Robby Reis.

In this week’s New Yorker Out Loud podcast, the magazine’s cartoon editor, Robert Mankoff, discusses the recent Nipplegate incident, in which a cartoon portraying Adam and Eve got the New Yorker temporarily banned from Facebook. Mankoff talks with Michael Agger and Mick Stevens, the cartoonist behind the offending cartoon, about the curious history of nipples in the magazine. Mankoff and Stevens also discuss the advantages of cartoon clichés like Adam and Eve, how cartoonists practice their art, and the evolution of the crash-test-dummy cartoon. Also, Peter Schjeldahl remembers Andy Warhol. Click-through to listen: http://nyr.kr/Rk0Iq0

On this week’s Political Scene podcast, Steve Coll and Amy Davidson join Dorothy Wickenden to discuss terrorism and the U.S. response to it, including the proliferation of drone attacks and the reinterpretation of certain legal precedents under the Obama Administration: http://nyr.kr/NqHp7F

Ry Cooder, who over the course of fifty years has become one of the most singular musicians in America, has a new record, “Election Special,” a collection of songs with a political cast, which comes out in August. Cooder is nothing like as well known as he might be, because he would rather do practically anything than perform in public. …Cooder’s reach is wide—if you don’t believe me, search Ry Cooder and see all the musicians who list him as an influence. Paul Simon once asked a guitar maker to build him a guitar like Cooder’s—it’s the guitar Simon is holding on the cover of “You’re the One.”

Listen to Cooder’s song “Mutt Romney Blues,” and click-through to read more: http://nyr.kr/PoYLoJ 

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)

In 2010, Andreas Laszlo Konrath began photographing Jake and Jamin Orrall, two brothers who form the band JEFF the Brotherhood, chronicling their experiences onstage, on the road, and in their free time. Click-through for a selection of photographs, followed by a brief Q. & A. with Konrath and audio of four of his favorite JEFF the Brotherhood songs: http://nyr.kr/SFon1o

(Source: newyorker.com)

Next month, “Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac” will collect Mac covers from artists like Lee Ranaldo and J Mascis, Lykke Li, the Kills, and MGMT. One of the most hypnotic tracks on the tribute is “Storms,” which originally appeared on the gnomic 1981 album “Tusk” and is covered here by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie (Prince) Billy. We are pleased to offer this exclusive preview of that song: http://nyr.kr/NjiFjL

(Source: newyorker.com / The New Yorker)

During his lifetime, Reynolds Price wrote dozens of books, including novels, poetry, plays, and memoirs, but he published only one story in The New Yorker: “His Final Mother,” which James Salter reads in this month’s fiction podcast. Salter, who was a personal friend of Price, describes Price as a “kind-hearted” writer with a “perfectly wonderful voice… that made you think you knew him from listening to him.” This story, says Salter, is “very, very Reynolds Price.” He advises listeners that it is best approached with an open mind, because “it takes some liberties that you might not be prepared for.”

Listen to James Salter read Reynolds Price, and click-through to read more from The New Yorker on Salter and Price: http://nyr.kr/LBth9Q