Today's Hotness: Frightened Rabbit, The Beatings, Assembly Now

>> BrooklynVegan isn't saying how it knows (oh wait, here is the confirmation at Fat Cat)... Anyway, BrooklynVegan reports here that roundly excellent Glaswegian indie trio Frightened Rabbit has signed to Fat Cat, which is already home to acts including Mice Parade and The Twilight Sad. Frightened Rabbit's debut Sings The Greys, yet to be released in the U.S., is currently being remastered by indie go-to guy Alan Douches, and Fat Cat plans to issue the remastered version this fall. That release will be preceded by a single, the album track "Be Less Rude." The band is working with producer Peter Katis (Interpol, Mobius Band) on material for a sophomore record. We've already heard some demos of new stuff and can say there are hot songs in the works. You can download Frightened Rabbit's original three-song demo from Fat Cat's demo archive here. The band has one U.S. date slated, June 24 at the Mercury Lounge in New York. Here's an MP3 of "Go Go Girls" from the 2006 issue of Sings The Greys, courtesy of the upstanding citizens over at the Self Starter Foundation.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Go Go Girls" -- Sings The Greys (2006)
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>> A lot of news out of the Midriff Records camp. About 18 months on the heels of the release of the record that spawned it, Boston noise-rock quartet The Beatings' blistering fist-pumper "Feel Good Ending" has been given a video treatment. The tune was one of several highlights of the 2006 release Holding On To Hand Grenades, and you can watch the video clip here. As we reported previously, The Beatings have begun work on the follow-up to Hand Grenades. You can see forthcoming tour dates at the band's MySpace lean-to here. Beatings side project E.R. will release an digital-only EP entitled ...And The Thunder Chief June 26. The short stack features five new tracks and will only be available via the Midriff Records web site. And finally, The Spanish Armada, the most recent backing band of E.R.'s Eldridge Rodriguez, will release an album on Midriff this fall. Dig the video for "Feel Good Ending"? Here's the MP3:

The Beatings -- "Feel Good Ending" -- Holding On To Hand Grenades
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>> That forthcoming Assembly Now single we mentioned last week? It's going to be for the track "Graphs Maps & Trees," which has been streaming for some time on the London quartet's MySpace player. The single will be issued in early August on 7-inch vinyl. Once the vinyl run is exhausted, the tune will be available for sale via digital storefronts including ITunes. This all according to a MySpace bulletin from the band a week ago.

>> Pitchfork reports here that Pink Floyd's 1967 debut The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn is being expanded and reissued by EMI. The three-disc set will contain stereo and mono mixes of the album, four singles from that period, and other rarities. Full details here. We already bought one reissue of the album, and we don't think we need another one. We'll see.

>> Our new favorite podcast? Glad you asked. Apparently the Touch label has had a podcast going back to 2005. We just got on board with the most recent episode, which is field recordings from the Island of Islay in the Scottish Hebrides. There's a bit too much narration for our tastes, but I guess with field recordings you do need a certain amount of context. But anyway, check out the site for TouchRadio here, and try a few of the podcasts. We're digging episode 25 -- it's like the last minute of "CBS Sunday Morning" where they show wild red foxes just chillin' for sixty seconds, except longer.