Today's Hotness: Fanzine, Yuck, Whirr, Saint Solitude

>> Fat Possum is doubling down on UK guitar bands, as it disclosed today it will release the debut single from Fanzine, an act vigorously touted by London-based indie phenoms Yuck earlier this year. Yuck, of course, issued its debut self-titled LP via Fat Possum early in 2011. On Nov. 22 Fat Possum will deliver Fanzine's double A-side single "Roman Holiday" b/w "My Stupid Brain" in a limited edition of 500. The single will be available as a traditional vinyl 7" as well as a CD-R packaged with -- surprise, surprise -- an illustrated fanzine. Fanzine's previous self-released EP1 similarly packaged music in a 'zine, although that was distributed as a PDF with an embedded URL pointing to MP3s. "Roman Holiday" has higher production values than the music on EP1, but continues to rely on fuzzy vocals, big guitars and bigger melodic hooks, not unlike the aforementioned Yuck. In case you didn't get a chance to download EP1, it looks like this link is still live. And speaking of Yuck, the quartet continues to ride high on the success of its self-titled debut, and last week launched yet another in a rapid succession of U.S. tours with a stirring performance at TT The Bear's in Cambridge, MA. Yuck has gone over so well that Fat Possum is issuing a special double-CD/vinyl version of the collection whose second disc contains a half-dozen B-sides, including "Soothe Me." The band put the song, recorded a few months ago in London when the band had some down time, up on its Soundcloud earlier this week. Stream the mid-tempo space ballad via the embed below.

Roman Holiday by Fanzine

Soothe Me by Yuck

>> Hat tip to Sonic Masala for bringing to our attention with this item that Northern California-based shoegaze sextet Whirl has re-branded itself as Whirr. The change was apparently due to some sort of legal issue having to do with the use of the name. But more importantly, Whirr has a new single, June, out today on New York-based Tee Pee Records and it is AMAZING. The song "Junebouvier" from the single was premiered elsewhere earlier this summer and we missed it, but we've dropped a Soundcloud embed below so you can bask in the swirling, guitar-y gloriousness. June is available in a limited edition of 250 Coke-bottle green vinyl 7"s, and the single sets the stage for a full-length that Whirr was scheduled to begin recording last month. Back when the band was known as Whirl, it self-released the EP Distressor in 2010, which we wrote about right here. June sounds like a big step beyond Distressor, and we are commensurately beyond-excited to hear the planned full-length; there's no word yet as to when it will be issued.

Whirr-Junebouvier by Not Enough Recognition

>> Today is a big new release day, in case you didn't know. In addition to the Whirr single mentioned supra, The Hush Now's sparkling third record Memos is officially out. Also now available is folk-rock (now-)foursome Saint Solitude's enjoyably breezy sophomore set By Some Great Storm. Think early, more acoustic-oriented Small Factory and you are in the ballpark. Asheville, NC-based Saint Solitude mastermind and one-time sole proprietor Dup Crosson has galvanized a band around him, and, based on a couple listens, it sounds like Mr. Crosson is letting the dynamic of the band take a central role, as opposed to adding sonic flourishes and overdubs like those that filled out 2009's Journal Of Retreat. Crosson mentioned somewhere recently that he'd been feeling a Smashing Pumpkins vibe of late, and we hoped that influence would find its way into By Some Great Storm. The new rocker "Lifted" certainly does lay on the Corgan guitar fuzz and its drums hit a little harder than Crosson's typical jams, but by and large the new record continues Saint Solitude's mapping of rootsier indie pop. Buy By Some Great Storm from Alive And Well Records here or Bandcamp here, and get out to support the band when it comes to your town on tour next month. We wrote about the Saint Solitude's standalone single "Deliverance" right here last month.

Today's Hotness: Saint Solitude, Weekend, Oupa

>> Sometimes records hit you at inopportune times, and so it was that early this year when we were toiling away on Ice Planet Hoth for the Day Job we found ourselves suddenly addicted to Saint Solitude's 2010 set Journal Of Retreat. The set soundtracked about a thousand frozen February mornings that started with a cup of coffee as the sun came up through a window by a desk on the 24th floor of an office suite in the midwest that faced the Mississippi River. We couldn't believe then that we'd missed songwriter Dup Crosson's wonderful collection of sunshiney indie pop strummery, especially since we had already written about Saint Solitude in 2009 here, and we resolved to keep an eye out for New Things from the band. Well, our vigilance has finally been rewarded, as we received word earlier this week that Saint Solitude's next long-player By Some Great Storm will be issued Sept. 27, and it apparently has been influenced in part by Mr. Crosson's love for Smashing Pumpkins. That sounds like a recipe for success to us. Folks on the band's email list were treated to an outtake from the By Some Great Storm sessions called "Deliverance," and we're thinking that if this great track (Bandcamp embed below) didn't make the cut, then the new, 12-song record is going to be full of what we critics refer to as "hot shit." By Some Great Storm was recorded at Landslide Studio in Asheville, NC and it will be released by Alive And Well Records. Mr. Crosson, who once plied his craft as a solo artist, has put together a new band to realize his compositions in the flesh, and the quartet will tour around the East Coast this fall. Watch this space for details.


