Today's Hotness: It Hugs Back, Revelation Records, Henry Rollins

>> Letting go is hard to do. Especially when one of your favorite bands makes a groundbreaking recording, and then follows it up with something unexpected and dramatically different. Fans of the mercurial and chameleonic Lilys know what we are talking about. And to a certain extent we felt the same way when Dustin Reske of '90s dream pop heroes Rocketship left the world of sunshiney guitars to explore a more electronic palette. Last week we found something that filled the crater of certain unmet expectations whilst minding our own business listening to WMBR's delightful Breakfast Of Champions radio program. And that something is the latest single from It Hugs Back, "Work Day," the video of which we've embedded above. The Kent, England-based quartet's new single certainly reminds us of Rocketship, although in exploring its back catalog over the weekend it is notable that there is even a touch of Mission Of Burma to be found among the band's four prior singles. It Hugs Back isn't easily pigeonholed, however; "Early Evening" opens as an acoustic ballad that gradually gains steam and transforms into a light chime-studded rocker with overtones of Sufjan Stevens and Gastr Del Sol. "Work Day" was released by 4AD Sept. 29; 4AD and Too Pure, which put out the band's first four singles, merged in June. Another single is in the works, and both it and "Work Day" will appear on a planned 2009 debut full length release on 4AD. It Hugs Back's first four singles were collected up in April on The Record Room, which was issued on CD and in a limited-edition canvas bag, but can also be downloaded right here at EMusic. Highly recommended. Here's the A-side to its first single, the sold-out "Lights In The Trees," which was initially released by Too Pure in October 2006.

It Hugs Back -- "Lights In The Trees" -- "Lights In The Trees" b/w "Soft Spot"
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[buy It Hugs Back records from the band here or EMusic here]

>> Speaking of EMusic, there was a recent notable addition to the digital music storefront's offerings, the Revelation Records catalog. Revelation pretty much cornered the market on New York Hardcore and the bands that sought to continue its legacy. Among its titles are astonishingly good releases that every fan of heavy music should own, including the crucial first Texas Is The Reason single [link]; Youth Of Today's final and un-eff-withable "Disengage" single [link]; and Burn's chillingly awesome self-titled EP, featuring "Drown" [link]. Noticably absent? The first Shelter record, which featured Ray Cappo backed by members of 76% Uncertain.

>> We don't get IFC on our living room lightbox machine. But if we did, we can only think of one thing we'd watch on it, which is Henry Rollins' talk show. This month IFC is rolling out three new episodes of "Henry Rollins: Uncut," including a show looking at New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a show capturing Mr. Rollins doing his talking show in Northern Ireland and a show during which Rollins tours a South African Township. Clips of all three shows, as well as a heralded show filmed in Israel, is combined with clips from Rollins doing his spoken-word bit live in an amusing 20-minute video you can watch right here. If you've see Rollins on a recent talking date (we saw him in 2006) some of the stuff late in the video will be familiar to you. That said, his story of meeting his idol Ted Nugent is one of a few that is easy to watch over and over and over. And it has historical import, as Mr. Nugent's teetotaler status was a direct inspiration on the straightedge hardcore movement.

Today's Hotness: Revelation Records, Metal Hearts, Assembly Now

>> According to this engrossing interview with Revelation Records head Jordan Cooper, a second notable documentary about the hardcore punk scene -- in addition to the excellent "American Hardcore," this one focusing on the New York Hardcore scene that produced legendary acts like BURN, Quicksand, Judge and Bold -- has been underway for some time. Originally helmed by krsnacore posterboy and former Youth Of Today and Shelter fronter Ray Cappo, the film is nearly complete, although Cappo apparently had to switch his focus to his own work and family matters. Says Cooper, "I agreed to take it over and find someone to finish it which is something I'm in the process of doing. It will definitely come out, but there are more interviews to get and we're pretty much starting from scratch with the editing." We're particularly excited to see this, as by the time we got turned onto New York Hardcore in 1990, the scene was pretty much dead.

>> Notable neo-slowcore duo Metal Hearts has officially disbanded, according to this MySpace bulletin. Anar Badalov is busy with his new band Travels, which just released its first full length, while Flora Wolpert Checknoff is apparently traveling (weird coincidence, no?) and has posted some solo material online here. The erstwhile Baltimore-based act released the full-length Socialize in 2005 on Suicide Squeeze. We reviewed the record here. The title track is wholly mesmerizing and excellent and you can download it from the band's MySpace. We'll save you the trip and post it below. Bradley's Almanac has more info about Travels and an MP3 here; dig it.

Metal Hearts -- "Socialize" -- Socialize
[buy Socialize from Newbury Comics here]

>> The New York Times presents this morning a very interesting examination of so-called 360 (as in 360 degrees) record deals. One interesting thing we learned was that the label concern Fueled By Ramen is affiliated with Atlantic Records. Granted, none of the indie bands we follow will likely ever score a major label deal, let alone a "360" deal, but it is interesting to note what the growing trend is at the top of the food chain, and how it is viewed -- by both proponents and detractors -- by the capital I industry. Read the whole piece here.

>> Did we mention London indie rock foursome Assembly Now is recording a full-length record? It's true. To date we think the band has only released three singles, all of which are very good. So good, in fact, that at least as of now Assembly Now's "It's Magnetic" is in our top ten most played tracks of 2007 in ITunes. We'll likely do a year-end list of favorite albums and songs, so consider this information a bit of a preview. Here are our favorite records of 2006.