Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, RunRunner

>> Hi everyone. We have no idea why you are all here today. Our best guess is that everyone just realized 1) the new Johnny Foreigner record is on its way and 2) that we can't help but track the band's every move, and additionally there must have been some news having to do with '70s rockers Foreigner at the same time. Or maybe Google started hitting us in new and interesting ways today? Cards on the table, we usually get about 200 people a day here reading this stuff. It's 6:30 and we've already had that many while not really posting anything substantive today. Unusual.

>> Speaking of Johnny Foreigner, we cracked open our Technics SL-4 direct drive turntable today to spin the band's single that we received earlier this week in less than satisfactory condition, and we found the vinyl disc was pretty well warped on top of the jacket being messed up. HMV, you rock. Fortunately there was no audible problem, but it is easy to notice the edge of the single undulating as "Our Bipolar Friends" and then b-side "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You" unwind under the tone arm. Hot on the heels of selling out that single pretty much before it was even released March 10, the indie rock superheroes have posted their planned next single to its MySpace shack. The song is "Eyes Wide Terrified," and you may recall that the band had posted a stream of a radio session version of the track late last year. The studio version is a dramatic improvement (although we're still on the fence about the gang vocals at the breakdown at the end, the rest of the song is a real rocker), as guitars crash and bass pops in pleasing ways that were more muted in the radio performance. "Eyes Wide Terrified" will have two b-sides, the surprisingly still unknown to us (save for references on the psychogeographical map thingy) cuts "Ties Up Cats" and "Kandy Cane." The single will be issued as a limited release 7" -- some signed, and you can bet we're not ordering ours from the dolts at HMV again -- and digital download. No release date has been disclosed, but we do know that guitarist Alexei Berrow believes Johnny Foreigner's full-length debut will hit racks in June, so perhaps the single will come in May? Just speculating. Another interesting thing about June -- the band has no shows booked that month, according to MySpazz. That's odd, considering they have spent most of the year on the road and they are booked pretty solidly through the end of May, and then festival dates pick up in July. We can only guess that the band is going to spend the month doing press and relaxing. Or perhaps they'll do some international touring? Say to a large, largely English-speaking country with an incredibly unpopular president? We can only hope.

>> You know what we've been loving today, besides our new wireless router (which hasn't quite fixed our computing problems, so either Dell or Comcast are next on our sh** list)? Philadelphia power-pop trio RunRunner's new video for "Bad Timing," a highlight from the band's self-titled, self-released set that came out in 2006 or 2007, depending on where you looked for it. The clip below gives the band some concrete context for us. We thought RunRunner exhibited clear '80s power-pop influences (Plimsouls, etc.), but the somewhat drab colors and earnest performances in the video for "Bad Timing" seem particularly contemporary. We're hopeful that the clip draws a lot of new fans for the band, because we fear that the band will be yet another Philly act unable to break free of the city's invisible tractor beam. Check out the clip below, and read our review of the band's record here, which we posted almost exactly a year ago. And while we're at it, what the hell, here is the MP3 of "Bad Timing."

RunRunner -- "Bad Timing" -- RunRunner
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