Check It. Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's "Lonely Avenue."

People are always complaining that performers/celebrities should stick to what they know -- musicians shouldn't become actors, actors shouldn't become filmmakers, and so on and on. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

But what if someone stuck to what they knew, but were still able to dip their toes into another genre pool? That's pretty much what happened when Nick Hornby, the writer (High Fidelity, An Education, About a Boy), teamed up with Ben Folds, the musician (Ben Folds Five). Together, using Hornby's words as lyrics, and Fold's musical composition, they've created a new, fun album called Lonely Avenue. It's definitely unconventional, but also a case of "Why hasn't this been done before?"

And for the most part, it works. The lyrics aren't really in any normal format, per se -- they're still like mini-stories -- but Folds adds in the pop touch that only he could. It's worth checking out, if not out of curiosity for a creative collaboration, then for pure pop fun. (And be sure to check out their solo stuff too -- Hornby is one of my favorite writers.)

Stream the entire album here, and then you can purchase the album plus an accompanying book of stories and images here.

-- Chau Tu

Check It. The Walkmen x Etsy.

Call me shallow, but it's really disappointing to me when a cool band has awful t-shirt or album designs. Yeah, I judge books by their covers.

The Walkmen, an indie rock band known for its scratchy, careening vocals and jangly guitars, aren't one of those bands. Their cover for their 2008 album You & Me is one of my favorites of all-time, and I honestly couldn't even tell you why. There's something so aesthetically beautiful about it--the text, the image. And it helped that the music was great too; it's a great dark and seductive fall album.

But The Walkmen are on to the next, and although I haven't given it a good listen yet (stream here now on NPR!), Lisbon's album cover, at least, is promising. What I'm also digging is their new collaboration with online craft website Etsy, in which the band called upon three Etsy artists to help create limited edition items to go along with Lisbon's release. The exclusive items include a silkscreen print insert for 7", a T-shirt and silk-screened poster, and all were inspired by Lisbon, Portugal (which in turn, was The Walkmen's inspiration on the album). Definite must-have for any fan, but still nice and creative enough for anyone who likes cool art.

Be sure to order your Walkmen x Etsy items soon, though: you'll want to do it before Sept. 10 to ensure delivery by Sept. 14, when Lisbon is officially released, and it's all limited-edition.

Check out the items here.

-- Chau Tu