YouTube Rodeo: Sun Airway's "Put The Days Away"

This clip, directed by Ricardo Rivera of Klip Collective, makes us miss Philadelphia. The song is from rising electropop duo Sun Airway, whose debut Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier will be released on Dead Oceans Oct. 26 [as we reported here in August]. The song and the video are slow burners, with a big payoff at the end. You can pre-order Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier from Dead Oceans on CD and LP right here. That's something you should do. After the requisite CMJ performances, Sun Airway is mounting a thorough U.S. tour from Oct. 26, and you can review all of those tour dates at the band's web dojo right here. The duo performs locally at the Middle East Downstairs Nov. 18 with Bear In Heaven and Twin Shadow.

Put the Days Away by Sun Airway

Show Us Yours #11: Sun Airway

[Photo Credit: Mike Fleming][Alt Photo 1; Alt. Photo 2] We were as surprised as the next guy when Philebrity broke the news in October that The A-Sides were officially kaput and in its place had blossomed the relatively mysterious electro/psych-pop duo Sun Airway. The act is comprised of former A-Sides singer and guitarist Jon Barthmus and former A-Sides drummer Patrick Marsceill, and we've heard little from the duo since that initial announcement. So we figured it was high time to check in with Sun Airway and see what is going on via our recently resuscitated Show Us Yours series. Among other things, we learned that the guys plan to release a free EP to the Internet sometime in the relatively near future and a full length this summer; that their practice space is more aptly described as a recording space; and that the space is brilliantly monikered. So with our thanks to Mr. Barthmus for playing along, here is Sun Airway in Show Us Yours #11.

Why did you choose this space?

We didn't particularly choose this space... We were essentially kicked out of our last space because the building was trying to attract a more "normal" clientele, and of course these new tenants didn't want live music below them at all hours. There was something about theater companies complaining or something, but there was definitely porn going on somewhere in the building, along with some semi-sweatshops and other art studios. Anyway, the owners of that building had just bought up another random abandoned factory in an even more remote and desolate part of town so they offered us our pick of the new rooms, and then they built it up for us and put power in. There are still very few tenants which is weird because the building is HUGE but our space is amazing and surprisingly conducive to musical activities. Part of our space almost looked like a studio already with a window into what could be a control room. But we just have one band on each side. We currently share the space with Brown Recluse Sings, who are A) a good band and B) good roomies.

Explain how an idiosyncracy or quirk of this space or a former practice space has affected a song (or even your overall sound).

When we moved into the space, we were still The A-Sides and we were just all standing in a big circle trying to practice in the least noisy spot. But once that fizzled and Sun Airway started, we don't really practice. We just record all the time, so we shifted the space into a recording studio. We don't know what we're doing so we built a drum tent, which is now sort of a vocal tent and we kind of just move stuff around and set stuff up arbitrarily and record until we like what comes out. Also, at the moment it is oppressively cold in there so we're kind of just doing quick takes and going with it because it's too cold to harp on it. I guess that could be how the space is currently affecting the music! Too cold to labor over anything!

You walk into your space. What's the first thing you smell? Why?

You walk into our space. You smell mostly construction-type smells. Outside of our door almost everything is unfinished and there's crazy construction dust everywhere. Even though we painted our whole space to make it insanely awesome and even varnished our painted-black floor, the dust seems to get in. On a side note, walking up to our door you see a beautiful image of Phil Collins along with the name Sususudio Studios, Ltd. since that's what we named the place. And that my friends, smells like brilliance.

Getting what ended up being the final A-Sides record out into the world appeared to be a major hurdle for the band, but the relationship with Vagrant seemed like a very positive development. Will Sun Airway be able to benefit from that relationship with Vagrant in any way, assuming it ended up being positive for you guys as artists and touring musicians? When can we expect to hear a full-length from you guys anyway?

I can't say that the relationship between Vagrant and The A-Sides was really positive. I'm extremely grateful that they came along and paid for the record, etc. But something just seemed to be lacking with everything that happened since then. Once a label like that starts to see that they're not making their money back they become impossible to even get a hold of. I think they used up all their effort right away and then gave up. There will be no Vagrant involvement in anything we do moving forward. At the very least though, they did get Silver Storms decent distribution and they probably helped a little bit in getting us on the road. Although our booking agent even said we'd be better off without them, so take that as you will. As far as a full-length from Sun Airway, that should see the light of day hopefully by the summertime. First we're doing a 5-song free downloadable EP which is almost done. Just some more mixing to do. Then we'll just continue recording until we have enough songs for a full length. The songs have all been written, most quite a while ago, but since we're producing it ourselves it's much more of a process. It's not a matter of writing and practicing songs, it's a matter of building a song up until we're satisfied with the results, which is different for us. We're used to going into a studio and hoping for the best.

What do the next six months look like for Sun Airway?

The next sixth months for us will just be a lot of recording and once we have enough material to play a show, we'll have to figure out how the hell we're going to pull any of it off live. Since most of what we're doing is sample-based and electronic beat heavy, we really have no idea how this is all gonna work. But we'll try!

Sun Airway -- "Waiting On You"
The A-Sides -- "Here Or There" -- Hello, Hello
[right click and save as]
[buy A-Sides records from Newbury Comics right here]

Sun Airway: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous Show Us Yours episodes:
Shapes And Sizes | Dirty On Purpose | Relay
Mobius Band | Frightened Rabbit | Assembly Now
Meneguar | Okay Paddy | Charmparticles | Calories

Today's Hotness: Ringo Deathstarr, The A-Sides, Johnny Foreigner

>> [Video Credit: Acid Marshmallow4] Performances by Austin-based shoegaze provocateurs Ringo Deathstarr along the U.S. East Coast heretofore have been rare. Happily, the quartet has posted a strand of dates to its MySpace dojo that bring it back to not only New York and Washington, D.C., but also the Boston area. Indeed, The Deathstarr will perform at Tufts' Oxfam Cafe Friday Oct. 24. Based on a video of the band performing last month at The Cake Shop in New York that we've posted atop this item, fans can expect loud, dense renderings of Deathstarr favorites old and new. The video contains an entire 40-minute set that culminates in a brain-warping maelstrom of feedback and distortion and echo. In among the mire fans will recognize tracks from Ringo Deathstarr's 2007 EP including "Some Kind Of Sad," "Swirly," "Sweet Girl" and "Down On You," as well as the new single "Summertime." Full tour dates are listed below. And even though we post it all the time, we can't help but offer once again the quiet, fuzzy and fever-dreamy demo for "Your Town"

Ringo Deathstarr -- "Your Town (Demo)"
[right click and save as]
[buy Ringo Deathstarr music from Spoilt Victorian Child Records right here]

10/14 -- Emos -- Austin, Texas
10/15 -- Walter’s -- Houston, Texas
10/17 -- Rubber Gloves -- Denton, Texas
10/20 -- Drunken Unicorn -- Atlanta, Georgia
10/22 -- Knitting Factory Tap Bar -- New York, NY
10/24 -- Oxfam Cafe -- Medford, Massachusetts
10/25 -- Velvet Lounge -- Washington, D.C.

