Rack And Opinion: Release Date 5.30.06

While we are favorably impressed by the AOL Music streams of Matthew Herbert's Scale and Boards Of Canada's Trans Canada Highway EP that we posted yesterday, it is hard to deny that this week's new release slate is pretty much eclipsed by the sophomore release from Brooklyn nu-gazers Asobi Seksu, whose new record Citrus already lays claim to a coveted slot on :: clicky clicky's :: best of 2006 list. See, the thing is everyone expected the Boards Of Canada joint to be good. And even Herbert's genius was pretty much a sure bet for his latest set. But as we've said elsewhere, Citrus is so good that it "surpasses expectations to such an extent that it even delivers on promises made and broken by other bands years ago." As such, Asobi Seksu leads off our short list of picks for the most promising releases of this somewhat slow week, which is posted below. Links go to relevant commercial opportunities with our former Patrol Leaders over at Insound.

Asobi Seksu -- Citrus -- Friendly Fire
Boards of Canada -- Trans Canada Highway EP -- Warp
Matthew Herbert -- Scale -- !K7
Split Enz -- Spellbound: The Very Best of Split Enz -- Warner

Review: SSM | SSM

What makes Detroit trio SSM's self-titled debut more compelling than most of the hundreds of garage-rock records that street every year in the U.S. and Europe? That's a bit difficult to pin down. But first we need to advise you that the album is well worth hearing, despite the very tacky cover art. Back to the question at hand: We think SSM, a name comprised of the first initial of each band principal's last name, benefits from the same electrified roots that power acts like Detroit contemporaries The Von Bondies or late-lamented Bethlehem, PA garage-psych unit The Original Sins. Perhaps SSM's greatest strength is in the non-blues-derived flourishes it uses to augment its music. Album opener "Exit Strategy" rides a two-chord Fall riff, analog keys lace much of the proceedings with a touch of space rock and the band delivers foot-stomping power pop anthems with the curiously sequenced album highlight "The Fourth" and "Put Me In." Closer "The Seer" hits a rigid groove in its final minutes that lays the foundation for a guitar melt-down and takes the record out. SSM was released May 23 on Alive, and the band has a dozen or so live dates throughout the midwest begining in the middle of June. MP3s below.

SSM -- "Sick" -- SSM
SSM -- "2012" -- SSM
[Right-click and save as]

[Order SSM directly from Alive here]

Today's Hotness Mini: Thom Yorke, The Cure

>> So readers of You Ain't No Picasso, SaidTheGrizznamophizzone, Stereogum and LargeHeartedBoy (or really any other blog that updates during the day rather than at night when we are on the desk for ::CC::) all know that Radiohead fronter Thom Yorke's forthcoming solo record The Eraser has leaked -- well, more like tsunamied (sp?) -- onto the Interweb. So now any three-toed sloth with an Internet connection can punch in the web coordinates for say, The Hype Machine, and find many if not all of the tracks. We're definitely buying the record, so we didn't bother downloading, just loaded up the Hype Machine Flash player. And no surprise, the Yorke stuff sounds great. Sonically we didn't find too many surprises, but we have to say the tunes we heard ("And It Rained All Night," "The Eraser," "Black Swan," etc.) are all ace. The set is primarily electronic in an understated way, and drives home various points via guitars and pianos now and again. You're going to like it.

>> The latest news update here at TheCure.com states that the next slate of Cure expanded reissues will not be at retail in the first week of July as we reported earlier, but rather sometime in August. In case you didn't click over to the ILM post of album details for the coming reissues of The Glove, The Top, The Head On The Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, the Cure.com news item reposts the deets here and ILM has more here. A recent message from fronter Robert Smith offers additional tantalizing information about other forthcoming releases, including an "all the singles" collection and a live DVD box set to including the previously released videos In Orange, Show and Japan and perhaps a show from the Prayer Tour that followed the release of the band's last perfect record, Disintegration.

Free Range Music: BoC, Matthew Herbert, The Replacements

AOL Music's full-album stream fix has two superlative electronic releases available for your aural consumption, electronic provocateur Matthew Herbert's Scale and Boards Of Canada's Trans Canada Highway EP. The former packs a lusty bump, one of several means at Herbert's disposal with which he candy-coats his often hyper-political work. Scale sounds like it is straight-up party time, but if you recall Rob Albanese's very good Junkmedia feature interview from last year, you know it's never straight-up party time in Herbert's world. BoC's EP is typically strong, as you hopefully learned from checking out the video we linked to earlier this month. Elsewhere, and at the rock end of the spectrum, make sure to check out the full album stream of the forthcoming Replacements best-of that Paul's Page is pointing to and Rhino is hosting right now. The curiously curated and all-too-brief 20-song set Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? streets on the very busy release date of June 13. Finally, IODA's PromoNet has posted three high-quality MP3s from Brooklyn nu-gazers Asobi Seksu's transcendant sophomore release Citrus, which finally streeted today. Read our earlier adoration of Citrus here. Links below go to streams or MP3s.

>> Boards Of Canada -- Trans Canada Highway EP -- Warp

>> Matthew Herbert -- Scale -- !k7

>> The Replacements -- Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? [ QT | RM | WM ] -- Rhino

>> Asobi Seksu -- "New Years" "Thursday" "Lions And Tigers" -- Citrus -- Friendly Fire

*** Buy Citrus at ITunes Music Store

Today's Hotness: Lilys, Ministry, Rocket From The Tombs

>> Lilys' most recent triumph Everything Wrong Is Imaginary will be issued in the UK July 3rd on Rocketgirl, a combo record label and mail order service that has issued recent sets by Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Philly dream poppers Mazarin. Earlier this year in an unpublished interview chief Lily and music savant Kurt Heasley told us to expect alternate mixes and even some Smiths-esque vocals on the title track on the album's UK issue. The band's MySpace dojo is currently streaming what sounds like a different mix of Everything Wrong's suprisingly excellent funker "A Diana's Diana" that we hope will be on the UK release. Also at the MySpace page is the amazing cover art for the disc, which we've posted at left.

>> Upon completing its current tour goth synth-poppers-turned-industrial behemoth Ministry will write and record a final record, The Last Sucker, which is supposed to be the ultimate installment of a trilogy of records that lambaste the current U.S. administration. Bandleader Al Jourgenson plans to mothball the band to concentrate on operating a recently launched record label. Billboard has more details here, and here's an amusing quote: "[E]veryone seems to think I write real sh*tty music when a Democrat's in office. So we'll do that one, and then me and George Bush go riding off hand-in-hand, into the sunset."

