Hear the Chris Knox Tribute Record

The latest on Chris Knox, the New Zealand songwriter and Flying Nun affiliate who suffered a debilitating stroke in June: He's at home, as he has been for some time. It seems he's making music again, as Tall Dwarfs, though he's not yet speaking--"He wanted me to do an edit of a song loop down from 12 bars to 8 bars," wrote one of his bandmates on the CK blog: "not an easy thing to communicate without speech." But they figured it out. Stroke, the Knox tribute album hastily planned and executed by an incredibly long list of grateful friends--the Chills, the Mountain Goats, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, Stephin Merritt, Bill Callahan, etc.--is also coming along. The two-CD set is completed and ready to go, with a November 16 release date in New Zealand and one early next year (on Merge) here in the States. But you can hear a one-minute excerpt of every song on the record right now at Knox's site. As always, we recommend "Not Given Lightly," in any form. [Chris Knox, via Pitchfork]