>> Philebrity broke the sad news here yesterday that The A-Sides have broken up. The erstwhile Philadelphia-based quintet (which itself acknowledged the dissolution with a MySpace status message last night) released two records; the second, Silver Storms, was released by Vagrant last August after the album floundered for quite a while in the wake of a prior failed label deal. Even bigger news is that A-Sides members Jon Barthmus and Patrick Marsceill have launched an electronic-oriented new project dubbed Sun Airway, whose first track "Waiting On You" is streaming at the link supra. The band is also giving it away at its web site, so we'll post "Waiting On You" below along with a few of our favorite A-Sides jams. We suppose you could deem the Sun Airway track "Dntel-ish," although the trademark swirling, sun-shiney melodies of The A-Sides persist within the new paradigm. We last wrote about The A-Sides here in April, when we reported that the band was slated to play three live dates before embarking on the recording of its third record. Sometime in the intervening four months things must have taken a different turn, but we're glad at least some of the band members are continuing on with music.

Sun Airway -- "Waiting On You"
The A-Sides -- "Sidewalk Chalk" -- Hello, Hello
The A-sides -- "Here Or There" -- Hello, Hello
The A-Sides -- "Sinking With The Ship" -- Silver Storms
[right click and save as]
[buy A-Sides records at a good price from Newbury Comics right here]

>> So the Johnny Foreigner live video we posted last week apparently features what is the band's typical opening salvo on its current UK tour with labelmates Dananananaykroyd, that is, the three songs "Ghost The Festivals," "Henning's Favourite" and "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella." This is according to a nice informative interview posted here at the blog Sex As A Foreign Language. In the interview the band also talks about future recording plans, which according to fronter and guitarist Alexei Berrow could include an EP that would contain a re-imagined version of an unspecified track from the band's debut long-player Waited Up Til It Was Light and a bunch of new tracks. Such an EP would be "a bridge" between Waited and a sophomore set for which the Birmingham, England-based trio has already been writing new material. Says Mr. Berrow: "The plan at the moment is to go in [to the studio] in February to start on the next one. We’ve written about half of it already and it’s been going very well." In addition to recording, Johnny Foreigner expect to spend a substantial amount of time touring the U.S. in 2008, and will prime the pump with a handful of gigs and radio sessions later this month centered around Berrow's birthday the annual CMJ Confab. All those dates are listed at the band's MySpace tent right here.

Today's Hotness: The Replacements, The Feelies, The A-Sides

>> We devoted a portion of the weekend to cruising ecommerce sites to see if anyone is offering a bundled deal on the forthcoming reissues of The Replacements' Twin/Tone releases. While no one is offering a package deal, the best price we saw was at Newbury Comics, which will sell you the full-lengths for $13.25 and the EP Stink for $11.85 (which still seems absurdly high, since we recall getting this new on CD for like $6.99 at Repo Records back in the day). At least one place was charging list price of $18.98 for the full-lengths. Think it was Amazon. Our point is, why is no one offering a bundle deal like Matador just did with the Mission Of Burma stuff? We came very close to buying the discs off of NewburyComics.com, but then we figured we'd try our luck at the store on release day -- which is 4/22 -- to see if we can't get the discs for $12.99-ish or something. And we just discovered one more incentive via the Man Without Ties blog. Apparently certain stores will have (either for sale or as some sort of premium) a limited edition 7" on offer containing perhaps the two greatest Replacements songs, "I Will Dare" b/w "Color Me Impressed." So we're hoping like hell Newbury Comics has some of those next week, and we're going to try to duck out to the store prior to lunch to ensure we get a shot at it. Read more at the Man Without Ties post here.

>> Speaking of reissues -- here's something that hadn't been apparent to us: readers will recall we first pined for and then briskly reported on the impending reunion of seminal Jersey indie act The Feelies. Well, according to the good people over at 30 Milkshakes, there are also Feelies reissues in the offing. These will apparently be released by Bar/None. The Bar/None web site has nothing to offer on this subject, but we will watch eagerly for more news.

>> Philadelphia indie rockers The A-Sides have three tour dates lined up next week before they go into hiding to create their third set, the follow-up to last year's sophomore set Silver Storms, which was released by Vagrant. The first show is at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, Mass., i.e. right down the street. We're going to make a concerted effort to finally catch The A-Sides live, and if we do go, we're hoping that the quintet plays "Here Or There," a spacey, shoegazey jam that closed out the band's stellar 2005 full-length debut Hello, Hello. Here's an MP3.

The A-Sides -- "Here Or There" -- Hello, Hello
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[buy A-Sides recordings from Newbury Comics here]

>> So we got hip to 2008 and made a Muxtape. You can rock all 37:26 of it right here. We may make another Thursday night to tide readers over, as we expect to be off-line for the majority of what is a long weekend here in Massachusetts, USA. As of the other night we are also rocking Twitter, if that sort of thing interests you.

Today's Hotness: Benge, Superman Revenge Squad, The A-Sides

>> As we loaded up the disc changer this morning with birthday brunch-appropriate Belle & Sebastian, our eyes wandered to the right in the row of CDs and noticed Benge's sublime platter of understated electronic music, Meme Tunes. It's a very fitting record for a quiet morning with a surprise inch or two of snow. Benge -- recommended if you like ISAN or the more bleepy Morr Music acts -- is the nom de clicks of British electronic music veteran and Expanding Records principal Ben Edwards. Meme Tunes was released in 2002 -- some four years after Benge issued a Very Best Of... set -- and we reviewed it for Junkmedia right here. Listening to and enjoying immensely the set this morning inspired us to check in at the Expanding Records web site and it appears Mr. Edwards' output slowed substantially after the release of Meme Tunes. After releasing nine records in six years or so, Benge has only issued one more; a tenth called I Am Nine was released in 2004 (the Expanding site refers to this a Benge's ninth record -- we guess the label doesn't count the Very Best Of... set). Last.FM has maddeningly short samples of the tracks on I Am Nine here. In case it is snowing where you are, here is an MP3 of "Adam-Age Loneliness" from Meme Tunes.