>> Ohio-based proto-post-punkers Rocket From The Tombs has reformed, according to BrooklynVegan. Details here. Wild, man, wild

Today's Hotness: Islands, Built To Spill, Sebadoh

>> You Ain't No Picasso here is the first to point out to us that drummer and co-founder Jaime Tambeur has left his rightfully acclaimed post-Unicorns project, Islands. Islands' debut Return To The Sea was issued in April on Equator. It's a hot record. Anyway, Tambeur's departure will not disrupt Islands' planned European and British dates scheduled for July and August. Read the ramblings of heart-broken fans on the Secret Unicorns Forum here.

>> Pitchfork reported here Friday that former Built To Spill drummer Andy Capps has died. Capps played on Built To Spill's excellent sophomore set There's Nothing Wrong With Love.

>> You can now pre-order the long-awaited expanded reissue of Sebadoh's Sebadoh III from Domino here. A bonus disc comprised of 18 tracks includes the band's Gimme Indie Rock EP, and you can get either Rocking The Forest or Vs. Helmet with your order for an additional five pounds, or the U.S. equivalent thereof. The reissue of Sebadoh III streets July 10.

>> In other pre-release news, Brooklyn nu-gazers Dirty On Purpose's first proper full-length release Hallelujah Sirens is now available for pre-order from AmpCamp here. We're not really down with AmpCamp because, well, aren't they an offshoot of a sweatshirt company or something? Anyway, the record hits retail June 27.

>> The Books, who are awesome, get some love from The New York Times here.

Today's Hotness: Mission Of Burma, The Hold Steady

>> We recall a Rolling Stone cover story about Metallica from 1992 or 1993 that noted that, for all its postured rebellion, the heavy metal scene was actually marked by steady conservatism (seems ironic, considering RS's current place in the world of music journalism. Pot meet kettle). This is something that came to mind again because of today's New York Times piece discussing conservative mag National Review's list of the Top 50 conservative rock songs. And surprise, it's all radio-friendly, mainstream classic rock, including The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and the like. Rock critic Dave Marsh parries the author's assertions well, but it is hard not to believe some of the conservative spin, particularly as a listener who gave up on classic rock somewhere around the age of 13, some 20 years ago. That said, there is little surprise to the article, save perhaps for the inclusion of After The Fire's version of Falco's "Der Kommissar." That said, if you haven't thought about conservatism in mainstream rock, here is as good a place to start as any.

>> We just got finished watching the four-song DVD that came with Mission Of Burma's electrifying new set The Obliterati, which is one of about ten discs that arrived in the mail today (none of which were the Dinosaur Jr. discs we preordered from Plan9 that still have yet to arrive. Shame shame shame). Anyway, the Burma videos are taken from a December 2004 show in Lowell, MA. What we don't quite understand is how the audience seems really stiff. How could you not want to jump up and down and hit yourself in the head with your own sneaker the whole time the band is tearing through "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" or "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate"? Man, sometimes we just don't get people.

>> The new Hold Steady web site, made by our old friend Rob, has just gone online. There is a blog of sorts there that makes mention that the band is currently recording its follow-up to the astonishing concept record Separation Sunday, and is plugging away at some 15 tracks. More details on the state of recording here. Check out Rob's design dojo here; if you need a web site he'll make you one real nicey-nice.

>> Just a brief programming note: clicky clicky will be powered down through the long weekend so we can drink beer and play croquet by the ocean, and when we return it will be to a world in which there are no series or season finales on the television. This is good, because it means we will once again be able to focus on album reviews. Just as a little teaser, we'll tell you that you can expect reviews of the forthcoming Shapes And Sizes and new SSM records in early June. We also hope to make a return to Two And A 1/2 Lbs Of Bacon, and perhaps even post an MP3 or two here now and again. See you next week.

Today's Hotness: Thom Yorke, Arcade Fire, The Walkmen

>> Pfork has a track-by-track review of Radiohead fronter Thom Yorke's forthcoming set The Eraser. Those lucky bastards. Here's what we can tell you: First, none of the song titles are capitalized. Does Thom Yorke hate uppity capital letters? Were they invented by Margaret Thatcher? Ah, who are we kidding, you should probably just read the Pfork item here. Here is a synopsis of the piece comprised of every 27th word: "Back a Eraser Yorke's at in, chorus, launch it a lends is hip-hop f*cked you almost..." Well, you get the idea.

>> Probably one of the best blog posts we've read in a while comes courtesy of Arcade Fire's Will Butler, who contributes a fascinating piece to Said The Gramophone that discusses the linkage between rock and roll and the rise of democracy in the Czech Republic. Read the whole kit and kerbango right here.

>> In case you are not privy to this sort of thing, you can stream the brand-new set from The Walkmen, A Hundred Miles Off, at MySpace's The Booth here. Dig it, and do stick with it long enough to hear the cover of Mazarin's "Another One Goes By." Incidentally, The Walkmen kick of about five weeks of touring tonight in New York City. Chances are they are also coming to your town. Check out all the dates at the band's MySpace yert here.

>> Tonight is the night that in-studio performance from Scranton, PA-based pop geniuses Okay Paddy airs on WPRB Princeton. You'll want to stream the radio station signal or see if you can snatch the set archived at Mr. Solomon's KeepingScoreAtHome.com.

Rack And Opinion: Release Date 5.23.06

It's quality, not quantity, that is the watchword when you peruse the new release racks at Ye Olde Recorde Shoppe this week. In our estimation there are only five records worth putting in your basket. But two of them are crucial, one perhaps even a classic. That one we refer to is Mission Of Burma's cataclysmic rockfest The Obliterati. If you are the kind of person who believes everything you read you might be buying into the various reviews out there, and we know you've read them, that are saying things like "This is Mission Of Burma's best record. Ever." We'll vouch for it being very, very good. Because it is. You should buy it. Another hot record this week is Juana Molina's Son, which we've been anticipating for quite some time. Other notable releases for the week are listed below. We think Pat DiNizio deserves special mention, if only because we have good friends who are huge fans. So buy Pat's record. Do it. You may notice we're downplaying The Walkmen record. That's because our first impression is that it is a grower. Or at least we hope it is. Anyway, all of our picks for the week's best releases are listed below. Links go to relevant commercial opportunities with our former Water Safety instructors over at Insound.

