Today's Hotness: Evangelicals, Bob Mould, Destroyer

>> Oklahoma's finest psych rockers Evangelicals -- honestly, do you *really* think Flaming Lips still rock? -- have been making news faster than we could get to it in the past week. Word arrived last week that the trio (actually the band is a foursome in its latest press photos), led by songwriter and guitarist Josh Jones, will release its sophomore record The Evening Descends Jan. 22 on fledgling label concern Dead Oceans. The set will include 11 tracks, including two numbers you may already be familiar with. The melodic thumper "Skeleton Man" was recorded for a Daytrotter Session earlier this year, and a demo version of "Snowflakes" was circulated in February when the formation of Dead Oceans was announced with Evangelicals as one of its initial signings.

Speaking of new music, Mr. Jones has decided to parley his success with the 2006 Halloween blogosphere hit "Halloween Song" into a bit of a cottage industry, as today the band is distributing a second seasonal jam, "The Last Christmas On Earth." Snag the MP3 below, as well as the MP3 of the demo of "Snowflakes." A seasonal two-fer for you from Mr. Jones, as it were. Longtime readers will recall we rhapsodized about Evangelicals smoke machine-augmented and altogether dark and Hendrixian live date at TT The Bear's in Nov. 2006. You can read the review here.

Evangelicals -- "The Last Christmas On Earth" -- A Verry SeXXXy XXXmas
Evangelicals -- "Snowflakes (Demo)" -- Extremely Dark Nights
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[buy Evangelicals records from Newbury Comics here]

>> Spinner has an exclusive on the first preview MP3 from Bob Mould's forthcoming solo set The District Line. The track is called "The Distance Between Us." Actually, the ID3 tag says "The Silence Between Us" and a cursory listen suggests the ID3 tag is correct. It also suggests the tune is not that dissimilar from Mr. Mould's later Husker Du or early solo material, as "The Silence Between Us" touts a lighter acoustic guitar-driven verse. And a great bridge section. On the whole it's a very nice track that we expect we'll be listening to a lot. Grab it here. We reviewed Mr. Mould's DVD "Circle Of Friends" here in October. The District Line will be released on Anti- in February.

>> That new Destroyer tune "Foam Hands" is the jam, albeit a patient one with fewer lyrics to pore over and decipher than we would have hoped. And there's a fair amount of strumming that consumes the last 72 seconds on the short track, which will be released -- likely to great fanfare, although Destroyer's Rubies will be hard to top -- by Merge as part of the forthcoming set Trouble In Dreams March 18. Catbird Seat has the MP3 here. Dig away.

>> An administrative note: so we had to bail on the Mobius Band show because of some work emergencies that piled up while we were in Manhattan Friday for the amazing Los Campesinos!/Spinto Band/Johnny Foreigner show. As such, we can't deliver the promised live review of the show, although we did get a brief recap from Mr. Bitter via IM last night. Here's hoping the band is back again soon.

Reader Rewards: See Mobius Band For Free Sunday In Cambridge

Longtime readers know that we're strong proponents of Mobius Band, and have been since 2002, when our friend who was scouting them for a certain label made the introduction. Fast-forward five years and the Brooklyn-based trio has just released its second full-length, Heaven, on Misra. We don't think we're giving anything away by saying that the dense, dark set, Mobius Band's best to date, is going to be featured in our year-end list. That's all the more reason for Boston-based indie rubberneckers to get out and see them Sunday night at the Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. Lucky for you, thrifty music fans, we're able to give away two tickets for free thanks to the band's management. But first, allow us to digress briefly.

As we said in the item below, we were pleased to see the band give props to "Snow On Snow," an older cut from the band's last self-released EP. Well, there were a bunch of EPs in there, so we're not sure if it was the last one. But the point is, "Snow On Snow" was released on Three in 2002. The previous EP Two, however, contains the jam that first sucked us in to Mobius Band's world. It's called "The Lights Are Always On," it's a throbbing krautrock gem, and the first time we saw the act we witnessed some dude lose his mind while the band laid this one out. It made quite an impression. Before we give away some Mobius Band tickets, we'd like you to hear the tune, so here's an MP3.

Mobius Band -- "The Lights Are Always On" -- Three EP
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[buy Mobius Band records from Newbury Comics here]

Now, about those tickets: we've got two of them, and the first two people who email us at the address linked in the righthand column will win them. Please use as an email subject line "The Lights Are Always On." Doing so will prove to us that you have good reading comprehension skills, and after all, reading is fundamental. We'll update this item when we have two winners.

Incidentally, if you are looking for a show and a bit of seasonal cheer tomorrow night in Cambridge, check out friend-of-Mobius Band Most Bitter performing at a loft in Somerville not too far from the quaint indie rock venue P.A.'s Lounge. We think the loft belongs to a private citizen, so we don't want to post the address and whatnot here, but hit up the Most Bitter MySpace casa here and message Mr. Bitter himself and we're sure he'd be happy to provide the data. While you are there make sure to listen to his cover of Kate Nash's "Foundations."