>> Contemporary noise-pop heroes Weekend are following up their acclaimed 2010 effort Sports with a new short-player called Red. The trio's five-song set is the product of three weeks in the studio prior to a tour of Europe last month; a new full-length is slated for release in 2012. San Francisco-based Weekend, which formed fewer than two years ago, plans a tour next month to support Red. In the meantime, stream the new barn-burner "Hazel" below; the song welds melody to noise in completely gratifying fashion, as we think you'll agree. In case you missed it, the song "End Times" from Sports was released as a single in May of this year, and you can stream the radio edit of the track right here.

Weekend - Hazel by Slumberland Records

>> A brief follow-up to our mention of Oupa earlier in the week. The act's debut Forget is now streaming en todo at Bandcamp right here. And there is yet another video to gaze upon, this one for the piano ballad "Windows," which is stark and beautiful, despite not being a cover of the Garden Party classic of the same name. Garden Party you say? Let's post that to SoundCloud and have a listen, why the hell not? Oh, right... Forget was released earlier this week in the U.S., UK and France on the Fat Possum, Boiled Egg and Atelier Ciseaux labels, respectively.

Garden Party's "Windows" by clicky clicky music blog

Today's Hotness: Line Drawings, Saint Solitude, AC/DC

>> We like what we hear from Line Drawings, an Australian indie rock quartet whose recently released, self-titled EP has been getting a lot of play here at headquarters. No surprise, really, as Sydney-based Line Drawings' first two Top Friends at MySpace -- :: clicky clicky :: favorites Polvo and Seam -- indicate that we're likely as pre-conditioned to be a fan of these Australians as anyone. Although, if we had to pick our own RIYL to slap on a sticker meant to entice college radio play, we might go with Swervedriver first, as Line Drawings is neither as technical as Polvo nor as seething and disappointed as Seam. That said, there are very pleasing curtains of electric guitar and mildly plaintive vocals, a sturdy recipe (along with well-constructed melodies, also present here) for successful indie rock. Line Drawings has been together since 2007, and prior to that certain of the cohort played together in the act Ides Of Space. The band's self-titled EP contains six moody tracks and opens auspiciously with the urgent guitar anthem "Atmosphere Flies," which is certainly Line Drawings' strongest calling card, and which you can download below. Victoria-based Bell Sounds Digital issued Line Drawings March 28.

Line Drawings -- "Atmosphere Flies" -- Line Drawings EP
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[buy Line Drawings from the band right here]

>> We're inclined to be skeptical of one-man bands, who nowadays often ply their trade with loop machine and/or laptop, because the live spectacle can lack the sort of passion that really drives our fandom. There are exceptions, of course, as we think you'll agree -- if you've seen him -- that Dosh can work some hypnotic business on stage (granted, he performed with a colleague when we saw him). All that said, it really comes down to songwriting, and so we were favorably impressed with Asheville, N.C.-based and Maine-bred solo effort Saint Solitude. The band is a fellow named Dup Crosson, and Mr. Crosson writes very catchy indie pop numbers that -- at least as recorded -- bear none of the undesirable hallmarks of the solitary musician. The piano-anchored toe-tapper "Tosabesatoch" touts a light touch and an arresting melody. The rocker "Soft Contact" sounds like something Ben Gibbard might sing if he were in good mood and was backed by a sunshiney outfit; the guitar-and-voice ballad "Stay In Touch" is obvious enough sentiment-wise but is eminently listenable. "Tosabesatoch" is on the split EP He Is Contrary To Him out this month and available at shows, and Crosson is already at work on a full-length he hopes will be ready for public consumption come summer. Saint Solitude embarks on a three-week tour of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. Thursday, and the act touches down at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville, Mass. April 25, with Midriff Records' Scuba supporting. Full tour dates are at the Saint Solitude MySpace casa right here. Crosson was kind enough to allow us to post "Tosabesatoch" below, so do check it out.

Saint Solitude -- "Tosabesatoch" -- Split EP
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[buy Saint Solitude music from Crosson here]

>> Let us be the first to suggest that in the inevitable TV movie that will re-tell the heroics of the past weekend (remember that whole hostage/pirate/sniper thing?), the climax should be dealt with as a montage soundtracked by AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock, We Salute You." The events leading up to the snipers' dispatching the three Somali pirates should unfold in real time, and the decisive gunshots should be unleashed as Brian Johnson shouts "FIRE!" Just sayin.'