Pat DiNizio -- This Is Pat DiNizio -- Varese
Juana Molina -- Son -- Domino
Mission of Burma -- The Obliterati -- Matador
SSM -- SSM -- Alive!
The Walkmen -- A Hundred Miles Off -- Record Collection

Today's Hotness: Psapp, The Cure, Gorilla Biscuits

>> Domino and Mute have posted an e-card here to hype forthcoming tour dates from electro-twee duo Psapp, electro-acoustic dreamer Juana Molina (yeah, we'll say it twice in two days) and that Jose Gonzalez guy. The e-card includes streams of a bunch of tracks and a couple videos. You can stream samples of Juana Molina's "Micael," "La Verdad" and "Rio Seco" and Psapp's "Hi," the very arresting single "Tricycle" [watch the video here] and "Make Up." We're going to be in Jamaica when this tour stops through Boston and that, frankly, is more than a bit disappointing.

>> ILM here reprints a Cure fan club update from earlier this month that reports that Robert Smith's long running alternative rock act has complete about six weeks of work in the studio on an upcoming set slated for issue later this year, perhaps around Halloween. The band was about to finish tracking its 20th song of the sessions at the time of the update. The band was set to tackle vocals, overdubs and mixing after a short break.

>> If you've somehow lived this long without hearing Sonic Youth's forthcoming record Rather Ripped, which streets June 13, you can get at it legally a week earlier (that's June 6, math whiz) via Rhapsody. Keep June 13th in your mind though, because that's the first day you'll want to pay attention to a new slate of Rhapsody's so-called Rolling Stone Originals live performance series. On June 13 you can hit these links (uno, dos) for performances from Jack White's The Raconteurs and Emily Haines-fronted and Rolling Stones-approved Canadian indie rockers Metric respectively.

>> Pfork sorta buries the lede in their item today about the bass player from Deerhoof leaving the band. We'll, maybe not. But we're more interested in the fact the band has posted an EP's worth of material including a My Bloody Valentine cover here.

>> PunkNews wants you to rediscover your inner straightedge teen self at one of these Gorilla Biscuits reunion shows. BrooklynVegan has some hype too.

Industry Watchdog: AMG, EMusic

>> Is AMG planning to take on Last.fm? If memory serves, the company AMG has just bought, MoodLogic, develops a music recommendation engine not unlike the one that powers Last.fm, Pandora and, if you want to go back about six years, MongoMusic (which Microsoft bought for tens of millions). AMG already has one of the broadest bases of music editorial content (despite their never hiring us to write reviews, hiss hiss). If they pair that editorial with a solid recommendation engine, they could offer or power the back-end of a pretty compelling "personalized" streaming radio product. Just sayin.' Here's the link.

>> This ArsTechnica article says no. 2 digital music storefront EMusic is selling 5 million tracks a month and owns 12% of the market for digital downloads versus ITunes 61%. Of course, all sales are through different subscription tiers to the service's 175,000 subscribers. Just to throw a meaningless ballpark number out there, if all those sales are via the bottom-rung subscription level that prices tracks out at $.25 per, then EMusic is bringing in $1.25M per month. Perhaps most surprising? The average EMusic survivor is 39. [Via /.]

Free Range Music: Juana Molina, Futureheads, Film School

>> AOL Music has only one notable pre-release stream this week, but it is a record we have been anticipating for weeks and it is well worth dialing up on your Interweb-connected lightbox. Argentinian electro-acoustic dreamer Juana Molina's fourth record Son, her first in two years, sticks to her tried-and-true formula of acoustic guitar, electronic beats and textures and soporific vocals. If you can't get enough of the streams, Domino is also offering downloads for the cuts "Malherido," "Micael" and "No Seas Antipatica" [right-click and save as on those links]. We took a trip to Miami Beach over the winter and wish we had this record with us while we lounged in a vinyl chair on the sand -- it's perfect for daydreaming in the heat. AOL Music is hosting one other item of note this week: hit the second link below to check out the video for Swedish shoegazers Serena Maneesh's "Drain Cosmetics," which is from the act's recent eponymous stateside debut.

Juana Molina -- Son -- Domino
Serena Maneesh -- "Drain Cosmetics" -- Serena Maneesh

>> Not to be outdone, NME is streaming the new Futureheads record News And Tributes here. It's supposed to be "mature," but so far we've only liked half what we've heard. Is that maturity? We guess we're the immature ones, because we would look forward to hearing an entire album that sounds like their track "Man Ray." We would listen to that until our head fell off... Anyway, News And Tributes streets in the U.S. June 13 on Vagrant.

>> Since we just got back from our weekend away it is exceedingly unlikely we will venture out of our hobbit hole tonight to see Film School, despite enjoying their eponymous EP and the accolades from Chromewaves. The good news is Bradley's Almanac is on the case and will be recording the show and attempting to post it sooner rather than later. Watch this space.

Today's Hotness: The Concretes, Okay Paddy, Powering Down

:: clicky clicky music blog :: will be powered down from now until Monday night, as we're heading out of town. But fret not, here's a last batch of Today's Hotness to get you through.

>> Pfork reports here that Swede pop octet The Concretes have cancelled the rest of their tour due to an illness that has befallen frontwoman Victoria Bergsman. Um… could you go back to Sweden and send Logh and The Wannadies back over instead?

>> Under-appreciated indie rock geniuses Okay Paddy have posted here an acoustic set from singer and guitarist Mike Quinn, recorded May 2 at The Fire in Philly. The files are a little quiet, but otherwise it is great to hear different, stripped-down takes of the tunes on the band's recently issued gem The Cactus Has A Point, which we reviewed here in February.

>> The New York Times has a nice profile of erstwhile Television fronter Tom Verlaine here.

>> That one riff about three minutes into the new Sonic Youth song "The Neutral" really calls to mind Wings' "Jet," don't it?

Free Range Music: Varsity Drag

You know what's great? Former Lemonhead Ben Deily's latest band Varsity Drag. The UK Lemonheads page pointed us over to the band's minty fresh, three-days-old MySpace page where there is the usual quartet of tracks streaming -- and available for download. The quintet, which features Deily on vocals and guitar, just released a nine-track punk-pop workout titled For Crying Out Loud. We loves The Dand, fer sher, but the majority of our favorite pre-Atlantic Lemonheads cuts were sung by Deily, you know, like "Ever" and "Anyway."

