With extreme excitement I found out Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine has leaked onto the Web. The album was shelved by Sony/BMG because it was "too difficult to market," and "lacked an obvious radio single." Fiona didn't seem worried, so the album rested in limbo. Campaigns began and thousands of Fiona Apple fans sent apples and other mementos to Sony's HQ as "encouragement."

In February, a Seattle DJ got a leaked copy of the album and played it on his show. From there it leaked to the Net in full and you can now CAN'T download the whole album. I have no issue with this. Sony had two years to release the album and Fiona doesn't care. (Added: April 9 - the hoster who had the files got served by the RIAA. Hopefully this means Sony will release the album FINALLY.. or if they don't, then they're a bunch of litigious bastards.)

Onto the music.. this third album is a great progression from the jazzy piano-romp of When The Pawn. Even non-fans are raving about this album all over the Web so, yeah, it's good. If you're not an Apple fan, I'd recommend getting Oh Well (perfect if you're into bizarre chords), Better Version of Me (very tin-pan alley), and/or Red, Red, Red to get the essence of Fiona and this album. Better Version of Me is the most radio friendly of the bunch, and most likely to be released as a single, although it lacks the skill of Criminal, her most successful hit.

What's more, the producer is the magnificent Jon Brion, the guy behind the Eternal Sunshine and I Heart Huckabees soundtracks, and it totally shows. His crazy instruments and techniques seem to pop out at every opportunity on EM. Anyway, thumbs up after 5 play throughs here!

However.. since I never downloaded the album what-so-ever, I do not know this and just made up the last two paragraphs.