Regina Spektor

Listening to What We Saw from the Cheap Seats, the sixth studio album from real-life Manic Pixie Dream Girl Regina Spektor, is a pretty philosophical experience. Spektor has done a lot of changing. Her music has changed, her career has changed (read: exploded), her audience has changed (read: used to be some people, is now ALL OF THE PEOPLE). But she's also done a fair amount of staying exactly the same. This isn't going to be a wistful post from a longtime fan, bemoaning the loss of an indie darling to the riptide of the mainstream. I promise. But Cheap Seats, as it turns out, are where you get the best view of the big picture.

As you may be aware, Jenny Lewis recently left me disappointed and out in the cold with a big ol' female-musician-named-Jenny-shaped hole in my heart. Fortunately, talented New Jerseyan Jenny Owen Youngs has come to my rescue and filled said void.