Well, all the Varsity Drag tracks have that same vibe, and if you're a fan of Deily's Lemonheads stuff, you'll like this. We never listened to Deily and his brother's post-Lemonheads project PODS, we should try to dig some of that stuff up. Here's an interesting tidbit from Deily's web site: Apparently he hasn't seen any royalties from Taang for about ten years, even though the 'Heads Taang catalog still moves units. We just bought a copy of Hate Your Friends last month. Anyway, here are some links to the MP3s posted at Varsity Drag's MySpace drive-thru. We recommend "Skinny Ties" and "Summertime":

"Skinny Ties"
"Billy Ruane"
"Summertime"
"Miles of Ocean"

Today's Hotness: Goldfrapp, Voxtrot, Joan Of Arc

>> If you or your Tivo are staying up tonight later than, say, LOST, electropop luminaries Goldfrapp will be performing on David Letterman's late-night gum-flapper. Additionally, Goldfrapp recently recorded a set for KEXP that you can access right here.

>> Austin, Texas-based indie pop revivalists Voxtrot sent an email pointing out that the nice folks that operate Schedule Two have posted videos of the band performing live here. The files are in Quicktime and if you've got one of those so-called IPods that plays the moving pictures on it you can apparently "download" the files to "it." Great video and great sound quality. These Schedule Two guys really have got it going on. Voxtrot hits the road May 20 for 10 days of dates. You can find all details at the band's MySpace dungeon here.

>> Avant indie rockers Joan of Arc will mark the 10-year anniversary of its first show by issuing two new records, the odds 'n' sods set The Intelligent Design Of Joan Of Arc and a record of new material titled Eventually, All At Once. Both records street July 25.

YouTube Rodeo: Operation Ivy's "Yellin' In My Ear"

We're feeling pretty uninspired this evening and all we want to do is listen to the new discs we got along with the newish Tim Lauben cuts at his MySpace [here] while we read the Beastie Boys book we got in the mail yesterday. In lieu of actual researched and drafted editorial content this evening we're offering some vintage stuff. And whoulda thunk it? There's a bunch of Operation Ivy on YouTube. Most of the clips are really bad quality, but here's the proto ska-core act doing "Yellin' In My Ear." Op Ivy's Energy record was the soundtrack to a lot of high school summer days.

Free Range Music: Dinosaur Jr., The Raconteurs

Some great stuff over at AOL Music's pre-release album stream corral this week, although perhaps not as great as we like. We feel a little conflicted stating that we are somewhat disappointed with the Dinosaur Jr. reissues that street tomorrow. The original records are excellent by most every standard. But the amount of bonus material appended to the reissues is downright uninspiring. Sure, the extra gloss here and the starker vocals there are a nice touch and make for an interesting listen. We think we hear a pulsing harmonic buried in the verse of the remastered version of "The Wagon" on Green Mind that is particularly interesting. The epic-length, shreddin' version of "What Else Is New" that closes the reissue of Where You Been was new to us, but not new to many. On the whole the reissues don't really offer any sort of new experience with or take on the material. We'll reserve our final judgement on the records until we get the pre-orders in the mail and strap on the fancy headphones.

Also over at AOL Music this week is the stream for the debut of hotly tipped supergroup (well, if you think Brendan Benson is in the same neighborhood of "super" as Jack White, we guess) The Raconteurs. Broken Boy Soldiers clocks in at just over a half hour and is a nice set of rock and roll numbers. We recommend streaming this one, particularly the Deep Purple-tastic "Store Bought Bones." Three links to hot streams below.

Dinosaur Jr. -- Green Mind -- Rhino
Dinosaur Jr. -- Where You Been -- Rhino
The Raconteurs -- Broken Boy Soldiers -- V2

Today's Hotness: The Concretes, The City On Film, Guns N' Roses

>> BrooklynVegan here confirms something postulated here by BadmintonStamps last week, namely that The Concretes were robbed of a lot of crucial gear while in NYC late last week. The act played here in Boston earlier that week, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that Bradley's Almanac will post the set sometime soon [Looks like The 'Nac missed the show, but you can expect a Mogwai set to be posted sometime soon. Dig it]. Incidentally, MarathonPacks saw The Concretes in Chicago over the weekend. He doesn't particularly like the new record and here says he thought the live Concretes spectacle lacked a whole lot of, well, spectacle.

>> PunkNews here points to the sad news the Bob Nanna, the driving force behind notable indie acts such as Friction, Braid, Hey Mercedes and his current project The City On Film, is fighting lymphoma.

>> "Hey where's Tommy? Someone find Tommy, We're out on the road..."

>> It was a big day for the :: clicky clicky :: inbox today. This morning's mail at the day job brought The Boo Radleys' amazing 1992 set Everything's Alright Forever. The afternoon drop-off brought Refused's Refused Are F*cking Dead DVD, the 33 1/3 Series book about Beastie Boys' 1989 set Paul's Boutique (we've already read the first 12 pages and it is fascinating) and Boyracer's newly issued double CD retrospective Punker Than You In '92, which has SEVENTY FIVE tracks. Yes, you read that right. Anyway, we are excited to plough through all that. But wait, we got home from work and found packages including the forthcoming Sonic Youth and The Walkmen records. We've already had the Sonic Youth for months, but, yowza, that's a lot of great records for one day.

MA State Of Emergency YouTube Rodeo

It's raining like hell in New England, and has been for a couple days. We don't recommend going outside anytime soon. So if the simultaneous "Brady Bunch" and "Gilmore Girls" marathons aren't cutting it for you anymore, then we've got the antidote in the form of this list of musical goodnesses found on the YouTube.

Here's the campy video for XTC's classic "Making Plans For Nigel." Here's a disjointed video of Royal City performing in the U.K. shot just weeks before the excellent Canadian alt.country act disbanded. Here is Mclusky performing live in Phoenix, Ariz. their high-energy and definitely potty-mouthed screamer "Light Saber C*ck Sucking Blues." For the other side of the Mclusky coin, here is the video for the defunct Scottish trio's upbeat pop number "She Will Only Bring You Happiness," a song which, if you're asking, wouldn't be out of place of Mock Orange's very good First EP of a few years back. Let's see, what else... Here's the last 90 seconds of the recently re-activated Superchunk performing "Precision Auto" at SXSW earlier this year. And here's the first 40 seconds or so. Here's the video for The Sundays' breakthrough tune "Here's Where The Story Ends." We remember being very disappointed to learn in the early '90s that the act's singer Harriet Wheeler was married to the guitar player in the band. Finally, there's a large contingent of Stone Roses videos on YouTube, and you could very easily kill an evening just watching those. Here's "Elephant Stone" to get you started.

