Today's Hotness: Destroyer, Johnny Foreigner, Jakobinarina

>> We received this week promos for two hotly anticipated records: Destroyer's Trouble In Dreams and Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight. We'll have reviews of those in the coming weeks, but right now we'd like to draw your attention to the most recent Destroyer promo track, "Dark Leaves Form A Thread," because it is the rockingest thing songwriter Dan Bejar has done in some time, and it is undeniably catchy. The tune is ideally situated as Trouble In Dreams' second track, although we question whether it should have opened the set, which Merge will issue March 18. It probably doesn't make sense if you consider the album as a whole, as putting "Dark Leaves Form A Thread" in the no. 1 slot might suggest to listeners that the entire record will be characterized by snare-cracking anthems with edgeless roller rink synths, searing guitar and even some occasional feedback. Sadly, this is not the case. In fact there are quite a few tracks on Trouble In Dreams with no drumming to speak of, if memory serves (we've only listened to it about three times so far). Anyway, sequencing the number in the second spot probably doesn't misrepresent the record as an uptempo rockfest, but the track is so flat-out enjoyable we would have been tempted to lead with it if we were Mr. Bejar. Which, of course, we're not. Here's the song.

Destroyer -- "Dark Leaves Form A Thread" -- Trouble In Dreams
[right click and save as]
[pre-order Trouble In Dreams from Merge right here]

>> Speaking of exceptional independent rock music, are you hearing this?! We mean, really, where is all the chatter about the new version of Johnny Foreigner's "Salt, Pepa and Spindarella" that is blowing our head off every time we don the headphones? The lucky thousands who will attend next month's South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, USA have at least two chances to see the stellar Birmingham, England-based indie rock trio. March 12 the band plays an ASCAP showcase at Dirty Dog Bar in the evening, and on the following day it plays an acoustic set as part of an afternoon jawn sponsored by XFM. Speaking of dates, Johnny Foreigner have 37 show dates posted at their MySpace hacienda right now. That is a little ridiculous -- who do they think they are, The Police?

>> Have Icelandic indie rock wunderkinds Jakobinarina broken up? We can't read Icelandic, but that seems to be the gist of this MySpace message from the band. Of course, the same MySpace page has live dates posted through the end of this week. So who knows. This Wikipedia entry for Jakobinarina reports the act will break up in March. Anybody hip to Icelandic jive who can give us a rough translation of the MySpace message linked supra should leave a comment. The Icelandic sextet -- whose members were all under between 17 and 21 -- issued its debut, First Crusade, on Caroline/Regal/12 Tonar in October. You can hear a number of tracks at the band's MySpace dojo. The writing may have been on the wall for months, as the last time we wrote about the act in mid-November was when young UK indie rockers The Video Nasties announced Jakobinarina had cancelled a tour for which The Video Nasties were to have provided support. If indeed Jakobinarina is no more, we look forward to whatever the band's songwriters concoct next. And we'll be keeping our eyes out for a cheap copy of First Crusade.

Today's Hotness: Report Suspicious Activity, Ringo Deathstarr

>> Just in time for the American election cycle, hardcore rabble rousers Report Suspicious Activity are back with new music posted on their MySpace page. There's also word of a new EP, whose album art is posted to the left and whose title may be Dreamland. In terms of pure vitriol, the new tunes at MySpace don't come close to the rager "Subtle" from the band's 2005 self-titled set on Alternative Tentacles. They are less heavy and more indie-sounding. In a way, we're disappointed, because what the world needs now is an angry hardcore record to render some healthy perspective. Report Suspicious Activity, in case you didn't know, features former Articles Of Faith member Vic Bondi and studio genius and Jawbox/Burning Airlines/Channels guy J. Robbins, among others. You may recall Mr. Bondi as being the guy with the best quote in the excellent documentary film "American Hardcore." Because we are so adamant that something like "Subtle" is what America needs right now, we're posting it below. While we're at it, we're throwing in a real classic of second-wave American straightedge hardcore, the title track to Uniform Choice's absolutely crucial 1986 set Screaming For Change.

Report Suspicious Activity -- "Subtle" -- MySpace download
[right click and save as]
[buy Report Suspicious Activity from Newbury Comics here]

Uniform Choice -- "Screaming For Change" -- Screaming For Change
[right click and save as]
[improve your life -- buy Screaming For Change from Amazon.com here]

>> We've got it on good authority that rising shoegaze behemoths Ringo Deathstarr will be playing Boston (well, Cambridge) on Feb. 25 at a small club whose name rhymes with Crabby Flounge. Mark your calendars, restock your earplug supply, take out a life insurance policy, etc. And buy the hard copy version of Ringo Deathstarr's flawless self-titled EP. There are all manner of buy links at the Texas-based quartet's MySpace dojo here.

>> Icelandic teen wunderkinds Jakobinarina just canceled their entire UK tour, according to this recent MySpace bulletin from would-be tourmates The Video Nasties. That's too bad.

