Today's Hotness: Dinosaur Pile-Up, Matt Pond PA, Coco B's

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Liam Henry] Leeds-based power trio Dinosaur Pile-Up's debut single "My Rock N' Roll" will be released Dec. 8 in a limited edition of 500 by fledgling label Friends Vs. Records. Whoever wrote the promo blurb at Rough Trade is brilliantly funny -- observe: "[Dinosaur Pile-Up's] songs are proving very popular among people who like to go out to watch rock bands." The flipside of the planned single is the original demo for the percolating gem "Love Is A Boat And We're Sinking," which was floating around the Internerdzzz earlier this fall and reminds us very much of the incredibly under-rated and sadly defunct Michigan act Rain Is Wet. Anyhow, someone please tell us when a band forms and takes the name Dinosaur Pile-Up Jr., because the very idea makes us extremely happy. Pre-order "My Rock N' Roll" from Rough Trade right here. Stream it at the band's MySpace dojo right here, where you can also inspect the band's various live commitments through the end of January.

>> What with our holiday pause we're a day late and a dollar short on the Matt Pond PA news, which of course is that the revered, Philly-based chamber pop outfit has just release a free ep awesomely titled Freeep, which was apparently recorded in a cabin in Bearsville, NY, which surprisingly actually exists. The EP actually has a much longer title, according to the MPPA web site, which is The Dawn before the Dark Leaves or Water off a Black Dog’s Back or Amazing Life or Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons or May we never go go mental, may we always stay stay gentle or The Fear of not Being Afraid or Erica Harris and her Ubiquitous Threads or The Warmth Within the Warren or Dreaming of Sleeping or Saying It to Keep It From Happening or This is not the Dark Leaves or Living for Liv Ullman or The Odds of a Sunrise or Whispering Pines or You’ll be the Rhythm and I’ll be the Beat and I’ll be the Rhythm and You’ll be the Beat or The Grass Harp or Goodbye Barcelona or Why is my copy of the Moviegoer Floating in a Puddle Beside the Car. You can download the whole shebang right here, and we're recommending that you do. Opener "Hearts And Minds" is uptempo and airy and unsurprisingly soars in places. Three beautiful numbered tracks, "#1," "#3" and "#5" also standout; "#3" in particular glistens with soft intensity, and the trio of songs remind us very much of J Mascis' untitled tracks from the Gas, Food, Lodging soundtrack. Matt Pond PA's numbered numbers are very fetching, so we're posting them below.

Matt Pond PA -- "#1" -- Freeep
Matt Pond PA -- "#3" -- Freeep
Matt Pond PA -- "#5" -- Freeep
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[download the entire Freep from Matt Pond PA's web site right here]

>> Earlier this month we expended a couple minutes confirming our belief that Coco B's self-titled debut was in fact released in 2007, because the band's superlative rocker "Give Up The Money (1982)" was in the running to be one of our top songs of the year for 2008 otherwise. Unfortunately, its 2007 release disqualifies it, but that doesn't mean the song is any less great. It also seems to have a long shelf life (not unlike Say Hi To Your Mom's "Let's Talk About Spaceships," now that we think about it). The latest twinkle of attention for the track comes courtesy of lifestyle brand and apparel maker Nike (hey Nike, how did that whole sweatshop thing shake out? We'll have to Google that). Nike has used the track in a video of some guys riding BMX bikes like it was, well, "like it was 1982." You can watch the video here -- gotta say, it's pretty bad-ass.

Reader Rewards: Get To Know Say Hi

Electropop ensemble Say Hi, the longtime brainchild of Seattle songwriter Eric Elbogen, play Boston's Great Scott club Saturday night. And to get you in the mood, we are giving away a copy of the band's recently issued fifth record The Wishes And The Glitch. Details on how to win the set are below. But first, a mea culpa: we are, as the kids say, gutted to report that our current cold/flu situation kept us home last night, which afforded us the worst possible view of Ringo Deathstarr's show at Abbey Lounge. We are sure the capital "f" Fates will punish us with reports of a legendary performance, but alas we had no choice. Our illness will also keep us from tomorrow night's Evangelicals show -- another travesty, as we were greatly impressed and rocked by Josh Jones and company when they played at TT's in 2006. We have to believe that we'll be on the mend by Saturday's Say Hi show, which we are looking forward to even more having read Can You See The Sunset From The Southside's review of the recent Say Hi performance at The Beat Room in Chicago. But enough of our yakking. We have one spare copy of The Wishes And The Glitch to give away, and we will mail it posthaste to the first person to send us an email [link at right] with the phrase "Let's Talk About Spaceships" in the subject line. We'll update this item as soon as the disc is claimed. Good luck. If you don't win, you can always stream the record at Say Hi's Virb page here. [UPDATE: Congratulations to reader Keith, who will be listening to The Wishes And The Glitch in short order].

Today's Hotness: Joy Division, Johnny Foreigner, Distophia

>> With the American release of the hotly anticipated Ian Curtis biopic "Control" edging closer, plans have been announced to re-issue post-punk legends Joy Division recordings in expanded editions. Read this NME item for track listings and a bit more information. We got in to Joy Division when cassettes were still a viable format, and as such we don't have these records on CD. As such, we're excited to get these, although we are apprehensive that remixing or remastering might alter the records. We'll see what happens. We're curious what effect if any the death of Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson Friday will have on the release of these reissues. "Control" debuted at Cannes in May; it will have its U.S. premiere Oct. 10 at the Film Forum in New York City. The songs comprising the soundtrack to the film are listed here.

>> Here's your weekly Johnny Foreigner update. The stellar Birmingham, UK noise pop trio did not win the Road To V competition we previously mentioned here. The upside? According to a MySpace post this apparently frees the act from a restriction that required it to remain unsigned while they were involved with the competition. Labels would be idiots not to snatch these guys up. Johnny Foreigner has tons of amazing material, they play tons of gigs, and we expect signing has got to be around the corner.

>> Argh. Another great UK band discovered and found to have broken up in the same day (this previously happened when we discovered Eddyfink last month; more about Eddyfink's brilliant "In For Me" later in the week). This month the find, via a post on the Just Gimmie Indie Rock blog that Johnny Foreigner mentioned in a recent post, is the newly erstwhile, two-MySpaces-having Birmingham quartet Distophia. Based on comments on its MySpace hacienda Distophia seems to have recently broken up. Head here to download the compelling track "Evil Baroness."

>> That A-Sides tour in October we've mentioned previously will be with The Velvet Teen and Say Hi (To Your Mom), which we remember being called simply Say Hi To Your Mom (no parens) when we reviewed their record Ferocious Mopes for Junkmedia here two years ago. According to the most recent news item at its web site, Say Hi To Your Mom is officially changing its name to simply Say Hi as of September and will release a fifth record in early 2008. Anyway, prior to the dates with TVT and Say Hi, The A-Sides will tour out to the west coast supporting vegan posterman and indie rock force of nature Ted Leo. You can check out those dates here. Incidentally, this song never gets old:

Say Hi To Your Mom -- "Let's Talk About Spaceships" -- Numbers And Mumbles
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[Buy Say Hi records from the band here]

>> This Is Happening To Me has some pics of Dinosaur Jr. in Japan, performing, being mobbed by fans in the streets. Apparently people are just running up to J. Mascis and hugging him? Anyway, cool pictures are here.