Rack And Opinion: Release Date 5.16.06

It's a pretty big week for new releases. Well, old releases. Rhino issues remastered and weakly expanded versions of the first two major label Dinosaur Jr. releases. A big deal to us, because 1991's Green Mind was what turned us onto Dinosaur in the first place. Also jump into the way-back machine for the newly collected The Best of Material Issue, a disc celebrating an indie rock trio from the late '80s and '90s that probably deserves more respect than it gets. Speaking of bands sort of lost in the sands of time, The Wonder Stuff have a new set. As does the latest incarnation of Damon Che's math rock behemoth Don Caballero. The latest from Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers is likely one of the strongest new sets hitting racks this week, although we haven't heard a note of it yet. Finally, it's worth pointing out that French electropop dreamers Hypo have a new record out on Active Suspension that you'll hopefully be able to find in the import bin sooner rather than later. Other notable electronic artists with new discs this week: Morgan Geist and Manual. All of these and our other picks for best releases of the week are listed below, with links going to relative commercial opportunities via our aromatherapists over at Insound.

Don Caballero -- World Class Listening Problem -- Relapse
Dinosaur Jr. -- Green Mind -- Rhino
Dinosaur Jr. -- Where You Been -- Rhino
Espers -- Espers II -- Drag City
Morgan Geist - Most of All -- Environ
Hypo and EDH - The Correct Use of Pets -- Active Suspension
Manual - Bajamar -- Darla
Material Issue -- 20th Century Masters: The Best of Material Issue -- Mercury
The Raconteurs -- Broken Boy Soldiers -- Third Man/V2
The Twilight Singers -- Powder Burns -- One Little Indian
The Wonder Stuff -- Suspended By Stars -- IRL

Review: Sonic Youth | Rather Ripped

What is there to say about the forthcoming Sonic Youth record? It certainly is very good, and just about as good as anything the legendary alternative act has done this decade. We fear the band is slipping into the same groove as Stereolab, which is to say the band has proven its music dependably good and compelling for so long that, well, it is sometimes more interesting to talk about personnel changes than the records we all know will be very good. Yes, Kim Gordon sings more on this one than on recent records. Yes, Jim O'Rourke has moved on and former Pavement bassist and Free Kitten member Mark Ibold will apparently be manning the four-string for the Youth summer tour. Yes, the band was on "Gilmore Girls" last week. Yes, that was pretty weird. But what to say about the music on Rather Ripped?

It's a very listenable set, roundly excellent and something we expect we'll play to death by the end of the summer. The music seems even more coventional than that found on the 2004 set, Sonic Nurse, which in turn was somewhat more conventional than Murray Street. In places on Rather Ripped the guitar work recalls Unrest ("Reena"), The Velvet Underground ("Sleepin' Around") and even The Allman Brothers (at the front end of the solo on "Incinerate"), but for the most part the set reliably delivers the classic jousting of Thurston Moore's and Lee Ranaldo's guitars. The conventionality of the arrangements is perhaps most evident on Moore's "Do You Believe In Rapture?" and the Gordon-sung opener "Reena." Skip ahead to "What A Waste" and "Rats" for the familiar discordance and vitriol. The set's most singular number is Moore's beat poetry-inflected and hypnotic rumination "Or." Rather Ripped is as reliable as summer, and is probably as good a summer alternative rock record as you'll hear this year. No need to sell this record too hard: We know you'll be buying anyway. Rather Ripped streets June 13.

[Stream Rather Ripped here]
[Pre-order Rather Ripped from Insound here]

Today's Hotness: Thom Yorke, Stars, Rain Is Wet

>> If, like us, you were puzzled by this link at Radiohead's Dead Air Space blog, Stereogum has tracked down this explanation at Radiohead fan site GreenPlastic.com. Apparently The Eraser is the name of the once-rumored and now actualized (apparently NME has secured confirmation) Thom Yorke solo record. The set was produced and arranged by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich and is apparently heavily geared toward "beats & electronics." The loop at The Eraser web site sounds more like something Colleen would throw together, but whatevs. The set contains nine tracks and will be released July 11 on XL. Could XL also be in the running to issue the forthcoming Radiohead set? Incidentally, Dead Air Space also indicated that it was the death of Radiohead drummer Phil Selway's mother that caused the band to postpone a live date in Amsterdam earlier this week.

>> According to this Billboard piece, Canadian baroque pop luminaries Stars aim to begin writing material for a new record in September and hope to enter the studio in January to record the follow-up to its roundly excellent 2005 release Set Yourself On Fire. Of course, the very same article says Stars co-fronter Amy Millan will be touring in support of her forthcoming solo set Honey From The Tombs in late September and October, so who knows how much writing will get done in September. Millan's folk-influenced set streets at the end of the month in Canada and in the States in August.

>> According to a brief MySpace bulletin, Michigan based indie trio Rain Is Wet is either broken up or on hiatus. Which is too bad, because their track "Concept" is one of the favorite random finds we ever made on the MySpace.

>> Swedophile Chromewaves points to this page which links to a video for The Concretes AM Gold popper "On The Radio," among others. Seriously, how charming is this band?

YouTube Rodeo: Afghan Whigs' "Honky's Ladder"

The mid-'90s were a curious time in which we made a lot of mistakes, and one of those mistakes was ignoring the Afghan Whigs' stunning Black Love record because we were turned off by what we deemed at the time its "overblown concept." The fact that the record was on a major label at a time when we were charged with upholding our college radio station's quasi-official anti-corporate policy also didn't help. As a result it wasn't until several years ago that we finally sat down and listened to the entire record. Totally amazing. The rap among our peers on songwriter Greg Dulli, who also records with a combo called The Twilight Singers and released a record under his own name last year, was that his songs were concerned with concepts of decay and betrayal almost to the point of absurdity. But oh, the tragically and beautifully mournful things that man can sing... Exhibit A being the line "won't you take me up there with you / you said you would" from the big single from Black Love, "Honky's Ladder." Here's Dulli and the Whigs performing the track on Conan O'Brien's late night gum-flapper. It's a transfixing performance. As an added bonus, here is the Whigs doing a live version of the Black Love track "Faded" at some German music festival a while back. Enjoy.

Today's Hotness: Boards Of Canada, Juana Molina, Ingenting

>> Warp Records is promoting Scottish electronic duo Boards Of Canada's forthcoming Trans Canada Highway EP with a video trailer of sorts that you can access here. Just a warning that the trailer mashes together a lot of disparate imagery, including some pretty vivid, well, pornography about three-quarters of the way through the clip. So if you don't want to see people doing things that you don't like seeing, don't click through the link. Trans Canada Highway streets on the most Satanic release date of the century, 6/6/6. You can download the video for its lead track "Dayvan Cowboy" here.