Benge -- "Adam-Age Loneliness" -- Meme Tunes
[right click and save as]
[buy Meme Tunes from Expanding Records here]

>> UK-based online music 'zine God Is In The TV will release a re-recorded version of Superman Revenge Squad's "Idiot Food" Feb. 18 as the fourth installment a free digital singles club, according to this blurb. The track is backed with new versions of "The Angriest Dog In The World" and "When Everyone's Dead." The boundlessly bitter and remarkably verbose Superman Revenue Squad's "Idiot Food" has to be our favorite song with the word "diarrhea" in it. Readers may recall we devoted a fair amount of digital ink to the Croydon, England act and its stellar pre-cursors Tempertwig and Nosferatu D2 last fall here, here and here. God Is In The TV pronounces that the new versions of the tracks sound ace, so we are eager to have a listen when the appointed date rolls around.

>> Philadelphia-based indie rocker The A-Sides launch another strand of tour dates at the end of February in support of their 2007 release Silver Storms, according to this item at Pun Canoes. We still haven't seen the band perform, despite following their trajectory for the last few years. As the dates posted below attest, this tour will not change that -- the band is heading due west from Philly. But one day... Silver Storms was one of a bunch of records we discussed in this post concerning 2007 releases we wish we'd had more time to write about.

02/20 -- State College, PA -- Bar Bleu
02/21 -- Cleveland, OH -- Grog Shop
02/22 -- Bloomington, IN -- Bear's Place
02/2 -- Chicago, IL -- Subterranean
02/24 -- Ames, IA -- Maintenance Shop
02/25 -- Milwaukee, W -- Mad Planet
02/26 -- Minneapolis, MN -- 7th Street Entry
02/27 -- Omaha, NE -- Slowdown
02/28 -- Lawrence, KS -- Replay Lounge
02/29 -- Denver, CO -- Hi Dive
03/01 -- Salt Lake City, UT -- Kilby Court
03/04 -- Portland, OR -- Holocene
03/05 -- San Francisco, CA -- Bottom of the Hill
03/06 -- Costa Mesa, CA -- Detroit Bar
03/07 -- Los Angeles, CA -- Spaceland
03/08 -- Upland, CA -- The Wire
03/10 -- Tucson, AZ -- Plush

>> We'll be back Wednesday.

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, The A-Sides, The Replacements

>> Surprisingly, given our typical microscopic coverage of all things Johnny Foreigner, we don't think we've yet reported that the Birmingham, England-based trio will release "Our Bipolar Friends" as a single March 5. DrownedInSound notes the release in this interview with fronter and guitarist Alexei Foreigner. We imagine that the single will be available in the UK only, but we're hoping that it will be carried, albeit digitally, via EMusic. Not that we won't buy a hard copy of the import, of course. We're curious as to what the b-sides to the single will be; as of yet there is no info at Index7, the amazing site that tracks the release of singles in the UK. Anyway, we first wrote about the track here back in April, and we still think it is among the best songs Johnny Foreigner has written. For one thing, it's got some of Alexei's finest shoutable lyrics, such as "she said it's written in the stars but I don't look at the stars anymore." We can't be certain the version the band was giving away last April isn't the same one that is to be released in March, so we won't repost it again here. What we will post, however, is the demo version of "Champagne Girls We Used To Know," which we've decided is superior to the commercially available version. It is just intensely frenetic, more overdriven, more lacerated with feedback. Enjoy it.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Champagne Girls We Used To Know (Demo)" -- I Like You Mostly Late At Never demos
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>> Daytrotter goes an amazing two-in-a-row in posting live sessions by :: clicky clicky :: faves. Here the venerable web site -- which posts recordings made by touring bands who stop by their headquarters -- has begun offering four tracks from exceptional Philadelphia-based indie rockers The A-Sides. The Daytrotter version of "Cinematic" is rendered with a single vocal and acoustic production, resulting in a poignant and understated take on a tune that swirls and is massive on The A-Sides' sophomore set released last year, Silver Storms. Equally sublime and subdued is the quiet take on the album highlight "My Heroes Have Always Been Crazy." That The A-Sides can squeeze its material into different but equally beautiful forms is a testament to the chops of the quintet. Also available at Daytrotter are versions of "Amazing Grace" and "Sinking With The Ship." We strongly recommend you grab them all, as the new arrangements are stunning and the recordings could easily stand as a strong EP. Thanks for rocking us most steadfastly in early 2008, Daytrotter!

>> We're 125 pages into Jim Walsh's "The Replacements -- All Over But The Shouting, An Oral History." And while we'll hold the majority of our comments until we've completed the book, we can report that we had no idea that Buck Hill was a small ski mountain. We guess mountain is overstating it. Anyway, the book is a quick read, although we don't care for the format. More about that another time.

Clicky Clicky's 2007 Regrets: Caribou, Maritime, People Press Play...

2007 was a very busy year for both :: clicky clicky :: and our non-blog-related doings, and truth be told 2008 is expected to be worse as far as overwhelming day-job commitments are concerned. If current schedules hold, your :: clicky clicky :: service will be largely dark in September and October, unless we line up some fill-in writers. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Today we'd like to acknowledge at least briefly records that we would have liked to have listened to more and reviewed during the year. We'll give them all a sentence or two in the next paragraphs, but if you are impatient, the list is at the bottom along with whatever promo MP3s we could dig up. You know the drill: right click and save as.

Rising Philadelphia quintet The A-Sides, after a long wait, expanded on the sophisticated harmonies and jaunty rock of the band's excellent 2005 debut and delivered the lush, atmospheric and detailed collection Silver Storms with memorable tracks including "We're The Trees" and "Sinking With The Ship." Dan Snaith's transformation from Manitoba to Caribou is nowhere near as remarkable as his music's evolution from kaleidoscopic electronic grooves to stunning and organic '60s psych-influenced nuggets including the phenomenal tune "Eli;" Caribou's Andorra was a huge sleeper record for us in 2007. We were skeptical of The Forms' mathpop because of the hype surrounding its self-titled release -- particularly a widely recycled message board endorsement from engineer Steve Albini. However, the easy tempos, big melodies and Mr. Albini's superlative drum production made for a clever and immensely listenable concoction, so hats off to The Forms. Les Savy Fav's brawling return via Let's Stay Friends provided one of the most potent spine-tinglers of the year -- the shouted, mildly uncomfortable extended amorous metaphor "The Equestrian" -- as part of a bracing collection that brought the semi-legendary live act back to the fore of indiedom; if we weren't old and crotchety we would go see these guys play New Year's Eve in Manhattan.

