Today's Hotness: The Decemberists, TV On The Radio, Sparklehorse

>> The promotional machine that will drive The Decemberists' forthcoming major label debut The Crane Wife is cranking up, and you can stream the accordion-tastic strummer "Summersong" from the new set at one of the following tasty links: RM | WM. The Crane Wife streets Oct. 3 on Capitol, and the band embarks on a month's worth of live dates Oct. 17. Massachusetts dates including a Halloween show at The Calvin in Northampton and a show at The Orpheum Nov. 4. Finally, here's a link to YouTube video of something called The Crane Wife Photo Shoot; it's pretty self-explanatory, but also entertaining and relaxing. Check it out.

>> Brooklyn-based art rockers (we hate that term) TV On The Radio have sprung the video for the excellent track "Wolf Like Me" from the band's forthcoming tour de force Return To Cookie Mountain. You can watch the video here, but frankly we think the live YouTube video we posted a few weeks ago is far more compelling. We're just not so into when a band works the funny angle, which TVOTR does a little bit here. Incidentally, if you've followed our extended diatribe against Amazon.com regarding the online storefront's failure to deliver a promised (by the band and Amazon) pre-release album stream of Return To Cookie Mountain to people who pre-ordered the record, we still haven't received any satisfaction. We pre-ordered the record Aug. 24, and have yet to be given access to such a stream, despite the fact Amazon this afternoon announced a TV and movie download service (you'd think they'd fix one thing before biting off another). What we have received is lots of friendly emails from customer service reps. The most recent email came Sept. 4. We strongly suspect that the first time we hear this record will be when the pre-order arrives on our desks. Thanks for nothing, Mr. Bezos. Return To Cookie Mountain streets next week on Interscope.

>> Dirty On Purpose points us to NPR's All Songs Considered page, which in addition to Dirty On Purpose's "No Radio" features streams from the aforementioned TV On The Radio (maybe NPR can help out Amazon with their album stream problem?), Yo La Tengo and Sparklehorse. Check out the streams here -- we're really saying "yes" to the Sparklehorse tune "Knives Of Summertimes."