>> We don't think we've reported that erstwhile Argentine TV star and current electronic music goddess Juana Molina releases her fourth record Son June 5 in the U.K., and presumably the following day in the U.S. The set apparently features percussive vocals not unlike beat-boxing along with other things approaching scat singing to go along with Ms. Molina's usual hypnotic instrumentation. Which frankly sounds awesome. In related news, Molina's Domino labelmates Archie Bronson Outfit release a new single in early July. The blues-rockers' "Dead Funny" hits racks in the U.K. July 3.

>> We don't know any Swedish, so we can't really tell you anything about Swedish indie pop act [ingenting]'s tune "Slapp In Solen" except that it is really, really good. The tune is from the band's recently released five-song EP Sommardagboken, which was issued by dominating Swedish pop merchants Labrador.

[ingenting] -- "Slapp In Solen"
[right click and save as]

Review: Meneguar | I Was Born At Night (Reissue/Remaster)

When a record is remixed or remastered the general wisdom is that the process makes improvements by correcting some deficiency in the original product. In our opinion Magic Bullet's 2005 issue of Brooklyn noise rockers Meneguar's I Was Born At Night is amazing and can't be improved, so we were curious how we would receive Troubleman Unlimited's reissue, which streets June 6. The record, in case you haven't read our frequent raves over the last year, is seven songs of brawling, feels-good-feelin'-bad indie rock, like the Archers Of Loaf with brokener hearts and a touch of 'roid rage. I Was Born At Night includes *the* anthem of 2005, "The Temp," among other rockers. Can a reissue improve on that? Is the new version better?

Maybe a little. More importantly the reissue promises to get the record in the hands of a lot more fans than Magic Bullet's more limited initial release. The reissue adds some newly recorded guitar parts here and there and overall the sound is remarkably cleaner, with each sonic element stretching out into more clearly defined and roomy headspace. That said, we think the muddier, grittier original mixes ably served the power and energy of the music. The only place the proverbial sprucing up actually detracts from the original is on "The Temp." Polishing up the tune's component parts removes some of the roughness that underscores the desperate vibe the song conveys and somehow diminishes the entire sonic scale of the song. Bottom line: I Was Born At Night was already awesome. Having listened to the original a few hundred times in the last year, the reissue to us is primarily interesting from an academic standpoint. If you love the record as much as we do, you'll enjoy hearing it in a new and different light. If you've never heard it, you'll be grateful to finally get your hands on one of the top records of 2005.

[Pre-order I Was Born At Night from Amazon here. Incidentally, Amazon claims they can also sell you a new copy of the Magic Bullet version, but we would be very cautious about trying it: Many times we have ordered out-of-print indie rock from Amazon only to enter an endless purgatory of emails and the order never shipping. Just sayin.' Amazon points to some folks selling the Magic Bullet version used -- that's likely a better bet.]

Today's Hotness: A-Sides, Pedro The Lion, Sonic Youth

>> It's been a busy time of late for fave Philly quintet The A-Sides, who report recently getting screwed by an unnamed record label they thought they had a deal with. The label apparently reneged on agreed-upon recording funds the band had earmarked for recording its highly anticipated (at least around here) sophomore set. Well, the band has soldiered on and as of April 19 they planned to enter Miner Street Studios for three weeks to make the new record. Who knows, maybe it's all done now. So now the band has to start looking for a label again. All you label people out there reading -- The A-Sides are a hot act, you'd be doing yourself a favor to hook up with them. Anyway, more details about the band's goings-on can be read here.

>> Jade Tree is giving a proper digital release to Pedro The Lion's formerly tour-only and now out-of-print Tour EP 2004, which is best-known around these parts for containing a stirring and reverent cover of Radiohead's "Let Down," a highlight from the latter acts groundbreaking release OK Computer. Beginning today the EP will be on sale via ITunes and EMusic and other digital storefronts. Be the first on your block to own it in official digital form. In addition, word just hit the inbox that head lion David Bazan, who recently dropped the Pedro The Lion moniker with the departure of T.W. Walsh from his touring unit, is set to release an all new EP entitled Fewer Moving Parts. The release will have five songs and be issued in two versions, one acoustic and the other fully bandilated. Bazan has a short stint of live dates next month. Check 'em out:

06/15 -- Chicago, IL -- Schubas Tavern
06/16 -- Cleveland Hts, OH -- The Grog Shop
06/17 -- Toronto, ON -- Music Gallery
06/18 -- Montreal, QC -- Mile End Cultural Centre
06/19 -- Cambridge, MA -- T.T. The Bear's Place
06/20 -- Brooklyn, NY -- Southpaw
06/21 -- Hoboken, NJ -- Maxwell's
06/22 -- Philadelphia, PA -- World Cafe Live
06/23 -- Washington, DC -- Black Cat Backstage
06/24 -- Pittsburgh, PA -- Club Cafe

>> Pfork today reported here some news under the guise of reminding every one that Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo were on "Gilmore Girls" tonight. Apparently former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold will be playing the bass guitar for Sonic Youth on the legendary rockers' summer tour. That's interesting, right?

>> Anybody understand why NME here is referring to Delaware-based pop savants Spinto Band as a "Mississippi Delta six-piece"? Yeah, us neither.

Rack And Opinion: Release Date 5.9.06

Faithful readers may have noticed we skipped Rack And Opinion last week. There simply wasn't anything that tempted us. Case in point being that we actually did go to the record store last week, but instead of anything new we brought home They Might Be Giants' Flood (1990; still awesome) and Juliana Hatfield's Become What You Are (1993; now we remember why we sold it nine years ago). But this week there are some pretty great records to be had for the asking. And for the dough. Apparently Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock & Roll gets reissued domestically today, and it is full of hits ("Emily Kane," "Good Weekend"). And Matmos' new long-player is typically excellent, long on interesting sounds (typewriters, snails and lasers, anyone?) and heady concepts (auditory portraits of prominent historic gay figures). And then there's the solid swan song from Grandaddy. So why not get to the store this week. Our picks of what to buy are below, with relevant hyperlinks to related commercial opportunities from our former KFC co-workers over at Insound.