Former Promise Ring fronter Davey Von Bohlen extended his winning streak of excellent indie pop records on the strength of endlessly hummable songs like "Guns Of Navarone," "Hours That You Keep" and "Pearl" released on the very under-rated Maritime set Heresy And The Hotel Choir. The Morr Music release of the year was definitely Danish dreamers People Press Play's self-titled collection, whose songs precipitated our glancing at our IPod to see who was so awesome every time they came up on shuffle; we felt like we did a particularly bad job of covering Morr in 2007, and we are reminded of this whenever we hear the blissed-out "Stop" or the wholly arresting vocals of the New Order-ish cut "Always Wrong" from People Press Play. Do we really need to say anything about Radiohead's In Rainbows? We usually don't take the time to note what bands at the top of the music ecosystem are doing, but we were astonished at how gorgeous the In Rainbows discbox was when we received it, and that astonishment was only heightened by our growing belief that the collection's best music -- "Last Flowers To The Hospital" and "Down Is The New Up" specifically -- mostly resides on the bonus disc. Finally: broken-hearted ex-pat Josh Rouse, whose 2006 set Subtitulo firmly took us in despite our general disdain for folksy singer-songwriter work. Mr. Rouse's latest release Country Mouse, City House may be even better and includes yearning songs with undeniable choruses such as "Sweetie" and the upbeat "Nice To Fit In."

The A-Sides -- Silver Storms -- Vagrant [BUY / Download "We're The Trees"]
Caribou -- Andorra -- Merge [BUY / Download "Melody Day"]
The Forms -- The Forms -- Self-released [BUY]
Les Savy Fav -- Let's Stay Friends -- French Kiss [BUY / Download "The Equestrian"]
Maritime -- Heresy And The Hotel Choir -- Flameshovel [BUY / Download "Guns Of Navarone"]
People Press Play -- People Press Play -- Morr Music [BUY]
Radiohead -- In Rainbows, Disc Two -- Self-Released [BUY]
Josh Rouse -- Country Mouse, City House -- Nettwerk [BUY]

Today's Hotness: All The Same Acts We're Always On About

>> Seriously, we feel a bit like a broken record about these bands. But they're great. And work is consuming almost all of our blogging time, and likely will continue to do so through the end of the first week of October. So we've been devoting most of our writing to things we know we like recently. Please bear with us.

>> We're sorry to be able to confirm what our blog hit logs have been suggesting to us for a few days. Word from the Okay Paddy camp is that the quartet has called it quits. Scranton, Penn.-based Okay Paddy's The Cactus Has A Point [review] was one of our favorite records of 2006. The band had previously issued The Hunk EP, featuring the awesome track "The Waive," and this past summer Okay Paddy released via Prison Jazz the stirring EP Where You Went? [review], whose title was perhaps a harbinger of the band hanging up its proverbial cleats. Okay Paddy was also featured in our Show Us Yours series, specifically in Show Us Yours #8. You should seek out all of these records, and here are a couple reasons why:

Okay Paddy -- "The Waive" -- The Hunk EP
Okay Paddy -- "Dumbwaiter" -- Where You Went?
[right click and save as]
[buy Okay Paddy records from Prison Jazz here if you know what's good for you]

>> Have you bought your digital copy of Ringo Deathstarr's new Ringo Deathstarr EP? It's well worth the low, low price. Spoilt Victorian Child Records is offering a teaser track, the demo of which we think we offered recently. Here's the polished, shoegazetastic gem, also known as track two on the EP:

Ringo Deathstarr -- "Sweet Girl" -- Ringo Deathstarr EP
[right click and save as]
[buy the EP from SVC Records here]

>> When you look up "ducks in a row" in the Idiomatic Dictionary you may just find :: clicky clicky faves :: Mobius Band. Not only is their forthcoming record being issued by TWO record labels, but their forthcoming tour is being sponsored by Internet radio service WOXY (which refers to Matthew Dear as Mobius Band's former label mate, as does former tour sponsors M.F-R here -- clearly the Mobius Band label situation is confusing a lot of people, including us for a while). The trio played the Monolith Festival earlier this month and officially hits the road Oct. 1, the day before the new long player Heaven is in stores. Check out all the tour dates here, in case you didn't see them when we posted them here in August.

>> The official deets on the forthcoming third single from Manchester, England's The Answering Machine. As we reported here, the single will be for the track "Lightbulbs." What we didn't know until was that the record will be released in limited quantities on Regal Records Nov. 5, and the flipside will be a new recording of the song "Decadent." The quartet has posted "Lightbulbs" to its MySpace dojo so you can try before you buy -- check it out here. It's not too different from "It's Over! It's Over! It's over!" from the "Silent Hotels" single, but it is still a darn good song. Love that guitar tone, love the sound of real drums from the band's new drummer (or at least a better sounding drum machine, anyway), and we love the little glitches in the intro. Another great single. Thanks Answering Machine!

>> Plans for lunch Friday? Or breakfast if you are on the West Coast, supper if you are in Europe or the UK? Philadelphia's The A-Sides, who are former label mates with the late, lamented Okay Paddy and whose long-awaited Silver Storms was released yesterday, are playing a live set for Philly radio station WXPN at 12PM, and we expect that you can catch a live stream or an archived performance without too much hunting around the WXPN web presence.

Today's Hotness: Fall Release Mini-Spectacular

This week ushers in the beginning of a parade of albums we've been waiting all year to hear, albums that will likely be our favorites of 2007. This is not to say there aren't other excellent records in the pipeline that we think will be stupendous (Kevin Drew, Les Savy Fav, etc.). But here's the rundown of the stuff at the very tip top of our list:

>> Sept. 18: The A-Sides -- Silver Storms -- Vagrant [buy!]

The A-Sides have had this record in the can for a long, long time. After having a label deal fall through last year, the band landed a deal with Vagrant that was an open secret for months and months prior to its announcement. The Philly-based act must be fairly relieved to finally have Silver Storms' release date basically here. The set itself is a big step forward sonically -- it captures The A-Side's transition from a jaunty rock band with notable vocal harmonies to a subtle act capable of grand atmospheres and lush arrangements. We can only imagine what the next record will be like. But for now, and finally, Silver Storms is upon us.