Meet North London's Young Pop Fellows, The Video Nasties

Keep Hope Inside's excellent recent series [1,2,3,4] highlighting UK music blogs and bloggers helped us stuff our RSS reader with new feeds, while at the same time hipping us to many great bands. One such act is The Video Nasties, and by surfing around the various blogs mentioned in the series last month we were able to score almost an album's worth of the London-based quintet's infectious, spiky indie rock. Dare we say The Video Nasties' synthy power pop stylings remind us a tad of our favorite semi-lost, wholly under-rated new wave act The Yachts (one time tour support for Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson which recorded for Stiff and Radar; Wikipedia entry). Anyhoo, the teenaged Video Nasties release Monday in the UK its Karl Blau EP on Way Out West. The band previously released and sold out of a double A-sided single "3 New Ideas" b/w "I Wanna." The four tracks in the new collection were recorded in a shed in July 2007; that's in keeping with some of the tracks we've found out on the Internets tagged "Shed Sessions 07" that pack significant verve, but are not included on the EP. Meaning The Video Nasties are sitting on scads of bona fide hits including "Accessory," "Plus One," "Shower," and "Little Flickers" (we think the band gave most of these away gratis via their MySpace yert earlier this year), so don't come crying to us when they are touring the States and they are huge and no one told you ahead of time and you're not on the list and the publicists won't text you back and et cetera and et cetera. We're telling you now.

Speaking of tours, The Video Nasties are about to embark on a series of dates with Icelandic wunderkinds Jakobinarina, who we hastily referenced here last week and who are also quite young (we think we read they are all 15 or 16?!). The Nasties had to bag out on the first date because they will be recording a session for Steve Lamacq and Radio 1 that day. Here's the track "Accessory," which we believe is one of the aforementioned unreleased demos and which was first made available exclusively in July by online UK 'zine Transparent Magazine here.

The Video Nasties -- "Accessory" -- Demo
[right click and save as]
[buy The Video Nasties' Karl Blau EP from Rough Trade Shops here]

The Video Nasties: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Modest Mouse, Johnny Foreigner, Jakobinarina

>> Little of what Modest Mouse has done in the ensuing 12 years or so has equaled to our ears their amazing first single, "Broke" b/w "Whenever I Breathe Out You Breathe In." We capital L Love the song "Broke," and probably listened to it more than anything else in 1996. Imagine our surprise to see Modest Mouse performing the tune live in a clip over at AOL Music. The original recording is perhaps the bitterest, most heartbroken three minutes Modest Mouse has ever mustered. This AOL version is a little "soft rock," but you should do what you can to acquire the original single and the version of the song from the excellent bootleg Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again. On the upside, this live performance features a lot of very interesting guitar work from Johnny Marr.

>> You didn't think we'd just stop talking about Johnny Foreigner, did you? The Birmingham, UK trio of indie rock heroes has just announced a hard release date for its debut EP Arcs Across The City. Best Before Records will issue the six-, errrr... seven-song set Nov. 26. There's no American release date, we suspect because there is no American label or distro, so you'll need to hoard away excess beer money to pay for the import. Apparently the lucky few in England have already received promos, and the early buzz is all raves, predictably. This is especially predictable because Johnny Foreigner is streaming most of the EP, or at least most of the songs from the EP (but perhaps different versions) at its MySpace wigwam here. We're most excited by talk that the quiet ballad "All Mosely Gardens" is included as a secret track, because this song is stunning, amazing, the bee's knees, et cetera and et cetera. Track listing, you ask? This is what the message board kids are saying:

1. Champagne Girls I Have Known
2. The End And Everything After
3. Suicide Pact, Yeh?
4. Yes! You Talk Too Fast
5. Sofacore
6. This Band Is Killing Us
7. All Mosely Gardens (secret track! shhhhhh!)

The package itself features pop-up art and sounds pretty amazing. Anything else? The band received an advance which it is using to spruce up their gear and to book studio time for rehearsing and writing new songs. The band already has a million songs, so we are not sure what use they have for any more, but more power to 'em. Johnny Foreigner has also apparently been chosen to promote Levis jeans? Well, if you gotta shill for something, we guess that is probably the best possible choice. At least until they can get work promoting Pac Man, which is due for a resurgence in 5, 4, 3... Anyway, here is a version of the single "Sometimes In The Bullring" for your listening pleasure.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Sometimes In The Bullring" -- 3/12/2007 Version
[right click and save as]
[stalk the Best Before Records site to wait for pre-orders to begin for Arcs Across The City here]

>> Holy cow. Jakobinarina. So great. Check them out at Another Form Of Relief here.

>> The release date of the forthcoming Bob Mould set has been announced. According to Pun Canoes, District Line will be issued by Anti on Feb. 5. More details and a track list here.

>> We love how Mr. Catbirdseat offers a much-needed piss-take now and again to keep everyone on their toes. Observe.

>> We refuse to believe that the only way to get rid of all the padded mailers in our house is to throw them away. Are you a small indie label or band about to do a big CD mailing? If so, consider reusing our padded mailers. We will send them to you for free, whereever you are, as long as it is in the United States. We will thank your band or label in this blog for taking them and refusing to let them line a landfill.