Art Brut -- Bang Bang Rock & Roll -- Downtown
Grandaddy -- Just Like the Fambly Cat -- [listen]
Matmos -- The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast -- Matador [listen]
Serena Maneesh -- Serena Maneesh -- Play Louder

Free Range Music: Grandaddy, Matmos, Pinback, Lilys

>> Our favorite Grandaddy track will probably always be a live bootleg track of them doing Pavement's "Here" that we got off the Napster machine in 2000 or so. Great track. And "Summer Here Kids," man, that's also a great track. Anyway, we can't help be a little wistful listening to the Northern Cali band's swan song Just Like The Fambly Cat, which is among the most interesting records AOL is pimping this week in its latest batch of pre-release album streams at AOL Music. A single listen doesn't reveal any track that will usurp the aforementioned pair's positions in our affection, but there is a lot of pleasant acoustic strummery and distorted rock and rollery. We dig the tracks "Rear View Mirror" and "Summer... It's Gone," which offers a tidy bookend to "Summer Here Kids." There's even a nice slab of synth-pop ("Skateboarding Saves Me Twice").

Also this week the latest opus from electronic provocateurs Matmos finally hits racks. These guys blew our mind with A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure and their work on Bjork's Vespertine set. Each of the tracks on the new set The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast is a sonic portrait of someone the electronic duo admires. As such there is a track for :: clicky clicky :: fiction-writing fave Patricia Highsmith ("Snails And Lasers," which we think we read was actually composed using snails activating various sounds via lasers), another one dedicated to William S. Burroughs (which is interrupted at the two-minute mark by a dreadful gun shot), and a third devoted to long-gone Germs fronter Darby Crash, among others.

Finally, Josh Wink's Profound Sounds Vol. 3 includes a trancey recasting of Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place" that you may want to spin if you've got some extra time on your hands. Catch the streams for all three records at the links below.

Grandaddy -- Just Like The Fambly Cat -- V2
Matmos -- The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast -- Matador
Josh Wink -- Profound Sounds Vol. 3 -- System

>> Bradley's Almanac has posted future-poppers Pinback's set from this past Saturday night at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Grab the files at The 'Nac here or stream the set via The Hype Machine here.

>> Lilys have posted the track "Colorful Acts" at its MySpace domicile here. The track has never had domestic U.S. release, but did appear on the eponymous U.K. set from 2004 that was pretty much just a re-jiggered version of Precollections with the aforementioned "Colorful Acts" and three other non-U.S. cuts. Incidentally, Kurt Heasley told us earlier this year there could be some neat import singles coming right about now. Keep an eye out.

YouTube Moment Of Shoegaze Zen: Hartfield

Searching the term "shoegaze" on YouTube turns up some remarkable stuff, including old Chapterhouse, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive videos, among other things. But one video caught our attention: a Japanese band called Hartfield doing a number called "Today Forever." You may recall Today Forever is the exceptional EP that British shoegaze dynamo Ride released between its two incredible records Nowhere and the awesomely titled Going Blank Again. Anyway, the prospect that an upstart Japanese act had covered the song "Today" [video on YouTube here, incidentally] from Today Forever prompted us to watch the video. Alas, the song is not a Ride cover, and the video features some blatant over-emoting by singing/guitar playing dood Taka.

That said, the track, which is from Hartfield's 2004 EP L.I.B.R.A., is as sugary a slice of dream-pop as we have heard in quite a while (well, prior to receiving the new Asobi Seksu record, anyway). You know what would be an awesome tour? Asobi Seksu and Hartfield. Somebody get to work on putting that together. Sadly, Asobi Seksu and several of our other current favorite acts are all touring through the Boston area when we will be in Jamaica for a wedding in June. That sucks. But anyway, watch the video for Hartfield's "Today Forever," because it is a great song. You can also stream it here at the band's MySpace hizzy.

Review: Asobi Seksu | Citrus

Let's just jump ahead to the part where you don't believe that Asobi Seksu's new record can possibly be as good as we say it is, and then we say, "It is. It really, really is." The Brooklyn-based nu-gaze act's triumphant sophomore record, which is now streaming in full at the band's site here, surpasses expectations to such an extent that it even delivers on promises made and broken by other bands years ago. If you were disappointed with second efforts from Velocity Girl, fourth efforts from Ride, or never-released efforts by the elephant in the shoegaze room, My Bloody Valentine, Asobi Seksu is here to take you in the crushing embrace of its distortion, reverb and melodies and soothe your tormented, savage breast.

Citrus is an unbroken strand of winners, 12 tracks of guitar-heavy indie pop that glisten as they crumble down around you in layers of alternately skeletal and pounding guitars, thickly applied fuzz bass and icy synths. The record touts both dynamic and punchy pop numbers ("Goodbye," "Nefi+Girly") and textured and gorgeous slow-burning dreamscapes ("Exotic Animal Paradise," "Red Sea" -- which we currently have posted over at Two And 1/2 Pounds Of Bacon). Citrus, a :: clicky clicky :: Now Sound Fave (see right-hand column), streets May 30 on Friendly Fire, which is already taking pre-orders here.

Free Range Music: Psapp, Lemonheads, Texas Is The Reason

>>Reigning cutest band in the world Psapp Monday premieres a video at MTVu, whatever that is. Is it a network? Is it a web site? If you ask us, the world was a better place when rock on the TV came in two flavors, MTV and VH-1. Anyway, the U.K.-based duo have distro'd this currently dead hyperlink, and if you go there Monday morning you should be able to watch the video for a track we think is called "Hi" from the band's forthcoming set The Only Thing I Ever Wanted. We've enjoyed prior Psapp videos, a wacky amalgamation of animated pen and ink drawings, and we've got high hopes for this one. The Only Thing I Ever Wanted streets in the U.S. June 13.

>> Registered members of the Lemonheads forums at the UK Lemonheads fan site Lemonheads.co.uk can (and should) access a stellar live radio set from the band recorded in April 1990 at MIT in Cambridge, MA. The set spans the 'Heads catalog to that point and includes hot performances of "Stove," "Hate Your Friends," "Mallo Cup" and, yes, "Luka." It's particularly of interest to us because the set captures the band at the apex of its punky, giant electric guitar period, before chief Lemonhead Evan Dando started interspersing more folksy stuff into his records. Highly recommended. As reported previously, Dando has signed a new version of his band to Vagrant and intends to issue a new record before the year is out. We only hope it rocks as hard as this live set.

>> Here's a riddle of sorts: is rare-ish video of the short-lived '90s emo supergroup Texas Is The Reason inherently good just because it is rare and of "Dressing Cold," a tune from the band's excellent self-titled EP? Or is it bad because the sound-quality sort of blows and the performance a little stiff? We'll let you judge for yourselves:

Today's Hotness: Dinosaur Jr., Measles Mumps Rubella, Bloc Party

>> This post at the FreakScene forums today points to a recent update from Lou Barlow who says that he and Murph finished tracking seven songs for the forthcoming Dinosaur Jr. set during Dinosaur's sessions in Amherst earlier this year. J. is apparently still working on the guitars and vocals for those tracks, and hopefully a few more are in the works because, you know, seven tunes do not a rock album make, you know? There's various and sundry other tidbits in Lou's update, too, including a status report of sorts on the planned Domino reissue of Sebadoh III. Check it all out here.