The A-Sides -- "We're The Trees" -- Silver Storms
The A-Sides -- "Diamonds" -- Silver Storms
[right click and save as]
[Full Album Stream at Apollo Audio]

>> Sept. 25: Meneguar -- Strangers In Our House -- Troubleman Unlimited [spend!]

How hot is this record? The limited white vinyl issue is already sold out. OK, that is only 100 copies, but even so. There are still copies of the black or green vinyl. According to Troubleman, the sleeve is "insane super thick cardboard casewrap gatefold covers, making this record weigh as much as three regular LPs." Pretty sweet. We'll be buying the CD, so that's one more record for one of you. Meneguar is currently touring Europe and plans a jaunt around the U.S. after that.

>> Oct. 2: Mobius Band -- Heaven -- Misra/Ghostly International [consume!]

As written about here, and here, and here, ad infinitum.

Mobius Band -- "Hallie" -- Heaven
[right click and save as]

>> Oct. 29: Ringo Deathstarr -- Ringo Deathstarr EP -- SVC Records [exchange currency for goods soon!]

[UPDATED] So yes, there is now an official release date for Texas-based shoegaze act Ringo Deathstarr's self-titled debut EP. Spoilt Victorian Child Records will release the set Oct. 29 on CD and via digital music storefronts including ITunes; the EP will be available digitally for two pounds directly from SVC Records Sept. 17, which -- as of this update -- is today if you are based in the UK and Europe. The band has posted a track from the EP titled "Sweet Girl" to its MySpace linked above. It sounds good, but what sounds really amazing is whatever searing track they are using as the backing music for this EP-hyping YouTube clip. For more of what the band has to offer, snatch the demo for "Some Kind Of Sad" linked below.

Ringo Deathstarr -- "Some Kind Of Sad" -- Demo
[right click and save as]

>> Nov. ?: Johnny Foreigner -- Arcs Across The City EP -- Best Before Records [purchase eventually!]

As the self-appointed biggest fan of Johnny Foreigner in all of the 50 United States, we were double-plus chuffed to see that the act was Forkcasted here Thursday. We're a little perplexed by Mr. Knight's assessment that the band has some sort of affinity for late, lamented D.C. indie rockers The Dismemberment Plan. Not that they do or don't. It just seems like a random band to name check. If you are saying a certain act sounds strongly influenced by American bands from the '90s, wouldn't you then use examples whose music sort of sounds like the band you are talking about? No matter. We're pleased to see the Birmingham trio name-checked in the de facto top U.S. music publication. As we reported here earlier in the month, Johnny Foreigner recently signed to the British label Best Before Records and will release its debut EP on some date in November.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Ninky vs. Dingle (Sunset Cinema Club cover)" -- I Like You Mostly Late At Never (Demos Collection)
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Today's Hotness: The A-Sides, The Answering Machine, Sigur Ros

>>[PHOTO CREDIT] Our big day-job goings-on have kept us from telling you the important news that you can stream The A-Sides' forthcoming sophomore set Silver Storms in its entirety right now over at Philebrity. We haven't even streamed it yet ourselves, although we did catch the studio version of the Philadelphia indie rock phenom's new tune "We're The Trees" on Jon Solomon's consistently excellent Local Support podcast a week ago. The Philadelphia Weekly here has an interesting question-and-answer with a couple of the guys from the band, and the most up-to-date fall tour dates were recently posted at The A-Sides blog here. The A-Sides will play the Middle East in Cambridge, Mass. on Nov. 4; Silver Storms will be released Sept. 18. We're checking our mailbox every day, oh great promo Gods -- please don't disappoint us. For the 10th time, here's an MP3 for "Cinematic," a track off the new record.

The A-Sides -- "Cinematic" -- Silver Storms
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>> The beer-drinking young folks in Manchester, UK-based trio The Answering Machine are easily as charming as their music, if this video (which takes forever to load) posted at the V Magazine site is any indication. The negative rap on this band is that they are very derivative of The Strokes, but we don't buy it. First of all, The Answering Machine appears to still not have a drummer. Additionally, saying an act is derivative of The Strokes basically ignores 30 years of rock history. But that's a conversation for another day. The Answering Machine recently did a BBC radio session -- you can hunt around the band's MySpace wigwam for the details and a link.

>> The trailer for the Sigur Ros documentary "Heima" has a very Harry Potter vibe working in it. Check it out here. And we mean the HP movies, of course -- we've yet to read any of the books. But the Sigur Ros video is stunning. Generally, we have to be in a specific mood to really get down to Sigur Ros, but this video is pretty inspiring, Spine-tingling even. Is this Icelandic band now out-Pink Floyding mid-'70s Floyd? If not, they're damn close.

>> We're in receipt of the new (or new-ish) Wombats EP. You Ain't No Picasso has the video of "Let's Dance To Joy Division" posted right here. With its iffy lyrics, it's not the sure shot that The Wombats' unstoppable cut "Moving To New York" is, but the track is still amply peppy. And the end of the video has some compelling visual surprises. Check it out here.

>> One of the things getting us through the 13 and 14-hour days we've been putting in at the day job recently is the forthcoming record from indie rockers Pinback. It is called Autumn of the Seraphs and it is due on Touch and Go Sept. 11. We hope to have the time to review the record in full sometime next month, but in the event we don't have the time (a second deadline-sensitive project is already in line behind the current Sisyphean task, and this is all in addition to our usual workload) we can tell you that a lot of the review will or would focus on the tone and energy of the set. Where other bands would use distortion, Pinback just dials back the edge and hits you with the clean. Where most other bands would deploy the fuzz-bass liberally to make their rock points strongly, Pinback uses in many places what sounds like one of those acoustic hollow-body electric basses that were popular in underground music circa 10,000 Maniacs. On top of it all, we love how Pinback's Rob Crow rocks the flight suit for the video for "From Nothing To Nowhere." Check it out here.

Frightened Rabbit Releases Sings The Greys In US Oct. 2

It's been a while since we've talked about brilliant Glaswegian indie trio Frightened Rabbit, but here's some news. The long-awaited US version of the band's 2006 debut Sings The Greys, which has been remastered by Mr. Indie Mastering Guy Alan Douches, will finally be released Oct. 2 on new label Fat Cat. As we reported here in June, Frightened Rabbit is expected to issue a single prior to the re-release of Sings The Greys for the track "Be Less Rude." So that should be out sometime in the next six weeks, in our estimation.

Anyhoo, to celebrate the US issue of the full-length the lads will be returning to the US for a few weeks of dates beginning in mid-October [incidentally, some of the dates listed below are with Pinback, who will be supported in late September by another :: clicky clicky :: fave, The A-Sides -- check out the A-Sides dates here]. Sadly, right now there is no Boston date, but we're hopeful that the band might fill one of those empty nights in the first week of November with a show here in Cambridge, Mass. Maybe they could get an in-store at the Urban Outfitters like the one they had in Austin? Somebody make it happen. Have you heard Frightened Rabbit's live set from SXSW that they've been selling at EMusic for a goodly while now? It's a barnburner, especially the opener "Square 9." To get you back in the mood for Frightened Rabbitamania, here's a version of "Modern Leper" the band was giving away on its MySpace page for a while early this year.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Modern Leper" -- MySpace Download
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[buy Frightened Rabbit music from EMusic here]

10/15 -- Empty Bottle -- Chicago, Illinois
10/16 -- Pabst Theatre -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10/17 -- Fineline Music Cafe -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/18 -- Slowdown -- Omaha, Nebraska
10/19 -- Gothic Theatre -- Englewood, Colorado
10/20 -- The Depot -- Salt Lake City, Utah
10/22 -- Showbox Showroom -- Seattle, Washington
10/23 -- Viking Union Multipurpose Room -- Bellingham, Washington
10/25 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Francisco, California
10/26 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Francisco, California
10/28 -- The Wiltern -- Los Angeles, California
10/30 -- Solar Culture Gallery -- Tucson, Arizona
11/01 -- Emo’s Jr. -- Austin, Texas
11/02 -- Dan’s Bar -- Denton, Texas
11/08 -- Theatre of Living Arts -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Previous Frightened Rabbit coverage:

Frightened Rabbit's First American Tour
Show Us Yours #5: Frightened Rabbit
Frightened Rabbit Signs To Fat Cat

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.

Today's Hotness: The A-Sides, Prefuse 73, The Answering Machine

>> Philadelphia's The A-Sides said here a family emergency precipitated the cancellation of its set Thursday night at Cambridge, Mass.'s Middle East Rock Club. So obviously we won't be covering it as we said we would here. The quintet had been slated to support Calla. The A-Sides promised to make up the date during a planned U.S. tour in October. The band will release its sophomore set Silver Storms on Vagrant next month. In a more recent blog post here A-Sides posted a live clip of themselves performing the new cut "We're The Trees." Check it out.

>> Electronic music phenom Prefuse 73 will release the new set Preparations in late October on Warp. The label reports that the first single "The Class of 73 Bells" will be released Sept. 17. It features Prefuse principal Scott Herren collaborating with New York psych band School Of Seven Bells and Battles drummer John Stanier. Mr. Herren will tour the UK and Europe with a band in October, and U.S. dates are planned.

>> Christian Fennesz's solo debut Hotel Paral.lel will be reissued by Editions Mego Sept. 24. Mego released the initial version of the set ten years earlier. Hotel Paral.lel is apparently "an investigation into the sonic possibilities residing in guitar-based digital music, recorded just before mobile computing devices became the norm." The reissue appends two items to the original twelve: the song "5" was originally released as a 7" in 1996 on Syntactic; a video for the album track "Aus" is the other addition. More information including the details on a a pre-order discount are located here.

>> The release of Okay Paddy's new EP Where You Went?, which we recently reviewed here, has been moved to Sept. 4. As planned, label Prison Jazz today released a pretty solid EP from another act, New Motels, entitled Domestic Life.

>> According to a blog post here, scruffy English pop luminaries The Answering Machine are breaking in a new drummer, which sets our mind slightly at ease, because there is something spooky about a guitar band that has no drummer, yeh? Anyway, the new drummer is not named, so maybe he or she still has to prove him or herself or survive some odd hazing or something. The Answering Machine has scads of tour dates booked between now and early November, so the new drummer will certainly have plenty of chances to settle in with the band between now and then. Check all the tour dates at the band's MySpace yert here.

>> It's been far too long since we've mentioned Birmingham, UK-based noise pop trio Johnny Foreigner. So the latest and greatest is that the band will be recording some tracks in London early next week. Can't wait to hear them. Also, in case we didn't already say so, Johnny Foreigner is now booked to support not one, but two Meneguar UK tour dates: Sept. 26 in Leeds and Oct. 4 in Cambridge. Those will be amazing shows. Someone shoot video.

>> With music bloggers all up in the news nowadays, we were wondering when our next star turn will be, which made us wonder what the deal was with Boston's NEMO fest this year (we sat on a panel last year moderated by DoneWaiting.com's Rob Duffy). Anyway, according to the NEMO Internet Home Page, the conference will not be held this year. Here's part of the message: "We have decided to take a year off from the NEMO Music Festival while we focus on the 20th Anniversary of the Boston Music Awards, the [Popular Coffee Retailer] Music Makers Competition, the Verge College Music Conference and other entertainment related projects. We plan to revamp NEMO and do something bigger and better in 2008." You can read more here.

Review: Okay Paddy | Where You Went? [MP3]

American television's popular adaptation of the British situation comedy "The Office" has improbably brought Scranton, Penn. to the attention of the couch-potato nation, but folks attuned to the indie rock zeitgeist have had a more pressing reason to take notice. Scranton's Prison Jazz label has released great records from acts including The A-Sides (now signed to Vagrant; set to release a sophomore set next month Sept. 18) and the brilliant quartet Okay Paddy. Okay Paddy's debut full-length The Cactus Has A Point was one of our eight favorites of 2006, and this follow-up is equally as satisfying. An EP is typically a way station between albums, but Where You Went? is more of an explanation point. There are some stylistic tweaks and the production of Spinto Band fellow Nick Krill adds more sonic depth and perhaps even a touch of the wacky (are those trombones at the close of "Dumbwaiter"?). But the revelatory tone of the EP renders irrelevant stuffy analysis of artistic development. The band continues to craft songs that tout the melodic strengths of Pavement and Weezer, and Where You Went? is a five-song, feel-good party record for the musically well-appointed.

It opens with "Dumbwaiter," a composition that giddily swings alongside twelve-string exhortation and arresting vocal harmonies. The mug-hoisting track seems destined to be the drinking song of the coming semester, and perhaps intentionally so -- it has been crafted by a band that practices in a bar owned by one of the principals [read our Show Us Yours #8 for details]. The lackadaisical second number "Trounce Him" is a solid strummer with its own bits of glory, including the protracted delivery of the words "Walla Walla" and the unexpected violin and sort-of-expected mandolin. The almost absurdly slack closing track "Open It Up" rocks harder than the rest, riding an "All Along The Watch Tower" vamp in the verse and just hollering through the choruses. That said, it lacks some of the color and intricacy found elsewhere. Still, Where You Went? is more than 80% indispensable, and we believe it can't be too long before Okay Paddy follows former label mates The A-Sides to wider acclaim. Prison Jazz issued Where You Went? last month on no specific date. Folks just turning on to Okay Paddy should head over to the band's Internet Home Page linked below, where you can stream the aforementioned The Cactus Has A Point [review here]. Here's an MP3 of "Open It Up."

Okay Paddy -- "Open It Up" -- Where You Went?
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[buy Where You Went? from Prison Jazz right here]

Okay Paddy: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: A-Sides, Kevin Drew, Armalite

>> Word on the street, or at the least at the bottom of this blog post, is that Philadelphia indie rock phenoms The A-Sides will tour extensively in October. Vagrant will issue the band's sophomore set Silver Storms Aug. 28. Well, actually, Spin.com today says here that the set will now be issued Sept. 18, as does the band's web dojo; not so much their Virb page. Things change. Incidentally, Spin.com, which named The A-Sides their band of the day today, thinks the band sounds like The Shins and Modest Mouse. Uh, what? Either way, make sure to hit that link to Spin.com supra and grab the MP3 for the newish track "Diamonds." Speaking of The A-Sides, we'd never seen this live footage of the band playing "Cinematic" last January at Philadelphia's 700 Bar. The A-Sides are in Boston at the Middle East Aug. 9. We'll be there.

>> This new video for Broken Social Scenemeister Kevin Drew's "Backed Out On The..." that features J., Murph and Lou from Dinosaur Jr. is getting a huge !!hell yeah!! from us (note the crazy exclamation points for added jazz). Pitchfork has the video posted right here. Drew releases his inelegantly titled solo set Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew, "Spirit If..." Sept. 18 on Arts & Crafts.

>> Pop-punk supergroup Armalite, which features Atom Goren of Atom And His Package and a bunch of other famous-type Jersey hardcore kids, doesn't want you to forget that they are playing a rare live show Aug. 10. at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. So don't. Armalite's self-titled debut was one of our favorite records of 2006; we had occasion to dine with Mr. Goren in May and he said there are currently no plans for a second Armalite set, as the guys are all busy with other things. So this show is as good as you're gonna get. Someone please take video. And here are some MP3s:

Armalite -- "Entitled" -- Armalite
Armalite -- "I Am A Pancreas (I Seek To Understand Me...)" -- Armalite
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[buy Armalite from No Idea right here]

>> Merge Blog has just posted here two acoustic cuts from Swede pop sensations Shout Out Louds. One of the cuts is the infectious bouncer "Tonight I Have Leave It," which we wrote about here a couple weeks back. The other is called "Impossible." Both songs were part of a radio session recorded by LA-based commercial rock station Indie 103. We can't get either of the files to open, but perhaps if you check back later the Merge web gremlins will figure out what the problem is.

>> Fun fact from a recent Brian Baker interview that Pun Canoes links to here: apparently DC hardcore legends Minor Threat have sold between 800,000 records and a million records over the last quarter century or so, according to Mr. Baker's estimate. Not too shabby for guys who have never once cowtowed to The Man. We salute you, Minor Threat.

>> Believe it or not, we are actually going to get out and finally see The Beatings tonight, speaking of our favorite records of 2006. We'll have a full report over the weekend.

Today's Hotness: New Pornographers, A-Sides, Dirty On Purpose

>> We're back. The Zappa bio we said we'd be reading? Superlative. Chock full of interesting information, and doesn't go out of its way to make Frank Zappa appear any greater or lesser of a man than he was. The Lydon bio? Pretty good. We think our primary qualm with it is the presentation -- the prose seems to be solely comprised of transcribed recordings, which results in very choppy sentences. It helps to imagine Lydon, who fronted both Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd., speaking the words, and you do get used to it after a while. Still, would it have killed Lydon to have succumbed to great editorial oversight? Actually, given what we read, perhaps it would. Anyhow. Both books are well worth reading.

>> That relative silence you'll hear this week belies the preparation going into what will be a torrent of amazing releases this fall: Interpol, New Pornographers, Spoon, A-Sides, Meneguar, and on and on and on. Right now it seems like we don't have a lot on our plate (the vacation helped), but we expect things are going to be crazy and full of excellent music between now and the end of October. We can't wait.

>> Let's just come out and say it: if you like the peppy new New Pornographers promo track "My Rights Versus Yours," then you will like '70s pop sensations E.L.O.'s "Turn To Stone." The New Pornographers' new set Challengers will be released Aug. 21; Electric Light Orchestra released "Turn To Stone" on Out Of The Blue in 1977. And -- because one of our favorite Philadelphia-based bands just did a WOXY Lounge Act session and will release their sophomore album soon -- let's talk about The A-Sides for a minute. First of all, hit the link supra and grab the band's WOXY session, which includes new tracks from the band's long awaited sophomore set Silver Storms [Vagrant] including "Diamonds." Speaking of "Diamonds," Spinner recently published here a link to an MP3 of the album version of the track (we detest the term "leak" when the track hasn't actually "leaked" in the traditional sense of the term, sorry AOL Music Indi... errrr... Spinner). The song is awesome -- stop at nothing to acquire it. Anyway, if you like British shoegaze dynamo Ride's "Nowhere" (the albumer ender, not the album itself), then you will like The A-Sides' "Here Or There," the album ender from the latter band's debut Hello, Hello. Here's an MP3 and a few streams to illustrate our assertions above.

New Pornographers -- "My Rights Versus Yours" -- Challengers
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[pre-order one of the various versions of Challengers right here]

[Imeem player removed.]

>> Shoegazy Brooklyn foursome Dirty On Purpose report it is recording an EP with a duo whose production credits include drone rockers Dead Meadow, noise merchants Liars and The National, a band everyone likes but us. An email from Dirty On Purpose states the new recordings sound "like when you're in a room and a loud rock band is playing and it's awesome." Sounds pretty great to us. No word on a release date. Dirty On Purpose's Sleep Late For A Better Tomorrow EP and full-length Hallelujah Sirens were released on North Street in 2004 and 2006, respectively; the label will also release the planned EP.

>> Stars are aligning. It would seem, according to a MySpace missive, that Birmingham, UK noise pop trio Johnny Foreigner have gotten on one of Meneguar's fall tour dates in the UK (posted here, lest you forget). That will be one hot show in Cambridge, England Oct. 4. Now if only we could figure out a reason for our day job to send us to England that week... Meneguar releases its long-anticipated sophomore set Strangers In Our House on Troubleman Unlimited in August. Remember before vacation when we said we didn't know how "limited" the pressing of the European release of the set on Release The Bats would be? Well, our old friend Google reveals only 500 copies were pressed. You can see the track listing and cover art right here.

Today's Hotness: Assembly Now, Maybe It's Reno, Vice Kills Jamaica

>> A friendly chap repping London indie quartet Assembly Now got in touch to say the lads had recently recorded four songs for an XFM radio session. The band is offering two of the tracks for download, including a smoking, goes-to-11 version of the single "It's Magnetic" and a more mid-tempo track "Cool To Be Kind." We were kind of hoping that latter track was mislabeled and was actually a cover of the classic Nick Lowe cut "Cruel To Be Kind" [YouTube; YouTube]. Alas, no, although the rep said he thought that might have been Assembly Now's original title for the track. Anyway, definitely check it out. And make certain to download the XFM version of "It's Magnetic." The breakneck pace of the single is there, but the live production is a bit red-lined, so that the verse practically explodes right out of the gate, driven by bass and kick drum. The lead guitar line threatens to go off the rails at one point, and singer Gavin transposes words in our favorite lyric, but that just makes this live version that much more crucial. Check the MP3s out below. Assembly Now releases its third single, "Graphs Maps & Trees," Aug. 6 on Kids. In March the band participated in our Show Us Yours feature, which you can read right here. Ass Now is gigging all through the summer in the UK; you can peruse all their live dates here.

Assembly Now -- "It's Magnetic (Live)" -- XFM Radio Session
Assembly Now -- "Cool To Be Kind (Live)" -- XFM Radio Session
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>> Teenbeat Records reports an Unrest reunion of sorts in the form of the forthcoming debut from Maybe It's Reno. The prime mover in the band is former Unrest / Air Miami bassist Bridget Cross, who was also in a very early incarnation of Velocity Girl. Ms. Cross is abetted by her former Unrest bandmates on the recordings, with Phil Krauth contributing drums and Teenbeat honcho and transplanted Cantabrigian Mark Robinson playing guitar and doing other things on most of the tracks. No hard release date yet, but the set is expected to be issued this fall.

>> Those of you who took our advice from over the weekend and checked out VBS.tv's very watchable series on dancehall in Jamaica: we heard from a fellow at Vice who wanted to make sure we knew about a 48-minute megamix of tunes that includes tracks from many of the artists featured in the series. We've listened to about half of it so far, and if you have any interest in dancehall (we love some of the wilder production, but know very little about dancehall in general) you should download this mix and throw it in your IPod or onto a CD-R. All manner of big beats and blunted toasting, dub plate touting and just general party vibes. Some of the stuff is pretty explicit, so it may not be the sort of thing you'll want to rock while driving your kids to gymnastics, or whatever kids do these days. Here's the (gigantic) MP3, with the track list below the link -- we're not sure what the file title is about, but this is what it says when it drops into your ITunes.

Restation Is A Must! -- "Vice Kills Ja!" -- Michael Raphael's Album
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Mavado -- "Even If Dem Kill Me"
Einstein -- "Rise Di Machines"
Mavado -- "Amazing Grace"
Asassin and Mr. Easy -- "Big Man Ting"
Timberlee and Ward 21 -- "Bubble Like Soup"
Chico -- "Let's Get It On"
Vybz Kartel -- "Beat'n Beat'n"
Mr. Vegas -- "Nuh Fight Over Man"
Elephant Man -- "Bring It Come"
Leftside and Esco -- "The Tribute"
Sizzla -- "Pum Pum Hard"
Sizzla -- "Nuh Apology"
Sizzla -- "Fix Dem Business"
Sizzla -- "Ain't Gonna See Us Fall"
Pressure -- "Love and Affection"
Spice -- "Tight Pussy Gyal"
Mega Banton -- "Grindin"
Leftside and Esco -- "Tuck In Yuh Belly"
Voicemail -- "Informer"
Mr. Vegas -- "Nuh Frien From Dem"
Mavado -- "Shotta Nuh Miss"
Mavado -- "Dying"
Mavado -- "Me And My Dogs"
Jr. Gong -- "Something For You"
Akon -- "Don't Matter"
Busy Signal -- "Shoot Nuh Miss"
Vybz Kartel -- "Cyan Cook"
Bounty Killer -- "Try Fi Stop Killa"

>> Philly-based indie rock sensations The A-Sides just announced a slate of tour dates leading up to the release of their sophomore record and Vagrant Records debut. We're posting the dates below. Vagrant will release The A-Sides' Silver Storms Aug. 28, which we hope means that promos should be sent out sometime soon. We've been waiting a long time to hear this one. We might have posted some of these dates already, but what are you gonna do? We've never seen these guys live before, so we're obviously pretty excited about that Boston date.

06.20 -- Darkhorse Tavern -- State College, PA
06.21 -- The Nite Owl -- Dayton, OH
06.22 -- Schubas -- Chicago, IL
06.23 -- Continental Switchyard Festival -- Chicago, IL
07.20 -- XPN/YROCK Festival -- Camden, NJ
08.07 -- Black Cat -- Washington, DC
08.08 -- Middle East -- Cambridge, MA
08.30 -- Record Release at Johnny Brenda's -- Philadelphia, PA
09.02 -- Test Pattern -- Scranton, PA

>> We were pleased to learn that one of our favorite up-and-coming acts has a new label deal in place. It is still unannounced and the information was off the record. But we wanted to write this so that when Pitchfork gets the exclusive in a couple months, we can link back to this item and say, "yeah, we knew that." The interesting thing about the deal, and we don't think this is giving anything away, is that the band had initially been scouted by this label five years ago. So there you go, several worthless sentences about how we know stuff.