>> Beastie Boy Ad Rock has signed on to remix a track for awkwardly monikered dance-punkers Measles Mumps Rubella. The cut will be included on the band's planned single "Dynamic Disaster," which is expected to hit retail this summer, and presumably its a version of "Dynamic Disaster." But who knows, right? Incidentally, MMR commenced a two-week tour of North America. Hit their web site to see if they are coming to your town.

>> Billboard reports here that Brit indie wunderkinds Bloc Party will begin recording their sophomore set in Ireland shortly. The record is expected to be issued by Vice/Atlantic before year's end. Apparently the band has been listening to a lot of Bowie, although it's anybody's guess whether that will be apparent in the new set.

>> How about some Free Range Music? If you are feeling the latest salvo from arena rockers Pearl Jam, AOL Music has an exclusive set from the Jammers that apparently includes a pretty thorough interview segment. Here's the link.

Primal Scream <3's The Wannadies?

Presuming the graphic above the item for the new Primal Scream single Pfork reviewed in its Tracks section this morning is the art for the single (and it is, we just checked), we think it is worth pointing out the whole eerie dreamer/corpse girl imagery is straight-up ganked from our favorite Swedish popsters The Wannadies (seriously, have you heard the song "Hit"?). The latter act's "Hit," "Shorty" and "Someone Somewhere" singles, Bagsy Me album and the self-titled hits collection of 1997 all featured such images. Even the font is the same. What gives? Perhaps we'll do some research... or perhaps not.

But anybody with any insight feel free to leave a comment. Or if anybody has all of the Wannadies stuff as 12"s with album jackets in good condition, we think they'd look really cool hung on our wall. Unfortunately the vinyl appears to be selling for between $40 and $110 USD on the Interweb. We need to move to the U.K.

Crazy man, crazy.

Coming To Your Local Bandstand: The Futureheads

Within days of their forthcoming set News And Tributes hitting racks in the good ol' U.S. of A The Futureheads will spring into action and bring their guitar-alicious and angular pop to concert halls from coast to coast over the course of two hot weeks. Vagrant says more dates will be lined up in July as well. News And Tributes streets in the U.S. June 13.

06/15 –- Vancouver, BC –- Commodore Ballroom
06/16 –- Seattle, WA –- Neumos
06/18 –- San Francisco, CA -– Fillmore
06/19 –- Los Angeles, CA –- Henry Fonda Theatre
06/23 –- Dallas, TX –- Gypsy Ballroom
06/24 –- Austin, TX –- La Zona Rosa
06/26 –- Atlanta, GA -– The Loft
06/27 –- Carrboro, NC -– Cats Cradle
06/28 –- Washington, DC -– 9:30 Club
06/30 –- New York, NY –- Webster Hall
07/01 –- Boston, MA –- Paradise Rock Club

Today's Hotness: Radiohead, Okay Paddy, Replacements

>> NME reports here that three new Radiohead songs performed yesterday by Mssrs. Yorke and Greenwood at an environmental benefit show in the UK have found their way online. The new numbers are titled "Arpeggi," "Body Snatchers" and "Cymbal Rush." We suspect you'll be able to find these widely dispersed via Hype Machine by the time this sentence gets online [we just doublechecked and voila! The Rawking Refuses To Stop has the hookup, YSI stizz]. We've had a different live version of "Arpeggi" on our IPod from a Radiohead appearance at the Ether Festival in March 2005, so we can already tell you that is a great, Philip Glass-ish tune. We look forward to hearing the others as soon we get done this post.

>> Clicky Clicky favorite Okay Paddy will be playing a live set on Jon Solomon's radio show on WPRB Princeton May 24th at 8PM. As always, the set will be archived here at KeepingScoreAtHome.com. You should tune in or catch the stream here. Speaking of Solomon's show, last week's episode included some great new tunes by The Swimmers, whose tune "Heaven" you can stream here, and the new JoJo Sweenzo project The Drug Byrds. Nowhere to point to for that act just yet, unfortunately. Just twiddle those thumbs and pine, pine, pine...

>> Mats fans will get a chance to hear the two new "Replacements" songs ("Message To The Boys" and "Pool & Dive") Thursday when they are premiered on radio program The Jim Rome Show. The songs were recorded by the surviving replacements and guests late last year. The Jim Rome Show starts at noon Eastern Standard Time and Westerberg and Tommy are slated to call in -- catch the stream here. If that is too much remembering to do, apparently Rhino also has samples of the tunes sitting right here. Rhino releases Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best Of The Replacements June 16.

>> Incidentally, in case you just awoke from a coma or something, Billboard's got your Sonic Youth summer tour dates here. No Boston show? Really? And BrooklynVegan's got your Radiohead tour dates here. Why not play the Orpheum instead, lads? And while we're dreaming, how about some free tickets up front?

Free Range Music: Neil Young, Mobius Band, Less Good Stuff

>> It's one of those sorta dull weeks over at AOL Music's pre-release album stream depot. We already reviewed and linked to the Neil Young joint here over the weekend, so that doesn't count. This morning we sampled the new Charlatans UK, Pearl Jam and Ministry records, and nothing was really jumping out at us. The Pearl Jam joint sounds a bit like their excellent Vitalogy, which is always a good thing. If you know us well then you've probably heard the story about how KurtDog stuck a copy of Vitalogy in our trousers at a party in 1994 or so as part of a poorly thought-out scheme to abscond with the record. We gave up on the Ministry pretty easily, but mostly because we weren't in the mood: The anti-Bush sloganeering seemed pretty sophomoric, not that we disagree with it. Anyway, if you are curious, here are links to the more interesting streams:

The Charlatans UK -- Simpatico
Ministry -- Rio Grande Blood
Pearl Jam -- Pearl Jam
Neil Young -- Living With War

>> Fortunately, after that sort of disappointing slate of new releases, we've got an oldie but a goody to lift your spirits. Better late than never our pals in The Mobius Band have posted a video for the title track to their most recent set The Loving Sounds Of Static. For those of you who have been keeping track, "The Loving Sounds Of Static" was one of our top-five favorite jammitos of 2005. Here's the video linked below. We don't really understand the concept, but at least the band looks cool, right? Dig it: